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This chapter discusses how a continuing belief in the power of radio to change people's lives shapes Prison Radio Association (PRA) activity. The impact of National Prison Radio (NPR) for people in prison is demonstrated through annual audience increases and listener feedback. Yet, from the outset, the PRA has recognised the need to develop some kind of continuation service for people leaving prison. Each year, more people are locked up in prisons around the world, with increasing numbers returning to prison in a cycle of reoffending. The chapter also shows how imprisonment serves to exacerbate the complex disadvantage that leads to criminalisation, separating people even further from any preexisting support networks.

This introductory chapter discusses the process through which relatively small-scale media activism, based on prisoners' rights, came to be an intrinsic part of prison culture in the UK, playing a central role in institutional operations. It considers prison radio growth within the context of political and economic change, and argues that the successful development of an independent, prisoner-led service represents resistance against the forces of corporatisation and managerialism that have redefined the organisation and function of broadcasting, punishment, and social welfare. Against a backdrop of public service privatisation and media commercialisation, the growth of the Prison Radio Association (PRA) illustrates the complex processes of working in partnership with institutions and agencies to give a voice to people in prison.

This chapter utilizes the Prison Radio Association's (PRA) core statement regarding ‘the power of radio’ as a starting point from which to explore the key ideas around radio as a socially and individually transformative medium in order to inform the understanding of how it came to be used in prison. The chapter outlines the shifting relationship between radio broadcasting and social change and argues that the evolution and establishment of radio within prisons is indicative of new opportunities for media activism, demonstrating the enduring social relevance and impact of radio. The chapter also places the development of National Prison Radio within a wider debate on the history and future of noncommercial broadcasting, based on the balance between governmental regulation and control on the one hand, and the countercultural opportunities it produces on the other.

This chapter examines a partnership project in the West Midlands region which developed prison radio beyond Radio Feltham. It particularly analyses the role of the BBC in the process and the impact of the activity on establishing and formalising the Prison Radio Association (PRA). Developed through the combined influence of national broadcaster and independent prison radio activity, the chapter argues that the PRA is representative of new forms of Public Service Broadcasting (PSB) within changing media and institutional environments, achieved in partnership, and demonstrating the enduring importance of PSB values. It is evident that the partnerships and relationships forged during this period played a major role in the establishment and ongoing development of the PRA.

This chapter looks at how the prison radio training pilot forms the basis of the evaluation of the Prison Radio Association's (PRA) first year. Part of a three-year evaluation of the PRA's activities, the process was specifically designed to assess the extent to which the organisation met its objectives in order to demonstrate the potential benefits of prison radio. The aim was to identify what worked well in terms of outputs and processes, and to provide information on progress in terms of objectives and the needs of key stakeholders, including prison inmates and staff. Designed and implemented in the earliest stages, the evaluation demonstrates the PRA's focus on organisational growth as well as recognising the importance of meeting the needs of a range of prison and external partners in the process.

This chapter begins by tracing some of the key ideas that inform people's understanding of the changing role and function of prison and punishment before examining the political, economic, and institutional changes which have contributed to the recognition, acceptance, and encouragement of radio in the prisons of England and Wales. It cites the official launch of the Prison Radio Association (PRA) as a charity in 2006, where the first PRA audio productions to be distributed to an audience beyond the prisons were compiled on the Making Waves Behind Bars CD, and argues that the origins and potential of prison radio can only be examined through discussion of the complex and enduring problem of the prison institution.

This chapter asserts that the Prison Radio Association (PRA) experience illustrates the problematic relationship between mainstream media and prison practice. It uses the PRA position to examine the interplay between media and public opinion, and the resulting impact on criminal justice policy and practice. The issues are then explored more fully through the analysis of three contemporary newspaper stories which PRA founders identify as impacting on the organisation's early approach to managing outside media attention. The examples from the Guardian, the Daily Mail, and The Sun newspapers illustrate the codependent relationship between mass media coverage, populist politics, and perceived public opinion when it comes to the issue of crime and punishment.

This chapter explains how the Prison Radio Association (PRA) story is driven by the people who instigated and developed the activity. When asked to reflect on what drew them to the idea of prison radio, PRA participants all talk of the potential to change the lives of prisoners, and of a continued commitment to ‘making a difference’. The chapter focuses on the motivations, characteristics, and actions of those involved in the process. It also presents prison radio growth as a product of a wider political and cultural context that has redefined volunteerism, social activism, and cultural production in terms of enterprise and entrepreneurship, in order to support the restoration of social welfare and growth of the knowledge-based economy.

This chapter details the context, content, and effects of the Face to Face programme in furthering the development of the Prison Radio Association (PRA), and argues that the case demonstrates the potential of prison radio to promote, facilitate, and inform restorative justice practice. First, the chapter examines the restorative justice theme within the contemporary political context before turning to the programme itself, the wider reception, and its impact and significance for the PRA. Through discussion of the increasingly victim-centred reporting of crime within mainstream media, the chapter shows that prison radio not only provides a voice for prisoners, but is able to empower victims of crime.