Dr Serena Wright, Lecturer in Criminology, is currently working alongside Professor Ben Crewe and Dr Susie Hulley (University of Cambridge) on a major ESRC-funded follow-up study of long-term life imprisonment from a young age in England and Wales.
During the enforced delay of fieldwork imposed by the global pandemic, Dr Wright, Professor Crewe and Dr Hulley have focused on disseminating findings from their original study on this issue to audiences beyond the academy.
As part of this, the team collaborated with Phil Maguire, CEO of the award-winning Prison Radio Association, and Paula Harriot (Prison Reform Trust) to record two special episodes of the existing ‘Secret Life of Prisons’ podcast. Alongside Tammy and Zahid, both of whom had themselves served life sentences, the episodes explored key themes from the team’s research and recent book, ‘Life Imprisonment from Young Adulthood: Adaptation, Identity and Time’. (An outline of the topics covered in the book is also available here).
The podcast is currently in post-production and expected to drop in both prisons and the community in mid-October, as part of a new series of the ‘Secret Life of Prisons’. The podcast was recorded at The Sound Company studios in London. Previous episodes of the programme ‘Secret Life of Prisons’ are available here.