LGBTQ+ History Month student spotlight: Dalton Harrison on trans rights and prison reform

Dalton Harrison, a master's student in Criminal Justice and Criminology at the School of Law, is using his lived experience to drive research, activism, and artistic expression.

Poetry was something that could never be wrong as it was my journey, my thoughts and that helped me grow, as I had been told my whole life I was wrong, whether it was that I was not transgender or was never going to read or do well in life. Poetry gave me a voice and a chance to change the world one word at a time by saying I am here. I am me.

For Dalton Harrison (he/him/they/them), legal research isn’t just an academic pursuit – it’s a deeply personal mission. Now pursuing a MSc in Criminal Justice and Criminology at the School of Law, Dalton’s passion for social justice began at an early age.

“I have always been drawn to sociology and how society works,” Dalton explains. While doing his GCSEs, he embarked on his first research project, studying the link between underage drinking and school performance. But it was not until he ended up in prison that he found himself reflecting on his past and rebuilding himself through higher education.

In prison, Dalton participated in the Inside-Out programme with Durham University, which brings together incarcerated and non-incarcerated students to study criminal justice.

“I found myself dismantling what I was living, linking theories, and writing essays, and I was instantly hooked,” he says. “It felt like a jigsaw puzzle slowly taking shape.”

This transformative experience led Dalton to pursue higher education, earning a BA in Criminal Justice also at the School of Law before moving on to a Masters degree. His research now challenges mainstream narratives around prison experiences, particularly for transgender individuals.

Researching the experiences of transgender men in female prisons

While many studies on LGBTQ+ experiences in prison focus on transgender women, Dalton wanted to shift the spotlight. Their undergraduate dissertation explored the experiences of transgender men in female prisons in England, a subject rarely examined in legal research.

While continuing their studies in a higher education program they started in prison, Dalton discovered a research method that would later shape his dissertation. The program, Think Like A Scientist, was a pilot initiative led by Professor Phil Heron, then at Durham University. Since its inception, the program has been successfully implemented in young offenders' prisons in England and women's prisons in Canada and has been adapted for use in other countries.

After his release, Dalton shared their experiences in a talk at Durham University and later co-facilitated a workshop with the team. They continued supporting the program's development, drawing on their own experiences to provide insights into what worked and what didn’t in a prison setting. Through this work, they were introduced to autoethnography, a research approach that resonated deeply with them, and they have pursued it ever since.

Dalton used autoethnography for his dissertation, a research method that blends personal experience with academic analysis, to examine the realities of gender identity in the prison system. They explain:

“One of my main arguments for choosing autoethnography was that, as an academic, I could not ever research the subject matter I was interested in as there are issues involving confidentiality, vulnerability and access to prisons due to security issues as some of the main barriers to even the most experienced researcher.”

The research was not without challenges. “I had to learn and research myself without the university giving me too much guidance before being allocated a dissertation tutor,” they say. Fortunately, they found guidance from Dr Matt Tidmarsh, who supported them in navigating the complexities of the chosen methodology.

What is more, Dalton’s dissertation was more than an academic exercise – it was a form of activism. “My dissertation on my experience of transitioning in a female prison was not only academic but was activism and trying to create social change,” he explains.

Poetry as a tool for identity and resistance

Dalton’s activism isn’t limited to research. His book, The Boy Behind the Wall, uses poetry to explore gender identity, mental health, trauma, and resilience.

“When I was seven, I found a poetry book my mother wrote before she moved to England from the Netherlands,” he recalls. “I couldn’t read Dutch, but I was utterly spellbound.”

Despite his struggles at school with grammar and sentence structure, Dalton never lost his love for poetry. It became his refuge while in prison:

Writing was the only way to get through those moments and piece together a life that had been shattered like glass. In prison, I was viewed as a girl, no one seemed to see the ‘me’ I knew I had always been. Poetry helped me write myself into existence, and it helped me become human in a world that dehumanises everything.

