insidetime the National Newspaper for Prisoners

A MERRY CHRISTMAS to all our readers

A ‘not for profit’ publication / Circulation 46,000 (monthly) / Issue No. 114 / December 2008

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Independent review of prison work accuses Prison Service of incompetence When the Howard League for Penal Reform was founded in 1866 one of its main concerns at the time was ‘the poverty of prison work’. One hundred and forty years later the Charity launched an experiment of real work in prison for real pay that trains long-term prisoners. Eric McGraw reports on why this radical work initiative is now being closed down introduction of the ‘core day’ meant that hours in the Studio were cut, making it simply not feasible to run the business. Responding to the closure Frances Crook, Director of the Howard League for Penal Reform, told Inside Time: ‘The record prison population includes 30,000 adult men serving sentences of more than 4 years. They spend all day pottering about aimlessly at the taxpayer’s expense.’

Employees at the ‘Barbed’ design studio as featured in Inside Time February 2007 n 2005 the Howard League for Penal Reform set-up ‘Barbed’ a graphic design studio at Coldingley (industrial) Prison in Surrey and ran it as a proper business.

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All ‘Barbed’ employees (11 to date) are paid a starting salary of £8,880 a year (minimum wage) for working a 32 hour week. And 30% of their wages are put into a special fund to support their families and save for their release. The Studio operates to the same professional standards as other graphic design studios and has more than 40 business clients including a primary health trust, a number of major law firms and the Parole Board. So why, 3 years on, is ‘Barbed’ closing at the

end of the year? An independent Review undertaken by Professor Penny Green of Kings College London concluded: “the prison authorities at Coldingley have, in reality, acted to disrupt and thwart its productive success. It took a whole year to get a telephone installed, apparently more through a toxic mixture of incompetence and risk aversion inside than any deliberate policy to obstruct. Arbitrary and unannounced withdrawal of prisoners from the Studio have repeatedly affected the business.” The Studio was originally working a 32 hour week but is now doing only 24 hours, and even this is often reduced through random shut-downs. The Review describes how the

She added: ‘We believe that anyone sentenced to a long term of imprisonment…should be able to do a proper job, earn real money so they can support their families…I am convinced this would have public support.’ Government must put in place legislation in order to transform ‘the poverty of prison work’ - a transformation certainly needed in 1866 and most certainly needed today. ‘This will require total commitment on the part of the Prison Service, which to date is absent’, Professor Green said. Prisons Minister David Hanson issued a crass response. ‘I completely reject the claims made by the Howard League’, he said. ‘For a start, the closure of the scheme was a decision made by the Howard League because they couldn’t make it work.’ ■

Prison Work and Social Enterprise: The Story of Barbed is available from The Howard League for Penal Reform www.howardleague.org

Employees of Barbed say… “ When I come in here it’s like I’m away from the prison, it feels like a proper job - we have deadlines, it’s a very different environment, you feel relaxed ... ” (Mr B) “ I was earning well and I’d give money to my child’s mother ... I felt quite special actually - it was a good feeling; seeing him with a new pair of trainers on that I’d worked for. I’d also pay her travel when they’d come to visit. I didn’t feel so worthless I suppose, didn’t feel I was sponging all the time - I had a good sense of worth ” (Oscar) “ The good thing about the way this scheme is designed is that we could be self-employed one day even if we had trouble getting interviews because of our past ” (Mr B) “ It’s not only given us employment skills but real work - going through an interview process, sticking to deadlines, managing pay and holidays - all the things we’d be doing if we had a job outside. It makes me feel that we can realistically apply for a job on the outside ” (Barry)

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All Lifer Reviews Licence Recall & Reviews HDC Applications Sentence Calculation Jeremy Moore represented Barry George who was recently released after the successful appeal

Mailbag

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insidetime

a voice for prisoners since 1990 the national newspaper for prisoners published by Inside Time Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of New Bridge, a charity founded in 1956 to create links between the offender and the community. Registered Office: 27a Medway Street, London SW1P 2BD

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a not profit

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ISSN 1743-7342

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Board of Directors

Trevor Grove - Former Editor Sunday Telegraph, Journalist, Writer and serving Magistrate. Eric McGraw - Former Director of New Bridge (1986 - 2002) and started Inside Time in 1990. Tony Pearson CBE - Former Deputy Director General of the Prison Service. John D Roberts - Former Company Chairman and Managing Director employing ex-offenders. Alistair H.E.Smith B.Sc F.C.A. - Chartered Accountant, Trustee and Treasurer of the New Bridge Foundation. Chris Thomas - Chief Executive, New Bridge Foundation

The Editorial Team

Rachel Billington Novelist and Journalist

John Bowers Writer and former prisoner

If you would like to contribute to Mailbag, please send your letters to ‘Mailbag’, Inside Time, PO Box 251, Hedge End, Hampshire SO30 4XJ.

Lining their grimy pockets

Making it up as they go along

The bus pass brigade

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DAVE DEVERS - HMP DURHAM

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JOHN MCFALL - HMP WOLDS

TREVINA WRIGHT - HMP SEND After reading the contribution from Jayne Richards in your October issue ‘They sold our souls’, which highlighted the story featured in The Sun portraying lifers at Holloway as bloodthirsty monsters, it really sickens me that any prison officer can be cultivated and in the same light vindictive by selling pictures of female prisoners who were simply trying, for a mere 60-90 minutes, to escape the harsh realism of being in prison. In general, prison officers try to act like butter wouldn’t melt in their mouths when in all honesty many are a different kind of predator, especially when it comes to selling stories to The Sun. Knowing that lifers have a hard enough time dealing with their crime from victims’ families, this so-called prison officer(s) from Holloway should be named and shamed. The paper of grime went as far as to involve Jayne’s son, who is probably still oblivious as to why he’s not with his mummy. What makes this even worse is that the victims’ families who picked up The Sun that day must have had a rush of pain as all the hurtful memories came flooding back. Was it worth it … considering the so-called ‘party’ in question happened three years ago?

Eric McGraw Author and Managing Editor

John Roberts Operations Director and Company Secretary

Correspondence Inside Time, P.O.Box 251, Hedge End, Hampshire SO30 4XJ. 01489 795945 01489 786495 [email protected] www.insidetime.org If you wish to reproduce or publish any of the content from any issue of Inside Time, you should first contact us and obtain our written permission. Full terms & conditions can be found on www.insidetime.org

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I’ve been asked by several fellow lifers here at HMP Wolds to raise the following issues through Inside Time. As I come under the Northern Ireland system regarding release and parole I’m appalled at recent events. Since July 2008, approximately twelve IPP and mandatory lifers have been knocked back/ refused either release or progressive moves to open conditions; this despite report writers, including personal officers and probation, recommending progressive moves. Each offender has been refused with a view to consolidating their skills; some of them are twice over tariff. When the lifer manager was asked about this, unsurprisingly she considered it to be ‘very unfair’. We had a visit from Prison Service Director General Phil Wheatley on 28 October and I raised a few serious issues concerning lifers here, particularly why the lifer clerk continues to mess up dossiers and forgets to send vital reports to the Parole Board. He said basically that HMP Wolds is a private prison … ‘with its own agenda and regime’. A warning to any IPP or lifer thinking of coming to HMP Wolds, expect to go well over tariff and do everything for yourself. The lure of freeview boxes and super enhanced status doesn’t rehabilitate anyone, nor does it get them to open conditions or release. A fundamental flaw that lingers at Wolds is there is no structure to the lifer team who, at times, appear to literally make it up as they go along and in the process play with peoples’ lives; men who have already paid their debt to society.

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Browsing through your November issue, I suddenly felt rather wounded to discover, after reading the contribution by Liz Davis from Age Concern, that I’m now a victim of ageism (being a sprightly 55 plus). Apparently there are some 7,000 prisoners nationally aged over 50. I’ve spent several days looking in mirrors at previously unseen wrinkles and creases ... I’m a wreck! I think I need moisturisers, hand cream, a wig and Zimmer frame! My creative genes really kicked in when I saw one of the groups mentioned were called ‘ACES’ (Age Concern Executive Seniors), this sounds like one of the gangs from the film West Side Story, similar to Benny and the Jets! I can imagine a few of the young teams in prison calling out: “Here come the ACES”, followed by some of the bus pass brigade approaching with walking sticks and Zimmers at the ready! Don’t get me wrong, I’m certainly not knocking the Age Concern project in any way, and firmly believe it has a lot of merit and should be expanded, however it did make me realize that I’m perceived to be ‘old’ by the population in general and also by prison staff. I much prefer the term ‘mature’ prisoner ... being ‘old’ is a bit of a handicap whereas being mature sounds much better. I think I get respect from other prisoners through humour and ‘thinking young’ ... mind you, I’ve just had yet another look in the mirror and the hair in my ears is growing faster than on my head (what’s left of it). Liz Davis mentions groups at two prisons offering games and perhaps these should include a weekly whist-drive, bingo, and what about good old ‘hide and seek’… we could invite staff to join in because some of them are pretty good at hiding! And how about our winter heating allowance? Finally, not all mature prisoners are grumpy old gits and in my case I’m compiling a book on prison humour and would welcome any contributions. Write to: Dave Devers VT6459, HMP Durham, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HU.

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Insidetime December 2008 www.insidetime.org

Star Letter of the Month ......................................................... Congratulations to Steve Wells who wins our £25 cash prize for this month’s Star Letter.

Where ignorance is bliss ..................................................... STEVE WELLS - HMP LINCOLN Having returned to custody following four years of civilian life, I would like your readers to share an insight to the differing worlds I have found. I left prison life confident and motivated, armed with a wealth of training, education and certificates gained during my time in custody. I was fast- tracked to the ‘new deal’ system at the Jobcentre and soon added even more certificates and qualifications to my CV. However, three years on I found myself still unemployed and rarely managed to get an interview. I put it down to the fact

If you would like to contribute to Mailbag, please send your letters to ‘Mailbag’, Inside Time, PO Box 251, Hedge End, Hampshire SO30 4XJ.

that I had ticked the box on application forms regarding criminal convictions. My qualifications are rendered, so it would seem, worthless pieces of paper once the disclosure has been made. Furthermore, to add insult to injury, I was seriously assaulted and spent over a week in hospital with severe head injuries. The police convicted those responsible and Victim Support advised that I should be entitled to compensation. They submitted the claim, which was rejected, along with appeals, by the CICA who claimed that I was not entitled as I had a criminal record! I hear of inmates claiming compensation for assaults whilst in custody yet I could not claim as an innocent civilian. The confident and motivated man who left prison was long gone. Falling foul of the law for a minor offence, four years since release, I find myself once again in the prison system on remand. Within a week I have been assigned a work placement; something I have been unable to achieve in the last four years. I have been visited by the education office to enrol me on courses to ‘aid my chances of employment on release’ - hopefully they will have forgiven me for declining their kind invitation. Perhaps Chuang Zhuangzi knew exactly what he was talking about when he said: “Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance.”

Protein powder affecting drug tests ............................................................................................................ GEOFF CARTER - HMP HEWELL Can any of your readers let me know of factual cases where protein powder has altered the outcome of an MDT? The reason for this request is due to the powers that be here at HMP Hewell deciding to stop us having protein powder. Apparently it alters drug tests! The three jails in this area amalgamated about four months ago. We rather expected teething problems and heavy-handed security spins; whilst more frequent bang-up and Mickey Mouse reasons for ‘D’ cat knock-backs have been accepted with wry smiles. But to mess with the gym is beyond the pale! In the 20 months I have been here I have watched the gym become transformed from a room about the size of a bus stop to one of the best I’ve ever trained in. We have regular competitions and it’s great to see 20 or 30 lads cheering each other on. I’m the gym orderly and there is never ever any trouble and we respect each other. Yet this past week, at least 20 concerned lads have asked me about the protein powder situation. I have submitted two applications to the relevant departments; however in all probability they will be answered around January 2009, if at all. People are starting to blank gym and I can see their point; why lift weights if you can’t put the protein inside your body? Healthy body, healthy mind, is the saying. If they stop the protein for what appears to be a bullshit reason then this saying is more apt: ‘the devil makes work for idle hands’. Write to: Geoff Carter JB7624, HMP Hewell, Hewell Lane, Redditch, Worcs. B97 6QS.

Painful secrets ..................................................... PETER GARSDEN - ABNEY GARSDEN MCDONALD SOLICITORS I read with interest the two articles that referred to alleged false allegations of historic child abuse in the November issue of Inside Time; next to our firm’s advert for compensation for the survivors of childhood abuse. Whilst the positioning of the articles was obviously a coincidence, it might have evoked angry or dispirited feelings in those genuine victims of abuse. Child abuse is, by its nature, a highly secretive activity occurring in closed surroundings between a trusted adult and a vulnerable child, which usually remains hidden for many years because of the fear surrounding disclosure. The victim often feels they will not be believed, or is too ashamed of what happened, or is scared of their family’s reaction to have the courage to come forward. Usually those who do have the courage to reveal what happened to them spend many agonising months summoning up the courage to even write to our firm.

Whilst comments regarding false allegations obviously have a very important place in any publication, throw-away remarks in the article by Peter Byard such as … “If you and a friend want to make a few thousand in compensation, just make an accusation of abuse against one of your old schoolteachers from twenty-five years ago. How can they actually prove it didn’t happen?” only serve to either insult the very genuine victim of abuse and discourage them from disclosing, or encourage the dishonest person to hatch ideas. There are many checks and balances in both the criminal and civil systems to ensure that false allegations are identified. We have been specialising in this type of work for many years. We witness on a regular basis the very genuine reactions to disclosure of abuse (when the victim lowers their head when hurting inside, cries openly, or simply cannot continue, so painful are the memories). The allegations have to match the records, and the client has to be examined by a highly experienced psychologist or psychiatrist, who carries out psychometric tests that contain validity assessment techniques.

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Contents Mailbag ........................ pages 2-9 Newsround .............. pages 10-15 ●

Month by Month ............ page 16 Education ......................... page 17 Inside Health .................. page 18 Comment ................. pages 19-27

Votes for prisoners: time for action not words - John Hirst ..................................... page 21

Factories of repression John Bowden ..................................... page 23

Short stories ............ pages 28-31

So to suggest that making false allegations is now commonplace or easy is a myth, which can only frustrate the genuine victim from speaking their truth, and starting the healing process.

GANS & CO

Lags and Wags Christmas Special ................................ pages 30-31

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Legal Comment ... pages 32-34 Legal Advice .................... page 35 Legal Q&A .............. pages 36-37 Book Reviews ......... pages 38-39 Inside Poetry .......... pages 40-41 Jailbreak .................. pages 42-44

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Mailbag

If you would like to contribute to Mailbag, please send your letters to ‘Mailbag’, Inside Time, PO Box 251, Hedge End, Hampshire SO30 4XJ.

Positive discrimination ..................................................... PAUL JOHN - HMP WAKEFIELD

‘Masters of the Universe’

I read with interest the letter in your October issue entitled ‘Misguided Information’ by Farhad Ibrahim whereby he commented on an earlier contribution stating that foreign national prisoners receive £3,000 upon release and duly offered enlightenment.

........................................................................... GERARD MCGRATH BA HONS - HMP HAVERIGG Back in September, Inside Time published a contribution of mine entitled 'The Neglected Addict' wherein I sought to highlight the fact that the Prison Service does not facilitate addicted gamblers the opportunity to address compulsive gambling. It remains my opinion that addicted gambling is a serious matter. In recent times, news programmes have regaled us with the fact that the economies of many countries are in a state of turmoil and collapse – mainly due to the unbounded avarice and gross ineptitude of bankers; euphemistically referred to as 'Masters of the Universe' and latterly, by yours truly at least, as city slickers, ‘spivs’. So could it possibly be that 'gamblers', ever vilified for fiscal recklessness, should now be lauded as responsible souls compared to the so-called ‘Masters of the Universe’ who have reduced most western economies to penury? For pro-social gamblers, matters are reliably predictable; a few wagers are lost and some are won. Not for gamblers panic stricken pleas to the Treasury begging for inside information as to which shares are safe, or forgoing purchasing comestibles in Marks & Spencers in favour of Aldi or Lidl.

Whilst I agree there should be accurate information regarding the money prisoners are able to receive, I do think that perhaps he has missed the whole point. Most prisoners do not begrudge foreign nationals being able to get money to help with their release, I know I don't, but what I do feel is extremely unfair is the manner in which it is currently done.

Chancing ones luck for a quick return can be fun, and there are methods of gambling that make far more sense than toxic loans and short-selling. For example, no sensible gambler would countenance a seven horse accumulator bet. To be succinct, a sensible gambler does not bet on every race; the stake is varied taking cognizance of as many factors as possible which might influence the outcome of any given race. The golden rule is that, save for one inevitability, there are no ‘dead-certs' in life; one has to be prudent and diligent, as matters can go pear-shaped in rapid order; witness the collapse of Lehmans Bank, Bradford & Bingley et al. Proof positive, were it needed, that life really is a gamble and even the ‘Masters of the Universe’ are essentially inept ‘chancers’ who back losers to devastating effect. How the mighty are indeed fallen.

How on earth can it be fair, not to mention legal, for one prisoner to be treated differently purely because of where they come from? If black prisoners didn't receive the money but white prisoners did, can you imagine the uproar? There would be riots almost daily and the prison service would be taken to court so fast its collective feet wouldn't touch ... so isn't the granting of this money to foreign nationals on release a clear case of positive discrimination? How can it not be discrimination for one class of prisoner to receive a £47 discharge grant while another can get up to £3,000? No, the £3,000 isn't given in a lump sum, but it is still given.

They have proved themselves to be irrational, uncontrolled, seemingly addicted, compulsive gamblers; fuelled by avarice and sustained by arrogance. The aftermath of what they have done, their fiscal recklessness, will have profound adverse consequences for the present generation and for my grandchildren in decades to come.

I am not saying this money should stop, far from it, I know just how much this money would help any prisoner upon release. All I am asking is that all prisoners be treated the same. If you would like to contribute to Mailbag, please send your letters (concise and clearly marked) to ‘Mailbag’, Inside Time, PO Box 251, Hedge End, Hampshire SO30 4XJ. Please note letters for publication may be edited. 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.

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Tabloid regurgitation

................................................... ABU DIRÁ - HMP WHITEMOOR I write in response to Dennis Jones’ rant, published in your October issue. Mr Jones seems to have a ‘bee in his bonnet’ about asylum seekers, the benefit system and terrorism, which he then rolls into one somewhat disjointed package. Firstly, allow me to point out that everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty and a substantial proportion of the individuals Mr Jones alludes to have yet to be found guilty of their alleged offences. Secondly, his choice of terminology leaves a lot to be desired, i.e. ‘creeping from one stinking cave to another’. I doubt very much that Mr Jones has bothered to undertake any survey of the Afghan cave systems. By all accounts they are quite pleasant, furnished with state of the art satellite phones, modem equipped laptops etc. His uninformed comments about ‘million pound houses, abundance of benefits and great healthcare’ are nothing more than tabloid regurgitation. The very same tabloids that call for Mr Jones’ cell key to be thrown away! And for the record Mr Jones, why is Afghanistan war-torn? Could it be because of the millions of tons of munitions the government has been dropping on its entire population merely because they refused to extradite one man? Yes Mr Jones, I am a Muslim and yes, I’m a revert (convert) and have witnessed the positive effects of Islam within the penal system; far less drug use, far less alcohol consumption, less inmate on inmate violence, less bullying. I am glad my glass is half full whilst Mr Jones seems to be lamenting his being half empty.

