Episode
I Went To Prison At 40 & Came Out A New Woman - Karen
- Podcast
- Life After Prison
- Published
- Feb 5, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 2872
- Processing state
not_requested
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Summary
Complete our 2025 Listener Survey: https://forms.gle/smJxoWJhr66qKG4Q7 We’d love to hear from you! Every year, we ask the Life After Prison audience to complete a short survey. Your answers help us understand what’s working, what we can improve, and they also help us show our funders the real impact of the show. It only takes a few minutes and your feedback really does make a difference. Today, we’re joined by Karen Howell-Ball – a lived-experience speaker whose journey is one of real transformation. After serving time at Askham Grange Prison, Karen rebuilt her life from the ground up. She’s now using her experiences of abuse, trauma and criminal exploitation to help others break free from those same cycles. In this episode, we’ll hear how Karen turned her pain into purpose, what life after prison looked like for her, and how she’s now empowering young people and women to find hope and success beyond the justice system. This podcast is also available as a video – just search Life After Prison on YouTube. Useful organisations: Advance – Support for women affected by the criminal justice system, domestic abuse, and trauma. They run women’s centres across London and help with housing, employment, and wellbeing. https://www.advancecharity.org.uk Women in Prison – Advocacy and support for women in the justice system. They focus on helping women rebuild their lives after release and campaign for reform. https://www.womeninprison.org.uk Refuge – The UK’s largest domestic abuse organisation offering safe accommodation, a 24-hour helpline, and online support. https://www.refuge.org.uk Contact us: If anything you’ve heard in this podcast has inspired you to make a positive change in your life, or you’d just like to get in touch, pleas…