Citizen's mediaThis PhD dissertation considers prisoners’ radio in Australia and Canada as citizen’s media connecting directly to notions of civic responsibility. It focuses on the ways in which people produce media and how these activities transform those individuals. I will argue that there are two major, and complementary, roles of prisoners’ radio – the first relates to information, while the second is of a participatory nature. By circulating alternative information, prisoners’ programs contribute to an ongoing dialogue about criminalisation and prisons, while direct participation provides opportunities to contribute to this exchange of ideas. Truly democratic societies require that these opportunities exist. When prisoners engage in their own radio production they are participating in a form of meaningful community activity which benefits both prisoners and the wider audience (including family and friends). The loss of citizenship rights (either formally or informally) makes it even more vital that prisoners have access to opportunities that enact their citizenship through alternative means. Producing media and information is one way in which this may be achieved. Public sphere activity, via the media, promotes political participation and actively engages people as citizens in the radical sense of democracy. For people to fully exercise their citizenship rights they need access to a broad choice of perspectives that may assist them to understand particular issues, as well as opportunities to contribute to such representations. My research identified a number of levels of public sphere activity being fostered by prisoners’ radio.