When the prisoners ran the prison
Witness History
BBC
4.5 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 30 March 2021
⏱️ 10 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In March 1973 guards went on strike at Walpole maximum security prison in the US state of Massachussetts, and the prisoners took over. For the next three months the inmates, organised in the National Prisoners Reform Association, ran daily life in the prison. They were helped by a group of outside observers, drawn from members of the community. Mike Lanchin has been hearing from the organiser of the observer teams, Rev. Ed Rodman, about his memories of this unique, but ultimately doomed, experiment in prison reform.
(Photo credit: The Boston Globe)
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Choosing what to watch night after night the flicking through the endless |
| 0:06.8 | searching is a nightmare we want to help you on our brand new podcast off the |
| 0:11.8 | telly we share what we've been watching |
| 0:14.0 | Cladie Aide. |
| 0:16.0 | Load to games, loads of fun, loads of screaming. |
| 0:19.0 | Lovely. Off the telly with me Joanna Paige. |
| 0:21.0 | And me, Natalie Cassidy, so your evenings can be a little less |
| 0:24.9 | searching and a lot more auction listen on BBC sounds. Hello and thank you for listening to the Witness History podcast from the BBC World Service, |
| 0:41.2 | first-hand accounts of events that have shaped our world. |
| 0:44.4 | I'm Mike Lanchin. |
| 0:46.0 | Today, when prisoners at a maximum security jail in the US ran the prison for three months |
| 0:52.0 | after the guards went on strike. |
| 0:54.0 | The prisoners nonviolent takeover happened amid growing disquiet |
| 0:58.8 | over the dire conditions in America's jails, |
| 1:01.6 | as I've been hearing from one man who was present during the |
| 1:05.0 | prisoners action. |
| 1:09.6 | It's March 1973, an inside Walpole maximum security jail in Massachusetts |
| 1:15.3 | something very out of the ordinary is taking place. |
| 1:18.3 | The prisoners and not the guards are taking the count of their |
| 1:21.5 | fellow prisoners. |
| 1:24.4 | The guards have gone on strike and they've walked out because they are unhappy that outside observers |
| 1:29.6 | have been brought into the jail to keep tabs on them. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.