January 2018 / Issue No. 223 / www.insidetime.org / A ‘not for profit’ publication / ISSN 1743-7342 An average of 60,000 copies distributed monthly Independently verified by the Audit Bureau of Circulations

the National Newspaper for Prisoners & Detainees a voice for prisoners since 1990

“Iconic jail suffering persistent and intractable failings” page 36

NEWS FLASH! Liverpool jail: The worst conditions ever seen 10

Inside Time report

“It has completely ripped apart my normal personal life.” Liam Allan

Roy Lich does timePrisoner arts project allowed men to share their experi-ences with their families

Newsround // page 10

Jailbreak // page 46HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OUR READERS

Smoking ban cannot be enforced

‘An absolute triumph!’Dream performance at major London theatre by serving residents of HMPPS

New prisons inspections protocolHM Chief Inspector of Prisons welcomes new ‘Urgent Notification’ agreement with potential to strengthen the impact of inspections in failing jails

Prisoners from HMP Springhill who put on a stunning per-formance of their self-penned play at the Royal Court Theatre last month were met with huge applause and admiration by their warmly appreciative audience. Broken Dreams: When Life Gives You a Fish, a social commentary on the ongoing Grenfell Tower tragedy was produced in collaboration with the Kestrel Theatre Company.

Peter Clarke, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, has welcomed a new process allowing him to publicly demand urgent action by the Secretary of State for Justice to improve jails with signif-icant problems.

Commenting after the Secretary of State for Justice, David Lidington, announced a new ‘Urgent Notification’ protocol, Mr Clarke said: “I welcome the new ‘Urgent Notification’ pro-tocol which the Secretary of State for Justice has announced.

“This has the potential to be an important out-come of prison inspections, and to strengthen the role of HM Inspectorate of Prisons. Our job is to report on the treatment and conditions experienced by prisoners, and these new arrangements should mean that in the most serious cases there will be an effective and speedy response.

“In particular, I welcome the principle of trans-parency and accountability underpinning this new protocol. The Secretary of State has accept-ed that he and his successors will be held pub-licly accountable for delivering an urgent, robust and effective response when HMIP assesses that treatment or conditions in a jail raise such significant concerns that urgent

action is required. The protocol requires the Secretary of State to respond to an urgent noti-fication letter from HM Chief Inspector of Prisons within 28 days. The Chief Inspector’s notification and the Secretary of State’s response will both be published.”

Mr Clarke said HMIP supported the inclusion of measures in the Prisons and Courts Bill to require greater accountability and transpar-ency in the response to HMI Prisons’ recom-mendations. “We regretted the fact that the provisions in the Bill relating to prisons were lost after the general election, but welcomed the commitment by the Secretary of State to achieve their objectives so far as possible with-out legislation.Whenever the new process is invoked, we will expect swift and effective action to be taken in response.

“However, the implementation and monitoring of improvements is a clear responsibility of HMPPS, not the Inspectorate. HMI Prisons will take account of a range of factors to decide when, in the judgement of the Chief Inspector, a prison should next be inspected. If for any reason an HMIP recommendation is not accept-ed, we would expect the rationale to be explained and published.”

Supreme Court rules against prisoner

A prisoner suffering from poor health has lost his attempt to enforce the smoking ban in English and Welsh jails after the Supreme Court unani-mously ruled that crown premises are ef fect ively exempt from the enforcement of health regulations.

The man, a non-smoker, has a number of health problems that are exacerbated by tobac-co smoke and complained that the smoking ban was not being properly enforced in the common parts of the prison. He issued proceedings for j u d i c i a l r e v i e w o f t h e Secretary of State’s refusal to provide confidential and anonymous access to the NHS smoke-free compliance line to prisoners. This would have enabled prisoners to report breaches of the smoking ban to the local authority charged with enforcing it.

Lady Hale, president of the Supreme Court, said she was driven with ‘considerable reluctance’ to conclude that when parliament passed the 2006 Health Act, prohibiting smoking in offices, bars and enclosed areas, it did not mean to extend it to govern-ment or crown sites.

17

“We are the people and we have to make that change.” Lorraine Jones

Comment // page 29

Dreaming of the future

Insidetime January 2018Mailbag2 ‘Mailbag’, Inside Time, Botley Mills, Botley, Southampton SO30 2GB.

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Mailbites

Answer to ‘Wrong indictment’ Name withheld - HMP Rye Hill

I write in response to a mailbag ‘Wrong indict-ment’ (November issue) by Mrs Kim Rafferty. She states that her conviction is ‘unlawful’, due to having wrong dates on the indictment rendering the Court’s decision defective. This may well be the case as lots of prisoners have similar issues. If, like Mrs Rafferty, other prisoners are not in the position to pay privately for legal representation, that is not necessarily the end of the road. There may potentially be a small light at the end of the tunnel. You will have to do a lot of the work yourself, then present it to an organisation which takes on pro-bono cases. They are the Bar Pro Bono Unit, National Pro Bono Centre, 48 Chancery Lane, London, WC2A 1JF. There are barristers who will take on cases for free, but not all cases.

Truth and lies Name withheld -Bolton

It has come to light after much research and an article in the November issue of Inside Time that the Probation Service has been granted the use of lie detectors to keep checks on prisoners after they are released to see if they are breaking their bail/parole conditions, and if found to be ‘lying’ by the machine they are sent back to prison. Surely, if lie detectors are good and reliable enough to be used to send people back to prison, then why not use them in historical sex cases where no other proof exists? This seems like logic.

Wakefield not so badPaul Eames - HMP Wakefield

I read a lot of bad things about Wakefield prison in your pages, but as far as I’m con-cerned it is not a bad prison. When I came here I was Entry 1 across the board, having been in and out of prison for most of my life due to drugs. I’ve tried to interact in prison before but it seemed that staff never had time for me. Here at Wakefield the governor and his staff have worked hard along with AIC, and I am now involved in Enabling Environments and also on the Insiders information desks.Staff here go that extra mile to help people progress through their sentences. I’ve done 2 courses here and could not have asked for more help and support. Thanks to staff for building a rehabilitative culture here.

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Trevor Grove Former Editor Sunday Telegraph, Journalist, Writer and former Magistrate.Dr Peter Bennett Trustee, New BridgeFoundation and former Governor of HMP GrendonGeoff Hughes Former Governor of HMP BelmarshJohn D Roberts Former Company Chairman and Managing Director employing former prisonersLouise Shorter Former producer, BBC Rough Justice Alistair H E Smith BSc FCA Chartered Accountant, Trustee and Treasurer, New Bridge Foundation

General: Inside Time Botley Mills, Botley, Southampton, Hampshire SO30 2GB.Accounts & Admin: Inside Time, PO Box 251, Hedge End, Hampshire SO30 4XJ.Telephone: 01489 795945Email: enquiries@insidetime.orgWeb: www.insidetime.orgFacebook: InsideTimeTwitter: @InsideTimeUK

Correspondence

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Views expressed in Inside Time are those of the authors and not necessarily representative of those held by Inside Time or the New Bridge Foundation.

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Education saved my lifeName withheld - HMP Brixton

Studying stopped me from suicide. Were it not for my ability to further myself in prison, I’d not be writing this now. Prior to coming to prison, I was rather successful in my profession, I was earning an above average wage and had untold oppor-tunities heading my way.

But, following my conviction and sentencing, I found myself sinking into a deep depression, which culminated in me attempting to take my own life, twice. Aft er various interven-tions, and being placed on antidepressants, I’d fi xated my mind on taking my life at some point during my sentence.

“Everything felt bleak and hopeless, I couldn’t see a future for myself and my thoughts were fi lled with destitution, squalor and pain. Then it hap-pened. A miracle. A lifeline... Education.”

I was handed a prospectus for the Open University courses, and all at once hope for my future came fl ooding through like water breaking a dam. Social Science, Philosophy, Psychology, Law, Sports, Creative Writing, Business - the opportunities were plentiful.

My future seemed a lot less bleak and I had hope. I saw that by using my time inside to learn about a new subject, that I would be enriching my life. I could develop into a more rounded person; a real benefi t to society.

I am now embarking on a Masters Degree, which has given me great motivation. If I can gain a Masters whilst incarcerated, then I can achieve anything anywhere. It gave me inner strength.

The chance to study saved me from taking my own life. Thank you, education.

Foreign national callsR Karim - HMP Whitemoor

I would like some help in clarifying the correct under-standing of PSI 49/2011 Output 9, which states that foreign national prisoners who do not receive any visits in the ‘preceding month’ should receive a free 5-min-ute pin-phone credit? HMP Whitemoor are interpreting this as a calendar month, when all other prisons I have been in understand it to mean 30-days. Who is right?

HMPPS responsePrison Service Instruction (PSI) 49/2011 - Prisoner Communication Services sets out, in paragraph 9.1, that foreign national prisoners or those with close family abroad must be permitted a free fi ve-minute call once a month where the prisoner has had no social visits during the preceding month. Prison Rule 35(2) (b) stipulates that a convicted prisoner is entitled to a visit twice in every period of four weeks. As the free fi ve-minute call is linked to unused social visits, the same principle should apply to entitled pris-oners and therefore the preced-ing month should be made up of a four-week period.

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Insidetime January 2018 Mailbag 3

Star Letter of the MonthCongratulations to this months winner who receives our £25 prize

‘Mailbag’, Inside Time, Botley Mills, Botley, Southampton SO30 2GB.

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Botley, Southampton, Hampshire SO30 2GB.

Contributing to MailbagIf you would like to contribute to Mailbag, please send your letters to the address on the left. It is very important that you ensure the following details are on all paperwork sent to Inside Time: YOUR NAME, PRISON NUMBER & PRISON. Failure to do so will prevent us responding to you and your submission being withheld from publication. Please note letters for publication may be edited. We will be using the new ‘Money Transfer Service’ for prize money so include your DOB on your entries.

To avoid any possible misunderstanding, if you have a query and for whatever reason do not wish your letter to be published in Inside Time or appear on the website, or yourself to be identified, please make this clear.

We advise that wherever possible, when sending original documents such as legal papers, you send photocopies as we are unable to accept liability if they are lost.

We may need to forward your letter and/or documents to Prison Service HQ or another appropriate body for comment or advice, therefore only send informa-tion you are willing to have forwarded on your behalf.

System failing womenMarie Rees-Rickets - HMP Eastwood Park

This is my first and definitely my last time in prison. My eyes have been opened since my first day, and having spoken to and made friends with the ladies here, I have to say that it breaks my heart and makes me feel so angry and frustrated that the system is fail-ing a lot of the women here.

I consider myself extremely lucky as when I am released on tag I have a loving family and friends and a job waiting for me, unlike a lot of the women in here. Most of them come into prison with drug and alcohol problems and addictions. They have committed crimes due to these issues and end up serving custo-dial sentences.

Once they come into Eastwood Park they receive the help and detox they need, and they have the help and support to kick the habit, which is brilliant. However, when it is time for their release they have no help or support once they have walked out the gate, they are on their own. Most of them feel overwhelmed, scared, anxious and worried. Some of them have no one and nothing beyond the prison gates. They report to their Probation Officers and are given a tent, yes, a tent, to live in!

“Is it any wonder that in such a situation, a lot of them turn to drink or drugs and end up back in the system?”

I know personally of 3-women who have left prison within the last 3-weeks and have ended up back inside because they have no mentors, no family and no help. This is abso-lutely disgusting, especially due to the fact that we are being told that our prisons are overflowing and lacking staff. Why is there no system set up for when women leave pris-on? No safe place for them to go or someone to guide them? Some of the women are in their 60s and 70s and they are going to end up dying in prison because the system has failed them.

There has to be someone within the prison or probation services that can help these women on the outside instead of setting them up to fail. This is a grave injustice.

Please stop walking on byPeter O - HMP North Sea Camp

In a recent report published by HMCIP, the issue regarding Imprisonment for Public Protection was raised. However, it is worth noting that this issue did not seem to be noticed or raised by the public. The question is, why not?

Since the scrapping of IPP in 2012, the MoJ have spent £800 million and plan to spend a further £500 million over the next 5-years. You would believe spending £1.3 billion on a system that has already been scrapped would cer-tainly catch the attention of the public, bearing in mind the financial austerity this country has been living under since 2008.

In the HMCIP report (2017), IPP was mentioned in these terms:• Holding prisoners so far beyond their tariffs was not in the interest of public protection and raised issues of fairness and justice.• Their continued imprisonment was at a substantial and hard-to-justify public cost.• The legitimate needs of IPP prisoners put pressures on limited risk manage-ment resources, such as Offender Programmes and on the parole process.• The report concludes that IPP sentences have not worked as intended and the current situation in which many prisoners find themselves is clearly unjust.

Peter Clarke, MBE, the Chief Inspector of Prisons, called for the Justice Secretary to release all IPP prisoners in 2016.

Why are there still 3,300 prisoners serving IPP, many years over tariff? It would seem that many in positions of authority have simply walked on by.

I recently received a letter from one of my brothers which brought home the stark and brutal truth which said - ‘You started your 18-month tariff at the same time my daughter started primary school, aged 5, she is now in college’.

Walking on by is no longer an option. We have heard from Peter Clarke, Lord Justice Woolf and many other great statesmen on the IPP, and, even as I write this, the Chair of the Parole Board, Nick Hardwick, has been on the BBC say-ing something must be done. This system has blood on its hands - suicides who have not made it, self-harm and clinical depression are all symptoms of the IPP disease.

How many more IPP prisoners must hang themselves, overdose, self-harm, suffer mental health breakdowns and be abused by the state before the entire system calls a halt? This is bloody shameful.

Which Cat am I?Name withheld- HMP Lincoln

Can someone advise me on the shambles that is re-categorisation here at Lincoln? I am a D category prisoner and have been since 13th of June 2017, but I am still stuck in a B catego-ry prison. I have been informed by a senior officer that once I received my D cat I should have been transferred within 28-days. Can you clarify please?

HMPPS responseThe individual was made a cat D on 14/06. He was awaiting an OASys (outside probation), he is due to go now awaiting a space, he is priority but the lifers returning were first to return. He is on the list ready to transfer.

In part praise of the gymS Appleyard - HMP Hatfield

Having been in prison for 7-years, on this sentence, I have come to realise how important the gym is for mind and body.

“The gym has given me a purpose during a dark time in my life.”

It has improved my health dramatically after a raven-ous addiction and has given me a sense of confidence which had dwindled over the years. My motivation and self-discipline has increased, and that not only helps me in the gym but it also has spurred me to make changes in other aspects of my life.

The only thing that I do not like is gym-staff who use their power to allow or disal-low prisoners to use the gym at their whim. To be part of the ‘chosen group’ you have to massage the egos of the gym-staff via pious compli-ments, or be in with certain orderlies who play the gym-staff like masterful puppet-eers. Apart from that, I love the gym.

“Let inmates wear the body-cams and then they will really see who is attacking who.”

“My life is my work so I work hard and put everything I can into it.”

“I don’t have to be very clever to do my job, I don’t have to know very much.”

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Mailbag

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Comment

Information

Legal

Jailbreak

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“It seemed unnecessary and somewhat degrading.”

“I’m a burglar by trade, but the trouble is that I keep getting caught.”

“Being classified as a double ‘A’ category ‘danger-ous prisoner’ was not a very good start.”

Insidetime January 2018Mailbag4 ‘Mailbag’, Inside Time, Botley Mills, Botley, Southampton SO30 2GB.

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Gifting problemsWahid Youssef - HMP Whitemoor

I believe that this information should be known by prison-ers. It is legal to give a gift to another prisoner whilst in prison and the prison sys-tem has no legal right to go against this ruling.

In Leonard Cartell v Home Offi ce (HMP Frankland Governor), Claim no. 6DH02489 - the Judge ruled that a gift under law is legal. And no permission is required from prison staff or the Governor and no prison rule can supersede that.

“The Judge ruled that a prisoner should give the item in front of a member of staff so that property records can be altered as appropriate.”

Do this by getting a member of staff to sign a general application with words to the eff ect of - “Can you please confi rm that I, (own name), have gift ed the item (describe item) to inmate (name and number of recipi-ent) on this date. Can you please change our property records as appropriate?”

HMP Whitemoor issued PIN (Prisoners Information Notice) 155/2016 stating that “Gift ing of any kind between prisoners is not permitted.” Since Whitemoor has made its own ‘law’ anyone suff er-ing under this should write, under Rule 39, to the follow-ing: The Court Manager, Ref: D76YJ224, County Court at Central London, RCJ Thomas More Building, Royal Courts of Justice, Strand, London, WC2A 2LL.

Bring back DebbieLouise Fishburn - HMP/YOI Low Newton

We were all shocked and saddened to learn that there would be no more art. Our art teacher Debbie has got loads of her learners through the course and all with a pass-level and certificate for their work. Many of Debbie’s students, including myself, have entered the Koestler Awards in 2017. I entered five pictures and won 4 awards. Without Debbie’s positive encouragement and motivation, I certainly could never have done this. Art is relaxing, therapeutic and rewarding for inmates, you can gain a lot from doing an art course. All I can say to you guys next door at HMP Frankland is look after our Debbie, we all miss her.

Different sexual misconduct rules for MPs?Jason Edward Adams - HMP Isle of Wight

The (Rt Hon) Baroness Chakrabarti recently announced that Members of Parliament accused of sexual misconduct should be treated as innocent until ‘proven guilty’, and that using hearsay in prosecutions would only lead to ‘witch hunts’. By making such a statement one can only conclude that either the Baroness is oblivious to the fact that thousands of potentially innocent men have been convicted of sexual offences and been imprisoned on the sole basis of hearsay evidence, or is she proposing a different set of rules for Members of Parliament accused of sexual misconduct? With such a statement publicly made, it begs the question: How many Members of the House of Lords and House of Commons realise that the English and Welsh justice systems are treating hearsay as factual evidence? And, how many are aware of the potential for a mass miscar-riage of justice on an unprecedented scale?

Re: ‘Let me die’ MailbagHarvey Singh Khotkar - HMP Frankland

I read the letter sent by SJ Baker at HMP Lewes (November issue) and found it very disturbing. What the hell is going on in our justice system? How can ours be the ‘best justice system in the world’, when you have someone like this lady still in a cell after 3-decades of life in prison? What a sad shame it is. I have heard that justice is supposed to be blind, but maybe it is about time that justice asked someone to describe the clearly visible atrocities of her system to her. Does the word ‘humanity’ no longer have any meaning in Great Britain? Any lawyer who takes on a case like this lady’s on a pro-bono basis and gets her justice would clearly be deserving of a salute of praise.

Remembering the real heroes Name withheld - HMP Glenochil

There are a lot of prison staff who have served in the forces on behalf of our country and for that I would like to thank them. I support the poppy appeal every year as my grandmother, who raised me, was in the Women’s Air Force. However, I have discovered since being in prison, it disgusts me that there are individuals within my hall who claim to have served in the forces when they have done no such thing. Why are so many prisoners such fantasists? Do they think it makes them seem hard and heroic to make these false claims? They are nothing but lying cowards.

The Mount: Criminalising FamiliesAllie Wilson - A concerned person

On the last Sunday in November, a mother and her two young children were turned away from a visit to The Mount aft er a senior prison offi cer suggested that they could have forged their confi rmation email. The thirty-six-year-old mother, her three-year-old daughter and one-year old son were left in tears aft er being told they could not visit their father despite follow-ing procedure to the letter. The prison’s visitor system used to process visits was down so the offi cer in charge could not cross-check the booking. He refused to rely on the emailed confi r-mation that had come directly from the prison visit booking service. The mother said that she couldn’t understand the logic. “Were they implying that I had hacked their server to book my regular visit rather than just use the online system? And I must have known that their system would be down on the date of my visit, so they wouldn’t be able to cross check it. It was com-pletely absurd. It was their fault that this error had happened and rather than correct it they treated us like criminals. I can only assume that they enjoy exerting their power over defence-less families.”

The young family had driven all the way from West Sussex that morning so that the children could visit their father. They are only able to visit on weekends as the mother works full time. They make the 140-mile round trip several times a month so that the children can see their father. Indeed, maintaining ties with one’s family is proven to lead to less reoff ending once a prisoner is released. In this instance prison staff at The Mount were more concerned about accusing a young family of criminal actions with absolutely no basis for those accusations rather than attempt to correct its own failings. Our society is founded on treating its citizens as innocent until proven guilty - The Mount clearly fails to apply this fundamental tenet to the families of prisoners.  

The staff at The Mount confi rmed that the booking system was prone to making mistakes and leaving some families that legitimately book visits off the list. They further admitted that a confi rmation email has previously been adequate proof of a visit. On this occasion the staff in the visitor reception knew the family and were visibly upset to see them turned away by a Senior Offi cer. Following this incident, the father has requested a transfer to a diff erent pris-on. Shame on you The Mount. 

Conjugal visitsName withheld - HMP Exeter

In a recent issue of Inside Time I noticed a throwaway comment in a mailbag relating to conjugal visits. I believe that long-term pris-oners such as lifers should be entitled to a conjugal visit every 56-days. I think that if a prisoner is trusted and well-behaved he should be entitled to this.

I know it is a human right to be allowed to marry and start a family. My partner and I would love to have a child and we are not getting any younger, so if we do not have a child soon we may never be able to have chil-dren together. I know I will miss many spe-cial moments of my child’s life but I would also be there for the rest of his/her life.

I understand and completely agree that pris-on is here to punish but it should not also destroy relationships and family ties. Our wives and girlfriends have needs too.

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Unenhanced enhancedAndrew Jones - HMP Bure

I have been in prison for over four years now and Enhanced for most of it. But it is worth-less. They say we can have an extra £10 to spend every week, but they don’t give you that money, it is your own money and if you have no one outside to send in money what is the point?

We can have an extra visit, but I have been moved 400 miles from my home and have no visits at all. They also allow you to buy a small DVD player from our own money, but the choice of fi lms we are allowed are so poor, no 18 rated, it is hardly worth having.

Enhanced is nowhere near worth the eff ort because, in reality, there is no reward for good behaviour. Perhaps the Prison Service should look again at the poor rewards they off er for good behaviour, because what we have now might as well be nothing.

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Olive branch voteSarah Jane Baker - HMP Lewes

Whilst I welcome Theresa May’s olive branch as she allows a small percentage of prisoners the right to vote in general elec-tions, I would encourage her to be bolder and allow all pris-oners the right to vote in both local and general elections.

If two people go to court for identical crimes and one receives a prison sentence, while the other is given a community service order, isn’t it odd that one is more demonised than the other and prevented from playing a part in a modern democracy?

“With many of my criminal peers being unable to read and write, and many others feeling disen-franchised from mainstream British society, a right to vote may persuade many of ‘us’ to engage with society and make meaningful contributions to it.”

As part of my rehabilitation, I have been taught that the way to successfully reintegrate into society is to acknowledge that I have a civic responsibility to all peoples. I feel that being allowed to have a stake in our political process will ward off the shadow of institutionalisation, which promotes a sense of powerlessness over my own future.

I would suggest that prisoners should be given the opportunity to vote by post as a basic human right that is already enjoyed by prisoners in other supposedly less enlightened countries who have more dubious human rights records than our own.

Newsround page 13

Post-Sentence SupervisionNicholas - HMP Woodhill

Introduced on 1st of February 2015, the Post-Sentence Supervision (PSS) is a period of supervision to all off enders who receive a determinate sentence of more than one day, but less than two years. The PSS can last up to one year and it is not like a standard license. Even though they have many similarities.

For example, on a standard license you can get recalled for breaches of your license peri-od. However, on a PSS, breach actions are handled diff erently. Rather than being returned to custody you are taken to court where the court may hand down a custodial period of up to 14-days. They could also require you to undertake unpaid work, add the requirement to wear an electronic moni-toring device (tag), or pay a fi ne.

There are eight default supervision require-ments applied to the eligible off enders, seven of which mirror the standard license condi-tions with the eighth being - ‘Participate in activities in accordance with any instructions given by your supervisor’. I suspect that many off enders will have a PSS upon release and it is worth noting that this supervision is for those sentenced to one day in custody or more, but less than two years.

If you think, or know, that you will be subjected to this, then you can contact the Prison Reform Trust (PRT) for more information. Also, your Off ender Manager. The only drawback to this is that those who get sentenced to seven days in custody could be on PSS for up to one year.

I am about to experience this in a couple of weeks and I will write a further letter to let you know if it works.

Editorial note Thank you Nicholas, we look forward to you sharing your PSS experience with our readers.

State TortureAndrew Luby - HMP Hull

It is said that you can tell how good a country is by the way it treats its prisoners. If that is the case, then this must be one of the worst.

We torture our prisoners here, not by water-boarding, we use a much cleaner, more clini-cal, much more British way. It is a hidden dark secret, shrouded under what the system calls ‘Courses’. This torture is very eff ective, especially when used on those pesky IPPs.

This evil IPP sentence was abolished in 2012, and, since then, there are people in jail with exactly the same history of off ences as an IPP, but they have a fi xed release date. THEY will be getting out. IPPs and lifers are a nui-sance because they stress out the poor, over-worked psychologists, OMs and OS, so these poor professionals clearly need to take a lot of time out.

“They leave lifers and IPPs to rot for years, doing nothing, but when they come to their fi rst parole hearing its suddenly - ‘Oh, I think he will benefi t from this course or that course.’”

So, obviously you get a 2-year knockback in order to do a course that they could have given you before you reached your parole date. Stay positive, we are told, don’t get angry or upset or else we will fi nd another course for you to do.

What’s happening is a holocaust of mental torture infl icted on a massive scale by the State. Those in charge, and the guards who say “we are only following orders” are equal-ly to blame for this atrocious abuse. But years down the line somebody is going to have to take the blame for these years of unnecessary, puerile courses, mental torture and parole hearing delays dished out by the willing servants of the State. God help you.

Give us prisoner camsJohn Stoakes - HMP Armley

In the November issue of Inside Time there was an article about the government issuing prison staff with body-worn cameras in order to document attacks on staff and to use as evidence later aft er the incident. But it seems that here at Armley whenever something kicks off the staff either take of the body-cams or turn them off . So, what is the actual point of them?

Here they seem to prefer bending prisoners up when just a quiet word would do. I hate to say it but the staff here are just as violent as the inmates, it’s like a war-zone. There are no good relation-ships between staff and inmates and I have wit-nessed fi rst-hand violence from staff against inmates.So, my suggestion to the gov-ernment is to let inmates wear the body-cams and then they will really see who is attacking who.

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MailbitesFake inspectionsDavid Sopp - HMP Rochester

I sometimes wonder what it is like in the world that Prison Inspectors inhabit. We have just been inspected here at Rochester by HMCIP, and for the week that they were here there were an awful lot of changes to our normal routine. For a start, myself, a gym orderly and part-time IT student, and other full-time workers were magically transformed into full-time art students for a course that was actually closed just before the inspectors arrived. In fact, when the nice lady from OFSTED arrived every course was suddenly and magi-cally filled. What a coincidence!

The whole prison was spotless, although I must admit that the cleaners do a good job here anyway, but this was gleam-ing. I am a bit concerned about the inspectors though, they must think every prison smells of new paint because just before they reached any department the inmates had just about finished painting as fast as their paintbrushes would let them!

I even had an optician and dentist’s appointment in the SAME WEEK! Even a few of the staff managed to work smiles onto their usually sour and angry faces just in time for the inspec-tion. So, god bless you inspectors for making prisons the way they should be, even if it is only for the week that you are here.

Amend the ROAE L Tyler - HMP Swinfen Hall

Many prisoners seem to be unaware of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (ROA), yet it will affect them on release when applying for employ-ment and insurance. At this current time, the law states that any custodial sentence between 6 and 30 months must be disclosed for 4-years after license ends. Any custodial sentence over 4-years must be disclosed forever. When there is no longer a requirement to dis-close a sentence, it is consid-ered ‘spent’.

The Government’s 2012 reforms of this Act, which came into force in 2014, slightly improved this unnecessarily harsh piece of legislation. However, it is clear that more needs to be done. I am a strong believer in the idea that people can change their ways, and if they have indeed changed then why should they be punished further?

A fair solution to this issue is to amend the ROA so that any sentence up to 5-years would be ‘spent’ after just 2-years. Though, I don’t believe this should apply to crimes of a sexual nature as they need tougher policies. If the law was changed, more ex-offenders would be able to get a job and begin to put their lives on the right track. With less repeat offenders entering and leav-ing prison, the state and HMPPS would save millions of pounds.

Unfair focus on past crimesGary Cornelly - HMP Armley

I am currently serving a 16-month sentence for a crime I did not commit. I find it unjust that a jury can be given information about past crimes or convictions. Anyone who has a criminal record is almost always going to be found guilty whether they appear in front of a jury, whether they have commit-ted the crime or not.I have committed crimes in the past and my barrister advised me strongly to plead guilty because, he said that as soon as the jury were told of my past record they would throw me to the wolves and I would get a much longer sentence. I did not commit this crime but due to my past record I find myself in prison and with a ruined life. How can this be justice?

Spice WILL kill you J Malpass - HMP Stoke Heath

I have been in Stoke Heath since April 2017. Since being here I know of two deaths, both reportedly from taking Spice and Mamba. The deaths have really affected some people here. How many more deaths must we suffer from this easily-available mind-bending drug? It is only due to the RAPT team, staff and inmates who got me away from this stuff. So, lads, DON’T DO IT. It will kill you!

Treated like animals Jeff Dix - HMP Highdown

I read the recent HMCIP report which recommends that all prisoners should have at least 10-hours out of cell per day. Whilst I recognise that this may be hard to facilitate currently, it is absolutely shocking that as I sit here it has been over 26-hours since anyone on my landing has had any time out of cell at all. We have had no opportunity for showers, phone calls, etc. If we are let out tomorrow we will have been behind our doors in poorly-ventilated cells for over 45-hours. And the MoJ claim to not understand why there is frustration and violence in their prisons. Maybe they should try treating us like human beings. If we were dogs or cows this would be seen as extreme cruelty, which is a criminal offence. Also, a breach of Article 8 of the Human Rights Act. It is a disgrace.

Dreaming onPaul Walton - HMP Elmley

Martin Luther King had a dream in 1963, and 54 years later it is still only a dream for many people. There is still slavery, abuse and human misery in many different forms all over the world in 2018.

Women and children forced to make branded clothing and designer trainers for a pittance wage. Working in unsafe buildings and poor conditions - is the price worth paying?

Lifeless children washed up on shorelines, families promised a better life by human traffickers, robbed of their dignity, deceived and their money stolen. Fleeing the poverty of war-torn countries when all they want is peace, and instead finding eternal peace.

Women sold into prostitution and controlled with drugs, their passports taken and told if they cause trouble they will die. The fear that their families back home will be threat-ened or hurt in order to make them work to pay off their debt, and threatened to trick others into this endless cycle of vice.

Fanatical groups abducting schoolgirls, brainwashing them into their radical ways as their mothers’ plea for someone to save them. But no one comes, why? Because there is no financial gain for those in power to do so. Cultures of female genital mutilation and arranged marriages to men they don’t love, and those who are brave enough to flee this enslavement are murdered in so-called ‘hon-our’ killings.

There are many businesses that take illegal immigrants and work them hard whilst never paying the minimum wage, struggling for existence. While others get paid nothing, working under fear of beatings. Tricked and controlled by their captors.

In today’s society we still assume that slav-ery just relates to black injustices from the 1700s in America and other countries, it doesn’t. There may be no chains visible but in some countries women are denied the right to vote or the freedom to wear what they want.

People have a right not to be used or traded like cattle, they have the right to be free, the right to a better life and equality no matter what their sex, colour or creed.

We all need to look again at history and learn from the past. Let us revisit Martin Luther King’s dream and let us all learn to help others of all races to live this dream. That is my dream.

‘Monstrous life sentences’Steve Kidd - HMP Swaleside

I recently attended a lecture on Joint Enterprise by Dr Tara Young from Kent University. She and others have been funded to carry out a two-year study on people’s understanding of the Joint Enterprise doctrine and the cause and effect of it being wrongly interpreted for over thirty-years prior to the Supreme Court ruling in Jogee (2016).

I sat and listened patiently to her understanding of Joint Enterprise, pre, and post Jogee. I was left feeling appreciative of her efforts to academically inves-tigate such a Draconian bull***t non-law, but also frustrated that yet again studies are taking place whilst we sit in prisons across the country, still hav-ing to serve our monstrous life sentences.

The DPP, Alison Saunders, is now trying to use the term ‘Secondary Liability’ to cover-up for the judiciary taking a quite shocking misdirection way before most of the cases came to their courtrooms. Instead of studies taking place and meetings by the ‘Joker’ Justice Selection Committee that have now done nothing to simplify this charge for the judiciary, prosecutors, juries and defence coun-sels, why isn’t the government being forced to finally end our incarceration?

I was blackmailed into pleading guilty to a murder I did not commit, in order to protect my partner and unborn child because she was in the room when the murder happened. According to the Jogee ruling that was a ‘substantial injus-tice’. Yet, here I am, like many, many others serving life.

I wish to add that the country I love and cherish and have been born into is very quick to point an accusing finger at any and all others for breaching human rights of their citizens, and yet is very slow at dealing with its own such as prisoners still being held on Joint Enterprise post Jogee, and those held on IPP.

Super AlmaMarie Rees-Rickets - HMP Eastwood Park

I feel I must write and give respect where it is due. Alma Hageman has given up her time to create two groups here at Eastwood Park, Rubies and Bluebells. Rubies is a group for inmates over 50 who enjoy crafts, such as knitting, crocheting, painting, drawing, making cards and jewellery. She runs this group Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and it gives the women a chance to meet and have a natter over coffee and biscuits.

Bluebells runs on a Wednesday and she is trying to get a group of women up to 40. If you need something Alma will sort it, she gives up her free time and is always happy, friendly and cheerful, and both women and staff love her attitude. I really believe she deserves recognition for all the hard work she does voluntarily and never asks for any-thing in return. Thank you, Alma, you are a pure superwoman.

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Martin Luther King – assassinated

Joint Enterprise - “cover up”

Inmate James Costelios’ top bunk didn’t have a safety rail, he rolled and fell 5 feet onto an unforgiving concrete floor and fractured his pelvis.

Unfortunately the subsequent operation failed because a collapsed screw underpinning the fracture went undetected.

Through no fault of his own James had to endure considerable pain for several months... so we sued the prison and the NHS for personal injury and negligence...AND WERE AWARDED £30,000.

James is just one of many prisoners Jefferies Solicitors have successfully represented over the years.

You may not have your freedom but you still have rights. You could be entitled to personal injury compensation caused by trips, burns, gym or workshop accidents, even attacks by cell mates or staff.

Talk to the countrys leading prison injury lawyers and claim what is due to you.

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Holy smokeName withheld - HMP Garth

I am writing to highlight a problem that, as a committed Christian, I find highly offensive. I am referring to the use of pages from the Holy Bible being used as cigarette papers when smoking nicotine patches. Now, I know that the smoking ban is several shades of crazy and highly illegal. However, when did people think it was ok to rip The Bible up and effectively burn it? This is not OK.

Just for the record, I would feel exactly the same way if it was a Quran or the Torah or indeed any holy book. I would urge those doing this to stop immediately if they have any respect for other people’s religions or beliefs.

“I am not sure whether this is an infringement of the Equality and Diversity Act, but if not then it should be.”

I would also like to challenge any Christians who are doing this. I’m not judging you for doing it either, I am just saying that if Jesus was alive now do you think he would be ok with you tearing and burning his father’s words? Also, if you are a Christian and are struggling with quitting then pray to god to help. Ask for forgiveness for destroying His word and as long as you are genuine he will forgive you.

Strangeways smoking goodMark Buckley - HMP Manchester

I write regarding the smok-ing ban as most of what I have read about it is nega-tive. I think Strangeways has handled the ban very well.The ban commenced on the 4th of September after a lengthy notice period, the prison offered everyone a good quality vape and mains charger, recouping the £14 price at 50p per week. Cartridge refills are a reason-able price on the canteen list and these have replaced the smoker’s packs on reception.

Smoking cessation services can be booked quickly and nicotine replacement prod-ucts and therapies accessed easily. There is still the odd desperado melting nicotine patches and tea-bags, but, on the whole, people have adjusted well and most com-ments are positive along the lines of feeling much health-ier, tasting food better and being better off financially.

There has been very little in the way of violence or black-market tobacco. I would like to thank the staff for a diffi-cult job well done.

Where’s my stamps? B S Rehal - HMP Wealstun

I have had stamps and postal orders sent from my sister which have gone missing since I was transferred from HMP Armley. These things did not just fall out of the letter and get magically lost, somebody is helping them-selves and it has to stop! My sister is very upset. I am taking this to court and have all proof of posting and tracking reference numbers. My question about prison is - who are the real thieves?

Mail rage Matthew Bryan - HMP Hull

I would like to vent my anger and frustration concerning the mail problem at HMP Hull. Sometimes the mail is delivered to us up to three weeks after it has arrived at the prison. On plenty of occasions I’ve had mail which was addressed to other prisoners, on different wings, with different prison numbers. It is not a hard thing to deliver mail to the right person, the Royal Mail delivers millions every day, so why is the postal system here not up to scratch? Also, some of my mail has not arrived at all, even though the postal orders sent with it have been credited to my account, but the actual letters have disappeared. Is it too much to be asking for a decent working system?

Return to sender Name supplied - HMP Wakefield

I have recently been told that I cannot write or receive letters from a good friend of mine who is in another prison. He is not a family member, but a very old friend who has helped me out in the past. I do not make friends easily and writing to this person helps to keep me on an even keel. We are not co-defendants, but are both serving sentences for a similar crime. I have been told that it is up to the Governor’s discretion on who we can write to, but what business is it of the prison system who we write to or receive letters from? I understand that we cannot write to our victims or witnesses of crime, but surely we are old enough to choose our own friends and it should not be a matter for a prison Governor to decide on.

Prison-issue letters Sparky - HMP Ford

I have served a long time in prison and remember when every convicted prisoner was issued with one 2nd class letter every week.

I believe this is the law - Convicted prisoners one letter from public funds per week, and un-convicted prisoners two letters from public funds per week. Has this changed by legal means? I ask because for a long time now, in many different prisons, these letters are not automatically given out and lots of prisoners therefore have no idea that they are entitled to them. These letters had your name, number and cell number written on the top by prison staff from the wing-roll, and they were slipped under each cell-door by a member of staff on a specific day (different day for different prisons). These days, if you know your entitlement you have to go and beg in the office for your letters, and sometimes the writing of names, numbers, etc, and also the delivery of these letters is invariably done by ‘the office cat’ (usually a prison groveler who will do the screw’s work for them). I should imagine that deliberately keeping prisoners in the dark about these letters is saving a lot of money for the system.

Lawless letters Name supplied - HMP Manchester

Can anyone explain to me why we bother having laws and statutory instruments for prisons, when they simply ignore the law whenever they feel like it? How many times does it have to be explained to these people that opening Rule 39 Legal Mail is AGAINST THE LAW! Why are prisons still breaking the law on a daily basis? Has anyone successfully challenged the opening of clearly-marked legal mail, and, if so, what was the outcome? I would be very interested to know.

