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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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. 
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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. 
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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

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