Through their book, Dalton hopes to humanise those often left in the margins of society. He explains, “I wanted to highlight that people are not that different. We are all human. Some people may have a history of prison, but that doesn't necessarily make them a bad person. Before prison, I judged people and once I was inside the criminal justice process, I saw so many things that changed my view of life.”

His work has since been adapted into theatre performances, art exhibitions, and even tattoos – one reader from Canada inked the last two lines of a poem he wrote in a female bail hostel. “Since leaving prison and writing this book, I have been able to support many PhD students from many academic fields, and the one thing that connects everything is passion to create social change,” he recognises.

However, what has meant the most to Dalton is how many people their work has inspired to start writing poetry – a legacy their late mother would have been proud of.

Building a community: the start of StandFast Productions

After leaving prison, Dalton faced numerous barriers to reintegration. Despite his academic achievements, he was denied access to university courses, rejected from jobs, and struggled to find a place where he felt seen.

“I felt like I would never achieve anything as the barriers kept increasing,” he recalls.

That’s when he decided to create StandFast Productions, a creative collective for people with lived experience in the justice system. The name was inspired by a prison term.

“When a ‘standfast’ is called, it means someone is missing during a roll call,” Dalton explains. “I had caused three standfasts in my time in prison – once when I was left locked in healthcare, another when an officer left me in the wrong wing.”

StandFast Productions provides a platform for storytelling through radio plays, art, and performance. “We’ve created three radio plays – High Risk, HMPride, and What Ifs and Maybes – all telling true life stories within fictional characters and hopes to challenge the assumptions of what women's prisons are like and how those who have been inside live.”

The power of art and performance in criminal justice reform

For Dalton, art isn’t just about personal expression – it’s a powerful tool for social change.

“Art and performance have been used in the criminal justice system for decades, from the Koestler Awards in 1962 to prison theatre programs,” he says. “It is a way to create change, shape activism, and give many people a passion they never knew they had. It also gives people a voice and shapes their narratives when they are controlled and restricted in institutions.”

While in prison, Dalton performed Cinderfella, a pantomime to raise money for Nepacs, a charity that supports families of prisoners. “As a transgender man, I found no one would listen to or see me in a female prison in the way I wanted to be seen, yet by performing Cinderfella we were able to show everyone who we were.”

Today, Dalton’s performances and creative projects continue to spark critical conversations about prison reform. As they explain:

Art and performance create a platform on the outside that engages audiences. It brings you into a world where you share that experience rather than read about it or learn something you feel. This is vital in a system that is at breaking point in showing people the realities of prison and asking them if it is working and what can be done about it.

Why prison education matters

A key theme in Dalton’s work is the transformative power of education in prison.

“Reeducation is better than any rehabilitation programme,” he argues. “When I got out, no one cared about the prison courses I had done, but everyone recognised my work with the Open University and Durham University.”

Higher education gave Dalton not just knowledge, but the possibility to thrive. “For me, being a prisoner, being transgender and having all these labels put on me was preventing me from growing,” he says. “Suddenly, sitting in a higher education class, I was told I was a student, and that was the first time I felt proud my mother could understand what I was doing, and we could talk about it.”

Dalton’s experience fuels their advocacy for expanding access to education in prisons:

Attending higher education programmes changed my mindset and confidence and showed me how to understand myself better. Giving me the tools to do reflective writing and critical thinking changed everything, and I have never looked back. I would not be here now without that push, and being a Masters student has been the proudest achievement of my life.

Looking ahead: what’s next?

Dalton’s journey is far from over. He is currently working on a new poetry collection that explores resilience after incarceration. “I want people to see that there is light beyond the barbed wire and floodlights,” they say.

To conclude, they share:

I am queer. I am a trans man. I am a student and activist. I hope you find your place in the world no matter what you are doing, because I have been on the outside, and I have been on the inside. Finding your truth is everything.

Interested in learning more about LGBTQ+ related research at the School of Law? Click here.