Latest News
Tweet us@PrisonRadioUK
Tweet us@PrisonRadioUK
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.
Lady Unchained is a poet, author and broadcaster. She also presents our award-winning show Free Flow on National Prison Radio. Free Flow broadcasts in partnership with the literacy charity, the Shannon Trust. It is the instrumental show where Lady Unchained “plays the beat twice, so you can get your bars right.“
She plays instrumentals to National Prison Radio listeners, encouraging them to write and perform lyrics along to the music. Listeners then call National Prison Radio’s freephone voicemail to record their bars, and Lady Unchained gives feedback and encouragement. Lady Unchained does this in the hope that it will encourage people to pick up a pen and use the power of creativity to get through the daily challenges of being in prison, and get their emotions out in a healthy way, just like Lady Unchained did whilst she was serving her sentence back in 2009.
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?
Before I met the Prison Radio Association, I was on a mission to prove that there is #LifeAfterPrison while trying to set up my poetry platform Unchained Poetry; an artistic platform for artists with lived experience of the criminal justice system. I had done many jobs to make money; the year I found Prison Radio Association I was working in a betting shop writing poems on betting slips.
What does a typical day at work look like for you?
A typical day as Free Flow presenter involves opening up the voicemail files that contain freestyles sent in from people across the prison estate. I listen to the incredible talent that lives ‘behind the door’; the voices that are just waiting to be heard. I then give my feedback on the mic, as part of our show recording, and I spend time encouraging listeners to get involved with our partner charity the Shannon Trust so they can embrace reading and writing in the way I did.
One thing I can say is that my Prison Radio Association days are full of smiles and laughter; from the messages I receive from my Free Flow community to laughing at myself when I am trying not to get a name wrong. Every day, while working on this show, I wonder and reflect on how dreams I never had have come true.
What is the best thing about working at the Prison Radio Association?
I was always searching for a community to not only hear my story but one I could feel like I belonged to. One I could grow with, be seen in and heard in. One that understood how complex rebuilding life after prison was and knew how to support me in the right direction with the skills I had gained from my dark times. I feel like that’s the best thing about working at Prison Radio Association knowing that my ideas and dreams can be turned into reality.
What is something you wish everybody understood about the realities of working in prison?
It’s an emotional rollercoaster. Working in prisons can bring so much positivity to those serving a sentence, and to those working in prisons too. It can open doors you never knew you had keys to, and joy that comes with tears.Working in prison the right way can be life changing if you know what change you want to bring.
What is your favourite podcast or radio show currently?
The Prison Radio Association’s very own Life After Prison podcast!
You can watch my episode of Life After Prison below:
What is the song that you would use to sum up your time working at the Prison Radio Association?
Easy Like Sunday Morning by The Commodores or Can’t Give Up Now by Mary Mary.
Mary Mary is the song I chose when I was first invited as a guest on Prison Radio Association’s Outside In – the day I got my name Lady Unchained. That was the day I started to truly believe I could really be Unchained and slowly started to get my smile back.
Easy Like Sunday Morning reminds me of being on a sweatbox to start my sentence, and then I heard it again after winning an award with Prison Radio Association and for the first time the words of the song made sense.
If you would like to stay up to speed with what’s going on at the Prison Radio Association subscribe to our monthly newsletter here or follow us on:
X – @prisonradiouk
Instagram – @prisonradiouk
TikTok – @prisonradiouk
Facebook – Prison Radio Association
LinkedIn – Prison Radio Association
Lady Unchained is the face of our Big Give Christmas Challenge this December. Learn more about how you can take part here.
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.
Free Flow is our rap instrumental show. We play the beats, listeners write the words and award-winning poet and presenter Lady Unchained gives her feedback. Delivered in partnership with the Shannon Trust. Free Flow broadcasts every Saturday at 17:00, Monday at 21:00 and Wednesday at 8:00 on National Prison Radio and reaches over 80,000 people behind bars across England and Wales.
National Prison Radio was founded by the Prison Radio Association – a registered charity. Shows like Free Flow 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.