The Prison Show Gang

They call themselves The Prison Show Gang. They’re the production crew behind a radio show which has been going for 35 years. It’s called The Prison Show and I’m in Houston, Texas, to find out more.

The Prison Show goes out every Friday night on a public radio station called KPFT. It’s two hours long and this is how the station manager, Duane Bradley, describes it: “The first hour is dedicated to news/information/updates of interest to those behind the walls and those who care for them. The second hour is a call-in where folks, literally from all around the world, call in to say something to their loved-ones. Even though it’s only a one way conversation, it is very powerful.”

Crucially for my Winston Churchill research, it’s a “prison radio” programme which is broadcast on the public airwaves. I’m looking into prison radio programmes which can be heard on the outside, in contrast to prison radio in the UK which can only be heard within the prison estate.

In the 10 days I’m in Houston I’ll find out more, but Duane tells me: “We measure our response to the programme through letters from listeners, calls from the public and how well the programme does during our seasonal fund campaigns.” (The station is completely funded by listeners). He goes on, “We know many in our prison industrial complex are of lesser means economically and we factor that into our analysis. For example, we have a low-powered translator station an hour north of Houston which is aimed at the Texas Death Row prison unit. It costs us nearly $1000 a month to operate and generates no income to the station.”

There’s so much to explore here, and I must acknowledge the support and enthusiasm shown to me already via email by Duane; Hank, one of the presenters; and David, the executive producer. Hank and David have both done time.

Aside from anything else, the language is so interesting to unpack. In Washington DC they spoke about “returning citizens” instead of ex-offenders. Here they talk about “the prison industrial complex”. To me that sound like a factory or something large scale. I’ll find out and tell you more.