One that sings in prison after a year (7)

I believe the answer is:

sunbird

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'one that sings' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.

'prison after a year' is the wordplay.
'prison' becomes 'bird'.
'after' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'a year' becomes 'sun' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'bird' put after 'sun' is 'SUNBIRD'.

'in' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for sunbird that I've seen is " Flighty African".)

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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