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.
Episodes
Frank's Walk
One month into Frank Stedman's prison sentence, he lost his brother to suicide. Unable to attend the funeral, the prison put Frank into segregation because he was considered to be an escape risk. He spent 10 days on the block before being m…
Your questions answered | David Breakspear and Dr. Ruth Armstrong
We love receiving your questions, thoughts and comments. Email us at podcasts@prison.radio.In this final episode before we take a summer break, we answer questions from listeners inside prison and listeners on the outside.David Breakspear i…
The Future of Probation: Part 3 | Martin Jones CBE, Professor Nicola Carr and Dr. Matthew Millings
In 2014, probation services in England and Wales underwent the most radical shake-up for generations in a part-privatisation process known as Transforming Rehabilitation. Seven years later, in 2021, these reforms were reversed as the public…
Windrush | James Batchelor and Colin McFarlane
James Batchelor is an educator, musician, film-maker and producer. He spent a time behind bars where he became a presenter for National Prison Radio. Jimmy has continued to work with the Prison Radio Association in the many years since his …
Holloway | Tamar and Daisy-May Hudson
Tamar spent a short period of time in HMP Holloway, a women's prison in North London, in 2016. Months later, the prison was closed for good. The buildings became derelict. Several years later, Tamar was one of a group of six women who had a…
Life on licence | Zak Addae-Kodua and Cecilia Goodwin
Zak Addae-Kodua is one half of Zak and Jules, the presenting team behind the award-winning Life After Prison podcast. He has experienced several stints out on licence and explains why it's not always as straightforward to keep to your licen…
How to run a festival in a prison | David Kendall and Jailhouse Moose
Ten years ago, David Kendall decided to put on an entire festival of arts and literature inside HMP Lewes. This was the birth of Penned Up, a unique annual event which is now in its tenth year, and which has found a home in HMP Erlestoke in…
*Emergency Podcast* The Independent Sentencing Review | David Shipley
On the day David Gauke, the former Justice Secretary, publishes his long-awaited Independent Sentencing Review, we get analysis from the journalist David Shipley who served a sentence for fraud in 2020-2021 and now broadcasts for several pu…
The extreme far-right in prison | Nigel Bromage and Graham Finochio
Nigel Bromage was a prominent member of several far-right groups, including British Movement and Combat 18, for 20 years. During that time, he was close to events that could easily have led him to prison. He became disillusioned with the li…
To fix the filing cabinet or the person? | Cherie Blair KC and Kate Morrissey
Cherie Blair KC became a barrister in 1976 and went on to be a county court and crown court judge. In 2024 she was appointed to the Leadership Board of the charity Women in Prison, where she has stressed the importance of supporting women a…
The Prison Philosophers | Andy West and Ray Smith
Andy West is the author of The Life Inside: A Memoir of Prison, Family and Learning to be Free, which is currently being adapted into a BBC television drama. Andy has been teaching philosophy in prisons since 2016. You can buy Andy's book w…
The HMP Brixton Half Marathon
Two days before the 2025 London Marathon, a very special half marathon took place behind the walls of HMP Brixton in aid of the Prison Reform Trust. And The Secret Life of Prisons was granted exclusive access to bring you the sounds of a mo…
Justice vs the culture wars | Your questions answered
We love to hear your thoughts, your views and your questions. To contact the show, please email podcasts@prison.radio.In this week's episode we answer questions from listeners inside and outside prison.Presenters:Phil Maguire – Chief Execut…
We've visited a *lot* of prisons | Duewaine Marshalleck-Baker and Arthur Hagues
This week we've got two guests who, for very different reasons, have spent time in a lot of different prisons. We asked them to compare notes and tell us their best stories.Duewaine Marshalleck-Baker was released from prison for the final t…
Who was Chris Tchaikovsky? | Kate Fraser and Deborah Coles
Chris Tchaikovsky was a founder of the charity Women in Prison, the charity that campaigns on behalf of women in the criminal justice system. She died in 2002, having lived an extraordinary life. Today's episode marks the end of Women's His…
Disclosure and barring | Peter Lewis and Penelope Gibbs
Peter Lewis served a prison sentence for receiving a corrupt payment. Shortly after his release, during the pandemic, he applied for a voluntary role directing cars at a Covid vaccination centre and his application was rejected, apparently …
Visits | Faye Dunn and Mo
When Mo went to prison hundreds of miles from home, his older sister would visit him but he didn't see his mum in person until he was more than two years into his sentence, and his youngest sister didn't come to visit him at all. He went fi…
