Aline Marchand, cultural action manager at Médiatone.
For two years, Aline Marchand, cultural mediator at Médiatone, has offered inmates the opportunity to participate in artistic workshops around music.
In the shadows of the cells and while the prison environment faces a deep crisis, some act silently to try to offer a better future to the inmates. This is the case of Aline Marchand, a former notary clerk, now in charge of cultural action and cultural mediator in a closed environment at the Médiatone association. For two years, the forty-year-old has been traveling through Lyon’s prisons to offer artistic workshops around music to inmates.
In the Rhône, Aline works in the Lyon Corbas remand center and in the Meyzieu juvenile establishment. On site, she offers inmates the opportunity to participate in several activities, including the organization of a concert, then offered in the prison. The opportunity for them to discover new things, far from their daily routine: “For many, it’s the first time they’ve attended a concert”underlines the mediator. Programming, communication, graphics, administration… The inmates are putting their hands together to organize a concrete event, organized at the beginning of June. They are also invited to write a text, to sing, or even participate in the concert if they wish.
Discover a style of music, a new passion…
In order to best support inmates, Aline and her team carefully select the participating artists following a call for projects: “We try to favor those who have already led workshops because prisoners are an audience where sometimes there are language and writing problems, so you have to know how to bounce back”underlines the mediator. The musical style is also studied, to allow inmates to discover new horizons: “We had artists playing reggae music, funk, beat-box…”indicates the forty-year-old.
And if some prisoners are shy, most seem to be ready for the game, as Aline’s experience testifies: “Last year at Corbas, an inmate didn’t want to write, then he didn’t want to sing but he ended up writing and singing because all the others motivated him (…) And then finally he sang live in front of everyone on the day of the concert”, remembers the mediator with a smile on her lips, before confiding, moved: “These kinds of stories give me chills.”
“Just locking them up is useless”
Workshops that some political leaders nevertheless view with a negative eye. While in 2025, the Minister of Justice, Gérald Darmanin, wanted to eliminate these practices deemed “playful”On the contrary, Aline defends their usefulness. For her, they constitute a gateway to a new passion, a better prospect for the future, or even a path to employment: “These moments allow them to meet artists, to discuss professions, to have a moment to escape, but it can also allow them to discover a passion and why not give them ideas for the future”she affirms, before estimating: “Just locking them up is useless, we see it in the recidivism rate, the goal is really to make them discover something else, to give them self-confidence.”
In the midst of a prison crisis, and while prisons are overloaded, these workshops are also an opportunity for inmates to discuss their conditions: “As a worker we are taking it seriously, we can’t imagine the unsanitary conditions, the fact that there can be three of them in a cell, that they can sleep on the floor, have rats and cockroaches in their cell”confides Aline. She adds: “Many are happy with these workshops and thank us for being there, it changes their minds.”
Despite the problems linked to prisons and the unstable climate facing associations, Aline and the Mediatone teams intend to continue their action as long as possible. For this, she appeals to the State: “We need subsidies to continue living and doing these actions,” she finishes hopefully.
General works and reintegration
In addition to these actions in prison, the Médiatone association also welcomes people on TIG (general interest work). The latter thus participate in the life of the association by promoting concerts or ensuring handling during festivals. The people met can then take part in a three-step course aimed at professional integration.
Read also: The Lyon Bar warns of prison overcrowding in France
