The [UK] women teaching cross stitch to convicted murderers

[Dale_M]

Frankland prison in County Durham is notorious. The high-security, men-only jail has housed some of the most dangerous criminals in the country, including Charles Bronson, Harold Shipman and Ian Huntley. Three months ago, two inmates there murdered and then disembowelled another.

It’s not the sort of place where you might imagine a spot of cross stitch would go down well. But for more than six years Linda MacMullen, a grandmother and part-time French teacher, has been going to Frankland every fortnight to teach needlework to a group of 12 prisoners. She wears a personal alarm around her neck every time she goes in, and two prison officers stand outside the open door as she teaches.

“The change you see in the men who come to the classes is amazing,” says MacMullen. “At first, they tend to be withdrawn. They won’t make eye contact and won’t talk, or lean away if you sit next to them. But slowly, with encouragement, they start to see what they are capable of. They start to talk, help each other. One man told me he was always being put in solitary [confinement] for fights, but that since he’d taken up stitching he didn’t get put in there anymore. Instead of fighting, he’s in his cell, stitching for hours and hours. That’s the difference this makes.”

guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/sep/12/women-teaching-cross-stitch-murderers?newsfeed=true

The program has about 60 volunteers who go to prisons to teach cross-stitch. The prisoners make a variety of things: pillows, quilts, tapestries etc.

Recently I posted a news article about a US prison in which two women teach knitting to the male prisoners.
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=713749

However, this UK program, which has been running for 15 years, takes it to a much higher level. The program recently received the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, which is the highest award given to volunteer organizations in the UK.

 

[Daizies]

That is so cool

 

[PerfectTiming]

Fine Cell Work does amazing stuff. I hope to work with them some day.

 

[Dale_M]

Fine Cell Work does amazing stuff. I hope to work with them some day.

I think that would be awesome. Prison ministry can be daunting, but there are many ways to go about it. Programs such as Fine Cell Work show the difference that a single individual can make.

 

[ringil]

This is a great story. Kind of a recreational therapy session. Kind of fascinating in a way.

I guess it’s safe for thee guys to have needles? Well, the guards know what they are doing.