The Secret Life of Prisons

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The Secret Life of Prisons

The Secret Life of Prisons is produced by a charity, the Prison Radio Association. To make a donation please visit prison.radio/donate. The podcast tells the hidden stories from behind bars. Paula Harriott is Chief Executive of Unlock. She spent time in prison and now works to help those who have been to prison to contribute to the debate around crime and justice. Phil Maguire is the Chief Executive of the Prison Radio Association. He's worked in prisons for two decades and received an OBE for services to radio. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  1. 4 DAYS AGO

    Diagnosis | Scout Tzofiya Bolton and Michelle Walsh

    Scout Tzofiya Bolton is a poet, activist, radio producer and the author of The Mad Art of Doing Time. She went to prison in 2023 where she received excellent care for the mental health conditions that led to her offence. You can read Scout's recent article for The Guardian here. You can listen to Scout's documentary for BBC Radio 4, entitled The Ballad of Scout and the Alcohol Tag. Scout's latest book, The Mad Art of Doing Time, is available from Broken Sleep Books. Michelle Walsh is a key worker at the Merseyside Women's Team for the Together Women project. She supports women with diagnosed and undiagnosed mental health conditions after release from prison and advocates on their behalf. You can find out more about the work of Together Women here. Presenters: Phil Maguire – Chief Executive, Prison Radio Association Paula Harriott – Chief Executive, Unlock Producer: Andrew Wilkie Assistant Producer: Faye Dunn The Prison Radio Association is a charity that 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. To make a donation please visit prison.radio/donate.  Registered Charity in England & Wales 1114760 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    41 min

  2. JAN 27

    Sentencing: A Primer | Tim Owen KC

    Tim Owen KC is a criminal barrister who has sat as a Deputy High Court Judge. He is a co-host of Double Jeopardy: The Law and Politics Podcast.  You can find the sentencing guidelines for all offences heard in the Magistrates and Crown Courts on the Sentencing Council website. Presenters: Phil Maguire – Chief Executive, Prison Radio Association Paula Harriott – Chief Executive, Unlock Producer: Andrew Wilkie Assistant Producer: Faye Dunn The Prison Radio Association is a charity that 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. To make a donation please visit prison.radio/donate.  Registered Charity in England & Wales 1114760 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    34 min

  3. JAN 20

    Telling stories | Mickey Dehara and Max Porter

    Mickey Dehara is a screenwriter who has frequently collaborated with the director Guy Richie, including playing a starring role in the film Snatch. He served a prison sentence in the early 2010s when he got involved with National Prison Radio and won the Sandford St. Martin and Jerusalem Awards for a dramatisation of the Good Friday story which he wrote and starred in. On release from prison he set up Films4Life which aimed to change people's lives through the medium of film-making. Max Porter is the award-winning author of several novels, including Grief Is A Thing With Feathers which is currently being adapted into a film starring Benedict Cumberbatch. He delvers storytelling workshops in palliative care settings, prisons and war zones. He has recently returned from Palestine where he worked with people caught up in the conflict, and he is the Writer in Residence at HMP Erlestoke. Presenters: Phil Maguire – Chief Executive, Prison Radio Association Paula Harriott – Chief Executive, Unlock Producer: Andrew Wilkie Assistant Producer: Faye Dunn The Prison Radio Association is a charity that 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. To make a donation please visit prison.radio/donate.  Registered Charity in England & Wales 1114760 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    42 min

  4. JAN 13

    Moral blindness | Jamie Bennett and Andrew Morris

    Jamie Bennett is is the author of a new book which looks at the challenges of managing prisons. He is Prison Contracts Group Director at His Majesty's Prison and Probation Service. He has been Governor of Morton Hall, Long Lartin, Grendon and Spring Hill prisons. Andrew Morris served a sentence in HMP Spring Hill while Jamie was the Governor there. After release, he founded the New Wave Trust which aims to provide mentorships for young black men. He's a Trustee at the Howard League for Penal Reform and for the Raphael Rowe Foundation. He's also worked as an assessment officer at the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman. Read more: Managing Prisons: Managerialism, Austerity and Moral Blindness by Jamie Bennett Presenters: Phil Maguire – Chief Executive, Prison Radio Association Paula Harriott – Chief Executive, Unlock Producer: Andrew Wilkie Assistant Producer: Faye Dunn The Prison Radio Association is a charity that 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. To make a donation please visit prison.radio/donate.  Registered Charity in England & Wales 1114760 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    50 min

