Art by Offenders, Secure Patients and Detainees

The first national art show to be curated by serving prisoners - who are being granted day licence to conduct free guided tours on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays throughout its run - encompasses film, music and writing as well as the visual arts.

It's at the Royal Festival Hall on the South Bank and organised by the Koestler Awards, founded in 1962 by the writer and political prisoner Arthur Koestler, author of the classic prison novel 'Darkness at Noon'.

The work, 150 pieces drawn from more than 5,000 submissions, comes from secure establishments across the UK and abroad. It was selected by six women nearing the end of their sentences at HM Prison Downview in Surrey.

Many of the works are for sale (60 per cent of the proceeds goes to artists, the remainder to Victim Support and the Koestler Trust) and the most talented of the award winners are offered mentoring by artists which will continue for a year after they're released.

Some of the works are accomplished, some funny, others fascinating for window they open on the experience of prison life.

The sensitive strength of the line in Erin Stephenson's charcoal 'The Nude', drew me back several times (you'll find it upstairs in the RFH Ballroom although most of the exhibition is on the floor below).

'Constant Watch' by Dena Thompson depicts a female warden outside a barred cell. Feet up, thermos flask beside her, she's absorbed in her newspaper. She has not yet noticed the hole in the wall of the empty cell. 'Bug Life' by Patrick John Craggs consists of small dead insects glued to sheet of paper. Beside each is a handwritten name, and a comment: 'Slime loved the telly'; 'Tony had a shower with me'. Initially it made me smile; in retrospect it seems more poignant.

'The Truth' is a pie chart revealing how a prisoner's day is occupied. The gym, prayer and queueing for the phone all figure, but 'bang up' accounts for more than 75 per cent of the time. The label accompanying this angry, anonymous work says: 'I'm so shocked that my work has been chosen for exhibition. I keep reading the letter over and over. I'm glowing with happiness. I want a painting future. This has changed me'. The case for the rehabilitative value of prisoners' involvement in art couldn't be put better.

A programme of public events accompanies the exhibition: on Tue Nov 3 at 7pm there's a talk and discussion on the arts and women offenders; 'Not Shut Up' on Thur Nov 5 at 7pm is a reading of poetry and prose from the Koestler Awards. 'Prose and Cons' on Fri Dec 4 at 7pm and Sat Dec 5 at 2.30pm is a programme of rehearsed readings of plays from the Koestler Awards. Tours take place Tue and Thur 6pm, Sun 3pm.