Editorial note Unfortunately, the Prison Rules are not ‘Law’ as such, as they are statutory Instruments. Prison Service Instructions are administrative instructions to prison governors and staff and whilst a breach of a ‘Mandatory Instruction’ may be a legitimate cause for complaint which one would expect the Prisons Ombudsman to uphold, nothing in a PSI is enforceable at law. With regard to opening of legally privileged mail there have been many cases taken to court over this but the courts are reluctant to find for the prisoner. One problem is that there are precise instructions for solicitors sending mail to prisoners and firms often ignore those. Certainly, a formal complaint should be placed and followed up in every case where privileged mail has been violated. There was an interesting article written by the Prisons Ombudsman about this subject in the November 2015 issue of Inside Time. Our October 2017 issue contained a letter from a prisoner who says he successfully sued HMP Swaleside and described what he did.

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He who smokes the first page…

Insidetime January 2018 Mailbag 9‘Mailbag’, Inside Time, Botley Mills, Botley, Southampton SO30 2GB.

Ford could be betterName withheld - HMP Ford

Re: ‘Ford not so good’ mail-bag from ‘name withheld - HMP Springhill’ (November issue), about the low num-bers working out of Ford Prison. The writer blames OMU/CRT teams rather than local employers. I suggest his conclusion is a little too myopic. Whilst there are still some serious issues about departmental relationships, recently published fi gures show a marked increase from the ‘12 outside workers’ quoted, to just under 50, excluding those working on site but for external compa-nies. This uplift is a sign of an improving trend. Still, it should and would be much higher still but for certain inmates.

Recently there has been a spate of men employed outside the prison breaking rules and laws, leading to their remov-al from work and from Ford. This upsets employers, reduces numbers as a result and impacts on everyone else.

Instead of being beacons encouraging employers to look to the prison to bolster their labour force, these selfi sh and stupid men have dam-aged their fellow inmates and their prospects as much as they have damaged themselves.

This, therefore, opens the question - is it really those who attempt to let men out who are to blame, or is it the men themselves? Each mess-up by an inmate working out-side sets back any possibility of placing future inmates with that company. I believe ‘name withheld - Springhill’ should turn his gaze and blame on his fellows and they should learn to behave as true D cat prisoners are sup-posed to do. Only then would realistic growth be a possibility.

The spice of criminal lifeGavin Barr - HMP Isle of Wight

Firstly, I just need to say that I have been a drug addict, off and on, for over 10-years now. According to the good folks behind the black door, I am not actually committing crime - I, myself, am a walking crime!

That said, I am a little concerned about this Spice thing. Unlike marijuana, which is a positive and benign substance, Spice is, in my opinion, quite the opposite. The problem however, lies not just with the user. In prisons, the epidemic could have quite easily been avoided, yet, due to ignorance and bad judgement it has been allowed to suppurate and fester.

“Prior to 1995, much of the prison population was quite content to toke away on a bit of Moroccan hash. Cheap, no after-effects, no violent urges. Harmless enough really, a pacifi ed and compliant prison population ensued.”

Then, Michael ‘something of the night’ Howard became Home Secretary and Mandatory Drug Testing was introduced. Slowly but surely this led to a heroin epidemic in prisons, primarily due to the fact that smack becomes untraceable in urine aft er 2 or 3 days, whereas cannabis takes up to 56 days. Nice one Michael Howard, you punishment hungry vampire.

Fast forward to 2017. Tobacco ban, Spice epidemic, violence, self-harm, murder - you know it as well as I do. We are ruled by idiots, plain and simple. Allen Ginsberg once said - ‘Truth is dissent, where all power resides in the Big Lie’.

The machine was not broken, it did not need fi xing. The Spice problem is causing chaos and unpleasantness - not to men-tion the 40-odd prisoners who have lost their lives due to the drug. Maybe the obstinate, stupid and arrogant powers-that-be should be forced to take a long look at some of their erro-neous decisions regarding drugs. Aft er all, it is in everyone’s interest to get the big stuff right.

Travelling backwards at Berwyn Martin Mongan - HMP Berwyn

I am writing to highlight the situation that Travellers are facing at Berwyn prison. At present there are 7 Travellers out of a popula-tion of 700. We make up 1% and yet we are not allowed to be housed on the same wing as each other. The majority of us 7 are medi-um term prisoners and have completed our Sentence Plans and are within 12-months of our release. Every one of us has been refused Category D status and compassionate ROTLs to attend funerals, whereas non-Travellers around us are taking advantage of resettle-ment. Yet, none of us have received any nickings.

The Equality Offi cer didn’t even know our ethnicity code (W3). She then had the audac-ity to say, ‘Why would you want to be labelled?’ I found this to be disrespectful as Travellers have fought for decades to be fi nally recognised as an ethnic minority in this country. Travellers have been victimised for far too long and there is a phrase for it - ‘Institutional racism’ - and this follows us around the prison system.

I had high hopes prior to coming to the Government’s new ‘fl agship’ prison, as Berwyn was promoting equality for all and principles of normality, but these ethics apparently do not apply to Travellers. The suicide rate amongst young Travellers is far too high throughout the prison system. Instead of alienating Travellers why doesn’t our Governor practise what he advertises? If you are from the Traveller community think twice before accepting a ‘progressive move’ to HMP Berwyn.

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Prison radio silenceKieron Benfield - HMP Elmley

I have been here since July and not once have I heard National Prison Radio working. I check every day and all I get is blue screen with no audio. I get Inside Time every month and look at the Prison Radio guide and feel like I am missing out. Is it not working in other prisons too? Or are we just the unlucky ones?

Ahmed - Head of Prison Radio [HMPPS]responseAn engineer visited Elmley on the 29th of November. It became quickly apparent that the signal being received by the equipment wasn’t working as it should have been, hence causing a num-ber of other issues. Once these problems had been rectifi ed, I am pleased to say that all but two of the house blocks in Elmley should now be receiving NPR once again. Unfortunately, due to a further technical issue, the remaining two blocks will take slightly longer to rectify - however the works team at Elmley are already in the process of arranging for this work to be carried out and we hope to resolve this very soon.

FNOs millions wastedAbbas - HMP Wakefield

The UK Government spent more than £800 million to manage around 12,000 foreign national off enders (FNO’s). That’s what the BBC stated a year ago in a report on FNO’s deportation. Since there hasn’t been any sig-nifi cant change in the FNO’s population fi g-ures we can safely assume that about £800million must be an annual expenditure.Now, whether as prisoners or free citizens, if you belong to the working class you most probably have suff ered from the consequences of successive government’s austerity meas-ures. The Tories, in their 2017 election mani-festo even wanted to deprive schoolchildren of a free lunch and force a ‘dementia tax’ on the elderly. You may, therefore, be justifi ed to question why are the FNO’s not being deport-ed and why is the colossal sum of taxpayers £800million being squandered instead of being used for your care and well-being?

Undoubtedly, £800million a year can do mir-acles in improving all prisoners’ living con-ditions. Just do the maths and shock yourself with the unbelievable sum that could be each prisoner’s annual share of £800million.

So, for the FNO’s, no doubt some may have very good and legally justifi able reasons to want to remain in the UK and they shouldn’t be deported, but, believe me, the majority would like to go home but the Government won’t let them, including those who have already fi nished their sentences and mini-mum terms.

Write to your local MPs, asking them to urge the Government, the decision-makers, to deport the FNO’s and invest the annual share of hundreds of millions of pounds in you, your family and your children.

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Liverpool jail ‘worst conditions ever seen’ Prisoners in Liverpool prison are being kept in the worst living conditions inspectors have ever seen, according to a leaked report

Rats and cockroaches were rife, with one area of the jail so dirty, infested and hazardous it could not be cleaned, says an inspection report leaked to the BBC. Some prisoners live in cells that should be condemned, with exposed electrical wir-ing and fi lthy, leaking lavatories says the report.

Prison inspectors made an unannounced visit to the prison last September. What they found, says the report, was an “abject failure… to off er a safe, decent and purposeful envi-ronment”. The inspection team said they “could not recall having seen worse living conditions than those at Liverpool”. Chief Inspector Peter Clarke said, “I found a prisoner who had complex mental health needs being held in a cell that had no furniture other than a bed. The windows of both the cell and the toilet recess were broken, the light fi tting in his toilet was broken with wires exposed, the lavatory was fi lthy and appeared to be blocked, his sink was leaking and the cell was dark and damp. Extraordinarily, this man had apparent-ly been held in this condition for some weeks.”

Violence of all kinds had increased, fuelled by the prevalence of drugs, with most prisoners telling inspectors it was “easy or very easy” to get drugs. Inspectors found allegations of excessive use of force by prison offi cers were not properly investigated. Some offi cers are described as having a “dismiss-ive” attitude to prisoners, with some staff applying “unaccept-able” unoffi cial punishments, such as restricting showers.

Only 22 of the 89 recommendations made following a poor inspection report in 2015 had been fully implemented. “We saw clear evidence that local prison managers had sought help from regional and national management to improve con-ditions they knew to be unacceptable long before our arrival, but had met with little response,” said the Chief Inspector. Worryingly, the report concluded “We could see no credible plan to address these basic issues.”

Former Chief Inspector of Prisons Lord Ramsbotham said, “It’s as bad a report as I’ve ever seen. But… how could anyone come up from headquarters, go into HMP Liverpool and not feel ashamed about it? Asked if, in light of the report, Liverpool could be described as England’s worst jail, Lord Ramsbotham replied: “I wouldn’t dispute that.”

The governor of HMP Liverpool, Peter Francis, was removed within days of the inspection visit, and last month a former offi cer at the jail, Pia Sinha, was appointed as his replacement.

In a statement on the failings at HMP Liverpool, a Ministry of Justice spokeswoman said: “We do not comment on leaked reports.”

Inside Time report

Inside Time report

Newsbites

Ban mini mobilesOnline retailers should ban the sale of miniature “Beat the BOSS” mobile phones designed to be smuggled into prisons. Justice Secretary David Lidington said, “It’s pretty clear that these miniature phones are being advertised and sold with the purpose of being smuggled. I am calling on online retailers and trading websites to take down products that are advertised to evade detection measures in prisons.” It is estimated that up to a third of mobiles found are “Beat the BOSS” phones.

Scottish prisoners enjoy festive feast!According to The Scotsman prisoners in Scotland had full English breakfasts and a lavish three course turkey dinner with all the trimmings on Christmas morning. The newspaper said: “Dishes on offer included nut roasts, lamb curry, chicken Balmoral, hazelnut cranberry welling-ton, meat platters and deserts such as Black Forest Gateau, followed by coffee and after-dinner mints. Prisoners had the choice of a chicken breast with mushroom sauce and kilted sausage, a vegetable Kiev or a spicy burger. If the prisoners were still not full up, they got a “night pack” consisting of pasta, chocolate and fruit.” Are you a Scottish prisoner? How was the food? Please write and share your experience of your slap-up Christmas spread with Inside Time readers in the rest of the UK, (they really need to know what they missed…)

Rape case evidence scandal ‘tip of the iceberg’Police may be ‘unconsciously biased’ towards peo-ple who report sex-offences

Last month, Liam Allan’s trial on multiple charges of rape collapsed because of the late disclosure of evidence. But the case of the stu-dent, who was made to face trial because police withheld evidence, is just the ‘tip of the ice-berg’, senior barristers said aft er the prosecu-tion was dropped. Dozens of cases have col-lapsed in the past three years because of seri-ous police failings over the way they handle evidence, according to an inspection report. In one case, a man accused of robbery spent six months in jail before a prosecutor found evidence confi rming that he had been robbed by the ‘victim’, who was a violent drug dealer.

Liam Allan, 22, spent almost two years on bail and was three days into his trial before police handed over text messages that exonerated him. Angela Raff erty QC, chairwoman of the Criminal Bar Association said that without the intervention of the barristers in court Mr Allan ‘would have suff ered an appalling miscarriage

of justice’ because of the failure of police and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

She warned that the failure was ‘not an isolat-ed incident’ and said that police and the CPS may be ‘unconsciously bias[ed]’ towards peo-ple who report sex off ences.

Mr Allan’s acquittal comes as concern grows over a series of rape cases involving young men that have fallen apart because of fears about the quality of the evidence. A report in July by HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate, seen by this newspaper, found that police and CPS staff blamed ‘limited resources and lack of time’ for the poor disclosure of evidence.

Critics said Mr Allan’s case showed that lessons had not been learnt. Ms Raff erty said: “The case should never have been brought. Public funds were wasted, he spent two years on bail, and no good has come of it. The authorities do not appear to have learnt lessons from the joint report by HM Inspectors of the CPS and Constabulary in July 2017, which highlighted systemic failures and off ered remedies.”

The woman who accused Mr Allan faces inves-tigation for attempting to pervert the course of justice. The detective involved will be ques-tioned about the failure to hand over the vital evidence. The accuser told police that she hated sex but wrote hundreds of text messages to friends saying she was devastated when Mr Allan said that they could not meet again and discussing in detail her enjoyment of sex.

Liam Allan – innocent

Insidetime January 2018 Newsround 11www.insidetime.org

NewsbitesLooking Back...through the Inside Time archives January 2013

Brutalisation

“My son was sent to prison for three months (a six month Drug Treatment Order) at the age of 15 for the offence of criminal damage. His offending escalated to committing an armed robbery at the age of 17 and he is now serving a further sentence for an offence committed on licence at the age of 19. My view is that locking a child up for a relatively trivial offence (criminal damage) at the age of 15 contributed to a brutalisation and aliena-tion that led to an escalation of offending. No wonder young people develop mental health problems and start to self-harm while in prison.” Mailbag - a prisoner’s mother

Fresh air

“I would like to thank Mr Matthew Evans of the Prisoners Advice Service for his assistance and sincere efforts rendered to the Rastafarian community within the prison system. A breath of fresh air, well done sir.” Mailbag

Into the cauldron

“England is the only country in the Northern Hemisphere to have resurrected the 1590 witchcraft law that makes it legal for an individual’s word to be the only evidence required to have a ‘witch’ arrested and condemned. The 1994 law allows juries to prejudicially convict, on opinion only, without any corroborating evidence. Change the word ‘witch’ with ‘man, ‘witchcraft’ with ‘sexual assault’, and the word ‘spell attack’ with ‘sex attack’ and you will see exactly what is happening in England today.” Mailbag

Prison population drops

“The prison population of England and Wales has dropped, according to the Government’s Monthly Bulletin, by 2,119 during the 12 month period: November 2011 and November 2012.” Newsround

‘Sorry’ instead of court in DerbyshireViolent crimes in Derbyshire are more likely to be dealt with by an apology than anywhere else in the country. Known as ‘Community Resolutions’, 969 crimes in the county were dealt with this way in 2016/17. A community resolution can involve an apology or a reparation, such as paying for any criminal damage. It has to be agreed with the victim of the crime and, if they would prefer the offender to be prosecuted or cautioned, then the police will do so.

The downside of prisonA Scottish prisoner has lost his court action to be allowed to have sex toys in his cell. He said he had bad reactions to Viagra and needed a penis pump to deal with his erectile dysfunction.

MoJ cuts could lead to ‘full-blown emergency’It has been revealed that by the year 2020 the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) will have suffered a real term cumulative budget cut of 40%. Gaining no loosening of the budget strings in the latest budget Justice Minister David Lidington told MPs: “I would always welcome being given a crock of gold by the Treasury, but I am conscious too [that] I sit around the table with ministers for departments of health, education, defence and work and pensions - all, like me, could make the argument “we could really use some extra money”. Responding to the figures Mr Burgon said cuts on the scale indicated threaten to take the justice sector from “repeated crisis to a full-blown emergency”.

Prison staff ‘poor terrorist risk training’Prison staff in England and Wales involved in developing an extremism risk assessment tool now used on young children have complained that they did not receive adequate training to undertake the work and felt they lacked knowledge of Islam. Some staff received just one day of training. Others attended a two-day ‘Islamic awareness’ workshop in order to help them assess ‘al-Qaeda-inspired extremist offenders’, while others did their own research into Islam on the internet. Concerns about the training were raised as part of an evaluation conducted by HMPPS. The evaluation concluded: “The lack of training and confidence among some staff in using the approach meant that staff were, or could potentially be, asked to work at a level beyond which they were capable or confident.”

Breach of injunction warningThe public have been warned about using social media to identify people who had had their identities protected by the injunction which prevents the media or anyone anywhere in the world publishing photographs of them, information that could lead to their being identified or soliciting such informa-tion. Breach of the injunction, which is prosecuted as contempt in the high court, carries a sentence of up to two years’ imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine. It is especially impor-tant that prisoners are aware that if they have met people who are covered by the protecting injunction they must not speculate or communicate their thoughts to anyone. Even if they are wrong they will still be prosecuted since they may be exposing innocent people to the danger of attack. There is no defence of ‘not knowing’ a person is covered by an injunction.

No more police cells for children with mental health issues The government has introduced a package of measures to drastically cut the use of police cells as places of safety that came into force in December. The new mental health provi-sions will mean it will no longer be possible to place children (under 18s) experiencing a mental health crisis in a police cell. For adults, the use of police cells as places of safety will be significantly restricted and it will only be possible for them to be used in exceptional circumstances. The period for which a person can be detained for the purpose of a mental health assessment will also be cut from 72 to 24 hours. While 23 force areas reduced their use of police cells as places of safety for children to single figures or zero in the last year, the law change will ensure no child will end up in a police cell.

HM Inspectorate of Prisons has movedThey are now based at: HM Inspectorate of Prisons, 5th Floor, Clive House, Petty France, London SW1H 9EX.New Telephone number : 0207 340 0500

Miscarriage victim calls for changeA man who spent 25 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit has made fresh calls for sweeping changes to the criminal justice system which wrongly locked him up. Robert Brown was convicted in 1977 for the murder of Annie Walsh after he was beaten into confess-ing to the unsolved crime. His was one of the worst miscarriages of justice that has been proven to date.

Mr Brown is 60 now and says: “I don’t feel anything - I’m dead inside. I want changes to the criminal justice system that shows there’s balance and equality for everybody. We need deep, radical change or you’re going to hear cases like this for the next 25 years. It concerns me people are still getting convicted on hearsay evidence, character assassination and more - you would think a criminal justice system would have to be evidence based. I was convicted on the word of the police and juries believe police. Since I was released in 2002, there has not been any improvement in the justice system. I think police should be held responsible for their crimes. If there’s no evidence to connect some-one to the crime, then there’s no case to answer. The word of one man or woman is not enough.”

Whilst he was in prison he was refused any help unless he ‘accepted his guilt’. After release he was awarded compensation but then the Scottish Prison Service demanded more than £100,000 to pay for his prison living expenses.

He adds that his story now is a bit like the nursery rhyme: All the king’s horses and all the king’s men, “nobody can put me together again”.

Acknowledgments: Glasgow Evening Times

Increase in Tornado Squad deploymentThe Prison Service crack Tornado Squads, deployed when prison officers lose control, was deployed 580 times in the last year in England and Wales. The squad of 40 specially trained officers who use weapons such as pepper spray is supposed to be deployed only to serious incidents but, in response to the latest shocking figures the MoJ said the ‘majority’ of call-outs were to non-violent incidents and were just precautionary.

The Prison Officers’ Association (POA) said: “The POA are not shocked by the numbers of call-outs as this demonstrates that prisons are in need of national support to maintain security and control. However, the figures can be distorted due to some call-outs requiring nationally-trained staff. The reality is that year-on-year budget cuts has reduced staff and as a result prisoners feel more in charge as organised crime continues to increase.”

Labour’s shadow justice secretary Richard Burgon said: “These figures underline how counter-productive the Tories’ cuts to the prison service have been. This dangerous situation is likely to go from bad to worse given that a quarter of the prisons that the MoJ itself rates as being of concern have experienced a further cut in prison officer numbers over the past year.”

The busiest month ever for the Tornado team was in May 2016 when they attended 67 separate incidents at 39 prisons (that’s 1 in 3 prisons): HMPs Lindholme and Nottingham called the squad every month last year. The squad attended not just A and B category prisons surprisingly, Lindholme is a Category C.

The MoJ said Tornado Squads, numbering about 2,000 personnel and made up of specially-trained teams drawn from jails nationally, are not just sent in to tackle violent incidents. They can be deployed as a visible presence when dealing with large numbers of prisoners or when a prisoner gets on a roof.

‘Scrap additional days’

Research by the Howard League for Penal Reform shows that prisons are routinely and increasingly resorting to draconian punishments in an attempt to regain control.

The report ‘Out of Control - Punishment in Prison’ shows that almost 290,000 additional days of imprisonment were handed down to prisoners during 2016 - a 75 per cent rise in only two years - as prisons have been brought to breaking point by overcrowding and staff shortages. The Howard League has calculated that the additional days imposed in 2016 alone will cost the taxpayer about £27million.

The report reveals how adjudications are used overly and inappropriately with even minor infractions such as disobedi-ence and disrespect being punished with additional days of imprisonment. It calls on England and Wales to follow the example set by Scotland, where the use of additional days of imprisonment was scrapped about 10 years ago.

Officials and governors in Scotland could find no evidence that abolishing the use of additional days had a negative impact on behaviour, and Scottish prisons have become safer since the change was made. Punishments pile more pressure on the prison population and worsen overcrowding, which in turn creates conditions for drug abuse, violence and other types of misbehaviour.

Download the full report: https://tinyurl.com/y6uzdzb7

More force - “precautionary”

Robert Brown

Insidetime January 2018Newsround12 www.insidetime.org

Newsbites

Failed recall, more victimsAmid the furore about the huge numbers of former prisoners recalled for trivial matters, a Liverpool judge has criticised the Probation Service for NOT recalling a prolific thief who breached his licence conditions and went on to burgle five houses before being arrested. Liverpool’s most senior judge, Clement Goldstone, QC, expressed frustration that the drug addict was not forced to serve the remaining half of a five-year sentence, allowing him to create five more victims, after committing a burglary whilst on licence. The judge said: “It is difficult to envisage a record much worse than this defendant’s or to think of any good reason why this defendant was not recalled in full following his May conviction - there would have been five less victims had he been.” He told the man: “Whereas in the past a balance may have been struck between the need to protect the public and the need to rehabilitate you, it’s quite clear to me that the time has come for the interests of the public to be placed first.”.

POA Chair blames suicides on austerityThe Chair of the Prison Officers Association, speaking on LBC radio, has admitted that prison officers get only three hours of mental health training. Mark Fairhurst said that overcrowding “was a contributing factor to suicides” in prison. He said that if you house two prisoners in a cell for one, or in a dormitory, this adds to the anxiety and stresses already put on prisoners. He said: “There are too many people with mental health problems in a prison environment who should be in secure mental health units getting the care they need”. He told listeners that the lack of resources in prison also exacerbated the issue especially since such a high proportion of the prison population with mental health and the government’s austerity measures had also affected prison officer’s ability to deal with mental health issues.

Prison suicides ‘not linked to overcrowding’A new report published in the Lancet Psychiatry Journal which looked at prison suicides in 24 countries, including England and Wales says there is no link between prison overcrowding and suicides. However, prison suicides could be cut by sending fewer people with mental illnesses to prison and with better care. Its research showed that prison suicide rates varied dramatically; 23 per 100,000 prisoners in the US, to 180 per 100,000 prisoners in Norway which has famously ‘easy’ prisons but where custody was generally reserved for the most violent and dangerous offenders, including those with mental health problems. The report says: “Overall, our findings suggest that there are no simple ecological explanations for prison suicide. Rather, it is likely to be due to complex interactions between individual-level and ecological factors.”

Sky high spice billAccording to a report by HM Inspectorate of Probation, prisoners in England and Wales are smoking up to £800 worth of drugs such as Spice and, upon release, returning to crime to pay off huge debts. Part of the problem, they say, is that because smoking is now banned, drugs such as spice are cheaper to buy than tobacco in prisons. If the figures were correct, a person serving a six month sentence would end up owing £146,000.

To be born freeAn expectant mum who carried out a £60,000 mobile phone fraud on her employers has been jailed - but a judge says she will be freed before her baby is born after the judge declared that the baby did not deserve to be born in prison.

Prison cognitive damageJust four months in prison can negatively affect a person’s cognitive abilities and impulse control, according to findings published in a report ‘Criminal Justice and Behaviour’ from the University of Pennsylvania. Criminologist Adrian Raine said: “We have known for decades that poor cognitive functioning is a risk factor for crime and delinquency. The big thing for society here is that imprisonment is making worse a risk factor that sends people to prison to begin with.” However, it has been found that cognitive therapy treatment can help undo the damage prison does but Raine says: “This work doesn’t prove that such an intervention can work for older offenders who have been in prison longer.” Read more: https://tinyurl.com/yb3t5ms5

‘Mercy’ for older prisoners call

Prisons are struggling to cope with the soaring population of geriatric inmates, it has emerged. Peter Dawson, director of the Prison Reform Trust said: “An increasingly elderly and frail prison population creates huge challenges for a prison system already struggling to cope. A system designed for fit, young men means that many are held in conditions totally unsuited to meeting even their basic needs. People have a right to expect justice to be done, but many are living out their old age in conditions that demean both them and us. A just system tempers retribution with mercy, and we need to ask ourselves if we are getting that balance right.”

There are now more than 200 prisoners aged 80 or over, with at least ten in their 90s and many have complex medical and social needs. The rise in numbers is due mainly to an increasing number of historic sex allegations which elderly men are now being convicted for.

Released prisoners overdose risk‘Too little focus on the risk of relapse and overdose’

Approved Premises (APs), home to people released from prison or on bail or court orders, need more effec-tive drug testing practices and better staff guidance to identify and address the risks associated with substance misuse, and support individuals, according to a recent report by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO). Overdoses of opiate and other drugs, including alcohol, by people released from prison remain a signif-icant risk according to the PPO ‘Learning Lessons’ bulletin. People are at a higher risk of overdose if they slip back into drug and alcohol use after periods of abstinence or detoxification.

Fingerprints the new ‘DNA’?

A new technique could detect blood in a 30 year old fingerprint using a form of mass spectrometry. The process could also be used to detect brands of hair gel or confirm whether a condom had been handled. Researchers from Sheffield Hallam University have been working with West Yorkshire Police for five years to perfect the process.

Speaking to the BBC, project leader Dr Simona Francese said: “When you think about what a fingerprint is, it’s nothing but sweat. It contains molecules from within your body, but also molecules that you have just contaminated your fingertips with, so the amount of information there potentially to retrieve is high.”

In the rush to solve unsolvable crimes and gain convictions the ‘experts’ must be very careful not to overplay technology. In the USA, recently, there have been serious doubts raised upon the reliance of DNA evidence and the phenomenal numbers used to try to convince juries, such as ‘a one in a billion’. It has been shown that actual fingerprint evidence can be doubtful, fingerprints can be ‘moved’ and hands can pick up other people’s DNA from door handles and suchlike.

Acknowledgements: Police Chronicle

Elizabeth Moody, the acting Ombudsman, said: “The rise of New Psychoactive Substance use in the prison estate is well documented and is widely recognised, in the words of the previous Ombudsman, as a “game-changer”. However, it is clear from our investigations that the implications of NPS for the AP estate have not yet been fully under-stood or addressed by the National Probation Service (which is respon-sible for APs).”

The PPO found some good practice in the management and care for those who misuse drugs and alco-hol. However, Moody added, “we also see cases with too little focus on the risk of relapse and overdose.” “We know offenders can be at heightened risk of death following their release into the community”, said Moody. “I hope this bulletin will help AP staff apply the learning from our investigations to improve the ways they identify, monitor and address the risk factors associated with substance misuse.”

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Include as much information as possible:• Prison number• Your full name including middle name• Your date of birth• National insurance number• Employment history • Contact address/number on the outsidePlease advise if you change Prisons after responding.

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Prisoners in Scotland should contact; The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, 5th Floor, Portland House, 17 Renfi eld Street, Glasgow, G2 5AH. Phone: 0141 270 7030 Email: info@sccrc.org.uk

Insidetime January 2018 Newsround 13www.insidetime.org

World prison review

Poisonous convictionA Bosnian Croatian man convicted of war crimes has died after drinking poison during an appeal hearing in The Hague. Slobodan Praljak, 72, died in hospital, with the UN court announcing that the courtroom was now “a crime scene”. On hearing that his 20-year jail term had been upheld, the ex-commander of Bosnian Croat forces said he was not a criminal and then drank from a bottle. “I just drank poison. I am not a war criminal. I oppose this conviction,” he said.

More innocent men released Two Chicago men have been released from prison after serving more than 20 years for murder because they’re not a match for new DNA evidence from the victim. They were greeted by hugs and tears with family members; one of the men said: “I lost my mom. I lost my father. Uncles, aunties, grandmother. Now, I got my family.” A judge ordered their release after a fresh round of DNA testing showed semen stains on the victim’s clothing matched a serial rapist. Both men have maintained their innocence, saying that police beat confessions out of them.

89 year old German woman jailed for denying the HolocaustA German woman Ursula Haverbeck, 89, often dubbed the “Nazi Grandma” in the German press, has been sentenced to 14 months in prison for incitement of racial hatred for ‘Holocaust Denial’. She sent a letter to the mayor of Haverbeck claiming that Auschwitz was not a concentration camp. Under German law, denying the Holocaust - in which 6 million Jews were murdered by the Nazis between 1941 and 1945 - constitutes incitement of racial hatred and can carry a prison sentence of up to five years.

A new meaning to sentence inflationA Texas man has been sentenced to more than 1,000 years in prison after being convicted of the sexual abuse of two young girls. He was given two life sentences as well as the additional 1,000 years, for ‘continuous sexual abuse’. District attorney Wes Mau said: “It does send a message to not expect leniency if you commit these kinds of crimes.” Without parole his body will be released in November 3017.

Herd of donkeys jailed in IndiaA herd of donkeys has been jailed for four days in India after eating expensive plants outside a prison complex in Uttar Pradesh. The head of the prison, constable RK Mishra, said: “These donkeys had destroyed some very expensive plants which our senior officer had arranged for planting inside the jail and despite warnings the owner let loose his animals here so we detained the donkeys.” In India no person or animal is allowed to escape the wrath of the law.

Prisoner sues for loss of dreadlocks A Prisoner at Trumbull Correctional Institution in Leavittsburg USA has filed a lawsuit against the prison claiming officials have repeatedly cut his dreadlocks and have therefore violated his civil rights and interfered with his religious beliefs. His religion, Rastafarianism, requires him to wear his hair in dreads, however, he claims the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction has cut his hair on five different occasions and ‘stolen a part of his identity’ by forcibly cutting his hair because his locks “served as a reminder of his faith and devotion to the natural world.” In defence the prison says it has a ban on several types of hairstyles including dreadlocks, weaves and hair that is ‘disproportionately longer in one area than another’, with the exception of natural baldness. His legal action seeks to make it illegal for the prison to ban dread-locks and wants it to recog-nize Rastafarianism as a religion.

Massive fire in Australian high security jailPrisoners were locked in their cells and staff evacuated after a huge fire ripped through Port Phillip Prison in Victoria, Australia. The fire broke out in a control room and over fifty firefighters worked for two-and-a-half hours to control the blaze. Port Phillip Prison is widely considered to be one of Australia’s toughest jails, able to accommodate over 1,000 prisoners and housing a number of notorious criminals. A Victoria Police spokeswoman said they were not treating the fire as suspicious.

Nigerian prisoner starvation From the Nigerian newspaper ‘Vanguard’. “The Federal Government must move quickly to save about 65,000 inmates in our prisons nationwide from imminent starvation by providing adequate funds for their feeding. We find a situation whereby contractors who provide the rations for our prisoners have not been paid for over two years highly callous and irresponsible. Suppliers of rations and gas to our prisons are threatening to withdraw their services over the Federal Government’s failure to pay their outstanding N6 billion debts which have accumulated since 2015. President Muhammadu Buhari should kindly heed their distress call and cause civil servants dozing at their duty posts to release the funds to avoid the worsening of the already unenviable situations that prisoners find themselves in. Maintenance of services in all sections of the justice and criminal administration system is the duty and responsibility of the Federal Government. Already, our prisons, especially the awaiting trial cells, boast some of the most dehumanising conditions compared to other prison systems in the world.”

Poor outlook for child prisonersEach year the Prisons Inspectorate check up on facilities that hold children under 18. This year Peter Clarke, the Chief Inspector, says that staffing problems are having a negative impact on children in custody, many of whom are locked up in cells nearly all day, and many felt unsafe. His latest report ‘Children in Custody 2016-17’ covers establishments holding children from the age of 12 to 18. Children held in Secure Training Centres (STCs) said they had nobody to turn to if they had a problem. 720 children completed surveys for the Inspectorate.

There were disproportionate numbers of black and minority ethnic children, and children from Gypsy, Romany or Traveller communities, compared to their representation in the general population. Children with disabilities and mental and emotional health problems, and with backgrounds in local authority care, were also held in high numbers.

Mr Clarke says in his latest report: “the impact of staffing constraints appears to have been more keenly felt by children this year. In YOIs...we have found far too many boys being locked in their cells for more than 22 hours each day, with staff struggling to manage the complexities of regimes where some boys can only be allowed out of their cells while others are locked up. Too often in STCs, we found that staff were being redeployed from their assigned unit to cover gaps elsewhere in the centre. More than a fifth of children in STCs said they had no one to turn to if they had a problem, meaning that many vulnerable children with complex needs were trying to manage their problems without support.

“Last year, I invited those with the responsibility to develop and improve policy to take our findings seriously. I trust that the realignment of responsibilities between the Youth Justice Board, the Ministry of Justice commissioners of services and the new Youth Custody Service within HM Prison and Probation Service will lead to improvement, and that the process of restructuring and reform will not detract from the urgent need for an effective operational response to the issues raised in this report.”

Download Report: https://tinyurl.com/y9jrg9f8

Prisoner voting damp squid

A deal has been made between Justice Minister David Lidington and the Council of Europe over prisoners’ rights to vote, after a twelve-year battle, started in 2005 when the ECHR ruled on a challenge over prisoner voting rights brought by John Hirst, who was serving life for man-slaughter. The court declared that the blanket ban on prisoners participating in elections violated human rights and was illegal. Despite similar judgments in subsequent cases, the UK refused to enforce the ruling.However, the deal will extend the right to vote to no more than 100 prisoners as only prisoners on temporary release and at home under curfew will gain the right to vote. As part of the deal all prisoners will be told, on conviction that they will not be able to vote. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said: “We will work with the judiciary to change the warrant of committal to prison to ensure that prisoners are individually notified of their disenfranchisement.”

The eagle is groundedDutch police are retiring their much publicised drone catching eagles and winding down the program. The decision is a response to both demand as well as perfor-mance of the birds themselves. In 2016 the Prisons Minister suggested eagles could be used to stop drones from smuggling drugs and weapons into UK prisons. Sam Gyimah said he was “keeping a close eye on what’s happening in Holland, where they’re using eagles to stop drones”. Now that the birds have flown the nest, so to speak, the Dutch authorities will be exploring the options among a rapidly growing selection of high tech solutions that are far more reliable, and cheaper to maintain, than the eagles.

Insidetime January 2018Newsround // Local Prison News 14 www.insidetime.org

Good Prison News Newsbites

A serving prisoner at Kirklevington Grange has been promoted to Trainee-Manager at ‘The Fork in The Road’ restaurant in Middlesbrough. ‘Joe’ - whose full name is not being made public - works six-days a week at the eating establishment, which is backed by Middlesbrough-based national charity CEO Sleepout. The Fork in The Road is focused on giving work and training opportunities to the long-term unemployed, including ex-off end-ers. The restaurant’s founder, Andy, said - ‘We are delighted to have made Joe our Trainee-Manager, he’s responsible, reliable, has bags of common-sense, takes advice on board, and he’s always keen to do the right thing for the customers and the restaurant’.

Joe, who is not due for release until August 2018, said: ‘I’m really chuff ed to have been made Trainee-Manager. The Fork in The Road is an amazing project that has given me a fantastic opportunity’. He hopes this role will help him to fi nd employment on release. He

Not messing about on the waterHMP Stoke Heath has formally adopted a one mile section of the Shropshire Union Canal in association with the Canal and River Trust. The trust will be working closely with HMP Stoke Heath to provide vocational training opportu-nities on the canal towpath at Tyrley Locks to help prisoners close to release gain work experience. Prisoners will be working on the canal an average of three days a week, depending on demand.

Jason Watts, a volunteer coordinator with the Canal & River Trust, said: “The canal and towpath will be kept in tip top condition and the prisoners themselves also benefi t as the canal provides a real life public environ-ment where prisoners, who are nearing the end of their terms, can gain valuable vocational skills, improving their job prospects when they leave. Tasks will include vegetation manage-ment, grass cutting, litter picking, painting fences, huts and lock gates, and towpath repairs.”

New governor at LiverpoolHMP Liverpool now has a new governor, Pia Sinha, after the old governor, Peter Francis, was removed following a very critical inspection which described the prison as ‘squalid’. Ms Sinha moves from Risley where she was governor. She has also been governor at Thorn Cross.

Police now based at HMP Berwyn More than 100 crimes at new super-prison Berwyn have been reported to police since April 2017. Sgt Steve Owens, of the North Wales Police Wrexham Rural team, said 109 incidents had been reported and included assaults on staff, along with possession of drugs and mobile phones. Three detective constables and one detective sergeant were now based permanently at the prison. Since the prison opened, police said, there had been a 36.7% increase in crime in the area, but the increase may be down to reporting issues such as counting a litter bin fi re as arson.

Gypsy Moth plane on the moveA full-scale replica of the Gipsy Moth plane Amy Johnson used in her solo fl ight to Australia built by prisoners at HMP Hull has been on display at the Paragon railway station in the Hull as part of the 2017 City of Culture programme. The model, which took six months to build, is to be moved to the Yorkshire Air Museum, on the former RAF Elvington station, in North Yorkshire because no suitable locations could be found in Hull. The museum will house the model alongside other Amy Johnson exhibits.

Parc phones investigation Police are investigating allegations that prison offi cers are selling mobile phones for £400 to drug dealers in Parc, allowing them to post photographs on Facebook. Last year a Facebook page called ‘Parc Banter’ was shut down after complaints. One prisoner, who admitted they were inside for drugs, told a Wales Online reporter: “It’s the prison offi cers bringing them in to us. Loads of us have phones.” South Wales West Assembly Member Bethan Jenkins AM said: “This is obviously something which needs to be addressed quickly by the relevant authori-ties. This fi ts a worrying trend of problems emerging across the wider prison estate.”

Hewell recovers massive contraband haulFollowing a large scale operation by staff at HMP Hewell a signifi cant hoard of drugs and mobile phones was found. Prison staff from across the country were involved and were support-ed by specialist search teams and dogs. They recovered 323 fi nds, including 79 mobile phones, 29 improvised weapons, over 50 litres of alcohol, and a large quantity of drugs. Prisons Minister Sam Gyimah said: “This shows the determination of prison staff to disrupt this behaviour, while sending a clear message that we will not tolerate this kind of activity. Those who peddle drugs in an attempt to thwart reform should face the full force of the law, which means a police investigation and extra time behind bars.” Gareth Sands, Governor of Hewell added: “Improving safety and security at HMP Hewell is my main priority. This operation had been in the making for a number of months, and I am pleased to see such positive results. I am grateful for the hard work of all those involved.”

Serving prisoner promoted to Trainee Manager

refl ected: ‘I channelled my energies into the wrong things in the past, got involved in something I shouldn’t have and ended up in jail. Now I’m determined to turn a corner and do something productive with my life. I’m just grateful for the support I’ve received from Andy, the staff at Kirklevington Grange and everyone at The Fork in The Road.’

“My life is my work so I work hard and put everything I can into it. My motto is ‘Every day is a school day’.”

Angie Petit, Governor of Kirklevington Grange, added: ‘The partnership working between the prison and The Fork in The Road is an amazing example of how we can work together to give people real chances for change and hope in the future. Employment for our men is an important part of that, but when we see aspirations realised in this way it really brings home the meaning of our purpose’.