  5. JAN 6

    Prison in numbers | Dr. Kimmett Edgar

    In November 2024, Janey Starling from the charity Level Up, called out the presenter of LBC's breakfast show Nick Ferrari live on air for his apparent ignorance of the facts around the imprisonment of women. In response to that interview, we invited friend of the podcast Dr. Kimmett Edgar to the studio to help us understand what the numbers can tell us about prisons and the people who live in them. Kimmett is a former Senior Research Officer at the Oxford Centre for Criminological Research and was Head of Research at the Prison Reform Trust. After finishing this podcast, why not listen to Paula's appearance on BBC Radio 4's Feedback? Some data sources from this programme:  You can find prison population statistics from His Majesty's Prison and Probation Service here. Data on reoffending rates is published here. Data on ethnicity in the prison popuation can be found here. Details of the running costs of individual prisons is published by the Ministry of Justice here. Analysis of government spending and performance of prisons by the Institute for Government is published here. A study of the impact of short custodial sentences on reoffending was released by the Ministry of Justice here. An international comparison of prison populations from the Council of Europe is published here. The evidence review of the impact of imprisonment on families is published by the charity Clinks here. Data on the causes of death of people in prison published by the Office for National for National Statistics can be found here. Ministry of Justice data on self harm in prison is published here. A BBC News report on the links between prison and homelessness can be found here. You can find a treasure trove of data about prisons in the annual Bromley Briefings Prison Factfile, published by the Prison Reform Trust. Presenters: Phil Maguire – Chief Executive, Prison Radio Association Paula Harriott – Chief Executive, Unlock Producer: Andrew Wilkie Assistant Producer: Faye Dunn The Prison Radio Association is a charity that 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. To make a donation please visit prison.radio/donate.  Registered Charity in England & Wales 1114760 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    49 min

  6. 12/23/2024

    Spending Christmas outside San Quentin | Greg Eskridge and Eli Wirtschafter

    Greg Eskridge was released from San Quentin Rehabilitation Center in California, formerly known as San Quentin state prison, on 23 July 2024 after serving 30 years and 25 days. In prison Greg became a founding member of the Uncuffed radio program and podcast, a project run by the public radio station KALW. Greg now works full-time as Uncuffed’s first Leadership Fellow, preparing him for leadership roles in the project.  Eli Wirtschafter is the Program Director for Uncuffed and got to know Greg through his work behind the walls of San Quentin. He trains people in California prisons how to produce radio and podcasts, developing professional broadcasting skills and creating shows. Listen to the Uncuffed podcast. The Secret Life of Prisons wishes you a very happy Christmas. We'll be back in the new year with weekly shows dropping every Monday. Presenters: Phil Maguire – Chief Executive, Prison Radio Association Paula Harriott – Chief Executive, Unlock Producer: Andrew Wilkie Assistant Producer: Faye Dunn The Prison Radio Association is a charity that 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. To make a donation please visit prison.radio/donate.  Registered Charity in England & Wales 1114760 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    32 min

  7. 12/16/2024

    Outside the Old Bailey

    In November the Sentencing Academy, a charity that aims to improve public understanding of sentencing in England and Wales, released a piece of research entitled 'Who is in prison and what is the purpose of imprisonment?'. It concluded that most people know very little about prisons. To test these findings, Phil and Paula went to stand outside the Central Criminal Court in London, better known as the Old Bailey, to ask Londoners about their views on crime, prisons and the people who live in them. Presenters: Phil Maguire – Chief Executive, Prison Radio Association Paula Harriott – Chief Executive, Unlock Producer: Andrew Wilkie Assistant Producer: Faye Dunn The Prison Radio Association is a charity that 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. To make a donation please visit prison.radio/donate.  Registered Charity in England & Wales 1114760 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    40 min

  8. 12/09/2024

    I disappeared for seven years | Sarah Moore and Sonya Ruparel

    Sarah Moore was exposed to the most dangerous situations imaginable during a seven-year period in which she disappeared from her family's life. She wanted to protect them from the effects of her chaotic lifestyle and mental ill-health, both of which she struggled to manage.  She is now a criminal justice practitioner working at Anawim, a Women's Centre in Birmingham. Sonya Ruparel is the Chief Executive of Women in Prison, a charity that supports women affected by the criminal justice system and campaigns to end the harms associated with the imprisonment of women. You can submit evidence to the Independent Sentencing Reivew here. Presenters: Phil Maguire – Chief Executive, Prison Radio Association Paula Harriott – Chief Executive, Unlock Producer: Andrew Wilkie Assistant Producer: Faye Dunn The Prison Radio Association is a charity that 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. To make a donation please visit prison.radio/donate.  Registered Charity in England & Wales 1114760 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    39 min
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The Secret Life of Prisons is produced by a charity, the Prison Radio Association. To make a donation please visit prison.radio/donate. The podcast tells the hidden stories from behind bars. Paula Harriott is Chief Executive of Unlock. She spent time in prison and now works to help those who have been to prison to contribute to the debate around crime and justice. Phil Maguire is the Chief Executive of the Prison Radio Association. He's worked in prisons for two decades and received an OBE for services to radio. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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