In this episode of Free Thinking, I was able to advocate for mentally ill prisoners and those who are struggling in the community. I am very passionate about advocacy and activism in the Mad space. This was a live broadcast. Full description below.


How have attitudes to punishment changed over time, and what ideas about the rationale for punishment are circulating today? In Radio 4's roundtable discussion programme, Matthew Sweet and guests explore the criminal justice system through history. With:

Stephanie Brown, Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Hull and BBC / AHRC New Generation Thinker on the scheme which puts research on radio

Scout Tzofiya Bolton, poet and broadcaster who presents on National Prison Radio, and for Radio 4 the Illuminated episode called The Ballad of Scout and the Alcohol Tag. Their poetry collection is called The Mad Art of Doing Time

Joanna Hardy-Susskind, criminal barrister and presenter for Radio 4 of a series called You Do Not Have To Say Anything

Stephen Shapiro, Professor of American Literature at the University of Warwick

Jonathan Sumption, former Supreme Court judge and now Moral Maze panellist for BBC Radio 4 and author of a five-volume account of The Hundred Years War

Producer: Eliane Glaser