The Secret Life of Prisons podcast – Détails, épisodes et analyse

The Secret Life of Prisons is produced by a charity, the Prison Radio Association. To make a donation please visit prison.radio/donate. 

--

On Wednesday 22 November 2023, Rory Stewart delivered the annual Longford Lecture at Church House in Westminster. 

Rory's lecture was entitled, Rhetoric vs Reality: My Journey as Prisons Minister. It addressed why politics is ill-equipped to deal with the crisis in prisons, and what we might be able to do to change this.

For more information about the Longford Trust, visit www.longfordtrust.org 

This episode was originally released on this feed in December 2023

Presenters:
Phil Maguire – Chief Executive, Prison Radio Association
Paula Harriott – Head of Prisoner Engagement, Prison Reform Trust

Producer: Andrew Wilkie

The Prison Radio Association runs National Prison Radio, the world’s first national radio station for people serving prison sentences. We employ people in prison to develop their skills, find their best voices and help them discover ways to lead crime-free lives after release.

Registered Charity in England & Wales 1114760

The Secret Life of Prisons is produced by a charity, the Prison Radio Association. To make a donation please visit prison.radio/donate. 

--

How to survive a life sentence

We're back in the studio with two people who have been to prison and are now outside living with a 'life licence', to talk about 'hooks for change' and the what happens as the reality of being a 'lifer' dawns on you.

They join Phil and Paula in the studio, along with criminologists Serena Wright and Ben Crewe.

Serena is a researcher and Lecturer in Criminology in the Department of Law and Criminology at Royal Holloway, University of London, UK. Her research on prisons and penology has focused on short-term sentences and post-release ‘frustrated desistance’ among women, and the experience of long-term incarceration among life-sentenced prisoners.

Ben is Deputy Director of the Prisons Research Centre at the Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge. He is interested in all aspects of prison life, including prison management, staff-prisoner relationships, public and private sector imprisonment, penal power and prisoner social life.

Further reading:

Experiencing long-term imprisonment from young adulthood (Wright, Crewe, Hulley): Ministry of Justice

Life Imprisonment from Young Adulthood (Wright, Crewe, Hulley): Palgrave Macmillan

This episode was originally released on this feed in November 2021

Presenters:
Phil Maguire – Chief Executive, Prison Radio Association
Paula Harriott – Head of Prisoner Engagement, Prison Reform Trust

Producer: Andrew Wilkie

The Prison Radio Association runs National Prison Radio, the world’s first national radio station for people serving prison sentences. We employ people in prison to develop their skills, find their best voices and help them discover ways to lead crime-free lives after release.

Registered Charity in England & Wales 1114760

The Secret Life of Prisons is produced by a charity, the Prison Radio Association. To make a donation please visit prison.radio/donate. 

--

As we approach the next general election, the Secret Life of Prisons is bringing you guests who have knowledge and insight about the role criminal justice plays in politics as the major players fight for our votes.

We've asked this week's guest to come up with five pieces of advice for the next government to improve our justice system.

Andi Brierley is an author and educator. He was the editor of last year's book, The Good Prison Officer. He spent several years in prison as a young person, serving time for offences fuelled by a drug addiction. Today he teaches at Leeds Trinity University and he trains prison officers through the Unlocked Graduates programme.

Find out more about Unlocked Graduates here.

The Good Prison Officer

Presenters:
Phil Maguire – Chief Executive, Prison Radio Association
Paula Harriott – Head of Prisoner Engagement, Prison Reform Trust

Producer: Andrew Wilkie

The Prison Radio Association runs National Prison Radio, the world’s first national radio station for people serving prison sentences. We employ people in prison to develop their skills, find their best voices and help them discover ways to lead crime-free lives after release.

Registered Charity in England & Wales 1114760

The Secret Life of Prisons is produced by a charity, the Prison Radio Association. To make a donation please visit prison.radio/donate. 

--

If you have been to prison you are fourty times more likely to experience homelessness than the general population. 

Michael Sloane spent three decades in and out of prison, addiction and homelessness. He was once given a tent to live in on release from prison. He now studies politics at Ruskin College in Oxford.

Matt Gannon is from the Centre for Homelessness Impact, a charity that uses data to understand the factors that lead to homelessness and improve the lives of those who are most at risk.

