Between Here and Home: songwriting at HMP Barlinnie
This November, we’re heading into HMP Barlinnie for ‘Between Here and Home’, three days of songwriting, collaboration and recording.
The project will bring together up to eight people currently serving sentences at Barlinnie, an Unbound community member, and a team of professional musicians and songwriters. Through group and individual song writing exercises, we’ll spend three consecutive days developing ideas, writing original songs and recording them inside the prison.
No previous songwriting or musical experience is needed. People can come with an idea they’ve been thinking about for years, or arrive with absolutely nothing planned. They can write independently with a musician alongside them or collaborate with somebody else. The important thing is that the song belongs to the person making it.
Between Here and Home
The title Between Here and Home is about being in an in-between space: between different places, identities and stages of life, including the space between custody and community, the past and whatever comes next.
That might lead to songs about home, belonging, family, relationships, change, identity, hope or uncertainty. Or it might lead somewhere completely different. The theme is an invitation rather than an instruction – participants will decide what feels relevant to them and what they want their songs to be about.
That approach is important to how we work at Vox. We’re not coming into prison to ask people why they are there or expecting anyone to disclose personal experiences. Songwriting can sometimes create space for conversations about difficult or important things, but those conversations happen on people’s own terms.
Three days of making together
We’ll begin the first day with some short, relaxed songwriting exercises before breaking into smaller collaborations. From there, participants will work closely with musicians to develop lyrics, music and ideas. Day two gives us time to keep writing and shaping the songs, before recording them inside Barlinnie on day three.
There’s something valuable about having three consecutive days together. It gives us time to get to know one another, follow ideas as they develop and concentrate on making something we’re collectively proud of.
An Unbound community member will also be part of the project team. Unbound is Vox Liminis’ ongoing creative community, bringing together people with different experiences of criminal justice. Having an Unbound member involved creates a connection between the creative community we’re building outside prison and the work happening within it – particularly fitting for a project concerned with the space between prison and home.
Making an album
This Vox Session is a little different from some of our prison-based songwriting projects because the plan is to make an album.
After the three days, the recordings will move into production and mastering, with artwork developed in response to conversations and ideas from the project. The finished album will be released physically and online, allowing the work made inside Barlinnie to travel beyond the prison walls.
Not everything made through Vox is shared publicly, and public release is never forced. Participants will have a say in what happens to their song and can choose to remain anonymous.
For us, sharing the work isn’t simply about putting music out into the world. Creative work can offer a different way into conversations about imprisonment, release, belonging and justice. It gives people outside prison an opportunity to encounter perspectives they might not otherwise hear – while making sure the people who created the work are first and foremost recognised as artists and collaborators, making something worth listening to.
Between Here and Home takes place at HMP Barlinnie in November 2026 and is supported by Foundation Scotland’s Gateway Exchange Fund.