Left: Algernon the 1920s dormouse hosts one inmate's music room, created for children by Steve.

Museums of the Imagination is a show of art from prisoners' scrapbooks at Horsham Museum until April 26.

Poet Brendan Cleary helped prisoners at HMP Ford draw from memory and imagination to link their individual histories to artefacts lent by Horsham Museum.

Inmates were inspired by objects such as shrapnel from World War Two, Egyptian artefacts and Roman tiles and coins. Their work came together in three dimensional scrapbook museums.

"I loved the research - half of it in my head and half in the library. It is like wallpapering your room - I enjoyed sticking the last bit in place" said one inmate.

Right: the works take the form of a scrapbook and explore themes relevant to each inmate.

This surprising and inventive exhibition will show the prisoners' work alongside the original artefacts.

Algernon, a five-foot dormouse dressed in 1920's gear, was created to appeal to children and is intended to be a host and guide to visitors.

By-Ron (inmate Ron's pen-name), the poet of the show, has written a poem about the traces of a paw print on a roman tile. Other work depicts the rites of passage from cityscape to countryside, war-torn childhood to adulthood and friendship.

The artwork is part of a pioneering therapeutic scheme funded by the Department for Education and Skills through the Museums and Galleries Lifelong Learning Initiative, supported by SEMLAC (South East Museums, Libraries and Archives Council).

Left: Terry's imaginary museum explores rites of passage.

David Kendall, the coordinator for the scheme, described how the inmates created their work by "using artefact and photographic collections, literacy skills, personal skills, including, motivation, trust, self-worth, the ability to interact with others and articulate thoughts and feelings developed through the project."

This is an example of modern day prison reform because it has given inmates the rare opportunity to access museum artefacts and develop valuable creative and social skills in the process.

Horsham has historical connections with prison reform and was the site of the world's first reforming gaol.

In the eighteenth-century, John Howard, the famous reformer, condemned the County Gaol as a disgrace to the town and county. His attack inspired the people of Sussex to pay for a brand new gaol built to the best and most up-to-date ideas.