Find out more about The Centre for Homelessness Impact

You can read the report Prison Discharge and Homelessness here.

You can read The Ballad of Rochester Jail by M A Sloane here. 

Presenters:
Phil Maguire – Chief Executive, Prison Radio Association
Paula Harriott – Head of Prisoner Engagement, Prison Reform Trust

Producer: Andrew Wilkie

The Prison Radio Association runs National Prison Radio, the world’s first national radio station for people serving prison sentences. We employ people in prison to develop their skills, find their best voices and help them discover ways to lead crime-free lives after release.

Registered Charity in England & Wales 1114760

The Secret Life of Prisons is produced by a charity, the Prison Radio Association. To make a donation please visit prison.radio/donate. 

--

As we approach the next general election, the Secret Life of Prisons is bringing you guests who have knowledge and insight into politics and the role criminal justice is likely to play as the major players fight for our votes.

We're asking each guest to identify five things we should all be looking out for as the political campaigning ramps up.

Dominic Grieve was the MP for Beaconsfield. He was Shadow Justice Secretary in the years before the 2010 general election, and was appointed Attorney General under David Cameron. 

Presenters:
Phil Maguire – Chief Executive, Prison Radio Association
Paula Harriott – Head of Prisoner Engagement, Prison Reform Trust

Producer: Andrew Wilkie

The Prison Radio Association runs National Prison Radio, the world’s first national radio station for people serving prison sentences. We employ people in prison to develop their skills, find their best voices and help them discover ways to lead crime-free lives after release.

Registered Charity in England & Wales 1114760

The Secret Life of Prisons is produced by a charity, the Prison Radio Association. To make a donation please visit prison.radio/donate. 

--

Despite having lots of time to spare during a sentence, people in prison face very many barriers to pursuing education, and particularly further education. Some people manage to overcome these barriers, and the Longford Trust is a key source of support.

In 2011 Chris Walters was arrested in Taiwan for a drugs offence. After seven years on bail, Chris received a prison sentence and was flown to the UK to serve out his sentence. His remarkable story brought him into contact with the Longford Trust. He now works on their fundraising team, and he's completing a law degree at the University of Edinburgh. 

Peter Stanford is the Director of the Longford Trust, who provide grants and mentorships to people in prison and after release to pursue higher education.

https://www.longfordtrust.org

Presenters:
Phil Maguire – Chief Executive, Prison Radio Association
Paula Harriott – Head of Prisoner Engagement, Prison Reform Trust

Producer: Andrew Wilkie

The Prison Radio Association runs National Prison Radio, the world’s first national radio station for people serving prison sentences. We employ people in prison to develop their skills, find their best voices and help them discover ways to lead crime-free lives after release.

Registered Charity in England & Wales 1114760

The Secret Life of Prisons is produced by a charity, the Prison Radio Association. To make a donation please visit prison.radio/donate. 

--

In the March 2024 budget, Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt said the government will seek to "prioritise proposals that deliver annual savings within five years". What does this mean for prisons and the criminal justice system, having to deal with rising numbers and facing increasingly complex challenges?

Grace Blakeley is a journalist and author. She previously sat on the Labour Party’s National Policy Forum which is responsible for policy development. Before that she worked for the Institute for Public Policy Research.

Grace Blakeley's new book Vulture Capitalism is available here.

Vicky Pryce was a civil service economist and is now Chief Economic Advisor for the Centre for Economics and Business Research. She’s a visiting professor at Birmingham City University and at King’s College London. Vicky served a prison sentence in 2013, where she saw first-hand how the prison system works, and she is now a Trustee of the charity Women in Prison and also Patron of the charity Working Chance, which is the UK’s only employment charity solely for women with convictions.

Presenters:
Phil Maguire – Chief Executive, Prison Radio Association
Paula Harriott – Head of Prisoner Engagement, Prison Reform Trust

Producer: Andrew Wilkie

The Prison Radio Association runs National Prison Radio, the world’s first national radio station for people serving prison sentences. We employ people in prison to develop their skills, find their best voices and help them discover ways to lead crime-free lives after release.

