Prison Radio Association
124 episodes listed below
Prison life, heard with care.
The Secret Life of Prisons brings lived experience, institutional knowledge, and careful questioning to the realities behind prison walls. Its conversations move from cells, wings, charities, probation, and public discussion to the wider choices society makes about punishment, repair, and hope.
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The Secret Life of Prisons is a measured conversation series about prison life and the systems that gather around it. It is not interested in prison as spectacle. It is interested in what happens to people. Recent episodes move between live policy discussion, personal testimony, culture, fundraising, recovery, journalism, and the long work of creating prison radio. The show often starts with something concrete: a room at Conway Hall, a studio near Brixton Prison, a newspaper photograph, a drug recovery wing, a prison half marathon. From there it widens the frame. Probation becomes a question about technology, staffing, voluntary organisations, employers, families, councils, and the NHS. A television drama becomes a way to ask what prison stories usually miss. A conversation with Andy West and Ric Renton turns performance and writing back toward memory, class, solitary confinement, and the difficulty of representing prison truthfully. The press episode is especially personal, tracing the fear and long afterlife of being identified in the papers while rebuilding a life after prison. The drug recovery episode refuses easy answers. It treats getting clean as more than stopping a substance, connecting it to trauma, hope, despair, and the conditions waiting outside. There is institutional knowledge here, but it rarely feels remote. The show prefers plain questions and patient follow-ups. It leaves space for awkwardness, gratitude, anger, and dry humour. It also keeps returning to the Prison Radio Association and National Prison Radio, treating radio as a practical tool for voice, connection, and accountability. Named public figures and cultural guests appear, but the centre of gravity stays with people affected by prison and the choices made around them. The Secret Life of Prisons suits listeners who want justice coverage that is serious without becoming cold, and compassionate without becoming vague.
Made for: For listeners drawn to social justice, documentary conversation, criminal justice reform, lived experience, and the human detail behind public policy. It suits people who prefer patient questioning over sensational prison stories.
What sets it apart: The show combines lived experience, prison-sector access, and broadcast craft without sounding like a campaign leaflet or a crime exposé. Its strength is the way it grounds big justice questions in specific places, memories, working relationships, and consequences.
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.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
It connects lived experience inside prison with the policy choices, media decisions and institutional pressures shaping that experience.
Paula Harriott and Phil Maguire treat prison as both a lived environment and a public system, moving between personal testimony and interviews about policy, institutional pressure and reform.
A minister meets the hard follow-up, so you hear reform tested against prison reality.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A live conference conversation that keeps criminal justice reform grounded in probation, staffing, technology, and the voluntary sector.
The Secret Life of Prisons leaves the studio for a live conversation at Conway Hall, recorded at the Clinks annual conference. It stays close to the practical side of reform in 2026, with Anne Fox and Lord James Timpson talking through probation, staffing, technology,…
A prison conversation that keeps its focus on lived detail rather than easy caricature.
Andy West and Ric Renton turn a prison question into something simpler and harder: what should drama show, and what should it leave alone? The answer lands on atmosphere, difference, and the fact that prison is made up of separate lives, not one neat type.
A farewell that treats National Prison Radio as a story of impact, independence, and careful partnership.
Phil's farewell casts National Prison Radio as the product of steady partnership, persistence, and a firm insistence on staying independent. The Friday release and the two-person studio setup add a modest ceremonial note, though the piece keeps its feet on the ground by focusing…
A sober, humane look at prison violence, hope, and the pressures reshaping Wakefield.
After Ian Watkins's death at HMP Wakefield, the episode looks at what can happen inside a prison when violence rises, the population shifts, and some prisoners begin to feel less safe.
A warm Q&A that treats prison as a family reality and makes room for hard questions.
The episode settles into a listener-question round-up that closes out the prison discussion by bringing the focus back to children, the adults around them, and the misunderstandings that cling to imprisonment.
A clear-eyed probation discussion that keeps the human work at the center.
The episode asks a plain but uncomfortable question: if more people are moved out of custody and into probation, is the service ready for the load? It is most convincing when it stays with staffing, morale, funding, and the limits of technology as a fix.
A humane prison conversation about memory, consent, and the cost of being heard.
