Behind the success of the Prison Radio Association is our dedicated, hardworking staff team who make the world of prison radio in England and Wales tick. Here, we get to know them and spotlight their experience of working for the Prison Radio Association.
Jess is our Audiences and Communications Manager, she is responsible for transcribing, recording and reporting all of the 50,000+ messages we receive from people in prisons across England and Wales. She decodes the accents, she looks up the song requests, and she ensures that our listeners and supporters are acknowledged, listened to and understood. Oh, and not to mention, she also writes all of these blogs you see sitting on the website; helping to mould our external communications and keep our followers up to date on everything happening at HQ. Here is what she has to say about life at the Prison Radio Association:
How long have you been working at the Prison Radio Association? What were you doing before?
I’ve been working at the Prison Radio Association for 3 years in May! Where has that time gone…
Before I was working as a Client Relationship Manager for a company who ensure justice to victims of violent crimes by reforming the complex and inefficient processes of obtaining medical evidence. I managed the medical statement requests for victims of violent crime within my designated police forces which were later submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service.
Not long before that I was a Criminal Justice and Criminology student who also worked as a volunteer Student Case Worker, recruited by a detective agency to review a murder case and a defendant’s conviction. I also earned my Restorative Justice Facilitator Level 2 qualification when I volunteered as a Victim of Crime Practitioner.
So, I’ve done quite a variety of things related to criminal justice so far! I’ve always been interested in crime, and this only broadened when I studied Psychology and Sociology during school. I knew pretty much since I was around 15 years old that my career would be something to do with criminal justice or psychology. All I wanted to do was help people, I’ve said since I was very small that I needed to work somewhere that made a difference to society… and here I am!
What does a typical day at work look like for you?
Very good question… I would say typing until it feels like my fingers are going to fall off is a good summary!
In all seriousness, it can of course vary but on most days I can transcribe hundreds of calls a day that come through our free phone line. These requests are then passed onto our producers and our National Prison Radio shows are curated from them. I would say I am the primary link between the audience and our staff team – I am the person that knows what the listeners needs are and I make sure this is fed back to our team.
I upload our shows daily to the in-cell laptops prisoners receive in 18 prisons across the UK which support their rehabilitation.
I sometimes get up at the crack of dawn to travel to a prison somewhere in England and Wales to conduct a survey on prison wings – which is always a fascinating day meeting all walks of life.
I also work very closely with a very special colleague of mine named Evie who is our Head of Fundraising and Communications, delivering our comms work. We raise awareness of the charity and raise our public profile to increase our influence, in line with our strategy.
What is the best thing about working at the Prison Radio Association?
I think knowing you are making a difference, no matter how big or small. It’s important to remind myself of that frequently.
It is very easy to get bogged down about the criminal justice world, you seldom hear good news about prisons or prisoners in the news and I’m sure a lot of people who work in the criminal justice will understand when I say you can feel like you’re fighting a never ending battle, especially when you see prison numbers going up, high recall rates and the amount of prisoners struggling with their mental health. However, I feel like we are hope in an otherwise unhopeful time. Knowing that you are making an impact on someone’s life, even if that’s simply making their day just that little bit easier during their sentence because they listened to a song that took them back to a better time, will always feel highly rewarding.
I work with very talented, hardworking people who only want good things for everyone else. In a world that often feels so negative at the moment, I count my lucky stars that I get to work with these people.
What is something you wish everybody understood about the realities of working in prison?
That unless you have stepped foot in a prison and met prisoners, that you don’t really know them. What you hear on the news or from someone on social media is not the whole picture, it’s often 10%, whereas when you work in prisons you get to understand that 90%. I wish people understood that anyone can end up in prison and the generalisation that all prisoners are a certain type of person is far from the truth.
I’ve toured England and Wales and have visited over 20 prisons and met the most fascinating, talented and ‘normal’ people.
People can do ‘bad’ things but this doesn’t always mean they are bad people. They are often people who have done what they did because they felt they had no choice, that crime was the only option for them. I always think, imagine that was yourself; before you judge, put yourself in someone else’s shoes whose story is so different to yours and you’ll understand why people end up in prison. None of us are perfect and humans make complex and sometimes, wrong choices in life, but:
“It’s easy to judge but difficult to understand, through judging we separate but through understanding we grow“.
What is your favourite podcast or radio show currently?
I’m going to out myself here but I love history (I got an A* in GCSE History so I’m basically a genius in it…I may have dropped it in A-level but we’ll ignore that), so if I’m wanting something more educational, I will go for The Rest is History. However, if I’m wanting something less serious and more silly I go for The Girls Bathroom, although I haven’t listened to it in a little while!
However, I would love to do a special mention of my favourite podcast episode from the Prison Radio Association: Kate Fraser on Life After Prison – I won’t say much except just listen to it, it’s brilliant.
What is the song that you would use to sum up your time working at the Prison Radio Association?
I have listened to thousands of song requests through our phone line since I’ve worked here so I would have to say nothing sums up working here more than Akon – Locked Up. But I think if I include that here my colleagues would eye-roll and exclaim “NOT AGAIN!” as they’ve listened to it 50,000 times, so I will pick another.
My other song choice is by one of my favourite artists ever, Miley Cyrus. I pick The Climb because it’s been there for me since I was 11 years old in 2009. No matter what stage of life I am at, it’s always so relatable and tells me to keep going when I’m struggling. I’m actually going to include the version she performed not long ago, now that she is also grown up. Through it, I’m sending a message to anyone who is struggling:
“Just keep on moving, keep climbing.” <3
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National Prison Radio is the world’s first national radio station for people in prison. It’s available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year on in-cell TV.
National Prison Radio was founded by the Prison Radio Association – a registered charity. Our shows help people to cope with life inside prison and thrive on release. If you would like to support our work, and enhance the futures of people in prison across the UK you can make a donation at prison.radio/donate.
