Jail Guitar Doors is an independent initiative set up by Billy Bragg with the aim of providing musical equipment for the use of inmates serving time in Her Majesty’s prisons. It takes its name from the b-side of the Clash’s 1978 single “Clash City Rockers”. In an appeal to fellow musicians, Billy writes:
“Aware that this year sees the fifth anniversary of the passing of Joe Strummer, I was hoping to be involved in more than just another tribute gig. Hearing the Clash as a 19 year old had changed my life, so I guess I was looking for a project that underscored the transformative power of music. Inspiration arrived in the shape of a letter from Malcolm Dudley, a drug and alcohol counsellor working at HMP Guy's Marsh near Shaftesbury in Dorset.
Billy Bragg with the guitar club, HMP Guy’s MarshMalcolm was trying to set up a weekly guitar workshop for the rehabilitation of inmates. Ex-prisoners who have actively participated such sessions have a re-conviction rate of between 10%-15%, compared to the national average of 61%. While Malcolm had permission to hold weekly workshops, what he lacked was equipment so wrote to me asking if I could help him by providing half a dozen acoustic guitars and some percussion instruments.
Hanks Guitar Shop in Denmark Street, London, were good enough to provide me with six of their own brand acoustic guitars for cost price. Sold as beginners instruments, they came with extra strings, pitch pipes, a soft case and an instructional DVD. At £49 each they were just what we were looking for. As this was intended to be a project that embodied the spirit of the Clash – not just in its purpose but also in its style – I took the guitars to Jeff Behan to be customised in the way that the band used to decorate their own instruments. Two weeks later he handed them back to me covered in slogans such as “Strummer”, “Clash City Rockers”, “Stay Free” and of course “Jail Guitar Doors”. You can see the finished items here.
My favourite was a new take on the anti-fascist slogan which Woody Guthrie – who greatly influenced Joe – had written on his guitar, “This machine kills time”.
Previous projects in other prisons have relied on borrowing guitars from staff members which have to be taken home again after the session, depriving inmates of the chance to take their instruments back into their cells to play. How many of you have sat in your rooms playing guitar and been transported beyond the four walls to a place where you feel free?
It cost just under £375 to provide guitars and percussion instruments for Malcolm's project in Guy's Marsh. It's a relatively small amount of money which could be raised at a benefit concert by any band or artist that can draw a crowd. I'm asking musicians, particularly those of you who were inspired by the Clash, to raise the money to provide a prison with enough equipment to help inmates find that same sense of release. If you'd like to participate, please contact me by email."
Stay free.
Billy Bragg
