The informal role of prison philosopher is taken up by incarcerated people across the world. With time on their hands and a proximity to other people, systems of control and narratives of morality, people in prison are well positioned to practice philosophy.
This is the terrain that Dennis Kelly’s six-part BBC television drama Waiting for the Out, released earlier this year, covered. The series is an adaptation of Andy West’s memoir The Life Inside (2022), which shares his experiences of teaching philosophy in prison contexts and unfolds his own proximity to criminalisation through his father, uncle and brother, who all spent time in prison.
