How are people making music in prison?

What in the World

• Episode: How are people making music in prison?
• Website: What in the World
• Feed URL: https://podcasts.files.bbci.co.uk/w13xtvrv.rss
• Duration: 00:14:10
• Published: 2024-07-12 15:30

JailTime is a record label that aims to get prisoners away from crime and into the music industry. It operates from a studio in New Bell prison, a high security jail in Douala, Cameroon. They say they’ve brought reoffending rates down significantly.

JailTime’s founders, Dione Roach and Steve Happi, tell us what they're trying to achieve and talk about one of their success stories; Moussinghi. Paul Njie, a BBC reporter in Cameroon, describes the conditions in prisons there - and explains why reoffending rates are so high.

On the other side of the world, the USA has one of the highest recorded reoffending rates in the world. Can arts programmes prevent offenders returning to crime? Maurice Chammah from the Marshall Project gives us his take. He also talks us through the history of music in prisons and describes how prisoners manage to record music from their cells unofficially. Instagram: @bbcwhatintheworld Email: [email protected] WhatsApp: +44 0330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: Hannah Gelbart Producer: Ez Roberts Editor: Verity Wilde