The Secret Life of Prisons

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 while supporting local independent bookshops here . Ray Smith writes for Inside Time, the monthly newspaper for people in prison, and was a member of Andy's phi...

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 momentous morning. Nine of HMP Brixton's residents undertook a 16-week training programme, supported by members of the local running community, and on Friday 25...

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 Executive, Prison Radio Association Paula Harriott – Chief Executive, Unlock Producer:  Andrew Wilkie Assistant Producer: Faye Dunn The Prison Radi...

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 time in 2016, having spent more than eighteen years in prison on and off. He now works for National Prison Radio as one of the presenters of our Takeover Days -...

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 History Month and is dedicated to her life and her legacy. Kate Fraser spent 17 years in heroin addiction, engaged in street sex work, and spending spells on reman...

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 because of his criminal record. He is now an ambassador for the FairChecks campaign. Penelope Gibbs is the Director of Transform Justice, a charity that aims to...

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 five years without seeing her. How did he and his family come to these decisions, and what was it like reconnecting after all this time? Faye Dunn went to prison...

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 the common ground in the sometimes polarised debate around crime and justice. Kam was helped by Switchback when he was being released from prison. He had commit...

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. What followed was an extraordinary meeting which changed both their lives. Keeva Baxter is the Campaigns and Communications Manager for Why me? They're a charit...

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 ask him about the progress of the report, delve into the politics of crime and justice, and finish with challenge around the use of the terms 'offender' and 'ex...

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 whether he would be able to find employment. But after release he got offered a job helping to deliver National Prison Radio's Outside In traineeship, and is no...

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 in prisons over a five year period. Michael Kennedy had already used spice on one occasion before he went to prison. For him it was a way of self-medicating for...

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 Al...

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: ...

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 s...

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 whic...

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...

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 leadershi...

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 a...

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 Ex...

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. This week we are participating in The Big Give , a national fundraising campaign.  So in this week's sho...

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 been acting. With precious support from key people in his life, including his son's mother and their extended family, Sean gradually but decisively made the change...

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 government by running courses in journalism that the Iranian regime said aimed to train people to spread propaganda against Iran. She vehemently denied these charges but...

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 stone while in HMP Feltham. Samy Ali is a Physical Education Instructor (PEI) at HMP Feltham, and he was the member of staff who knocked on Tyler's cell door one da...

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. Matthew now writes and tours television studios commentating on politics. He joins us down the line from Washington DC. Ben Zaranko is a Senior Research Economist f...