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The Secret Life of Prisons team recorded an exclusive live show at the University of Greenwich in a room packed full of first year students embarking on their careers as Criminologists. The topic was the provocative question: what is criminology for and how can it help society?
The Secret Life of Prisons is the smash-hit podcast from the charity the Prison Radio Association. Hosted by Phil Maguire OBE (Chief Executive of the Prison Radio Association) and Paula Harriott (Chief Executive of Unlock), The Secret Life of Prisons was devised as a way of allowing listeners to understand the reality of life in the UK’s prison system.
The Secret Life of Prisons podcast responds to the obscurity of life behind bars as told by the people who are the experts in the matter, the experts by experience themselves; the prisoners.
Recently we took The Secret Life of Prisons and it’s hosts to the students of Greenwich University to present our first ever live episode of the podcast and explore how criminology shapes policies, creates change, and the power of prison education.
It was a unique chance for students to explore criminology’s real-world impact with experts and people with lived experience.
Criminology is the study of crime, including the causes and the solutions. But does criminology objectify people who have committed crimes? We heard from Paula, host of The Secret Life of Prisons, as she revealed she has been ‘studied’, several times, by criminologists.
Our guest speakers were Shahid Amin, who began studying criminology while serving a sentence in HMP Grendon as part of the Learning Together programme and Professor Ruth Armstrong from the University of Liverpool, who worked with Shahid during his sentence and founded Learning Together.
During the course of the discussion, Ruth opened up about the impact of the tragic events that led to the demise of Learning Together, and paid tribute to Saskia Jones and Jack Merritt who were murdered by Usman Khan. All three lost their lives that day, leaving behind bereaved relatives and colleagues, including Ruth herself.
This episode of The Secret Life of Prisons drops into the podcast feed on Monday 6th October. You can listen here.
Our sincere thanks to Ed Schreeche-Powell and the criminology team at the University of Greenwich for facilitating this event.
The Secret Life of Prisons drops every Monday. It’s available wherever you get your podcasts.
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