National Prison Radio is the world's first national radio station for prisoners. It is run by the Prison Radio Association, a charity, in partnership with His Majesty's Prison Service and the National Offender Management Service. It broadcasts 24 hours a day, seven days a week to prisoners in over 100 establishments across England and Wales. Prisoners receive the service as an audio channel via in-cell TV systems. It is available to over 80,000 prisoners.
It aims to reduce re-offending by engaging prisoners in education and discussion, helping people in custody to develop strategies for dealing with the issues that led them to prison. The station's programmes are presented and produced by serving prisoners working alongside the Prison Radio Association's staff of professional radio producers. Content supports National Offender Management Service's objective to reduce re-offending by providing information vital for progressing successfully through a prison sentence. It promotes educational opportunities, discussion of issues related to crime and justice, as well as messages and requests from prisoners' families and friends.
National Prison Radio aims to help prisoners face up to the effects their actions have had on themselves, their families, victims and society as a whole, encouraging them to see prison as a place of positive change.
Origins
The idea for a prison radio station was first mooted in 1993 by advertising executive Mark Robinson. It was in response to a spate of suicides, self-harm and violent incidents at HM Prison Feltham.
With support from prison governor Joseph Whitty and deputy governor Steve Guy-Gibbens, as well as prison officer Bob Clements and fundraiser Roma Hooper OBE, Robinson launched Radio Feltham on 1 February 1994, broadcasting into every cell in the prison.
Radio Feltham's success led to interest from other prisons across England and Wales to engage with prison radio. To address the need for expertise in the development of prison radio, Roma Hooper and Mark Robinson established the Prison Radio Association in 2006, as a charity that offers guidance and expertise to prisons interested in setting up and running their own radio projects.
The Prison Radio Association launched a radio station in HMP Brixton, called Electric Radio Brixton, in November 2007. The first programme was presented by serving prisoners alongside BBC Radio 1's Bobby Friction. Studio guests included Billy Bragg and Mick Jones. The programme was broadcast in front of a live audience, including the future chief executive of the National Offender Management Service, Michael Spurr.
Electric Radio Brixton was run by station manager Andrew Wilkie, who worked with serving prisoners to produce radio programmes which were broadcast directly into the cells of 800 prisoners.
Within 18 months of its launch, Electric Radio Brixton won four Sony Radio Academy Awards.
Following a visit to meet the team behind Electric Radio Brixton, Guardian columnist Zoe Williams said "This station sets a new standard not just for community radio, or charity radio, or cheap radio, but for all radio."
In 2009 Electric Radio Brixton re-launched to become National Prison Radio, the world's first national radio service for prisoners. Part of a trailblazing partnership with the National Offender Management Service, National Prison Radio began broadcasting 24 hours a day, seven days a week, via in-cell television, to prisons across England and Wales.
Content
National Prison Radio is a linear service broadcasting 24 hours a day, seven days a week, into prison cells.
The station broadcasts a mixture of speech and music content, all designed to support prisoners through their sentences, helping them to make appropriate use of the rehabilitation services available to them while they are in prison and preparing them to live crime-free lives after release.
Programming closely reflects National Offender Management Service's Seven Pathways to Reducing Reoffending. The emphasis lies on helping prisoners to take responsibility for their own lives and the lives of those around them, as well as providing information about support services available in prison.