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Joe: “responsible and reliable”

Towing a different line

Insidetime January 2018 Newsround // Local Prison News 15www.insidetime.org

Newsbites

Contraband hoard at BerwynStatistics released by the Ministry of Justice revealed that 376 contraband items were confiscated from prisoners at the new ‘super prison’ Berwyn between it’s opening in February last year and October. The items seized included drugs, phones and weapons. Prison governor Russ Trent did not comment but the Ministry of Justice said they had employed an extra 300 sniffer dogs and issued staff with portable mobile phone detectors.

Thameside gets more sniffIn response to the increase in so called ‘legal highs’ the canine sniffer team at HMP Thameside has been expanded to five dogs. There are two types of sniffer dogs; one is specially trained to search areas such as workshops and cells for drugs, so called ‘active’, and the other is trained to passively sniff out people. One of Thameside’s dogs, Baily, has sniffed out over £46,000 worth of NPS drugs in the last year.

Spike rehabilitationHMP Doncaster saw three new receptions with a difference last autumn. Three disabled hedgehogs were transferred from a sanctuary in Hull to a special area at the prison created over the last year by some of the prisoners on the horticultural team. The hogs, Hermione, Hettie and Pansy are currently hibernating but they will awake to a special pond area that has been specially adapted to cater for their needs. If all goes well the ‘Warts n All’ sanctu-ary is hoping to use the prison’s new hog area for pre-release rehabilitation. It is important the little creatures grow to maturity in as near a natural habitat as possible to give them the best chance of leading full and productive lives without the risk of recall.

Legionnaires’ Disease scareThere was minor panic at HMP Lincoln in the weeks leading up to Christmas as parts of the prison were put into isolation following the death of a prisoner there from suspected Legionnaires’ Disease. Shower areas on one wing have been shut off but the prison said they were treating it as an isolated case as no other staff or prisoners were showing symptoms. Legionnaires’ Disease is a severe form of pneumonia - lung inflammation usually caused by infection. Legionnaires’ Disease is caused by bacteria. You can’t catch the disease from person-to-person contact. Most people catch it from inhaling the bacteria often from contaminated water or damp air.

New visitor centre for Low MossA new visitor centre has opened at HMP Low Moss allowing the children and families of inmates the chance to relax and play. It also offers support, information and impartial advice about housing, finance and travel, children and health issues. The Low Moss centre was the fourth new visitor facility to open in Scotland last year: the others are at Glenochil, Shotts and  Inverness. The Scottish Government  has provided £1.8million to open the centres and support seven existing centres. Scottish Childcare Minister Maree Todd, who opened the new centre, said: “We are commit-ted to doing all we can to make Scotland the best place for children to grow up. We know children can suffer greatly from the effect of a family member being imprisoned, particularly a parent. The family visitor centre in HMP Low Moss is a brilliant example of an innovative approach to enhancing the experience of families visiting prison.”

Virtual visits helpShadow Scottish Justice Secretary Liam Kerr has accused the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) of “losing sight” on punishing its convicts after it was revealed that prisoners at HMP Grampian were making good use of ‘virtual visits’ to allow them to keep contact with family and friends who are not able to visit the prison.

Mr Kerr said: “Whilst we do have to focus on rehabilitating offenders, we must not lose sight of the punishment element to prison sentences. I think there is a strong argument to be made that criminals should not expect to enjoy the same luxuries as other law-abiding citizens.”

An SPS spokesperson said: “Given the geograph-ical location of HMP and YOI Grampian, it can be difficult for families to travel to the establishment for visits, especially when they are situated in the Highlands and Islands. The video conference facility is a way for those in our care to maintain family contact.”

North-east MSP Lewis Macdonald said the video technology, although beneficial to maintain family links: “That was one of the disadvantages pointed out at the time of closing Aberdeen Prison and relocating the regional prison to Peterhead. Video confer-encing certainly helps to offset any isolation and it is good it is being well used and also helping young offenders from the Grampian area who are being held in Polmont.”

Acknowledgements: Press and Journal

Officers left out in the coldScottish Prison Service staff were left lacking the joys of Christmas after the food retailer Iceland left them out of a Christmas discount scheme for front line emergency services staff including police, fire and ambulance staff, as well as lifeboat and coastguard employees.

Andy Hogg, assistant general secretary of the Prison Officers Association Scotland, complained:

“We often consider ourselves very much the ‘Cinderella’ service and people don’t really think about the hard work we do. Our members also work 24/7 - just the same as other emergency services - to keep the public safe.”

One prison officer complained to Iceland asking why prison officers were not recognised as ‘Emergency Services’. He said: “When I realised we wouldn’t be eligible for money off, I couldn’t believe it. We work 365 days a year and 24 hours a day - like the other emergency services.” Prison officers are eligible to purchase a special Iceland discount card called ‘The Blue Light Card’ which gives a 10% discount on purchases.

Privatisation blamed for troublesRapidly increasing drug use and violence at HMP Northumberland has been blamed on its privatisation. A new report from the Prisons Inspectorate says that since Sodexo took over the management of the prison in 2013 they have halved the number of custody officers, whilst at the same time violence has doubled. Since the 1,300 prisoner establish-ment was privatised its frontline staff have shrunk from 441 to 192. Violence has risen by 202%. There have also been six self-inflicted deaths since 2014.

Frances Crook, Chief Executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said privatisation reforms and austerity were at the heart of the problem: “After a year of riots, drug scandals and prisoners dying by suicide in private prisons, today’s report on Northumberland proves beyond doubt that privatisation has been an abject failure for the public,” she said. “Violence has more than doubled. Hundreds of men have acquired drug habits. These are serious problems that will spill out into communities, making everyone less safe.”

Prison staff not ‘Emergency Services’ say Iceland

In sickness…Sickness descended on HMP Oakwood, as Christmas approached. One prisoner was taken to hospital with confirmed TB and as G4S, who manage the prison, were supposed to be conducting screening for all prisoners and staff a swathe of prisoners then became very ill with norovirus, also called ‘Winter Vomiting Virus’.

TB is very infectious; the symptoms are a persistent cough that lasts more than three weeks and usually brings up phlegm, which may be bloody, weight loss, night sweats, a high temperature, tiredness and fatigue, loss of appetite and swellings in the neck, according to NHS Choices.

Deputy director for HMP Oakwood, Sean Oliver, said: “We have identified one case of tuberculosis and the prisoner affected has received treatment at hospital and since returned to prison. The health of our team and the prisoners in our custody is our priority and alongside our healthcare provider, Care UK, we are liaising with Public Health England and screening those who may have been in close contact with the person affected.”

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No discount for “Cinderella service”

“Hello daddy”

Insidetime January 2018Comment16 www.insidetime.org

Rachel Billington

Month by Month

Education, the arts, law and politics - 2017 gave me plenty of opportunities to consider how these aspects of life impact on prison. Some might list them in reverse order. Last year, I did. Politics came fi rst: the reforming Minister of Justice, Michael Gove came and went, the EU referendum fl ung the chips in the air. With the chips still fl ying, this year all political eyes have been on Brexit and prison seems to have come off the agenda. Staff cut-backs continue to

HighEDUCATION Education Education. It’s always been there but harder to access than ever. So programmes that sign up men or women and join them to students coming in from outside uni-versities still have my vote. Last year I talked about HMP Pentonville’s programme, Learning Together and they are still going strong with new programmes this year. I also went along to YOI Feltham to see what younger men make of the courses. In this case they were joined to The University of Holloway School of Law working with the Prison Education Trust. With both sets of students much the same age, their respect for each other was obvious, each learning something important about how the other half lives. ‘Intelligent people in bad situations’ as Katy (from the outside) commented. ‘We’re treated just the same as the students’ as Koby (from the inside) told me with some surprise.

HighART again when I visited HMP Send to see an exhibition of paintings created by the women at Send. My fi rst im-pression was an explosion of colour which continued as I delved in. How extraordinary it is that women in such a grim situation can fi nd the energy to find joy in art, whether a lion’s head or a bluebell wood. The exhibition was curated by Dena and Carlene, two women inside the prison with the back-ing of the Michael Varah Memorial Fund. Notable were several paintings which showed Westminster, shortly aft er the attacks with a memo-rial of fl owers or in imaginary decay.

HighBack to ART with the usual surprises of the Koestler Awards. Although I’m calling it Art, I really believe it is as much an education as learning a maths formula. Real concentration is needed if some-thing worthwhile it going to be achieved. The exhibition in London at the South Bank shows amazing examples of men and women who have triumphantly succeeded with their aims but it always makes me think of the very many whose work may not hang on the walls but still have experienced that sense of self-fulfi lment so important for confi dence in any area. This year I interviewed the great sculptor Sir Antony Gormley who curated it. He passionately advised readers of Inside Time who were thinking of taking up art, ‘Do it! Don’t be put off . Keep doing it. Attend to what you have done and do it better.’

HighART beats sitting in your cell watching day-time TV. Actually I’m not sure that men get much time to sit in their cells at HMP Grendon, the UK’s only therapeutic prison. I was invited there to see an Art’s project underway. The three year programme was run by Ed Clarke, top fl ight photographer with exhibitions all over the world, who has turned his hand to being a prison Artist in Residence. Ed’s unprescriptive approach to art challenged men to search their imagination while he himself produced, amongst other things, ‘pinhole’ photographic images of the men, unrecognisable but fi lled with character. I enjoyed Ronnie’s witty response which was to leave his image on the fl oor so that it was abused and trampled underfoot, just as he had trampled on others in the past, as he told me. More regular artistic eff orts created a beautiful house decorated with the words ‘Democratic, Tolerance, Facing reality, Community’- these are our values.’

HighAs summer came, I joined my Inside Time colleagues to visit HMP Berwyn, a new prison which when it’s fi nally completed, will be one of the largest in Europe. Since I have always worried whether a high prisoner population works against individual needs, I went along prejudiced against it. However the hands-on enthusiasm of Governor Russ Trent and the geographical layout of the prison with its independent buildings, convinced me that it could work. On the plus side everything is new and well-de-signed, in its cheery colours and decorative photographs and art a very long way indeed from the gloomy Victorian buildings which still make up too many of our prisons. So I wish it good luck. Doubtless we will hear from prisoners.

High/LowI interviewed my distinguished friend, Eric McGraw, founder and editor of Inside Time for twenty fi ve years to celebrate his award of an MBE. Among other thoughts, he made ex-actly the same point as Lord Ramsbotham made to me ear-lier in the year. Why can’t the government go back and look at the 1991 report and at last i m p l e m e n t h i s recommendations?

HighHMP Wakefi eld is a grim Cat A prison, mostly filled with long termers, many of them getting on in years. Not the sort of place you expect to enjoy a ‘rock opera’. But there I was being entertained by two bands, a choir, fi ve lead singers and at least twenty-two songs in a Rock Opera called ‘The four Lives of Jimmy G.’ This was put on with the enthusi-astic support of Governor Dave Harding and under the direc-tion of Musician in Residence James Dey. It was utterly pro-fessional, dramatic, moving and very well sung and acted by Kev, G.C., Colin, Richard and Pete. And what a lot of hard work it represented! I left to catch a train exhilarated by being one of the audience in quite such an outstanding production.

LowPOLITICS did come in with a bang not a whimper when I interviewed Lord Ramsbotham, former Chief Inspector of Prisons. Ramsbotham has been a doughty campaigner for better prison conditions over several decades and he leaves no doubt of his indignation at the present state of aff airs. He told me, ‘I think the MoJ has let things slide dangerously’ and ‘A governor needs to be told what to do in prisons then he/she decides how to do it’ and, on the then Minister of Justice, ‘Liz Truss has no idea what she can do.’ Finally, ‘In 1991 Lord Woolf’s review charted the way ahead. He identifi ed twelve priorities. None of them were implemented. The best plan would be to go back to them’.

Low4,300 people were imprisoned for sexual offences in the year up to June 2017, up from 2,700 in 2007.

LowThe average number of chil-dren (those under 18) in custody fell by 56% between 2011-12 and 2016-17. 89% of children in custody said they didn’t have a ‘key worker’.

Art and education fi re rays of light into dark placesHighs and lows of a challenging year in prisons

cause serious barriers to any meaningful rehabilitation but no-one in control appears too worried, beyond promising a small rise in recruitment. The shocking suicide rates in prison have dropped a little, although violence and self-harm continue to rise.

So it seems to me that for people who have to live with this system, education, the arts and possibly the law (in a bit of good news, legal aid will return to prison) are the most viable areas to look for change and even hope.

Onwards therefore to my personal Highs and Lows of 2017 plus a commentary from the Bromley Briefi ngs. As usual you won’t fi nd many Lows among my Highs, although, too often, the Briefi ngs make up for it.

LowAverage cost per prisoner 2016/17 = £35,371 (November 2017).

LowApproximate UK average prison population during 2017 has been around 93,000.

Learning together

Lord Ramsbotham - “doughty campaigner” Our Founder

Explosion of colour

Sir Antony Gormley: serious arting

HMP Berwyn – “new and well designed”

Insidetime January 2018 Comment 17www.insidetime.org

HighSadly, I missed going in person to another exhibition at HMP Warren Hill on the Suff olk coast in late November but a friend from the Longford Trust sent me a report. The art on show included paintings, prints, photography, wood carvings, metalwork and crochet and all proceeds from sales were going to FIND, Families in Need in Ipswich. Darren, the man be-hind bars who’s done most to keep this annual show on the road, emphasised his col-leagues awareness of areas of need outside the prison. Another example of the good eff ects of breaking down the isolation of people behind bars.

HighThe Longford Trust came round again with a challenging lecture from veteran fi lm-maker Ken Loach. As any fan of his fi lms could have predicted he lambasted the inequality of the present system in our country and called for a return of ‘old Labour’ values. Since the Longford Trust was set up in memory of my father, Lord Longford, who was a part of the post war Labour govern-ment which brought in the NHS amongst other national insti-tutions, this cry went down well with most of the packed audience. His call for the election of Corbyn made sure there were heated post-lecture discussions. It was broadcast for the fi rst time on National Prison Radio. The evening also saw prizes awarded to David Jolie from the St. Giles’s Trust, the charity Safe Ground and Niki Gould at the Nelson Trust.

HighAt the beginning of December I went to a Christmas party hosted by the charity, Give a Book which began donating books for schools and then extended its work to prisons. Founded by its director, Victoria Gray, in memory of her husband, playwright Simon Gray, it is one of several smaller charities that supplement or co-operate with large charities like the Prisoners’ Education Trust or The Shannon Trust. The Prison Readers Group, directed by Sarah Turvey also helps to bring the habit of reading into prisons. One of my friends is on ‘I’m a Celebrity get me out of Here’ as I write, and I sincerely believe his worst deprivation will not be a soft bed or food or running water but books. Of course as I’m a writer I would say that…

HighPOETRY has traditionally been considered one of the most es-oteric arts where only higher beings dare to tread. Times have changed, performance poetry and rap have broken down boundaries and many fi nd po-etry the best way to express deep emotions or even make a good joke. We get hundreds of poems in each month and print as many as we can. As with the paintings at Send described on the pre-vious page, I’ve been struck by the amount of contributors who have taken up their pens in response to one of the year’s tragedies, whether the Manchester bombings, the Westminster at-tacks or the Grenfell Fire. It puts a lie to a common misconception that men and women in prison are only concerned about their own situation. In February we’ll be publishing volume seven of Inside Poetry, Voices from Prison. In it we highlight a new award, the Pinter Poem, given by Harold Pinter’s widow, Antonia Fraser Pinter and won by a contributor from HMP Wakefi eld. It was read aloud by actor Freddie Fox following this year’s Longford lecture.

High (hopefully)I wish you all the best of luck and good cheer in 2018. To celebrate here is a nonsense rhyme by Edward Lear:

Said the Duck to the Kangaroo,‘Good gracious! how you hop!Over the fi elds and the water too,As if you never would stop!My life is a bore in this nasty pond,And I long to go out in the world beyond!I wish I could hop like you!’Said the Duck to the Kangaroo.

Low/HighIn November I interviewed Lord Neuberger who was Head of the Supreme Court until September 2017. I tackled him on quite a few subjects and, although there was nothing very cheering for those in prison, he explained the powers of the relatively new Supreme Court - essentially it can change the law where it is perceived to be unjust - opted for more openness in court, and encouraged prisoners to study law, stating, ‘I fundamentally believe that everyone should have a second chance.’

Low1.43 million Defendants were prosecuted 2016/2017.

Low34% of defendants were remanded in custody at the Crown Court of which 72% were given custodial sentences on con-viction. (June2016-June2017).

LowConviction rate has increased in 10 years to 2017 from 80% to 86%

LowMost overcrowded prisons in England and Wales (Nov 17): Wandsworth 166% Leeds 165% Lincoln 164% Preston 162% Swansea 161%.

Nathanial Jacobs

Not so broken dreamsTheatre group brings hope and inspiration to prison life

It’s Thursday 7th December 2017 and I’m sat on a train en route to London; more specifi cal-ly Sloane Square. I’m eagerly awaiting to see the latest work by the Kestrel Theatre Company which is being performed at The Jerwood Theatre Upstairs of the Royal Court. Naturally, with this being a Kestrel production, this is being performed by residents of Her Majesty’s Prison Service. The show I am about to see, set in the aft ermath of the Grenfell tragedy, has been written and performed by nine men from HMP Springhill.

As the show opens we meet main character Greg who delivers a hilarious monologue about this fi sh he waited to catch, which by estimate, or hyperbole went from being ‘a 30, no 40… No, FIFTY pounder’.

Scenes progressed from being out fi shing to having a laugh in the local pub and ignoring his phone ringing - a critical moment. Then there’s a fl ashback to when he was arguing his disappointment with his teenage son, Calvin for wanting to get into boxing, which wouldn’t “put food on the table”, rather than getting a proper carpentry job, like his dad. Back to the phone ringing, ringing, unanswered by Greg. As the story progresses, the light jovialness of the fi rst couple of scenes starts to descend into the serious, underlying themes upon which the story is based. We see Greg at the council trying to resolve the calamity of being kept in a hotel and the council not doing anything to progress the housing situation, the inevitable turn to drink to drown the demons he faces and coming to terms with all that has happened.

The show closed with a poignant moment where it is revealed that the phone calls Greg ignored were from his son who was trying to tell him that he was stuck in their high-rise fl at as the fi re raged and burned around him. Calvin was trying to say his fi nal goodbye to his father as he knew there was no way out…

The honest, touching and heartfelt truth to the story is woven with appropriate, well timed humour and brilliantly conveyed by its cast. Wrapping the superbly-well written story and acting together, is a sound design that subtly transforms mood and lighting creating a deep, rich atmosphere.

Upon the closing of the performance the cast thanked Kestrel’s Producer and Director, Arabella and Holly, respectively, as well as all those who helped to bring the performance to life, including the prison establishment for “getting them there on time”. The rapturous applause and speeches was followed by the chance for the crowd to mingle and speak with those involved.

The performance was extremely well received, with one audience member stating that “con-sidering these gents have never acted in their lives, the performances and story-telling was better than a lot of what is currently on TV.” Another remarked to me, “Truly engaging and convincing. An absolute triumph.”

Following the performance, I was aff orded the honour to go backstage to sit and speak with the cast to find out how they felt about the

experience. Their enthusiasm and passion for their craft was clear to see.

They said that when approaching the writing phase, they did not want to be “typical” or “cliché” with the story they would tell. So, rather than going down the route of telling a story about crime, addiction or other issues that so prevalently plague people in prison, they decided to tell a story that was relevant, touching and current. When asked how it felt to be part of the project, they told me that it was “great to escape from the day-to-day pris-on life and work.”

When I spoke to the group I said I knew what they were experiencing and feeling, as I had been in the exact same position only fourteen months earlier. I knew because I am a former resident of HMP Springhill and was privileged enough to have worked with Kestrel on two previous projects whilst there. The first of which was the Royal Court-showcased ‘Blood and Water’. It was a great opportunity to let them know that this single performance can lead to so much, if they wanted to venture into the entertainment industry.

As well as working on the theatrical perfor-mance ‘Blood and Water’, Kestrel returned to Springhill in February 2017 to work with us on another project, a short fi lm titled ‘The 360° Man’ - two very diff erent but very enthralling experiences and pieces of work. Each project allowed people who may have no experience in performing or acting to gain a rich under-standing of all aspects of putting together and creating a showcase. Since working with Kestrel, I have been fortunate enough to gain work in the TV and Film industry, gaining further education on an ‘Introduction to Film and TV Production’ course, and working on a production as a Runner, Boom Operator, Edit Assistant or Production Assistant.

I hope that this wonderful theatre groups and the experience of the prisoners involved inspires others as much as it has inspired me.

Kestrel Theatre Company is a charity that takes professionals into prison to work alongside those in the criminal justice system. The team operates in a collaborative way to facilitate original drama and fi lm. By empowering people in pris-on to express themselves in a non-judgmental, collaborative and enabling environment, Kestrel’s aim is to help develop greater self-con-fi dence, mutual respect and resilience, and by realising their creative potential, produce work of the highest standard.

Nathanial Jacobs is a former resident of HMPPS

Ken Loach – political

The great escape

Lord Neuberger: “everyone should get a second chance”

Extended and will monitor them closely to make sure that they work.”

But, we had all been assured over the last 20-plus years that SOTP was being monitored and yet nobody saw the obvious fl aws. It was like Holy Scripture to them, nobody ques-tioned and individuals who did were damned. As for ‘individual motiva-tion’ to do the courses… it was made a primary condition of being an Enhanced prisoner.

And now this ‘racket’ is to continue with other treatment programmes. There is an old proverb which might serve us better as a real ‘tool’ - “Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.” Real substance comes from the substance of resourc-es to leave a prisoner better than you found him/her and that will take real policy commitment to invest in high-er education standards of achieve-ment to raise people up and train them for skills that have real value in the market-place. There is no great-er rehabilitative factor than a good job and a positive and well-adjusted future in society.

government-funded criminal enterprise.

The pr ison psychologist toolkit doesn’t just contain unaccredited and unevaluat-ed programmes, it also con-tains the tools to justify suit-ability for prisoner participa-tion. These tools have also been proven to be fl awed, and yet their continued use exon-erates the psychologists from accountability. The PCL-R has been clinically proven to be both unreliable and without predictive value (Blonigen et al 2010). Interrater reliability in practise is much lower than it is in training and this is par-ticularly true for Factor 1 of the PCL-R, whose interrater reliability in practical every-day use appears to be zero (Edens, et al).

The PCL-R was designed to be a measure of personality, not risk, and was originally pub-lished for research purposes only and NOT clinical use! It was proven that the ratings given by assessors depended

partly on their own personal-ity characteristics (Miller, Rufi no, et al). In research, the PCL-R appeared to be useful, so NOMS and prison psycholo-gists clamoured for it to be utilised because it gave them an additional weapon to jus-tify funding for their useless programmes.

I would advise every prisoner to look at their first OASys report and look at both the O G P a n d O V P s c o r e s . Theoretically, these courses are aimed at reducing reof-fending and should be refl ect-ed in reduced scores. However, this is not the case, so what is the purpose of participating? I recommend that every pris-oner undertake due diligence and not engage with clinical-ly undermined assessments or programmes. Your legal reps will easily be able to dis-credit prison psychologists, the majority of whom are trainees, and engage real psy-chologists outside of the pris-on system who have objective and un-biased positions.

Prison psychology exists in this hermetically sealed bub-b l e , b e y o n d r e p r o a c h , accountability, and every eth-ical research project to date has undermined H M PPS attempts to address reoff end-ing. Keep a paper-trail of chal-lenges for use in parole hear-ings and don’t be afraid to challenge something that you feel will be detrimental to your future.

Good luck, and stand up for your right to challenge inap-propriate psychological inter-vention.

Insidetime January 2018Comment18 www.insidetime.org

Prison psychol-ogy exists in this hermetically sealed bubble, beyond reproach, account-ability, and every ethical research project to date has undermined HMPPS attempts to address reoffending.

Recently an offi cial 3-page printed notice was posted on the wing board under the heading - “SOTP Research”, with the sub-heading: “An evalua-tion of the prison SOTP Core pro-gramme has shown that it led to little or no change in sexual or non-sexual re-off ending”. Well, this was a conclusion that most prisoners had arrived at many years ago…in my own case in 1994 having complet-ed the course then.

Aft er I had fi nished the course I told the ‘tutors’ that there was nothing revealed to me over the 6-month duration of the course that I had not already worked out for myself in pris-on on remand before my trial in 1983. They were not best pleased at this personal conclusion and deemed it

to be wrong…an offi cial attitude that has ruled their judgements on me ever since.

At the end of their memo the question is posed: “I want to talk to someone about this research, where can I go to get help?” They answer their own question thus: “In prison please ask for a meeting with a Treatment Manager or another psychologist who will be able to help you. You might wish also to want to speak to a Listener or a peer mentor.” These last two groups being ‘Enhanced prisoner trusties’ whose elevation to a higher class of pay and privileges is largely due to their abso-lute agreement with the distorted offi cial thinking patterns of ‘treat-ment managers’ and ‘psychologists’.

There is hardly a slim suggestion of contrition in the words of any of these

Dennis Nilsen - HMP Full Sutton

Manipulative magic of penal psychologygroups in an offi cial ‘treatment’ milieu that is regimented more like a perma-nent mutual appreciation society.

Further words from page 2 of this notice - “Did I waste my time doing the Core/Extended SOTP Programme?” And they answer - “No. Programmes teach skills which are important to living a crime-free life. You are the only person who can decide whether to use these tools.” What these ‘tools’ are, are in fact, a few common-sensi-cal strategies that any person of aver-age intelligence can work out for him/her self in an hour or so if one takes time to think about. If one has marked learning difficulties then that is another matter outside of the remit in question. There are specialist skills and disciplines for those with acute learning diffi culties, though they are not to be found here in prison.

Then the notice comes up with a mar-vellous revelation to support the ‘good parts’ of the ‘curate’s rotten egg’ - “We

have interviewed men who have done SOTP and not reoff ended. They have told us that the tools they learned have helped them not to reoff end.” The thing is, those ‘tools’ will be understood through natural intelli-gence and would have been arrived at as obvious by most people without going anywhere near an SOTP ‘treat-ment programme’. As was the case by many thousands of prisoners going through the system and NOT reoff ending in the years before the SOTP was even thought about, and, I might add, with much better reha-bilitative success.

Then the notice poses the question - “What does this mean for other programmes?” They answer - “There is evidence which shows that pro-grammes work to help men and women to live crime-free lives. The research on the SOTP Core and extended pro-grammes tells us that we can do better and we have developed new programmes to replace Core and

Grant Stanley - HMP Whatton

Psychology is widely recog-nised as a pseudo-science and this is one of the reasons why it takes an extensive and in-depth research project to implement change. The recent research undertaken by the

Psychology-gate Every man for himself in the new prison order

MoJ has resulted in a massive upheaval of the position pris-on psychologists have argued for decades. Their defences have been proven to be invalid and their risk-reduction neg-ligible.

Psychologists share many common characteristics with

Inside Voices

politicians in that they manip-ulate the English language to suit their argument, they hold a moistened fi nger up to judge wind-direction and promptly jump on the bandwagon. They never off er direct responses to challenges and use misdirec-t ion and waff le to avoid answering questions, and

when challenged they use their position of power to hide from scrutiny.

HMPPS have introduced two new programmes; Kaizan and Horizon, to replace the dis-graced SOTP. These ‘new’, and I use the term loosely, and improved courses share 80%-90% of the discredited pro-gramme’s content, but it has been rebranded and packaged to appease the general public. After spending millions of p o u n d s o n t h i s r e c e nt research, HMPPs are highly unlikely to invest similar amounts to test the validity and suitability of these ‘new’ programmes for fear of being undermined and humiliated again.

At some point in recent histo-r y a p a ne l of ‘e x p e r t s ’ approved and accredited the SOTP, but these ‘experts’ have now been proven to have been wrong and caused harm. Their ‘expert’ opinions have created more victims of sexual crimes than they have ever prevent-ed. And yet, these same ‘experts’ have accredited these new programmes with claims that they will defi nite-ly reduce reoff ending.

Millions of pounds and thou-sands of jobs have been spent and created to construct this impenetrable bubble of prison psychology and programmes departments and one little wrinkle, like a research pro-ject, is not going to stop this pseudo-science from contin-uing to consume the public purse. Prisoners and the gen-eral public will continue to be the victims of this on-going,

Inside Voices

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Insidetime January 2018 Comment 19www.insidetime.org

Dreams and nightmaresHighs and lows of ‘heavenly’ family time togetherJosie Bevan

The family visit is the Holy Grail of prison visiting. An exclusive and highly sought aft er 5 hour event com-prised of a small number of families who may walk around together and play. This is a veritable heaven in comparison to the 2 hour cacopho-nous madness of the standard visit - a seated, surveyed, static, wet blan-ket of perfunctory contact which is nonetheless always the highlight of my week.

I have been dreaming about the free-dom of the family social for a year and a half. I am sure that it will refresh the parts that other visits can’t reach. I imagine it will fill me past my customary “almost empty” status and take me out of the emo-tional red. I violate the number one prison rule: expect nothing, be grate-ful for everything.

After multiple wardrobe malfunc-tions the day starts well enough. We are on our way by 8am. My youngest Tala (11) is bouncing off the passenger seat. Her sister Okha (20), who is to

all intents and purposes nocturnal, is comatose under a duvet in the back. I am high on coff ee aft er a sleepless night of anticipation. The butterflies in my stomach flutter and flip. I have hope.

We make it through security and past the dogs, always a nervous moment as the dog is always right, even when it isn’t. Proof of attempted smuggling, such as finding the alleged contra-band, is not strictly necessary to sub-ject an entire family to a closed visit or ban them outright. It doesn’t mat-ter how far you have come or how

spurious the accusation: if the door dog don’t like you, you ain’t coming in. Entry into HMP’s is a privilege and not a right unless you are the prisoner of course, when it’s obliga-tory. It is another example of how far apart our lives have been pulled. Whilst he is trying his damnedest to get out, I am battling to get in.

It is eerily quiet in the hall. Cold and cavernous. The men have not yet arrived. We can sit where we want, like in a cafe in the real world where there is choice. A jangle of keys in the lock (a sound that has begun to punctuate even my nightmares) and we see him. We walk up and down the hall arm in arm in a great ungain-ly family bunch just because we can.

I don’t know what to do with all the space and it dawns on me that I too, aft er only 18 months in the game, am already institutionalised. I am antic-ipating the knock backs. Is kissing really tolerated? What about tongues? Is that appropriate in front of the children? Will our parenting be flagged? Can I take off my jumper? Is my top too tight? Too low? I couldn’t bear to be told off. Not here. Not today. Today I want to pretend that I’m free.

I nip out to the loo which is a treat as normal visits are too short to consid-er wasting time on mere urination - an iron bladder is a hallmark of the experienced prison wife. By the time I come back familial harmony is already looking strained. Okha is looking twitchy, pale and alienated. Tala is standing by a teetering stack of board games and clearly has the next five hours accounted for. Dad looks conflicted. What do you do with a 20 year old in a play room/prison on a Wednesday morning anyway?

There is food laid on: authentic curry, burgers and chips, vegetarian options and salad. There is cake and singing for a little girl’s birthday. There is colouring and craft and table football. Everyone is kind, welcom-ing and warm. But… this is still pris-on. There are bars on the windows. Two hours, five hours what is the diff erence? He won’t be coming home no matter how much we need him.

Within the hour Okha goes for a full break down and is threatening to leave and wait in the car. I almost wish she would. There is too much of us and not enough of him. Tala is looking guilty and worried but also keen to get on with Connect 4. Rob looks like a man out of practice, caught in the cross fire of female hor-mones and hyper emotion. His eyes flicker wistfully at the clock belying thoughts of his quiet uncomplicated pad. Eventually we re-gather our-selves but our smiles are surface and tired.

I give up getting my fix before I have even started. This is not the time or place for the kind of play I need. I hug him as tightly as possible, just a squeeze or two short of strangula-tion and inhale his proximity. It is dangerously enjoyable. My chest starts to prickle and ache.

Fortunately the time flies and we are filing out already before the coronary thaw begins in earnest. Outside win-ter seems to have come all at once. We zip up our coats and our hearts and begin the long journey home. I drive through the falling dusk. The children sleep, heads lolling awk-wardly, dreaming of what I wonder? Not this, that is for sure.

Josie Bevan is a writer, her blog can be found at www.prisonbag.com

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Insidetime January 2018Comment20 www.insidetime.org

Inside Voices Inside Voices

Nearly two decades after the Macpherson Report declared the Metropolitan Police Force (Met), institutionally racist, does our criminal justice sys-tem still racially discriminate? The recent independent inves-tigation into this very subject, The Lammy Review, would certainly seem to indicate that it does.

David Lammy MP investigated the treatment of, and outcomes for BAME (Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic) individuals in the criminal justice system (CJS). It found an overrep-resentation of BAME in young offenders’ statistics and high-lighted a lack of BAME trust in the CJS as a whole. So, what lies at the root of this disparity?

Lammy raises the issue of compounded social problems including poverty, lone-par-enting and school exclusion, but fails to ask the straightfor-ward question - are our crim-inal justice professionals rac-ist? Are the police officers who patrol the streets, the prison officers that walk the land-ings, and t he probat ion

officers that monitor released prisoners throughout the country bigoted toward the BAME community? The answer seems clear - of course they are.

And why wouldn’t they be? Racism is endemic in our soci-ety. A report commissioned by Prime Minister Theresa May when she came to office and announced in November, reveals that minority ethnic residents of the UK are more likely to be unemployed, and those of a black background are less likely to own their own home.

May herself has admitted that we have a problematic situation with stop-and-search, and levels of deaths in custody amongst the BAME population. More worryingly, it recently emerged that Neo-Nazi terror group, National Action, has been operating and recruiting from within our armed forces. The very same armed forces that the prison and police ser-vice also actively recruit from.

Now, none of this is to say that all, or even most, of the dedi-cated public services within our CJS are racist, but it would appear that they have, until now, been less than serious about tackling those that are.

Michael Smith - HMP Kirkham

Racism ‘endemic in our society’

Our timeline shows the repeat-ed failure by the combined services to take action against the problem. This very inac-tion makes everyone complic-it. To borrow a term from the courtroom, everyone operat-ing within the system is guilty of ‘racism by joint-enterprise’.

And this guilt runs deeper, it’s not just police, probation and prison officers; it is all of us. How many of us have sat in silence when confronted with a pad-mate, a landing officer, or even a stranger on a bus spouting racist bile? So, what’s to be done?

P r ime M inister May has announced a new policy of ‘explain or change’ when it comes to the racial disparities in official statistics - if young black men are making up an unequal proportion of prison figures, tell us why or change it. A good start, one may think, but you could drive a double-decker bus through the holes.

The change has to start at the bottom and not the top. We have to confront racism, and racists, when and where we meet it, or them. If we are seri-ous about changing a racist society as well as a racist crim-inal justice system, then we MUST do something about it. If we don’t, the few dedicated haters amongst us will contin-ue to drive the norms and skew the figures; and we’ll all contin-ue to be racist by association.

SJ Baker - HMP Lewes

Listening to a popular talk show on LBC radio recently, the topic was whether police chief Cressida Dick was right to say that sentences for criminal children need to be more severe in order to discourage them from committing crimes. Andy Darken of the Prison Officers Association was then interviewed and gave his opinion that locking up children will make them ‘better people’.

Hearing Andy speaking of his own time work-ing in HMYOI Feltham, he did not mention the many children who had been locked up there because local authorities lacked the resources to provide these children with the help to address childhood trauma from sexual abuse and neglect.

Those children found themselves on a landing in a young offender’s institution where their unstable and often irrational behaviour was ‘managed’ with force from prison staff. The result was that these young people then became more disturbed, anti-social and even more difficult to manage.

This circle of negativity continued until the child was released and put back onto the streets, in a condition that made it inevitable that they would soon be back behind bars.

Having been on the same wing as young Mubarak, who was murdered by his cell-mate, I clearly remember how vicious and brutal Feltham was. I, myself, was stabbed and slashed with a razor blade in the shower-room.

I learned nothing from my time in Feltham except how to run really fast and fight as if my life depended on it (as it often did).

I do sympathise with Cressida Dick, who is trying to find a way to curtail youth crime. However, Cressida’s short-term views are not helpful in the long run. Knowing that it is cost-ing approximately £30,000 to keep one child in a YOI for a year, would it not make more sense to open up youth clubs, provide more mental-health services and provide more sup-port to dysfunctional families?

I am no paragon of virtue, whilst I accept that I am in prison as a direct result of my own actions, my years in youth custody centres made a massive contribution to my deteriorat-ing mental health. I would like to think that I am more than just a product of my prison envi-ronment, unfortunately, I feel that anyone who goes to prison is at risk of developing men-tal-illness, drug use, family break-up, unem-ployment due to a prison stigma and a low level of confidence and self-esteem.

Living in a country with a very dubious record of caring for children from less aff luent socio-economic backgrounds, and especially those in children’s’ homes, I am not surprised that so many members of the public seem eager to lock even more children away. Putting chil-dren into our ‘schools of crime’ will no doubt lower crime in the short-term. In the long term these children could become even more of a danger after they have been released from our prisons with their chequered history of failing all who enter their steel gates.

Child prisoners don’t need more prison

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I am conducting research into the effects on adults of abuse that took place when they were children /adolescents and placed in a secure setting such as a prison/detention

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rlozanne@uclan.ac.uk

It is an anonymous study conducted online and you will not be identified.

Professor Jane L. Ireland, School of Psychology, Darwin Building

University of Central Lancashire, PR1 3NE

Rebecca Ozanne

Insidetime January 2018 Comment 21www.insidetime.org

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Freedom!

From El Chapo to Frank Abagnale and the Alcatraz trio, we’ve all heard of fugitives with some of the most unlikely stories over the decades - some with a master-mind getaway, and some who were helped with a bit of luck. But where are they now?

We’ve seen the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio play the role of Frank Abagnale in cinema hit ‘Catch Me If You Can’, and the Anglin brothers and Frank Morris are one of the main reasons why people visit Alcatraz - although we still don’t know where they are now or where they went aft er their notorious escape.

The Mexican Drug LordHe has a name and a story that almost everyone has heard of. Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was considered, prior to being put into jail, the “most powerful drug traffi cker in the world”.

And, thanks to documentaries and TV series such as Netfl ix’s ‘El Chapo’, the drug lord’s life story is continu-ously in the public eye.

El Chapo, which translates to ‘Shorty’, was fi rst captured in 1993 and sentenced to 20 years in prison for drug smuggling and murder. But, he managed to make his fi rst getaway by bribing prison guards in 2001. However, this wasn’t to be the drug smuggler’s only escape; aft er being captured again, he was jailed for the second time in 2015 and escaped once again via a tunnel that led to a con-struction site.

It seems life for El Chapo just wasn’t meant to be spent on the run, as he

was recaptured for the fi nal time in January 2016. Now, the fugitive resides in a high-security facility in Manhattan, awaiting his trial in April 2018.

The Man Behind ‘Catch Me If You Can’It’s little surprise that Frank Abagnale’s escape from a Federal Detention Centre in Atlanta, Georgia, has become one of the most notorious escapes when he himself considers it “one of the most infamous escapes in history”, according to his book.

