File on 4 Investigates podcast | Listen online for free

Available Episodes

5 of 473

Youth Justice: The project keeping young offenders out of custody
A van selling coffee and sandwiches from an office car park doesn’t sound like anything special, but there’s one in Swindon helping to keep young offenders out of custody. It’s part of an approach being deployed across the country trying to prevent young people from reoffending by encouraging a shift in their identity. The idea is to get to know the young offender, figure out what makes them tick. And then, instead of locking them up, find ways of getting them involved in whatever interests them. Selling tea and coffee from the burger van is where those with a culinary eye can learn new skills and start to feel valued for being part of legitimate endeavours. Similar interventions include social enterprises working in bicycle maintenance, hair and beauty and podcasting. As the adult prison population has soared in England and Wales, the number of under-18s behind bars has dropped markedly in the past 20 years, from around 3000 to 400. File on 4 Investigates spends time with the Youth Justice Service in Swindon to find out how it rehabilitates young offenders in the local community, and asks if the success of the youth system could hold lessons to address chronic overcrowding problems in adult prisons. Chris Marston, who presents shows on National Prison Radio and spent 10 months in prison discovers that what’s going on in Swindon is very different from his own experiences of the adult criminal justice system.Reporter: Chris Marston Producer: Beth McLeod Technical Producer: Craig Boardman Production Co-ordinator: Tim Fernley Editor: Nick HollandMain Image: Presenter Chris Marston in front of the Solid Ground coffee van in Swindon.
--------
37:37
--------
37:37
Swiped. Inside London's phone theft epidemic
Up to 80,000 phones were stolen in London’s streets and transport network in 2024, according to the Metropolitan Police. As File on 4 Investigates discovers, gangs are targeting unlocked phones. We discover that if a phone is unlocked, criminals may be able to access online banking and cryptocurrency accounts within minutes. We hear from one victim who lost £15,000 from a phone stolen from his pocket, another who lost £40,000 in cryptocurrency and about the financial and emotional cost of trying to recover lost assets.Adrian Goldberg joins City of London Police as they carry out a series of raids as part of Operation Swipe. They have recovered more than three thousand handsets in the last three months alone.Reporter: Adrian Goldberg Producer: Paul Grant Technical Producer: Nicky Edwards Production Co-ordinator: Tim Fernley Editor: Tara McDermottHave you had your phone snatched? Tell us your story via Your Voice, Your BBC News. Email: [email protected] WhatsApp: 07756 165 803 Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist and have your comments included online or appear on TV/radio.Image credit: PA\City of London Police
--------
37:22
--------
37:22
Inside the Migrant Hotel
It's a familiar story from the outside. Around 32,000 people are housed in migrant hotels around the UK and protests outside them have been violent and vocal.Sue Mitchell has spent the summer getting to know a different side of the story - what life is like Inside the migrant hotels - and she's seen and heard some striking things:Families who have been seeking asylum for nearly a decade;, a stream of prepaid taxis taking migrants to medical appointments and transporting them across the UK, families cooking meals in secret in hotel bathrooms and a system that appears to be broken, according to the people within it. These are the first recordings that have been made of this kind. It's a story that has dominated the news, but hasn't been heard from the inside until now.All names have been changed to protect the identities of hotel residents and staffReporter: Sue Mitchell Producer: Joel Moors Executive producer: Joe Kent Inside the Migrant Hotel is a BBC Studios Production for BBC Radio 4
--------
38:26
--------
38:26
A Prison Inspector Calls
In a broadcasting first, the BBC has followed a team from His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons as it investigates conditions in a prison near Rugby in Warwickshire. The result is a unique insight into the problems faced by the prison system. This portrait of a prison on trial reveals how under-resourced prison staff are failing to stop copious amounts of drugs being brought in, and are struggling to provide a safe and productive environment in which prisoners can be prepared for release back into society.His Majesty’s Prison Onley is a category C, medium security prison, housing 740 inmates. Its governor, Mark Allen, says Onley is among the top ten prisons for incursion of drugs via drones and admits many of his staff are too inexperienced to handle the inmates, resulting in frustration among prisoners, and violence. In its last inspection three years ago, Onley was found to be struggling in various areas, and it doesn’t take the inspection team long to find out that things are, if anything, getting worse. Inspectors meet prisoners who complain about everything from lack of laundry facilities to failure to provide meaningful work opportunities, or help with their offender behaviour. One inspector has to intervene when she finds a prisoner ‘spiced up’ and in need of immediate help. Another prisoner is refusing to leave the relative safety of the segregation wing, because he’s being threatened with violence over his debts to drug dealers within the prison. Inspectors discover evidence that officers are too ready to resort to force to deal with difficult prisoners and failing to keep accurate records of their restraining methods.Prison officers talk about the challenges of trying to deal with violence within the prison and of trying to prevent drugs coming in.In a lighter moment, lead inspector Angus Jones visits the prison library and discovers a surprising inclusion among books the prisoners are not allowed to read.The inspection ends with the team meeting to agree how to score Onley against their key criteria for a ‘healthy prison’ and then presenting their conclusions to the Governor. Presenter: Rex Bloomstein Producers: Brian King and Rex BloomsteinA Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
--------
37:16
--------
37:16
Sex Offenders:The Long Way Back
Alison Holt, BBC social affairs editor, has been given exceptional access to the clients of a Nottingham charity that works to reintegrate men who have been convicted of sexual offences. 'John, Matt, Dan and Liam', not their real names, are determined to turn their lives around after prison sentences. We hear how they work towards this with the help of the staff and volunteers at the Safer Living Foundation, the only charity of its sort in the country. Always mindful of the victims of sexual crime, the principal aim is to prevent further offending and the creation of further harm. There are hurdles to overcome - public abhorrence, plus grave difficulties with accommodation and work among them . The Foundation also runs Aurora, an online advice scheme for people who have not offended but who are worried about their sexual thoughts. Presenter: Alison Holt Producer: Susan Marling A Just Radio production for BBC Radio 4
--------
36:40
--------
36:40