Queen lyrics ‘too violent’ to play on prison radio

‘We all know the lyrics – it has been played millions of times by the BBC’

INMATES are complaining about a prison radio station that censors “violent” lyrics, including lines from Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody.

National Prison Radio calls itself the “world’s first national radio station for prisoners” and broadcasts songs, poetry readings and talk shows to the UK’s 85,000 prisoners 24 hours a day.

But inmates have accused the prison system of treating them like children after Queen’s best-known hit was censored for containing the lines: “Mama, just killed a man, put a gun against his head, pulled my trigger, now he’s dead.”

Craig Bird, an inmate at HMP Chelmsford, in Essex, wrote to prisoners’ magazine Inside Time and said: “National Prison Radio chop out swear words and violent lyrics from the songs we hear – what is the point of that?

“We are grown adults, not fluffy little munchkins that have to be protected by the prison nanny.

“For God’s sake, National Prison Radio even cut a line from Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody ‘Put a gun against his head, pulled my trigger now he’s dead’. Why? We all know the lyrics anyway – it had been played millions of times by the BBC.”

Last year, the radio station received 10,000 requests from prisoners and their loved ones. And in a recent poll of their favourite artists, rapper Tupac Shakur, who was shot dead in 1996, was the most requested. But if his song Thug 4 Life was played in prison, it would have 35 words edited out.

Bosses at National Prison Radio said its audience was “unique” as it included many people who had “committed very serious crimes”.

Andrew Wilkie, its director of radio and operations, said: “All broadcasters will routinely play ‘radio edits’ of tracks which are suitable for their particular audience.

“When selecting and producing content, members of the NPR team ask themselves ‘what would a victim of crime feel if they heard that particular piece of content was played on NPR?’.”