Finding the common ground | Alice Dawnay and Kam
Alice Dawnay founded the charity Switchback in 2008, which supports young Londoners to find a way out of the justice system. She's now part of the team that's just launched the Common Ground Justice Project, which is an initiative to find t…
Why me? | Khamran Uddin and Keeva Baxter
In 2013, Khamran Uddin wrote a letter to the man he had violently assaulted in a random attack on a deserted railway platform. The victim was coming home from work as he did every day when Khamran seriously injured him with a baseball bat. …
The culture of sentencing | David Gauke
David Gauke is the former Conservative Member of Parliament for South West Hertfordshire, the former Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor, and the Chair of the Labour government's Independent Sentencing Review.Phil and Paula a…
Talent development | Richie Makepeace and Nancy Prentice
Richie Makepeace was just trying to keep his head down and get through his prison sentence in HMP Brixton when he was offered a job in the prison's radio production training workshop. Like many people in prison, he was really worried about …
The most serious development in decades | Michael Kennedy and Ian Vandersluys
Spice, a name for a group of synthetic drugs that have gripped prisons over the past decade, are said by researchers at Middlesex University's Drug and Alcohol Research Centre to have played a role in almost half of all non-natural deaths i…
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…
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 Cour…
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 Rad…
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 a…
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, w…
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 p…
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…
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…
Six people who were in prison and now work in radio | Ali, Jules, Nico, Garth, Faye ... plus Paula
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 the…
Parenting from behind bars | Sean Henry
Sean Henry received multiple prison terms through his early adult life. But receiving a long sentence for a serious offence when his son was just two months old, Sean discovered a different perspective on his own life and the way he had bee…
What I Learned About Prison in Iran | Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe gives the Longford Lecture 2024
On Monday 11 November 2024, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe delivered the annual Longford Lecture at Church House in Westminster. Nazanin was imprisoned in 2016 at the end of a family visit to Iran, accused of plotting to overthrow the governmen…
I lost 18 stone in prison | Tyler Voase and Samy Ali
Tyler Voase was released from prison in the summer of 2024. He first went into jail in 2022 weighing over 40 stone, and with the support of a well-thought-through and timely intervention from gym staff he reinvented himself, losing 18 ston…
What can we learn about the future of criminal justice from the budget? | Matthew Torbitt and Ben Zaranko
Matthew Torbitt is a writer and broadcaster. A period of homelessness as a young man led to involvement in crime, for which he received a sentence. These experiences fed a political awakening and a career working with the Labour Party. Matt…
Seven years in the seg | Dwaine Patterson and Claire Salama
Dwaine Patterson spent 22 years in prison. For seven of those years he was one of a handful of people detained in Close Supervision Centres (CSCs). CSCs are prisons within prisons, housing those people said to be the most dangerous and disr…
Prisons and the press | David Shipley and Danny Shaw
David Shipley served a prison sentence for fraud. He had never known anyone who had come into contact with the criminal justice system prior to his conviction. His sentence was eye-opening for him. He became 'radicalised' by the experience …
My probation officer is also my colleague! | Simon Madu and Danielle Bond
Simon Madu was released from prison in 2021 after serving twelve years in prison. He remains 'on licence' and must report to his probation officer regularly as part of his continuing sentence. However, Simon is also a member of staff at His…
From Cell to CEO | Paula Harriott
In 2004, Paula was imprisoned for eight years for a drugs offence. Twenty years later, she is the trailblazing Chief Executive of a prominent national charity, being cited multiple times for her pioneering work in the criminal justice sect…
The Secret Life of Prisons visits the Labour Party Conference | Paul Mason and Faye Dunn
The Royal Albert Dock in Liverpool was built in 1846 and was the first structure in Britain to be constructed from cast iron, brick and stone, with no structural wood. As a result, it was the first non-combustible warehouse system in the wo…