Prison in numbers | Dr. Kimmett Edgar

The Secret Life of Prisons

In November 2024, Janey Starling from the charity Level Up, called out the presenter of LBC's breakfast show Nick Ferrari live on air for his apparent ignorance of the facts around the imprisonment of women.

In response to that interview, we invited friend of the podcast Dr. Kimmett Edgar to the studio to help us understand what the numbers can tell us about prisons and the people who live in them.

Kimmett is a former Senior Research Officer at the Oxford Centre for Criminological Research and was Head of Research at the Prison Reform Trust.

After finishing this podcast, why not listen to Paula's appearance on BBC Radio 4's Feedback?

Some data sources from this programme:

• You can find prison population statistics from His Majesty's Prison and Probation Service here.
• Data on reoffending rates is published here.
• Data on ethnicity in the prison popuation can be found here.
• Details of the running costs of individual prisons is published by the Ministry of Justice here.
• Analysis of government spending and performance of prisons by the Institute for Government is published here.
• A study of the impact of short custodial sentences on reoffending was released by the Ministry of Justice here.
• An international comparison of prison populations from the Council of Europe is published here.
• The evidence review of the impact of imprisonment on families is published by the charity Clinks here.
• Data on the causes of death of people in prison published by the Office for National for National Statistics can be found here.
• Ministry of Justice data on self harm in prison is published here.
• A BBC News report on the links between prison and homelessness can be found here.
• You can find a treasure trove of data about prisons in the annual Bromley Briefings Prison Factfile, published by the Prison Reform Trust.

Presenters: Phil Maguire – Chief Executive, Prison Radio Association Paula Harriott – Chief Executive, Unlock

Producer: Andrew Wilkie Assistant Producer: Faye Dunn

The Prison Radio Association is a charity that runs National Prison Radio, the world’s first national radio station for people serving prison sentences. We employ people in prison to develop their skills, find their best voices and help them discover ways to lead crime-free lives after release.

To make a donation please visit prison.radio/donate.

Registered Charity in England & Wales 1114760

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