Radio produced and broadcast behind prison walls is a unique response to the increasing global incarceration crisis, able to support people through their sentences, improve prison communications, and address the causes of recidivism through access to information. In the first study to explore the growth of radio stations in prisons, this book examines the early history of the Prison Radio Association (PRA) in the United Kingdom, the first organisation of its kind in the world. Established in 2006 to network and support individual prison radio projects, the PRA created the world's first National Prison Radio service within two years. A decade later and the organisation continues to manage and develop National Prison Radio; has established an award-winning production company; is creating media services for people on release from prison; and advises emerging prison radio stations internationally.

Focusing on the initial development of the PRA and National Prison Radio (NPR), this work examines the process through which relatively small-scale media activism, based on prisoners’ rights, came to be an intrinsic part of prison culture in the UK, playing a central role in institutional operations. It considers prison radio growth within the context of political and economic change, and argues that the successful development of an independent, prisoner-led service represents resistance against the forces of corporatisation and managerialism that have redefined the organisation and function of broadcasting, punishment and social welfare. Against a backdrop of public service privatisation and media commercialisation, the growth of the PRA illustrates the complex processes of working in partnership with institutions and agencies to give a voice to people in prison. It is a story which highlights the enduring importance of social values in broadcasting, represents new opportunities for social activism, and presents radio as a powerful force for social change.

Prison radio has emerged from a contradictory media landscape characterised by the concentration of global commercial media power on the one hand, and the democratisation and expansion of non-mainstream media on the other. As Mitzi Waltz argues, where mainstream media is shaped by corporate power, it has ‘never been less trusted by its readers and viewers’ (2005, p.1). The situation has led to an increase in non-mainstream, alternative and activist media in which radio plays a prominent role, building on a strong history of independent activism.