This study explores radio as a creative art form supporting participatory rights for incarcerated women in Scotland. Findings reveal three themes: Agency and Influence, Identity and New Narratives, and Finding a Community. Participants gained confidence, strengthened their identities, and influenced their environment. The research highlights how the arts humanize incarcerated people, challenge institutional norms, and foster active citizenship. The study contributes to the literature on “prisoner radio” and arts in criminal justice, emphasizing how arts-based projects can enhance democratic participation in prisons, providing space for self-expression, development, and social connection in historically marginalized communities.
AndersonH. (2013). Facilitating active citizenship: Participating in prisoners’ radio. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 30(4), 292–305.https://doi.org/10.1080/15295036.2012.688212
2.
AndersonH.BedfordC. (2017). Theorising the many faces of prisoner radio: Developing a holistic framework through process and product. Media International Australia, 164(1), 92–103. https://doi.org/10.1177/1329878X17697829
3.
AndersonH.BedfordC. (2019). On what it means to be free: Radio as a tool of desistance for formerly incarcerated women in Adelaide, Australia. Radio Journal: International Studies in Broadcast & Audio Media, 17(1), 7–27. https://doi.org/10.1386/rjao.17.1.7_1
4.
AndersonH.BedfordC. (2020). What I know now: Radio as a means of empowerment for women of lived prison experience. Journal of Alternative & Community Media, 2(1), 14–27. https://doi.org/10.1386/joacm_00029_1
AndersonK.OveryK. (2010). Engaging Scottish young offenders in education through music and art. International Journal of Community Music, 3(1), 47–64. https://doi.org/10.1386/ijcm.3.1.47/1
7.
ArmstrongS. (2018). Securing prison through human rights: Unanticipated implications of rights-based penal governance. The Howard Journal of Crime and Justice, 57(3), 401–421. https://doi.org/10.1111/hojo.12270
8.
AthertonS.KnightV.van BartholdB. C. (2022). Penal arts interventions and hope: Outcomes of arts-based projects in prisons and community settings*. The Prison Journal, 102(2), 217–236. https://doi.org/10.1177/00328855221079282
9.
BackL. (2007). The art of listening. Bloomsbury.
10.
BedfordC. (2019). Making waves behind bars: The Prison Radio Association. Bristol University Press.
11.
BraunV.ClarkeV. (2022). Thematic analysis: A practical guide. Sage.
12.
BrosensD. (2019). Prisoners’ participation and involvement in prison life: Examining the possibilities and boundaries. European Journal of Criminology, 16(4), 466–485. https://doi.org/10.1177/1477370818773616
13.
CaulfieldL.WilsonD.WilkinsonD. (2009). Continuing positive change in prison and the community: An analysis of the long-term and wider impact of the Good Vibrations Project [Grant report]. Birmingham City University.
CoxA.GelsthorpeL. (2012). Creative encounters: Whatever happened to the arts in prisons? In The eArts of imprisonment: Control, resistance and empowerment (1st ed, pp. 257–276). Routledge.
16.
CreweB. (2012). The Prisoner Society: Power, Adaptation and Social Life in an English Prison. OUP Oxford.
17.
CreweB.HulleyS.WrightS. (2017). The gendered pains of life imprisonment. The British Journal of Criminology, 57(6), 1359–1378. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azw088
CroallH.MooneyG.MunroM. (2010). Criminal justice in Scotland. Willan.
20.
CyrusE.SanchezJ.MadhivananP.LamaJ. R.BazoA. C.ValenciaJ.LeonS. R.VillaranM.VagenasP.SciaudoneM.VuD.CoudrayM. S.AticeF. L. (2021). Prevalence of intimate partner violence, substance use disorders and depression among incarcerated women in Lima, perú. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(21), 11134. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182111134
GainsboroughJ. (2008). Women in Prison: International Problems and Human Rights Based Approaches to Reform. William & Mary Journal of Women and the Law, 14(2).
23.
GoffmanE. (1961). Asylums: Essays on the social situation of mental patients and other inmates (1st ed.). Anchor Books.
24.
GrimesM.StevensonS. (2012). Radio as a tool for rehabilitation and social inclusion. In radio and society: New thinking for an old medium (pp. 179–196). Cambridge Scholars Pub.
25.
KerrT.WoodE.BetteridgeG.LinesR.JürgensR. (2004). Harm reduction in prisons: A ‘rights based analysis’. Critical Public Health, 14(4), 345–360. https://doi.org/10.1080/09581590400027478
26.
LieblingA.ArnoldH. (2012). Social relationships between prisoners in a maximum security prison: Violence, faith, and the declining nature of trust. Journal of Criminal Justice, 40(5), 413–424. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2012.06.003
27.