................................................... ANDREW DUNCAN - HMP WANDSWORTH

In his October issue contribution, in which he suggests Osama Bin Laden be made welcome in the UK, Dennis Jones had his bit of fun. However on a far more serious level, he seems to have overlooked the fact that the Immigration Services and Home Office have made many harsh judgements on people whose families have been killed or become part of the legions their countries have made ‘disappear’. I would ask him to reflect on the persecution the late Idi Amin exacted on the Asians in his land, or that which Mugabe is still doing to those who legitimately oppose his brutal regime; or all those other countries which would not give Dennis Jones a voice.

Insidetime December 2008 www.insidetime.org

The road to recovery ..................................................... MICHAEL FENDLEY HMP KILMARNOCK Over the past couple of years Kilmarnock Prison here in Scotland has had a lot of bad publicity. I have only been in this establishment for four months, however have come to learn that the custody officers are 100% dedicated to their job, and if it was not for their professional conduct, I would not be writing this letter. I tried to commit suicide and instead of just leaving me in a suicide cell, they talked to me and got me the treatment I needed. I cannot begin to thank all the HMP Kilmarnock staff, from custody officers to psychologists, and also for not judging me like most people would have done. I am slowly on the road to recovery. Just because you read in the papers that Kilmarnock (or any other prison for that matter) is labelled a ‘bad’ prison you should not necessarily take this at face value, because if it was not for this prison and their constant support and guidance, I would not have begun the treatment that I have clearly needed for some time.

If you would like to contribute to Mailbag, please send your letters to ‘Mailbag’, Inside Time, PO Box 251, Hedge End, Hampshire SO30 4XJ.

GEORGE ROBINSON HMP ACKLINGTON

Mailbag

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Earnings after progressive move .........................................................................................................

I feel compelled to comment on the contribution from A C Roberts in Wymott in your November issue; where on earth does he get the notion from that Darren ‘Dora’ Wheatley is suffering from Stockholm Syndrome?

GERARD NELSON - HMP FRANKLAND

I know Darren as we were both orderlies in the same building, and I know exactly why he poured praise on certain members of staff from the OMU department here at Acklington (September issue). It was because these highly professional and dedicated people resolved issues for Darren that were escalating out of control and he did what any civilised person would do; through the columns of Inside Time he expressed his appreciation.

➜ The Prison Service writes: Policy guidance was sought from Safer Custody & Offender

I have been in prison since 2003 and have encountered my fair share of obnoxious and self-opinionated prison officers who strut about the place like little tin gods, however I have also had the privilege of knowing and receiving enormous support from decent, professional officers in Frankland, Durham and Acklington - officers who not only perform their duties properly but have managed to retain their humanity. Bob Woffinden writes page 32

I seek clarification relating to the amount of average earnings a prisoner should be paid upon transfer as a ‘progressive move’, and why this is not in line with the amount paid whilst on accumulated visits.

Policy Group about this and under the terms of Prison Service Order 4460, prisoners’ pay is a devolved responsibility. The PSO sets out minimum rates of pay, but Governors must devise their own pay schemes and rates of pay that reflect the priorities of the regime of the particular establishment. Prisoners who are transferred on accumulated visits do so for only a temporary period, and there is an expectation that they will be returned to their sending establishment, which is the reason they may be paid at the rate they were receiving prior to transfer, or at the rate appropriate to the activity they are employed as after transfer, whichever is higher. Prisoners who are transferred on a permanent basis will receive no less than the minimum employed rate from the first two weeks at their establishment. After two weeks, the prisoner must either continue to receive their new standard rate of pay, appropriate to the activity they are employed as, or be placed on the unemployed rate of pay if there is no work available.

.................................................................................................................. NAME SUPPLIED - HMP LEEDS I am currently on remand and have been informed that I have to work or I will not be entitled to any pay (£2.50p per week). I was under the impression that remand prisoners did not have to work, as in the eyes of the law they are ‘innocent until proven guilty’.

➜ The Prison Service writes: Prison Service Order 4460 advises that remand prisoners

Free prescriptions ....................................... RICHARD GARNER - HMP PARC

can choose to work if they wish to do so and are entitled to be paid at the same rate as convicted prisoners. However, prisoners who are on remand cannot be ordered to work and would not face disciplinary action if they refused, unlike convicted prisoners. The PSO also states that if remand prisoners do not work they should not receive payment. Prisoners are eligible for unemployment pay if they are willing to work but the establishment cannot find suitable employment.

My complaint is to do with the fact that prisoners here at Parc have to pay for a lot of healthcare products. These include things like eardrops, cough medicine, shampoo and other lotions and potions for people who have a genuine skin complaint; also the extortionate price of non-smoking patches. Now I may be wrong but do we, as prisoners, still have the right to NHS treatment and funding - especially where a prescription is required? I’m sure that a no-smoking prescription is part of the NHS set-up because they seem to go on about it on the TV and on posters displayed around the prison.

End of Custody Licence eligibility

Parc is located in south Wales where, in 2007, the Government declared that all prescriptions would be free to NHS patients. Apparently you go to the doctors, explain your ailment(s), and are given a prescription to take to the chemist and pick up your medicine. So why are prisoners excluded from free treatment and prescriptions?

➜ The National Offender Management Service writes: Full details of the ECL

➜ The National Offender Management Service writes: The Healthcare Unit at Parc prison has a 24 hour full facility with in-patient access. Full primary care services are run and available on a daily basis. Prisoners do not have to pay for any prescribed medication. However, non-routine treatment usually has to be purchased by the prisoner at his own cost. The only exception to this would be for prisoners who have a 'chronic disease' and would qualify for free non-routine treatment.

......................................................................................................... MARK WALES - HMP LEEDS Can Inside Time provide details of the 18 day End of Custody Licence Scheme and who prisoners should apply to in order to be considered? Secondly, in connection with the recent loss of prisoner data, I am very concerned about this matter and intend seeing a solicitor with regard to claiming compensation. Can the Prison Service tell me how prisoners make enquiries relating to data about themselves involved in the loss?

scheme, and the eligibility criteria, are set out in PSI 42/2007 which is available to prisoners in all prison libraries. Prisoners do not have to apply for ECL; all eligible prisoners will be offered release, subject to a suitable release address. Mr Wales is also concerned about the loss of prisoner data and can ask prison staff to check with the Home Office whether any data about him was involved in the loss. In a Written Ministerial Statement on 10 September 2008, the Home Secretary reported that, following an investigation, the risk to individual prisoners was low.

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Mailbag

If you would like to contribute to Mailbag, please send your letters to ‘Mailbag’, Inside Time, PO Box 251, Hedge End, Hampshire SO30 4XJ.

Where’s the integrity? .................................................................. FRANK MCVEY - HMP DUMFRIES I refer to John Allen’s well researched and well written exposé Noble Cause Corruption (Inside Time October issue) in which my attention focused on the statement made by the late Lord Denning: ‘It is better that some innocent men remain in jail than the integrity of the English judicial system be impugned’. Since it would appear that there was no rush from other Law Lords to dissociate themselves from Lord Denning’s statement, one is left to assume that they were unconcerned about it. In the light of the above mentioned statement, one can well imagine the message sent out to some of those awaiting the difficult appeal process. Lord Denning might as well have directed the attention of worried appellants to the sign above Dante’s gates of hell: ‘Abandon hope all ye who enter here’. The use of the word ‘integrity’ in Lord Denning’s cold-hearted statement doesn’t seem to make sense; for there is no integrity - strong moral principle - in condoning the wrongful imprisonment of another human being, not to mention the attendant, unpleasant ramifications associated with such loss of freedom.

Left pondering on why I hadn’t heard any cries of outrage from either the tabloids or MPs over Lord Denning’s irresponsible statement, I remembered a letter I received from the Justice Minister who was then Cathy Jamieson. I had written to her asking that she look into a serious miscarriage of justice - here is her reply: ‘The independence of the Judiciary is a fundamental principle of the Scottish Legal System and ministers must respect that. I advise that you should consult a solicitor’. Therein lies the rub. There was no outcry because the Judiciary is virtually untouchable. Lord Denning could, with impunity, put his fingers to his nose at all of us. The fuse is still burning on a bomb that Lord Denning has lit, yet no one is rushing to do anything.

.......................................................................... JOHN ALLEN - HMP GARTREE Those of you who read my article ‘Noble Cause Corruption’ will no doubt have been as incensed as I was by Lord Denning's quote. Thank goodness therefore for the retiring chairman of the Criminal Cases Review Commission, Professor Graham Zellick, who argues … "It is far better that 10 guilty men go free than one innocent man is wrongly convicted".

In poor taste

Lie detector tests

...................................................

.....................................................................................

JOHN GILBERT - HMP BIRMINGHAM

G ATKINS - HMP ALBANY

I write with regard to an item in your October issue where, in the ‘Jailbreak’ section, you printed what I consider to be a tasteless ‘joke’ about Liverpool. I understand a joke’s a joke, but I’m a born Scouser and to be honest it made me utterly sick.

As from April 2009, the Ministry of Justice is to introduce compulsory lie detector tests, for a 3 year trial period, for offenders of sex crimes who are due for release.

Every city in England has its problems with crime and Liverpool is no different to anywhere else in this respect; however Liverpool has gone from strength to strength in the past 20 years; even to the point where it is the 2008 City of Culture. Give the city some credit and don’t print ‘jokes’ about robbing, gang rape and hijack. The main thing was mixing it in with football, of which the city is understandably very proud. To associate the city with these things is offensive and regional discrimination is wrong. Liverpool is a proud city and has proud people … of which I am one. * Interestingly the item referred to was sent to us by a reader from Liverpool.

Whilst I strongly agree that stringent monitoring and supervision is required for certain offenders, surely this proposal is clutching at straws or even an attempt to attract votes for an ailing Government. A lie detector test is not deemed 100% reliable and in fact they said it would not be used in evidence to prove or disprove an offender’s motives or guilt. The authorities who monitor and supervise released sex offenders are already overworked and stretched to breaking point, therefore this so-called ‘aid’ would surely be adding to their workload? Does this mean the Ministry of Justice no longer has faith in psychology or programmes that are completed to rehabilitate and reduce re-offending? Furthermore, the latest re-offending figures produced by the government show that sex offenders were in the minority compared to other crimes. Yet the ‘hype’ continues, with the masses once again being stirred into frenzy by the gutter press. I would not object to a voluntary test as this would probably disprove some of my charges, however I wasn’t allowed one back in 2005 upon being arrested, so what has changed?

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Of course there are some of us who might wish he had been more pro-active during his time in office - nevertheless it is encouraging to learn that he now advocates the CCRC accept a wider selection of cases. Back before the millennium it seemed that known police misconduct was confined to a few 'rogue' forces e.g. West Midlands police, however it seems to me that the problem is now far more widespread and many forces have their share of rogue officers prepared to manipulate and even manufacture evidence to support a successful prosecution. Several residents here at Gartree have approached me with their own horror stories of police impropriety and I have already received correspondence on the subject. In order to try to gauge the extent of noble cause corruption at the present time, I invite readers of Inside Time who have a genuine grievance - one that can be corroborated - to drop me a line with the details. If you would like a reply, a stamped addressed envelope would be appreciated. If I get sufficient replies, I will endeavour to interest a campaigning journalist in the topic. Write to: John Allen FE8732, HMP Gartree, Gallow Field Road, Market Harborough, Leics. LE16 7RP.

➜ The National Offender Management Service writes: With regard to Mr Atkins query about the reliance of Lie Detector tests, the polygraph is not to establish guilt or innocence; it is intended to be used as one part of supervision of offenders on licence to identify a number of risk factors and these will be specific to the individual. Reference his point on the reliability of polygraphs. We are piloting this provision before deciding whether to introduce it nationally. The pilot will help us determine whether polygraphy is a reliable tool to support effective management of sex offenders in the community. The lie detector will provide information which would not normally be disclosed to an offender manager. He mentions that staff who monitor sex offenders already have substantial demands on their time and that the polygraph will be a further addition. The pilots will be subject to independent evaluation and part of the evaluation of the polygraph pilot will consider the views of probation staff so we can make an informed judgement about whether or not they consider it to be an aid to supervision. We would like to reassure Mr Atkins that there is no intention that polygraphy will replace other interventions such as accredited programmes. It is intended to be used in addition to these interventions. Protection of the public and reducing re-offending are the first considerations of any intervention with sex offenders. All sex offenders will continue to receive interventions in line with their levels of risk and need. An offender will continue to have a management team who help design and support a programme that will help change their offending behaviour.

Insidetime December 2008 www.insidetime.org

Mailbag

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The E-list ..................................................... WAYNE HOBELL - HMP WAKEFIELD

Living in a goldfish bowl

I received a search by the DST here at Wakefield who told me they were ‘looking for a mobile phone’ (they use that excuse all the time!) I had nothing to hide, so after a strip search went to work. On returning at dinner-time I was told that something had been discovered in my cell and I was taken to Segregation. After 3 days I was given a piece of paper informing me that a hole had been found behind the sink unit, which is riveted and has six security seals attached and is checked daily. I was then given a suit of blue and yellow and informed I was on the E-list.

..................................................... JAMES WILLOCK - HMP SWANSEA Having applied on a couple of occasions to be allowed to keep a goldfish in my cell, with nothing by way of a response, can Inside Time tell me if keeping a goldfish is permitted and if not, why?

➜ The National Offender Management Service writes: HMP

I have not been nicked for this offence and have written to the police asking them to investigate. However they tell me it’s nothing to do with them. I’ve put in so many complaints I’ve used a small tree, asking what they are accusing me of, but all I get in response is: ‘it’s being investigated’. No straightforward answers. So what I need to know is: 1. Can the prison place me on the E-list without any evidence? 2. How do I get to see ‘evidence’ gathered? I’ve tried the Ministry of Justice route, and security has refused to release it as it has no personal details. 3. How long can I be kept in the E-list suit?

Drinking with bears! ..................................................... CONRAD ASQUITH - HMP RISLEY

Swansea has a policy where no prisoner is allowed any animal. As a busy local prison with a large churn of prisoners, all cells are shared by two prisoners. Some prisoners might find a pet useful whilst in custody, however others who share with them may find it offensive or unacceptable. According to Prison Service Order 1250, one birdcage and one small bird are sometimes allowed in prison. If this is permitted, the prisoner is responsible for the care of the bird, including feeding, cleaning of the cage and any veterinary fees. However this is subject to Governor’s discretion, as they have to consider whether it is manageable and appropriate for local specific circumstances.

Has anyone else had experience of the E-list that has been unfair? If so I would appreciate any correspondence. Write to: Wayne Hobell JH6810, HMP Wakefield, Love Lane, Wakefield WF2 9AG.

➜ The National Offender Management Service writes: A system is in place to identify those prisoners who pose the highest risk of potential escape or who have successfully escaped or attempted to escape from lawful custody in the past. This is known as the Escape list or E-list. Prisoners placed on the E-list are required to wear distinctive clothing at all times. The decision to place a prisoner on the E-list will be a local decision based upon security intelligence or previous prison behaviour and must be reviewed every 28 days unless the prisoner is removed from the list sooner. If Mr Hobell wishes to appeal this decision then he should follow procedures laid down in PSO 2510.

Once upon a time, not too long ago, there were three wild bears that liked to drink, take drugs and fight for fun. Then one night, after a big family row, they all stormed off to go on the razz in town and ended up at different places. Mummy bear gets into a fight with a stranger in the pub, loses her temper, and smashes a bottle into his face. The police duly arrive, she is arrested and charged with Section 18 wounding; she pleads guilty and gets a two-year IPP sentence. This means that she will only be released when the Parole Board dictate, and we all know she has no chance whatsoever of completing accredited courses within two years, so will end up doing four in Cat C and two in Cat D, six in total. Just down the High Street, Daddy bear is in a foul mood and is carrying a knife. He too gets into an argument, pulls the knife and stabs a man. Gets arrested, charged with Section 18

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Finally, on the same night, there is a grown up Baby bear running around looking for a fight with Joe public. He sees two innocent people at the bus stop, picks up a broken bottle and attacks the pair for no reason other than they looked at him the wrong way. He gets arrested, pleads not guilty, but gets found guilty after a trial. The Judge says that he committed a terrible act - Section 18 x 2 on defenceless people and gives him four years for each offence, a total of eight years. The Judge says that the sentences are to run consecutively, which means that within nine months he will be in a Cat D with all the advantages and the most he will serve is two years.

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wounding and gets a four-year IPP. Because he gets a four-year IPP he gets a set date for Cat D after half the sentence - with or without doing the courses, which means that after 2 years and 3 months he will get all the benefits of a Cat D. It’s mad but true, the longer your tariff the less you do.

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Mailbag

PSO

watch PSO 4000 Incentives and Earned Privileges ..................................................... NINA REVELL - SAFER CUSTODY AND OFFENDER POLICY GROUP I am writing to clarify the position with regard to the article which was provided by John Hirst in November’s issue of Inside Time.

“

PSO 4000 comprises 3 parts. The first covers mandatory provisions; part two is general guidance; and section three deals with the policy of in-cell television. In the latter case, it states that in-cell television is a key earnable privilege, whereby the prisoner pays £1 per week to rent a 14-inch colour television. However, according to the Prison Service, those on Basic lose this privilege. A different view comes from the European Court of Human Rights in Herczegfalvy v.Austria (Application no. 10533/83). The Court held that it was a breach of human rights under Article 10 of the Convention to deny prisoners’ access to in-cell television, and the Court stipulated the removal of this right cannot be justified on grounds of punishment, treatment or administration reasons.

”

We do not consider that article 10 of the Convention requires that all prisoners be allowed access to in-cell television, and the judgment referred to by Mr Hirst - which involved unlawful denial of access to a wide range of information - cannot properly be interpreted as suggesting that it does.

➜ John Hirst writes: ‘According to Foulkes: "This (or any such advice) is of course only the Department's view of the law, not the law itself, and furthermore it is only its view of the law as at the date of the issue of the circular". The Department's view pre-dated the incorporation of the European Convention into the Human Rights Act (1998). NOMS has failed to

If you would like to contribute to Mailbag, please send your letters to ‘Mailbag’, Inside Time, PO Box 251, Hedge End, Hampshire SO30 4XJ.

ensure that its policy is compatible with the HRA. Now the ECtHR decision in Herczegfalvy v.Austria (Application no. 10533/83) must be implemented by the government. It is true that several issues were brought by Mr Herczegfalvy in his application, as Nina Revell points out. However, as you can see from the Court judgment, "38. Mr Herczegfalvy also claimed that he had been deprived of reading matter, radio and television for long periods during his detention, in particular from 15 January 1980 to the end of February of that year and from 27 December 1980; from 15 June 1981 there had been no television set in his cell or in the ward. He alleged that these measures had been taken for disciplinary purposes only". He alleged that this violated his human rights under Article 10 of the Convention guaranteeing freedom of information. From the judgment "The Court unanimously holds that there has been a violation of Article 10".