Registered Charity in England & Wales 1114760

The Secret Life of Prisons is produced by a charity, the Prison Radio Association. To make a donation please visit prison.radio/donate. 

--

In the months leading up to the next general election, the Secret Life of Prisons will be bringing you an occasional series featuring guests who have knowledge and insight into politics and the role criminal justice is likely to play as the major players fight for our votes.

We will be asking each guest to identify five things we should all be looking out for as the political campaigning ramps up.

Louisa James is our first guest. A political journalist and a member of the Westminster lobby, she is the Political Correspondent for ITV's Good Morning Britain.

Presenters:
Phil Maguire – Chief Executive, Prison Radio Association
Paula Harriott – Head of Prisoner Engagement, Prison Reform Trust

Producer: Andrew Wilkie

The Prison Radio Association runs National Prison Radio, the world’s first national radio station for people serving prison sentences. We employ people in prison to develop their skills, find their best voices and help them discover ways to lead crime-free lives after release.

Registered Charity in England & Wales 1114760

The Secret Life of Prisons is produced by a charity, the Prison Radio Association. To make a donation please visit prison.radio/donate. 

--

On Tuesday 7 May 2024 National Prison Radio, the world's first national radio station for people in prison, won an incredible SIX awards at the Radio Academy ARIAS, the 'Oscars' of the radio industry.

Phil and Paula take us into the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, to hang with the National Prison Radio team and soak up the atmosphere.

Ali Ali won Bronze for Best New Presenter. He's the host of Porridge, National Prison Radio's breakfast show. 

Lady Unchained is a poet, speaker, mentor and the host of Free Flow, the National Prison Radio show 'where we play the beat twice so you can get your bars right'. 

Marianne Garvey is the Managing Editor of National Prison Radio.

Arthur Hagues is Head of Content Innovation at the Prison Radio Association and producer of some of that award-winning content.

Listen to A Proposal For Resisting Darkness – a drama produced in partnership with Clean Break Theatre Company and nominee for Best Drama.

Full list of National Prison Radio winners:

Bronze for Takeover Tuesdays in the Best New Radio Show category
Bronze for Life After Prison in the Grassroots category
Bronze for Ali Ali in Best New Presenter
Silver for National Prison Radio’s Rock Show in the Best Music Entertainment Show category
Silver for Zak and Jules in the Best Speech Presenter category
Gold for Lady Unchained and her Free Flow show in Best Specialist Music.

Presenters:
Phil Maguire – Chief Executive, Prison Radio Association
Paula Harriott – Head of Prisoner Engagement, Prison Reform Trust

Producer: Andrew Wilkie

The Prison Radio Association runs National Prison Radio, the world’s first national radio station for people serving prison sentences. We employ people in prison to develop their skills, find their best voices and help them discover ways to lead crime-free lives after release.

Registered Charity in England & Wales 1114760

The Secret Life of Prisons is produced by a charity, the Prison Radio Association. To make a donation please visit prison.radio/donate. 

--

Under David Cameron's austerity government between 2010 and 2015, the number of prison officers in England and Wales fell by more than a quarter. Many experienced officers took voluntary redundancy. In the years since, the prison service has been recruiting new officers to fill the gaps – often young and inexperienced.

Gen Glaister was one of those recruits, joining the prison service in 2016, aged 23. She says it was an incredibly rewarding job and a privilege to do, but she left after less than two years. She's written a memoir of her time in the prison service called The Prison Officer: The Inside Story of Life Behind Bars. She is determined to change the public's approach to people in prison, and to get the UK excited about justice reform.

Nathan Parker is a mentor and trainer of prison officers, through his work with the Rees Foundation. He was 19 when he was sent to prison for four years, around the same time Gen was working the landings. He was fully aware of how young many of the prison officers were.

The Prison Officer by Gen Glaister is available to order here.

Find out more about the Rees Foundation.

Presenters:
Phil Maguire – Chief Executive, Prison Radio Association
Paula Harriott – Head of Prisoner Engagement, Prison Reform Trust

Producer: Andrew Wilkie

The Prison Radio Association runs National Prison Radio, the world’s first national radio station for people serving prison sentences. We employ people in prison to develop their skills, find their best voices and help them discover ways to lead crime-free lives after release.

Registered Charity in England & Wales 1114760