{"id":13655,"date":"2019-08-23T13:24:23","date_gmt":"2019-08-23T12:24:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ounews.co\/?p=13655"},"modified":"2019-08-23T13:24:23","modified_gmt":"2019-08-23T12:24:23","slug":"law-students-make-prison-radio-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/business-law\/law\/law-students-make-prison-radio-series\/","title":{"rendered":"Law students make prison radio series"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Open University law students from around the UK have collaborated with prison learners to record a series of radio programmes for broadcast on prison radio, as part of a pioneering project by the University\u2019s Open Justice Centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The success of the pilot, which resulted in a radio programme called Castaway, means it is expected to be rolled out to other prisons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the second time this innovative project has been implemented with NOVUS \u2013 an organisation which strives to educate offenders \u2013 at HMP Altcourse, a Category B men\u2019s private prison in Merseyside. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regular access to meet prisoners<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

From February to the end of March 2019, the six Law students on the W360 Justice in Action module were granted regular access to the prison, where they met with prisoners to explore the legal issues affecting them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Together\nthe final-year students and prisoners identified topics for the Law students to\nresearch \u2013 ranging from human rights and release on licence to family,\nemployment and housing law. The law students later returned to HMP Altcourse to\nrecord the radio shows with the prisoners, tackling the selected legal topics.\nThe programme \u2013 called \u2018Castaway\u2019 \u2013 is being broadcast to prisoners on Radio\nAltcourse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The project is a clear demonstration of how The Open University \u2013 which is celebrating its 50th<\/sup> birthday this year \u2013 has reimagined its ongoing mission to be open to all and promote educational opportunity and social justice. It is the brainchild of the OU\u2019s Open Justice Centre<\/a>, which provides free legal advice and guidance to people and groups who may struggle to access appropriate legal support through other means. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hugh McFaul,<\/a> Lecturer in Law and Chair of W360 Justice in Action, said: \u201cThis is an excellent example of how The Open University is open to people, places, methods and ideas. Through this project, we have been able to bring together two different groups people and give them experience of collaborating and working together, with great educational benefits to both groups. Both groups of people \u2013 the students and prisoners \u2013 are working on becoming positive contributors to local communities and wider society.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The OU is 50 years old and has been working in prisons since the very beginning. This Open Justice project is a reimagining of the OU\u2019s core ideals.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Sarah Couling was one of the students who has just completed the HMP Altcourse project. She said: \u201cMy perception of prison life has drastically changed. A custodial sentence with rehabilitation at the forefront is a wonderful thing. Our purpose of entering the prison was to collect legal questions from the prisoners and present our answers on their radio station. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I entered that prison thinking that I would be the one helping them, rather than them helping me. I was wrong. I gained so much from the experience and I am so truly grateful to have met these fine young men.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

“Change people’s attitudes”<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

She added: \u201cI fully support this type of prison programme and encourage anyone with the opportunity to engage with prisoners to jump in. Programmes like this are breaking down social barriers and creating positive social change. They help to change people\u2019s attitudes towards different people, shatter incorrect preconceived ideas about prisons, and benefit both students and prisoners alike.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NOVUS\u2019 Information, Advice and Guidance Worker Pete Tinsley and\npart-time NOVUS Tutor and Prison Custody Officer Dave McAlley from Novus said:\n\u201cWe call this project \u2018Legal Eagles\u2019. Last year\u2019s pilot was so successful that we decided to continue. It can\nbe hard for prisoners to find answers to specific legal questions \u2013 we have law\nbooks in the library but it can be daunting for many of the prisoners. The\nLegal Eagles are able to clear up their queries. It\u2019s a positive experience for\nthe students as well \u2013 coming into the prison challenged their perceptions of\nwhat prisoners are like.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\nradio prison project \u2013 which first ran in 2018, with a group of five students \u2013\nis just one many student-led prison projects based around legal research and\nguidance. To date, the Open Justice Centre has run projects with over 70 students, serving\nprisoners in nine prisons across England and Wales. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other\nprojects run through a partnership with the St Giles Trust \u2013 a charity which\nhelps severely disadvantaged people to find support, and runs award-winning prison and ex-offender\nprojects. The inmates involved in these collaborations are\nall Peer Advisors: prisoners trained by the St Giles Trust to guide and advise\nfellow inmates, and assist education, resettlement and prison staff, for the\nbenefit of the whole prison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maria McNicholl from\nthe St Giles Trust, said: \u201cThe Open Justice students have given our Peer\nAdvisors in the prisons a real opportunity to develop, learn and become more\nprofessional. But, more than anything, they have provided a forum where\nstudents and prisoners can meet as equals, learn from each other and discuss a\nwhole range of relevant issues. The sessions I have observed have been the\nliveliest and most stimulating I have ever witnessed inside a prison!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Open University law students from around the UK have collaborated with prison learners to record a series of radio programmes for broadcast on prison radio, as part of a pioneering project by the University\u2019s Open Justice Centre. The success of the pilot, which resulted in a radio programme called Castaway, means it is expected to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":13658,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,22],"tags":[1525,1640],"class_list":["post-13655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-law","category-university-news","tag-news-home","tag-ou-home"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13655\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}