Legal correspondence ..................................................... PAUL SULLIVAN - LONDON Further to the excellent feature ‘PSO Watch’ by John Hirst in the November issue of Inside Time, may I just clarify a few points as there are special rules relating to Legal and Confidential Access Correspondence contained within PSO 4400;.paragraph 2 specifies what a privileged letter is, as follows: “Prison Rule 39 provides for correspondence between prisoners and their legal advisers (defined as solicitor, counsel or a clerk acting on behalf of either) or the courts, to be treated as privileged. This means that such correspondence must not be opened, read or stopped, except in special circumstances …” Rule 39 mail should be clearly marked ‘Rule 39’ or in YOIs ‘Legal Correspondence’. These letters are sealed by the prisoner before posting and do not have to be inspected or otherwise interfered with by prison staff first. Incoming mail must be given to the prisoner unopened and, again, the prisoner does not have to open it in front of a warder or show him the contents unless the letter has been stopped by the Governor: who must have good evidence that either the letter is not covered by Rule 39 or that it contains illicit enclosures.

Insidetime December 2008 www.insidetime.org

There is another classification of correspondence called ‘Confidential Access’ which applies to all letters to or from the following; Legal Advisers, Courts, Bar Council, Law Society, Official Solicitor, Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration (PCA), Samaritans, Office for the Supervision of Solicitors (OSS), NHS Ombudsman, Office of the Legal Services Ombudsman, Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, Commission for Racial Equality and the Prisoner’s own Member of Parliament (addressed to the House of Commons). Confidential Access letters are treated exactly the same as Rule 39 but should be marked ‘Confidential Access’ not ‘Rule 39’. Postage on prisoner’s letters to the Prisons Ombudsman is paid for by the prison and should be marked ‘Confidential Access’ and sealed, but does not need a stamp. I hope this clarifies, for once and for all, the exact position regarding such correspondence. Governors have been warned by Prison Service HQ (IG 113/1995) that any breaches of the guideline, even if accidental, are likely to end in a court action. It follows that any telephone conversation to any of the above is covered by the same rules and may not be listened to or recorded.

No compensation for loss When I took the Prisoners Access to the Media by Phone Case to the High Court, the Department had argued that not only was I wrong with my view of the law, they also claimed that Standing Order 5 overruled the Human Rights Act (1998). Mr Justice Elias ruled in my favour. Moreover, I also included a claim that prisoners were entitled under Article 11 of The Convention to form an association/ union. I won that point as well. My advice is, for the avoidance of any doubt, that any prisoner who has been denied access to in-cell TV, to get in touch with a solicitor and seek a declaration in the High Court that PSO 4000 is incompatible with the HRA 1998. It may also be worth arguing that the £1 charge is unlawful and it could be that the Department has to repay the money deducted from prisoners’ wages.’

................................................................................................................. G KENYON - HMP DOVEGATE Reference the letter in your September issue by Keith Rose (Game Over), I put in a request to the library for chapter 24 of PSO 7500 only to be informed that said PSO is for finance employees and covers accounting methods, and there is in fact no chapter 24; therefore a degree of enlightenment would be appreciated!

➜ The National Offender Management Service writes: Staff in the library were correct insofar as PSO 7500 has only 19 chapters. The relevant information can be found in that PSO, however, and the chapter Mr Rose wishes readers to refer to is actually chapter 5 - Losses and Special Payments. The new policy on games and games consoles is outlined in PSI 32/2008: Restricting Prisoner Access to Games Consoles/Games. Implementation of this policy will not require prison governors to offer compensation for any perceived loss. Games confiscated will be placed in prisoners’ stored property and will be returned to them upon release. Alternatively, prisoners have the option to send these games out to friends or family.

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Mailbag

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who qualify do so because they have stood the test of time. What is bizarre is that everyone can go out on 20th December, some 5 days before Christmas Day, and 27th December, 2 days after Xmas Day … but not the 25th. Odd don't you think?

Preferential treatment? ..................................................... PRISONER’S RELATIVE - LONDON On behalf of a family member currently resident in HMP Blantyre House, can I ask the Prison Service to comment on the following: Xmas and Boxing Day (day) releases have been stopped, although under the previous management they were allowed (8am-8pm) as long as the prisoner provided details of his travel arrangements and who was collecting him and bringing him back to the prison. Prisoners have been told that it’s because of public perception and victims’ views, yet the day releases or town visits as they know them are still allowed for Saturdays 20th and 27th December. ‘Public perception and victim issues’? Prisoners who are eligible for home leaves will be going for 5 days over Xmas including Xmas Day and they include lifers convicted of murder. It is simply that the Governor does not want day trips out on Xmas Day or Boxing Day for those who are only eligible for town visits or just single days out. This in spite of the fact that on 30 September, the Governor allowed 6 Muslim prisoners to go to London to visit family etc. and take part in religious festivities; not only that, the prison provided them with travel warrants. The IMB have not been back to my family member, or anyone else, and it seems the Governor is adamant, no matter what, that those prisoners not on home leave will remain in prison. I wonder if the public perception would be that Blantyre House management favour Muslim prisoners over Christians, whose one special day of the year, and that which symbolises family unity, is Christmas Day? My family member will be in for Christmas Day and home leave for 5 days over the New Year period, unlike last year when he was picked up from the prison on Christmas and Boxing Day and taken back and then went on home leave over the New Year. There is apparently a lot of bad feeling in Blantyre House, as those going on home leave are seen as being given special treatment, which is not so. Those like my family member

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As for victim issues, this is debatable; why should victims know that prisoners are out at any time; whether it be paid work, town visits, home leave, voluntary work or whatever? Some of the more religious prisoners apparently feel that Muslims have been given preferential treatment, yet cannot complain because of being seen as ‘attacking’ their religion; which of course it isn't. It's the Governor's reasoning which is being criticised.

➜ Mr J Carmichael - Governor of Blantyre House writes: • There have been some high profile failures in the resettlement estate in recent months, including here at Blantyre House. This has resulted in adverse media coverage concerning prisoners being allowed out whilst serving sentences • Prison Service Headquarters are increasingly reluctant to endorse events which can be seen as prisoners taking part in some releases which might be viewed by the public as unacceptable whilst serving a sentence • Public perception at Christmas time is high in terms of what is perceived in relation to what goes on in prisons • Victim issues, whilst always being at the forefront of all we do, have raised awareness particularly at emotive times of the year, Christmas Day being one of those occasions. • The PSO asks that we ensure prisoners can be certain they can get back to the establishment by public transport, there is none on Christmas day. • There is no entitlement - it is a privilege to eligible prisoners under the resettlement PSO. Subsequent to this decision I have had representations from various quarters asking me to reconsider. While in the main the tone of these observations has been polite and convivial, there was a thread running through them that I was somehow denying prisoners their right to spend Christmas with their families; there is no right. Similarly the notion that I was favouring different groups of prisoners in terms of holy days of observations is also not true, and in terms of the ethos of this establishment is evident for all to see.

Fleecing prisoners’ families ..................................................... JACQUELINE M STANIFORTH SURREY So the huge revenues made by the Prison Service from prisoners' phone calls (£10 million per annum in publicly managed prisons in England and Wales alone; an estimated £150 for each and every prisoner) is spent on a ‘general prisoner welfare fund’ or on ‘offsetting costs of distribution through the prison shop where that is contracted out’. Is there any documentary evidence to prove this? It seems just another excuse to continue fleecing prisoners' families (clearly no prisoner can afford to make this volume of calls unless they have family support). To take the second excuse first, as this is trivial - if it costs more to contract out the prison shop than to organize it ‘in house’ then why on earth does it not continue to be organized by the prison? The truth must be that prison shops - with a limited range of products on sale, high prices and captive (literally) clientele - make a huge profit. Commercial companies surely pay the Prison Service for the concession rather than the other way round. The first excuse is the one I find really upsetting. What ‘prisoner welfare fund’ is referred to here? In my nearly ten years visiting prisons, I have never seen such a fund publicized. Certainly, prisoners themselves seem to have

9

no knowledge of it; still less do they have a say in how it’s spent, although one could make some suggestions. How about some improvements in diet (wouldn’t it be wonderful if Jamie Oliver got interested in the woeful quality of prison food!); or perhaps a donation to the ‘Angel Tree’ so that prisoners’ children could have a gift from their parent at Christmas; or a better service on visits with more childcare facilities? Since it's the prisoners' families who are subsidizing the calls, the least that could be done would be to spend some of the profits on helping maintain relationships which, so we are repeatedly informed, are a major factor in preventing re-offending. No, like everything else these days, long-term benefits are shelved for short-term profits. The cost of phone calls makes it very hard to keep in touch with the outside, with the end result being more broken relationships, more crime and more prisons ... very depressing.

Reduction in sentence ................................................... NAME SUPPLIED - HMP FULL SUTTON I seek clarification relating to persistent rumours circulating throughout Full Sutton that there is to be a 15 per cent reduction in sentence for those prisoners serving a sentence for non-violent offences under the CJA 2003.

➜ The Ministry of Justice writes: There is no current or planned legislation which would have the affect of reducing custodial sentences by 15 per cent. Existing provisions which allow for the administrative early release of prisoners in certain circumstances will continue to apply, and there are no plans to allow prisoners to be released earlier than under these present arrangements.

Criminal Defence - Prison Law - Immigration

That said, I am content to reverse my decision and now intend to release eligible prisoners on Christmas Day on resettlement day release. This is not a straightforward decision in the current climate but I think it can be justified for resettlement reasons as part of a staged resettlement back into the community.

Ross SR Samuel Solicitors Criminal Defence and Prison Law Specialists ‡ Licence & Parole Issues ‡ Categorisation ‡ Recall to Custody ‡ Ajudications ‡ Tariff & Judicial Review For Immediate Visit, Clear Advice and Effective Representation, write or call, Pedro Kika at:

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Newsround

THE INSPECTOR CALLS... Holloway … improving despite bullying issues Holloway had made a lot of progress over the last four years but the levels of selfharm remained high, with an average of more than two incidents every day, said Anne Owers, Chief Inspector of Prisons, publishing the report of an unannounced inspection of the London prison. More than half the women surveyed by inspectors said they had felt unsafe, significantly more than at the time of the last inspection. This was strongly linked with victimisation by other prisoners - nearly twice as high as in other comparable women’s prisons. Inspectors found that suicide prevention procedures were generally sound, although there was a need for more individual support and more focused care. Bullying and pilfering on the residential units was a major concern; much of this was low-level, but appeared to be accepted as ‘part of life’ at Holloway. Staff-prisoner relationships had improved. Fewer prisoners than at previous inspections expressed concern about victimisation by staff. More than half the women, and nearly half the staff, were from black or minority ethnic backgrounds, and race issues were in general well managed. The prison was much cleaner and better cared for than during the previous inspection. The mother and baby unit was also well run, although there was a need to ensure there were individual care plans and support plans for women who had been separated from their babies at birth.

Swaleside … safe but too little activity Swaleside was a safe prison, with good relationships between prisoners and staff, but there was not enough purposeful activity and prisoners spent too long in their cells. Inspectors found that anti-bullying, suicide and self-harm prevention arrangements were good, and prisoners felt significantly safer than at comparable prisons. The segregation unit was a temporary facility, but staff managed some difficult prisoners with care. Use of force and use of special accommodation were low. In general, staff-prisoner relation-

ships were a particular strength, with an effective personal officer scheme. However, black and minority ethnic prisoners were more negative about the prison than white prisoners. Illegal drugs were a problem, but the prison was working hard to reduce both supply and demand. There was insufficient purposeful activity. Inspectors found over 40% of prisoners locked up during the core day. Learning and skills required better strategic management. There had been improvements in resettlement work, including an impressive range of offending behaviour programmes.

Gartree … population frustrated Gartree had made some improvements, but had faced serious problems with the arrival of indeterminate public protection (IPP) prisoners, said Anne Owers. The last inspection found that the prison was not working effectively in its specialist role and had ‘lost its sense of direction’. This inspection found some improvements, but also noted new problems: particularly an influx of IPP prisoners, who were competing with lifers for scarce offending behaviour programmes, leaving both populations frustrated. There had been no additional resources to deal with the increased sentence planning work for so many prisoners with short tariffs. There were backlogs in preparing parole dossiers and categorisation reviews for IPP prisoners.

Scottish children in adult jails Now even the Chief Inspector of Prisons for Scotland, Dr Andrew McLellan (pictured), has added his voice to the argument against sending under 16s to adult prisons. In his Annual Report for 2007/8, Dr McLellan names it as one of his seven frustrations. In Scotland, children accused of an offence can be sent straight to prison if they are allegedly ‘unruly’. A total of 15 children were held in adult prisons in Scotland during 2007/8. The Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill wants to abolish that system and send them into secure care or have them tagged. In Scotland the number of secure places is so limited that prison is the only ‘seen’ option. John Scott, chairman of the Howard League for Penal Reform in Scotland, said: "One child in prison is one child too many”. Dr McLellan says he hopes that by his next report no more under 16s will be jailed in Scotland.

Babies in prison: could reach 200 this year There is hardly a more depressing place to start life than in one of the eight mother and baby units located in our prison system. No matter how good the staff and conditions are, prison is no place for children. Ministry of Justice figures show that between April 2005 and July 2008 an average of 1.7 babies a week were born behind bars. But between April and July of this year, the rate has more than doubled to almost four a week and the total for this year could reach 200 births. Over a third of women in prison have no previous convictions - more than double the figure for men.

Inspectors found there were some concerns about safety, with weak violence reduction systems; too many prisoners sought refuge in the segregation unit. Suicide prevention arrangements were sound and the use of illicit drugs remained low. Staff-prisoner relationships were generally satisfactory and personal officer work had improved. Race, foreign nationals and health services work had improved. Older cells were cramped and unhygienic, and there were few opportunities for prisoners to cook or launder for themselves. There were too few work and training opportunities, and those without activity were locked up for too long. The prison was reporting inaccurate and inflated figures for prisoners’ time out of cell. Education had improved and the therapeutic community remained a beacon of good practice.

And there is little doubt that the general upward trend in babies born in prison reflects the dramatic increase in the number of women prisoners - almost double the figure since 1996 which now stands at nearly 4,400. The conditions in prison today may be no longer as they were in Victorian times but young mothers are still being incarcerated for the same reasons they were in Victorian times: poverty, debt, addictions and mental illness.

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Insidetime December 2008 www.insidetime.org

Inspectorates report critical of IPP implementation

Prison education ‘has failed’ The prison education system is in disarray, according to a damning report by a group of MPs. The findings of the House of Commons public accounts committee (PAC) claim little has been done for inmates who struggle with basic numeracy and literacy. Often their needs are not assessed and any progress they do make goes unrecorded. The Offenders' Learning and Skills Service (Olass), set up two years ago, was meant to change all that. "It has failed in almost every respect," says the PAC chairman, Edward Leigh. Run by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC), its remit was to raise the quality of provision and offer "a single, integrated service for offenders in custody and the community". The PAC report concedes that because criminal justice system requirements take priority, and offenders often have mental health difficulties and dependence on alcohol or drugs, this can be a tall order. One major concern of the report is the Prison Service target of having classes at least 80% full, which may tempt establishments to pack them with those "most likely to turn up". PAC member Ian Davidson was concerned about such targets. "If you just set about filling classrooms, you can always find a few obliging souls to do that," he said. The report expresses dismay that around half of all prisoners have no qualifications and 40% have a reading age "lower than that of a competent 11-year-old". A quarter of those have no screening or assessment for learning and skills, and only a fifth of those with acute literacy or numeracy needs enrol on a course that would help them. More could be done to motivate offenders by involving prison and probation officers and offering extra earned privileges, such as phone calls and visits.

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The report found that: ■ Many prisoners had complex needs, including mental health, learning disability and a risk of self-harm. Nine out of twelve women sampled had mental health needs; ■ One in five of the prisoners whose cases were examined were already over tariff. Prisons, both local and training, had no additional resources to deal with them, and staff had not been trained. There were no adequate systems for moving prisoners so that they could access necessary programmes. Prisoners and staff expressed great frustration at their ‘Kafka-esque’ predicament, unable to access the interventions they needed to secure release;

about the needs of the victim. I think they sometimes forget who the victim is, so lost do they become in a fog of platitudes." The "platitudes" he and his speechwriter are referring to no doubt are the complaints that there are way too many people in prison unnecessarily, the lack of resources to provide meaningful and constructive activities for them once they are in there, and the unacceptably high rate of ex-prisoners re-offending after release. None of the groups he refers to has ever, as far as I am aware, attempted to condone, make excuses for, or justify the actions of those who cause harm or distress to others.

The Inspectorates of Prison and Probation have published a thematic review of indeterminate sentences for public protection. It is highly critical of the scope, implementation and impact of the indeterminate sentences (IPP sentences for adults and DPP sentences for those under 18). While welcoming recent changes to limit the scope of the sentence and improve processes, it points out that the 4,500 prisoners already sentenced will affect prisons and probation for years to come. The report notes that the scope of the sentence was very wide and that these prisoners, often with short minimum sentences, entered an already overstretched and under-resourced system: within prisons, probation and parole. In addition, central national systems for managing lifers and indeterminate-sentenced prisoners had been severely weakened. This it describes as ‘a perfect storm’.

11

‘We hear far less often from these lobbies about the needs of the victim.’ A remark made by Justice Secretary Jack Straw in a speech in which he launched an attack on penal reform groups. Former prisoner Erwin James of The Guardian writes: ‘Whoever wrote Jack Straw's speech, in which he launched a vicious attack on penal reform groups, levelled an outrageous slur on the work and efforts of the good people in this country who for decades have been campaigning tirelessly, and with little thanks, for a safe and effective prison system that works in all our best interests. Accusing the groups of being overly concerned about the "needs" of offenders, Straw said: "We hear far less often from these lobbies

The whole point of the existence of such groups is to prevent the state from subjecting people in prison to unnecessary suffering by abuse, neglect or systemic failure. Contrary to Straw's assertions, that is not because they harbour undue sympathy for criminals, but rather because they know that the reasons behind antisocial behaviour are varied and complex. They understand, as does the state, incidentally, that the majority of people who end up behind bars are disadvantaged in some way - lacking in social and work skills, in educational ability and achievement, or wrapped up in a spiral of mental health problems often exacerbated by drug or alcohol misuse. Straw's party has been in charge of the prison system for more than 11 years. If he really cared about victims he would have tackled the failures of the system he inherited from the Conservatives in 1997 a long time ago. Hurling insults at his critics is just a weak and shysterly way of deflecting the blame. If I were him, I would sack his speechwriter.’

