Roebourne Prison: Improving inmate health and wellbeing by radio

In Roebourne Prison in the Pilbara of Western Australia, inmates are keeping in touch with their family through Indigenous community radio.

Tangiora Hinaki is the CEO of Ngaarda Media, which is based in Roebourne, a town 1600km north of Perth with a population of approximately 1000.

‘What happens on a Tuesday morning is the prison inmates put together their song requests and messages for their loved ones,’ Tangiora said.

‘They’re vetted by security guards and forwarded onto us and we share them with the outside listeners. The prisoners listen intently and get a thrill out of being able to send birthday messages or messages to their children. Of course, those people on the outside get a thrill from listening to those special messages and songs.’

The Tuesday broadcast is from 8:00 to 11:00am. Sometimes it includes an interview with one of the inmates, conducted by Tangiora. When the inmate has written a song for their family, Tangiora records it and it becomes part of the broadcast.

Tangiora said that one of the aims of the Roebourne Regional Prison Show is to improve the health and wellbeing of the inmates.

‘It’s to keep them connected in one small way to the outside world; to perhaps even give them hope for the future, that they might even work in media one day,’ she said.

The program also includes human interest stories recorded by Tangiora during her regular visits.

‘On a Tuesday morning, we might talk about health. We might present ‘This is your life’ type stories because we know they are listening. We want to inspire them to make the right choices once they’re out of prison,’ Tangiora said.

This radio service began many years ago but was sporadic in its scheduling so 5 years ago when Tangiora became the CEO of Ngaarda, she decided to make it a regular event.

The effect of the weekly program has been significant.

‘Every time I go in they call out to me and acknowledge Ngaarda Radio. I’ve done interviews with inmates that have been shared on state-wide news services,’ Tangiora said.

‘The prisoners give me feedback about how they’ve got a phone call from family. They give me feedback that their family heard their birthday shout-out. It makes them happy.’

‘One of the recreation officers said there is excitement amongst the inmates because of the shout outs,’ Tangiora said.

‘There’s also excitement to hear what’s happening on the outside because we focus on strong local stories with a First Nations angle. A lot of mob feel like they have their finger on the pulse even though they are in prison. They know what the Elders are doing, what language programs are happening. They know about work incentives.’

‘When one inmate got out, I interviewed him because he got straight into a mining job.  So those sorts of stories inspire them. They feel that, “there’s hope for me”.’

Over the past 5 years, the Roebourne Regional Prison Show has evolved.

Read about it in part 2 of this story, Roebourne Prison: Broadcasting from inside to the world.