Aft er being imprisoned for assuming multiple false identities including a teaching assistant, a pilot and an attorney, Abagnale’s escape was per-haps one of the most unfathomable stories of all time; he managed to simply walk out of prison whilst pre-tending to be a prison inspector who urgently needed to contact the FBI.

It could be argued that this was partly due to luck, but also thanks to the prison already losing two employees as a result of reports from undercover inspectors so wanting to stay on his good side - albeit he had a renowned reputation of impersonating people. So where is he now? Well, perhaps

ironically, Abagnale is currently a consultant and lecturer for the FBI academy and fi eld offi ces and also runs Abagnale & Associates, a fi nan-cial fraud consultancy company.

The Yoga MastermindWho’d have thought yoga, a simple hobby and form of exercise, could be such a useful aide in an escape? Well, in Choi Gab-bok’s case, it was.

Gab-bok - nicknamed the Korean Houdini - had been a yoga enthusiast for 23 years and, aft er being arrested on suspicion of robbery, he escaped from his detention cell at the police station in Daegu, South Korea. He successfully applied skin ointment onto his upper body and slipped out via the food slot - this hole was only 15-centimeter-high by 45-centime-ter-wide. Pretty small. Such a yoga master was Gab-bok that the whole escape only took 34 seconds.

Where is he now, then? Unfortunately he’s not become a professional yoga master, as he was soon recaptured and returned to prison - in a cell with a much smaller food slot.

The Great Escape From AlcatrazPerhaps in one of the most talked about prison escapes of all time, inmates Clarence and John Anglin and Frank Morris pulled off what may have been the only successful escape in the Alcatraz Penitentiary’s history.

The trio escaped through the vent holes in their cells down to the water to an infl atable raft . Aft er that, how-ever, nobody knows their wherea-bouts. Hundreds of leads were pur-sued over the coming years but in 1979, more than 10 years aft er the escape, it was concluded that they drowned before reaching the main-land. Whilst the fugitives’ fate is still unclear, the case remains open with the US Marshals Service and the men are still on their wanted list.

These prisoners aren’t the only noto-rious, and in some cases absurd, fugitives we hear about; in 2017, a group of prisoners escaped a U.S jail with the help of peanut butter. Can we expect to see ‘The Peanut Butter Escape’ coming to a screen near us soon?

Guy Brewer is Operations Director at Door Controls Direct. www.doorcontrolsdirect.co.uk

El Chapo - “you’re nicked”

Gab-bok nabbed

The Rock rocked

Leonardo DiCaprio on set with Frank Abagnale

Insidetime January 2018Comment22 www.insidetime.org

being misled and divided over the real truth.

But, as a highly-educated and life-experienced friend of mine observed in an email to my MP - ‘As a reasonable, edu-cated member of the public (Life President of a Historical Society) I was unaware that IPP existed, and no knowl-edge that - in theory - it had been abolished. The whole issue makes me uncomforta-ble with justice which is administered in my democrat-ic name.’

I suggest, fi rmly, that every-one aff ected now increase the pressure by badgering their own MPs and the MoJ. There are people around all of us who can see through the deceit that strives to demonise us, we all have to encourage those people to fi ght our cor-ner and make it happen. Aft er all, the omission of what he intends to do about our situ-ation in David Lidington’s ‘open’ letter proves it is just another Tory coward at the helm, and he couldn’t care less…CALLING KEN CLARKE!

Inside Voices

I believe it does. But, in the new so-called ‘shared society’, trumpeted by the likes of Theresa May, I and many oth-ers are continuing to be the victims of injustice that com-prises three simple letters - IPP. The collateral damage of which is profound because families whose loved ones, like myself, are being unrea-sonably and wrongly held have and continue to experi-ence a deep and lasting loss.

The criminal justice system is really good at punishing cer-tain individuals and groups, but has so far failed to resolve the one huge problem that IPP has been, and continues to be.

Although respect for human rights and the rule of law are fundamental in a healthy soci-ety, it should however also be responsive to human dignity and needs. Therefore, practis-es should be a proportionate response to the harms that people experience.

I, for one, do not believe that

what I am still being subjected to, by trying to validate guess-work and assumption into fact, which is actually unprov-able, is in any way proportion-ate. In fact, our situation is still very politically-and-me-dia-motivated and has been since David Blunkett made the biggest mistake of his tenure on the front benches, if not his life, in politics.

Our motto should be: ‘nothing should be based on we’re not sure’. There is no ethical or moral standing for what we are being subjected to. For example, my 4-year tariff is now halfway into year twelve, and the overriding problem, as everyone knows, is that certain political parties have a fear of the media, which leads to the public at large

Kevin Willis - HMP Ashfi eld

Does IPP justice matter?

‘Humanity, courage, persistence’Arts education charity Safe Ground wins 2017 Longford Prize

In awarding the much coveted and highly pres-tigious prize the Longford Prize judges acknowledged the success of the Man Up and Fathers Inside programmes in particular. Using active learning techniques, Man Up supports participants to explore ways in which oft en confl icting concepts of masculinity contribute to shaping individual identity. The programme has been delivered in 11 prisons across England and Wales and in a number of community set-tings. The drama based methodology is valued widely by participants. As one participant at HMP/YOI Wetherby said, “it helped me and others express ourselves and come out of our shell.” Safe Ground is a small team with a national reach, working with women, men and offi cers across prisons, secure, forensic and community settings in England and Wales

“A big, big change… The family comes fi rst now. Before it was always himself… I wonder if it’s the same man I married!” Family Supporter

Family Man and Fathers Inside provide the vital first step towards improving students’ employability skills by encouraging teamwork, responsibility, listening and confi dence.

“[Man Up] taught me about ways I should think about things and how I should act in certain situations… It helped me in terms of the way I want to be when I get out. It was a wake up call, realised I need to get a job, sort myself out. The course could help someone who wants to change - it made me refl ect on myself.”Man Up Participant

Fathers Inside, Safe Ground’s fl agship parent-ing programme, proves the methodology works. Justice Data Lab found that participants are 16 percentage points less likely to reoff end than their counterparts who did not take the pro-gramme. Chief Executive Officer of HMPPS Michael Spurr saw the potential in the work. “The other major aspect of the programme is

that it encourages a strengthening of family relationships,” he said, “and aims to involve families in supporting prisoners - whilst encouraging prisoners to recognise their responsibilities to families.”

“This course just opens your eyes to what’s really important. It helps you understand how to be a better father. It helps you to see how being in prison really affects your whole family and how everyone suffers.”Fathers Inside Graduate

Safe Ground believes people in prison are peo-ple and that the Prison Service is only one of many mechanisms available for use in the management of social issues, including crime. The charity works with people inside prison and in community settings to develop new ways of relating to each other. Their work is based on honest communication, self-awareness, and the importance of our own and others’ needs.

“I understand now how my actions affect the whole family and I’m glad now that the tools I’ve learned can assist me on becoming a better person for my family in the future.”Student

The charity uses the arts to create projects that involve, inspire, and engage groups of people from oft en diff erent and diff ering perspectives. The aim is to achieve improved relationships for us all - as individuals, groups, communities and institutions.

“Whilst the programme was quite a time com-mitment, it was still great and I got so much out of it. I’ve got three boys, and I have responsibility for the two eldest who live with me. The course helped me to improve the relationship I have with them and understand how I can best support them. I’ve got so much more confi dence in myself as a parent.”Family Man Community Programme Graduate

Inside Time report

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Insidetime January 2018 Comment 23www.insidetime.org

Skin deepCrowds flock to see prison tattoo exhibition

An installation featuring prisoner’s tattoos displayed in the cloisters of Salisbury Cathedral recently was designed to explore the themes of identity and memory amongst pris-oners at HMP Erlestoke. Funded by Arts Council England, and entitled Body of Writing, it combined written work created during a series of work-shops with men at the prison and pictures taken of their tattoos to give insights into the lives of individuals whose voices are rarely heard.

It was a great success and reminded me of when I first came into custody back in 1975 and my body was a blank canvas, I had no tattoos what-soever. But that was soon to change. In the juvenile jail where I was held I noticed that the few ‘hard-looking’ boys openly sported tattoos (even though, the legal age for being tat-tooed was 18, and we were all under 16). The typical type of tattoo was a dagger surrounded by a scroll, usu-ally with the motto ‘death before

dishonour’ on it, or a black panther crawling down their forearms, prop-er professional coloured tattoos that had been done on the outside. To us juveniles this was something to aspire to, a way of appearing wind-swept and interesting, to stand out amongst our peers and look ‘hard’. Up until then I had associated tattoos with pirates, sailors and outlaw bik-ers, but now I became fascinated with getting my first tattoo.

In the juvenile custody system, which is where a lot of young crim-inals receive their first tattoo, there is rarely such a thing as a tattoo art-ist. Most tattoos would be done by your ‘china’ (china plate =mate) with a sewing needle and biro-ink. A pro-fessional tattooist will use an electric gun that gets the job done in fast motion so that you cannot really feel every single flesh-holing jab from the needle, more a constant buzz. But being tattooed with a single nee-dle was a long and painful process which involved hours of irritating pain and a lot of blood.

There is also the fact that tattooing yourself or anyone else in prison is against the rules and is punishable by loss of remission, or, in the case of juveniles 7-days solitary. But in the juvenile system the whole idea of get-ting a tattoo was for it to be seen, so there was a lot of hand, neck and even some face tattooing and the rules be damned. We were young, rebellious and didn’t give a toss about the 7-days cellular confinement penalty. I never thought about the ‘positive impact’ of my tattooing activity, although I agree it was probably a bit of a ‘safe-ty valve’, as described by Sarah Rickett, Salisbury cathedral’s director of out-reach and learning when she said of Body of Writing, which is a develop-ment of Penned Up, the two-week literature and performing arts festival (co-hosted by David Kendall) at the prison earlier this year in which I appeared, “Both projects demonstrate the positive impact art can have on those that are marginalised, even forgotten. It is a safety valve by which release feelings of frustration and alienation can be explored and discussed.”

My experience was that simplicity was key with juvenile jail tattoos as a simple sewing needle did not lend itself to creating artistic masterpiec-es. A lot of juveniles would get the ubiquitous ‘mum’ tattoo, usually on the forearm. Very popular was ‘The Saint’ logo, a stylised stick-man with a halo above his head (from the 1960s ITV show - The Saint - starring Roger Moore as a James Bond type figure), this was usually done on the hand. Another popular and simple tattoo was ‘the five dots’, typically done on the hand, which consisted of 4 dots forming a crude box-shape with the fifth dot in the middle. This was sup-posed to signify that you had been a prisoner, the four outer dots being the prison wall and the inner dot indi-cating yourself. There was also the ‘Borstal dot’, mostly done on the cheek

just under the eye, and this was to signify that you had been to borstal.In the top security adult jails things were a bit more advanced. Most wings have a tattoo artist who can knock you up a decent inking, some-times quite intricate and artistic, and they will use a prison-made tattoo gun - a motor from a Walkman or other portable stereo, attached to a

battery and working a needle at speed. Some prison tattoos are so professional-looking that people in the outside world would pay good money for them. Prison tattooists usually charge for their work (tobacco, drugs, canteen items) and are just part of the black-market prison economy.

Although head of learning and skills at Erlestoke Elizabeth Williams was spot on when she said, “Projects like this (the Salisbury Cathedral exhibi-tion) offer prisoners a conduit to the outside world and normality. If their words are heard, they can and will be better understood and moreover, the workshops allow them to take pride in what they have done and reflect on their own lives more positively.” We never thought our tattoos would have any interest for public viewing.

I now have 39 tattoos on my body, and 27 of them were done in prison. 3 years ago the media reported that dozens of prison-made tattoo guns had been seized as part of a crack-down on prison tattooists, but I’d guess that was just a drop in the ocean of illegal body art. Prison tat-toos, like recidivism, will always be with us.

Noel Smith

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“Great tatts”

”We never thought our tattoos would be interesting”

Insidetime January 2018Comment24 www.insidetime.org

Informed by direct consultation with prisoners and staff at the UK’s newest and largest prison - HMP Berwyn - it highlights the need for bet-ter engagement with local stakeholders includ-ing governors, prison offi cers and prisoners. 

“It is recommended that a Design Review Panel for new prisons be established and that archi-tects of the highest design calibre, with even limited knowledge of prison design be recruited.”

Roland Karthaus, Director at Matter Architecture, said: “There is currently a great appetite for change both within and outside the prison service. Good design is about problem-solving and the conditions in prisons for staff and pris-oners and the consequential rates of re-off end-ing represent a major problem that design can help to solve.  Our report sets out design guid-ance that aims to do just that. The staff and prisoners we spoke to were very clear about some of the - oft en relatively small - practical changes that could be made to ensure prison buildings play their part in creating more reha-bilitative environments: from making visitors spaces welcoming and child friendly, to ensur-ing that light and heating systems create a good work environment. Prison buildings cannot on their own turn people’s lives around but by using the latest building techniques and improving the way people use the interior and exterior spaces, they can support wider culture change.”

End prison design barrierNew guidelines put wellbeing at the heart of prison design

Future prisons should be designed to support staff and prisoner wellbeing, according to a recent report by Matter Architecture. ‘Wellbeing in Prison Design’ sets out a series of practical design principles, arguing that the way in which past prisons have been commissioned

and built has proved to be a barrier to rehabil-itation and the welfare of the workforce. 

“Prisons are closed, restricted communities and as such the way they look, feel, are designed and built has enormous impact on those inside.”

Funded by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and the public technology strategy body Innovate UK, the team has engaged with the Ministry of Justice Prison Estate Transformation Programme to provide independent guidance on the design of new prisons and a method for monitoring the suc-cess of improvements over time. 

“Lack of private space has been found to lead to more territorial and aggressive behaviour in public areas and also shifts the balance ofsolitary activities to public space”

The project team used evidence from the fi eld of environmental psychology to specify areas of design that will support better health and wellbeing of people residing in, working in and

Inside Time report

Separation between offi cers and prisoners discourages interactions

Direct artifi cial light increases discomfort

Limited or no views creates stressful conditions

Inadequate cell layout disables multiple activities

Dead-end corridors can prompt territorial

behaviour

Inadequate ventilation and inability to control it increases discomfort

and stress

Excessive amounts of barriers reduces a degree of free movement

and increases a feeling of being confi ned

visiting prisons. The draft guidance, which will be further refi ned through future work with prisons, covers issues like lighting, acous-tics and how design can support employment, positive choices and relationships.

“So-called ‘fi rst generation’ prisons, designed with the goal of isolating inmates for solitary penitence, have been found to precipitate sense of anonymity and deindividuation leading inmates to become disassociated from the consequences of their actions.”

Wellbeing in Prison Design focuses on plan-ning processes, construction methods, layout, materials, landscape, atmosphere and acces-sibility. The guidance aims to ensure that the design of any new prisons will help with desist-ance, rehabilitation and resettlement.

“The presence of nature, views and daylight can impact health, stress response, rehabilitation, cognitive function, problem solving skills, aggression and actual levels of violencein prison environments.”

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Large-format image of landscape in ahouseblock, HMP Berwyn

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Education space in HMP Low Moss

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Picnic tables overlooking sports pitch, HMP Berwyn

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Visits room in HMP Low Moss

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Insidetime January 2018 Comment 25www.insidetime.org

At the beginning of this New Year, do you need to reconnect with God?One of the best known stories that Jesus told is The Parable of The Prodigal Son.*

In case you are not familiar with it, it is the story of two sons. The younger son asked his father for his share of his inheritance: he wanted to leave home and enjoy life. His father agreed although no doubt worried that his son would squander his inheritance.

And, needless to say, that is precisely what happened. When desperate, the son swallowed his pride and made his way home, hoping that his father might take him back as a servant.

The Bible tells us that, even when he was some distance from home, he was spotted by his father - obviously looking out for him - who ran to greet him. There was no lecture, just a hug. And did he take him on as a servant? No, of course he didn’t. He welcomed him home as a son.

Jesus was teaching that, like the father, God longs to welcome everyone who will choose to come back to Him.

Whether you have been away for three years or for twenty or even longer and wherever you have been and whatever you may have done, why not ask God to receive you back as His child?

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God longs to welcomeeveryone who will chooseto come back to Him.

The New Year is normally a time when we look back at the events of the past year and turn our thoughts as to what might be in the coming months. 2017 has not been the easiest of years in the criminal justice system. The cuts imposed by the government have led to many prisons in this land facing severe problems and it’s not been unusual for prisoners to be locked up for hours on end.

Third time luckyEarlier in the year I invited a couple of friends of mine, who are accom-plished opera singers, to come along with me and put on a performance at Gartree. I hasten to add that I am not an opera singer or singer of any kind. I was to simply act as a compère for the event. The girls had never been inside a jail before and I assured them that they would get a warm welcome and that they had no cause to be anxious. In preparation for the event the Prison Choir practiced and everyone was looking forward to a welcome break from the normal dull routine of prison life. As luck would

Terry Waite CBE

Terry Waite was a successful hostage negotiator before he himself was held captive in Beirut for 1763 days between 1987 and 1991; the fi rst four years were spent in solitary confi nement.

From over the wall

have it our weekend coincided with major rioting at another establish-ment and, as officers from Gartree had to be shipped over to help restore calm, our afternoon was cancelled. Well, these things happen and with difficulty we fixed another date. I say with difficulty as everyone involved is busy and last minute changes are not easy to make.

The very night before we were due to go to Gartree there was a telephone call from the prison. The event had to be cancelled again as so many staff had gone sick that there would not be enough on duty to enable it to go ahead. Well, I don’t believe in giving up and so we are about to have another go at fixing a date for later this year. So, those of you who are reading this in Gartree, and who were looking forward to the event, this is to let you know we have not given up and are doing our best to find a time to visit in 2018.

Cause for celebrationOn a more optimistic note a planned visit I was due to make to Coldingley did take place. For many years I have been doing my best to support a pris-oner who is serving a life sentence. From the start he has been determined to make the most of his time inside and settled down to apply himself to study. He worked hard and towards the end of last year I went along to Coldingley to speak at the occasion where he was awarded his degree

Talent and opportunities

from a leading University. Two others also received their degrees from the Open University. It was a great occasion.

The Governor and her staff had gone to a great deal of trouble to make this a special event for everyone and it was a a real time of celebration for us all. It’s no small achievement to get your degree inside as you spend most of your time working alone and depend upon written contact with your tutors. There is not the stimulation of being with others and sharing ideas. It’s been my experience over the years that where a prisoner wants to get more education then normally he or she will get support, but not always. The cuts have had a huge effect and in some places opportunities for pris-oners to improve their lot have been severely curtailed.

Learning togetherOn the other side of the Atlantic, in a women’s prison in the USA, I have supported a unique scheme which I hope might eventually develop here in the UK. It’s not often that we hear of creative initiatives coming out of American jails but here is one.

A university developed good contacts with the educational unit of their local women’s prison. Eight prisoners, who had not had much opportunity in life to be educated, and eight women from outside were brought together for a course lasting a couple of years. All classes took place in the prison itself and week by week the non-prisoners travelled to the jail to sit alongside their fellow students and take the same

course together. When it came to graduation time that also took place for all the group in the prison.

This is proving to be a very valuable experience for all concerned. By working together on a common task both sides got to know each other well. Those on the outside saw the prisoners in a new light and for most, if not all of the prisoners, the expe-rience was life changing.

Places of transformationI have a vision for our prisons which I don’t expect to see in my lifetime but for which I will continue to work. I want to see prisons as places of real opportunity. Places of transforma-tion. Places where men and women are given a new chance in life and an opportunity to develop their unique talents. I want the emphasis to be creative rather than negative. It can be done and eventually, when society is a little more enlightened, it will be done. Well, onwards ever. Don’t be discour-aged. Eventually music will echo through the wings at Gartree and one day we will have a more enlightened Justice System.

A Happy New Year to you all.

The path to a transformed life(Autobiography in five short chapters)

Chapter 1I walk down the streetThere is a deep hole in the sidewalkI fall inI am lost, I am hopelessIt takes forever to fi nd a way out

Chapter 2I walk down the same streetThere is a deep hole in the sidewalkI pretend I don’t see itI fall in againI can’t believe I’m in the same placeBut, it isn’t my faultIt takes a long time to get out

Chapter 3I walk down the same streetThere is a deep hole in the sidewalkI see it thereI still fall in… it’s a habitMy eyes are openI know where I amIt is MY faultI get out immediately

Chapter 4I walk down the same streetThere is a deep hole in the sidewalkI walk around it

Chapter 5I walk down another street

Portia Nelson

Although if Grendon was a Caribbean island like Grenada, for example, all residents ought to remember that they are choosing to live here and I guess if you really think a TC will stop you from creating victims then what does missing a few gym sessions and clean-ing out an occasional slop bucket really mean? It means you’re thinking ahead, sacri-ficing a level of comfort to improve your chances of a better safer future for yourself and others.

In contrast to the recent trouble in ‘paradise’ HMP Grendon once again recently hosted what has come to be known as the ‘Take Part in Art’ exhibi-tion. Residents are encouraged to enter their artwork and showcase their talent and it is safe to say that this year there was a lot of work on display.

Entries ranged from fi ne art to poetry and live music. Several residents who hosted the pro-ceedings individually won over the audience by telling us “I’m nervous” or “I’ve never done anything like this”. The event was put together by Grendon’s very own ‘Artist in residence’ - a man who’s role is to encour-age creativity. Undoubtedly these diff erent forms of expres-sion collectively revealed the depth of character within many men who - like myself - upon

Insidetime January 2018Comment26 www.insidetime.org

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can be vital as I have found having been allocated a St Giles mentor, Ali, who has proved invaluable upon release, guiding me through many of the obstacles and changes that long-term pris-oners struggle with. It can make the diff erence between success and failure to many having someone for support who could be an ex-off ender like yourself and are therefore more aware of the problems that can occur.

There is also information about things you are entitled to when you fi rst come to pris-on, although this can get out of date easily and can vary a lot in each establishment. This section is provided by the pris-on service although I found the stuff about access to bank-ing was not comprehensive enough. Infor mat ion on employers who regularly employ ex-offenders and off enders in open prison and upon release can also be help-ful when you are thinking of applying for work or even vol-untary work to start with. It can be diffi cult to fi nd access to things you are going to need but here is a resource tool ready at your fi ngertips.

They have recently been given

It is interesting to see how as prisoners we can form constructive lifestyles through exploring the arts, creatively shaping a better society and a better future for ourselves

Clare Barstow is a writer and former resident of HMP

Conversations with Clare

Clare Barstow

Grant freedomInside and out with the Hardman Trust

You may have heard of The Hardman Trust Awards as they are quite well promoted in prison libraries. They are a series of awards given to those prisoners who have made exceptional progress towards rehabilitation in the system. The Trust give grants up to £700 to enable people in pris-on to take courses or buy materials to help set up their own business upon release. They hold a series of annual awards which you are invited to attend if you are lucky enough to receive one. You can usually find out more details through the education department where you are or look through the directory.

However their directory has a lot more useful information in it which may prove vital for those who need finance for hobbies, distance learning courses and study whilst in Cat D conditions. Also it details some of the diff erent grants that are available upon release from various charities to help with rehabilitation such as clothing, furniture, courses, training, setting up your own business etc. It equips you with the right skills you need to apply for f und ing which in t hese straightened times can make all the diff erence.

There is also information about how to get a mentor to help you upon release. This

a grant for an aural version of the directory which means it can be accessed by an even higher percentage of the pris-on population and also by former prisoners who have learning, visual or literacy diffi culties or where English is not the fi rst language. It will be available on CD or by download as some prisons are allowing tablets in now.

I went to the Isle of Wight to meet up with The Hardman Trust Director, Ian Wilson and he impressed me with his ded-ication to the award scheme and directory. He works with only one part-time assistant and for the rest they are reliant on volunteers so that every penny can go towards the awards or producing the directory.

I will be working as a project co-ordinator on the aural ver-sion and hope to visit some prisons to record different voices as well as any former prisoners who are willing to talk into the mic. This shows how the Hardman Trust direc-tory has moved up to date since it was fi rst published 15 years ago. The information it provides is still as helpful today as it was then and indeed even more so in these dif f icult economic t imes where grants such as the Community Care Grant have been cut completely, making it harder for people coming out of prison to access grants for essentials upon release. So don’t be scared to go into your library or education depart-ment and ask for a copy as e ve r y pr i s on h a s s ome because they are kindly deliv-ered free by your very own Inside Time every year.

At times, life in Grendon bears similarit ies to l i fe on a Caribbean island, amongst all the self-growth, amazing events and family days there is always potential for a hur-ricane. Such extreme weather is displayed through the pris-ons practical problems, prob-lems that remind you that beneath the therapy, the com-munity and the apparent de-mocracy we are prisoners, caged behind barred windows having lost the right to go for a walk outside.

The main gym’s closed, because the heating’s not working there (second winter in a row), ex-ercise has been cancelled three days in a row, because it seems no one has salted the snow (human rights?) and because we have to use a night sanita-tion system instead of having toilets it’s strange to think that in 2018 in ‘fi ne’ England pris-oners have to use slop buckets, waiting for, at times, hours to get out of ‘cells’ to escape hor-rendous smells.

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Harold Mose

Trouble in paradise

their arrival to prison may have experienced what I consider an almost instinctive need to suppress the feelings that con-tribute to such emotive works of art.

Many of the nations prisoners have lived destructive lifestyles that have caused untold dam-age to society. That being said it is interesting to see how as prisoners we can form con-structive lifestyles through exploring the arts, creatively shaping a better society and a better future for ourselves. In many ways the exhibition at Grendon was an opportunity to reconnect, not only with ourselves but equally with the wider community, the many people who work tirelessly outside the walls of our prisons to stimulate the minds of those within them.

Prisoners from all over the country submit artwork into the Koestler Awards and the announcement of the year’s theme is always highly antic-ipated and can often act as guidance for those who are unsure if they are ready to be creative. I remember thinking ‘ah hah…I’ve got it’ when I heard this year’s theme and it turns out I did! Anyway enough about me. With the above in mind it seemed fitting that Grendon residents who had been awarded a prize by this year’s Koestler awards were invited on stage at the exhibi-tion and were formally present-ed with a certifi cate by a rep-resentative from the Koestler Trust. Food was ate, drinks were fl owing, and the prison staff got to see another side to some of the inmates. For an aft ernoon it seemed like there was hope for us castaways who want to get off this island.

Harold Mose, a nom de plume, is a resident of HMP Grendon

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Insidetime January 2018 Comment 27www.insidetime.org

True justice is when everyone caresA prayer of hope for the wrongly convicted

First an apology: in my previ-ous article I misquoted a prov-erb fi rst regarding its author, and second the quote itself. The quote not by Erich Fromm in fact originated from the Greek sage Thucydides while getting quoted in the true crime drama ‘A Death in Canaan’ by Joan Barthel. More important-ly the actual quote should have read “There will only be justice when those who are uninvolved become as indig-nant as those wrongfully accused.” Silly me, I left out the all-crucial prefi x un!

‘A Death in Canaan’ revolves around the sleepy hamlet of that name in Connecticut dur-ing the 1970s where Peter the teenage son of Barbara gets arrested for the murder of his mother. But it’s only when the community rally together to insist that Peter is the victim

Revd Andrew de Berry of trumped-up charges that the lad is set free: Hence the quote.

More than once during my time as a prison chaplain doing my rounds I found myself getting inadvertently locked in a cell by a careless offi cer slamming the door shut without bother-ing to check who was inside. When that happened it caused not a little hilarity for the inmates concerned, even as I tried to assume an air of calm composure. But that was as nothing compared to those locked up indefi nitely without true justice ever getting served.

We’re all prisonersJoking aside, it’s not always understood that everyone’s in a prison of one kind or anoth-er. Nor do I say that to belittle the hell faced by those doing literal time at Her Majesty’s ‘pleasure’. But it needs stress-ing that for the rest of us living our lives of so-called freedom, life can still take on the con-

fines of being a prisoner. Whether for those preening themselves on their seats of power, or for the rest of us try-ing to make sense of what life means, it’s the same.

Recently, President Robert Mugabe was forced to give up his 37 year reign of terror infl icted on the Zimbabweans, while it remains to be seen how his successor and former right hand man (disconcertingly dubbed the ‘crocodile’) fares by comparison. The point is that tyrants like Mugabe, despite reducing his country to ashes, still exist in their own prison, and where aged 93 he will soon be answerable to his Maker - where who knows what sort of prison awaits him in the aft erlife? We all reap what we sow.

But then for the rest of us seek-ing simply to survive, what do we see? It was the British phi-losopher Lowes Dickinson

who said “most men live lives of quiet desperation.” In the outside world I see a lot of des-peration (unspoken despair) - like those who with the spare cash resort to booking endless passenger cruises, gorging themselves silly while circling the globe going nowhere. Further distractions are to buy bigger and better cars along with countless other gizmos. Then many more of us let our-selves become couch potatoes gawping at endless TV game shows run by mindless pre-senters, endlessly cracking jokes that aren’t even funny. Gambling, drink, drugs and infi delities off er further options for people who, if the truth be told are simply out to escape the mind-rotting repetition of everyday life.

Stories of hopeRecently I read a book pub-lished by Prison Hope ‘40 Stories of Hope’, subtitled, ‘How faith has changed pris-oners lives’. It offers forty deeply moving accounts of how men and women in pris-on found Christ in the midst of despair. Accounts of crim-inals - be they murderers, rap-ists, armed robbers or whoev-er who speak of their absolute joy in fi nding Christ, thanks often to the endeavours of prison chaplains promoting movements such as Alpha.

But here is what concerns me. Of course Christianity is all about teaching the mercy, compassion and forgiveness of Christ. But during my Christian ministry I’ve tried to steer clear of what I can only

call an ‘easy Christianity’, or ‘churchianity’ - i.e. of not get-ting distracted by the easier bits of our faith. Now please don’t get me wrong. For those who have been blessed by Alpha and who’ve had some wonderful encounters with Christ, Hallelujah! I am indeed thrilled for you. Nonetheless all of that is or should be just a part of the Christian faith. For having come across a small percentage of prisoners who seem to be largely if not wholly innocent, how about s h o w i n g s o m e t o u g h Christianity in that depart-ment?

OK, even for someone wrong-ly convicted they remain a fallen soul just like the rest of us, meaning that he/she too can experience the light and love of Christ in prison. But for inmates who are actually innocent they won’t/can’t be tied to the same guilt as those in that book Hope, who have all pleaded guilty to their crimes. So where there’s been a wrongful conviction where do Alpha motivated Christians fi t in there?

The nagging bee in my bonnet is that many Christians must lever themselves away from their current complacency over the achievements of Alpha. For alongside showing mercy, compassion and for-g iveness, a l l Chr ist ians should long to see true justice being served. Because wheth-er for anyone who has enjoyed such a conversion experience, be they on the inside or out-side, all of us should be pas-

sionate over tackling the wrongs done in this world, especially when it comes to s upp o r t i ng t he f a l s e ly accused. I’ve never forgotten the words of my bishop when in my quest to support a very loveable curate being ousted from his tied house, courtesy of his jealous v icar, his Lordship told me almost in a whisper, “You’re clearly a man who believes in justice”! Hallo! After registering my shock I wanted to cuss to high heaven.

Whether as Christians or non-Christians alike we, like those citizens of Canaan, should all yearn to see true justice being done. For with-out such a yearning our lives will atrophy - becoming empty affairs lived without purpose. Or as claimed on a memorial tablet near where we live: “Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.” So whether for the proponents of Alpha or whoever and inclusive of all oft en too-tim-id prison chaplains we must face personal discomfort if need be to see a tsunami of true justice overturning the countless injustices perpe-trated in our land. For cur-rently there’s way too little heavy lifting being done whether by Christians or any-one else in that regard.

So please God, may 2018 see real justice being delivered to all those wrongfully accused.

Revd Andrew de Berry is a former prison chaplain

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Insidetime January 2018Comment 28 www.insidetime.org

Before entering the notorious Close Supervision Centre (CSC) system back in 2010 I had very little knowledge of either segregation or solitary confinement. Having just turned twenty-three years of age and spent as little as two and a half years of those in prison, my mind was not and never had been focused on or even interested in this topic. Midway through my seventh year of isolation things have changed, the horrors I have witnessed and torture I have been subjected to over this period of time have left me with l it t le option but to become fully aware of the dev-astation even short periods in these conditions can have.

Prison within a prisonFor those who have not expe-rienced the ordeal of solitary confinement, there are no words or description that could allow to fully compre-hend what it truly means. I should probably start by explaining that the official terminology of solitary con-finement equates to at least twenty-two hours a day locked away with every hour of the day spent in isolation from other prisoners. Whereas, seg-regation is the removal from normal location without spec-ifi ed conditions although gen-erally both equate to the same thing due to the harshness of segregation units within this country. The CSC is commonly described as a prison within a prison; it allows for indefi nite

Hear my voiceThe impact of segregation and solitary confi nement

Kevan Thakrar isolation of prisoners under the most oppressive condi-tions. Eff ectively permanent segregation which almost always meets the defi nition of solitary confi nement and it is from here that I bring you my voice. The Prison Reform Trust (PRT) did some good work with their Deep Custody report, although they could never truly refl ect the dire reality of life in such an appalling environment without living it themselves. The common belief is that prisons are holiday camps, human rights have led to things being “too easy” for prisoners. This propaganda relates to the facts most clear-ly demonstrated by the deplor-able way prisoners in segre-

gation are treated. Routinely abused by prison officers appointed to look aft er their care needs, starved, assaulted and made to live in fi lthy cells made of nothing more than an empty concrete box wearing the same clothes day in and day out. A holiday camp off er-ing this would not sell many tickets. Only when the extent of what solitary confi nement entails is accepted will it be possible to understand the impact it has, and considera-tion of alternatives be made.

One day, less than six months aft er fi rst being placed in the CSC, I was shocked into awareness of the consequenc-es of what I was enduring. Another prisoner who had been unfortunate enough to be located in HMP Woodhill CSC unit along with the rest of us (never totalling more than ten) had been struggling to cope since his arrival a few weeks earlier. He complained of the diffi culties he was hav-ing and was directed toward the psychiatrist who duly pre-scribed medicine to help him survive the CSC. As the eff ects wore of f he cont inua l ly required higher dosages. Eventually, the drugs were not enough, he began to hear voic-es and took action to put a stop to it. Using a prison issue razor, he sliced off one of his ears out of pure desperation, even this did not resolve his problem. Pumped full of anti-psychotics and anti-de-pression drugs, anti-anxiety drugs and sleeping pills the CSC did not go away for him.

About six weeks later he removed his other ear yet, this man had been totally fi ne in the beginning. This man sim-ply crumbled beneath the weight of pressure that being in solitary confi nement puts on a person. Having seen events like this occur again and again with nothing being done to prevent the mental deteriora-tion of human beings held in the CSC it is apparent that this is happening by design. QuestionsThe official objective of the CSC is to reduce alleged risk factors of the prisoners being held there, then return them to mainstream prison popu-lation. However, the statistics show a darker picture. More than half of all prisoners who enter the CSC are driven insane before being removed to a psy-chiatric hospital and fewer than 10% actually ever return to normal conditions. Hearing this the question is not, what alternatives are there? But, why is this being allowed? Self-mutilation is one symp-tom but, dealing with extreme environmental stress mani-fests itself in many ways most of which are unhealthy. You would think that the few pris-oners lumped together in these places would form some kind of solidarity to overcome their shared ordeal but, instead, an irrational hatred for everything forms or they attempt to appease their guards by joining in with the victimisation of a particular individual. Racism is more prevalent in the CSC among those who have suff ered there the long-est. It is an outlet to focus their rage when the faceless bureau-crats responsible for infl icting the harm upon them are out of reach. I am certain that dis-criminatory views are devel-oped fastest and held strong-est by those who spend their meagre allowance purchasing tabloid newspapers; this says

something about the weak-ness of mind of the prisoners held in these conditions leav-ing them open to manipula-tion. This danger has, though, always been known which is why prisoners of war have faced such conditions and why the CSC’s should rightly be labelled as torture camps. MarginalisedLiterature exists on the impact of segregation and solitary confinement on prisoners, indeed, it is because of this that individuals managing the prison service utilise it so frequently. It is used as a weapon against the vulnera-ble, marginalised and all too o f t e n t h e m i n o r i t i e s . Considering that the concept of the CSC was created by the man who has since been repeatedly promoted all the way to his current position at the top of H M PPS Chief Executive, Michael Spurr, which can be found in the Spurr Report, it is unlikely he will allow any alternatives. Amnesty International have even condemned the segrega-tion units albeit when they were operating under a diff er-ent name and with a less oppressive regime. Their repor t ‘United K ingdom Special Security Units - Cruel, inhuman or degrading treat-ment?’ How can a simple re-branding to enable the tor-ture to perpetuate be avoided. Desperation consumes so many prisoners being held in solitary confinement which leads to desperate acts. With segregation being almost unheard of in the female pris-on estate it has been shown to not be required. A total abolition of the CSC solitary confi nement and segregation units is the only way to end this insidious destruction of human minds and lives.

Kevan Thakrar is resident at HMP Woodhill

Pumped full of anti-psychotics and anti-depression drugs, anti-anxiety drugs and sleeping pills the CSC did not go away for him.

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got that qualification I wouldn’t have gotten a job upon leaving prison, I wouldn’t have writ-ten my book, I wouldn’t be working back in prison helping people now.”

This year he hopes to be running his courses in prisons across the country, and employing 10 to 15 ex-prisoners. PET President Judge John Samuels paid tribute to the achievements of LJ, who won a Criminal Justice Alliance award last year, and to the broader achievements of PET’s Policy work, including the development of the Prisoner Learning Alliance and the PUPiL (Prison University Partnerships in Learning) network. “The pride of which I speak tonight,” said Judge Samuels, “is that which can be seen in the bumper crop of letters of thanks routinely received at the PET office from so many pris-oners whose self-esteem has been restored as a consequence of recognising - through their success in distance learning - their innate abil-ity to achieve personal rehabilitation.”

PET Alumnus and Hackney Wick FC founder Bobby Kasanga, along with fundraiser Steph Green read passages from the Bible, and choir Fever Pitch sang a beautiful mixture of classic and new festive pieces.

Insidetime January 2018 Comment 29www.insidetime.org

A mother’s call for second chancesForgiveness and distance learning brings life to hopes and dreams

Pastor Lorraine Jones shared her message of reaching forgiveness and helping others find hope, in the powerful centerpiece of the Prisoner Education Trust 2017 carol concert. “If we can get into the prisons and educate these young men and young women, then they will come out and be better citizens in our communities and another family will not have to face being a victim of crime,” she told the congregation.

Her son Dwayne was just 20 when he was killed. As a pastor and community activist, she has gone on to continue the youth programme her son started - Dwaynamics, a Community Interest Company (CIC) which aims to deliver boxing and fitness workshops alongside bespoke training for employment, social devel-opment and entrepreneurship. Pastor Jones has also led restorative justice sessions in pris-ons. At the service she spoke about visiting a prison and being given a gift by a prisoner - a wishing well made out of matchsticks. “It was around my birthday,” she said. “He told me: it’s from Dwayne.”

Pastor Jones said she was speaking as a com-munity campaigner. “The community are the majority,” she said, “The government are real-ly the minority, and we can’t leave everything to the government. We are the people and we have to make that change. We must continue to have that spirit of giving - giving whatever we can to make this society a better place.”

More demand Her words come at a crucial time of need. Demand for PET education courses has increased by 30% in the last year, and PET has also expanded its course provision to under

18s. Alexandra Marks, chair of PET,said, “The men and women who have applied to us to study courses have taken a massive step. We desperately want to support them, and we equally desperately don’t want to let them down by saying no for lack of funds.”

