Jails are the principal people-processing machines of the criminal justice system. Mostly they hold persons awaiting trial who cannot afford or have been denied bail. Although jail sentences max out at a year, some spend years awaiting trial in jail-especially in counties where courts are jammed with cases. City and county jails, detention centers, police lo ... Show More
May 13
Photis Lysandrou, "Dollar Dominance: Why It Rules the Global Economy and How to Challenge It" (Policy Press, 2025)
In a world shaken by crises, why does the dollar continue to dominate? In Dollar Dominance: Why It Rules the Global Economy and How to Challenge It (Policy Press, 2025) Photis Lysandrou explores the interaction between global instability and the enduring strength of the dollar. D ... Show More
54m 13s
May 13
Chiara Libiseller, "Reconceptualizing War: The Rise and Fall of Fashionable Concepts in Strategic Studies" (Oxford UP, 2026)
The field of Strategic Studies, which studies the use and threat of force for political purposes, has seen the repeated rise of concepts to dominate discourses and research agendas, only to eventually fall to the margins again. What explains this cyclical pattern? What are the co ... Show More
51m 38s
May 12
Benjamin Robert Siegel, "Markets of Pain: Opium, Capitalism, and the Global History of Painkillers" (Oxford UP, 2026)
Markets of Pain offers a sweeping history of the business of licit opium--following cultivators, merchants, scientists, and policymakers--and shows how this potent crop reshaped global trade, medicine, and geopolitics. For centuries, opium has been a source of both profit and pe ... Show More
37m 23s
Jul 2024
Premal Dharia et al., "Dismantling Mass Incarceration: A Handbook for Change" (FSG Originals, 2024)
In recent years, a searching national conversation has called attention to the social and racial injustices that define America’s criminal system. The incarceration of vast numbers of people, and the punitive treatment of African Americans in particular, are targets of widespread ... Show More
31m 49s
Oct 2024
#015 - Jarrett Adams - The Prison Industrial Complex
Jarrett Adams is a defense attorney, author, and founder of Life After Justice, a nonprofit focused on fighting wrongful convictions and supporting reintegration for exonerated individuals. In this episode, we get into his story of being wrongfully convicted at 17, the realities ... Show More
1h 35m
Jul 2022
Non-Profit Corrections- A Warden Ex-Marine's Recipe for creating a sustainable model that truly reduces the rates of incarceration and recidivism
In this episode we interview Brian Koehn, Co-founder, CEO, & Co-chair of the Board of of Social Profit Corrections (SPC)
Brian's shared passion for corrections reform and social justice prompted him to end his 28-year career in corrections and start SPC. Through his tenure as w ... Show More
52m 13s
Sep 2025
What beliefs make American prisoners convert to Islam?
Darrell Davis was just 18 when he was sent to prison, serving a total of 25 years behind bars. Davis converted to Islam while in jail, taking on the name “Sadiq”, or truthful, as part of an attempt to leave his previous lifestyle behind. Davis was released after 25 years, but liv ... Show More
25m 36s
<p>The Secret Life of Prisons is produced by a charity, the Prison Radio Association. To make a donation please visit <a href= "https://www.prison.radio/donate">prison.radio/donate</a>. </p> <p>--</p> <p>What is it like to receive a life sentence?</p> <p>We're joined by two peopl ... Show More