■ The Probation Service did not have sufficient guidance or training to assist the courts with accurate pre-sentence reports when deciding whether to pass an IPP sentence; ■ There was insufficient provision for the children and young people sentenced to DPP: youth offending teams were unprepared, and there was too little specific prison provision, or interventions to reduce risk.

Offenders shamed Tens of thousands of offenders sentenced to community punishments are to be forced to wear high-visibility orange “shame jackets” identifying them as offenders. The orange bibs will bear the words “Community Payback” on the front and back so people know they are offenders doing work as part of their community sentence.

HMP Dovegate recently held a 5-a-side World Cup Football event in association with Stoke City FC for Black History Month and to raise awareness for the ‘Kick racism out of football’ campaign. The hugely successful event also raised money for ‘Mothers Against Violence’, a charity dedicated to stopping violence between the youth of today; and was organised by the Dovegate Gymnasium Staff, with over 80 prisoners taking part. Trophies were presented by Mamady Sidibe of Stoke City Football Club pictured (back row centre) with the Caribbean ‘3 team’ (winners) and the European ‘1 team’ (runners-up). Mamady Sidibe also signed posters and programmes.

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Newsround

Crimestoppers 20th Birthday We have all heard of Crimestoppers, but did you know that 2008 was its twentieth anniversary. Crimestoppers was set up by businessman Michael Ashcroft in 1988 as an independent charity allowing the public to help the police by providing anonymous information. These days Crimestoppers is partly funded by central government but it is still run by a small permanent staff and about 400 volunteers. In the past twenty years it has been involved with over 86,000 arrests, the recovery of property worth over £100 million, and the seizure of drugs worth over £150 million. Anonymous calls to its free 24-hour Crimestoppers Hotline lead to the arrest of 17 people each day. The idea of encouraging the public to give anonymous information was not new. The ‘Crimestoppers concept’ really dates back to New Mexico and 1976 when a detective encouraged local businesses to put up a reward for information which might lead to the conviction of somebody for the murder of a student. Detective Mackaleese also managed to present a reconstruction of the crime on local television; offering a $1,000 reward for information. Two men were subsequently convicted of the murder following ‘tip-offs’. The police saw the benefit of what had been achieved and soon ‘Crimestoppers’ was spreading across America. In England things got started after the death of PC Blakelock in October 1985. Michael Ashcroft offered to provide the police with reward money and after further discussions set up the ‘Community Action Trust’ with some business friends. By 1988 the charity was renamed ‘Crimestoppers’ and covered the whole of the UK. There have been various reorganisations but there are now 39 volunteer committees spread across the country which Crimestoppers hope to expand. What of Michael Ashcroft? He has been Chairman of the Trustees of Crimestoppers for 20 years, is now Lord Ashcroft KCMG, Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party and economic adviser for the Embassy of Belize to the United States.

10 facts about Crimestoppers since it started: 1. 86,310 arrests and charges have been made 2. One million actionable calls have been received 3. £102 million of goods have been recovered 4. £151 million of drugs have been seized 5. Around 17 people are arrested every day as a result of information given to Crimestoppers 6. One person every five days is charged with murder as a result of information given to Crimestoppers 7. In 1988, Crimestoppers received just under 5,000 calls with useful information - last year, just over 81,500 such calls were received 8. Since 1988, 790 people have been charged with murder/attempted murder with the help of Crimestoppers information 9. ‘Most Wanted’ website established 2 years ago has already resulted in almost 400 criminals being arrested i.e. 1 every other day 10. 12 fugitives believed to be on the run in Spain have been arrested as a result of Operation Captura

What of Winston Silcott, the man convicted of the murder in that first Crimestoppers case? Five years after conviction, the Court of Appeal quashed it as unsafe.

Did I say that…? ‘It’s already of course prohibited for police to be members of political parties.’ Home Secretary Jacqui Smith talking to Sky News in the wake of the published BNP membership list. While police officers’ contracts might prohibit them joining the BNP or any far-right organisation that promotes racial inequality, the Metropolitan Police and the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) however confirm that nothing prevents police officers from becoming members of mainstream political parties. They can even be a member of the Revolutionary Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist Leninist) and seek to violently overthrow the State and establish a dictatorship. Should someone tell the Home Secretary?

‘Missing the point’ A report of electronically monitored curfew requirements, orders and licences, jointly published by HMI Probation, HMI Court Administration and HMI Constabulary, found a system that was largely ‘meeting the contract but missing the point.’ The joint inspection team noted that electronically monitored curfews had the potential to make a powerful contribution to effective management of sentenced offenders. But they found that, even though the electronic monitoring companies were largely meeting their contractual requirements, this potential benefit from such curfews was not being achieved in practice. They described the failure to integrate these curfews into mainstream offender management practice as a ‘missed opportunity’. • 65,000 people in England and Wales were curfewed in 2007/8. • 50,000 were curfewed by a Court sentence; 15,000 on early release from prison (Home Detention Curfew). • The contracts to monitor curfewed offenders cost around £80m in 2007/8. • People are curfewed for a maximum of six months, with a shorter maximum of four and a half months for those released early from prison. • The three most common offences for which people are tagged are ‘minor’ violence, ‘serious’ motoring offences and burglary.

Source: Crimestoppers

New law to let police ‘steal’ your DNA The government is considering passing a law that will allow the Police or MI5 to break into your home to collect a sample of your DNA from cups or cigarette ends to check to see if you are ‘wanted’. According to The Times the proposals are part of the new Counter-Terrorism Bill. The law would allow the use of samples which have previously been collected illegally to be used as ‘evidence’ in court. The law would also allow a rapid expansion of the DNA database; which currently holds over 4.2 million people’s DNA (nearly 600,000 of whom have never been convicted or cautioned for any offence). All the DNA information will be available to other countries’ police forces. Everyone, except the Government, is pointing out the flaws in the idea, which includes the very real danger of cross-contamination.

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EMAP The last few weeks have been a hive of activity for the team at EMAP, with further prisons now seeing the benefits of the service. There does however still seem to be some confusion about how the system operates and we wish to clarify the basics for Governors who may be receiving enquiries from prisoners but have not yet had time to investigate it thoroughly. Emails sent online are automatically reformatted in a way that enables them to be delivered as a ‘fax type’ message on one sheet of A4. As it arrives in the prison, censors can process it in the usual manner (although it is much easier to read than handwritten letters), place it into the envelope supplied, and deliver it to the wing with other mail. It is: • set up free of charge in any UK prison • free to operate with all equipment and consumables supplied free of charge • currently handling up to 5,000 emails per week • extremely popular with family and friends of prisoners • proving very useful for solicitors who use it for acknowledgements and updates etc • cheaper than 2nd class mail and faster than 1st. Derek Jones, EMAP’s Managing Director adds: ‘In 2009, we will be making donations to our two nominated charities, Prison Chat UK and the New Bridge Foundation, helping them to fund their valuable services. I would like to take this opportunity to personally thank all the prison staff who have helped us establish our service and the many prisoners who have been prompting the enquiries from the prison, plus of course our customers. Finally, a big ‘thank you’ to Inside Time, who have promoted our service free of charge and given us the exposure we so desperately needed.’ Merry Christmas from the EMAP Team. UPDATE: 33 prisons fully operational, including the most recent additions of Shepton Mallet, Kirkham, Feltham, Edmunds Hill, Eastwood Park and Dovegate; plus our first Scottish Prison HMP Barlinnie. A further 22 prisons are at various set-up stages and will hopefully be connected very soon, bringing the total to 55. EMAP PO Box 4335 Frome BA11 9AF www.emailaprisoner.com 08700 429351

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1 in 3 schools is failing pupils say inspectors

13

NEWS IN BRIEF

More than a third of schools are not giving pupils a good education say inspectors. Ofsted teams found that one in ten 11-year-olds is still leaving primary school without reaching the level expected in English and maths. And more than half of England’s teenagers are leaving secondary school without five good GCSEs, including English and maths.

Four ‘at-risk’ children die from abuse every week

In her third annual report, Chief Inspector of Schools Christine Gilbert said England must do better if it is to compare favourably with the rest of the world. She said there was still too much variation in achievement between different areas of the country. Poor quality services existed across the education and care sectors for those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Gordon Brown congratulates Barack Obama on being the first black President and Obama congratulates him on being the first Brown Prime Minister to win a by-election.

Up to four children die each week in England from abuse or neglect, according to official figures that reveal the alarming scale of the problem. The damning report by Ofsted makes clear that the death of ‘Baby P’ (pictured) was far from an isolated tragedy. It found that 282 vulnerable children - many of them already known to social services - died in the 17-month period to the end of August. A further 136 suffered serious harm or injury. Two-thirds of those killed or hurt were babies less than a year old.

Who is to blame for the death of Baby P? Lessons learnt, boxes ticked, families ignored Says Dr Eileen Munro, reader in social policy at the LSE. ‘The Government has lost sight of the basic nature of child protection work. They place a mistaken emphasis on the easily measured aspects of practice such as forms filled in or meetings held. Whether these forms show accurate information and wellreasoned discussions, or whether intelligent discussion took place at the meeting, is harder to evaluate. The current system is so skewed towards the simply measured that it sends out the wrong messages to workers about what is important. One social worker told me with pride of the care she had taken to reassure and comfort two little boys who were being taken into foster care. But she also told me that her seniors had not praised her work but criticised her for not giving higher priority to arranging a meeting that figured in the performance indicators. The “important” work is achieving a high score in the audit system; comforting frightened children comes second.’

The liberals who did so much to destroy the family must share the blame for Baby P. Says Melanie Phillips, writer and broadcaster. ‘Since the death of Maria Colwell in 1973, inquiry has followed inquiry into social work failings – only to be followed by one shocking case of abuse after another. Social work is plagued by low-calibre recruits, whose training is more akin to indoctrination in political correctness, working in a culture which intimidates any dissent and turns morality and common sense inside out. Of course, the book should be thrown at Haringey Council, Ofsted, the Social Care Inspectorate and the assorted professionals who displayed incompetence and worse that led to the death of Baby P. But the people who really have blood on their hands are the progressive intelligentsia who have simply written orderly, married, family life out of the script, enforced the doctrines of multi-culturalism and non-judgmentalism with the zealotry of the fanatic, and caused Britain to descend into an age of barbarism.’

British pupils falling in World rankings British teenagers have plummeted in World rankings for reading, maths and science in international figures that are a devastating blow to the Government.

After opening his presents on his 60th Birthday Prince Charles tells his mother that he was really hoping for the throne.

Fifteen-year-olds have fallen from 8th to 24th place in maths attainment in the past six years. In reading, their ranking has dropped from 7th to 17th and in science from 4th to 14th. The slump raises fears that Britain is losing its reputation for providing World-class education, despite the millions of pounds the Government has pumped into schools. Since 1997, when Tony Blair came to power promising to make “education, education, education” a priority, government spending on the sector has risen from £29 billion to £77.4 billion. Britain was eclipsed by Korea, Finland, Canada, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Japan and the Netherlands in reading, maths and science. Britain also scored fewer points than it did in 2000, according to the report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Before appearing on Strictly come Dancing, John Sergeant is given just a touch more make up.

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Newsround Children are kind by seven At the age of four, your child is likely to be a selfish monster - but don’t despair: by seven, he or she should have learned to take account of other people’s feelings. Scientists at the University of Zurich used sweets as the currency in a sharing game in which the options were “one for me, one for you”, or “one for me, and none for you”. Aged three and four, the children only thought of themselves, and would routinely deny the other child a sweet. That sort of reluctance to share is identical, said the Swiss team, to the way chimpanzees behave in similar experiments: in both cases, “self-interest is the dominant form of behaviour”. But by the age of seven or eight, most children chose the fairer option, particularly when the other child was a classmate rather than a pupil at a different school. However, the findings do not mean you should refrain from telling your toddler to share; such encouragement may be essential if his or her caring instincts are to develop as they grow older.

The “marshmallow test” moves on It’s a simple test, but it has a surprising ability to predict a child’s future: give a four-year-old child a marshmallow, and tell them they can either eat it immediately or wait until you come back into the room in 15 minutes and they’ll get two marshmallows. According to research conducted in the 1960s at Stanford University, California, the children who manage to wait for the second treat - who, in other words, are able to defer gratification – grow into young adults with social skills, higher self-esteem and better exam results than the children who guzzle the treat immediately. Now, four decades on, professor Walter Mischel, who devised the “marshmallow test”, is planning to scan the brains of his original subjects in the hope of finding out whether some are better able to resist temptation. Is the problem how you perceive a temptation, for example, or in an underlying inability to stop yourself? “Brain imaging provides a very exciting and important tool,” says Mischel. His ultimate aim is to find better techniques to help control their impulses. For instance, the child who can’t resist a marshmallow if they are thinking about how yummy and chewy it is might find they can wait for 20 minutes if they’re thinking of the marshmallow as being puffy like a ball of cotton wool.

NEWS IN BRIEF

Police reject criticism that they have over-reacted in arresting a Tory MP for making public the news that 5,000 illegal immigrants have been allowed to work in sensitive Whitehall security jobs.

At the White House - George Bush’s dog Scotty shows Obama’s dog the ropes.

In praise of pushy parents

Why dads are so embarrassing

Pushy mothers have been vindicated - to an extent. According to new research, having an ambitious mother can leave women with more self-confidence in later life. For the study, researchers analysed a group of women whose children were born in 1970 and asked them when their children were ten, at what age they expected them to leave school. Dr Eirini Flouri, who led the project, reckoned this was a good indicator of a mother’s expectations of her children, and belief in their abilities. She then compared this information with an assessment of the children’s levels of confidence aged 30. The results indicated that the women’s self-esteem was linked to their mothers’ belief in them , even when factors such as the children’s intellectual ability and their parents’ wealth were taken into account. However, parental belief did not seem to affect the children’s eventual income level, and no such effect was seem in sons - possibly because mothers tend to be more ambitious for their daughters. Dr Flouri, of the University of London’s Institute of Education, was careful to emphasise that belief in a child’s abilities is “just one aspect” of parenting.

To his wife, the sight of the middle-aged man strutting his stuff on the dance floor is perhaps funny, even endearing. But to his teenage children it’s so embarrassing it’s almost unbearable. Now, scientists think they are closer to knowing why teenagers have this extreme reaction; it seems that adolescent brains process feelings of embarrassment (and guilt) differently from adult brains. In an experiment at London University, researchers using brain-scanning equipment found that when teenagers and adults were asked to consider feelings of disgust or fear, they all used the same part of the brain. But when the volunteers were asked to imagine socially embarrassing situations - such as their father dancing in a supermarket, or themselves drooling food down their jumpers - the teenagers engaged a particular part of the brain called the media prefrontal cortex; the adults did not. “If teenagers have more activity in this part of the brain when they are thinking about being embarrassed, it might explain why they are more susceptible to embarrassment,” says Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, who led the research published in The Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

John Prescott was sent to Scotland to help Labour in the by-election but gets hopelessly distracted when he spots a pie shop. Talking of Fat cats, £2.3m funding is withdrawn by the Home Office which will result in the Met Police’s human trafficking team being closed down. Meanwhile the Home Office paid out £5.7m in staff bonuses last year.

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Newsround

Insidetime December 2008 www.insidetime.org

 Do you know...? • It seems that the bonus culture isn’t only endemic in the City. The marking of this year’s Sats tests was a fiasco: schools and pupils waited months for unreliable results, and thousands of scripts were lost. Yet hundreds of civil servants at the National Assessments Agency, who were responsible for overseeing the process, are still to receive performance-related bonuses of up to £3,905 each. • A boy of 16 was told he could not work as a cleaner because he is too young to use a hoover, washing up liquid or hot water, without health and safety clearance. Karl Walker was hired by Apollo Cleaning and worked in offices in Chippenham for a week until a regional manager ordered him to stop. • Employees of Northern Rock are scheduled to scoop bonuses worth up to £50m over the next three years. • The White House is still fighting the war in Iraq under an authorisation to remove (the long dead) Saddam Hussein.

move with the times, and offer advice on sexual matters to its members. There will be no badge in sexual health, but it will be incorporated into subjects such as health and fitness. Traditionalists have complained about the move, but Lord Baden-Powell himself wasn’t afraid to tackle the subject: in his book ‘Scouting for Boys,’ he urged boys who felt sexual urges to “wash your parts in cold water”. • 93% of voters think that bankers must take some responsibility for the present financial crisis; 92% also blame bad financial regulation, 88% the government, 86% the global downturn, and 84% consumers for borrowing too much money. However, only 45% say the Government must take a lot of responsibility, whereas 74% say the same about banks. • Ann Summers was forced to withdraw thousands of edible sex products after tests revealed that they had been contaminated by melamine, the industrial toxin at the centre of the Chinese baby milk scandal. • Between 1908 and 1965, Winston Churchill is believed to have had 42,000 bottles of Pol Roget champagne opened for him. • 52,000 tennis balls are used during the Wimbledon fortnight.

• Six police forces and two fire brigades are paying out more in pensions to retired officers than they are in salaries to serving officers.

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• In world rankings, Britain is rated number one for Grand Prix winners and also, weirdly, for kidnapping, second for the amount of aid we give per capita and third for obesity. • The NHS spends £225,000 each year on translating its services into 160 languages, including Cherokee and Cebuano - despite the fact there are no registered users of those languages in this country. • From green belt to national park to areas of scientific interest and places of outstanding natural beauty, 55 per cent of our landscape is protected against developers. • There are currently more than 80 million old mobile phones laying around in Britain with a value of £1.6bn websites such as mobile2cash.co.uk and envirofone.com will buy your old phone from you. • Lecturers at British universities have been sent a list of “sensitive” terms they should try to avoid. Words on the list, drawn up by the British Sociological Association, include “Chinese whispers” which is deemed to have racist connotations, as is “immigration” because of its association with “immigration legislation”. “Seminal” and “Old/Master” are judged sexist.

Behold the Messiah…

• Only one in ten cyclists bothers to stop at pedestrian crossings.

And Lo an angel of the Lord appeared on CNN and said: Fear not for I bring you breaking news of great joy - for this day in the city of Chicago a Messiah has come forth preaching the message: ‘Yes we can’ as foretold by Bob the Builder.

• The 92-year-old governor of a primary school in Cornwall has been banned from handing chocolate to pupils on health grounds. Hartley Peters has distributed KitKat bars at Mawnan Church of England School in Falmouth for countless years. But on the first day of this term he was told to stop. He now gives out raisins instead.

And his name shall be Obama which is to say the chosen one, the bringer of change.

• Over 126 years after his death, Charles Darwin has received a personal apology from the Church of England for opposing his theory of evolution. Addressing the naturalist directly in an online essay, Malcolm Brown, the C of E’s director of public affairs, admits Darwin was wronged, and tells him the Church hopes to make amends. Darwin’s family described the apology as “pointless”.

And it came to pass that there went out a decree from Obama that the people should be taxed some more and that his armies shall be redeployed from Iraq to take part in a new surge in Afghanistan. And the people said amongst themselves ‘Hang on a minute we’ve heard that before somewhere: and straightway it brought to mind Dubya the Burning Bush - the last ruler of the land - and they became sore afraid

• About a third of girls in the US become pregnant before the age of 20; 80% of babies born to teen mothers in 2006 were unplanned. • Hospitals in England made at least £103m from car park charges last year.