The episode follows Faye as she considers what it would mean to go back inside the gates after release, and her answer stays complicated. Prison brought hardship, but it also led to her work with the Prison Radio Association.
Willa Paskin traces one cultural mystery per episode, from web soap operas to prune marketing.
A Radiotopia feed built around the scripted drama Red for Revolution plus curated NPR crossover episodes.
San Quentin's incarcerated and formerly incarcerated producers tell first-person stories from inside prison.
Spanish-language narrative journalism from across Latin America and Latino life.
PJ Vogt investigates one question a week, from GLP-1 drugs to driverless-car policy.
Conway Hall gives the conversation a live charge.
Prison drama needs to dodge easy sorting.
This Christmas special episode features a live session from the Radio Academy Festival where the host interviews Louis Theroux about prison radio, preceded by a powerful poem by Lady Unchained on the prison experience.
Phil breaks his Monday routine.
A former prisoner shares her distressing experience of being outed by the press while trying to rebuild her life after prison, highlighting the invasive and harmful nature of crime reporting.
This episode celebrates the podcast winning a gold award for its coverage of a half marathon at HMP Brixton and revisits that award-winning story.
This episode is a fundraising appeal for the Prison Radio Association's Big Give Christmas Challenge campaign, explaining their work supporting women in prison through radio training and rehabilitation programs.
A discussion about drug addiction in prisons, exploring whether inmates can find motivation to get clean and the challenges of rehabilitation behind bars.
The hosts attend an annual criminal justice lecture, discussing the event's atmosphere and the inspiring keynote by the Children's Commissioner, while previewing a special segment on The Archers.
This episode explores the surprising diversity of prison architecture and the complex emotional realities of everyday life behind bars through the lens of a prison photographer.
This episode features an emotional interview about a father's grief after his son's murder in 2023, exploring the impact of crime on families and prison visits by victims.
This episode explores the challenges of reintegration for women released from long prison sentences, focusing on rebuilding life, relationships, and finding meaning after incarceration.
A killing at Wakefield starts the conversation.
A conversation about the role of music in prison, exploring how it provides escape, connection, and personal growth for inmates.
A discussion on the definition and role of criminology, emphasizing the importance of lived experience in understanding crime and justice.
The host is driving to HMP Style to meet Frank Steadman, who is about to walk from HMP Style to HMP Brixton over 10 days, with the host and assistant producer joining him on the first day.
Loose ends get a proper airing here.
Probation is already stretched.
Paula Harriott discusses the Windrush scandal and its impact on prisoners, highlighting the injustice faced by Commonwealth citizens.
Faye begins with a hard question.
An interview discussing the experience of being released on licence from prison, including the challenges and lack of support.
Two prison experts discuss the difficulty of getting things done in prison due to its hierarchical, rule-laden environment, and how prisoners often bypass the system.
The hosts discuss a listener's frustration with the revolving door of short-term prison sentences and analyze the government's new sentencing review proposals.
A discussion about how misinformation and extreme views spread in prison environments, based on personal experience.
This episode discusses the newly launched Women's Justice Board and its efforts to reduce the number of women in prison and increase community support.
This episode explores deep philosophical thinking in prison, featuring a philosophy teacher and his former student.
Hosts discuss how unexpected events and visitors break the monotony of prison life, highlighting the positive impact of new interactions.
The hosts reflect on their most memorable episodes from the past year, discussing powerful storytelling from people affected by the prison system.
Paula Harriott and Phil Maguire discuss Women's History Month and introduce the story of Chris Tchaikovsky, a founder of Women in Prison.
The hosts discuss the atmosphere at the Labour Party conference after 14 years of opposition, noting the excitement and presence of many new MPs.
A discussion about receiving a cancer diagnosis while in prison, exploring the emotional and practical challenges.
This episode explores gambling addiction in prison and its role in leading to incarceration, featuring interviews with formerly incarcerated individuals.
The hosts visit a historic Liverpool pub to interview the owners about its family legacy and community role.
A former prisoner discusses the ongoing stigma and fear of judgment she faces when disclosing her past, even 16 years after release.
This episode features a replay of Rory Stewart's Longford Lecture on prison reform, with discussion on its relevance to current Labour government.