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. 
--
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. 
--
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. 
--
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. 
--
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. 
--
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. 
--
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