The Secret Life of Prisons podcast Prison Radio Association

Phil and Paula introduce a VERY special show for Christmas.
Lady Unchained is one of the best-known voices behind bars. She's the host of Free Flow - a weekly show on National Prison Radio that encouranges listeners to call in with their lyrics, performed to backing tracks that they play on the radio.
'It's the show where we play the beat twice so you can get your bars right.'
She's also the author of Behind Bars - an anthology of poetry written during and after her prison sentence.
In this special show, recorded live at Libereria in London to mark the release of her book, she's interviewed by Jules Rowan, who has also spent time in prison and is now the host of our hugely successful sister podcast Life After Prison.
We hear debut performances from two young artists who Brenda has nurtured - Aliyah Ali and Tamar. Plus, we hear an amazing clip from Free Flow of a listener who took the bars he recorded in prison and turned them into a professionally-produced track.
Thanks to the team at Second Home for organising and hosting the event.
You can buy Behind Bars here: https://uk.bookshop.org/books/behind-bars-on-punishment-prison-release/9781914240317

Phil Magure is joined by Zak and Jules, the hosts of the Prison Radio Association's brand new podcast Life After Prison.
If you've been to prison, or if you know someone who has, Life After Prison is building a community of people who can support each other through the experience of release and reintegration to society.
Click here to watch Life After Prison on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/by2wkIfNcTE
 

The Coronavirus pandemic led to many restrictions to all of our lives. For people in prison the restrictions were particlarly severe. The biggest impact was felt when all social visits were halted for many months, meaning people serving custodial sentences weren't able to see their families, friends and loved-ones in person.
In response, the Prison Service introduced video calls.
In this special episode, presenters Paula Harriott and Phil Maguire get the inside track on how this roll-out happened, what the impact was and what the future may hold for video call technology in prison.
They're joined by:
Dr Anna Kotova - Lecturer in Criminology at the School of Social Policy, University of Birmingham;
Tracy O'Donnell - host of the Family and Friends Request Show on National Prison Radio, and mother of two sons in prison;

Tim Lloyd - Head of Family Services at HM Prison and Probation Service.
They also hear from Stephen, who was in prison during the height of the lockdown and describes how those calls worked from inside prison.
Thanks to the Sir Halley Stewart Trust for funding the research.
This episode was recorded in April 2022.

On 5 October 2015, Nigel Poor, a photographer who worked in San Quentin State Prison in California, and Earlonne Woods, who was serving a long sentence in the same prison, came up with an idea that would ultimately secure Earlonne's freedom.
They're the presenter/producers of Ear Hustle, the multi award-winning, global podcast hit from Radiotopia that tells the daily stories of prison life.
In this final episode of the series, they join Phil Maguire and Paula Harriott to share reflections on prison, the media and freedom.
Check out Ear Hustle at www.earhustlesq.com

The creative arts in prison aren't just a 'nice-to-have'. For some they can be a passport to freedom and even a lifesaver.
Saul Hewish has visited over 100 prisons in his long career as a the founder and Artistic Director of Rideout, a charity that runs creative arts for rehabilitation. He joins Phil Maguire and Paula Harriott in a series of conversations with people who, in one way or another, found their creative calling in prison.
Lee Cutter's fantastic art can be found here: http://www.leecutter.com
Brenda Birungi's poetry can be found at: https://www.unchainedpoetry.com 
Rideout's homepage is: https://rideout.org.uk/
Walking the Wing, the audio drama produced in lockdown, can be heard here: https://soundcloud.com/saul-hewish-726672794

This episode of The Secret Life of Prisons was funded by the University of Reading as part of the 'Sounding Out: Facilitating Incarcerated People's Involvement in Penal Policy Reform' research project led by Dr Sarah Bartley in collaboration with Rideout Creative Arts for Rehabilitation and the Prison Reform Trust.
The Department of Film, Theatre, Television at The University of Reading can be found at: https://www.reading.ac.uk/film-theatre-television/

In 2021, the legendary TV screenwriter Jimmy McGovern released a three-part drama called Time on BBC1. People living and working in prisons have almost universally agreed that it's the most astonishingly realistic depiction of prison life they've ever seen. 
National Prison Radio listeners were aware it was in the planning two years ago, when they broadcast a talk Jimmy gave at HMP Erlestoke describing the writing process.
In this episode, Phil and Paula are joined by Jimmy along with the Executive Producer Tom Sherry to discuss the complexities of depicting prisons on the small screen. We also hear that clip from Jimmy's talk behind bars.
Time is available to watch on BBC iPlayer:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/p09fs2qh/time