The Secret Life of Prisons podcast Prison Radio Association

The Secret Life of Prisons is produced by a charity, the Prison Radio Association. To make a donation please visit prison.radio/donate. 
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Charlie Taylor is His Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons. His role is to report back to the government on conditions in prisons across England and Wales. While his team encounters many serious problems in prisons on their travels (see our recent episode 'Urgent Notification'), they also see examples of prisons whose culture creates calmness and postiive engagement.
These prisons tend to have lower levels of violence and are safer, more humane environments. 
What can we learn from these prisons?
HM Inspectorate of Prisons has recently published a report, 'Improving Behaviour in Prisons', asking this very question.
Marc Conway contributed to the report. He is a criminal justice consultant through his organisation Fair Justice. He spent many years in and out of prison, encountering the very good and the very bad along the way. He was released for the final time in 2018.
Read the report by HM Chief Inspector of prisons 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. 
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People in prison are more likely to encounter a bereavement than the wider population, and are more likely to have experienced a catalogue of loss. Prison chaplains are ususally the people who break the news of a death.
What is it like to experience loss in prison?
Why is it so important for prison staff to confirm the accuracy of the news?
What risks can these traumatic events pose to prison security?
How do prison chaplains handle the repeated trauma of passing on this news?
The Rev Phil Chadder was Senior Chaplain at HMP Brixton for many years, and estimates he's broken this sort of news many hundreds of times. He now trains new prison chaplains in how to break the news of a death to a prisoner, teaching how to handle this incredibly difficult and sensitive situation.
Richie spent many years in prison, including a spell in HMP Brixton where he got to know Phil Chadder. During his time in prison he lost two close relatives.
Read Prison Service Instruction 05/2016: Faith and Pastoral Care for Prisoners.
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. 
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In January 2024 the Chair of the Bar Council, Sam Townend KC, issued a warning about the plummeting number of guilty pleas being entered at defendants' first court appearances. Phil and Paula zoom in on this crucial moment in the judicial process to understand why this trend could be catastrophic for a justice system already struggling to cope.
Sarah Magill is a criminal defence barrister from Lincoln House Chambers, who talks about what's happening on the ground in courtrooms across the country.
Louis was released from prison in 2023 after serving a sentence for drugs offences. He describes how he pleaded and why it then took a year for the matter to be settled.
Watch Sam Townend KC's address at Lincoln's Inn here.
Read about Sarah Magill's work 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. 
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Last week we heard the story of Hilary, who grew up in the UK and has a British wife and children. After receiving a prison sentence, he almost got deported to Nigeria, a country with which he barely has any connections. 
Sophie was in the reverse position. Born in the UK but growing up in the US from the age of 6, she had no other links with her birth country. Imprisoned for 12 months, she found herself on a flight to Heathrow with two Homeland Security Agents.
Sophie's story is emotional, but like Hilary's, it also has a happy ending.
Chris Stacey is Chief Executive of Prisoners Abroad, the charity that helped Sophie and helps thousands of British nationals and their families each year.
www.prisonersabroad.org.uk
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. 
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Hilary Ineomo-Marcus was days away from release from HMP Brixton in 2014 when he found out that he wasn't going home. His immigration status was being questioned and he was being considered for deportation.
Hilary had moved to the UK from Nigeria as a child with his family. He had gone to primary school, secondary school and university in the UK. He had returned to Nigeria once in his whole life. He had married a British woman and had British children. 
He committed a fraud for which he served a severe punishment in prison.
But from 2014 he spent 10 years and tens of thousands of pounds fighting a legal battle with the Home Office to prevent his deportation to a country with which he had no ties.
Hilary is a Trustee of the Prison Radio Association, and in this episode he describes his experience and ... finally ... is able to tell us about the happy ending to his story.
Miranda Sawyer is a journalist and broadcaster. She is the radio and podcast critic for the Observer newspaper. She has known Hilary for most of his time fighting this battle. She has supported him and become his good friend.
In this emotional episode, we hear what it takes to battle the Home Office and win.
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. 
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Alcohol tags, or sobriety tags, have been being trialled as a way of dealing with alcohol-related disorder for some years. Now, increasingly, they're being given to people released from prison on licence as a way of reducing their risk of reoffending. What are they, how do they know if you've been drinking, what's it like wearing one ... and most importantly, do they work?
Scout Tzofiya Bolton was released from prison just a few days ago, and she’s wearing a sobriety tag right now.
Danny Herbert successfully completed 6 months on a sobriety tag after being released from prison last year. He's approaching one year out of prison, which is the longest he's stayed out of prison for many years.
Patrick Connelly is Head of Contract Management for the Electronic Monitoring programme at His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service.
Presenters:
Phil Maguire – Chief Executive, Prison Radio Association
Paula Harriott – Head of Prisoner Engagement, Prison Reform Trust
Producer: Andrew Wilkie
Additional Production: Ellen Orchard and Faye Dunn
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