Alexandra MarksShe read letters from some of PET’s young learn-ers, including Aabid, 19, who wrote: “When I first came to prison I thought I wouldn’t be able to achieve anything, but now I feel, even though I’m in a place like this, I can make something of my life.” And Jamie, 17, who was funded to do English Language AS Level.  He wrote: “Yes I did wrong, and I did let stupid decisions spoil my plans. I came to prison thinking the only option I had left was a life of crime, that I would only be known and seen as a criminal. I was wrong. Despite my wrongdoing, I ask for the opportunity to follow my dreams and further my education. I want this to make me and my family right, and to prove my doubters wrong.”

Inspiration Once in a Young Offenders Institute himself, Javed, 23, stood up to share his story, of how learning to embroider in a prison workshop filled him with the inspiration and passion to start up his own business. “The root of all inspi-ration is the idea that our lives are meaningful, when you have that feeling that your actions

are meaningful you will become filled with strength,” he said. “They say being an entre-preneur is being a doer not a dreamer, but my dream started as a young boy in a prison cell, being given a second chance. And this is what Prisoners’ Education Trust do for thousands of people every year.”

Fit for studyPET alumnus and Inside Time fitness column-ist LJ Flanders told the audience about his remarkable year spent delivering his fitness and educational courses in HMP Wandsworth, as part of which he has encouraged men to take up PET distance learning courses. 

“This is what I’ve done with my education in prison,” LJ said, “and it’s a massive thank you to PET for giving me the opportunity to get my personal training qualification in jail. If I hadn’t

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Insidetime January 2018Comment 30 www.insidetime.org

Erwin James

Keys to successFormer prisoner LJ Flanders shares his vision for an innovative work-out routine that enhances wellbeing and helps change lives for the better

Author of Cell-Workout, LJ Flanders, was lying in his cell serving a 3 year prison sentence when he had an idea that would change the course of his life. “It really was just an idea - to devise a full body workout using only body weight that anyone locked in a cell, or who might only have any other confined space to perform exercises could benefit from.” The idea went from thoughts to hard physical work as LJ endeavoured to live and breathe his exercise techniques. Out of prison he formulated his plan for a book, which eventually became Cell-Workout and led to LJs popular monthly fitness feature in Inside Time.

Now LJ is on a mission. After a successful six month residency running workshops in HMP Wandsworth, in 2018 he plans to expand into a number of prisons across the country. “Wandsworth was amazing,” he says. “Some of the staff were a bit wary when they learned that an ‘ex-offender’ was coming in to run work-shops. But they were soon won around once they got to know me. I had to have ‘key-training’ so I could have keys and move around the pris-on from wing to wing. It was weird at first, but because the prison was short of staff it was the only way I could deliver what I wanted the men to learn.”

With a ‘Reducing Re-offending’ grant from the Ministry of Justice LJ devised a workshop pro-gramme that he believed would bring motiva-tion and hope to people in prison - and ulti-

mately reduce re-offending by prison leavers. “I’d met the Governor of Wandsworth at a conference and got chatting about the Reform Prison programme, then a couple of months later I saw that the MoJ had announced their Reducing Re-offending grant programme and I applied. It’s been a terrific experience so far and I’m determined to develop it as much as possible so that as many people as possible can benefit - and of course, so society benefits in the long run.”

“My long-term strategy,” explains LJ, “is to develop Cell Workout (CW) into accredited workshops that run alongside a peer mentoring programme inside prisons across the country, employing serving prisoners to work alongside PE Officers to deliver the CW workshops. Prisoners selected to work as CW Assistants would have an interest in fitness and a personal training qualification (or be prepared to complete this qualification whilst in prison through the Prisoners’ Education Trust) 5-6 months remain-ing on their sentence, and be willing to go onto employment with CW on release. My plan is to have between ten and fifteen CW Trainers who have worked as CW Assistants inside prison. I expect this to be achieved in 2018. One day I hope to have a CW Training Workshop in every prison in the country.”

Would you like a Cell Workout Workshop in your prison? Email: l.j.flanders@cell-workout.com

Cell Workout page 45 ›› Registered with EMAP ‹‹

Cell-Workout Workshops Evaluation by Hannah Baumer

The Cell Workout Workshops are an innovative, prison based intervention which aim to empower prisoners to take control of their lives inside pris-on and after release through the adoption of healthy behaviours, whether that be exercise, eating well or engag-ing in education. The man behind the design and delivery of the workshops is ex pris-oner, L. J. Flanders, who has drawn upon his own experi-ence of serving time to devel-op a unique two-week pro-gramme of intense physical workouts each morning, fol-lowed by stimulating and thought-provoking group discussions in the afternoon.

Based on the principles out-lined in Flanders’ book, Cell Workout (Flanders, 2016), the workouts focus on body-weight training exercises designed for safe and effec-tive use in a prison cell, rang-ing from intense cardio exer-cises to mindfulness and relaxation techniques. The premise of this approach to exercise is that it can be adapted to suit individuals of

any age, ability or fitness level, and importantly, that it can be performed inside a prison cell without the need for any equip-ment. The process of develop-ing these Cell Workout princi-ples into a working programme for the workshops included consultation with academics from Royal Holloway, University of London, as well as practitioners from the National Alliance of Sport for the Desistance from Crime (NASDC), supported by their Theory of Change: www.nasdc.org/power-of-sport/theory-of-change

FitnessPositive changes were seen across all ten fitness measures taken at the start and end of the workshops, with statistical-ly significant decreases in body weight and statistically signifi-cant increases in water level percentage. Although the remaining three variables did not see a significant change they did all move in a positive direction across the fortnight, with heart rate and pulse rate decreasing and blood oxygen levels increasing.

WellbeingParticipants’ wellbeing was meas-ured against the Health Related Quality of Life, with significant increases in four of the five domains measured at the end of the fortnight, namely, phys-

ical functioning, emotional wellbeing and general health.

SmokingOutcomes for smoking meas-ures revealed that following completion of the workshops the satisfaction of smoking reduced signif icantly and smoking made participants significantly more nauseous. In addition to this, there was a significant increase in par-ticipants’ readiness to use physical activity to support smoking cessation.

MotivationAccording to Self-Determination Theory long-term behaviour-al change requires internali-sation of motivation, and for this to take place the three basic needs of relatedness, competence and autonomy must be met. To test the potential for the workshops to support the internalisation of prisoners’ motivation these basic needs were measured in relation to exercise behaviours for each participant before and after the workshops, with all three seeing a significant increase. In addition to this, the mean rating of perceived autonomy support felt by par-ticipants during the work-shops was 6.8, out of a maxi-mum 7, further demonstrating the capacity of the workshops to promote autonomy.

LJ – living the dream

Mission to succeed

Prince Charles congratulates LJ

prisoner should be doing this work. We then said our fare-wells and left the caged men behind.

The grand tourOur next phase of the trip was the grand tour. Up and down identical, sterile, soulless cor-ridors, in and out of different SHUs. Past condom machines, in and out of windowless cells, past the gunners at every turn who watched our every move. Something that I hadn’t seen before was the metal mesh above the corridors and above the doorways where the gun-ners patrolled ready to shoot from above. That was fairly sinister.

We walked onto another area of the prison. As we chatted in a course room a loud alarm sounded and we were shouted at by a guard to get out. We looked across to the other buildings and across the yard. All the prisoners in their light blue shirts were lying in star-fish formation on the ground with their hands on their heads. The gunner was lean-ing out of his tower poised keeping close aim on the men. I stood in the hot sun blinking, trying to compute what was going on. Two ladies with first aid back packs whizzed past and then a stretcher followed. A little while later a black man in a wheelchair emerged hold-ing his face in his hands. It wasn’t clear exactly what had happened on the unit but it had caused quite a scene across the prison. The gunner relaxed and the inmates got back onto their feet and life carried on. This is apparently a daily occurrence.

By this point we were all flag-ging and keen to wrap things up. Its emotionally draining being in those places. The bad energy can’t help but weigh down on you. Our last Pelican Bay experience was chatting with a rather curious officer. We were picking our bags up and he launched in, asking:‘The systems broken right?’‘What are we doing?’‘How do we fix it?’

He was a rather amazing man in many ways. You spend most of these visits being slightly drawn into pretending that it’s all really normal and praising staff for being brave enough to allow prisoners to be moved with only one officer instead of two, so it was refreshing at the end to hear someone tell it as it was.

Insidetime January 2018 Comment 31www.insidetime.org

Supermax not so superSobering visit to violence reduction programme at Pelican Bay maximum security prisonEdwina Grosvenor to a chain which runs around

their belly. They weren’t shackled around their ankles like I have seen in the past. None of the 12 men were white. They were all pale in complex-ion, most with ostentatious tattoos and were either Black or Mexican. The Warden (Governor) gave out the certif-icates and each man stepped forward to receive it whilst skillfully navigating their cuffs and their belly chain.

Dr Covington and I both stood and spoke and that was that. It was an awkward and sub-dued celebration. The large staff presence made it odd as they all stood at the back, didn’t take a seat and made the whole thing feel strange. No one from the staff side spoke. We then took a group photo of the men and then a line of military dressed officers filed

The reason for my visit to the Pelican Bay Supermax prison was to see 12 men from the prison’s Secure Housing Unit (SHU) g raduate f rom Dr Covington’s intervention, ‘Moving Beyond Violence’. If these courses can be run effec-tively in the SHU of Pelican Bay then it bodes well for what we will be able to achieve for men in the UK.

GraduationWe were shown into the room where graduation was to be held. It was dreary (the usual Starbucks coffee and dough-nuts still appeared from some-where however!). The men were escorted in one by one in electric blue gowns and blue caps. Their wrists were hand-cuffed together and attached

in and led them out one by one holding their arms. It seemed unnecessary and somewhat degrading on a day when their achievements were apparent-ly being recognised.

We were told that they would then be de-gowned and that the four of us, Dr Covington, myself and the two research-ers could go and hold a focus group with the men in the visits area which sounded nice. I was looking forward to

chatting with the men in a less formal situation where we could really get under the skin of things and see what they really thought of this intense six week course.

Focus cagesWe walked into another unit, passed ANOTHER tray of dough-nuts and then we appeared to be on a very narrow corridor, mesh doors on our left and right. Men were behind the mesh, metal doors, peering at us. I tried to hide my awkwardness and gripped my plastic cup a little tighter. I managed to stammer a few ‘hellos’ and give a few nods but I couldn’t really see them and they were quite close so it was hard to

know how to position oneself.I looked at one man and just smiled and blurted out ‘well, this is awkward!’ He laughed and I then realised that these were our men from Graduation. This was our focus group. Reality hit. We were going to have to do our focus group with the men in their cages, in a row, next to each other. We could hear them but we couldn’t really see them and they certainly couldn’t see each other. If one man was talking from one end then the man at the other end couldn’t really hear what was being said. It was madness. Dr Covington was visibly shocked but just leapt straight in and got the focus group underway.

Helping othersIt was great to hear the men speak so highly of the course. Touching to hear them saying that they are getting to know themselves for the first time ever, and learning how to manage their emotions and violent outbursts. One man talked about how he is looking forward to helping others which was really moving bearing in mind these are meant to be THE most danger-ous men in America.

They were buoyed up, enthu-siastic, keen to carry on bet-tering themselves, hungry to learn more on this path of self-discovery. When asked if they thought that this course had made them less likely to

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be violent, a resounding ‘Yes’ came back through the mesh.

‘We have the tools now you see’‘We can do those mindfulness exercises that we were taught. I used to laugh at that stuff’. ‘We know where the anger comes from, we understand more so we can better control it’.

They were so keen that this course was available to men on the general population wing. Adamant that EVERY

We were going to have to do our focus group with the men in their cages, in a row, next to each other. We could hear them but we couldn’t really see them and they certainly couldn’t see each other.

Edwina Grosvenor is a philanthropist and founder of the charity One Small Thing onesmallthing.org.uk

“We know where the anger comes from”

Caged man

Insidetime January 2018Information32 www.insidetime.org

Self-help successPrison law charity reports great take up of tool-kits to help prisoners help themselves

The Prisoners Advice Service Self-Help Toolkits has finally been sent out to all of the prison libraries in England and Wales and PAS is happy say that the feedback from prison librar-ians has been overwhelmingly positive.  Indeed some prisons have already said that the demand has been so high that they would wel-come more copies.

Thanks to this project, which was funded by the Legal Education Foundation, the Toolkits are now available across England and Wales, helping prisoners to understand some legal concepts and processes for themselves, and to share that knowledge with peers.

The Self Help Toolkits for Prisoners project has been a long time in the planning.  The set of 10 kits were written and designed by PAS’ Caseworkers to help prisoners undertake some legal processes by themselves.

Areas addressed by the Tool-kits

• Pre-Tariff Reviews• Release on Temporary Licence (includes Childcare Resettlement Leave)• Mother and Baby Units• Recategorisation Reviews• Home Detention Curfew• Taking a Property Claim to the County Court• Category A Reviews

• Closed Visits & Banned Visitors• Governors’ Adjudications• Parole Board Delays

Toolkits have been sent in numbers to the librarians at some 117 prisons for stocking in prison libraries.  Prisoners will now be able to use and re-use the information and examples provided.  Toolkits are also available on our website.  Our intention is now to convert the kits into “Easy Read” versions - so that as many as possible within the prison estate, including those with low literacy levels, can benefit from them.

PAS Newsflash - dedicated Family Law Clinic at Bronzefield

October 2017 saw PAS’ first, dedicated, Family Law Clinic, which took place on 26 October at HMP Bronzefield. The clinic was attended by six women, five of whom had a 15 minute ses-sion each with our Women’s Caseworker. The sixth prisoner had a much needed 45 minute session. Each woman was understandably very distressed by their circumstances.

Sessions involved a variety of issues, but most were about contact with children. Our Caseworker dispensed general advice to one woman, two other women will require some written advice and unique research, and - a milestone for the project - our Caseworker has decided to open three pro bono cases in support of the remaining three women.

The clinic - which will be the first of many - was the result of the training two PAS Caseworkers received in Family Law advice from Rights of Women (RoW) over the course of this year.   Our Joint Managing Solicitor, Deborah Russo,said in response to the delivery of this first clinic, “Already, from the first session, PAS has been able to observe how powerless women feel when they are faced with separation from their children through imprisonment”.

PAS remains most grateful to The Sir Halley Stewart Trust and The Wates Foundation for their support of this important project.

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Inside Voices

Visits from family and friends is always something very spe-cial for those of us on San Quentin’s Death Row. Visiting is allowed 3 days each week. There are a relatively small number of visits allowed for those of us here on the Row, during our scheduled visiting days. There are 50 visiting slots of 2 each for Death Row Grade A visits. Visiting hours are between 8am and 2pm. These 50 2½hour visiting slots are supposed to accommodate approximately 700 prisoners.

A l l v isits have to be by appointment. This means those who visit have to call in to the special visiting room number to schedule a visit 7

days in advance. It is difficult to get through on this number and I have heard of people dialling for over 2-hours before finally getting through, only to find out that all of the visits have been booked.

If visitors travel more than 250 miles, they are allowed to write in for a pre-scheduled visit. They have to do this 30 to 90 days in advance. Of course, this includes visitors who have to travel all the way from Europe, Australia and o t he r cou nt r ie s . T he s e pre-scheduled v isits are allowed every 30 days and because of the distance and time constraints involved these visits are double the time of regular Death Row visits. These are called pre-ap-proved extended visits.

W h e n a v i s i to r w h o i s approved to visit writes in to request a pre-scheduled visit, they must wait until the pris-on v i s it i ng dep a r t me nt approves the visit and enters the approved visiting time into the computer. Once they do this, the visiting department sends a visit notification form, with the relevant visiting time to the prisoner. It is the responsibility of the prisoner to notify his visitors that they are approved to visit and at what time.

The visitor must then arrange for transportation and hotel accommodation near the pris-on. So, after visitors paying all that money to fly around the world and pay for hotels, etc, the prison still has no legal obligation to even allow them in to visit. This is exactly what happened for a 3-week period in August of this year when the Warden decided the prison would go on lockdown, so no visits allowed. The reason for the lockdown was to search the entire prison. They can, and do, use the excuse of ‘pris-on security’ to justify things it knows are questionable and unfair.

It is one thing for the prison to punish us (prisoners) but the families and friends of the prisoners should not have to suffer or be punished for no real reason.

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Insidetime January 2018 Information // Through the Gate 33www.insidetime.org

The Careers Lady The fi rst step through the door to your future

How many of us make resolu-tions that will fall at the fi rst hurdle and end up in the bin or by not even getting off the starting line? It is so easy to be like that when all you can think about is surviving one day at a time. Your future is more than that.

Remember: Dreams don’t work unless you do.

This year may or may not be the year you will finally be walking through the prison gates. But it should be a time to start thinking very seriously about how you can formulate a plan which will help you to achieve a job when you leave prison or even better, thinking seriously about long term ca-reer goals.

Start by asking yourself the following three questions...1. Where you now?

New Year ...New BeginningsA message of hope

Jobs board game-changerNew service brings businesses and people with convictions together

The Hub

2. What do you want to do?3. How are you going to achieve it?

1. Start by writing down all the skills you have developed be-fore and during your time in prison. For example: IT profi -ciency, carpentry, painting and decorating.

Many of these may not have resulted in a vocational qual-ifi cation but it will still prove you have attended courses to give you a range of manual skills. Think about your per-sonal qualities. Being reliable, conscientious and hard-work-ing may seem obvious to you, but not to an employer. How can you show these?

2. What job and career ideas do you have? Any courses you have attended may have given you an idea of using these in a job. Would you like to pursue

any further training to develop those ideas? These are all ques-tions you should ask yourself. If you had a job before coming into prison look at how you can convince future employers that you could go back to that work.

3. Now you are at the point of creating a plan that will help you identify what you need to do to achieve your goals. Talk to your Education Manager and teachers if your career ideas means continuing in education and gaining qualifications. They can help. Use your library to research any new ideas you may have. If you are keen to do more vocational training, ask your personal officer if there are opportunities in other prisons that might be of benefi t. It is all about research and sharing your ideas with the prison staff that can help you achieve a realistic plan.

2018 should be about believing in yourself and that good things are on their way.

With this in mind I wish you all a New Year fi lled with new hope, new ideas and new beginnings.

Prosper 4 Group, whose mantra is ‘Giving change a chance’ has launched a digital jobs board the aim of which is to enable enlightened and pro-gressive employers to off er genuine sustainable jobs to people who have an ex-off ender background. Many people are unaware that over 50,000 people are released from prisons every year, the vast majority of whom are immediately in the unemployed bracket. The digital jobs board is the fi rst of its kind and allows people with convictions to connect openly and confi dently with potential employers. Prosper4jobs works with over 50 businesses who are actively looking to employ people who have been to prison.

Prosper4jobs says:  • We enable enlightened, progressive, and sup-portive employers to off er jobs to people who have an ex-off ender background. Candidates can apply for jobs in a transparent way, and demonstrate their commitment not to re-off end.

Flicker Productions are looking for people who are due to be leaving prison in January or February to take part in a new

Channel 4 documentary.

This film aims to highlight the challenges ex-offenders -From all backgrounds - may face on the outside and also

celebrate the successes as many re-build their lives.

We want to reveal people’s experience during their first year out of prison and ask what the government, communi-ties and individuals could be doing to help improve lives

after release and avoid re-offending.

Filming parts of your experience after release yourself.

If you would like further information or are interested in taking part...

PLEASE CONTACTEMAIL: email@flickerproductions.tv

PHONE: 0203 761 4576

WRITE: Flicker Productions, 128 Wigmore Street,

London, W1U 3SA

A NEW DOCUMENTARY ABOUT PRISON LEAVERS

This is an opportunity to tell your story in your own words

________________

Siarad

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Mae gen ti hawliau i

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Rydyn ni eisiau gwybod beth yw

dy brofiad o fod yn siaradwr

Cymraeg yn y carchar.

Cysyllta â ni:

The Commissioner wants to know

about Welsh speakers' experiences

in prison - get in touch.

Ffôn: 0345 603 3221 (gofyn am Ifan / Guto) E-bost: post@comisiynyddygymraeg.cymru Gwefan: comisiynyddygymraeg.cymru Post: Uned 7, Doc Fictoria, Caernarfon, LL55 1TH

• We are collaborating with our partners in fi ve pilot areas: Leeds, Leicester, London, Teesside and Northern Ireland.  They include Prisons, National Probation Service, Community Rehabilitation Companies, Chambers of Commerce and Charities. 

• Supportive employers working with us are from all sectors include national companies Mitie, Whitbread Group, Timpson’s, Greggs, Halford, Willmott Dixon, Bounceback, plus local busi-nesses of all sizes across the country.

• All CVs can be uploaded with secure access for all ex-off enders.

• Organisations can advertise their vacancies free of charge!

• We have found employment for nearly 300 ex-off enders, and continue to do so.

AchievementsNotable achievements so far include the fact that Prosper 4 jobs has been appointed by the Northern Ireland Prison Service to help fi nd employment and self-employment opportunities for people with convictions. They have secured funding from Teeside prisons to bring “a pro-fessional focus to jobs, industry and enterprise” for people in and coming out of prison - and are working hard in Yorkshire “to fi nd jobs for great people” who are leaving prison.

On self-employment “Our team has a wealth of experience in enter-prise and entrepreneurship, and Prosper 4 Group has the proven ability to help our clients establish businesses. We run highly eff ective training programmes, and business launch support, for our clients both in custody and post-release. The courses we operate are to SFEDI standard, and have a track record of delivering successful outcomes. Through our network of partner organisations we provide both business and fi nancial support for our clients, with a particular focus on fi nding funding for our clients. Our model allows us to support our clients from idea development to revenue generation.”

More info: www.Prosper4.com

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© D

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otos

now take time to spread the message of education to those around me as I believe it helps not only with the individual but with the amount of violence in the prison around them. I regularly hold team building work-shops focussing on violence reduc-tion. This was very successful in my previous prison where the violence had escalated, and continues to be successful here.

I have also recently published my fi rst book 'Killing Time' which focus-es on my quest to bring Afro-Centric education (Knowledge of Self) with-in the prison system.

A mil l ion a nd one t ha nk s to Prisoners’ Education Trust and to Anne Creighton, I trusted you and you helped me! Real meets Real.

Insidetime January 2018Information // Education34 www.insidetime.org

Course Notes PET provides funding for over 300 types of distance-learning courses. Every month we shine a spotlight on one of them.

To look at a full curricu-lum, or for more informa-tion about how to apply for a distance-learning course with PET, please speak to your prison’s Education Department. If you need further help, you can write to FREEPOST, Prisoners’ Education Trust.

My daughter taught me to read in prison

Snack Bar/Café and Fast Food Management

Emmanuel, HMP The Mount

Twenty-three years. When you repeat it to yourself, it sounds so far away; I’m not even sure how many times I had repeated it in my head. A quarter of a century, that sounds even worse. This is the fi rst hurdle to climb over - acceptance of my fate, that I will not see my old neighbourhood for the next 16 years or more, if I don’t get time off for good behaviour.

Being classifi ed as a double ‘A’ cate-gory ‘dangerous prisoner’ was not a very good start. I was placed into solitary confinement, in what is called the Block or Hole. An envelope with a sheet of paper was slid under the cell door, along with an A4 sheet of paper, the only words that I could make out were ‘Seg-Rules’. Not being able to read or write compounded my bitterness. My hard-core emotions were all I had for company, and as I became angrier the judge’s words in my head became louder.

I started to speak to myself: “When will I talk to my children?” “What do I tell them?” The emotional roller-coaster just continued to fl ow around

in my brain, I marched up and down the eight by four cell talking to myself until my legs gave up. I sat down contemplating my fate. ‘This is my home now; forget the old neighbour-hood.’ Saying this to myself, I fi red up more intense memories of my life growing up in LayLow Ladbroke Grove, Notting Hill West London, and the murder of my brother - one of the fi rst of a spree of black-on-black teen-age murders, in 1972.

How embarrassing, 38 years old and not able to read and write properly, the piece of paper and envelope on the floor in the cell seemed to be taunting me. The cell door opened with a bang, the screw shouted, “Get to the back wall of the cell, phone call bookings”. “Can I call now?” I shouted back at him. “Ok but make it quick, that’s your call for today.”

My daughter answered on the second ring, as though she was sitting next the phone waiting, “Dad E, mum said you’re not coming home until I’m grown up!” I tried to change the sub-ject, “How’s school?” I asked; “Fine, were doing SATs now, shall I send you my school work so you can see?” This was how, aft er two months in

the Block, with a few phone calls and my daughters’ tuition, we started to write letters to each other.

The need for education created a burning desire within my very soul: the more I gained knowledge the more powerful I felt. The next years had passed very quickly; I was signed up in full-time education, three GCSEs, English, Maths and History. My daughter was doing her own at the same time so we continued our con-stant telephone tutorials. Yes, she was still the teacher and I the pupil but the scripts we swapped became longer and more detailed. Can you believe the subject we were writing about was Shakespeare? She was doing Hamlet and I was writing an adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, there-fore it was helpful for us both to read each other’s work.

For me, serving such a long prison sentence, it became a beautiful aspect of my reality to continue to be able to play an active role in my children’s lives. We oft en exchanged talk-tapes, my boys liked to pretend to be DJs spinning tunes as they talked to me. They would tell me how they were feeling, and talk about the changes

in and around LayLow. The main subject that we all held in common now was school and education; I began to fi nd pride in myself, being able to help with their homework and study skills. Being a father from a distance hurt a lot, however not as much as it did before.

I started to make every day count, and no longer counted the days, whilst striving for perfection created a learning demon w ithin me. Frustrations that had led me to use violence to express disagreements or settle them were now defunct, but I was asking more questions. I was moved from prison to prison, and this, as well as so much time spent in sol-itary confi nement, aff ected my mind. I became overly suspicious of every-one. I started talking to myself again.

Then I was introduced to a woman who convinced me of the need to start to trust people, so that I could receive the help to better myself. That won-derful person was [former PET direc-tor] Anne Creighton. She said some-thing to me which I shall never forget: “You don't have to always fight. Choose your battles carefully.” She arranged for me to apply for an Access course which was equivalent to five A-levels, even before my exams for GCSE's were sat. I passed my GCSE's and fi ve A-levels and went on to study DD100 Social Sciences with the Open University, all funded by Prisoners’ Education Trust.

I am currently studying for my BA Honours in Arts and Humanities. I

Have you ever thought of hav-ing your own coff ee shop or r u n n i ng a f o o d t r u c k? Stonebridge’s course in Snack Ba r/Ca fé a nd Fast Food Management teaches some of the skills required to run a successful food outlet.

John Lister, Advice Manager at PET, says: “This is a busi-ness-oriented course, for peo-ple who either have experi-ence or who want to get into

the food industry. It’s a good course for someone who would like to open a fast food place or a café, and is quite a popular course for that rea-son.”

Hospitality is the country’s fourth largest employer and one of its fastest-growing i ndu s t r ie s . T he B r it i sh Hospitality Association said new research predicts that over 500,000 new jobs could

be created in the sector in the next fi ve years.

A recent successful applica-tion came from ‘Liam’, at HMYOI Deerbolt. He wrote in his application:

“I have worked in hotels and restaurants since I was 15. This course would build on the extensive amount of experience I’ve gained through various roles, hopefully giving me an advantage over other applicants for similar jobs.”

The course includes topics such as devising menus and recipes, purchasing princi-ples, safety and design prin-ciples. It ’s a paper-based course, which could be com-plemented with work in prison kitchens or on-site café.

There are a few forward-think-ing schemes on the outside too. St Gi les Tr ust r uns Brewbird, a coffee shop in South London that offers newly released prisoners a route to employment.

To look at a full curriculum, or for more information about how to apply for a distance-learning course with PET, please speak to your prison’s Education Department. If you need further help or advice, you can write to FREEPOST, Prisoners’ Education Trust.

A café inside Swaleside prison

Cre

dit

: Ian

Cu

thb

ert/

PET FEELING LOW?

TALKING CAN HELP.

SPEAK TO STAFF, A PEER MENTOR,

A LISTENER OR CALL SAMARITANS

ON 0845 450 7797.

FEELING LOW?TALKING CAN HELP.

SPEAK TO STAFF, A PEER MENTOR,

A LISTENER OR CALL SAMARITANS

ON 0845 450 7797.

Supported by:

Insidetime January 2018 Information 35www.insidetime.org

Young prisoners - think yourself positive!“Young people who don’t reoffend are the ones who have managed to change the way that they see themselves”

Young people leaving prison will only stop reoffending if authorities work to change the image they have of themselves from the moment their sen-tences begin. That’s the con-clusion of a new report aimed at shaking up the resettlement of young offenders, written by University of Salford criminol-ogists and now being looked at by the Ministry of Justice.

The report, written by Professor Neal Hazel and based on two decades of research, puts for-ward a new model for youth justice and says young people leaving custody only stay out of trouble if rehabilitation ser-vices have helped them shift the way they see themselves - from being criminal to being able to offer something positive.

“Our research has shown that the young people who don’t reoffend are the ones who have managed to change the way that they see themselves,” says Professor Hazel. “We saw boys who thought of them-selves as tough on the streets, got respect that way and ended up offending violently and being imprisoned.  They needed help to see how to get respect another way. It worked with one tough lad who was helped to see himself as a future construction worker, worked hard towards that future and ended up with an apprenticeship. He now gets status and respect from this new identity instead of the street.  That’s effective youth justice work, and this approach

needs to become the norm.”

Professor Hazel, who has pre-viously worked in a senior role at HM Inspectorate of Probation for England and Wales, says a major problem with the cur-rent system is that prepara-tions for helping young offend-ers resettle into society are often left until they are about just to leave custody - which means the support often fails.

Planning support for the futureThe research, which includes detailed interviews with cur-rent and former young offend-ers, shows that successful re-entry to the community depends on how support ser-vices are organised. It found five key characteristics for effective services, but most importantly the work needs to involve the young people in planning support for their future, and to start from the moment they enter custody.

“There is a huge global prob-lem in the fact that young people leaving custody have the worst reconviction rates of any offenders,” says Professor Hazel, “largely because it reinforces their criminal iden-tity - so courts should avoid

Inside Time report prison for kids if possible. But where custody is necessary for public protection, we desper-ately need to improve rehabil-itation services for when young people come back out. Kids who are in trouble often don’t engage with education and other positive interven-tions because they don’t see the relevance to themselves and their future. You have to work with them early so these things become part of how they see themselves and their future, rather than feel it imposed on them - that’s when you see a change in behav-iour.”

Praise from policymakersThe new report, launched at the Youth Justice Board’s Annual Convention, has attracted praise from policymakers and P rofe ssor Ha z el i s now engaged in a series of meetings with the Ministry of Justice.  The research, which Professor Hazel carried out along with colleagues Dr Andrew Clark and Dr Kelly Lockwood from the School of Health and Society, is an example of the University of S a l ford’s i n nov at ive Industry Collaboration Zone approach, which sees academ-ics working with industry to meet global challenges. 

The report is the final publi-cation of the six-year Beyond Youth Custody lottery-funded research project, a partner-ship between the charity and university sector, including the University of Salford, Nacro (the social justice charity), ARCS UK and Bedfordshire University. 

In April last year we wrote an article about what it means to be referred to Approved Premises following release from prison. We had positive feedback on this and questions about what rules to expect in Approved Premises so we have decided to follow up with some of those details.

Whilst staying in Approved Premises you will be asked to follow certain rules. Each hostel will have its own house rules. There are also standard rules which are described in Chapter 34 of the Approved Premises Manual.

You will have a curfew during which you must stay within the Approved Premises. Curfews are normally from 11pm to 6am or 7am, depend-ing upon the Premises, though you may have extra curfew or conditions set by the court or as part of your licence. In rare cases, this cur-few could be changed - for example if you have paid work that falls within these hours. You will need to have written proof of the reasons for it to be considered.

You will be expected to take part in group and individual activities that are on your sentence or supervision plan and keep a record of these activities in a weekly diary. These activities are intended to help with reducing re-offending and reintegration into society.

You may be required to give all your medication to staff, so they can manage it for you. If you are allowed to manage your own medication, staff will regularly check with you that you are doing it properly. You will also be expected to see a doctor, nurse or other health worker if staff think you need to.

Some APs have designated bedrooms which you can smoke in. If you cannot smoke in your room, there may be a smoking area outside, on the grounds of the hostel.

You will be expected to take a drug or alcohol test if staff ask you to.

You will be told whether or not you can have visitors at the Approved Premises. If you are allowed visitors, they must be over 18 and you must have permission from staff first - this applies to APs for both men and women. Visitors will only be allowed in certain parts

Approved Premises rulesPRISONREFORMTRUST

Ryan HarmanAdvice and Info Service Manager

of the Premises and must leave when your curfew begins or earlier if staff ask.

You must let staff search your room and per-sonal property. If possible, you should be told this is happening and allowed to watch. Police may also take part in room searches. Members of staff should not read legal documents during a search.

You will need to get permission from AP staff to bring in any electrical, electronic or photo-graphic items. If you have an IT device such as a laptop computer, you will normally be required to sign an agreement to let it be searched if staff have reasonable concern.

There are several other rules about behaviour, as you might expect. You must not damage or try to damage anything that belongs to the AP or other people working, living or visiting the AP. You must not bring any weapons, alcohol, illegal drugs any material which may be con-sidered offensive or anti-social - for example, pornography or racist literature - into the Approved Premises. You must not behave in violent, threatening, disruptive, racist or sex-ist way or endanger the health and safety of others in any way. You should not cause nui-sance to neighbours or attract harmful atten-tion to the AP.

If you want to stay overnight away from the Approved Premises you can apply for ‘leave of absence’. The maximum leave is four nights, unless there are exceptional circumstances. Examples of when you might be granted a leave of absence include for resettlement purposes, compassionate reasons such as attending a funeral or for medical reasons which require admission to hospital.

If you break the rules staff will inform your Offender Manager. You could lose your place at the AP. You could also be recalled to prison.Of course, Approved Premises are not just about following rules. You will be allocated a key-worker who will meet with you regularly to discuss what support you need and give advice about what you should be doing. There will also be other staff you can ask for support when you need it.

There is more about these rules and other infor-mation in the ‘Approved Premises manual’ which is annex A of Probation Instruction 32/2014. This is a very large document, so we have also produced an information sheet which includes the above information and more about Approved Premises. Please contact us if you would like a copy.

You can contact the Prison Reform Trust’s advice team at FREEPOST ND6125 London EC1B 1PN. Please be aware that our free information line t ime s have changed . I t i s now open 3.30pm-5.30pm on Monday and Thursday, and 10.30am to 12.30pm on Wednesday. The num-ber is 0808 802 0060 and does not need to be put on your pin.

If you break the rules staff will inform your Offender Manager. You could lose your place at the AP. You could also be recalled to prison.

There is a huge global problem in the fact that young people leaving custody have the worst reconviction rates of any offenders.

ippfam@soton.ac.ukIF YOU HAVE ANY QUERIES, PLEASE EMAIL

http://bit.ly/2tAJtHk

IPP Prisoner Family SurveyPlease join the 100s who have already shared

their experiences as a family member of a prisoner serving an IPP

Dr Harry Annison (Southampton University) Dr Rachel Condry (Oxford University)

Juliet Lyon

New Year’s resolutionKeeping Safe

During 2018, through Inside Time and Prison Radio, the Independent Advisory Panel on Deaths in Custody (IAP) will keep you informed about developments in suicide prevention. We promise to do our best to help reduce deaths in all forms of State custody.

Following your Keeping Safe work and sub-missions from almost 70 prisons, you will hear

early in 2018 about improvements in safer cus-tody. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) will also publish guidelines on preventing suicide in community and cus-todial settings. At the end of 2017 we presented the Keeping Safe report to inform these new guidelines. So once again to thank you and to confirm that what you say counts.

Juliet Lyon CBE is Chair of the Independent Advisory Panel on Deaths in Custody

Insidetime January 2018Information // HM Inspectorate of Prisons36 www.insidetime.org

The Inspector CallsInside Time highlights areas of good and bad practice from the most recent Reports published by HM Inspectorate of Prisons

“Iconic jail suffering persistent and intractable failings”Special Report on recent announced inspection of HMP Wormwood Scrubs

This is a special Inspector Calls report on the recent inspection of HMP Wormwood Scrubs which was found to be “suffering from persistent and intractable failings, including high violence, drugs, chronic staff shortages and poor pub-lic protection work”. It has been inspected three times in the last three-and-a-half years and Peter Clarke, HM Chief

Inspector of Prisons, said the inspections in May 2014 and December 2015 raised “very serious concerns.” The latest inspection, in July and August 2017, was announced and, Mr Clarke said, “we report again on the intractability and per-sistence of failure at this pris-on, notwithstanding the hard work of the governor and his staff to try to make some dif-ference.”

It was recently announced that where an inspection found very serious failings the Prisons Inspectorate would re fe r t he m at te r to t he Secretary of State who would respond within four weeks. Peter Dawson, director of the Prison Reform Trust, com-menting on the latest report said: “In 1997, the then Chief Inspector of Prisons, David Ramsbotham, said he was 'surprised and horrified' by conditions at Wormwood Scrubs. Two years further on he found that the majority of his recommendations had

been 'v irtually ignored'. History is repeating itself 20 years later with this extraor-dinarily damning report from today’s Chief Inspector of Prisons, Peter Clarke. The dif-ference is that the Secretary of State has now imposed on himself a 28 day deadline to respond personally in writing where the condition of a pris-on raises such significant and urgent concerns. That proce-dure must surely be invoked now - it is hard to imagine a worse case.”

There had been three self-in-flicted deaths in the previous 18 months. The number of self-harm incidents was high but similar to that at other local prisons but strategic oversight of self-harm and suicide pre-vention was superficial, and cross-deployment of safer custody staff hindered the effectiveness of the team. Levels of use of force were very high and almost all recorded uses involved the use of full restraint.

The prison had high levels of often serious violence, result-ing in some significant inju-ries. There had been a ‘dra-

matic’ increase in violence against staff, with more than 90 assaults in the six months to July 2017. Despite efforts to tackle violence, 65% of pris-oners said they had felt unsafe at some time and 36% felt unsafe at the time of the inspection. Drugs were very accessible. The number of adjudications had increased. The process was not well man-aged and many adjudications were not proceeded with.

This inspection was announced following previous inspec-tions which “raised very seri-ous concerns across our healthy prison assessments and commented on the lack of progress in improving out-comes for those detained.” Prisoners faced real daily frus-trations and the prison strug-gled to provide decent condi-t ion s . T he rep or t s ay s: “Staffing shortages were per-vasive, and resulted in signif-icant staff redeployment and a failure to deliver even basic services. We were told of chronic problems experienced in recruiting new staff, and a large number of more experi-enced staff had left. We saw large, challenging wings being run by groups of rela-tively junior staff, some of whom lacked the confidence to challenge the men in their care adequately.”

Summing upMr Clarke says: “Overall, this was an extremely concerning picture, and we could see no justification as to why this poor situation had persisted since 2014. The governor and his team were, to their credit, working tirelessly to address the problems faced. Managers understood the challenges and had made some tough choices about what they could and could not do, given the multitude of problems. This was commendable. But we

were not confident that they could deliver improvement to outcomes without considera-ble additional external sup-port. Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) must, in our view, engage with the governor and his team to develop a recovery plan, addressing issues of resources

and contractual provision, as well as areas where the cur-rent management team and staff at Wormwood Scrubs can do better. We fear that if this does not happen, the poor picture we found at this and the previous two inspections will persist.”

