Video: Leeds prisoners armed with guitars as Billy Bragg drops in

Bragg is the figurehead of Jail Guitar Doors, a project he set up to provide guitars and other instruments to prison inmates.

It takes its name from a song by The Clash and was founded in memory of the band's singer Joe Strummer, who died in 2002.

Yesterday Bragg visited Armley Prison with Leeds folk singer Gary Kaye, who will take songwriting lessons with inmates.

Mr Kaye, from Horsforth, says the project will be extended to prisoners on their release, with further courses run by Cloth Cat, a Leeds music project.

Although the Jail Guitar Doors has had its critics - with some claiming that the guitars should be given to victims of crime, rather than criminals - it has been endorsed by several public figures, including Jonathan Ross and Phill Jupitus.

The project is already running in many British jails, including several in Yorkshire, and has had a positive impact, according to Bragg.

He said: "In early 2007, I was looking to do something positive to mark the fifth anniversary of the death of Joe Strummer when I received a request from a local jail.

"Malcolm Dudley, a drug and alcohol counsellor at nearby Guys Marsh prison in Dorset, was utilising his skills as a musician to set up a guitar class as a means of engaging prisoners in the process of rehabilitation.

"Borrowing a guitar from the prison chaplain and repairing an old nylon-strung instrument found in a prison cupboard, Malcolm began to make progress with the inmates. However, he soon became aware that their development was being held back by the lack of available instruments on which to practice between sessions. He wrote to me asking for help.

"I immediately grasped the potential of Malcolm's work, knowing from my own experience how playing guitar and writing songs can help an individual to process problems in a non-confrontational way. I bought half a dozen acoustic guitars and, just as Joe Strummer had painted slogans on his guitar, had them spraypainted with the titles of Clash songs."

Since 2007 the project has donated instruments to over 20 prisons with backing from sponsor Gibson Musical Instruments.

In a separate project, Armley inmates are to get classical music tuition from professional concert pianist Benjamin Frith and two students from Leeds University.

Inmates will use the jail's own piano to produce a performance piece which will be played next month to invited family and friends and recorded onto a CD for prisoners to keep.

The outreach project is the idea of the Leeds International Pianoforte Competition.