National Prison Radio
National Prison Radio (NPR) is the world’s first national radio station for prisoners.; It is run by the Prison Radio Association (PRA), a charity, in partnership with Her Majesty’s Prison Service and the National Offender Management Service (NOMS). It broadcasts 24 hours a day, seven days a week to prisoners in over 100 establishments across England and Wales. Prisoners receive the service as an audio channel via in-cell TV systems. It is available to over 80,000 prisoners.
It aims to reduce re-offending by engaging prisoners in education and discussion, helping people in custody to develop strategies for dealing with the issues led them to prison. The station’s programmes are presented and produced by serving prisoners working alongside the PRA’s staff of professional radio producers. Content supports NOMS' objective to reduce re-offending by providing information vital for progressing successfully through a prison sentence. It promotes educational opportunities, discussion of issues related to crime and justice, as well as messages and requests from prisoners’ families and friends.
National Prison Radio aims to help prisoners face up to the effects their actions have had on themselves, their families, victims and society as a whole, encouraging them to see prison as a place of positive change. It offers positive peer influence directly to prisoners in their cells, in a way that no other intervention can.
The idea for a prison radio station was first mooted in 1993 by advertising executive Mark Robinson. It was in response to a spate of suicides, self-harm and violent incidents at HM Prison Feltham.
With support from prison governor Joseph Whitty and deputy governor Steve Guy-Gibbens, as well as prison officer Bob Clements and fundraiser Roma Hooper OBE, Robinson launched Radio Feltham on 1 February 1994, broadcasting into every cell in the prison.
Radio Feltham’s success led to interest from other prisons across England and Wales to engage with prison radio. To address the need for expertise in the development of prison radio, Roma Hooper and Mark Robinson established the Prison Radio Association (PRA) in 2006, as a charity that offers guidance and expertise to prisons interested in setting up and running their own radio projects.
The PRA launched a radio station in HMP Brixton, called Electric Radio Brixton, in November 2007. The first programme was presented by serving prisoners alongside BBC Radio 1’s Bobby Friction. Studio guests included Billy Bragg and Mick Jones. The programme was broadcast in front of a live audience, including the future Chief Executive of NOMS, Michael Spurr.
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