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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

The Secret Life of Prisons is produced by a charity, the Prison Radio Association. To make a donation please visit prison.radio/donate.  -- Alcohol tags, or sobriety tags, have been being trialled as a way of dealing with alcohol-related disorder for some years. Now, increasingly, they're being given to people released from prison on licence as a way of reducing their risk of reoffending. What are they, how do they know if you've been drinking, what's it like wearing one ... and most...

The Secret Life of Prisons is produced by a charity, the Prison Radio Association. To make a donation please visit prison.radio/donate.  -- The Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015 introduced a fast-track process for delivering justice that deal with the most minor summary offences. It's called the Single Justice Prodcedure, and at the time it was said to be simply a modification of existing legal processes. A defendant is sent a notice through the post which states that if you don't...

The Secret Life of Prisons is produced by a charity, the Prison Radio Association. To make a donation please visit prison.radio/donate.  -- In February 2024 a report on conditions in HMP Bedford by HM Inspectorate of Prisons described the prison as holding people in "some of the worst conditions the inspectors had ever seen". The inspectors issued an Urgent Notification, which raises immediate, urgent concerns with the Secretary of State for Justice. It was the fifth Urgent Notification...

The Secret Life of Prisons starts a new era on Monday, with the first of our all-new weekly episodes. Every Monday Phil and Paula will be dropping into your feed to bring you the the insights of people live in prisons, who work in prisons, and who study prisons. We'll be updating you on the latest developments in prisons and criminal justice and hearing stories from the hidden world behind bars. The Secret Life of Prisons is produced by a charity, the Prison Radio Association. To make a...

Happy Christmas from The Secret Life of Prisons! On Wednesday 22 November 2023, Rory Stewart delivered the annual Longford Lecture at Church House in Westminster. And like every year, National Prison Radio was there to broadcast the lecture into prison cells across England and Wales. For this special edition of The Secret Life of Prisons, Phil and Paula introduce that programme, as broadcast to listeners behind bars. The show was hosted by Paula alongside Zak, who is a presenter of our...

Phil and Paula speak to the two presenters of BBC Radio 4's series Behind the Crime. Dr. Sally Tilt and Dr. Kerensa Hocken have decades of experience working in prisons as forensic psychologists. HM Prison and Probation Service is the biggest employer of forensic psychologists in the UK, and this episode looks at the role they play in people's pathway through the justice system. We also hear clips from several episodes of Behind the Crime, as Sally and Kerensa give us the inside track on...

In 2021, the legendary TV screenwriter Jimmy McGovern released a three-part drama set in a men's prison, called Time on BBC1. In 2023, he followed it up with a brand new series set in a women's prison. Like the first series, it was widely said to be the most realistic depiction of the complexity and nuance of prison life ever seen on British television.  Secret Life of Prisons co-host, Paula Harriott, advised the writers during the development of the new series, and in this episode you can...

1 in 7 adults in prison were experiencing homelessness before entering custody, and fewer than half of people released from prison last year had settled accommodation on release. But what do we know about women who experience homelessness?     Phil and Paula have teamed up with the Orwell Foundation and the Centre for Homelessness Impact to bring you another three-part series looking at the intertwined issues of homelessness, social deprivation, crime and justice.     Down, Not Out is...

1 in 7 adults in prison were experiencing homelessness before entering custody, and fewer than half of people released from prison last year had settled accommodation on release. But what if you’re living in another country from where you were born and things start going wrong?   Phil and Paula have teamed up with the Orwell Foundation and the Centre for Homelessness Impact to bring you another three-part series looking at the intertwined issues of homelessness, social deprivation, crime...

1 in 7 adults in prison were experiencing homelessness before entering custody, and fewer than half of people released from prison last year had settled accommodation on release. Many had a less than perfect start in life, finding themselves in care. There seems to be a clear link between growing up in care and experiencing homelessness.   Phil and Paula have teamed up with the Orwell Foundation and the Centre for Homelessness Impact to bring you another three-part series looking at the...

1 in 7 adults in prison were homeless before entering custody, and fewer than half of people released from prison last year had settled accommodation on release. Phil and Paula have teamed up with the Orwell Foundation and the Centre for Homelessness Impact to bring you this brand news series looking at the intertwined issues of homelessness, social deprivation, crime and justice. Down, Not Out is the companion podcast to The Orwell Prize for Reporting Homelessness 2023. Host Sangita...

1 in 7 adults in prison were homeless before entering custody, and fewer than half of people released from prison last year had settled accommodation on release. Phil and Paula have teamed up with the Orwell Foundation and the Centre for Homelessness Impact to bring you this brand news series looking at the intertwined issues of homelessness, social deprivation, crime and justice. Down, Not Out is the companion podcast to The Orwell Prize for Reporting Homelessness 2023. Host Sangita...

1 in 7 adults in prison were homeless before entering custody, and fewer than half of people released from prison last year had settled accommodation on release. Phil and Paula have teamed up with the Orwell Foundation and the Centre for Homelessness Impact to bring you this brand news series looking at the intertwined issues of homelessness, social deprivation, crime and justice. Down, Not Out is the companion podcast to The Orwell Prize for Reporting Homelessness 2023. Host Sangita...

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...

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...

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 presenters of Ear Hustle, the global podcast hit that tells daily stories of prison life, and 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.