Not The Authorised King James Version of 1611

• The Scouts Association has announced that it has decided to

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16

Diary

Insidetime December 2008 www.insidetime.org

Month by Month by Rachel Billington he Longford Trust was set up in memory of my father, Frank Longford. He spent seventy of his ninety five years visiting prisons, helping people who hadn’t much hope, raising difficult cases in the House of Lords where he was never afraid of making waves. In fact, he enjoyed nothing more than a good argument.

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At first the trust organised a lecture. Previous lecturers include Archbishop Tutu, death row lawyer Clive Stafford Smith and Cherie Booth QC. Then the trustees, of whom I’m one, decided to give prizes to organisations or individuals who have done outstanding work in penal or social reform. More recently we started a programme (advertised regularly in Inside Time) to give financial aid and mentor support to ex-prisoners involved in graduate studies.

Libya. In her view, so-called Titan prisons would only lead to more self-harm and suicide. Ian Blair paid tribute to Frank Longford for ‘giving a voice to the voiceless.’ He went on to analyse the problems in our society, arguing forcefully that … ‘We can’t arrest our way out of knife crime.’ He questioned why so many people think prison is the answer and why society has lost faith in community sentences. One answer, he felt, was to make those serving community sentences far more visible, including wearing special clothing. But his most forceful point was that money must be paid ‘further upstream’ to tackle problems of poverty and drug abuse before they have led to crime.

This year we tried something new again, putting on a debate on the theme Britain can’t build its way out of the Prisons’ Crisis. Originally, we hoped to find four participants who could be divided into pros and cons. But it soon became clear that it was going to be a great deal easier getting those critical of government policy than those who would wholeheartedly defend it. We ended up with four very different panellists who nevertheless found more to agree about than disagree.

Jason Warr read an interesting essay on the prison situation. His analysis mentioned the ‘obsession with public protection’ and ‘the dominance of the retributive ideal’ which led to more and more people thinking prison was the only answer. He also argued that there has been a swing away from the notion of rehabilitation which previously was considered a very important part of the prison experience. On the subject of the increased size of prisons, he raised the question of public and private investment and the part prisons can play in local economies, thus changing the basis for a decision making process.

Phil Wheatley, as Director General of the Prison Service - or rather the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) which now includes the Probation Service - probably needs no introduction to readers of Inside Time. Sir Ian Blair, outgoing Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, is also well known. Baroness Helena Kennedy QC is a barrister who has spent much of her career in the area of human rights. Jason Warr is an ex-prisoner who is studying at Cambridge University and is a former Longford Scholar. They were chaired by Channel Four newscaster, Jon Snow.

Phil Wheatley echoed some of Jason’s points with his belief that … ‘As a society we are much less tolerant of risk’, which naturally leads to longer prison sentences. It is the politicians’ role to reflect society’s needs. Taking issue with an earlier speaker, he said that there has been a long-running trend for prison numbers to rise, since 1946 in fact. He pointed out that community sentences can be harder to serve than two weeks in prison and like everyone else on the panel felt there was need for a more informed discussion among the public; just what we were doing that evening I guess.

The format allowed each panellist to speak, followed by an extended question and answer session from the floor. I’d need a special supplement to cover all the points raised, so I’ll only mention the highlights or those that led to lively disputes. Helena Kennedy blamed ‘the politicisation of prisons’ for a decline that started with Michael Howard, the then Home Secretary who declared: ‘Prison works.’ She said prison was now being used ‘to replace social services’ and we needed to persuade the public to enter into ‘a real discussion’ before the situation could change for the better. She proclaimed passionately that ‘our prisons are a shame on the nation’ and pointed out that we imprison more people per head than

Energetic questioning followed with a couple of magistrates, including Inside Time director Trevor Grove, kicking things off. He pointed out that in his area community work was signalled by boards stating such work was in progress. The most heated exchange took place between a retired probation officer and Phil Wheatley. The probation officer argued that the Criminal Justice Act had effectively destroyed the service, and whereas probation was previously supposed to be acting in the prisoner’s or ex-prisoner’s interests to support them into a more productive life, they were now expected to act as something nearer prison officers. The speaker blamed poor leadership from the politicians. Mr Wheatley,

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Dr Peter Bennett (above) and Lucy Gampell recieving their awards from Lady Antonia Fraser, daughter of Lord Longford perhaps unsurprisingly, strongly objected to this point of view. I can’t finish this brief round-up without noting the two award winners. Unusually, the judges had decided to honour a prison: HMP Grendon Underwood in recognition of its role, over several decades, as a beacon of good practise in therapeutic and effective rehabilitation often in contrast to the rest of the prison

Former Home Secretary Charles Clarke at the Royal Courts of Justice photographed next to a sculpture of Lord Woolf, former Lord Chief Justice of England Earlier in the month I went to another evening where prisons were the subject of discussion. This was the Association of Members of Independent Monitoring Boards’ AGM. It was followed by an address from Charles Clarke MP. The last time I heard Charles Clarke speak was for the Prison Reform Trust when he was Home Secretary. On that occasion he emphasised the importance of cutting down re-offending if prison numbers were to fall. This time he made five strongly argued points which, with the possible exception of the first, would have been extremely welcome from any Home Secretary.

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estate. The award was accepted by Grendon’s current governor, Dr Peter Bennett. A ‘lifetime’ award went to Lucy Gampell who retires this year after running Action for Prisoners Families for fifteen years. Many of you or your families may have been helped by this charity. Their website address is www.prisonersfamilies.org.uk. This year their focus will be on women in prison.

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• Rebalance the relationship between the law and politicians following the Human Rights Act; • More emphasis on community punishments • probation service too weakened to deliver a proper service; • Make punishment fit the crime - e.g. if someone has a serious driving offence, crush his car people don’t understand the sentencing structure - probably 30,000 need longer sentences, 40,000 less; • Who are the prisoners? Reduce the amount of prisoners by focussing on individual needs of prisoners, e.g. Foreign Nationals, women, drug-related, mentally ill. • Community prisons - essential that prisoners are kept in their own locality and that governors have direct contact with outside job possibilities etc - Titan prisons absolutely won’t work. What a pity he can’t make any of the above happen! As a reward for being good listeners, we were sent off on a tour around the historic Royal Courts of Justice. In the course of our promenade we were directed to what was described as ‘an unusual statue of Lord Woolf’, the former Lord Chief Justice who drew up the important report after the Strangeways riots. Charles Clarke was obliging enough to be photographed beside it, so you can judge for yourselves just how unusual it is. (see above)

Education

Insidetime December 2008 www.insidetime.org

Inside education A decade of change Until her retirement in May, Ann Creighton was Director of the Prisoners’ Education Trust. Here she summarises some of the changes she has witnessed over the last decade Employability is a relative newcomer - this seems to mean that all learning activity should be directly related to equipping offenders with the skills they need to get jobs. There is a place for discussing this term in some depth but it is out of the scope of this article.

CURRICULUM ............................................... Looking back over a number of annual reports, one thing that hasn’t changed is a consistent concern about the narrowing of the curriculum for those in custody. In 1998, comment was made about the disappearance of art and evening classes. There are now few evening classes and those classes seen as ‘recreational’ are rapidly disappearing from the curriculum. The proposals in the Learning & Skills Councils prospectus, published in the autumn of 2007, indicate that priority (and therefore funds) should be concentrated on those with poor literacy and numeracy skills and those with two years or less to serve.

WAGES ............................................... Looking back over the last ten years of education in the criminal justice system, there are many similarities between the concerns then and now.

POPULATION ............................................... There was deep concern about the effect of the rise in the prison population on education. It was mentioned by the then HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, Lord Ramsbotham, in his 1998 report. The prison population was at the time around 62,000; it is now over 83,000 and projected to rise to more than 100,000 in the next five or six years. This affects education in that in overcrowded jails, prisoners are often on the move which disrupts their classes and causes frustration to prisoners and staff alike.

TERMINOLOGY ............................................... In 1998, the talk was exclusively of prison education. Change came in two stages: firstly, from prison to prisoner education, reflecting the emphasis on the need of the individual. In around 2002, prisoner gave way largely to offender. This was to encompass all those sentenced by the courts, whether to community or custodial punishments. Perhaps one of the most interesting changes is the increasing use of the term ‘learning'. The Offender Learning & Skills Unit, responsible for policy regarding offenders, was intended, I think, to emphasise the Government’s twin policies; ensuring that education for offenders was comparable to that available elsewhere and emphasising their concern with ‘lifelong’ learning.

Prisoners receive a wage for their various activities in education classes and in workshops. In 1998, most prisons paid prisoners substantially less for attending education classes than going to workshops. Now, although there remain considerable variations, wages are likely to be nearer that for going to a workshop - which must be encouraging.

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❝Quote of the month❞ HMP has it all wrapped up A drug dealer in Germany has pulled off one of the most ingenious jailbreaks of modern times. Assigned to make cardboard boxes at the prison, he simply climbed into a large one and was dispatched by express courier. The German authorities said his whereabouts were still unknown. Most ingeniously of all, he had neglected to send himself by registered post. The British public can be reassured. A similar escape here would be impossible. An official faced with such a cardboard box would refuse to move it on health and safety grounds. Once the appropriate lifting machinery had been found and the parcel transported to the post room, there would be confusion over recent changes to postal rates. Is it by weight or by size? By the time this had been settled, the last post would have gone. But if anybody did manage to get out, they would have no trouble evading the authorities. All a convict would have to do is conceal himself in a council wheelie bin with the lid pushed slightly higher than regulations permit. He would be safe there, uncollected, for months. The Sunday Times 16th November

CRIMINAL & PRISON LAW EXPERTS Serving the South East

All aspects of prison law covered MODERN TECHNOLOGY ............................................... 1998 was still firmly in the paper and pencil age (well, perhaps word processor too). Now, access for prisoners to the huge learning resources of the web and to on-line learning is one of the most hotly debated topics. Lack of access is seriously hampering the range of study for learners at all levels and there are a number of pilot projects. There have been many changes in approaches to prison education - offender learning. It has moved higher up the political agenda and it is a frequent topic of discussion in the media. However during this last decade there have been a number of changes to the organisation of learning in prison and in the community, with yet another heralded for July 2009. A period of consolidation would be welcome.

We welcome your letters and articles. If you have a question about an education matter, please send it to Inside Time (Education) PO Box 251, Hedge End, Hampshire SO 30 4XJ. Everyone will receive a reply, but we cannot publish all letters. Letters may also be published on the PET website. If you do not wish your name to be disclosed, please make it clear.

Please contact Catherine Bond 16 Mill Street, Maidstone, Kent, ME15 6XT Tel: 01622 678341 [email protected]

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Health

Insidetime Insidetime December March 2008 2008 www.insidetime.org www.insidetime.org

Inside Health... with Dr Jonathon Following the launch of Inside Health in 2007 we have received a number of queries from prisoners about health matters. Providing this valuable service is Dr Jonathon Tomlinson, a GP practicing in East London. If you have a question relating to your own health, write a brief letter (maximum one side A4 paper) to Inside Time (Health) PO Box 251, Hedge End, Hampshire SO30 4XJ. Everyone will receive a reply, however only a selection will be published each month. No names will be disclosed.

Q I suffer with severe pressure in my head due to a fractured septum. I also have a perforated eardrum. Last year I saw an ENT surgeon who told me I needed two operations – nose and ear. I was then moved to another prison and have had to see another surgeon who has refused to operate because of my lifestyle. I am waiting to see a different doctor. I have had an MRI and CT scan. Why do you think he didn’t send me for an electro-cranium-test? I would be pleased to know exactly where you think I should go from here.

A You’ve have a perforated eardrum and a fractured nasal septum that blocks the right side of your nose. Two different ENT specialists have seen you; one said you needed an operation and another said that you didn’t - suggesting that the symptoms you were suffering from (headaches / pressure in your head, especially in the cold) was due to withdrawing from drugs. You’ve had an MRI and a CT scan. From the information you’ve sent me, it’s impossible to say whether or not an operation will solve your problems. An operation to correct your nasal septum will improve the airflow through your right nostril, and an operation can be performed to close the perforation in your eardrum, but it doesn’t follow that either of these operations will solve your headaches, since there are many different causes of headaches that would not be affected by a fractured nasal septum or a perforated eardrum, and these problems often do not cause headaches.

There is not, as far as I am aware, any such thing as an ‘electro-cranium-test’, certainly there is no such test performed by the local ENT specialists, and searching on the internet hasn’t shown there is such a test in use anywhere else. I would suggest that, since you have had two conflicting ENT opinions, it would be worth seeing another ENT specialist to review your scans and give an opinion as to whether they think you would benefit from surgery.

Q I suffer from a condition known as Transverse Myelitis – damage to my spinal chord. It has left me with reduced sensation below the waist, pins and needles in the hand and forearm and hypersensitive feet. My legs often feel stiff and cold. I have been prescribed different drugs and various therapies. I am aware that my memory has deteriorated and I have become forgetful of events and often ‘lose’ words. Are these symptoms of my medication or my general condition? What are the long term effects of such drugs?

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There is a Transverse Myelitis society in the UK at http://www.myelitis.org.uk/ which has more information.

Q On entering the prison system I was pre-

I suffer from panic attacks and anxiety, and have been taking prescribed benzodiazepines for over two years, therefore can it be used as an excuse for withdrawal that other people have been bullied for temazepam? Can Dr Jonathon advise?

Access to sound legal advice in prison can be a worry.We provide a professional and sympathetic service.

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Transverse Myelitis doesn’t affect the brain, so in itself isn’t responsible for memory problems or mood disorders. Clearly the impact of living with a serious, incurable, painful, disabling condition is significant and your psychological health is every bit as important as your physical health. Drugs are not likely to be the most effective treatment here. Psychological and practical support is vital to help you live with the condition.

only about 300 people affected in the UK each year. It often starts after a viral infection and results in inflammatory lesions in the spinal cord which cause different symptoms depending on the level of the lesions. Typically the symptoms include weakness, pain, altered sensations and bowel and bladder problems

Specialists in Prison Law & Criminal Defence work

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Exercise and stretching are vital to help maintain independence and conditioning. A neurophysiotherapist should be able to help with a suitable program. You need to continue this lifelong.

A Transverse Myelitis is a rare condition with

Prison Problems? We Care

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Treatment is difficult as there is no cure and the symptoms vary from person to person affected. The various drugs that you have been prescribed, including Baclofen, Amitriptyline, Gabapentin and Pregabalin, are used to treat the cramps and pains associated with nerve damage. They commonly cause drowsiness as a side effect and are often poorly tolerated, especially in early stages of treatment. The side effects can wear off with time, but sometimes do not. Different people respond to differing degrees, some finding them very helpful, but many don’t. The side effects all wear off once you stop the drugs.

scribed temazepam, however upon arrival at my present establishment the doctor said that under no circumstances would he prescribe temazepam and gave me diazepam.

Prison Law

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and impotence. It can often lead to paralysis. Diagnosis involves a combination of careful neurological examination and MRI or other scans of the spinal cord. About a third of people affected make a good recovery, one third make a fair recovery and another third make very little improvement; though most of this improvement occurs in the first 3-6 months.

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A Diazepam and temazepam are both from the ‘benzodiazepine’ family of drugs. There are over 20 types of benzodiazepine drugs. All of them work in similar ways and are used to reduce anxiety, help with sleep and prevent epileptic seizures. They are all potentially highly addictive and most doctors will be aware of patients who have been addicted to them for years. Withdrawal from high doses of benzodiazepines can be dangerous as well as difficult and may cause severe anxiety and fits (seizures). They are commonly bought and sold illegally because of their sedative and addictive effects. In the majority of cases it is not recommended that they are prescribed for more than 14 days at a time because of the risks associated with long-term use. These risks include low energy levels, poor memory and concentration, worsening of depression, tolerance (when you become tolerant to the effects and need higher and higher doses to get the same effect) and addiction. Nevertheless, they are very effective at reducing anxiety and helping sleep. Many people take them without becoming addicted, and prescribed under careful supervision they can be very useful. Diazepam is the most commonly prescribed benzodiazepine because, due to its long half-life (meaning that its effects wear off more slowly than other benzodiazepines) the withdrawal is more gentle. The long half-life means that for some people it is less suitable as a sleeping tablet (hypnotic) than shorter acting benzodiazepines such as temazepam. Anxiety and panic attacks are treated much more effectively with psychological therapies such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. Antidepressant medications can help some people and are much less addictive. Since you have been taking prescribed benzodiazepines for 2 years for anxiety and panic attacks, I don’t think they should be stopped unless there is a plan to use an effective alternative. I would have thought that supervised prescribing and consumption should avoid the risk of you being bullied or abused by other prisoners who want your medication.

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Comment

Insidetime December 2008 www.insidetime.org

How will the credit crunch affect music?

Jonathan King writes ...

Andrew Cousins from Gema Records looks at the consequences for music of an economic downturn Money, it seems, is not conducive to great music. If you need further proof, just look at the era of Britpop, Loaded and Three Lions, when indie guitar music reverted to a strictly retrograde style and has sounded pretty much the same since. Over the 16 years of sustained economic prosperity that we have enjoyed since the mid-90s, mainstream music has gone into a steady decline, culminating in the noughties, perhaps the most nondescript musical decade since records began. It brings to mind the Orson Welles remark in ‘The Third Man’ about 400 years of democracy and peace in Switzerland and all they produced was the cuckoo clock.

ock'n'roll was born out of the 1950s economic boom, when a generation of affluent teenagers suddenly found they could purchase their own distinctive identity. However, in recent times it would appear that the poorer the state of the economy, the better the state of music. So does that mean we have much to look forward to right now?

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Punk exploded in an era of chronic economic gloom, as much a reaction against the awfulness of the 70s as it was against the perceived self-indulgence of bands such as Pink Floyd. Then came post-punk and the desperately hard times of the early Thatcher years. This period also engendered an abundance of new bands; the likes of Joy Division and Cabaret Voltaire, and the more colourful Human League, ABC and the Associates represented defiance to the hardships of the time, whereas the Specials and the Beat were a more overtly political reaction. But what was the soundtrack when the first boom period of the 80s hit? Stock, Aitken & Waterman and Swing Out Sister. Yet when the subsequent recession of the late 80s arrived, the quality of music spiked once again. This period gave rise to Massive Attack, Orbital, Radiohead, the Orb, Manic Street Preachers and My Bloody Valentine among others.

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Now, however, all projections point to an economic downturn. As the implications of this sink in, what are the consequences? What shape or form will a countercultural reaction take? Some angry, thrashy, guitar-based counterblast - a "new punk" - would be too obvious. Maybe the economics of the record industry itself will change. Will Burial trigger a wave of neo-gothic dubstep - angry, faceless, and refusing to play the game with the industry? Will pop get more ragged, cheap and cheerful, all messy, make-do and mend with outfits picked out from Oxfam and video slickness replaced by a live shambles? Will guitar music shed its retro straitjacket and take up where My Bloody Valentine left off in 1991 with their "holocaust" of noise? Will some mutant, ecological strain of acid folk frazzle a burnt out nation's consciousness? All of these things, until recently impossible, feel a great deal more likely now. Andrew Cousins is Managing Director of Gema Records, the leading supplier of Music, Games and Films to UK prisons. Their extensive Autumn 2008 catalogue is available to all prisoners at a cost of £2, which is fully refundable against the first order. To request a copy, send your cheque or P.O. to Gema Records, PO Box 54, Reading RG1 3SD.

