News
10.10.26
Jail Time Records wins WOMEX 26 Professional Excellence Award
Jail Time Records has been named the recipient of the WOMEX 2026 Professional Excellence Award, recognising our work with incarcerated and formerly incarcerated artists in Cameroon and Burkina Faso. Co-founder Steve Happi will join WOMEX in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria on 24 October for a conversation about the project, from its beginnings inside New Bell Prison to its work supporting artists after their release.
27.09.26
Jail Time Records screened at MoMA
On 25 September 2026, our documentary Jail Time Records screened at the Museum of Modern Art in New York as part of Healing Arts New York’s The Art of Imagining: Global Practices in Prison Arts. Dione Roach and Steve Happi also joined a roundtable bringing together artists, researchers and practitioners to discuss the role of the arts in prison and share experiences from our work in Cameroon.
27.07.26
BBC article on Jail Time Records
BBC News takes a look inside New Bell Prison in Douala, where Jail Time Records artists record songs and film music videos behind bars, reaching audiences far beyond the prison walls.
14.06.26
JAIL TIME RECORDS WINS TRIBECA!
Our documentary Jail Time Records, directed by Dione Roach and Steve Happi, celebrated its world premiere at the 2026 Tribeca Festival in New York, winning three awards: Best Documentary Feature, Best Cinematography in a Documentary Feature, and the Albert Maysles Award for Best New Documentary Director. Filmed over six years inside Douala’s New Bell Prison, it follows three artists whose music brings them together through the struggles of incarceration.
05.05.26
JTR at the Cameroon National Pavilion - 61st Venice Biennale
Invited by curator Beya Gille Gacha, JTR joins the group of artists representing Cameroon in NZƎNDA - The Path Home, the national pavilion at the 61st Venice Biennale. Its contribution is a three-channel audiovisual installation, with video by Dione Roach and music by Steve Happi, drawn from the label’s collaborations with incarcerated and formerly incarcerated artists. Now open to the public until 22 November 2026 at Gervasuti Foundation, Calle Lunga Santa Caterina, Cannaregio 4998, Venice.
25.04.26
JTR Documentary premieres at Tribeca Film Festival
“Jail Time Records”, directed by Dione Roach and Steve Happi, will have its world premiere in the Documentary Competition of the 2026 Tribeca Festival in New York. Captured over six years inside New Bell Prison in Douala, Cameroon, the film follows Stone, Transporteur and Empereur, three incarcerated artists connected to the first recording studio built inside an African prison. Screenings take place on June 6, 7 and 11 at AMC 19th St. East 6, New York.
13.02.26
JTR Concert at Goethe-Institut Kamerun
Jail Time Records presented Jail Time, an immersive live performance at Goethe-Institut Kamerun combining music, dance, spoken word, theatre and visuals. Created by Jail Time Records with creative direction by Steve Happi and Dione Roach, the performance featured formerly incarcerated artists from the label and Julia Asuka Riedl from the Mirjam Gurtner dance company.
08.02.26
JTR concert inside New Bell Prison
Jail Time Records organised a live concert inside New Bell Prison in Douala, Cameroon. JTR artists performed for an audience inside the prison, turning the label’s daily work into a collective moment of music and expression.
02.06.25
The Guardian: The record label reaching out to Cameroon’s street talent
The Guardian featured Ça vient de la rue, a community music project by Jail Time Records bringing a mobile recording studio to vulnerable youth in marginalised neighbourhoods of Douala. The article follows its street sessions, rap workshops and recordings as part of a prevention programme addressing youth violence, gang activity and drug abuse.
16.10.24
JTR on WePresent
WePresent featured Jail Time Records in a story by Natty Kasambala, tracing the origins of the project through a conversation with co-founders Steve Happi and Dione Roach. The article looks at the label’s work inside New Bell Prison and its vision for the future.
27.06.24
JTR at Fête de la Musique at Institut Français du Cameroun in Douala
Jail Time Records took part in Fête de la Musique at Institut Français du Cameroun in Douala. The programme included a public talk followed by a live concert with JTR artists.
