Prison radio is a radio station that is independent and non-profit oriented. It fights to produce news that does not follow a private owner or colonialism and capitalism. Its ultimate goal is based on the core concept of sharing information within the community. Prison radio incorporates Dunifer’s concept of free radio and Fanon’s active community concept that revolves around a community of people that listen and participate in being part of the radio channel and control the station themselves. They’re free of any domination.
An example of a prison radio channel would be Souverains Anonymes from Canada that directly involve prisoners to live broadcast news from the prison (Abu Jammal), as well as Beyond the bars from Australia. These radio stations involve the prison community to speak up and share news without being obliged to modify their speech by authority. It is a free community and a safe space.
References
Fanon, F. (1994). This is the Voice of Algeria [read excerpts]. In: Fanon, F. (ed.), A Dying
Colonialism, trans. H. Chevalier. New York: Grove Press. Retrieved from:
http://www.campusincamps.ps/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/fanon-this-is-the-voice-ofalgeria.pdf
Dunifer, S. (2010). Latitudes of Rebellion: Free Radio in an International Context [read
excerpts]. In Langlois, A., Sakolsky, R., and van der Zon, M. (Eds.) Islands of Resistance:
Pirate Radio in Canada. Vancouver: News Star Books. Retrieved from:
http://www.newstarbooks.com/pdfs/books/9781554200504-Resistance-web.pdf
Abu-Jamal, M. (2013). Media matters: Radio in prisons. Mumia Abu-Jamal’s Radio Essays.
[Podcast Audio]. Retrieved from http://mumiapodcast.libsyn.com/media-matters
Tracy's Media and Society blog 