Inside Time report

Outside areas between the wings were strewn with litter dropped from broken windows.

Inspectors highlighted many problem areas

l Too many men were locked up for significant periods of the day, some for as long as 23 hours. A total of 41% of pris-oners were found to be locked in cells during the day;

l The prison struggled to provide decent conditions. Outside areas were strewn with litter, attracting rats and cockroaches;

l Some food serveries were left uncleaned, in an ‘appalling’ state. The quality and quantity of the food provided were poor;

l Efforts had been made to paint the wings and cells since the previous inspection but there was still too much grime in communal areas and a lot of graffiti in cells, and many toilets were filthy. Showers were dilapidated and lacked privacy;

l Far too many windows facing the perimeter wall were broken, which enabled prisoners to retrieve contraband thrown over the wall;

l Equality and diversity work had been neglected and was poor - in a jail with a 60% black and minority ethnic (BME) population;

l There were long delays in Carillion, a contractor, carrying out maintenance tasks, and the prison stores had not been open for many weeks, leaving staff to scavenge for many basic items needed by prisoners;

l Resettlement and offender management work was “fun-damentally failing and the prison was not meeting one of its key aims of supporting men to understand and address their offending behaviour and risk.”

Suffering from persistent and intractable failings, including high violence, drugs, chronic staff short-ages and poor public protection work.

This servery, covered in food debris, was left uncleaned on the wing overnight.

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ASHLEY SMITH & COOur experienced and dedicated team are specialists in

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shows the significant and unnecessary barriers to reha-bilitation that the current regime is creating. The fact that someone has disclose two shoplifting offences from when they were 15, 40 years ago shows that the govern-ment needs to take immediate steps to respond to this prob-lem. We’re calling on the gov-ernment to drop its legal appeal and instead immedi-ately focus its resources towards reforming the crimi-nal records regime.”

Flexibilty“A fairer and more flexible system for disclosing records on standard and enhanced criminal record checks would be one with expanded auto-matic filtering rules and a discretionary fi ltering process with a review mechanism so that individual circumstances can be considered before cau-tions and convictions are dis-closed. This would enable those with old and minor crim-inal records to move on posi-tively with their lives and to more easily gain employment.”

Consensus“For jobs not involving basic criminal record checks, the Criminal Records Bill, a Private Members’ Bill from Unlock’s President, Lord Ramsbotham, refl ects a broad consensus for the need to reduce the reha-bilitation periods for both adult and child custodial sen-tences. We urge the govern-ment to support this Bill when it reaches its second reading in the House of Lords. It is common sense that, while certain offences need to be disclosed to employers, we should not be unnecessarily

blighting the lives of people who are trying to get on in life by disclosing old, minor or irrelevant information that holds them back and stops them from reaching their potential.We are committed to continuing our work with gov-ernment, the DBS, employers and other key stakeholders to drive forward these much needed reforms.”

Ham-fi stedResponding to the report, C h a i r o f t h e S t a n d i n g Committee for Youth Justice, A l i Wigz el l , sa id: “ T he Committee’s fi ndings should act as a rallying cry for reform: a system that creates barriers to children turning their lives around is destructive and not in the interests of society. It urgently needs to change. Young lives are being ruined by a ham-fi sted and draconian criminal records regime that goes far beyond what is nec-essary to protect the public. This is the third expert body to urge reform of the child-hood criminal records system in less than a year. The gov-ernment should listen to its experts, stop wasting taxpay-ers’ money on fighting its unnecessary legal case - wh ich ha s cost at lea st £160,000 so far - and take immediate action to reform the system instead.”

A system that creates barriers to children turning their lives around is destructive and not in the interests of society

Criminal records regime ‘failing children’System ‘anchoring young offenders to their past for decades’

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Unlock, a leading independ-ent charity for people with convictions responded recent-ly to a Justice Committee report into disclosure of youth criminal records and called for the government to drop its legal appeal and get on with reforming the criminal records regime. “The report from the Justice Committee shows how the current approach is failing children and young people who get caught up in the crim-inal justice system,” said Christopher Stacey, co-direc-tor of the charity who gave evidence to the Committee. “Their lives are being dogged by a minor criminal record for decades, oft en for life, and it anchors people to their past. Thousands of people contact us every year because of prob-lems they’re facing as a result of minor criminal records acquired in childhood and early adulthood. There is now overwhelming evidence that the government’s approach to criminal records disclosure needs to change. In the last year alone, there have been three signifi cant reports that together set out the case for reforming the regime while maintaining public protection and safeguarding.”  

Barrier to rehabilitation“The government is the crim-inal one here. The Court of Appeal has ruled that the cur-rent criminal records regime is blunt, disproportionate and not in accordance with the law. The government is drag-ging its heels by appealing to the Supreme Court and it is clearly not listening to the compelling evidence that

Inside Time report

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Medomsley Abuse Call for a Public Inquiry

abuse allegations and the police investigated 2 former officers, and continue with their enquiries.

The ‘short sharp shock’ initiative was designed in 1979 to give boys so much army-type discipline that they would not re-off end. It was obviously taken too far by some offi cers who saw it as a licence to assault these boys repeatedly. These boys were brutalised. They are a forgotten seg-ment of society. People viewed them as worthless.

This would have been considered torture and in any battlefi eld prison would not be tolerated yet it was systematic in our YOIs in the 70s and 80s. Many of my clients have actually described their treatment as torture. This is borne out when set against the standards of the UN Convention against Torture which the UK signed up to in 1984 – there is a prohibition against torture and other acts of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

I have received complaints about the same type of treatment happening in other DCs around the country. Eastwood Park, Kirklevington and Thorpe Arch Grange are just a few. There were numerous others. Of equal concern to me are the reports that many boys complained to their local police aft er leaving these detention centres but were ignored and in one case threatened by police.

Thousands of boys (and girls) were subjected to repeated physical and sexual assaults from prison staff and deserve to be compensated. I am working with a group of the men to call for a full Public Inquiry into the treatment of our young people by prison staff in the 1970s and 1980s at Medomsley. A Public Inquiry on Medomsley will certainly be requested but the terms of reference (I will suggest) should take in sexual and physical abuse at other YOIs and the poor response of police. In the coming months I hope to infl uence the Home Secretary to order a Public Inquiry. A scheme of compen-sation for all detainees subjected to this type of treatment is also one aim.

Last month Inside Time reported that 7 former prison offi cers had been charged for assaulting and sexually abusing boys detained at Medomsley Detention Centre in County Durham. Since then all 7 men appeared at Aycliff e mag-istrates on 19th December 2017. The case has been transferred to Teeside Crown Court and the next hearing is on 18th January 2018. More charges are expected.

In 2003 and 2005 a prison offi cer named Neville Husband was convicted of indecent assault and buggery of a number of boys at Medomsley. A subsequent investigation has uncovered abuse from many more offi cers. The details of Husband’s off ending are hideously sadistic and I am sure that many boys who suff ered at his hands have felt unable to come forward to seek help. I hope the renewed serious interest in uncovering what boys endured in detention centres will enable them to speak out. This has been a secret part of Britain’s culture. Sending “naughty boys” away to junior prisons, subjecting them to re-lentless assaults and then failing to listen to their complaints aft er the event has created a segment of society which has good reason to feel alienated and under-privileged. I hope that now is the time we can put this right.

Medomsley opened in the mid-1960s as a de-tention centre for boys aged 17-20. Without exception, men I have spoken to complain that they were physically abused by staff . A minor breach of rules meant physical abuse from staff . Tough treatment and beatings in PE was also a favourite at Medomsley to which everyone was subjected. Long distance running was also a favourite of the sadists.

I also acted for 20 men a few years back who complained that they had been subjected to horrifi c treatment at Eastwood Park detention centre during the 1980s. They complained that the physical abuse started at the reception centre on entry. Their name would be taken and if they didn’t end their response with “Sir” they would be punched. They would be regularly punched for the slightest misdemeanour and were also whipped with a length of rubber pipe. The regime was more militaristic than Medomsley.

I represent around 50 claimants who complain of mainly physical abuse from staff members at Kirklevington, Yarm. Some of the staff were inter-changeable with Medomsley DC. The same type of abuse is complained of – punches for no reason, stress positions, cold showers, pro-longed physical exercise. There are some sexual

David Greenwood

David Greenwood is a Solicitor at Switalskis Solicitors

If you or a friend has been subjected to sexual or physical abuse from prison offi cers or anyone responsible for your welfare you can contact David Greenwood, Caroline Chandler or Rob Casey at Switalskis Solicitors, 19 Cheapside, Wakefi eld WF1 2SD. We treat all contacts with complete confi dentiality.

CHILD ABUSE SOLICITORSHelping victims to claim compensation and achieve justice

If you suffered physical, psychological or sexual abuse as a child from someone who was in a position of trust, our specialist child abuse lawyers maybe able to help you claim compensation and achieve justice.

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Preventation is always better than cure however it seems even harder to apply the sentiment when you’re in prison.

The reported cases of clinical and dental negligence during confinement is

on the increase. Whether it is due to a lack of resources or inept practitioning

there is no excuse if your health has suffered physically or mentally, as a result

you could be due 1000’s of pounds in compensation. Negligence may not

just affect you now it could have painful or expensive repercussions far into

the future which is why you need expert, experienced advice to secure the

compensation which is due to YOU.

As one of the countries leading personal injury lawyers Michael Jefferies

have been successfully representing prisoners in cases of clinical and dental

negligence for many years. We have won compensation from 100’s to

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MEMBERS

OF

THE

PRISON INJURY LAW

YERS ASSOCIATION

pila

Sarah McKell - new expert

Advertorial Advertorial

Insidetime January 2018 Legal 39www.insidetime.org

In this month’s issue of Inside T i m e , W e l l s B u r c o m b e Solicitors wish to formally in-troduce its new addition to the fi rm. Sarah McKell is an expert in POCA cases and has a tre-mendous and proven track record. She has vast experience in criminal law and is now fo-cusing solely on defending those facing Confi scation pro-ceedings. She is a real asset to the fi rm and she adds to the fi rm’s ever increasing portfolio of competent lawyers.  Confi scation cases can be complexSarah’s caseload consists of those convicted of high value and complex fraud, drug im-portations and conspiracies, robberies and al l other Schedule 2 off ences as defi ned by the Act. A remarkable recent success includes reducing a £2.1m Benefi t fi gure to £7,200 with nominal orders of one pound to be paid.  Over the years, Sarah has built up a network of expert profes-sionals who she works along-side with in order to maintain her continued and ever grow-ing achievements.   These ex-perts include those who can properly and oft en successfully

Wells Burcombe welcome POCA specialist/expert Sarah McKell and assess the year ahead

challenge drugs valuations and purities, forensic account-ants, property specialists and of course barristers who un-derstand the law in relation to this area of law.   Sarah also deals with clients who have been extradited back to this country to face criminal charges. Wells Burcombe very much see Sarah as an integral part of the complex crime team. Complex cases which result in conviction very oft en result in the Prosecution looking to make a confiscation order. Lawyers who represent their clients at trial are not always best placed to then take on confi scation cases. It is not at all uncommon for convicted defendants to look to instruct diff erent lawyers for the con-fi scation part of a case. A suc-cessful confi scation case for the prosecution can have dev-astating consequences for an unsuccessful defendant. Everything is at stake and you’ll only get one opportunity to challenge the prosecution’s assertions. Homes, liveli-hoods, relationships can all be at stake, not to mention future earnings and careers. Wells Burcombe entered in to initial discussions with Sarah to join its POCA team because of her proven ability in this area. It was clear very quickly that her forensic approach to these cases will enable future Wells Burcombe’s clients to have a future aft er conviction and help preserve assets, homes, fi nanc-es, future incomes and main-tain relationships.

If you have a confi scation case that you’d like Sarah to look in to, write to her at Wells Burcombe Solicitors, 5 Holywell Hill, St Albans, Herts, AL1 1EU.

Looking to 20182018 will hopefully see the continued expansion of Wells Burcombe. We already have

Call us or write to us today for representation and assistance

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an established nationwide team representing clients on appeal and in all aspects of prison law. The advocacy team continues to receive numerous enquiries in relation to adju-dications and 2017 saw hun-dreds, if not thousands, of extra days avoided by successfully challenging complaints made not just by prison offi cials, but by fellow inmates.

2018 will also see a real push at Wells Burcombe in two im-portant areas affecting in-mates. Firstly, to ensure that inmates who face further in-terviews by the police during sentence are represented at those interviews. An astonish-ing number of inmates proceed to interviews in these circum-stances without a lawyer. The police just turn up, usually unannounced, and perhaps inmates proceed because they want to know what it’s all about. Because of the numer-ous potential consequences further charges can have to an inmate, Wells Burcombe al-ways advise simply sending the police away so that rep-resentation can be arranged.

Secondly, Wells Burcombe will look to increase its representa-tion of inmates at trial. Inmates who receive postal requisitions or summons need representa-tion at court. Wells Burcombe will be looking to represent inmates at court and through-out any new case. We will also take over cases where there is to be a transfer of legal aid which can be difficult, al-though, if there has been a real breakdown in confi dence with an existing lawyer can be achieved.

Wells Burcombe recognise that this time of year can be diffi cult for inmates and their fami-lies.  We hope that if you did not manage to achieve everything you wanted to achieve in 2017, you can do so in 2018.

Since 2013, prisoners have experienced fi rst-hand the cuts to the Ministry of Justice budget. Whether it’s the noticeable staffi ng reductions, removal of gyms and courses or having to sit before a Parole Board unrepresented and argue for their liberty, prisoners have had a diffi cult few years. Practitioners and charities alike, recognised the challenges prisoners experi-enced and concluded that something needed to be done.

A challenge was mounted in the courts and resulted in the Court of Appeal ruling that Legal Aid funding for Pre-Tariff reviews by the Parole Board, “Category A” reviews and placement in Close Supervision Centres (CSCs) should be restored aft er cuts have been imposed in these areas in December 2013. Initially, the MoJ con-fi rmed that they would appeal this decision. Months of uncertainty followed until November 2017 when the Secretary of State withdrew the appeal. Therefore, the judgment of the Court of Appeal restoring Legal Aid for prisoners in the above three categories is fi nal.

We, at Reeds Solicitors, have closely monitored the situation as we have many clients who are approaching pre-tariff sift s and desperately require the advocacy of a solicitor. Since 2013, unless a prisoner can fund this assistance pri-vately, they have had to go it alone. Knowing the complexities of an Oral Hearing and the anxiety that comes along with such a review, we have been keen to off er assistance to our clients, even on a Pro-Bono basis. However, we have spoken with the Howard League for Penal Reform in recent weeks who have con-fi rmed that they hope legal aid will be reinstat-ed come Spring 2018.

It is hoped that prisoners on life sentences and imprisonment for public protection (IPP) sen-

We have spoken with the Howard League for Penal Reform in recent weeks who have confi rmed that they hope legal aid will be reinstated come Spring 2018.

Matthew Smith is a Solicitor at Reeds Solicitors

2018 - a year of change for prison law?

Our commitment and service to you, does not stop when you leave the dock. Reeds solicitors

are dedicated to providing legal expertise along with unparalleled client care. This service also

includes issues you may experience in custody.Our Prison Law Team are able to offer advice and assistance under the Legal Aid Scheme for the following issues:

Determine/ IPP Recall Parole Independent Adjudications Sentence Calculations

Re-categorisation Sentence Planning Pre-Tariff Sifts

Contact our team now by calling 01865 592670 or write to us calling our Freepost address:

RTXS-CHLX-SYRC - Reeds Solicitors - 403 Silbury Boulevard - MILTON KEYNES - MK9 2AH

Our experienced Solicitors also offer competitive fixed fees for general Prison Law matters including:

tences who have been referred to the Parole Board by the Secretary of State before the expi-ry of their minimum terms on a move to open conditions would be eligible for Legal Aid funding. This is an important aspect of pris-oner rehabilitation and for years, we have argued that in order to have a successful ‘on-tariff’ review, a prisoner would benefit greatly from up to 3 years (before Tariff Expiry) of being within the Open Estate benefi ting from ROTL and reintegration. This has been even more prevalent in recent years with the chang-es to ROTL and the delays that come with it.

Furthermore, the highest category prisoners, (Category A), would become entitled for Legal Aid funding for their reviews. This would be highly benefi cial for prisoners as the proce-dures of high security reviews are complex and assistance of a Prison Law specialist is highly desirable. Legal Aid funding restores a lifeline for Category A prisoners, especially those with mental health conditions who are oft en unable to progress through the prison system.

Prisoners who are placed in CSCs would also benefi t from Legal Aid funding. This is very important because not only do CSCs impose serious restrictions on prisoners, they also cost the Government a lot of money and resources to maintain. It is expected that Legal Aid fund-ing in that area would in the long run enable the MoJ to make considerable savings which could in turn be redirected to other areas of the prison system.

Of course, we are unable to guarantee times-cales on any of these issues, but we will con-tinue to monitor the position and keep you all updated. There are no current plans to reduce the scope of the Legal Aid contract for Prison Law and so those requiring assistance with Recalls, End of Tariff Parole, Independent Adjudications (before a Judge) and Sentence Calculation issues all remain eligible for fund-ing. If you have an upcoming review, please do contact us during this interim period to avoid any delays in your review when these matters come back into scope of the Legal Aid contract. So in answer to the question posed in the title of this article, we at Reeds Solicitors sincerely hope so!

Matthew Smith

Sarah McKell - new expert

Insidetime January 2018Legal40 www.insidetime.org

Start the New Year off right!

We regularly assist individu-als who f ind themselves recalled back to custody. Having fi nally secured their release from prison, many p e ople f i nd t hem selve s returned for what appear to be questionable circumstanc-es. A recall can involve the loss of employment, loss of housing and a lengthy period of time away from family, friends and loved ones.

If you have been returned to custody and are due the initial review of your detention or even an annual review, we can off er assistance.

Why am I on Licence?Licence conditions are imposed for various reasons including for the protection of the public, preventing further off ending and to assist in the successful reintegration of the off ender into the community. Those subject to licence are serving a prison sentence in the com-munity and face the prospect of a return to custody should they breach the conditions.

mission of further offences whilst in custody.

How long will I be back in prison?There are two forms of recall; fi xed term and standard.

A fi xed term recall can be for a period of 14 or 28 days. An off ender will automatically be released aft er that period.

Those subject to a standard recall will be returned to cus-tody for the remainder of their sentence, subject to release by the Secretary of State or Parole Board. The test for release is whether the person should remain confi ned for the pro-tection of the public.

How am I returned to custody?When the NPS or CRC deem it necessary to recall an individ-ual they must complete a Part A report and submit it to the Public Protection Casework Section (PPCS) who, acting on behalf of the Secretary of State, will either approve or reject it. The Part A must include the reasons that they think the off ender should be recalled, the licence condi-tions they have breached, any alternatives taken prior to recall and whether it should be a fixed term or standard recall. The decision by the PPCS must be made within 24 hours of the recall request being received.

Whilst the NPS or CRC might ask for a fi xed term recall the PPCS may reject it on the grounds they deem it should be a standard recall. Equally, if a standard recall is request-ed they can refuse and impose a fi xed term recall.

The PPCS will then be required to send on the Revocation Order issued by the Secretary

Darryl Foster is a Solicitor and Rachel Hutton a Paralegal at Hine Solicitors

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Before a request to recall is instigated, consideration should be given to alternatives to recall. Such alternatives include the giving of a warn-ing or imposing additional licence conditions, which can oft en include increased super-vision, a curfew or placement at an approved hostel.

Offenders often find them-selves recalled for failing to comply with curfews, breach-ing exclusion zones and for being implicated in the com-

Darryl Foster and Rachel Hutton

Our open, friendly solicitors working in Criminal Defence will help you with all

aspects of Prison Law including:Licence recall • Adjudications

Parole hearings • IPP queries

Judicial review • Sentence planning issues

Call us on 01865 518971 or visit www.hinesolicitors.com

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All licences include ‘standard’ licence conditions. Additional licence conditions are availa-ble which are more restrictive and can prohibit contact with certain individuals, restrict access to certain areas and prohibit you from leaving an address between certain hours.

As of 13th November 2017, a greater level of restriction was made available by way of licence conditions including conditions which restrict specifi ed conduct or specifi ed acts. This can include a pro-hibition on gambling, the drinking of alcohol or the use of certain websites.

What is ‘Recall’?If you are alleged to have breached your licence condi-tions, consideration can be given to your return to custo-dy; this is known as recall. Either the National Probation Service (NPS) or Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRC) will manage those on licence in the community and they can instigate a return to custody. This is done where it is felt that the off ender’s risk is no longer manageable in the community.

of State to the Police. The Police will then be made aware that the offender is wanted on recall and look to arrest that person.

What happens once you have been returned to Custody?You will be returned to the prison estate; subject to your security category and availa-bility within local prisons. You should be informed of the reasons for the return to pris-on and informed that you have the opportunity to challenge the decision.

Those subject to a fi xed term recall will be released auto-matically at the end of the fi xed term. They can however challenge the decision to recall them to custody and seek earlier release.

Those subject to a standard recall will receive a Part B report which will form part of their dossier. The Part B report is an update from the Off ender Manager as to the reasons for the recall and the plan for your release, should release be directed by the Parole Board. The Part A and B reports form a dossier with other rel-evant information. This can include a copy of the licence, previous convictions and any other relevant information.

Once the Part B report has been provided the dossier is sent to the Parole Board. Prisoners have the ability to submit representations to the Board explaining their posi-tion relating to the recall and requesting re-release.

The Parole Board will then go on to consider the case on the papers before issuing its deci-sion They can direct release on papers, direct to an oral hearing, direct an adjourn-ment/deferral or make a neg-ative decision to end the review.

What if the Board refuses your release?Should release be refused by the Parole Board you can app ea l t he de c i s ion by requesting an Oral Hearing; this must be done within 28 days of the Board’s refusal. Failing that, those serving a determinate sentence will be subject to annual reviews by the Parole Board until their sentence has expired.

What can you do to help yourself?As part of the review the Parole Board will take into account all information provided to them. This will include infor-mation about the offence

which led to your original sentence, the progress you made in custody prior to your release and the progress you made on licence in the com-munity. Should you dispute the circumstances of the recall you should consider if there is any evidence that can assist you in arguing against it.

Whilst the circumstances of the recall will no doubt be important, the Board are con-cerned about the level of risk you pose and its amenability in the community. Should you have completed work prior to your release which was aimed at reducing your risk, you should ensure you have a good knowledge of that work and how it has impacted upon you.

Should your case be directed to an Oral Hearing, your con-duct up until the point that the hearing takes place is impor-tant. The Board will learn about your behaviour in custody including any issues of ill-dis-cipline and any courses com-pleted. You should seek to put yourself in the best position possible and show a willing-ness to engage with the prison system and the probation ser-vice. Adjudications can have a negative impact upon any application for Parole as it creates an impression that you are not able to comply.

What can we do?We can give you advice at every stage of the recall process. We can assist in the drafting of representations to the Parole Board and the challenging of the decision to return you to custody. We can provide prac-tical advice on the best way to achieve your liberty and ensure you are fully updated as to the position of your review. A return to custody can have a signifi cant impact and a Solicitor can seek to minimise that impact and obtain your release at the ear-liest opportunity.

Should you require any assis-tance with a Prison Law issue please contact our Prison Law department at Hine Solicitors on 01865 518971 or FREEPOST - RTHU - LEKE - HAZR Hine Solicitors, Seymour House, 285 Banbury Rd, Oxford OX2 7JF for our Oxford offi ce or FREEPOST -TR XS-T YCU-ZKHY Hine Solicitors, Crown House, 123 Hagley Rd, Birmingham B16 8LD for our Birmingham Offi ce.

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Jonathan Lennon is a Barrister specialising in serious and complex criminal defence cases at Carmelite Chambers, London. He has extensive experience in all aspects of financial and serious crime and the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. He is ranked by Chambers & Ptnrs specialist POCA and Financial Crime sections as a ‘leading barrister’; ‘he is phenomenal and his work rate is astonishing’ (2015).

Aziz Rahman is a Solicitor- Advocate and Partner at the leading Criminal Defence firm Rahman Ravelli Solicitors, specialising in Human Rights, Financial Crime and Large Scale Conspiracies/Serious crime. Rahman Ravelli are members of the Specialist Fraud Panel and have been ranked by Legal 500 as an ‘exceptional’ firm with Aziz Rahman being described as ‘top class’’. The firm is also ranked in Chambers & Partners. Rahman Ravelli are a Top Tier and Band 1 firm.

Jonathan Lennon and Aziz Rahman

Defence StatementsThe right approach in complex cases

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Any discussion about Defence Statements involves dealing generally with disclosure in criminal litigation. All of the official guidance documents and all of the important case-law on the topic refer to one leading case - it is the seminal case on disclosure and Public Interest Immunity (PII); R v H & C [2004] 2 Cr. App. R 179. The authors represented ‘H’ in that case.

The CPIA 1996The Criminal Prosecution & Investigations Act 1996 (CPIA) sets out the framework for prosecution and defence disclosure in criminal litigation. The Act is the starting point and then there is the Code of Practice (“COP”) made under it. After R v H & C the Attorney General issued his own ‘Guidelines’ in 2005 and there have been numerous other guidance documents since; including Lord Justice Gross’ Review of Disclosure in September 2011 which led to a re-writing of the Attorney General’s Guidelines on Disclosure (see December 2013 edition). The ‘AG’s Guidelines’ frequently arise in arguments about the quality of disclosure in large cases.

Section 6A of the Act deals with the contents of the Defence Statement. The Defence Statement must set out; the nature of the accused’s defence, including any particular defences upon which he intends to rely; the matters of fact on which he takes issue with the prosecution - and why; particulars of the matters of fact on which he intends to rely on in his defence any points of law which he wishes to raise and also notification of the details of any defence witnesses sought to be relied upon by the defence (s6C). The degree of detail now required in a Defence Statement is much more so than was originally the practice when the Act first came into force. In R v Bryant [2005] EWCA Crim 2079 the Court of Appeal was critical of a DCS that consisted merely of a gen-eralised denial of guilt accompanied by a state-ment that the defendant took issue with any witness giving evidence to the contrary - this was said to be ‘woefully inadequate’.

The problem for a defendant is that getting it wrong may not only lead to cross-examination about why he is saying something ‘different’ to the jury than he put in writing, but it can have a huge impact on what disclosure will be given by the prosecution.

Issues arising in complex casesThe issue that most frequently arises in long and complex cases is disclosure of “unused” materi-al held by the prosecution - in other words the material the investigators have obtained but are not using to support their case.

By s3 of the Act the prosecution must “disclose to the accused any prosecution material which has not been previously disclosed to the accused and which might reasonably be considered capa-ble of undermining the case for the prosecution against the accused, or of assisting the case for the accused.” In deciding what material passes this test the prosecution consider the Defence Statement. So in a simple case if X says it was B that stabbed A, not me, then any material tending to suggest that B was at the scene of the crime or is a violent man must be disclosed to X. But what if X is not charged with GBH - what if he is charged with involvement in a conspiracy to defraud case

involving a complex scheme that is, according to HMRC, a tax scam designed to rip-off the public purse? These scenarios are frequent enough. Usually a great deal of the facts will not be in dispute, what is in issue is something a lot more nebulous than whether X did something or not; the issue will be dishonesty. Advancing the defence case by maximising prosecution disclo-sure, when the real issue is dishonesty, means taking a very careful approach to the drafting of the Defence Statement.

In such circumstances an early consideration of why the Crown’s central theory is flawed must be considered in depth. For example, if a financial advisor has been running an investment scheme which HMRC suspect to be a tax dodge then the central question for the defence may well be (depending on the facts) why an alternative the-ory is more plausible - e.g. that X himself has been duped and did not know the real nature of the scheme. This in turn will lead onto disclosure of material tending to show that others who were also involved, but not charged, performed a sim-ilar role, or that others appear to be more likely candidates for the role - leading to disclosure of e.g. email correspondence between others reveal-ing discussions about an aspect of the fraud where X is not named or included when he perhaps shouldn’t be if what the Crown were alleging was true.

It will be seen then that in reality it is usually the position that the more complex the case the sim-pler the issues become - e.g. knowledge and dis-honesty - but the more difficult the disclosure is around those issues.

Digital materialA classic example of this is when investigators have seized numerous computers and discs etc. Most of that digital material will be ‘unused’, but it is in the used material that the defence will find hidden gems. There must then be thorough mech-anism so the defence at least know what the pros-ecution have - even if it’s not disclosed.

This is usually done with a schedule of unused material - basically a list of items arising from the investigation that are not part of the formal evi-dence in the case. The list is called an MG6C. The defence can ask for items from the MG6C which may, or may not, lead to the prosecution agreeing to disclose those items, depending on relevance (which will usually depend on the contents of the Defence Statement).

There have been significant problems with a num-ber of prosecutions where vast amounts of mate-rial have been seized by the investigators and then not used. How do the Crown go about listing what remains? The answer lies in fact in the AG’s Guidelines which effectively incorporates the Gross Review’s findings. Explaining how this works in detail is impossible in this short article but the upshot is that the defence can (and should) engage with the prosecution about how they should examine the computers that have been seized - e.g. use of key search words etc. This can present opportunities for the defence and a certain amount of tactical consideration will certainly apply. So, for example, if the prosecution persists with refusals to perfectly proper requests to exam-ine a computer for a certain key word, or look for a certain category of document, then a marker can be laid down with the Court that the defence are concerned about the disclosure process. Invariably there will be a point at which complaint can be made to the Court and, so long as the

disclosure request is well-founded, it is difficult for the Court not to order the prosecution to com-ply. That puts the pressure on the Crown - espe-cially if the refusals go back months and the prosecution are now under time constraints. There is no middle ground - either there is fair disclosure or there isn’t and if it’s the latter there cannot be a fair trial and if there cannot be a fair trial then the Court must adjourn or stop the case. The crit-ical document the Court will look at when con-sidering whether the disclosure requests are properly founded is the Defence Statement.

Third party agenciesInvestigators will frequently have to liaise with third party agencies before charge. In the case of X above the agency concerned may be, for exam-ple, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA”). It maybe that the defendant will have engaged with that body at length pre-charge and that body may have expertise about the issue in hand that the police/HMRC just do not have, or may know more about, e.g. the FCA has been looking into a sus-pected pensions fraud issue and interviewed a number of persons of interest under civil/regu-latory powers - this includes the defendant in what is now a criminal case.

Agencies like the FCA will often hand over very sizeable digital files of material to the prosecutors - of which only a portion is used in the case. This is fine - so long as there is a proper MG6C detail-ing what remains; if there isn’t one - it should be requested. Equally, the FCA, in our example, may have information which might help show that Mr. X was not the sort of candidate that they the reg-ulator were interested in. For example, the FCA may have investigated a number of pension scams but centred their investigations, not on those actually selling the schemes but on those who created the off-shore bank accounts and so on as they were the ones that could be demonstrated to have acted dishonestly.

A number of small points like that may help per-suade a jury that the experts who deal with these cases every day did not consider, or might not have considered the defendant to be the sort of man they were interested in and thus nor should the jury. Getting the ammunition to make that point though takes imagination and experience in the drafting the of the Defence Statement.

When drafting the Defence Statement must be bourne in mind there are duties under the COP to pursue “all reasonable lines of enquiry” and to retain material (COP; paras 3.5 and 5.1). Thus a defendant can force the prosecution to go to the third party agency and obtain the material that is needed to make these sorts of points.

In short, as always, the key is up-front prepara-tion. The drafting of the Defence Statement may very well end up being the single most important piece of work that the defence have to undertake - it requires judgment and expertise.

Insidetime January 2018Legal // Q&A42 ‘Legal’, Inside Time, Botley Mills, Botley, Southampton, Hampshire SO30 2GB.

specific records or that retention may be required for operational or legal purposes. So, in answer to your ques-tion the mobile phone companies are supposed to retain the data for twelve months prior to destroying it in cases where no interest has been shown in the evidence. If, however, the data is requested then there is an obligation to produce a golden copy and this must be preserved permanently. This gold copy must be tamper resistant.

Question 2: Initially I did not know the precise answer to this question and, as such, I contacted the Bar Standards Board (BSB) for clarification. In their response the BSB stated that they themselves keep no record of how many cases a barrister undertakes, and neither is the barrister themselves required to maintain a record of how many cases they have completed. So, in answer to your question it is unlikely that you will be able to find out how many cases a particular barrister has undertaken. You may wish to ask the barrister in question himself, but un-less he keeps a record of it the likeli-hood is that he will not have this in-formation due to the volume of cases they undertake a year. If you are seek-ing to find out how experienced your barrister is, then it may be worthwhile to check the year of their call to the Bar, this will give you an idea of how long they have been practicing and therefore gives some guidance on how experienced they are. Response by Kesar & Co Solicitors

MM - HMP Holme House Q Would you be able to answer the following questions please. 1: How long are mobile phone companies supposed to save telephone mobile phone data records according to the Communication Data Laws? 2: Are there set procedures or codes of conduct set by the Bar Standards Board which enables an individual to find out how many trials are con-ducted by a particular barrister?

A Question 1: When it comes to mobile phone data, this evidence will usually be retained by the Communications Service Provider. The evidence re-tained will include telephone num-bers, name and address of the regis-tered user, SMS, MMS, images and audio notes. In addition, they save the International Mobile Subscriber Identity of the calling and called party (unique to each mobile phone user contained on the SIM). It is also pos-sible to obtain the Location label (Cell ID) at the start and end of the com-munication and data mapping be-tween Cell IDs and their geographic location at the start and end of the communication.

The operational/working copies of the relevant telecommunication re-cords will typically be retained for between six and 12 months following point of creation. After the twelve months have elapsed, the records will be permanently erased, unless a party has informed the Communications Service Provider of their interest in

Answers are kindly provided by:Hine SolicitorsStevens SolicitorsKesar & Co SolicitorsMKS Law Solicitors Pickup & Scott Solicitors

Answers to readers’ legal queries are given on a strictly without liability basis. If you propose acting upon any of the opinions that appear, you must first take legal advice.

Send your Prison Law Query (concise and clearly marked ‘Prison Law Query’) to: David Wells, Solicitor c/o Inside Time, Botley Mills, Botley, Southampton, Hampshire SO30 2GB.

For a prompt response, readers are asked to send their queries on white paper using black ink or typed if possible.

Prison Law

Name supplied - HMP Parc Q Is it correct that you can apply for Cat D 2 years before your PED or CRD when you have an Extended Determinate Sentence? And does this apply to Sex Offenders that are still claiming their innocence? Also who decides if I am suitable for open conditions?

A As a determinate sentence prisoner, it is a matter for the prison as to wheth-er you are to be transferred to open conditions. The prison will take into account the risk of escape or abscond from custody, the risk you pose to the public should you do so and also any compliance issues in relation to your conduct in custody. The prison will essentially be looking at evidence of a reduction in risk and also good be-haviour whilst in custody. The nature of the offence is only relevant as far as risk goes. Whilst those prisoners who maintain their innocence may find it more difficult to demonstrate a reduction in their risk there are ar-guments which can be presented for suitability in open conditions.

In addition you also request clarifi-cation as to whether, as an Extended Determinate Sentence prisoner, you would be eligible for Category D status two years prior to your Parole Eligibility Date or Conditional Release Date. The PSI in relation to Re-Categorisation is not clear in relation to this. The guidance suggests that a prisoner should spend no more than 2 years in open conditions. Given the poten-tial for release at the Parole Eligibility Date there is an argument to be had

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Sentence too long?Wrongly convicted?

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that a prisoner can be progressed two years prior to this date. Response provided by Hine Solicitors

KL - HMP Frankland Q Is it legal for Probation/Offender Management service to put on my OASys charges that I received in Scotland but were later dropped?

A Information included with the OASys is obtained from a number of sources. PSO 2205 paragraph 94. states “Before the Assessor commences the assessment, the Clerk must collect as much relevant written information as possible from the F2050 core re-cord, the Sentence Planning file, residential unit records, and any other sources in addition to the RFI respons-es.” Therefore, it is unsurprising your previous convictions from Scotland are included with the dossier. However, if convictions were overturned this should be clearly stated and reflected within the assessment.

If the fact these convictions were overturned has not been detailed in the OASys then you should, in the first instance inform your Offender Manager. If you are not satisfied with their re-sponse, then you can request the matter be escalated within the Probation Service. If they fail to investigate the matter further, you can take the matter to the Ombudsman by sending a letter out-lining your problem to: Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, PO Box 70769, London, SE1P 4XY.

Response by Pickup & Scott Solicitors

Insidetime January 2018 Legal // Q&A 43‘Legal’, Inside Time, Botley Mills, Botley, Southampton, Hampshire SO30 2GB.

SentencingAnswers this month were kindly provided by:Jason Elliott, a barrister at Jason Elliott Associates Ltd, a barrister led entity specialising in Prison Law and Criminal Appeals.

Answers to readers’ legal queries are given on a strictly without liability basis. Send your Sentencing Query (concise and clearly marked ‘Sentencing Query’)to: Inside Time, Botley Mills, Botley, Southampton, Hampshire SO30 2GB. For a prompt response, readers are asked to send their queries on white paper using black ink or typed if possible.

Q I’m a burglar by trade, but the trouble is that I keep get-ting caught and the sentences keep getting longer and longer. I’ve just been arrested and remanded again. My bar-rister came to see me and she said that the Sentencing Guidelines don’t apply in a case like mine. Is that true?

A Section 125(1) Coroners and Justice Act 2009 provides that when sentencing offences com-mitted after 6th April 2010 Judges have to follow any sen-tencing guideline which is relevant to the offender’s case “unless the court is satisfied that it would be contrary to the interests of justice to do so.”

As you probably appreciate, a Court sentencing an offender for a third qualifying domestic burglary, the Court must im-pose a sentence of at least 3 years “unless it is satisfied that there are particular circum-stances which relate to any of the offences or the offender which would make it unjust to do so.” (Section 111 Powers of the Criminal Courts[Sentencing] Act 2000).

When passing a sentence for offences of burglary, the first step is to determine the starting point and category by reference to harm and culpability. The sentencing guideline contains a definitive list of factors that

are relevant for these purposes. Your history of previous offend-ing isn’t a relevant factor for these purposes. However, once the Judge has decided on a category range and starting point, he or she will then con-sider what factors aggravate or mitigate the sentence. These factors result in an upward or downward adjustment to sen-tence. The Guideline specifi-cally says in this context that “In particular, relevant recent convictions are likely to result in an upward adjustment. In some cases, having considered these factors, it may be appro-priate to move outside the identified category range.”

The Court of Appeal recently considered this issue in R v Spence [2017] EWCA Crim 904. The sentencing Judge had im-posed a sentence of 5 years following a guilty plea for an offence that was accepted to fall within Category 2 of the Guidelines. The appellant had 34 convictions for 80 offences, and had been released from prison around 4 weeks prior to the commission of the index offence. The Judge decided to pass a sentence outside the Guidelines. The Court set out the appropriate way of sentencing in cases where the starting point suggested by the Guidelines was less than the ‘mandatory’ minimum sentence -

“…The judge should have con-sidered the guidelines having identified this as a Category 2 offence by reason of greater harm but lower culpability. He should then have identified any additional aggravating and mitigating factors, coming to a figure from which he should have deducted credit for the guilty plea, and then ensured it was not less than the mini-mum provided for by the stat-ute in these circumstances.” [6]

The Court said that there was no need to sentence outside the Guidelines because the previous convictions and the fact that the offence had been committed whilst on licence were aggravating features that could elevate a Category 2 of-fence into Category 1.

