Shakespeare's elite cultural status bolsters the sense of achievement and empowerment experienced by participants in prison performance programmes; and yet, such engagements paradoxically risk further marginalising participants by reinforcing a colonial mentality in which Shakespeare represents an offering from a morally superior white culture. Taking the Detroit Public Theatre's Shakespeare in Prison (SIP) programme for women as my central case study, I apply a decolonising lens in order to identify pedagogies and practices that help SIP to prioritise participant knowledge and agency, prioritise an ethics of care over high production standards, and prioritise relationality over the individualist rhetoric of rehabilitation.