The Secret Life of Prisons podcast

The Secret Life of Lifers: Part 1

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Episode notes

What is it like to receive a life sentence?

Tammy and Zahid are both lifers. 

Tammy was 36 when she received a life sentence with a 14 year tariff. She was released from prison in November 2020.

Zahid was 20 when he received a life sentence under joint enterprise laws. His tariff was 15 years.

They're now both released from prison and are living with a 'life licence'.

They join Phil and Paula in the studio, along with criminologists Susie Hulley and Serena Wright.

Susie is a Senior Research Associate at the Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge. She is interested in how young people are affected by the criminal justice system, particularly their experiences of criminalisation and imprisonment. Her recent work focuses on the application of ‘joint enterprise’ by criminal justice practitioners (including lawyers and the police) and the impact of this legal doctrine on young people.

Serena is a researcher and Lecturer in Criminology in the Department of Law and Criminology at Royal Holloway, University of London, UK. Her research on prisons and penology has focused on short-term sentences and post-release ‘frustrated desistance’ among women, and the experience of long-term incarceration among life-sentenced prisoners.. She is particularly interested in the intersection between trauma, addiction, and criminalisation, and between health, gender and criminal justice. 

Further reading:

Experiencing long-term imprisonment from young adulthood (Crewe, Hulley, Wright): Ministry of Justice

Life Imprisonment from Young Adulthood (Crewe, Hulley, Wright): Palgrave Macmillan