Applying this process but then allowing appropriate credit for a guilty plea, the Court reduced the sentence to 40 months.

Q I didn’t tell the Social that my partner had moved in with me. When they found out they said that I wouldn’t have been entitled to my benefits if I’d been honest about our joint income, and that I’d received more than £29,000 that I shouldn’t have. I pleaded guilty at the earliest oppor-tunity and my lawyers ex-plained that I was very sorry.

I was sentenced to 3 years. Should I appeal? A In R v Hedman [2017] EWCA Crim 830, the appellant was convicted of 5 counts of dis-honestly failing to notify a change in circumstances. She received a 20 months prison term. The offending related to a failure to notify that she had savings in excess of the thresh-old for receipt of the permitted limit. The benefits that the appellant had received totalled £30,527.81, of which £500 had been returned. The fraud had carried on for about 5 years.

The Court of Appeal pointed to the Sentencing Guidelines for offences between £10,000 and £50,000 which ranged from a medium level community order to 21 months custody. The starting point of 26 weeks was based on a fraud of £30,000.

The appellant didn’t have any relevant previous convictions and was the sole primary carer for dependent relatives.

The Court pointed out that a sentence of 20 months was at the upper end of the sentencing bracket and was excessive. They substituted a sentence of 15 months.

You should certainly seek ad-vice on appeal.

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Insidetime January 2018Jailbreak // Fitness44 www.insidetime.org

Cat (breathe out) Cow (breathe in)Flow slowly between these poses in time with the breath, ten times.

Tree Five breaths each side.

Down Dog Five breaths.

Seated TwistFive breaths each side.

Boat Build up to five breaths.

Warrior 2Five breaths each side.

Bridge Lie on your back with your feet close to your bum then push your hips up. Stay for three breaths, then careful-ly lower yourself down. Repeat another two times.

TriangleFive breaths each side.

Forward BendFive slow breaths. Bend your knees if it’s more comfortable.

Rest Lie like this for a few minutes, letting your body settle after all the good work it has done.

Sitting Sit upright, either on a pillow or on a chair or the edge of your bed. Focus on the smoothness and feel of your natural breath, and count each breath. Count to ten breaths, on the out-breath, and then start again. Don’t worry if you lose count. Just start again at one. Do this for five minutes, gently bringing your attention back to your breath if it wanders off. Over time you may wish to build up to 25 minutes.

Start the day the right wayThe Prison Phoenix Trust

If you want a free book and CD to help you set up a regular yoga and medita-tion practice write to The Prison Phoenix Trust, PO Box 328, Oxford OX2 7HF.

Yoga can help you feel better, reducing pain and stiffness and helping you sleep. It can also make you feel calmer and happier, and put you in touch with your true self. Many people practise first thing in the morning because yoga can help you have the best possible day. Things may still occur that you’d rather not have happen, but you’ll be in a better place to respond with your own wisdom and creativity. Try this routine every day for a week, and let us know how you get on.

Runners CornerRunning is free, you can do it anywhere, and it burns more calories than any other mainstream exercise

Prisoners and staff at HMP Haverigg in Cumbria took part in the first ever prison based parkrun on a cold Saturday morning last November. Parkrun UK said there are more than 670 of the 5km and 2km runs held every Saturday but this is the first time it has been held in a prison. The run at Haverigg has been called the Black Combe parkrun after a nearby hill which can be seen from the Category C prison.

Shane Spencer, a PE supervis-ing officer who set up the run, s a id: “A pr i s on s u r ve y revealed that prisoners want-ed to add an open air run to their usual weights routine, so the prospect of starting a parkrun in our prison seemed like an exciting opportunity to deliver something unique to both prisoners and staff.” Spencer, who has worked in prisons for more than 20 years, came up with the idea after a survey revealed that

48% of prisoners didn’t attend t he pr ison g y m, most ly because they lacked confi-dence or motivation.

He wanted to encourage pris-oners to get more active and, so far, there has been plenty of enthusiasm for the Black Combe parkrun. The run involves just under seven laps of the prison’s enclosed sports field, with times tracked via barcode, and uploaded on to the parkrun website each week. Staff and prisoners take part and volunteer to coordi-nate the event.

Spencer says the first prison parkrun saw 20 prisoners tak-ing part, all of different levels of ability and experience, organised by six volunteer prisoners. “Everyone finished and took a lot of pride in that. What will stay with me for a long time was the prisoner who was the final finisher,” Spencer adds. “He was given a spontaneous guard of hon-our by everyone. It was his first time running and a huge achievement.”

In the weeks following the run Spencer says the wing staff have reported the event is

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Running needs no special equipment

already having a knock-on effect on runners’ moods and behaviour. Some have started training on treadmills during the week to maximise their chances of getting a personal best on a Saturday, while oth-ers are encouraging fellow prisoners to make healthier lifestyle choices, such as giv-ing up smoking.

Rosie Meek, professor in the School of Law at Roya l Holloway University of London and author of Sport in Prison, says sport can provide a wel-come escape for prisoners, but also has broader benefits. During the London 2012 Olympics, she co-authored a report with the Prisoners Education Trust that found sport could be used to engage prisoners in education and stop re-offending. Meek has since been commissioned by the government to carry out a review into sport provision in the youth justice system.

“Prisons are extraordinary, often violent and grim places, and for many the opportunity to visit the prison gym, take part in sport and generally let off some steam is a critical aspect of coping with incar-ceration,” she says. “Many prisoners and ex-prisoners describe how involvement in sport not only motivated them and provided them with the support to identify positive and alternative futures, but also enabled them to chal-lenge their attitudes towards crime, encouraging them to adopt an alternative lifestyle upon release.”

Parkrun UK said six other prisons have expressed an interest in holding parkruns in the future.

Does your prison host parkrun events? If not, why not? If this is something that interests you why not speak to gym staff - and get parkrunning!

A run in the park

Insidetime January 2018 Jailbreak // Fitness 45www.insidetime.org

Cell WorkoutGet the body you want Inside & Out

Cell Workout by LJ FlandersA bodyweight training guide designed for use in a prison cell. This 234 page book will guide you with step-by-step instructions performing 204 exercises, with photographs and sample workouts. The exercises are suitable for any age, ability and fitness level and offers progression for everyone.

Price: £16.99 ISBN: 9781473656017 Publisher: Hodder & Stoughtonwww.cell-workout.com

“Life is uncharted territory. It reveals its story one moment at a time”. Leo Buscaglia

A Landmark YearSo here we are at the end of another year, and like most people it is a time for reflection. Was it a good year? Did I achieve what I hoped to? What is the coming year looking like?

Part of having your own business is not knowing how things will develop. As I’ve found this can bring a lot of uncertainty, but that’s how it has been for the last five years since I left prison.

Each step of the way I’ve not known what to expect and had to find out as I go along, taking one step at a time. Getting the book finished was a pivotal moment and at that time I didn’t know where that would lead. Then this past year, I have focussed on developing the Cell Workout Workshop.

This time last year I was preparing to start work in HMP Wandsworth. I can’t deny that I was nervous. I had a vision of how the Workshop would work, but how would the men and staff respond to me? As an ex-offender going back in, lots of people were putting their trust and belief in me and I didn’t want to let them down. I was determined to make it work and the eval-uation of the Workshop shows that the response and the results exceeded my expectations.

The year certainly ended well, in November I was amazed to receive 2 awards in one week - The Prince’s Trust Enterprise Award East of England 2017, and the Criminal Justice Alliance Outstanding Individual of the Year 2017.

But whilst my name is on the awards, it has all been made possible by the continued help and support of all those people who have been around me and helped it succeed. I can’t thank you all enough.

So now what? Now it’s time to plan the next steps. What’s in the pipeline for 2018?

I hope to expand the Cell Workout Workshops into other prisons, being delivered by serving Cell Workout assistants in conjunction with prison staff. This would give more people in prison the opportunity to be encouraged to feel the positive benefits of exercise and personal achievement, to prepare for an optimistic 2018.

Also the designs are coming along nicely for the Cell Workout Athleisure range which I hope will hit stores next year. I’ll elaborate more when I have news of how it’s going.

But the main aim for 2018, which is the most important, is to employ people leaving prison as Cell Workout Trainers, for work in the com-munity. Giving people the second chance the manager at Virgin Active gave me.

So plenty to be getting on with, and as ever, more challenges and uncharted territory to get stuck into.

Finally, I would like to wish you all a positive, healthy and happy new year. If ever there was a time to get planning for your future, it was yesterday.

L.J.

We’ve turned Mark’s story into a mini radio drama exclusive-ly for NPR. Tune into Porridge from 8th - 12th January at 7am and 11am to hear it. 

It might not be that obvious, but anyone who’s lending money without a license is a loan shark. And as we’ll hear, things can start off very friend-ly but can quickly change. 

“These people were knocking on her door at 2, 3 o’clock in the morning… it was horrible because I saw my friend from a confident person going down to a meek, very timid, very shy very reserved person that’s even frightened to go outside.”  

Rob’s storyRob was only serving a short sentence, but his family didn’t realise how much of an impact it would have on their fi nances. 

Feeling desperate and not knowing where to go for help, Rob asked a bloke in the same prison if he could lend him money. Just one week later, he really regretted it.  

Hear Rob’s story throughout the day on NPR, starting 8th January. 

Insidetime January 2018Jailbreak 46 www.insidetime.org

Double Bubble can be Big Trouble

Lich does timePrisoner arts project allowed men to share their experiences with their families

Are you or your family a bit short of money?

When you’re inside, it can be very tempting to borrow a bit of cash to get you to the end of the week. And for families on the out, the weeks after Christmas can be especially tough. 

But if you’re not careful, you can quickly land yourself in a lot of trouble. 

This month on National Prison Radio and Straightline, we’re working with the Stop Loan Sharks campaign to hear sto-ries of people who’ve bor-rowed from loan sharks. 

Mark’s storyMark borrowed some money in prison to help his family on the out. Double bubble, plus any costs incurred for collection. 

By the end of the third month, Mark’s wife couldn’t afford the repayments and the children were suffering. When she refused to pay, things got real-ly bad for her on the out. 

And it’s not just in prison that you might need to borrow money. Getting out can be an especially diffi cult time for your fi nances, and many people end up borrowing from loan sharks to get by. 

We’ll hear more about that throughout the day on NPR, and in a brand new video you can fi nd on our Straightline platform. 

Matthew’s storyMatthew turned to a loan shark when he got out of prison. It didn’t take long before the debt added up. 

“Say you had £100, next week you’d owe £200, but if you didn’t have the money the next week you’d owe £400. He’d make all sorts of threats - break my legs, break my arms, do stuff to my family, put my windows through”.

See what happened to Matthew in our latest video at www.wearestraightline.com when you get out - or tell your fami-ly and friends about it. 

We’ll also be hearing about the places you can borrow (and save) money, so you don’t have to turn to loan sharks. 

So make sure you tune into National Prison Radio from Monday 8th January to hear other prisoners sharing their stories. And if you’re getting out, check out www.weare-straightline.com - or tell your family and friends about it. 

If you or your family are wor-ried about Loan Sharks, you can call the Illegal Money Lending Team on 0300 555 2222 for confidential advice. You don’t need to add the num-ber to your pin, and you don’t have to tell them your name. 

Prisoners who can read teach prisoners who can’t

If you would like more information on how to become involved, as either a Mentor or a Learner, contact the Reading Plan Lead in your prison (ask a Shannon Trust Mentor who this is) or write to: Shannon Trust, Freepost RTKY-RUXG-KGYH The Foundry, 17-19 Oval Way, LONDON SE11 5RR.

ShannonTrust

TurningPages

Artwork inspired by an exhi-bition last December at Tate Liverpool: ‘Artist Rooms: Roy Lichtenstein in Focus’ was produced and exhibited at the Tate by men f rom H M P Liverpool, HMP Thorn Cross,

HMP Garth, HMP Altcourse and HMP Hindley. Through the art prisoners were allowed to introduce their relatives to the prison environment dur-ing family days by talking about the pieces they had pro-duced. Barbara McDonough, Chief Operating Officer for Novus, the learning and skills provider who facilitated the project said, “This has been a valuable project in supporting the work we already do with

in the project, spoke about what he felt both himself and his family had gained from the opportunity. “The project gave us one on one time with our families and allowed us to share our newly acquired skills. My children enjoyed it immensely and I felt proud I’d been able to teach them new skills. It really helps to strength-en the bonds between families and gives us the opportunity to realise the potential our children possess.”

“There are so many dif-ferent skills the men bring to the class. The men in my class wanted to put across the reality of their experience.” Gaynor, who teaches art to City and Guilds stand-ard at HMP Garth

“There are a lot of men with talent in prison, but I think they don’t always realise it.” Andrea, who has taught art at HMP Liverpool for 6 years

families and we would like to thank Tate Liverpool for their support in hosting the pres-entation of artwork.”

One of the men who took part

Art inside - “a valuable project”

Through the spyhole

Emile Zola

“My children enjoyed it immensely”

A prisoner’s perspective

Captain Alfred Dreyfus

Insidetime January 2018 Jailbreak// Inside History 47www.insidetime.org

HMP Isle of Wight, Albany Barracks, is a Category B men’s prison situated on the out-skirts of Newport on the Isle of Wight. The prison is located next to Parkhurst prison and together they form HMP Isle of Wight. In the 1980s/90s Albany had the unenviable reputa-tion as the most violent Dispersal prison in the country, before it was downgraded to a Category B Training prison.

The prison was originally designed and built as a Category C Training prison in the early 1960s, and it occupied a site previously known as Albany Barracks. Soon after the prison opened in 1967, a decision was made to upgrade the jail to a Category B prison. Then, in 1970, Albany was upgraded further to a Category A prison and became part of the Dispersal System.

Top securityThe Dispersal System was one of Mountbatten’s recommendations from his inquiry into prison security following several high-profile escapes and disturbances in various prisons. It was thought that designating up to six top-securi-ty prisons as suitable for the most dangerous and recalcitrant prisoners would allow the authorities to ‘disperse’ their problem prison-ers at short notice.

The prison suffered major disturbances in 1972 that closed most of the prison for over a year. The effects of that riot were still being felt 18-years later as Albany operated a ‘Mop and Slop’ routine, meaning that only two out of every three landings were allowed out for asso-ciation at the same time on a rota basis. So, the inmates who were kept locked up during asso-ciation were allowed out three at a time in order to get water and empty their piss-buckets.

Fire-bombAs a top-security Dispersal prison, Albany housed many IRA men once they had been moved from the SSU’s (Special Secure Units) in other jails. In 1990, the IRA prisoners were suspected (though it was never proven) of plant-ing a fire-bomb on a timer in the television room on A-wing. The bomb was timed to go off when the prisoners were on association, but the fuse was faulty, and it actually exploded when all the prisoners were locked in their cells. Luckily, most of the staff were gathered at the main gate of the prison preparing to leave

Today, Emile Zola has written and made public an accusa-tion over the conviction and imprisonment, by the French Army, of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, who was accused of treason. This story began at the end of 1894, when Dreyfus, a graduate of the Ecole Polytechnique and a Jew of Alsatian origin, was accused of handing secret documents to the Imperial German military. After a closed trial, he was found guilty of treason and sen-tenced to prison for life. He was sent to Devil’s Island. At that time, the opinion of the French political class was unanimously unfavourable towards Dreyfus.

After being sentenced to life, Dreyfus was taken to a cere-mony of degradation at the Ecole Militaire on 5 January 1895, stripped of his epau-lettes and other insignia of rank, and then paraded before the crowd to chants of: “Death to Judas, death to the Jew.” Because the death penalty for treason during peacetime had been abolished in 1848, he was taken to Devil’s Island, off the coast of French Guiana, to be held in solitary confine-ment for life.

Certain of the injustice of the sentence, the family of the Captain, through his broth-

Noel Smith

Behind the gateThe life and infamous times of Britain’s prisons: this month HMP Isle of WightI accuse!

Celebrated novelist Zola attacks French army over Dreyfus

when the alarm went up. They rushed back to A-Wing and unlocked the prisoners and trans-ferred them outside to a secure exercise yard whilst the Fire Brigade fought the fire. Had the bomb exploded 10-minutes later dozens of prisoners may have burned to death in their cells. Ironically, when work was done on the prison’s exercise field in the 1990s, a number of live grenades were found buried from the days before the prison was built and it was an army barracks.

New nameIn 1992, Albany was designated a Category B Closed Training Prison that no longer accepted Category A prisoners. It was taken out of the Dispersal System. In January 1998, the prison was changed again, and was designated a sex-offender and vulnerable prisoner prison.In October 2008, it was announced that the name Albany would be lost, along with the names of the two other prisons on the island, Parkhurst and Camp Hill. The three prisons would now be collectively known as HMP Isle of Wight.

Albany now holds Category B and C sex-offend-ers and vulnerable prisoners. There are 6 wings, all identical, and hold prisoners in sin-gle cells with no in-cell sanitation. The Isle of Wight College provides education at the prison, including Basic and Key Skills, Art and Craft, IT, Food Hygiene, and Business Studies. There are also vocational training courses in Bricklaying, Painting & Decorating, Horticulture, Industrial Cleaning, Woodwork and Tailoring.

On this day… 13th January 1898

er Mathieu, worked with the journalist Bernard Lazare to prove his innocence. Meanwhile Colonel  Georges Picquart, head of counter-espionage, found evidence in March 1896 indicating that the real traitor was Major Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy.

In July 1897 the Dreyfus family contacted the President of the Senate to draw attention to the tenuousness of the evidence against Alfred Dreyfus, while the circle of ‘Dreyfusards,’ as the supporters of Dreyfus became known widened. Today,

novelist Emile Zola, has pub-lished ‘J’ Accuse…!’ (I accuse…!), a Dreyfusard declaration designed to rally more intel-lectuals to the Dreyfus cause.

Zola strongly defends Alfred Dreyfus and all of French jus-tice, stating, “These, Sir, are the facts that explain how this miscarriage of justice came about; The evidence of Dreyfus’s character, his affluence, the lack of motive and his contin-ued affirmation of innocence combine to show that he is the victim of the lurid imagination of Major du Paty de Clam, (Dreyfus’ accuser) the religious circles surrounding him, and the ‘dirty Jew’ obsession that is the scourge of our time.”

After more investigation, Zola points out that a man by the name of Major Esterhazy was the individual who should have been convicted of this crime, and there was proof provided, but he could not be found guilty unless the entire General Staff was found guilty, so the War Office cov-ered up for Esterhazy.

“We are not in the presence of a commonplace crime, of

which we know neither the particualars or the ramifica-tions. In this case they are known, and so the truth can be discovered whenever an honest effort is made. However the method matters nothing to me. What bewilders my mind and reason is that they have not yet succeeded in

clearing up this horrible mys-tery. What a life for a man who placed no one’s integrity above his own! Death would be a blessing, yet I have not even the right to think of it.”

Zola’s final accusations were to the first court martial for violating the law by convicting Alfred Dreyfus on the basis of a document that was kept secret, and to the second court martial for committing the  judi-cial crime of knowingly acquit-ting Major Esterhazy, the real author of the forged letter.

The Dreyfus Affair occurred within the context of the annexation of  Alsace  and Moselle by the Germans, an event that fed the most extreme nationalism. The traumatic defeat in 1870 seemed far away, but a vengeful spirit remained. Many participants in the Dreyfus Affair were also Alsatian.

Editorial Note Alfred Dreyfus was eventually exonerated af ter ser ving almost five years in the noto-rious Devil’s Island prison. His story is told in the gripping book Prisoners of Honour by David Levering Lewis.

Entrance to Albany Barracks circa 1910

Extract from Dreyfus’ diary in which he laments the evidence of the forged letter which condemned him.

September 22, 1895“Palpitations of the heart all last night. Consequently I am very weak this morning. Condemned on the evidence of handwriting, it will soon be a year since I asked for justice, and the justice I demand is the unmasking of the wretch who wrote that infamous letter.”

Emile Zola

Captain Alfred Dreyfus

Devil’s Island: prison at the edge of the world

Insidetime January 2018Jailbreak // Inside Poetry48 www.insidetime.org

Star Poem of the MonthCongratulations to this months winner who receives our £25 prize

Here at Hindley Joseph Light - HMP Hindley

Here at Hindley we’re banged up on a regular basisBut it doesn’t really matter as most of us are on basicAt the start of my sentence I really did hate itAsk the screws anything they treat it like briberyThis jails a joke, it ain’t even got a library

Somethings always going on, you can bank on the next thingThat’s day to day life for people here on the F wingIt’s sad when the radio stations are the best thingRadio1xtra’s the only thing that’s interestingUnless you’re dying don’t get on your bellOr you’ll get a screw shouting, and IEP as well

People playing pool wait half an hour for a gameI guess it’s a good thing jail’s driving me insaneCos guarantee they won’t ever see me againOut of everything the bad food is the biggest pain

Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time, it’s simple and plainIf there’s no instructions then how is life a game?I’ve had a t-shirt robbed and missing some socksIf your pads open best hide your coco popsThings will get worse once the smoking stopsOne more year to go, at least I ain’t got lotsThe screws can lock the locks but they can’t stop the clocks

Old MacDonald Tiffany-Louise Scott - HMP Edinburgh

There was once a farmer called MacDonald, and old MacDonald had a farmHe earned his living rearing livestock, but then his animals came to harmFollowing years of antibiotic misuse, his livestock no longer existedOnce upon a time they fought the bugs, but now the bugs resistedHis cattle caught TB and no longer mooed but croakedTheir lungs filled with fluid and they chokedE. coli got the 3 little pigs and didn’t go to marketThey have been burned and buried; ordered by the vet, stop the infection threat

MacDonald’s daughter Mary had a little lamb and lots of sheepBut the government hadn’t paid his subsidies, so MacDonald had to feed them on the cheapThe dodgy feed was infected with anthrax and through the flock it sweptNow Mary had no sheep to count, so just lay in bed and weptShe missed her little lamb and a sheep called Ba Ba BlackSoon she developed depression, another slave to Lilly’s Prozac

Without any animals to sell, MacDonald fell into debtIt put strain on the marriage between him and JeanetteHe felt that his only escape from the mess was if he wound up deadSo he took his shotgun out of its case and walked down to the shedHe put the butt of the gun on the floor and the end of the barrel to his headPushed the trigger with his toes and blew his brain full of lead Now MacDonald and his farm are gone but it’s not just his head he left in bitsThere’s Jeanette and Mary, homeless and broke, surviving on food banks and benefits

Just a little David Sopp - HMP Wymott

I’m just a little sad todayBlack dog is at the window And he just won’t go awayI’ve kept him in the yard all weekThat’s why I’ve been so positiveAnd finally got some sleepSo, I’m keeping black dog out my headAnd out my cellAnd as long as he’s out there I know I will be wellSo sorry dog, I’m having it my wayYou’re not coming inI’m just a little sad today

My Story So Far Linda Taylor - HMP Eastwood Park

My life so far has been a jokeBut not a funny oneBut I’ve no-one else to blame but me For all the things I’ve done

The drinking at just age 14It really helped me copeBut soon that weren’t enough for meSo started smoking dope

It was at this age that I left homeAnd moved in with this ladAlthough he was on drugs himselfHe was the only friend I had

So there I was, still just a kidOn LSD and pillsSuddenly I’m 17And needing bigger thrills

One year on my boyfriend nowHad just got out of jailIntroducing me to heroinA living nightmare, hell

And just when things got real badThey suddenly got worseI started begging at this pointFor change to fill my purse

I’d already sold my soul for gearSo why not sell myself?Although it did repulse meIt was my first track to wealth

So, at 22 I had a girlHer name was Shannon MarieBut was adopted at just 4 years-oldAway from my sick family

It broke my heart and tore my soulBut I could not get her backMy life ended on that daySo to live I turned to crack

With just ONE pipe I found it madeThe heartache not so badIt took away my memoriesThe worst I’d ever had

My addiction spiralled out of controlIt gripped me hard and fastBut the drugs have been my only wayThat I’ve survived my kind of past

Now I’m 35 and sat in jailA year and a bit left to goBut this is one place I will never returnIt’s part of me no-one will know

Someone like meTony Joyce - HMP Littlehey

Thought I was different since I was three; pushed around homes from A to BNobody liked or wanted me, lots of other kids - but not someone like meNever had a thought or a feeling, didn’t care a damn when out stealingOn the street wheeling and dealing, at nine a life of crime seemed more appealingEvery day for survival I fought and fought, friendship was never something I soughtLove and affection never in my thought, didn’t affect me until I got caughtTeenage years, another home, but with bars, a sentence for theft, drugs, twocking carsReleased and homeless, slept under the stars, until the army took me to fight in their warsLearned how to fight, taught how to kill, learned how to survive, taught a new skill Mentally detached, found a new thrill, didn’t know the effect was making me illDischarged and homeless; slept on the street, just the clothes on my back, the boots on my feetSpat on and degraded by the people I’d meet, filthy and dirty in the summer heatUsed my skills to fight off attention, the man tried to steal my army pensionA release of all my pent-up tension, now a permanent life of detentionAfter years inside and a lack of care, it dawned on me it was no different out thereSome in here have the same path to share, secrets once kept now secrets laid bareA life of being used: a tick box system, a piece of material; yet another victimA society that used both me and him, until I’ve lost both life and limbNow, after all those years I failed to see, I’m surrounded more and more with someone like me

Bob the Ferret Bryan Carter - HMP Frankland

A flurry of fur shot past my shoeI was not aware what a ferret could doMy Pepsi went left and bounced off the breadAs the half-eaten sandwich stuck straight to my head

Bob, as I called him, continued to runAs quick as a bullet expelled from a gunHe aimed for the window and ran up the drapesMy grandmother screamed but continued to gape

The neighbouring cat, who liked to be strokedEscaped up the chimney like a puff of white smokeI leapt with a towel, with thoughts of a trapBut my nose hit the ceiling with a sickening snap

Bob came back, passed me, perhaps for a lookI sensed that he smiled at my blood on his footHe danced through the kitchen and on through the hallI followed behind with my third and fourth fall

I believed I had got him as he dived in the bathBut a tap caught my backside, he made me look daftI broke 13 teacups, a vase and a bowlI crashed down the stairs and continued to roll

I noticed the gap in the almost closed doorAs I managed more kisses on the well-polished floorHe zigged down the garden and zagged up a treeAnd I made a promise, no ferrets for me

Where heart belongsCharles Sharp - HMP Wakefield

Cups of teaPlaster on my bloody kneeSister screamingLooking through a bedroom window dreamingMother holding, father scolding How day maps on the table unfoldingMaking tents in a winter gardenBurping and begging the vicars pardonSniggering at a saucy remarkTaking the dog for a walk in the park Ice cream on a summer Sunday Trying to sleep in on a MondayGrowing up and falling downTaking a girl on a date to townGoing to Uni but living at homeRunning up massive bills on the phoneBecoming a man, in all my gloryThis was the start of my personal storyI could never wait for the chance to roamWhat a fool I was, I long to be home

Y.O. Why Kristina Kilbane - HMP Whatton

I love prison ‘cos prison is greatI get a grin riding through the gatePrime real estate single cellAll mod cons, hooch as well

I love prison ‘cos prison is greatBuying selling, life is mashOrders by phone, delivery by droneI can’t help but make big cash

I love prison ‘cos prison is greatI get up gone half past eightGo to the gym then some PS2I stick my fingers up at you

I love prison ‘cos prison is greatI can’t hear mum and dad’s screamsArguing again knowing I’m next For a beating ‘cos he’s drunk again

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Insidetime January 2018 Jailbreak // Inside Poetry 49www.insidetime.org

u We will award a prize of £25 to the entry selected as our ‘Star Poem of the Month’. To qualify for a prize, poems should not have won a prize in any other competition or been published previously. Send entries to: Inside Time, Poetry, Botley Mills, Botley, Southampton, Hampshire, SO30 2GB.

It is very important that you ensure the following details are on all paperwork sent to Inside Time: YOUR NAME, PRISON NUMBER & PRISON. Failure to do so will prevent us responding to you and your submission being withheld from publication. We will be using the new ‘Money Transfer Service’ for prize money so include your DOB on your entries.

By submitting your poems to Inside Time you are agreeing that they can be published in any of our ‘not for profit links’, these include the newspaper, website and any forthcoming books. You are also giving permission for Inside Time to use their discretion in allowing other organisations to reproduce this work if considered appropriate, unless you have clearly stated that you do not want this to happen. Any work reproduced in other publications will be on a ‘not for profit’ basis. Please note poems for publication January be edited. When submitting your work please include the following permission: ‘This is my own work and I agree to Inside Time publishing it in all associate sites and other publications as appropriate.’

The Urge Frank Finlay - HMP Stafford

The urge has always been thereI’m cursed to crave, it looms!I used to feed it Chinese or pizzaAt work or in my room

The urge has always been thereFor a while it lived in cardsAnd the thrill of winning moneyBut found losing way too hard

The urge has always been thereFrom my teens, I’d drink and smokeAnd a while back things got darkerThanks to ecstasy and coke

The urge has always been thereIt’s a need to fill my timeBut having more time makes it harderAnd now my vice is books and rhyme

The urge is taking over!Now I need to read six books a weekTo improve upon my writingAnd stop the future looking bleak

The urge has always been thereA need to read and to createMy love of prose compels meAnd now I can hardly wait

Ctrl Alt Delete: Restart life Clint Thrust - HMP North Sea Camp

I am a dad of 3 beautiful daughtersBut now a father to noneMy mistakes have cost me all I hadNow I’m destined to a life aloneI was a proud family manWith a partner, a house, a job, a carBut the demons inside my head grew ever moreUntil I was all but goneToo afraid to ask for helpFrightened and ashamedI isolated myself awayFrom those who I loved the mostA shadow of my former selfFull of loneliness and fear Reality warped and twistedPerched on the sharp edge of despairMy mind so full of angerAnd inescapable painI make my flesh taste cold steelMy body cries red tears againI am alive but no longer hereMy soul inside a deliriumIn a conscious coma of nothingnessI exist, exiled in mental abyssDays are a constant struggleMy dreams are haunted by the pastWould it be better if I left this realm?And put an end to this false charadeThere is no turning backWhat’s done is forever doneI have to face the stranger in the mirrorAnd fight to let him goI carry with me these aging scarsWorn on the inside and the outForever there reminding meOf the man I used to beWho am I now, I do not knowI once had all I could ever wish for Tomorrow brings with it the same hurt as todayNo life for me no moreMy time spent at her majesty’s pleasureIs almost at an endAnd the world I once rejectedAwaits relentless behind the gateIt matters not who I once wasIt’s how it sees me nowUnable to atone for past mistakesI may as well bow outMy tears express my sorrowFor the people whose lives lay brokenI only hope to find a place outsideWhere I can finally rest, not woken

Don’t A.S.S.K Luke Dowdle - HMP Channings Wood

In the heat of the battleIn the thick of it allThere’s a great white hopeAn icon a symbolEspousing noise with poiseWith feeling and fervourBut wait she’s fakeAnd you can’t see the tailA new deceitCreated in hellRice paper for bannersAnd place cards built with plastic hammersWill become marginal and democracy optional The wool she uses is spunFrom her spleen and if greed is oneThen sex is twoForbes is the bible and her compound the placeMarble and oysters essential For the tyrant in lace

Figure of Speech Anon - HMP Risley

I feel claustrophobic in this cellNot due to lack of space for movement But because there’s no room for improvementI can get beat up and still be upbeatAn optimist trying to stay head strongBut it feels like I slept on my neck wrongI’m trapped in a shoving matchBecause push keeps coming to thatMe and my feelings are a bad combinationI keep my emotions locked in a vault so itsSafe to say I’m uncrackableThat’s just me, don’t try to fix me, I’m brokeI don’t work unlike most people they’re broke Because they don’t workSo, I’m not taking any bullsh*t, only bull I will Take is by the hornsBorderline poet that’s bored of his linesI’d rip a tree out of the ground and flip it upside downIf that’s what it takes to turn over a new leafPathological liar My disguise is pants and they’re on fireNo regrets, I’m stone cold like I looked like medusaIn the eyes to seduce herAnd there are just a few metaphors to show you some of my flaws

Co-Accused Mick Duman Nicol - HMP Glenochil

There I was, stood in the gruesome dockSat behind my lawyer in his overpriced frock3 years and 9 months, guilty was my pleaCould have been worse though, nearly L.T.P.

Co-Accused beside me had already sealed their fateI never thought these strangers would become my good mates

Big Mikey on the bus, helped me through my fearsHe’s now teaching me to weld, down the engineersDavis and Michael the other spoke of our wheelBoth big hearted gents who understood how I feel

Then my best mate Chris, this mine n’ his first timeTransferred from Low Moss just to hear my rhymeI wrote this for my new-found mates to stateWe’re not all mugs

We’re intelligent, caring people who stupidly got involved with drugsBut we will do our best to change our livesBecome fit and healthy and refinedAnd return to our beautiful kids and wivesHaving made the Inside Time

Freedom Michael Wilson - HMP Thorn Cross

Is there really such a thing as free will?If you just took a moment to sit still And realize that we’re all connected to one anotherBorn through the same mother, nature, the universeThis isn’t a dress rehearsal, it’s the real thingListen to the birds sing and watch the flowers danceTrue romance is there for us all to seeFrom the eagle soaring to the honey beeWe’re just the same you and meBut where did it all go wrong in this one songWe’re out of touch with the real usThe truth, blinded by greed and egoLost in lust and bursting with false prideIt’s all lies, what will it take for us to realize?If only we could take a look inside ourselvesWe would know that love is all we holdNo yesterday, no tomorrow, only nowThe moment is goldenWe’ll grow old together you and meBut forever we will be part of all existenceFreedom is what we have when we let go of the pastOur fear of the future won’t lastLive for today because it’s the only way to find Complete peace of mind

Miracle Paul Smith - HMP Coldingley

In the house of painAint coming back againDaily trying to stay saneFireworks and squattersIn the attic of the brainBy the grace of godSanity will come back and remainAt least to a qualityThat it can be trained and tamedAny foreseeable detrimental strifeI shall reframe and keep the condition That I have gainedThen no need to explainBecause I will be free on outside terrainNever ever to return to the house of painAgain, again or againSaying and staying sane and free Will be the new improved meYou see restored to sanity And free with peaceful mentalityConditioned to serve joyfully And free free freeAnd just be an escapist of the agony, misery, cruelty Barbaric prison system that chained meFull of crazy warped detaineesAll suffer identical restraintsMost days feeling faintCalling out to god and all the saintsLooking to be comforted of all their real complaints Prayerful, request position on their knees, in a cell, Knowing that this is hellRinging the spiritual cell-bellTo god asking for a sign and comfort to sense all is wellNeeding agony and suffering to be instantly expelled And promising I will tell of the miracle And give him the glory to my new found condition That I am free and wellDeliver me god, Lord JesusAnd I promise to tell, tell, tellThem about you and your faithful miracle

© D

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The first three names to be drawn with all-correct answers (or nearest) will receive a £25 cash prize. There will also be two £5 runner up prizes. The winners’ names will appear in next month’s issue.

1. Who was awarded compensation then found the Scottish Prison Service demanding over £100,000 to pay for his prison living expenses? 2. Which prison struggled to provide decent conditions with outside areas strewn with litter; attracting rats and cockroaches? 3. Who from the POA has admitted that prison officers get only 3 hours of mental health training?4. Who went along to HMP Coldingley and felt it was a ‘great occasion’? 5. Where was a prisoner given a spontaneous guard of honour by everyone?6. Who remembers when every convicted prisoner was issued with one 2nd class letter every week? 7. Whose dream started as a young boy in a prison cell, being given a second chance?8. Who wants to ‘bring back Debbie’?9. Who really believes that art is as much an education as learning a maths formula?10. At which prison did a search recover 79 mobile phones, 29 improvised

How to enter

Send your entry on a

separate sheet of paper.

Make sure your NAME,

NUMBER & PRISON is on

all sheets. Failure to do so

will invalidate your entry.

We will be using the new

‘Money Transfer Service’

for prize money so include

your DOB on your entries.

Post to: ‘jailbreak’. Inside

Time, Botley Mills, Botley,

Southampton, Hampshire

SO30 2GB.

The three £25 Prize winners are: Alex Toth SwalesideAnnabella Gallimore Eastwood ParkDonovan Vernon Woodhill

The £5 runner up prizes go to: Beverley Pearce Eastwood ParkDuane Atkinson Channings Wood

Last Months WinnersAnthony Hillman HMP Stoke Heath(£25)W.Stevenson HMP Frankland (£5) Kenneth Ramsey HMP Edinburgh (£5) See box to the right for details of how to enter

Last Months £25 WinnerBen Leapman HMP Littlehey

Read all about it!

Inside Knowledge // All the answers are within this issue of Inside Time - all you have to do is find them!

Caption Competition

Fonesavvy providers of ‘landline type numbers’ for mobile phones.

Proud sponsors of Inside Time’s PRIZE quiz ‘Read all about it!’

If you don’t want callers to be disadvantaged or put off by the high cost of calling your mobile - just get a landline number for it.

Calls to mobiles don’t have to be expensive!

Full details are available on our main advert in Inside Time and at

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Closing date for all competitions is 25/01/18

Answers to last months News Quiz: 1. TBC, 2. 25th of December, 3. Dennis Wise, 4. Sweden, 5. Lords a-leaping, 6. Russia, 7. Amir Khan, 8. Taylor’s, 9. Lil Peep, 10. Arnold Schwarzenegger

A £25 prize is on offer for the best caption to this month’s picture.

1. Who won the Ashes?

2. EastEnders welcomed back which member of the Butcher family this New Year?

3. Who won 2017’s I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here?

4. Which royal recently got engaged and is planning a Spring wedding?

5. What colour is the birthstone of January?

6. Who won 2017’s X Factor?

7. Celebrity Big Brother returns this January and to celebrate 100 years of women being able to vote how to do they start this season?

8. Doctor Who is back with its first ever female Doctor, what is her name?

9. January brings the football transfer window again, starting at midnight on the 1st of January, but when does it close?

10. How many days are there in January?

Insidetime January 2018Jailbreak // Prize Winning Competitions50 www.insidetime.org

Answers to Last Month’s Inside Knowledge Prize Quiz 1. Charles Sharp, 2. Prison Phoenix Trust, 3. Sam Gyimah, 4. John Stokes, 5. D. Patterson, 6. Jogging, 7. Charles Salvador, 8. Storstrom Prison, 9. More than 1,480, 10. Kisella Hillman, 11. M. Sammon, 12. Josie Cole, 13. Billy Connolly, 14. S. Johns, 15. 3.107

The finalists for this year’s Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards have been revealed, and they are as hilarious as you would hope. In total, 40 finalists have been announced, ranging from a shocked elephant seal to a giraffe seemingly eating a plane. There’s also a gurning gorilla, and a hare standing to attention. There were more than 3,500 entries for the awards from 86 countries. The winners will be announced on January 14. Above is one of our favorites. What do you think is being thought or said here?

Across 1 Capsize. 5 Cafe. 7 Via. 8 Downpour. 9 Niece. 10 Reel. 13 Rife. 14 Rout. 18 Lope. 19 Augur. 21 Home loan. 22 Rip. 23 Asks. 24 Comment.

Down 1 Coventry. 2 Peaceful. 3 Indeed. 4 Edward. 5 Copper. 6 Foul. 11 Lingerie. 12 Decrepit. 15 Tokens. 16 Heroic. 17 Magnum. 20 Toss.