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The Russell Brand/Jonathan Ross drama could be seen as one of the silliest and most unimportant media stories in years. Managing to get two complaints from the target audience when broadcast by the BBC late at night, it then received 40,000 complaints when carried by the tabloids. It wasn't the joke that got complaints but the coverage of the joke. Something which may or may not be suitable for students is guaranteed to infuriate Daily Mail readers. However, I think the incident was more important than it seemed - it spotlights the cleverness and the devious tricks of the best and worst of the media. Editors like Paul Dacre of the Mail are cunning; do not underestimate them. When Dacre calls the Human Rights Act ‘wretched’, he is poking the selfishness of all of us with a stick. When we condemn Human Rights we choose to ignore the fact that we are all humans and we concentrate on the suspicion that some are more deserving of Human Rights than others - a false and dangerous but attractive concept so well depicted by George Orwell in ‘Animal Farm’. All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others. We see this every year when the tabloids sneer at ‘luxury’ Xmas meals served to prisoners. Rubbish, of course, as usual; simply some decent people trying to give a little kindness and humanity at a difficult time of the year to those neglected by society. We've all watched it in the prison hierarchy too; the stupid and the bullies sneering at the weaker inmates, usually to deflect attention from their own, often far worse behaviour.

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debate - this year it was: ‘Can we build our way out of prison overcrowding’? The answer was pretty overwhelmingly No, quite rightly - however by concentrating on solution suggestions, the speakers ignored the reasons why our jails are actually overcrowded. The police, who don't want truth but want convictions, and are prepared to bend the evidence in order to get them; lack of accountability for those who manufacture false convictions; the awful judicial process, which suffocates truth with words and boredom; the government, which makes laws according to tabloid headlines; and most of all the media - only concerned in getting a good story and not even remotely interested in the truth. Papers like the Daily Mail, the Sun, the Times and the News of the World are trying to destroy the BBC and whilst there are indeed problems with the BBC, as there are with all big corporations, we need it. A lot of it is good and much of it is fair, and only the BBC will tolerate projects that are not motivated by a desire to make money. Whether it is Top of the Pops or Rough Justice or Little Dorrit, the BBC comes up with more good things than most other media outlets, so let us defend it. However the BBC at present seems spineless and terrified of the tabloids, as are politicians. We must never give in to the bullies, especially at this time of year; a little decency and kindness goes a long way. And prisoners can start by treating the person in the next cell and the officer opening the door and the staff serving meals and the chaplains and healthcare with respect … and a smile. Happy Christmas!

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Comment

ones, those with brain cells to spare, will have the honesty to admit the problems I describe and a desire to see such a system as I advocate; because they can see the advantages and understand how they would fit in and achieve accordingly. Then there are those who spend association time glued to a chair and refuse to perform even the most mundane of jobs, and spend the whole of their working lives achieving little to nothing. They will be ruffled by seeing the reality of their lives laid before them.

he age of prisoners is increasing. With ever-long sentences and tabloid pressure to stop life sentence prisoners progressing, there are even greater numbers of elderly prisoners. I know of a man in his late eighties, another with one arm and one leg missing, and countless wheelchair cases - all in high security 'dispersal'. Why? Very little effort is put into their medication, care or mobility. I know of one severe diabetic who is so poorly treated that every month or so he's rushed out to hospital - then returned as right as rain a couple of days later. What is going wrong with prison healthcare? The same malaise affects healthcare staff as the rest of the estate. Warders refuse to push wheelchairs, ‘not my job’ - they try to pass the buck to prisoners, who are neither trained nor insured. It is surely the warder's job to ensure the prisoner gets from wing to healthcare?

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As I write, there is a stream of 'made-up' stories in the tabloids about certain of the more notorious occupants of HMP Wakefield. These stories continually quote an ‘inside source’, yet as it’s illegal for staff to divulge such information what is being done? Exactly! You've got it in one! There is no control or security on prisoners’ data (contrary to the Data Protection Act). There are no checks or records of any access or copies made of prisoners' data. Anyone can print out a OASys record, walk out of the prison, and send it to a tabloid. Are you surprised? Under my system security of data would be stringent, with the Data Protection Act 1998 a starting point. Anyone gaining access must have a proper, valid reason and that reason must be recorded. Printing of data should be from one point, audited and controlled. There must be an audit trail for every copy. There is no need for the proliferation of printers and copiers; this mitigates against security. Very often, appointments are made for prisoners to attend local hospitals. The prisoner is not told beforehand and is taken unprepared and often inappropriately dressed. No thought is given to escort; with female staff escorting men attending for treatment in 'personal' areas. Prisoners are often paraded through waiting areas; assuming of course the prisoner actually gets there: often he/she is simply not taken for their appointment, with excuses ranging from … ‘three months wasn't long enough to do a risk assessment’, to … ‘the

If it was left to me In the final part of his series for Inside Time, former prisoner Paul Sullivan further identifies what he considers needs changing about the failing prison system; looking this month at older prisoners; staff selling ‘stories’ to the tabloids; hospital appointments and misinformation fed to prisoners escorts came back late from lunch’. The time has come for a complete ‘hospital prison’, properly staffed and equipped for seriously ill prisoners. Prisoners should be treated sensitively and properly, with help and assistance for such things as bathing and incontinence.

have a squaddie thrown out of the army for abusing Iraqi prisoners responsible for your care? Can you imagine what it must be like for a mother to learn that her teenage son or daughter has killed themselves because of being abused by the justice system and its employees?

For people who may have read my series and scoffed, please remember that the prisoner could be your father, brother, son - even you! Would you like to see your elderly father bullied by young thugs because he is incontinent and, through no fault of his own, walks around in his own excrement and smells? Would you like your son to be suffering from tuberculosis and offered a paracetamol tablet? Would you like to see your brother assaulted and humiliated by psychotic warders? Would you like to

Politicians don't care. I wrote to Mark Oaten before he was disgraced and he said he thought prisons were ‘wonderful’ and all staff ‘angels’. Had he been jailed for his various indiscretions he would have had an eye-opener. Why do people never listen or care until things happen to them (me included)? Well listen now! The system is rotten and corrupt to the core. Prison officers who may have read my series will be in one of two camps. The intelligent

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And finally, the sharing of reliable Information is important to mention here. Prisoners are fed a diet of lies and misinformation about prison rules and regulations, their rights and entitlements. Much paperwork is given to illiterate or dyslexic prisoners with no help in reading or understanding it. Prisoners are misled about such things as legal mail, privileges and 'Local Policies' and it is always to their detriment. The current Prisoners' Information Book (published by HMPS and PRT) is full of vagaries and inaccuracies, all of which seek to confuse the prisoner: such references as ‘ask staff’ or ‘staff will tell you’ allow staff to make up their own 'rules'. In my system all prisoners would be given a copy of all the basic information they need (visits, meals, religion etc.) plus summaries of prison rules and local complaint regulations. It would be their personal officer's duty to ensure they have a copy and understand its content. Each prison would need to produce its local version. Each wing would have a definitive copy of all current rules and regulations for staff to consult to ensure they are familiar and compliant with them. Places such as Wakefield, which take delight in failing to inform prisoners - even on such things as regime changes, need to be brought into the real world. It seems to me that at least one specialist warder should be allocated to 'information'; whose duty it would be to know and disseminate information. I have covered a broad area of changes and there are many areas and details I have not been able to discuss because of shortage of space. Everyone will have their own views and ideas - all of which I respect. It is not about who is right or wrong, who thinks this or that; or our politics - it is about identifying exactly what a prison is for and what measurable achievement it must produce. The most important thing is to get it sorted.

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Insidetime December 2008 www.insidetime.org given the newsworthiness of the JCHR’s dire warning to the government to pull its finger out, or else. As I understand it, the Observer article was in response to the Prison Reform Trust pulling some strings, and Shami Chakrabarti of Liberty intends to jump on the bandwagon as the campaign for prisoners’ votes is stepped up. It is worth repeating what Jamie Doward wrote in the Observer: “Human rights group warns that without a change in the law, Britain's next election could be invalid. The government must give prisoners the right to vote or the next general election will be illegal under European law, ministers have been warned by parliament's influential Joint Committee on Human Rights. The committee's conclusion threatens a constitutional crisis for Labour, which has tried to bury the issue ever since the European Court of Human Rights ruled in 2005 that inmates should have the vote”.

Votes for prisoners: time for action not words Former prisoner John Hirst, one of those primarily responsible in forcing the government to change its stance on voting rights for prisoners, highlights the government’s delaying tactics, which may well have serious consequences at the next General Election risoners may hold the key to the legal validity of the next General Election, the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) concluded in its Annual Report published on 31 October 2008. The JCHR, which is made up of two MPs from each of the three main political parties and two members from each in the House of Lords, is charged with the task of monitoring and reporting upon the government’s response to judgments in the European Court of Human Rights. In the Prisoners Votes Case, the JCHR accuses the government of a ‘reluctance to deal with this issue’.

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The government claims: “The implementation of the Hirst judgment is a sensitive and complex

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issue and we need to look very carefully at what the right approach should be and how it should be implemented”. However the JCHR states that my case is legally straightforward but politically difficult, and that the government is being unreasonable with the delay of legislating to allow at least some convicted prisoners the vote. The JCHR cites, for example, that both Ireland and Cyprus have passed Bills to allow all prisoners to vote; the implication being that these countries have not found it politically difficult at all.

What we have here is a political hot potato. The campaign was supported by the former LibDem leader Charles Kennedy, and when asked by the Daily Mail whether he supported Ian Huntley getting the vote he said that he did. All of a sudden his drink problem made him an unfit leader and he was replaced by Menzies Campbell and Nick Clegg went against what the LibDems had voted for as policy, which is that all prisoners should have the vote. Nick Clegg went on to become the leader of the LibDems and is only in favour of some prisoners getting the franchise. This position is also shared by the Tories and Labour. It means that on this issue there is no effective opposition to the government. In my view, the government has erred and complicated the issue by worrying, not for the first time, what the Sun says and what the Daily Mail will write. However, it is worth

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reminding ourselves what the ECHR said in its judgment: “There is, therefore, no question that a prisoner forfeits his Convention rights merely because of his status as a person detained following conviction. Nor is there any place under the Convention system, where tolerance and broadmindedness are the acknowledged hallmarks of democratic society, for automatic disenfranchisement based on what might offend public opinion”. In ‘Bricks of Shame’ Vivien Stern wrote: “There are supposed to be ‘no votes in prisons’ and no political prizes for doing something about them. Any politician brave enough either to tell the truth about them or grasp the nettle and try to change the way they are run is likely, so it is believed, to run into difficulties with public opinion. Yet the evidence that exists does not support the view of a vindictive public thirsting for more and harsher punishment”. When the Suffragette Movement campaigned to get women the vote, they came up with the motto “Deeds not words” in response to Parliament wishing to talk about the vote rather than actually give women the vote. Similarly, the government decided to embark upon two public consultation exercises to determine whether prisoners should get the vote. However, this did not form part of the ECHR judgment in my case. Rather, I had pointed out the failure of Parliament to debate the issue. All the government has to do is draft a Bill for prisoners’ votes so that Parliament is able to debate the issue. I am bemused that the government tried stalling for time. Prisoners are masters when it comes to passing time. The time is up for the government. As far as prisoners are concerned, now is the time for action not words.

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Comment is, extremism. Terrorists in prison; hmmm, isn't that the best place for them? So I'm not exactly worried about that idea; having looked after whole prisons full of terrorists in Belfast then I'm sure the Government has the mechanisms to deal with that problem.

Muslims Rule! Lifer Ben Gunn wonders whether Muslim prisoners ‘organising’ is solely around their religion o the Prison Service and Prison Inspectors are worrying about Muslims ‘organising’ in Belmarsh and Whitemoor. This could be a profoundly good thing - anything that unsettles the balance of power has the potential for positive change.

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a hark back to the 'good old days', because cons sticking together has always been an iffy concept, however since the introduction of the IEP Scheme the system has found it much easier to spilt us apart from each other and punish organisations.

As is usual with anything relating to Muslims and Islam these days, the concerns being voiced are confused. Are these concerns about Muslims organising? That is, is this the usual worry about any type of prisoners organising? Or is this a worry about Islamic extremism? That is, is this a concern about terrorism? Or perhaps it is both?

This is why I instinctively cheered when I read about the Prison Service's concerns. If it worries them, then it means that (at long last) some cons have found a common bond around which they can gather and campaign. They have found something greater than their immediate concerns and because of that, lifted themselves out of the subjugated role of 'prisoner'. That is a good day in my book.

I have always banged the drum about prisoners organising and exercising 'soft power' to resist the excesses of the modern prison system; all the more so in relation to Dispersals. This isn't

Having found a common bond, the question must be - what is their common cause? I understand that our masters are worried that the common cause may be political Islam, that

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Cr

Or is that idea just the usual popular paranoia over Muslims? Perhaps the shared idea isn't terrorism at all, but the idea that Muslims in prison are at the crappy end of the race relations experience? Is the beef that being a largely visible minority and Muslim meaning that their experience of prison is even worse than for the majority of prisoners? In an age where Muslims can be offered ham sandwiches during Ramadan and where one prison refuses to allow them to pray in groups larger than three, I can appreciate that any such complaints may have a basis in reality. If this is the case then there is the potential for real change in the situation. When a quarter of the nick is so obviously unhappy, it raises the spectre of prisoners exercising their inherent 'soft power' - prisons only work with our cooperation, remember? And as Gandhi discovered, the word 'No' can cause an awful lot of difficulties for the rulers.

... the question is: are the Muslims reaching out to all the other cons, because all the cons in these places are being squeezed by the system? Or are they organising solely around their religion?

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If the Prison Service lives up to past experience, it will attempt to deal with unhappy cons by the usual method of screwing down tighter on them. This tends to be the sign of managers who have little confidence in their abilities; it is a signature move of panic. It's short-term thinking at its best - refuse to deal with the problems we complain about and instead silence the complainers. This is a management philosophy that Homer Simpson would be proud of and the worst way to deal with a disaffected group, especially one where there is a fear that extremists may gain a larger foothold. If a group has legitimate complaints then to dismiss them, to suppress them, is a known

method of pushing people right into the arms of extremists. The alternative would be for prison managers to co-opt the complaints. Let them breath, accept that the way these people feel may have some legitimate basis in the experiences they have every day on the landings. Admit that things might be better. If Muslims are issued forbidden food in their holy month, and restricted in their prayers, then I can only imagine the smaller daily insults that the prison dishes out. There are channels that already exist for this prisoners' councils, race equality impact assessments etc. At best they are usually a managerial panacea; they are essentially ignored. If managers took these things seriously for once, then everybody could win. Allowing disaffected prisoners to play a greater role in the way their lives are run reduces their disaffection. Prisoners are happier because their problems are addressed and managers are happy because there is less of a threat to good order. The paranoid will be happier, because it marginalises those at the extreme. Not to do these things only fosters a greater sense of injustice and plays into the hands of stupidity. Disaffected Muslims could make this process easier for managers. Governors are a nervous breed and being faced by a mob of cons only makes them panic, but if these prisoners were to form a 'representative association' under the rules, list their complaints and offer solutions; organise themselves professionally - then governors may keep enough of a grip on their fears long enough to actually listen. It's a long shot, but it might be worth a try. Never having experienced the joys of either Belmarsh or Whitemoor, I have to accept what I hear from others - that they are places where the only time cons voices are heard are when they are screaming after being bent-up. So the question is: are the Muslims reaching out to all the other cons, because all the cons in these places are being squeezed by the system? Or are they organising solely around their religion? This carries the risk of causing huge friction between different groups of cons and because of that, all efforts to push for change will fail amongst the mutually destructive warfare. It would be self-defeating and play into the hands of managers. They do enough divide-and-rule games, so why inflict it upon ourselves? This development could be the seed of a greater movement; a shift in the tide that has seen prisoners being fragmented. I hope that the opportunity for change isn't wasted by either prisoners or managers. Ben Gunn is currently resident at HMP Shepton Mallet

Comment

Insidetime December 2008 www.insidetime.org

of these communities and informed the instincts of even those on the wrong side of the law.

hat has become of prison revolts in the British prison system? Where now are the open expressions of collective anger and solidarity that fuelled the uprisings and jail riots of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s and created the iconic images of Hull 1976 and Strangeways 1990? What happened to the spirit of revolt that used to periodically shake the British long-term prison system and engender a philosophy of prisoner empowerment and solidarity; a philosophy that situated the struggle of prisoners at the very forefront of the universal struggle for human rights and even social revolution?

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Has the British prison system now become so responsive to and accommodating of the rights of prisoners that revolt and protest has been rendered unnecessary and redundant? I think not. In fact British jails are now more chronically overcrowded than ever before and inmates virtually ‘warehoused’ in conditions and under regimes probably worst than they were twenty years ago. The despair and misery created by such conditions is reflected in the rates of self-harm and suicide that are inexorably growing, along with the length of sentences now dished out. And like never before the treatment of prisoners is increasingly influenced by a political climate and manipulated public mood supportive of even greater repression and revenge. Yet nowhere, apparently, is there a spirit of solidarity and organised resistance amongst prisoners that was so evident twenty years ago; no-where the readiness to fight back and literally raise the roof in protest. Instead of defiance, there seems now only passive acquiescence and an acceptance of conditions and forms of treatment that previously would have mobilized disobedience and revolt. Silence in the face of intolerable oppression is a disturbing phenomenon: in conditions of extreme cruelty the will to resist is inherently human and wholly characteristic of a healthy and intact human spirit possessing integrity unique to our species. Why then has the militancy that seemed to characterize the behaviour

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During the 1980s and 1990s, the Thatcherite onslaught tore the heart and soul out of working class communities and transformed them into wastelands of depression, hopelessness and defeat, and bred a generation of young people saturated with cynicism, alienation and absolutely no memory of a time when principles like solidarity, community and mutual support defined working class identity. Even the more proletariat forms of property-related crime, which in a way represented a sort of elemental form of class warfare, gave way to a more viciously entrepreneurial drug crime based on crude capitalist principles and contempt for poor communities and those who inhabit them.

