On the final episode in the inaugural season of the Women Beyond Walls podcast, host Sabrina Mahtani is joined in conversation with Lady Unchained, the Founder and Creative Director of Unchained Poetry, an artistic platform for artists with lived experience of the Criminal Justice System. On this episode Brenda Birungi, best known as author, poet, mentor and broadcaster Lady Unchained, shares her journey and explains why writing poetry became an important creative outlet for her both in prison and beyond. 

Some of the links shared in this episode include:

• Unchained Poetry https://www.unchainedpoetry.com/ 
• Order a copy of Lady Unchained's book 'Behind Bars' https://linktr.ee/lady_unchained 
• Reclaim Holloway https://reclaimholloway.mystrikingly.com/

On the fifth episode in the inaugural season of the Women Beyond Walls podcast, Sabrina Mahtani is joined in conversation by Debbie Kilroy OAM, the CEO of Sisters Inside, one of Queensland’s leading criminal solicitors, and one of Australia's leading advocates for the human rights of women in the criminal justice system. On this episode of Women Beyond Walls, Debbie shares her own compelling life-story and shines a powerful spotlight on the many injustices that still prevail in the criminal justice system. How does youth criminalisation feed in to the issue of the over-incarceration of women? Why is it vital to centre the voices of women with lived prison experience? What needs to happen to change lives and to change the system? Debbie unpacks all of this and more on this episode. Visit the Women Beyond Walls website to find out more.

On the fourth episode in the inaugural season of the Women Beyond Walls podcast, Sabrina Mahtani is joined in conversation by Jhody Polk, the Founder/Director of the Legal Empowerment and Advocacy Hub (LEAH) and Director of Community Justice at the River Phoenix Center for Peacebuilding in the USA. LEAH is the home of the National Jailhouse Lawyers Initiative and is the first Participatory Defense Hub in the state of Florida. Jhody, a formerly incarcerated Jailhouse Lawyer and powerful advocate for change, explains why she believes we all need to be more open to learning - and unlearning - in the pursuit of justice for all. Sharing with us some of the barriers facing women both inside prisons and outside in their communities, Jhody powerfully unpacks the reasons she remains hopeful in the face of injustice and asks us all to consider what is "ours to do" in tackling the over-incarceration of women worldwide. 

On the third episode in the inaugural season of the Women Beyond Walls podcast, Sabrina Mahtani is joined in conversation by Samantha Chong, a former prosecutor and practicing criminal defence lawyer based in Malaysia. In this insightful episode Samantha and Sabrina examine some of the reasons behind the incarceration of women in Malaysia and discuss why the mandatory death sentence given for many drugs offences needs to challenged. Ahead of International Women's Day 2022, this episode unpicks some of the stereotypes around drug trafficking and asks us to consider the vital role legal professionals can play in breaking the bias that exists for women in touch with the criminal justice system.

On the second episode in the inaugural season of the Women Beyond Walls podcast, host Sabrina Mahtani is joined in conversation by her friend and former colleague Simitie Lavaly from Sierra Leone. Simitie is the former Executive Director of AdvocAid, a qualified lawyer and women’s rights specialist, and is currently serving as a Commissioner on Sierra Leone's Human Rights Commission.  In this episode, Simitie and Sabrina explore some of the root causes of women's incarceration in Sierra Leone and her work with AdvocAid where she represented women on death row. Simitie explains in this episode why it is important for all people - especially legal professionals - to look beyond the stereotypes that surround women's incarceration.

Over 741,000 women are in prison worldwide. The rate of women’s incarceration is growing at a faster rate than that of men’s. Women Beyond Walls is a podcast that takes you beyond tired prison stereotypes to listen to real-life stories from incredible individuals – women with lived experience of the justice system, feminist lawyers, activists and experts – all committed to seeing an end to the over-incarceration and over-criminalization of women worldwide. Our inaugural season is edited by Hueman Group Media, a podcast company for social change and impact.

Our first episode drops on November 18.