Answers to last months quizzes

CATCHPHRASE BRAIN TEASERSWORD MORPH

ANAGRAM SQUARE

GEFBADCHI

NUMBER GRID

SUDOKU

NO LEFT TURN MAZE

1980’s MOVIES

http://www.dailysudoku.com/

Daily Sudoku: Tue 7-Nov-2017

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2 6 1 5 4 8 7 9 33 5 7 2 9 6 8 1 48 9 4 1 3 7 5 6 27 4 5 9 2 3 6 8 11 8 2 4 6 5 3 7 99 3 6 8 7 1 4 2 55 7 3 6 1 9 2 4 86 2 9 3 8 4 1 5 74 1 8 7 5 2 9 3 6

http://www.dailysudoku.com/

1. Bunk Beds2. Tricycle3. Stay overnight4. One on One5. I overslept6. A close race

1980’s MOVIES The Empire Strikes Back, Stand By Me, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, This is Spinal Tap, The Shining, The Lost Boys, E.T, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Raging Bull, Full Metal Jacket, Coming to America, Fatal Attraction, Once Upon a Time in America, Ghostbusters II

1.Band Aid - Do They Know It’s Christmas? 2. The Beatles3. Queen4. Bob the Builder 5. 66.Rage Against the Machine7. Donnie Darko8. The Beatles - Day Tripper9. Military Wives - Wherever You Are

You are wearing a Black hat.To solve this brain teaser you have to think about what the other men couldn’t see. Albert could not have seen 2 white hats, or he would have known that his was black. Albert either saw a black & white hat or black & black hat so he had no certainty which colour he was wearing himself. Hearing Albert & knowing he could not have seen 2 white hats, the only way for Barry to have certainty is if he sees a white hat in front so he knows his own is black. However, Barry was also unsure, meaning you must be wearing a black hat.

costcoatcoalcowlbowl

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CRYPTIC CROSSWORD BRAIN TEASER XMAS NO 1sQUICK CROSSWORD WORD GRID

weapons, alcohol and drugs?11. Who went to the Isle of Wight to meet up with the Hardman Trust director Ian Wilson?12. Which solicitor is acting for, amongst many others, 20 men subjected to horrific prison officer abuse at Eastwood Park DC during the 1980s?13. Who said to Emmanuel, ‘You don’t have to always fight. Choose your battles carefully’?14. Whose suggestion to the government is to let inmates wear body-cams?15. Who says the family visit is the Holy Grail of prison visiting?

Copyright © 2014; Xephyr Systems. -- http://www.xephyr.com

4 7 0 3 0 1 7 7 8 1 1 3 76 5 1 8 4 0 2 2 7 4 7 0 40 4 7 7 1 6 8 5 4 0 0 9 82 7 7 8 5 3 5 8 2 5 2 9 74 7 7 3 4 8 1 8 8 6

1 6 5 6 6 4 1 1 7 7 66 1 4 7 1 5 8 2 9 2 4 9 88 5 5 6 7 6 5 8 5 6 0 7 39 6 4 8 2 5 6 2 8 2 3 4 85 8 9 9 4 1 0 5 0 5 1

6 5 8 6 2 1 1 0 7 73 0 3 9 6 3 5 4 6 6 2 4 51 2 1 6 4 9 7 0 7 4 6 1 81 8 7 0 8 0 3 7 2 5 9 6 15 5 8 7 7 4 4 0 3 6 3 3 4

4549

http://www.bigopolis.comBigOpolis Fill-it-in Puzzle #7

32

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Copyright © 2014; Xephyr Systems. -- http://www.xephyr.com

M A S T O L A V S P I K YI D L E S E R A E E R I EN O E L L A I R A R E N TO R E C O N S I G NR E P E L D E A R C A M P

M E M E N T O A G E EQ U I V E R E M A N A T E

F U N N E L M U T T E RL A T E R A L V E N E E RA K I N N A N E T T EM E L T I C O N I N A P T

O N E T I M E L E EC L O M P R I S E T O R NB E E B E T O O T T H I SS A R A N A N N E Y A L E

T O O T

http://www.bigopolis.com

BigOpolis Fill-it-in Puzzle #26

Getting insurance is expensive enoughwithout the added burden of a criminalrecord, bankruptcy or voided policy to disclose. We recognise that your past isnot necessarily a guide to your future, whatever your circumstances.Our underwriting authority allows us toprovide affordable cover for:

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Paula Williamson leaves Wakefield prison covered with blankets after marrying Charles Bronson

This prison issue wedding dress is rubbish!, I can’t

see through the veil

“NO WIN -NO FEE”PERSONAL INJURYRecent changes in the law now mean that the

Prison has more responsibility than ever to

ensure your safety whilst under their care. We

are happy to consider all injury claims that

occurred within the last three years.

• Accidents at work

• Injured by someone else’s mistake, at

work or elsewhere

• Falls from bunks

• Assaults following threats that have

been ignored

• Slip & Trips

• Faulty equipment, furniture or fittings

The Personal Injury Specialists

You may be entitled to claim compensation

Medical Negligence

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Request a Claim FormSend your: Name, Prison Number and Claim Type toFREEPOST RSSU-GCXH-SJLGAttwood Solicitors, 5-7 Hartshill Road,Stoke on Trent, ST4 1QH

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If you have suffered and you are not sure whether you should claim, then contact us by phone or freepost and we will advise you on the best way forward - all “no win, no fee”.

This month's challenge

Here is the solution to last months challenge. Did you manage to

solve it? 5 2 7 9 3

3 4 18 2

49 7 1

4 9 68 7

1 5 2

6 2 7 4 1 9 8 5 35 8 3 7 6 2 9 4 14 9 1 5 8 3 7 6 27 5 6 1 4 8 2 3 92 1 4 3 9 5 6 7 88 3 9 2 7 6 4 1 59 7 5 6 2 1 3 8 41 6 2 8 3 4 5 9 73 4 8 9 5 7 1 2 6

Thanks to Charlotte Rogers, HMP Bronzefield. If you fancy compiling an Anagram Square for us please just send it in 5 x 5 squares, complete with answers shown on a grid. If we use it we will send you £5 as a thank you! Remember to include your name, number, prison. We will be using the new ‘Money Transfer Service’ for prize money so include your DOB on your entries.

1. Pretend to touch another’s feelings (6)2. City I go round (5)3. Frenchman’s engagement in secondary lodging (4-1-5)4. Jack co-starring in part (3)6. Out of gear (4)7. Lone whale swimming at the end of last month (9)8. Animal that’s strange at home with hill-dweller (8)10. Benevolent, suitable character, head of department (4-7)11. Approach that’s fairly correct (11)14. Class total disrupted regardless of the consequences (2,3,5)15. Present stallion shouldn’t be taken to dentist (4-5)16. Neat gash free from infection at the start (5-3)19. Scurry back to Queen’s merchant (6)22. Bound for the cellar (5)23. Regularly fervent with worry (4)25. Stare endlessly into space (3)

Insidetime January 2018Jailbreak // Just for Fun52 www.insidetime.org

Do you know?

Just for laughs

I’ve always wanted to go to Switzerland, to see what the army does with those wee red knives.

I’ve changed my Facebook name to ‘NOBODY’, so that way when people post crappy posts and I press the ‘like’ button it will say ‘NOBODY likes this’.

Why name hurricanes lame names, like Sandy? Use names like Hurricane Death Megatron 300 and I guarantee everyone will be evacuating like they need to.

I asked my North Korean friend how it was there, he said he couldn’t complain.

Life is all about perspective. The sinking of the Titanic was a miracle to the lobsters in the ship’s kitchen.

As I watched the dog chasing his tail, I thought “Dogs are easily amused.” Then I realised I was watching the dog chase his tail.

Don’t you hate it when someone answers their own questions? I do.

I walked into the bedroom and tripped on the wife’s Bra. It was a booby trap.

1. Betting before and afterwards (4-4)5. Man on whom success depends gets an honour, gold (6)9. Plant hairs as you might say (5)10. Big hit when one doesn’t miss a trick (5,4)12. Is able to record Louise getting stuck into melon (10)13. Jonathan, about one, to meet and become member (4)15. Fly, one of ten suspended (11)16. Character appearing in Chapter One (3)17. Amphibian remaining headless (3)18. Not one playing second fiddle? (5,6)20. Say about husband going in pale (4)21. Barker travelling round bay to emerge into the open (5,5)24. Paper producing report? (9)26. Second pound needed for seafood (5)27. Score five boundaries (6)28. It beats pal’s tour round (8)

Cryptic Crossword

Across Down

Anagram Square

Rearrange the letters in each row to form a word. Write your answers into the blank grid. The first letter from each word, reading down, will spell themystery keyword.

1

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S N A W D

L E R O D

R O D U N

V E R L O

K N U R D

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Who really invented television?Transmitting signals over long distances was one of the greatest triumphs of 19th-Century inventors. Yet even their ingenuity failed to solve the ultimate challenge: the transmission of clear sound and images. Many tried, leading to a long list of supposed ‘pioneers’ of televi-sion, the most famous being the Scottish inventor John Logie Baird. In January 1926 he gave the first-ever demonstration of the transmission of moving images, and by 1929 Baird was selling ‘Televisor’ sets for £25 - equivalent to £1,500 today. Baird’s design offered small, flickering, black-and-white images and involved the use of a spinning, perforated disk invented in 1894 by German engineer Paul Nipkow that scanned images for transmission as electrical signals. The technolo-gy needed to give television its mass appeal is generally credited to the brilliant American inventor Philo Farnsworth. While still a teenager, he realised that emerging electronic technology could scan images far faster and more finely than any mechanical device, and in 1927 demonstrated the first electronic television. A bitter patent dispute with the US electronics company RCA then broke out. Despite ultimately winning and being awarded a settlement plus royalties, Farnsworth and his key role in the invention of television are now largely forgotten. Science Focus

How long does DNA last?A study of DNA extracted from the leg bones of extinct moa birds in New Zealand found that the half-life of DNA is 521 years. So every 1,000 years, 75 per cent of the genetic information is lost. After 6.8 million years, every single base pair is gone. Bacterial RNA is much tougher and sequences have been recovered from ice crystals that are 419 million years old. These are only short fragments of 55 base pairs though.

Fun facts• Oprah Winfrey’s real name is Orpah (after the sister of Ruth in the Bible) but no one could say or spell it properly so she eventually gave up correcting them.

• The first Olympian disqualified for banned substances was Hans-Gunnar Liljenwall of Sweden. In the 1968 Mexico Games, he had two beers to calm his nerves before the pistol shooting.

• The chances of finding a four-leaf clover are 10,000-1.

• SCURRYFUNGE - a hasty tidying of the house between the time you see a neighbour and the time they knock on the door.

• Corn, avocados, cucumbers, peas, beans and peppers are fruits, not vegetables.

• The Bible is the most shoplifted book.

• In German, a Turnbeutelvergesser is a boy who’s too weedy for school sport and ‘forgets’ to bring his gym bag.

• There are at least 27 million slaves in the world today, more than were ever seized from Africa in the 400 years of the slave trade.

What is Bitcoin?One bitcoin is now worth more than $11,000 (£8,180) after the digital currency’s value soared more than tenfold this year. The spike means a $100 purchase of the crypto-currency in 2010 would now be worth $16m. So what exactly is bitcoin and why is it attracting so much attention? Bitcoin is a digital currency created in 2009 by a mysterious figure using the alias Satoshi Nakamoto. It can be used to buy or sell items from people and companies that accept bitcoin as payment, but it differs in several key ways from traditional currencies. Most obviously, bitcoin doesn’t exist as a physical currency. It exists only online. Bitcoin has no central bank and isn’t linked to or regulated by any state. The supply of the cryptocurrency is decentral-ised - it can only be increased by a process known as “mining”. For each bitcoin transaction, a computer owned by a bitcoin “miner” must solve a difficult mathe-matical problem. The miner then receives a fraction of a bitcoin as a reward. But because it is a currency and increasingly a commodity, Bitcoin is widely traded. The Independent

Why are most people right-handed?Seven out of ten chimpanzees are right-handed, but almost all kangaroos are left-handed. In cats, males are nearly all left-handed and females are nearly all right-handed. Humans have a higher proportion of right-handers than any species, with left-handers making up just 10 per cent of the population. This is because we are a tool-using species, and also highly social. The very earliest flint tools, around two million years ago, don’t show a strong bias towards left- or right-handed versions. But it’s a big advantage if you can use the tools someone else has made, and from about 1.5 million years ago we seem to have standardised on the right-handed versions. It’s not exactly clear why right-hand-edness won, but it may be that one side of our brain was already specialised for fine-motor control. One theory why left-handedness hasn’t been completely eliminated is that it provides an advantage in combat, precisely because it is rarer, and therefore unexpected.

The Joke’s on You

• A man goes to a Psychologist and says, “Doc I got a real problem, I can’t stop thinking about sex.” The Psychologist says, “Well let’s see what we can find out”, and pulls out his ink blots. “What is this a picture of?” he asks. The man turns the picture upside down then turns it around and states, “That’s a man and a woman on a bed making love.” The Psychologist says, “very interesting,” and shows the next picture. “And what is this a picture of?”The man looks and turns it in different directions and says, “That’s a man and a woman on a bed making love.” The Psychologists tries again with the third ink blot, and asks the same question, “What is this a picture of?” The patient again turns it in all directions and replies, “That’s a man and a woman on a bed making love.” The Psychologist states, “Well, yes, you do seem to be obsessed with sex.” “Me!?” demands

the patient. “You’re the one who keeps showing me the dirty pictures!”

• Two nuns are driving through the countryside at night. Suddenly, a vam-pire leaps out of a tree onto the hood of their car and hisses at them through the windscreen. “Quick! Show him your cross!” Cries one nun to the other. “Get off my bloody car!” Yells the other nun.

• A guy was nailing his interview when the employer said “well you look great but I see here there was a 7 year gap since your last job, what happened there?”. The guy says “oh I went to Yale”. The employer: “Oh great!! Well you’re hired, you start Monday”Guy: “Yay! I got a yob!”

• What do you do when you see a spaceman? ... You park, man. What do you do when you see a fire-man? ... You put it out, man.

Insidetime January 2018 Jailbreak // Just for Fun 53www.insidetime.org

Almost as hard to get out of as an IPP sentence!

...There are dots every intersection and when you reach them you must turn left or right. You cannot

go straight and don’t make any U-turns.

Twisty Turny MazeEnter here then fi nd route

to exit. Just one thing...

Amazing Maze

Did I say that?

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Boasting the exact same specification as the Xbox 360 ‘E’ console, we can introduce the cheaper and better value for money Xbox 360 ‘S’ console, available to order now! We have introduced this model because there are so many more of them available. We have experienced an overwhelming demand of Xbox 360 used bundles recently as they are now being supplied to 45 prisons! Both of these used consoles have had their Wi Fi component completely removed resulting in them not being able to access the internet. Please contact us for more details.

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“Why is there no Flat Mars Society!?”Real life Iron Man, Elon Musk tweeted. Afterwards he had a response from the ‘Flat Earth Society’: “Unlike the Earth, Mars has been observed to be round.”

“I don’t have to be very clever to do my job, I don’t have to know very much”Head of Brexit negotiations David Davis’s supposedly self-deprecating joke was so crushingly unfunny because it was absolutely true.

“I have to ask you the question - how much to you earn? Please don’t tell me you earn more than €110 million (£100m) in a day?”Judge Miriam Walsh asked Conor McGregor how much he earned in a day after not paying his speeding fine and failing to turn up to court three times. “€140 million (£120m),” McGregor bragged. He was given two months to make the payment, and even told he could pay in instalments. He rolled out of court in a £200,000 BMW i8.

Top facts...

Maths facts that will make you go “No Way”

1. (6 × 9) + (6 + 9) = 69

2. In a room of just 23 people there’s a 50% chance that two people have the same birthday.

3. 111,111,111 × 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321

4. A pizza that has radius “z” and height “a” has volume Pi × z × z × a

5. If you take any four-digit number and follow these steps, you’ll end up with 6,174.1. Choose a four-digit number. (The only condition is that it has at least two different digits.)2. Arrange the digits of the four-digit number in descend-ing then ascending order.3. Subtract the smaller number from the bigger one.4. Repeat.Eventually you’ll end up at 6,174, which is known as Kaprekar’s constant. If you then repeat the process you’ll just keep getting 6,174 over and over again.

6. The number 5,040 is divisible by exactly 60 different numbers.

7. There are 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 ways to scramble a Rubik’s Cube.

8. There are 80,658,175,170,943,878,571,660,636,856, 403,766,975,289,505,440,883,277,824,000,000,000,000 ways to arrange a pack of cards.So, if you shuffl e a pack of cards properly, chances are that exact order has never been seen before in the whole history of the universe.

9. “TWELVE PLUS ONE” is an anagram of “ELEVEN PLUS TWO”.

10. Ancient Babylonians did math in base 60 instead of base 10. That’s why we have 60 seconds in a minute and 360 degrees in a circle.

11. 2,520 is the smallest number that can be exactly divided by all the numbers 1 to 10.

12. 2200 years ago, Eratosthenes estimated the Earth’s circumference using math, without ever leaving Egypt. He was remarkably accurate.

13. The largest prime number ever found is more than 22 million digits long.

GEF BAD CHI

Neil Speed is a former prisoner who came up with the concept of GEF BAD CHI whilst in prison. GEF BAD CHI by Neil Speed is published by Xlibris. £12.35

Using the letters G,E,F,B,A,D,C,H & I fi ll in the blank squares. Each letter A-I must appear only once in each line column and 3x3 grid.

Catchphrase

The object is to try to fi gure out the well-known saying, person, place, or thing that each square is meant to represent.

Disorder in the courts

The quotes below are from a book called Disorder in the Courts and are things people actually said in court, word for word, taken down and published by court reporters that had the torment of staying calm while the exchanges were taking place.

Lawyer: Doctor , how many of your autopsies have you per-formed on dead people?Witness: All of them. The live ones put up too much of a fi ght.

Lawyer: Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?Witness: No.Lawyer: Did you check for blood pressure?Witness: No.Lawyer: Did you check for breathing?

Witness: No...Lawyer: So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy?Witness: No.Lawyer: How can you be so sure, Doctor?Witness: Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar.Lawyer: I see, but could the patient have still been alive, nevertheless?Witness: Yes, it is possible that he could have been alive and practicing law.

Dear Editor...

“So much for June 20th being the ‘longest day’. I woke up on the couch at 3pm, had another couple of tins of Special Brew, and was passed out again before teatime. These so-called experts don’t know what they are talking about”. Nick

“I was out of the local swimming baths today and decided to have a sneaky piss in the deep end. The lifeguard must have noticed. He blew his whistle so bloody loud I nearly fell in”. John

“Bookies. Increase your profi ts by not giving customers clues in the form of odds as to which course will win the race”. Den

“These supermarkets get my goat. Selling you food and then cashing in by selling you lavatory paper as well. The ruddy cheek of it”. Ben

“Why do dogs go mad when they see a postman? I’m the one getting nothing but bills and the occasional summons”. Ross

Insidetime January 2018Jailbreak // Just for Fun54 www.insidetime.org

© MW Released life sentenced prisoner

Sudoku // Medium

http://www.dailysudoku.com/

Daily Sudoku: Mon 27-Nov-2017

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6 17 8 2

9 2 58 7 46 4 8 1

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http://www.dailysudoku.com/

mediumDaily Sudoku: Mon 27-Nov-2017

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6 3 5 8 7 9 2 1 47 8 2 6 4 1 5 9 34 1 9 2 5 3 8 7 61 9 8 5 3 7 6 4 22 7 6 4 9 8 1 3 53 5 4 1 6 2 9 8 75 6 7 9 8 4 3 2 18 4 1 3 2 5 7 6 99 2 3 7 1 6 4 5 8

http://www.dailysudoku.com/

In this month...

© www.ideas4writers.co.uk

January 1918-December 19201918 ‘flu pandemic. Thought to have originated in Kansas, USA (in poultry and pigs) and quickly spread around the world, especially between armed forces encampments during WWI. About 500 million people were infected and 50-100 million died (up to 5% of the global population).

1 January 1958Chinese leader Mao Zedong announced the Great Leap Forward, a 5-year plan to transform China from an agrarian economy into a socialist society via rapid industrialisation and collective farming. (The plan failed and the economy shrank. Tens of millions died from mass killings, starvation and forced labour. The Great Leap was halted two years early, in 1961.)

14 January 1978British punk rock band the Sex Pistols played their last-ever show, at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco, California, USA. Lead singer Johnny Rotten quit the band immediately afterwards.

19 January 1988Irish poet and novelist Christopher Nolan, aged 21, won the Whitbread Book of the Year award for his autobiography Under the Eye of the Clock. He was deprived of oxygen at birth and left paralysed. He typed using a ‘unicorn stick’ pointer attached to his forehead while his mother held his head. (He died in 2009.)

24 January 1978The nuclear-powered Soviet satellite Kosmos 954 re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere. Radioactive debris was scattered over northern Canada, sparking an extensive clean-up operation. Only 1% of the nuclear fuel was ever recovered. The Soviet Union paid Canada C$3 million in compensation and clean-up costs - half the amount it had been billed.

28-31 January 1918World War I: up to 4 million German workers took part in a massive strike and marched through the streets demanding an end to the war, which had exacerbated food shortages. Around 250,000 German people had died from hunger during 1917. The strike began with 100,000 people in Berlin and spread to other cities over the following days. The governmentdeclared a state of siege, arrested the ringlead-ers, and forcibly drafted 50,000 into the army and sent them to the front.

29 January 1958American spree killer Charles Starkweather was arrested in Wyoming. He and his 14-year-old girlfriend Caril Ann Fugate were convicted of killing 11 people - ten of them between 21st January and 29th January. He was executed in June 1959. Fugate was sentenced to life imprisonment and served 17 years (released 1976). Several films were inspired by their crimes, including Badlands and Natural Born Killers.

31 January 1918World War I - the Battle of May Island, Firth of Forth, Scotland. Not a battle at all, but a disastrous series of accidental collisions during a misty night. The 5 collisions involved 8 Royal Navy ships and submarines heading towards the North Sea for an exercise. 2 submarines sank and 3 others plus a light cruiser were damaged. 104 men were killed. No enemyforces were present. The ‘battle’ was covered up until the 1990s.

Word Morph

Can you morph one word into another by just changing one letter at a time? It isn’t quite as easy as you think!

last

moon

Number Search

Thanks to John Stoakes, HMP Leeds for compiling this Number Search. If you fancy compiling one please send in max 10 x 10 grid complete with answers shown on a grid. If we use it we will send you £5 as a thank you! Remember to include your name, number and prison. We will be using the new ‘Money Transfer Service’ for prize money so include your DOB on your entries.

012719, 1712, 075956, 1179, 3310, 48936, 861, 058632, 527384, 12968

THE PRISON PHOENIX TRUST

Head doing you in?Stressed out?Can’t sleep?

Simple yoga and meditation practice,

working with silence and the breath, might just transform your life in more ways than

you think ... Interested?

Write to The Prison Phoenix TrustP.O. Box 328, Oxford, OX2 7HF.

We’d love to hear from you anytime and have several free books and CDs, which could

help you build and maintain a daily practice.

See o

ur

page

in th

e

‘Jailb

reak

’ sec

tion

Send a message to your loved one on Valentine’s Day

Send your message (20 words max) to Inside Time and we will publish as many

as possible in a special Valentine’s section in the February issue. All messages received

will also appear on our website. Include the name and address of your loved one and they will receive a copy of the news-

paper. Closing date 18th Jan and don’t forget to include your full details too!

Inside Time’s Valentine’s message service is sponsored by Jailmate Cards. Why not send your loved one in prison a card ‘with a dif-

ference’. Go to www.jailmatecards.co.uk you’ll love what you see! See back page for advert.

Anagram

CharlotteRogers,HMPBronzefield

S N A W DL E R O DR O D U NV E R L OK N U R D

AnswerHiddenword:world

W A N D SO L D E RR O U N DL O V E RD R U N K

Numbersearch

JohnStoakes,HMPLeeds

0 9 7 2 8 4 1 4 5 36 1 1 5 3 8 9 6 3 44 7 2 0 7 9 6 1 5 98 6 8 7 9 3 0 2 8 73 8 7 5 1 6 5 6 3 17 9 4 9 3 9 9 7 8 12 5 9 5 8 2 4 5 1 35 2 6 6 1 9 3 1 2 97 0 5 8 6 3 2 5 6 41 7 1 2 8 7 8 6 9 8

012719,1712,075956,1179,3310,48936,861, 058632,527384

DAVIES & JONESSOLICITORS

Specialising inCriminal Defence and

Prison LawO f f e r i n g

N a t i o n w i d e S e r v i c e

• All Criminal Court Proceedings• Parole Applications• Licence Recall • Appeals • Adjudications

ContactDavid Rees or Simon Palmer

Davies & Jones32 The Parade, Roath,

Cardiff , CF24 3ADTel: 029 2046 5296

or 24 Hour Emergency Number:079 7096 9357

Insidetime January 2018 Jailbreak // Just for Fun 55www.insidetime.org

Wordsearch // Gym

Thanks to Ashley Summer, HMP Moorland for compiling this Wordsearch. If you fancy compiling one for us please send in max 20 x 20 grid complete with answers shown on a grid. If we use it we will send you £5 as a thank you! Remember to include your name, number, prison. We will be using the new ‘Money Transfer Service’ for prize money so include your DOB on your entries.

BENCH PRESS, BICEP CURLS, CARDIO, CRUNCHES, GYM, LATERAL PULL DOWNS, OBLIQUE, PLANK, PRESS UPS, PROTEIN, REST, ROWING, SHOULDER PRESS, SQUATS, TREADMILL, WARM DOWN, WEIGHT GAIN

Would you believe it?

We all know that chess can help us in many ways. It develops logical thinking and decision making, builds friendships and it is a very productive use of time. I want to do some work this year about how inmates feel chess has (or can) helped them upon release from prison. One example came from a Mexican jail where upon learning chess, an inmate was released (again) and learned to think before making decisions. He called it ‘the three second rule’ and he said it taught him how to say ‘no’ to drugs after just a little reflection and that only through chess did he learn to do it. In chess he did not play instantly, but waited for a minimum of three seconds before deciding on his move. Maybe you have similar testimony? I want positive feedback in how you think chess really could help back in the outside world again. I want to highlight the good that chess does for us.

Perhaps chess is even a form of redemption? Could it truly help to rehabilitate? What aspect of chess influences you so much that you know you could transfer those disciplines from the board to the streets? If you have the time please write to me and let me know your thoughts. I am also looking for a piece of chess artwork to accompany my chess in prisons presentations so if you feel extra creative I would love to see what you can produce. Make it a chess in prison theme if you can and as colourful as possible.Finally, this is your chess column and I continue to receive fantastic support from inmates every-where. A huge New Year thank you to everyone for that. Remember, if you want me to try to visit your prison I need an official invite from the governor or a member of staff.

Today’s puzzle is one I like very much. Black is three pawns to the good and hoping to win the game. White could resign but we learn that in chess no-one ever wins or draws a resigned game, so we look for possibilities. Fortunately for White, it was his turn to move. What would you play and why? A recent copy of chess magazine is the prize if you are first out of the hat.

Write to me with your answer, care of The English Chess Federation at The Watch Oak, Chain Lane, Battle, East Sussex TN33 OYD. Please note that you should always write to me at the ECF not via InsideTime. Also please include your prison num-ber and if you can, the date.

The answer to December’s puzzle was 1. Qh4! This either checkmates on h7 or wins the bishop on e7. winner to be announced.

The winner of November’s puzzle was Peter from HMP Ashfield.

Inside Chessby Carl Portman

The last word...

Quick Crossword

Across Down

1. At all times (6) 4. Processed meat (5) 7. Gainful (10) 8. Redwood, say (4) 9. Hazards (5) 11. Assail (7) 13. Cooking room (7) 15. Iraqi currency (5) 17. Ceremonial splendour (4) 18. Marginal (10)20. Conveniently withinreach (5)21. Outward expression ofgrief (6)

1. Franklin, singer (6)2. Land measure (4) 3. English county (7) 4. Engine (5) 5. Pen part (3) 6. Gambling odds (5) 7. Human being (6) 10. Place of learning (6) 12. Female tiger (7)14. Male relative (6)15. Deepness (5)16 .Respond (5)17. Couple (4) 19. Managed (3)

“Make not your thoughts be your prisons” William Shakespeare

Nom nom nomA 35-year-old man was rushed to surgery after reporting severe abdominal pains. Doctors thought it was food poisoning, so imagine their surprise when they uncovered the real source of the patient’s discomfort - 7 kilograms (15 pounds) of metal sitting in his stomach. Dr Priyank Sharma, the lead surgeon on the case, told reporters he had never seen anything like it. In total, the doctors removed 263 coins, 100 nails, and dozens of razor blades from the patient, a driver called Maksud Khan from the Indian state Madhya Pradesh. He’s admitted to swallowing the coins given to him by custom-ers. Khan was suffering from an eating disorder called pica, a name derived from the Latin word for magpie. Luckily for Khan, who started snacking on metal objects after entering a depression, there should be no lasting damage to his internal organs. Khan has also promised to kick the habit for good.

Birds banned from trees in BristolPosh residents have been slammed by environmentalists after fi tting trees with ‘anti-bird’ spikes - to stop pigeons pooing on their cars. The spikes - which are normally used to stop birds resting or nesting on buildings - have been nailed to two trees in an exclusive suburb of Bristol. One resident, who asked to remain anonymous, said: “There is a big problem with bird droppings around here. They can really make a mess of cars, and for some reason the birds do seem to congregate around this area.” Twitter user Jennifer Garrett wrote: “Our war on wildlife: now birds are not allowed in trees...?! Daily Mirror

More than skin deepA team of funeral directors have launched a business allowing family members to keep the tattooed skin of the deceased and display it as art. Since launching last year, Save My Ink Forever has had hundreds of customers in the US and is now hoping to extend its client base overseas. Funeral embalmer Kyle Sherwood said: “Tattoos have deep meaning - meaning enough to put it on ourselves for life to proudly display. So we thought, well what happens when you die? These works of art that mean so much to the individual - and the family - are gone forever. They are either buried or cremated, never to be seen again.” The men began to think of ways they could allow “these works of art to live on” and soon, Save My Ink Forever was born. Huffi ngton Post

Life, but not as we know itIn a nearly 3.5 billion-year-old piece of rock from Western Australia, scientists have identifi ed the oldest life forms ever known. The evidence consists of cylindrical and thread-like shapes thought to be fossilised microbes from the early days of life on Earth. The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, describes 11 different types of microbe from the rock, including some from lineages that are long-extinct and others similar to species still seen today. The variety of microbes suggests a complex miniature ecosystem on ancient Earth, including species making energy from sunlight like modern plants, and others that produced or consumed methane. The fact that such complexity existed 3.5 billion years ago suggests that the origins of life were actually much earlier, according to the scientists. Independent

Jai lbreakJan2018

GYM:AshleySummer,HMPMoorland

G Z V M Y B Q R S U S L R U C P E C I BT F C C K D O A I N G S A B H R I G S AC O A D S R E M M U S C U C K E D M T FK P R O W I N G E L H S A Y P S C A A KF S D B Y A W K U D M A F K C S P G U TS U I E F T W K U D M A F K C S P G U TB E O N R O D B E A B E N C H P R E S SO R P H S Z M O I M H E N N Y S Y A G JD B O I G U R R G F Q M T M G Y Q M A CM A D O N T A L H Q I O P K J D E U S J A S R N Q R W O T S Z N M N O Y O V M YT N O N Z E F M G O G D A A P Z B A M MT C F T S A F T A T A Y D L S F L E S TM R E S T D Q N I E T O R P R E I P U SO U G Y A M E T N U F S Y A L D Q F T AN N K O M I C H E S F K F C T P U A Z YR C P U S L F T N I A B Q A C D E Z Q UN H W O F L A S H O U L D E R P R E S SN E G U M A F X Z T F B B U I Q A E S BS S N W O D L L U P L A R E T A L P T A

BENCHPRESS,BICEPCURLS,CARDIO,CRUNCHES,GYM,LATERALPULLDOWNS,OBLIQUE,PLANK,PRESSUPS,PROTEIN,REST,ROWING,SHOULDERPRESS,SQUATS,TREADMILL,WARMDOWN,WEIGHTGAIN

Bear-dogA mysterious animal dubbed a ‘bear-dog’ was found dumped on the streets in Russia. The distressed pooch was created to appeal to buyers when it was a puppy. Polina Kefer, who runs animal sanctuary Nash Dom, said the animal was rejected by its original owners and is now in “serious stress”. She added its behaviour had worsened by cruel treatment because of its looks when it was left abandoned on the street. She said: “People buy such puppies and once they grow big, they just throw them out like a broken toy. Sadly the dog is so stressed it fi ghts and bites back.”

Insidetime January 2018Jailbreak // National Prison Radio56 www.insidetime.org

What’s on National Prison Radio // January 2018National Prison Radio is currently available in prisons across England and Wales. We broadcast 24-hours a day, seven days a week, into your cell. If your prison has National Prison Radio, you can listen through your TV by using the tuning buttons on your remote control.

Get your loved one to upload a photo from their phone or PC

They need to write a personalised message

Your loved one pays just 99p and we will print and post your photo as a postcard to any prison in the UK.

Step 1

Step 3

Step 2

Hi Son,How are you doing. We really miss you and can't wait for you to be home soon. Stay strong. Lots of Love, Mum and Dad

A1234ABHMPS DOVEGATEUttoxeter, StaffordshireST14 8XR

To: Joe Smith

From: Mum and Dad

All packages are Pay-As-You-Go.• No minimum term or hidden charges! • No mystifying bundles!• No catches or gimmicks!

***Try a trial membership for just £1- no obligation!Enter the code ‘itlovefonesavvy’ when you sign up

Simple solutions tailored to the individualrequirements of our customers.

Fonesavvy - the brainchild of a former prisoner. Upon his release, what started as a business plan created in a prison cell became a reality - the only service of its kind.Now Fonesavvy customers throughout the UK receive callsfrom people in prisons, hospitals and many other situationswhere keeping the callers’ call charge to a minimum is vital. Perfect for self employed people who are out and about all day

Please note restrictions may apply in some geographical areas.

www.fonesavvy.co.uk for more info.....

A perfect solution for mobile phoneusers wishing to reduce costs forthose who call them.

**Try a trial membership for just £1- no obligation!Enter the code ‘itlovefonesavvy’ when you sign up

Greetings Cards

Competition Time!

Competition closing date 17th January 2018Send you entry to Inside Time ‘Jailmate comp’ Botley Mills,

Southampton Hampshire S030 2GBWinner will be announced in the February issue. GOOD LUCK

Calling all poets, rappers & lyric lovers.We want to hear your BEST rhymes, jiggles, poems or raps to

feature on your very own published greetings card! The competition winner also Wins a £100 voucher

for a loved one to spend at www.jailmatecards.co.uk.Greetings cards for prisoners & their loved ones. Choose from 100s of cardsto send direct to any prison. Upload your own photos letters and messages!

Day Mon Tue Wed Thur Fri Sat Sun

07:00 Porridge

The world’s first national breakfast show made by and for prisoners.Includes the quiz, 7:40 Shout Out and the Work Out Song.Listen out for...Friday – the famous Porridge Music Special

All Request Saturday

The week’s Request Shows back to back through the day.

Write to us at: National Prison Radio,HMP Brixton, London SW2 5XF

Freedom Inside In-cell yoga with Prison Phoenix Trust

08:00(or local shows made in your prison)

NPR SpecialsSee the orange box below for details of shows.

Love Bug Write to the ones you love

Igloo Handpicked dance music from NPR’s finest presenters.

The Urban Show Hip-Hop, R&B and dancehall.

NPR Friday Sport, chat and ents. Your start to the weekend.

Bob and Beyond A solid hour of reggae classics.

09:00 Hot 20The famous UK chart rundown.

Dance music and upbeat sounds. Repeat from Friday night.

Two hours of new British music from DJ Goldie-rocks.

The

Request Show Shout out your loved-ones on the outside!

The Rock ShowThe very best in loud guitar music from our expert presenters

The Gospel Show Uplifting sounds.

10:00 Desi Drop

Deja Vu Classic tracks.

11:00 PorridgeAnother chance to hear this morning’s show

Past Present & Future

12:00(or local shows)

Past Present & Future

NPR Takeover See 18:00 for details

Prime TimeSee 18:00 for details

Sound WomenSee 18:00 for details

Freedom Inside In-cell yoga

NPR Takeover

13:00 The Request ShowRequests and shout-outs from prisons across England and Wales Want to hear your favourite song on National Prison Radio? To hear your song, message or poem on the radio, write to us at National Prison Radio, HMP Brixton, London SW2 5XF

Prime Time

14:00 Sound Women

15:00

New British music with DJ Goldie-rocks.

All Music Daytime Music and information designed to help you make the most of your time inside.

Hot 20UK chart rundown.

Books UnlockedA repeat of the week’s book readings

16:00 NPR Friday Your start to the weekend.

What’s on National Prison Radio?January 2018 National Prison Radio is currently available in prisons

across England and Wales.

We broadcast 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, into your cell. If your prison has National Prison Radio, you can listen through your TV by using the tuning buttons on your remote control.

Eve Mon Tue Wed Thur Fri Sat Sun

17:00(or local shows)

Bob and Beyond Reggae classics. Red Bull Music

Academy RadioMixes, interviews, hot artists.

Brixton Calling News and requests from HMP Brixton.

NPR Specials See orange box below for details of shows.

Deja Vu From the 60s, 70s and 80s.

The Gospel Show Uplifting music for a Sunday evening.

18:00 NPR Talk Making the most of your timeFreedom Inside In-cell yoga with the Prison Phoenix Trust

Past Present & Future Inspiring stories from inspirational people.

NPR TakeoverReal voices from jails around the country.

Prime Time Information to help you make the most of your time.

Sound Women Must-listen radio for women in jail. Issues that matter.

Love BugWrite to the ones you love

Inside Music The real stories behind the music you love.

19:00 The Request Show Want to hear your favourite song on National Prison Radio? To hear your song, message or poem on the radio, write to us at: National Prison Radio, HMP Brixton, London SW2 5XF Get your loved-ones to request tracks for Thursday’s show at: www.nationalprisonradio.com

The Rock Show The very best in loud guitar music.

The

Request Show Shout out your loved-ones on the outside!

20:00

21:00 NPR SpecialsSee below for details.

The

Request Show Shout out your loved-ones on the outside!

Igloo Handpicked dance music.

The Urban Show Hip-Hop and R&B.

The best dance music in the world, direct to your ears.

Two hours of brand new British music.

Bob and Beyond Reggae classics.

22:00 Hot 20 The famous UK chart rundown.

Desi Drop An hour of Asian music.

Inside Music Real music stories.

Love Bug Write to the ones you love.

23:00 Books Unlocked Write to National Prison Radio, HMP Brixton, London SW2 5XF for a free copy.

23:30– 07:00 Dream TimeNPR Specials: Real talk from across England and Wales. Monday 1 January - Outside In: former prisoners look at how you can prepare for life on the out.Monday 8 January - Understanding Parole: the information you need to get through parole.Monday 29 January - The YO Takeover: every month we cross to the lads at HMYOI Isis.

sounds.sounds.

Two hours

Request

Music and advice to help you sleepsafe and sound through the night.

This month’s book is Harvest by Jim Crace.

Jan 18.indd 1 19/12/2017 16:09