For a number of years we have been working with Audible, a leading provider of spoken word entertainment, to deliver workshops and opportunities with young people and women housed in prisons and young offender institutes across England and Wales.
Working together to support young people in custody:
Back in 2019, we teamed up with Audible and The National Literacy Trust to deliver ‘Inside Stories‘, a project that trained young people in custody in how to make podcasts; helping them to develop technical skills they can use in their future careers, while improving their communication, literacy, and confidence.
94.7% of the young people who participated in this project said it helped them to build useful skills and 100% of the young people said the training had allowed them to have their voices heard.
In July 2024, this project was recognised with an International Corporate Social Responsibility Excellence Award, which celebrates powerful social responsibility projects around the world.
You can read the full impact report here.
Working together to support women in custody:
In 2023, we started to work with Audible on projects that support people housed at HMPYOI Styal – a women’s prison in Cheshire. Together, and through this work, we aim to offer creative training opportunities and workshops for women serving a prison sentence. Audible provide expertise and funding to help us deliver this work.
“It was such a brilliant experience working with young women at HMP Styal. They were so passionate about learning new podcast and storytelling skills and had inspiring stories to share. The Prison Radio Association create a vital space for these young women to speak openly, share their experiences and learn something new whilst feeling safe and heard.”
Sophie Plateau, UK Social Impact Manager
Audible’s charitable mission in the UK is to reduce inequalities and remove barriers to education and economic opportunities for underprivileged youth and creators everywhere. They aim to use the power of storytelling to unlock, upskill and unleash the potential of those on the margins of society.
People in prison make up one of the most marginalised and disadvantaged demographics in our society; 47% have no qualifications, 29% faced abuse as children and 34% have attempted suicide. 52% of people in prison report having mental health problems and only 51% of women in prison say that they have received support. When they are released many people leaving prison are not adequately prepared for life on the outside and find themselves back in jail – currently, the women’s reoffending rate is 23% but rises to 71% for women who have served a sentence of less than 12 months.
Alongside Audible, we want to provide women and young people with a creative, empowering alternative to custody which allows them to channel their experiences into something creative. This project supports women and girls who have entered the criminal justice system to move on and rebuild their lives by providing access to mentoring and training, and opportunities to build confidence, skills and networks.
Like us, Audible understand that confidence, other people’s negative attitudes and lack of opportunity are the most commonly perceived barriers for achieving aspirations. Our work focuses directly on lifting these three barriers through the power of learning.
In 2023 with the support of Audible, we were able to offer intensive training and mentoring in radio production and presenting to 13 individuals at HMPYOI Styal. We also delivered creative workshops for a further 69 women housed at the prison.
Of those surveyed, 100% of the prisoners involved with our programmes at HMPYOI Styal reported:
– Improved confidence and self-esteem
– Improved digital skills
Our work with Audible is not only allowing women at HMPYOI Styal to improve their wellbeing and make the most of their time inside prison, but it is also helping them to build new aspirations for their lives beyond bars.
Due to the consistently high-level of support we have been able to offer women at Styal – thanks to our collaboration with Audible – we have now been allocated a new, larger studio space and production office. We are in the process of transforming this empty workshop into a brand new media production suite with two recording studios; an inspirational space that women in Styal will feel proud to work in, and which will help foster their limitless creativity.
We are so proud of our work with Audible and everything we have achieved through our collaborative projects. Together, we are supporting talented people behind bars to build brighter futures beyond bars and we look forward to more successes together in the future.
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The Prison Radio Association is a registered charity. We work with women at HMPYOI Styal and men at HMP Brixton to create award-winning, rehabilitative radio, while supporting them to build confidence, skills and networks that can pave pathways into better futures beyond bars. 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.
