Photo by RJ Sangosti for the Denver Post.
Coming Soon: Colorado Radio for Justice
Colorado Radio for Justice (CRJ) is a radio station launching in 2024-25 to support and enable people impacted by the criminal-legal system in Denver and beyond.
CRJ emerges from the award-winning work of Inside Wire: Colorado Prison Radio, which was embedded in the Colorado Department of Corrections. CRJ's leadership team includes Herbert Alexander, Ryan Conarro, and Seth Ready, who co-led Inside Wire.
CRJ will invite Denver’s system-impacted youths and adults to become audio producers, creating and hosting 24/7 music, stories, news, and entertainment that amplifies diverse voices, lived experiences, and artistic voices. CRJ will provide technical training, transferable workforce development skills, and fulfillment of community service hours. CRJ’s programs will be a resource to people in reentry, and will guide listeners throughout Colorado to recognize the ways in which all of us are touched by the criminal-legal system.
WHY A RADIO STATION SERVING SYSTEM-IMPACTED PEOPLE?
People who have been incarcerated are vulnerable to:
Radio can provide a response to these challenges. It can support people’s growth and sense of purpose while they’re in prison, as well as when they re-enter their communities. It can mitigate loneliness and mental health distress, and it can equip system-impacted producers with technical skills, resilience, and a sense of meaning for their lives and the lives of those around them.
At Colorado Radio for Justice, incarcerated producers will use industry-standard audio production equipment to operate our 24/7 broadcast from start to finish: conducting interviews; producing feature stories; hosting music shows; and writing and editing programs that disseminate information, knowledge, and entertainment. As they work closely together in our studios and deepen their technical skills, they also cultivate certain transferrable professional skills and core values, including respect, empathy, self-worth, vulnerability, trust, and collaboration.
HOW DOES CRJ SERVE LISTENERS?
Bryan Stevenson, civil rights attorney and author of the book Just Mercy: A Story of Justice & Redemption, illuminates the value of broadcasting from inside to outside of prisons. In an interview in Fall 2021 with incarcerated artists of the University of Denver Prison Arts Initiative, Stevenson said, “Part of the problem is that we are not proximate, we are not connected… you have to find ways to get closer to people who are marginalized, excluded, neglected, and disfavored. If you are not proximate, you make policies and decisions that are unjust. When you are proximate, you hear things and see things you otherwise wouldn't see. Proximity is what gives us insight” (Draper et. al., 2022).
RADIO & RESTORATIVE JUSTICE
Restorative justice is a set of principles that offer an alternative approach to mending the impacts of crime (Capstick, 2018). As its name suggests, restorative justice is about “restoring” social relationships and repairing harm. The CRJ team is guided by values of restorative justice in our work with our system-impacted listeners and neighbors.
The “5 R’s” of restorative justice are:
There are many useful resources in the field of restorative justice. If you’re interested in beginning to learn more, check out this TED Talk by DU Associate Professor of Social Work, Shannon Sliva:
Colorado Radio for Justice (CRJ) is a radio station launching in 2024-25 to support and enable people impacted by the criminal-legal system in Denver and beyond.
CRJ emerges from the award-winning work of Inside Wire: Colorado Prison Radio, which was embedded in the Colorado Department of Corrections. CRJ's leadership team includes Herbert Alexander, Ryan Conarro, and Seth Ready, who co-led Inside Wire.
CRJ will invite Denver’s system-impacted youths and adults to become audio producers, creating and hosting 24/7 music, stories, news, and entertainment that amplifies diverse voices, lived experiences, and artistic voices. CRJ will provide technical training, transferable workforce development skills, and fulfillment of community service hours. CRJ’s programs will be a resource to people in reentry, and will guide listeners throughout Colorado to recognize the ways in which all of us are touched by the criminal-legal system.
WHY A RADIO STATION SERVING SYSTEM-IMPACTED PEOPLE?
People who have been incarcerated are vulnerable to:
- Trauma: A 2014 study published by the Journal for Urban Health surveyed male residents housed at high security prisons in the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections. They found that 30 to 60% of men in state prisons experienced post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), compared to 3 to 6% of the general male population (Wolff et. al., 2014).
