Sarah Tucker

Sarah Tucker, an interdisciplinary PhD candidate and a creative researcher focused on ex‑prisoner leadership with a vision to inform and improve rehabilitation practices in Australian correctional settings. Her work integrates lived experiences of incarceration, street culture, minority populations, and Indigenous cultures, with a strong emphasis on creative therapies. Raised within and alongside prison cultures, and shaped by early experiences of poverty, street life, and tattooing subcultures, she brings rare cultural fluency and deep insight into marginalised communities.

With 25 years in the arts and extensive experience facilitating trauma‑informed programs in correctional settings, she specialises in creative interventions that support rehabilitation, cultural expression, and emotional regulation for women in maximum‑security prisons. Sarah has delivered award‑winning programs for First Nations women, contributed to national justice reform forums, and published internationally on creative practice in carceral environments.

A survivor from the Stolen Generations, she began her university studies while incarcerated, Sarah now develops evidence‑based creative programs and consults across justice and community sectors. Her qualifications include a Bachelor of Visual Arts (UNE, 2001), a Graduate Certificate in Applied Neuroscience (CHC, 2021), a Graduate Certificate in Criminology (Griffith, 2022), a Master of Social Science Leadership (CHC, 2024), and an Associate Degree of Arts Therapy (IKON, 2024).