No Trash Talk

Today is my first day exploring radio programmes made by offenders which can be heard on the “outside”. Could programmes like these be informative and engaging or is the potential to offend just too great? I’ll try and find out, but today it didn’t take too long before some of the pinch-points became all too apparent.

But before all that, let me try and paint a picture of the place I went to visit outside Stockholm. What I saw today would probably split opinion. Some people will think it’s too soft. Some will think it’s the humane way to deal with young people who’ve committed a crime.

Today I went to an all-girls young offenders' institute. That’s what the British would call it but the Swedes prefer to call it a school. There’s no doubt that the girls I spoke to have come from chaotic backgrounds and much of what they’ve done is bound up with addiction.

Set in beautiful pinewood forests in felt like a holiday camp rather than a prison. In fact it took me back 25 years, when I worked at Camp America, the holiday job that many of us did in the nineties (and before) to see some of the world for free.

I've included a picture of the school house set in the forest. There's no perimeter fence and when I got there I didn’t have to give my name on the “gate” as I normally do when I visit prisons. I didn’t have to give up my phone. I wasn’t asked about all the stuff you can’t bring into UK prisons like USB sticks or laptops or computer tablets.

Instead, there were wooden houses with porches. Horses grazing untroubled in the field. Apple trees that some of the girls reached up to for their fruit. Pine cones scattered around. Deer gambling and birds tweeting. Ok, you could hear the road still, but there were paths that scrunched as they should, telling you that you are here for peace and quiet, long walks and reflection.

And the girls here are definitely encouraged to do some soul-searching and they’ve got plenty of time, because apart from lessons there’s not a great deal to do. Lessons are one to one. They live in little houses of about seven. Computers are around and they can use Facebook if they behave. One of them I spoke to had a tablet computer and another had a skateboard. They had breaks in lessons when they could go out for a smoke.

I went along with the team behind a Swedish radio project called Radio Fri. It makes a radio programme with young offenders which is then broadcast on the radio, via the internet or available on an app. The programme goes out on a Friday afternoon on a local FM radio station covering south west Stockholm. Its purpose is to allow teenagers with a criminal record to express themselves and communicate their stories, ideas and opinions. It allows them to dig deep, think about themselves and communicate their complex feelings. They’re supported by a team of professional radio makers who edit pieces, put a little bit of production behind them (like music) so they sound fresh and professional, and then broadcast them on the public airwaves. Today I heard about family and friends listening as well as people who support and know the NGO behind Radio Fri. Feedback is limited and impossible to gather in a formal way but I was told that listeners learn something about being in custody and understand the teenagers and where they are coming from a little more.

The radio professionals behind Radio Fri are more than that. Yes, they have to be able to make engaging radio, but they are also unofficial mentors, psychiatrists and probation officers. That means they are obliged to leave their journalistic instincts at the door. Two teenagers I spoke to today highlighted this situation perfectly and without prompting. One of them told me how making radio programmes in the past allowed her to describe what it’s like living in a place like this. Wanting to elaborate a bit more she told me how a housemate of hers had recently tried to hang herself because she had been bullied by the more established members of the house. She confessed to being one of the bullies. A second teenager said she wanted to get involved in radio to talk about the corruption she believed happened at there.

These kind of claims are described as “trash talk” by Radio Fri staff, and can’t be included for broadcast. One: they are unsubstantiated and libellous. Two: they could incriminate the girls in a way that they’re unaware of, as well as reinforce any negative feelings they may have about themselves. Three: this kind of “trash talk” could destroy the relationship built up over years between Radio Fri and the authorities which give them permission to work there. That in turn could risk Radio Fri's very existence. However if the Radio Fri producers hear this kind of thing, they encourage the girls to explain their feelings and suspicions and then pass the information on to the relevant authorities to investigate.