MaycockM. (2020). ‘I want the male and the female wings. I don’t want a special trans wing for people.’: Transgender people in custody in Scotland’s views about transgender specific facilities within prisons. Prison Service Journal, 25(1), 31–37.
28.
MaycockM. (2022). ‘COVID-19 has caused a dramatic change to prison life’. Analysing the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the pains of imprisonment in the Scottish prison estate. The British Journal of Criminology, 62(1), 218–233. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azab031
29.
MaycockM.PrattD.MorrisonK. (2018). What does publicly available research submitted to the Scottish Prison Service Research Access and Ethics Committee (2012-2016), tell us about the distinct nature of imprisonment in Scotland?. Prison Service Journal, 238, 46–52.https://napier-repository.worktribe.com/output/1249716
30.
McLeodK. E.WongK. A.RajaratnamS.GuyattP.PelinoS. D.ZakiN.AkbariH.KerriganC.JonesR.NorrisE.LiauwJ.ButlerA.KishN.PluggeE.HarriottP.KouyoumdjianF. G. (2025). Health conditions among women in prisons: A systematic review. The Lancet Public Health. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667(25)00092-1
31.
MincA.ButlerT.GahanG. (2007). The jailbreak health project – incorporating a unique radio programme for prisoners. International Journal of Drug Policy, 18(5), 444–446. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2007.04.003
O'NeillM. (2008). Transnational refugees: The transformative role of art?Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung/Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 9(2008), 2, Performative Social Science. https://doi.org/10.17169/FQS-9.2.403
38.
RasmussenB.GürgensR. (2006). Art as part of everyday life: Understanding applied theatre practices through the aesthetics of John Dewey and Hans Georg Gadamer. Theatre Research International, 31(3), 235–244. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0307883306002203
39.
Ripatti-TorniainenL.StachyraG. (2019). The human core of the public realm: Women prisoners’ performed ‘radio’ at the Majdanek concentration camp. Media, Culture and Society, 41(5). https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443719848584
40.
RobertsJ. V.HoughM. (2005). The state of the prisons: Exploring public knowledge and opinion. The Howard Journal of Criminal Justice, 44(3), 286–306. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2311.2005.00373.x
41.
RossiterE.McPhersonJ. (2019). A rights-based approach to social work in jails. Journal of Human Rights and Social Work, 4(2), 108–115. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41134-018-0080-5
SeckerE. (2009). Expanding the concept of participatory rights. The International Journal of Human Rights, 13(5), 697–715. https://doi.org/10.1080/13642980802533190
48.
StoneR. (2016). Desistance and identity repair: Redemption narratives as resistance to stigma. The British Journal of Criminology, 56(5), 956–975. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azv081
49.
SuretteR. (2015). Media, crime, and criminal justice: Images, realities, and policies (5th Ed.). Cengage Learning.
50.
SykesG. M. (1958). The society of captives: A study of a maximum security prison. Princeton University Press.
51.
TettL. (2019). Transforming learning identities in literacy programmes. Journal of Transformative Education, 17(2), 154–172. https://doi.org/10.1177/1541344617750277
52.
TettL.AndersonK.McneillF.OveryK.SparksR. (2012). Learning, rehabilitation and the arts in prisons: A Scottish case study. Studies in the Education of Adults, 44(2), 171–185. https://doi.org/10.1080/02660830.2012.11661631
53.
TigheS.KnightV. (2017). Should the public be listening to prison radio programmes? An exploration of prison radio in Sweden and North America—CORE. Prison Service Journal. https://core.ac.uk/display/228194762
UN General Assembly. (1989). United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. 1577.
57.
VaswaniN. (2019). The trauma, bereavement and loss experiences of women in prison. University of Strathclyde.
58.
VaswaniN.PaulS. (2019). ‘It’s knowing the right things to say and do’: Challenges and opportunities for trauma-informed practice in the prison context. The Howard Journal of Crime and Justice, 58(4), 513–534. https://doi.org/10.1111/hojo.12344
WilliamsD. (1997). How the arts measure up: Australian research into social impact. COMEDIA.
61.
Wolters HinshawW.JacobiT. (2015). What words might do: The challenge of representing women in prison and their writing. Feminist Formations, 27(1), 67–90. https://doi.org/10.1353/ff.2015.0010
62.
WoodlandS. (2016). The art of living in prison: A pragmatist aesthetic approach to participatory drama with women prisoners. Applied Theatre Research, 4(3), 223–236. https://doi.org/10.1386/atr.4.3.223_1
63.
WoodlandS. (2021). The art of listening in prison: Creating audio drama with incarcerated women. In PrentkiT.BreedA. (Eds.), The Routledge companion to applied performance. Routledge.