- Loneliness: Brown University published a 2014 study finding that various kinds of interpersonal trauma are associated with lower levels of perceived support and higher levels of loneliness in prisoners (Kao et. al., 2014).
- Mental health distress: In 2018, the Bureau of Prisons changed its strategy to address the decline in mental health care. Although they classified 3% of incarcerated individuals as having serious enough mental illness to require regular treatment, officials acknowledged that 23% have been diagnosed with some mental illness (Thompson & Eldridge, 2018).
- Self-harm: The Lancet analyzed over 50 years of research about risk factors for self-harm in over half a million prisoners throughout the US. They found the annual prevalence of self-harm in prison has been estimated to be 5–6% in men and 20–24% in women, which greatly exceeds the less than 1% of adults in the general population who self-harm each year (Favril et. al., 2020).
Radio can provide a response to these challenges. It can support people’s growth and sense of purpose while they’re in prison, as well as when they re-enter their communities. It can mitigate loneliness and mental health distress, and it can equip system-impacted producers with technical skills, resilience, and a sense of meaning for their lives and the lives of those around them.
At Colorado Radio for Justice, incarcerated producers will use industry-standard audio production equipment to operate our 24/7 broadcast from start to finish: conducting interviews; producing feature stories; hosting music shows; and writing and editing programs that disseminate information, knowledge, and entertainment. As they work closely together in our studios and deepen their technical skills, they also cultivate certain transferrable professional skills and core values, including respect, empathy, self-worth, vulnerability, trust, and collaboration.
HOW DOES CRJ SERVE LISTENERS?
Bryan Stevenson, civil rights attorney and author of the book Just Mercy: A Story of Justice & Redemption, illuminates the value of broadcasting from inside to outside of prisons. In an interview in Fall 2021 with incarcerated artists of the University of Denver Prison Arts Initiative, Stevenson said, “Part of the problem is that we are not proximate, we are not connected… you have to find ways to get closer to people who are marginalized, excluded, neglected, and disfavored. If you are not proximate, you make policies and decisions that are unjust. When you are proximate, you hear things and see things you otherwise wouldn't see. Proximity is what gives us insight” (Draper et. al., 2022).
RADIO & RESTORATIVE JUSTICE
Restorative justice is a set of principles that offer an alternative approach to mending the impacts of crime (Capstick, 2018). As its name suggests, restorative justice is about “restoring” social relationships and repairing harm. The CRJ team is guided by values of restorative justice in our work with our system-impacted listeners and neighbors.
The “5 R’s” of restorative justice are:
- Relationships: Centering the importance of strong relationships inside and outside the walls; with staff, previously incarcerated, community partners, family members, and those intrinsically tied to Inside Wire.
- Respect: We center voices and stories to show respect for themselves and others in our community inside and outside. We invite the opportunity to try and understand others’ perspectives.
- Responsibility: We take ownership of our personal responsibility; prioritizing honesty and searching within ourselves to reveal our role within the prison system.
- Repair: We aim to repair the harm that has been done within and surrounding the prison system by engaging listeners by shifting the conversation on who is in prison. We aim to focus on moving forward in a more positive direction, inspiring change and that transformation is possible.
- Reintegration: We invite our communities into spaces that generate collaborative learning experiences. Together, the efforts to accept responsibility and agree to repair harm within the community develop trust that uplifts incarcerated producers and contributors as they return home.
There are many useful resources in the field of restorative justice. If you’re interested in beginning to learn more, check out this TED Talk by DU Associate Professor of Social Work, Shannon Sliva:
The Colorado Restorative Justice Coalition, in partnership with the University of Denver, has recently released a report that outlines key areas of progress and of need. The State of the State: Restorative Justice in Colorado report describes Colorado's unique landscape of restorative justice policy and practices. It was developed by Assistant Professor Shannon Sliva's research team at the University of Denver Graduate School of Social Work.