Factories of repression John Bowden considers that prison revolt and protest has been rendered far from redundant of long-term prisoners, especially, towards the prison system, been replaced by conformity and submission? The prison system in terms of methods of control, prison architecture and design, has developed significantly since the last major prison uprising at Strangeways in 1990. Before the Strangeways revolt, the physical space of most large prisons was more or less controlled by the prisoners themselves and scrutiny and close supervision of that space by the jailers was difficult and haphazard. Apart from punishment/segregation units, most prisoners were housed in large wings where they were allowed to circulate freely and create a certain degree of autonomy of physical space; complete oversight and surveillance was impossible and control often tenuous, and where incidents of protest were sparked

off they tended to spread without containment, developing a momentum that reached into most areas of the prison. Large group solidarity was a common feature of life in the long-term prisons and was reflected in the balance of institutional power which dictated that the co-operation and goodwill of prisoners was a vital and necessary prerequisite of relative control. Changing the physical architecture of prisons was to become a key component in the state's strategy of eradicating large scale protest and seizing back control of physical space. In Scotland, where bloody revolts had convulsed the prison system during the 1970s and 1980s, a massive building programme transformed the old open-plan halls and galleries into new ‘super wings’, enormous structures where space is divided and sub-divided into small self-contained units holding under 50 prisoners; all closely monitored and observed in small manageable groups. This separation and concentration of prisoners into small groups under almost microscopic surveillance effectively prevents and undermines the potential for large-scale disturbances by quickly identifying and weeding out ‘ringleaders’ and containing and isolating conflict when it occurs. By transforming the physical space and design of jails, institutional power has shifted back in favour of the guards and removed the spectre of mass prison uprisings. On the whole, the prisoners who revolted and fought the system during the most turbulent decades of prison protest, the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, were products of close-knit industrial working class communities with strong traditions of trade union organization and militancy; solidarity and mutual support were the life blood

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Drug dealing is a uniquely capitalist form of crime involving massive profit for the few and immense misery for the many, and is informed by a rejection of the sort of values or codes of the old criminal fraternity …never grass, resist authority, and never hurt ‘one's own’. Modern drug dealers, in attitude and mentality, are the absolute antithesis of what were working class villains and their way or strategy of doing prison time is also radically different - collusion and co-operation with prison regimes has replaced defiance and resistance, and the fighting spirit that sometimes gave rise to a noble vision of positive change and reform; from the flames of revolts like Strangeways came manifestos of radical reform and an understanding and imperative that prisoners are as deserving of full human rights as any other human being. Today those sort of noble aspirations seem to have given way to a mood of defeat and conformity. What then are the chances of defiance and militancy re-emerging amongst large groups of prisoners and re-defining their current relationship with prison authority? The inexorable drive towards greater incarceration and the construction of virtual penal cities in the form of massive ‘Titan’ jails will eventually result in whole chunks of the poor and disadvantaged population being walled into factories of repression; sooner or later that repression, no matter how sophisticated and well-organised, will meet with resistance. There has always been a cyclical quality about protest, revolt and resistance, both in prison or outside in the wider world, and periods of quiescence and absolute social control are always fragile and essentially dependent on people co-operating in their own subjugation as opposed to control being imposed by force and coercion alone. As the South African Black consciousness activist Steve Biko once said: "The greatest weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the minds of the oppressed themselves". John Bowden is currently resident at HMP Glenochil Scotland

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Comment

Looking back on 2008 … and beyond Lifer Charles Hanson reflects on the approach of other prisoners relating to ‘doing time’ s the year 2008 comes to a close, and I notch up another year inside, the testaments of some writers in Inside Time demonstrate that little progress has actually been made within the British prison system and that we are still a long way off from the claimed ethos of the rehabilitation of offenders.

A

I am therefore in agreement with the approach of three of the writers in the November 2008 issue of Inside Time who clearly have their own ideas of what ‘doing time’ is all about and far from it being about rehabilitation, yes! They are right, we are in prison as punishment so let there be no mistake about that, or subscribe to the same ideas as ‘do-gooders’ who do a lot of talking but have little influence … and who cares anyway? On the other hand we have writers like Paul Wolfe (HMP Wymott) who seemingly has some special insight, perhaps experience, but a total lack of knowledge in that he should proffer advice to Mark Sims (September 2008 Inside Time) about knife crime. Moreover, that Mr Wolfe should condemn Mr Sims for his offence of robbery whilst armed with a knife. Hang on here a minute; is this Mr Wolfe a con or a screw? And what gives him the right to lecture other cons; or to judge them? The Courts have already done that! In years gone by, the old con mentality was that those who thought they were screws were, in common parlance, known as ‘wrong uns’ but things have changed and now many cons see it as a career move to be the screws’ tea-boy, the Governor’s lackey, red bands, trustees, grovellers, ‘gofers’, a messenger boy for prison staff and to offer themselves for and canvas certain orderly jobs that will keep them in close proximity to prison staff; which is why I congratulate Nigel Foyle (HMP Swansea) and A C Roberts (HMP Wymott) for highlighting the Stockholm Syndrome phenomenon. In my early years in the prison system, and I go back 40 years, we had what was known as ‘cons cons’, those who were the ‘stand up guys’, the ones you could rely on and trust and who were game; although I am told that the old days have gone and things have changed, and so they have, but in my book principles still count and so does gameness. It’s all about whether one is game and willing to stand up and be counted alongside other cons, especially where there’s an issue with staff, rules or injustices that should be challenged. Today, however, it is quite common for certain individuals who are passionate about challenging injustice to stand alone whilst others watch and wait to see if they can benefit from the selfless acts of the few.

The one big problem central to all this is that most cons do not know where they stand with authority because of it being so delegated in some establishments that we even have OSGs (Open and Shut Gates), educational clerks, secretaries, Uncle Tom Cobbley and all acting as self-assumed Governors and ‘laying down the law’.

spend their sad, inadequate lives wrecking anything that might actually be for the longterm benefit of prisoners. I am reminded of what Sir Alexander Patterson, a one time Prison Commissioner, once wrote: ‘It is impossible to train men for freedom in conditions of captivity’. I think that is about as good and valid a comment as you can get about prison, and that was made in the early 1920s. Nothing much has changed since then about the purpose and outcome of imprisonment. Prisons worldwide have different characteristics but their function remains the same whether it’s about punishment, deterrence, political suppression, psychiatric treatment, attitude and behavioural change or half-heartedly about education, rehabilitation or notions of social welfare. The objective will always remain the same, which is containment and custody.

Sir Alexander Patterson 1884 - 1947

I am reminded of what Sir Alexander Patterson, a one time Prison Commissioner, once wrote: ‘It is impossible to train men for freedom in conditions of captivity’. I think that is about as good and valid a comment as you can get about prison, and that was made in the early 1920s. Nothing much has changed since then about the purpose and outcome of imprisonment. Why are some so-called ‘careerists’ but unqualified people who are self-assumed experts so unhelpful and always putting obstacles in the way of prisoners? What are they for? Where else could they work? Moreover, who would want them? Rather than helping in any rehabilitative process, they

This is manifested by Britain continuing to lock up low risk women, mothers and child offenders in overcrowded prisons; women and children who could be far better dealt with elsewhere; whilst the mentally disordered are warehoused in the revolving door of our prison system. It is also a disgrace that some 65% of prisoners will be reconvicted within two years of release from prison, which says a lot about so-called offending behaviour courses aimed at ‘reducing risk’. What can be expected of a nation that imprisons more people than any other country in Europe and has more lifers than all the countries of Europe put together? With little insight, and even less vision, the prison and probation services have both become a ‘gravy train’ for those who live off the decay of the system. Were the same features present in the private company sector, without a shadow of doubt the company would find itself calling in the liquidators. The company would be bankrupt; the workers made redundant, and the directors arguably facing charges of fraud and deception; yet probation officers for example are likely to find themselves playing a role in having parolees returned to prison for the most minor of breaches, whilst prison staff care not how many returns come through reception. I agree entirely therefore with A C Roberts in relation to a prisoner he criticised who thanked staff suggesting that he owed his future happiness to them and how great they were. Mr Roberts is right to suggest that that prisoner should seek help from a mental health professional.

Robert Armstrong in the same issue of Inside Time goes on to describe how a fellow con was labelled by the psychology department for not associating or interacting with prison officers. Apparently he has an ‘inability to deal with confrontation’. What does that mean? Does it mean that screws are confrontational? If so, that is all the more reason prisoners should give them a big swerve. I think many of us have had problems with psychology anyway and they should at least have had an understanding why captives don’t really seek comfort with their captors. Well most of us don’t anyway, but then when I was once asked by a psychologist what courses I had attended and replied ‘Ascot, Epsom and Sandown’ she didn’t have a clue what I was on about; so perhaps they are not so bright after all, which is about par for the course for many working in the Prison Service who would be better employed getting a cleaning job or driving a taxi. At least they would serve a purpose and could actually be seen to be doing something useful; however as things stand they would rather inflict their own petty brand of authority and inadequacy onto others, much of which wasn’t given to them in the first place anyway. They are best ignored, for such types are unlikely to want to help others. They have a job, which is a bonus in the current economic climate, and a salary which would be the envy of nurses and those who serve the public in a positive, constructive and useful manner and are respected accordingly. They do themselves no favours at all for they do not command respect but derision and contempt. Respect is a measure of worth between cons too, but that goes down the pan when, rather bizarrely, some make life difficult for other cons whether it’s by queue jumping, playing thumping loud music which keeps everyone else awake, or having a general disrespect for others whilst tripping over themselves to be there for their jailers, to run after them and to tread over others to acquire favoured jobs. I know which side of the fence I prefer to be on to maintain the very principles which prison over many years has cultivated in me and consequently shaped my approaches and attitudes to doing time, and those who turn the key on me, and that is looking after the interests of both myself and, where I can, other cons, and in my eyes how can I be wrong? Charles Hanson is currently resident at HMP Blantyre House

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Comment

Insidetime December 2008 www.insidetime.org The psychologists 'magic questions' come from the Hare ‘Psychopathy Check List’ (revised). The Hare PCL-r is centred on questions under 20 headings which determine if an individual can be classed as a psychopath. Each heading scores up to 2 points, giving a maximum score of 40. Any score above 28 in Texas reputedly incurs the death penalty in murder cases. It is frequently used in the UK prison service just before a prisoner or long term mental patient is about to be released. The bulk of the items scored are historic and cannot change, so use of this test as a predictor of future behaviour automatically rules out the possibility of change; a 20 year-old subjected to the Hare PCL-r would carry an unchanging score for the rest of their lives. Professor Robert Hare, the author of the Hare PCL-r, highlights the fundamental flaw which leads to his test being widely misapplied, if not actually abused, as follows: "The use of the PCL-r in the criminal justice system ... sometimes leads to the conclusion that it is primarily a risk instrument rather than what it really is, a measure of a psychological construct". (Source: page 87, Technical manual PCL-r Ed. July 2005). Legal authorities like parole boards obviously crave reliable indicators that a person under scrutiny presents a low risk of re-offending. What Professor Hare points out so succinctly is that use of the Hare PCL-r as a risk instrument is flawed; it cannot show intent; it cannot be used for risk assessment, a measure of what an individual may do in the future.

Is your budgie a psychopath? Keith Rose looks at a risk instrument that is fundamentally flawed and cannot be used as a measure of what an individual may do in the future s your budgie a psychopath? How would you tell? What is a psychopath? The Oxford English Dictionary defines ‘psychopathy’ as follows; psychopathic personality; an antisocial personality characterized by the failure to develop any sense of moral responsibility and the capability of performing violent or antisocial acts.

I

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How do you diagnose a psychopathic budgie? Qualified, well trained psychiatrists state: 'conduct a series of risk assessments over a reasonable period of time to enable suitable treatment to be decided on and then carried out'. Prison Service psychologists' state: 'ask questions around 20 main headings … and psychopathic budgies are untreatable anyhow'.

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Nevertheless, that is exactly the use it is being put to by prison service psychologists, pure cod-psychology. Professor Hare sounds a further note of caution by stating that: "Whilst psychopathy is a clinical construct ... the factors responsible for psychopathy are not well understood" (Source: page 7, Technical manual PCL-r 2. Ed. July 2005). In other words, reliance on the PCL-r should not be considered absolute. The PCL-r is also routinely used as a tool to identify prisoners said to be suffering from a ‘Dangerous, Severe, Personality Disorder’ - suitable for admission to a DSPD unit. Pre-2002, if one scored over 30 one was labelled as 'psychopathic' suffering from DSPD. Post-2002, the score was lowered to 25. Curiously, the Home Office have consistently denied that the PCL-r result is a diagnostic tool, perhaps due to the fact that the Hare PCL-r tests are invariably conducted by trainee psychologists, usually unqualified and inexperienced, and prone to errors and mistakes. So appalled by the use, abuse and misuse of the PCL-r in prisons was Dr Bob Johnson, former Head of Therapy at Ashworth Hospital and Consultant Psychiatrist to the Home Office, that he created an analysis of the medical and legal flaws in the PCL-r. This is available as a free download at www-truthtrustconsent.com. Moreover, anybody can purchase the full

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Hare PCL-r complete with question book, technical manuals and analysis books from 'Multi Health Systems' at 'www-mhs.com' from around £140.

The Hare PCL-r main headings: 1. Glibness/superficial charm 2. Grandiose sense of self worth 3. Need for stimulation/proneness to boredom 4. Pathological lying 5. Cunning/manipulative 6. Lack of remorse or guilt 7. Shallow affect [i.e. superficial experience & expression of emotion) 8. Callous/lack of empathy 9. Parasitic lifestyle 10. Poor behavioural controls 11. Promiscuous sexual behaviour 12. Early behaviour problems 13. Lack of realistic long term goals 14. Impulsivity 15. Irresponsibility 16. Failure to accept responsibility for own actions 17. Many short term marital relationships 18. Juvenile delinquency 19. Revocation of conditional release 20. Criminal versatility Conceivably the most disturbing fact about the Hare PCL-r is the reliance on the opinion of the questioner, and the simple fact that no human can ever achieve a zero score. Returning to the opening question: is your budgie a psychopath? Probably not, as it is a social bird usually living in a flock and not prone to random acts of violence. Cats, on the other hand, come close to the maximum score of 40, failing only on item 19, revocation of conditional release. Other notable maximums of the Hare PCL-r include: George W Bush (for obvious reasons), Tony Blair (sectioned, not retired), Gordon Brown (vetoed prisoners’ pay rise), Michael Howard (something of the night), David Blunkett (obviously), anybody from Yorkshire (centuries of inbreeding) and the entire armed forces of the USA (collateral damage).

• Sources: Hare PCL-r 2nd Ed. July 2005; Dr Bob Johnson MA, PhD, MBCS, DPM, MRCS, MRCPsych, MRCGP, Diploma in Psychotherapy, Neurology & Psychiatry (Psychiatric Institute of New York), Former Head of Therapy, Ashworth Hospital, Former Home Office Consultant Psychiatrist, The James Naylor Foundation 'Unsafe at Any Dose' 'Emotional Health' (ISBNs 0-95519851-8 & 0-9551985-0-X respectively); Panorama BBC 1, 3rd March 1997, www.mhs.com, www.truthtrustconsent.com. Keith Rose BA (Hons) is currently resident at HMP Long Lartin

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Comment PRISON SERVICE ORDER 3050 Continuity of healthcare for prisoners This PSO covers prisoners’ health needs from the point of reception through transfers to discharge and beyond. The continuity aspect will be a relief for those prisoners who upon transfer or appearance at court, had to go through all the paperwork again and again; and also eliminates having to go to the bottom of the waiting list, for example, for dental appointments upon transfer.

PSO

watch In his monthly feature exclusively for Inside Time, former prisoner John Hirst simplifies PSOs. John spent a total of 35 years in prison and is the author of the Jailhouse Lawyer’s blog. Prior to release in October 2007 from a 25 year sentence for manslaughter, he proved to be the most prolific prisoner litigant of modern times and, he says, like Perry Mason and Rumpole of the Bailey, he never lost a case against the Prison Service.

The PSO is particularly beneficial for those prisoners with ongoing medical needs. Since the demise of the Prison Medical Service in favour of the National Health Service, this continuity stretches back out into the community for those in Approved Premises or home address. And for those unlucky enough to get caught up in the revolving door syndrome, it will almost be as though they have never left prison. Perhaps an area of concern may be the receiving and disclosing of prisoners’ medical records without consent, especially given this government’s appalling record of losing confidential data. Although the guidance states prisoners consent should be obtained, the danger is that if not closely monitored, the exceptional rule may slip into the norm for administrative convenience.

PSO is to ensure that the Health Services for Prisoners standard is the same standard as provided in the NHS outside of prison. Unusually, the Governor is not responsible for this aspect within his or her prison. However, he or she must ensure that it is implemented by those given the responsibility to carry out the measures. The content of the PSO ‘Clinical Governance - Quality in Prison Healthcare’ is the subject of compliance by the Prison Service Standards Audit Unit. It does not quite answer the ageold question: ‘Who guards the guards?, however it does go some way towards monitoring and accountability within the penal system.

Put very simply, ‘clinical governance’ is about making sure that there are proper arrangements in place for managing, monitoring, and improving healthcare. The purpose of this

PRISON SERVICE ORDER 3200 Health promotion

• Build the physical, mental and social health of prisoners (and where appropriate staff) as part of a whole prison approach; • Help prevent the deterioration of prisoners’ health during or because of custody; especially by building on the concept of decency in our prisons; • Help prisoners adopt healthy behaviours that can be taken back into the community upon release. More specifically:

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Mental health promotion and wellbeing Smoking Healthy eating and nutrition Healthy lifestyles, including sex and relationships and active living - Drug and other substance misuse Originally, PSO 3200 lay down that mandatory actions would be the subject of self-auditing. Not a good idea, as I seem to recall Dr Harold Shipman claiming that he had done nothing wrong. By now, monitoring should be carried out by the independent Standards Audit Unit.

PRISON SERVICE ORDER 3050 Clinical Services for Substance Misusers This PSO requires all Governing Governors and Directors and Controllers of contracted out prisons to: a) Identify, assess and treat substance misusers in line with Department of Health guidelines (1999); b) Contribute to through-care plans; c) Provide information on high risk behaviour, harm-minimisation and secondary prevention to prisoners.

PSO 3200 introduces us to the formal marriage between the Prison Service and the National Health Service. It requires both to ensure that prisoners, who remain members of the public albeit not at large, get the same standard of treatment from the NHS as do members of the general public. This PSO lays down the required minimum mandatory actions to be taken by governors and directors of private prisons. These include:

PRISON SERVICE ORDER 3100 Clinical Governance - Quality in Prison Healthcare

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In addition, the new clinical standard and PSO reflect the introduction of ‘CARATs’ - the Counselling, Assessment, Referral, Advice and Throughcare services - which are now an integral part of the national Prison Service Drug Strategy and available in every prison. I still remember the fallout from Michael Mansfield QC on BBC TV ‘Question Time’ reading out a letter I had published in the Independent which related to the prison doctor advising me to buy a £1 deal of cannabis as a remedy for depression. I was later charged with possession of cannabis, fined £1.50 and the governor advised me that if I had a drug problem to go and see the prison doctor! I suspect that this is one area where prisoners addicted to such as heroin will not get the equivalent treatment doled out by the NHS. Readers are reminded that the Prison Service Orders on this page have been summarised. The full text of the PSOs can be viewed in your library.