06.06.24
JTR on Carhartt Mag
Carhartt WIP Magazine featured Jail Time Records in Redemption Songs, a reportage from Douala by Thomas Gorton with images by Dione Roach. The article follows the label inside New Bell Prison and its work with incarcerated and formerly incarcerated artists.
17.08.23
NTS x JTR Short Documentary
NTS released a mini-documentary on Jail Time Records, meeting MCs and vocalists connected to the label inside and outside New Bell Prison.
24.07.23
JTR covered by VICE international
VICE International featured Jail Time Records in a story from New Bell Prison, following the label’s studio, artists and music videos. The article frames JTR as a non-profit record label working inside and outside prison, while highlighting its growing presence beyond Cameroon through the stories of Kengol DJ, JEJE and Stone Larabik.
23.06.23
JTR opens a new studio at MACO, Ouagadougou
Jail Time Records opened a new recording studio inside MACO, the prison of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, with representatives of Burkina Faso’s Ministry of Justice. Equipped for recording sessions, workshops and music production, the studio expands JTR’s work beyond Cameroon and creates a space for prisoners to turn their experiences into music and art.
12.05.23
JTR Concert at Goethe-Institut Yaoundé
Jail Time: Prisoners who make art was presented at Goethe-Institut Yaoundé through an exhibition, panel discussion and concert. The event brought together images, music and public conversation around artists connected to Jail Time Records, with a focus on freedom of expression and social reintegration.
05.01.23
JTR interviewed by NTS Radio
JTR sits down with NTS Radio for a focused, low-key interview blending music talk with personal insight. Exploring JTR’s creative process, influences, and the intent behind its latest work, the conversation moves between sound design, scene culture, and a restrained but clear artistic vision.
04.06.22
Vogue Italia: Anti-Do-To x Jail Time Records
Vogue Italia featured Anti-Do-To’s project with Jail Time Records in Douala, Cameroon. The collaboration funded a recording studio outside New Bell Prison and included a capsule collection curated by Federico Curradi, with works created in prison printed on sustainable garments.
24.05.22
The Guardian: the recording studio offering musical escape in a Cameroon prison
The Guardian article follows several Jail Time Records musicians whose lives were transformed through the studio, showing how music became a tool for survival, rehabilitation, and reintegration beyond prison walls.
25.02.21
BBC Outlook podcast on JTR
BBC Outlook told the story of Vidou H, the producer who made music with artists he met inside prison after being wrongly accused of murder. The episode introduced Jail Time Records through its origins inside New Bell Prison.
About
Jail Time Records is a non-profit music label born in New Bell Central Prison in Douala, Cameroon.
In 2018, Jail Time Records created the first permanent recording studio inside an African prison and has since grown into a collective of musicians, producers and filmmakers working within and beyond prison walls. The label produces and releases work by incarcerated and formerly incarcerated artists from some of Cameroon’s most challenging and overcrowded detention environments.
Dedicated to identifying and promoting talent, supporting social reintegration and challenging the stigma around imprisonment, Jail Time Records provides visibility and practical tools to a part of society too often silenced and underrepresented. For artists living the harsh reality of confinement, music becomes a way to keep creating, resisting and believing in a second chance.
Jail Time Records was co-founded by visual artist Dione Roach and music producer Steve Happi at New Bell. At the time, Happi was incarcerated and played a pivotal role in building the studio, becoming the first to run it from within.
Over the years, hundreds of artists have passed through the studio, creating thousands of songs spanning afro, hip-hop, R&B, traditional music and gospel. Today, the project operates as a multimedia record label and cultural platform for marginalised and underserved communities, as well as people affected by incarceration.
More recently, Jail Time Records has expanded beyond Douala, opening a recording studio inside MACO prison in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, and a production space and visual arts centre inside Ngoma prison in Cameroon.
Jail Time Records has also opened a recording studio outside the prison in Douala. This space is critical for the reintegration of formerly incarcerated artists into community life and for the label’s essential prevention activities.
Above all, Jail Time Records sees music and art as powerful tools for personal and social impact and remains committed to transforming lives through creativity, amplifying unheard voices and building pathways to change.