For further reading, find the sources cited on this page by order of appearance:
Wolff, N., Huening, J., Shi, J., Frueh, B. (2014). Trauma exposure and posttraumatic stress disorder among incarcerated men. Journal of Urban Health, 91(4):707-19. doi: 10.1007/s11524-014-9871-x
Kao, J. C., Chuong, A., Reddy, M. K., Gobin, R. L., Zlotnick, C., & Johnson, J. E. (2014). Associations between past trauma, current social support, and loneliness in incarcerated populations. Health & Justice, 2, 7. https://doi.org/10.1186/2194-7899-2-7
Thompson, C., Eldridge T. (2018). Treatment denied: The mental health crisis in federal prisons. https://www.themarshallproject.org/2018/11/21/treatment-denied-the-mental-health-crisis-in-federal-prisons
Favril, L., Rongqin, Y., Hawton, K., Fazel, S. (2020). Risk factors for self-harm in prison: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Lancet Psychiatry, 7, 682-91. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(20)30190-5
Quandt, K., Altshule, A. (2022). COVID fueled solitary confinement still plagues prisons and jails. https://solitarywatch.org/2022/03/22/covid-fueled-solitary-confinement-still-plagues-prisons-and-jails/
Colorado Public Radio. (2017, June 30). The power of radio: Why we listen in a changing world. https://www.cpr.org/2017/06/30/the-power-of-radio-why-we-listen-in-a-changing-world/
Knowles, D., Kikoen, A. (2022, March 21). Controlling their narrative: The women behind the first statewide prison radio show. Rocky Mountain PBS. https://www.rmpbs.org/blogs/rocky-mountain-pbs/inside-wire-prison-radio-station/
Draper, A., Presson, D., Hamilton, A. (2022). The stone catcher – A conversation with Bryan Stevenson [Audio podcast]. University of Denver Prison Arts Initiative. https://www.thisiswithin.com/www.thisiswithin.com/
Capstick, L. (2018). The 5 R's of restorative justice. The Conflict Center. https://conflictcenter.org/the-5-rs-of-restorative-justice/
Sliva, S., Han, T., Samimi, C., Golieb, K., McCurdy, J., Forte, A. (2019). State of the state: Restorative justice in Colorado. Restorative Justice Coalition. https://restorativejusticeontherise.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/StateoftheStateClickable.pdf
Wolff, N., Huening, J., Shi, J., Frueh, B. (2014). Trauma exposure and posttraumatic stress disorder among incarcerated men. Journal of Urban Health, 91(4):707-19. doi: 10.1007/s11524-014-9871-x
Kao, J. C., Chuong, A., Reddy, M. K., Gobin, R. L., Zlotnick, C., & Johnson, J. E. (2014). Associations between past trauma, current social support, and loneliness in incarcerated populations. Health & Justice, 2, 7. https://doi.org/10.1186/2194-7899-2-7
Thompson, C., Eldridge T. (2018). Treatment denied: The mental health crisis in federal prisons. https://www.themarshallproject.org/2018/11/21/treatment-denied-the-mental-health-crisis-in-federal-prisons
Favril, L., Rongqin, Y., Hawton, K., Fazel, S. (2020). Risk factors for self-harm in prison: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Lancet Psychiatry, 7, 682-91. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(20)30190-5
Quandt, K., Altshule, A. (2022). COVID fueled solitary confinement still plagues prisons and jails. https://solitarywatch.org/2022/03/22/covid-fueled-solitary-confinement-still-plagues-prisons-and-jails/
Colorado Public Radio. (2017, June 30). The power of radio: Why we listen in a changing world. https://www.cpr.org/2017/06/30/the-power-of-radio-why-we-listen-in-a-changing-world/
Knowles, D., Kikoen, A. (2022, March 21). Controlling their narrative: The women behind the first statewide prison radio show. Rocky Mountain PBS. https://www.rmpbs.org/blogs/rocky-mountain-pbs/inside-wire-prison-radio-station/
Draper, A., Presson, D., Hamilton, A. (2022). The stone catcher – A conversation with Bryan Stevenson [Audio podcast]. University of Denver Prison Arts Initiative. https://www.thisiswithin.com/www.thisiswithin.com/
Capstick, L. (2018). The 5 R's of restorative justice. The Conflict Center. https://conflictcenter.org/the-5-rs-of-restorative-justice/
Sliva, S., Han, T., Samimi, C., Golieb, K., McCurdy, J., Forte, A. (2019). State of the state: Restorative justice in Colorado. Restorative Justice Coalition. https://restorativejusticeontherise.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/StateoftheStateClickable.pdf