The Department of Justice has opened a purpose-built recording studio at the Banksia Hill Youth Detention Centre.
The former workshop was transformed during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the aim of creating an inviting place for young detainees to learn through music.
Director General of the Department, Adam Tomison said music education had proven successes in youth detention, and it was fantastic to see the staff turning a potential problem, like the pandemic, into an opportunity.
Mr Tomison said detainees were encouraged to tune into their creativity, and incidentally improve their literacy, build confidence and increase their interpersonal skills.
Commissioner of Corrective Services, Tony Hassall said the music programs had already had a positive effect in the centre.
“Young people who were previously not interested in their education are asking for dictionaries to take back to their rooms to improve their song writing, others are participating in extra literacy intervention classes,” Commissioner Hassall said.
“For those detainees who are in literacy support programs, we’ve seen a 73.3 per cent overall improvement since the introduction of Hip Hop 101.”
He said the program gave the young people an opportunity to write and produce their own songs by tapping into their experiences.
“Many of the detainees in Hip Hop 101 have already shown increased willingness and motivation in school work with their regular classroom teacher,” Commissioner Hassall said.