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Insidetime December 2008 www.insidetime.org

available; the extensive allotment for example, designed and constructed by one of the day centre users. It is here that the soil is tilled and tended with loving care and a huge variety of fruit and vegetables are grown and harvested.

Zimmer Frame Society

Day centre users have an assortment of choices; they can go for walks within the perimeters of the vast sports field, provided it is organised and pre-arranged. There is also a sheltered bowling green, where many class matches have been won and lost. Somewhere in between these activities there is still time for a brew-up, and tea is served, weather permitting, on the ample-sized flag-stone patio. The patio is surrounded by a wooden fence and partraised garden. Hanging baskets adorn the centre's walls, which gives off an aura of a completely calm and stress free atmosphere.

Winston Churchill Irvine highlights an initiative that might signal a whole new way of caring for elderly and disabled prisoners he prison population in England & Wales continues to surpass all previous records almost on a daily basis. As this population hovers around the 83,000 mark, and the learned judges continue to incarcerate and sentence people to unduly lengthy prison terms, it can only add up to one thing: thousands of prison places will have to be found for a growing number of old and disabled prisoners.

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These aged and infirm men and women, including many hundreds sentenced to life, will, through time, suffer from various forms of disability. However, as this Zimmer frame society transgresses from the infirm to the completely disabled, something will have to be done before it's too late. So what exactly is being done? And why is the Prison Service seemingly preparing the old and the disabled for the scrapheap? Is there another, better option by which to treat this forgotten society? The Prison Service acknowledges that elderly and infirm prisoners are, and will be, a huge problem in years to come. Yet, as is frequently the case, they argue that there is insufficient funding to pay for specialist equipment for those that have severe disabilities, other than what is required by law.

Sometimes though, cash can be found to convert existing buildings and transform them into accommodation for the disabled; this is what has happened here at Leyhill Prison in Gloucestershire, a low security category 'D' establishment. For example, a ground floor spur on one of the wings was converted to house prisoners with disabilities. Cell doors were enlarged for wheelchair users; shelves that held televisions were lowered and prisoners supplied with remote controls; in-cell lighting was adapted for those who have epilepsy and portable loop systems made available for those with impaired hearing. The toilets, shower rooms and general ablution areas were specially adapted. Emergency warning notices have been displayed on each cell door and a chair-ramp constructed where once there was stairs. However, it had taken four long years to raise the level of awareness of the disabled within the prison. It was as far back as 2003/2004 that the seeds were sown before the project was finally completed. As these seeds germinated into fruition, another campaign was launched by Prison Officer Sue Sharples, who is the prison liaison officer for aged and disabled prisoners. This new operation concerned the building of a conservatory, which would be attached to the newly converted wing and used as a day

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centre. This project was ultimately shelved due to costs - however Sue Sharples, who was joined by Michele Plant, the then manager of the Health Care Centre, battled on relentlessly. The latter liaised with the Primary Care Trust (NHS) to get the day centre project off the ground. The Prison Service and the Governor had to be convinced that a separate building would be beneficial for those with a range of disabilities. After months of tough negotiations, it was decided that such a place would benefit the old and disabled and would be a much better option than allowing them to stagnate in cold and comfortless cells with only four walls and a television set for company. The paperwork was rubber-stamped and the Leyhill day centre was finally opened in 2006. The centre consists of a large comfortable room, which has a small kitchen at one end, and a large patio outside the entrance. Within the centre various activities take place, while painting is a favourite pastime and the ‘masterpieces’ that already grace the walls testify to the hidden talents of the old and infirm. Some paintings are either sold to raise cash for charitable purposes or entered for national prison awards such as the Koestlers. For those unable to participate in the ‘Fit for Life’ project, there are several other pursuits

Two professional carers help in the day to day running of the centre and they too participate in the activities on offer. They also understand that a positive and structured routine can and does stimulate the mind as well as the body. 'Far better than working in the prison workshops,' said one man. 'A good alternative to work, which many of us can't do anyway', said another. Anther prisoner added: 'The day centre is a Godsend, for without it I'd be lost.' Links have been forged with Stuart Ware of Age Concern and he visits the day centre on a monthly basis. Outside visitors come in to give talks on travel, and presentations by other prisoners who are taking various Key Skill level examinations in communication tend to be very popular. Leyhill Prison is not run on the 'holiday camp' style atmosphere, which from time to time certain national media groups depict when there is nothing better to fill column inches. Many of the day centre prisoners are serving life sentences and have spent many years inside. Leyhill is the last leg of that journey, where the aged and disabled are assessed for resettlement into the wider community. Therefore if people like Sue Sharpies, Michele Plant and Governor Bell are willing to try and test such a venture; that can only mean that even the most severely disabled have a significantly brighter future to look forward to.

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Short Story joined the small collection of copper and silver coins - the purses only other occupants. She clasped the purse shut and looked around the shop floor at all the other 'hocked' goods. It gave her a kind of sick reassurance knowing that she was not the town's only victim of addiction. It was common knowledge that more than fifty percent of the goods on display were there as a consequence of funding one addiction or another.

A Pawned Soul

"Bye Miss Cochran, and have a Merry Christmas." "Merry Christmas my eye..." she murmured. She'd often wondered why they said this to customers, especially after they'd just fleeced them."... with forty pounds? I'll go book myself a fortnight in Lapland!"

A Tale of Love, Loyalty and Devotion by Andy Thackwray

"I can only give you the scrap value I'm afraid, Miss Cochran." The counter assistant tossed the ring up in the air and watched it land in his palm. "We don't get much demand for wedding rings. Odds on it will be melted down if you don't come back and redeem it. If you ask me, marriage is definitely a thing of the past. Forty quid is the best I can do." "Forty pounds, is that all? It cost well over three hundred and is solid gold, twenty-four carat, bought at Ratners," Brenda Cochran added optimistically, hoping that by disclosing the ring's 'pedigree' it may rustle up a more favourable financial return. She gripped at her blue canvas shopping bag, staring at the young assistant across the counter of Cash Converters. He stood motionless, stony-faced and silent. "I take it you're not married yourself then?" conceded Brenda, taking his silence and demeanour as confirmation that she wasn't going to get another penny out of him; she wasn't wrong. "I live in sin, a lot of sin," he replied with an exaggerated wink. "I take it you're divorced. Now, forty pounds take it or leave it." …’in sickness and in health,’ Brenda remembered her marriage vows. 'But never in heroin addiction,' she mused. 'No one prepared us for it. No wonder he left us both. Sometimes I don't blame him.' Brenda sighed, snapping out of her momentary daydream. Reluctantly she whispered, "Go on then." Then, more loudly, "And yes, I am.

Happily, thank you very much," she lied. "Anyway, I'll feel happier with it gone, the same way I felt when me and the spineless bastard who slipped it on my finger finally parted company … a lot happier!" The assistant smiled and reached for a stringed white tag and began attaching it to the gold band. "You know how the system works here, don't you Miss Cochran? You've been here often enough, but company policy requires me to tell you that if you don't come back within the allotted twenty-eight days and buy the item back, then we are within our rights to do as we please with the ring, which includes sending it off to the smelt house. You understand? "Yes, I know how the system works. You lot should wear masks instead of them silly name badges. Now can I have my money please Stephen? I am in a bit of a rush." The assistant rung some numbers into a huge, black computer-come-cash register and waited before it noisily churned out a receipt and yielded its cash drawer: it did so within a matter of seconds. He took out four ten-pound notes then ripped off the receipt and pushed them together into Brenda's outstretched hand. "Thank you," she said, smiling sarcastically. She rummaged around in her shopping bag looking for her purse. She found it, opened it, and then pushed the banknotes in where they

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On her way out, Brenda couldn't help but notice her microwave displayed in the shop's window. The price tag displayed fifty pounds. She'd brought it in just over a month ago. 'They only gave me twenty for it,' she thought angrily to herself as she tugged open the shop's door and entered the High Street with its throng of last-minute Christmas Eve shoppers. ‘I hope Jed has his mobile switched on,' wished Brenda, as she sidestepped her way through the crowds towards the phone box. An assortment of Christmas Carols accompanied her - a distorted unison of seasonal cheer originating from within the town's shops and the loudspeakers put up to accompany the Christmas lights and decorations that hung everywhere above her. She was thankful that the phone box was not being used when she finally reached it. She entered and pulled the door firmly shut behind her. Jed was the only dealer she trusted. 'I hate the other two, far too shifty.' She dialled his mobile number. Jed's number took longer to dial than most because she had to retrieve it in three and four digit chunks which were hidden; written on several pages in her diary - a precaution Jed had insisted she take. Her luck was in, after only a few rings a voice answered. "Yeh?" "Jed, it’s Brenda. I'm in town. Can you get me four of the usual?" "Sure. Sam will be there - usual place - ten minutes, Ok? Oh, and happy crimbo ... bye."

`If only I could do my other shopping so quickly and simply,' she mused. Brenda made her way to the Cenotaph where she stood tapping her feet and waiting impatiently for her contact. She blended in with the other Christmas shoppers assembled there. They were either taking a break from the hustle and bustle of the town or meeting a loved one. Some ate roasted horse chestnuts bought from the nearby barrow vendor, who appeared to be doing a roaring trade. Whatever their reason for being there, Brenda was certain they were not scoring heroin like her. She reached into her bag and took out the four notes from her purse before dropping the purse back. She began to fold them, individually, into tiny, easy concealable squares another one of Jed's insistences. Looking across towards the Stray - the town's greenbelt - she eventually caught sight of young Sam peddling like fury towards her, his red pushbike leaning one way then the other with an alarming amount of angle and frequency. Soon he was leaning over and pressing the green button on the pole of the traffic lights which governed the nearby pedestrian crossing - a crossing which gave a safe passage of transition between the ruggedness and hullabaloo of the town centre across into the relative peace and serenity of the Stray, with its abundance of well manicured lawns and shiny black tarmac pathways. Within a few moments, the traffic came to an obedient halt, prompting young Sam to start peddling across the road towards the expectant Brenda. He pulled on the front brake only a matter of feet before reaching her. She didn't flinch. She was used to Jed's little brother's attempts at being a stunt man. ‘He'll be stealing cars soon. God help us then,' she thought, gripping at the money tightly in her sweaty hand. Although she had done this many times before, she'd never be at all comfortable undertaking such a shady, underhand and illegal transaction, but she was also fully aware that 'needs must.' The bike screeched to a shuddering halt. Its rear wheel left the ground and bounced back down again. Young Sam stood astride his steed, quite out of breath, his face as red as a beetroot. He looked around before pushing

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Insidetime December 2008 www.insidetime.org his hand into Brenda's shopping bag and dropping in its contents. "Four," he said. "There you go love." Brenda dropped the folded notes into the hood of Sam's coat. "Ta ra," said the young runner, "And Merry Christmas," he added, before expertly turning his bike on a sixpence and slowly peddling away in the direction from which he’d come. Her transaction complete, Brenda started to make her way back across town towards the bus station, hurrying as she did so in order to buy a few discounted tins of food from Netto, tins for her 'Christmas dinner,' and still be in time to catch the twenty past two bus home. The bus was hot, stuffy and full of noisy, chattering Christmas shoppers. Brenda took her seat and snuggled down into her oversized hound's-tooth overcoat, an overcoat that had once fitted her. She pulled up the collar. To avoid any kind of social interaction, Brenda sat cocooned in her overcoat looking out of the bus window, pressing her face against the cold, dirt-smeared glass; occasionally wiping the condensation from it with her palm. She was aware of someone sitting down next to her, but she kept her stare fixed firmly on the outside. Before the heroin had taken its grip on her life, she used to love gossiping on the bus, but now Brenda kept herself to herself, primarily to avoid the one inevitable question key to estate gossip … 'How's the family?' As the bus turned onto her estate, Brenda momentarily fixed her gaze onto the houses as they hurried past her. She entered into a reminiscent daydream - 'Happy houses,' she thought. 'Ours was once a happy house, before heroin came and paid us a visit and, with its persuasive powers, took up residence. The substance of all evil entered our lives and is now reluctant to leave. That's when things started to go so wrong ... the fights, the rows. He left because of it, together with the car and thirty grand salary - Happy Days.' Brenda vacated the bus and made the short walk to her house, keeping her head down, paying attention to no one. She reached the front door and turned briefly and grimaced as she witnessed the unkempt state of her front garden before pushing at the door and entering her three-bedroom semi. She hung up her coat in the hallway, kicked off her shoes, and slid her feet into worn carpet slippers before making her way into the lounge. Dropping her bag onto the sofa, she smiled lovingly down at the array of photographs taken of her teenage son, Derek, during varying stages of his schooldays. They lay frameless on top of the TV cabinet, a cabinet now void of any television set. She held up her hand and stared at her naked wedding finger.

"It was either the ring or the Hoover. Benefit day can't come soon enough," she sighed. "Will it ever end?" This was the question running through her mind as she wearily climbed the stairs. She stopped halfway up and looked at the four wraps of heroin laid in the palm of her hand. She almost wished she used the stuff herself. She'd witnessed at first hand its immediate calming effects; then quickly came to her senses and cursed herself for even thinking such a thing. Thoughts of the chaos, ill health, degradation and heartbreak she'd endured as a consequence of heroin entering her life flooded her consciousness, flushing out the absurdity of such a scenario. However she did know she would indirectly benefit from the drug's calming mind-altering effects, for it would guarantee her a quiet night, an end to her problems, at least for the time being. She knew the next day would undoubtedly bring with it more of the same … and the next … and the next. Unless the drug counsellor contacted her with some good news at last, but this was unlikely, especially over the Christmas period. Regardless of the time of year, he'd often said to Brenda, "It takes time to get a bed at a drug rehabilitation centre, you must be patient." She worried if she could manage to hold on for much longer. 'What if I run out of items to hock, what then?' She reached the top step and strode over the landing towards a bedroom door which had a bolt attached to it. She slid the bolt across and pushed the door open. "Derek, it's me love." The room was dark and stank of damp bedding. It was sparsely furnished, except for a single bed and a beaten-up chest of drawers. It was a room void of all the necessities associated with normal teenage life. Its sparseness made it look almost tidy. However, just one glimpse of the human wreck lying shaking and sweating on top of the bed dispelled any semblance of order. The youth looked like death warmed up; anaemic and drawn. He looked up and greeted Brenda with a pathetic plea of -"Did you get me it? Please say you got me it Mam."

representative had been able to negotiate a small increase in the minimum wage for packing toys, but even he had not been able to foresee the enormous increase in the workload. Earlier in the month things had got so bad that the elves threatened strike action, and this was only averted by the personal intervention of Mrs Christmas, who had to promise the elves new toadstools if they stuck to their task.

Ho! Ho! Ho! A modern Christmas Tale by John Allen Things were not going at all well in the offices of santaclaus.com. It was already December 24th and there was still a mountain of toys and presents to deliver. Back in the summer, when the decision to go 'high tec' was taken, no-one had foreseen the enormous increase in the volume of business it would mean. This year, Father Christmas had been overwhelmed with emails and text messages from children of all ages and whilst, earlier in the year, parents had been concerned their offspring might accidentally encounter ‘porn’ on the internet, it now seemed that all hyperlinks led to Lapland. Everyone on the firm was feeling the strain, even the reindeer. This was always a difficult time for them, but this year had been exceptional. The sledges were extremely heavy and there were so many additional journeys to be made. The extra work had taken its toll; both Donner and Blitzen were virtually lame and Rudolph's famous red nose had faded to an insipid shade of pink. The elves too - Santa's little helpers - were totally fed up. Some months back, their union

As for the great man himself, he was totally frazzled. People just didn't seem to realise that all the extra presents meant there was even more sherry to imbibe and mince pies to consume. Already those pies were lying heavily in his stomach, so much so that his renowned red costume was now so tight he could hardly breathe. Nor was his demeanour improved by all the cheap sherry sloshing around his liver. In a normal year his intake of sherry would serve to give him a benign glow, but this year's over-indulgence had led to a foul, drinkinduced temper and woe betide anyone who crossed him when he was in this sort of mood. Inevitably, mistakes were made. Just the day before, Santa himself had delivered a mountain bike to a four-year-old who had asked for a tricycle! When the Chief Elf pointed out the error, Father Christmas used some distinctly unseasonal language! So it was with some trepidation that the Head Fairy knocked on Santa's door at 11.45pm on Christmas Eve. "Bugger off" came the bad-tempered response from within. Nevertheless, the Head Fairy pushed open the door and entered, dragging a Christmas tree behind her. "What do you want?" the grumpy old man snapped. "Well, Santa," she said, "We've delivered all the trees you asked us to. There's just this one left”. "So?" glowered Santa. “What should I do with it?" I expect, like me, you've often wondered how the tradition of having a fairy at the top of a Christmas tree began!

Brenda sat herself down on the bed. "Yes love, I've got you it." She opened up her hand in front of him, "Happy Christmas son."

A Pawned Soul was taken from The Fruits From An Innocent Mind, a collection of short stories written by Andy Thackwray - currently resident at HMP Hull. The collection can be purchased at www.lulu.com/andythackwray or www.amazon.com, alternatively ask in your prison library quoting ISBN 978-14092-1311-6

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Insidetime December 2008 www.insidetime.org

Lags and Wags Christmas Special

Matthew Williams

In the fourth instalment of her series exclusively for Inside Time, writer and comedienne Alison Henderson invites readers to take a break from the zany adventures of Sue and life on the estate and enjoy a Mr & Mrs special via video link! ‘You look cheesed off mate!’ said Baz as he popped his head round Brian’s cell door. ‘Well it’s Xmas in three days time’, sulked Brian, with his head down to the floor. ‘Just another day for us lot pal’, Baz sighed. ‘It sure is’, chirped in old-timer Bruce; picking his toenails on the bunk. ‘I’m gonna miss creeping downstairs putting out my lad’s presents under the Christmas tree’ grumbled Brian with a tear in his eye. ‘He’s bloody 19!’ Baz blurted. ‘19?’ gasped Bruce, his pensioner pad-mate. ‘Well there’s no tree here on the wing mate’, mumbled Baz.

‘Nah, no tree here pal, although the screws put a piece of tinsel around the table-tennis table every year’, nodded old Bruce with a soggy roll-up hanging out of his mouth. ‘Yeah, and we all gather round it and sing Xmas carols’, replied Baz. ‘Oh do you?’ smiled Brian with a festive twinkle in his eye. ‘Yeah, Ping Pong Merrily On High!’ laughed Baz as he rolled his tobacco. ‘Give it a rest Baz, it’s really getting to me this being away from home,’ whinged Brian, gazing down at Vera’s photo. ‘Oh go and give your Vera a ring mate and cheer up will you’ replied Baz, pulling him up

from the bed. ‘I think I will’ nodded Brian, shuffling out of his pad and heading off to the phone. ‘Anyway Brucie, you don’t look your usual self today either mate’, Baz commented. ‘Nah, I’m not Baz’, Bruce replied; skinning up another cig. ‘What’s up?’ asked Baz … concerned. ‘Well, it looks like I’m being transferred’, replied Bruce. ‘You are joking mate! Where are they sending you?’ gasped Baz. ‘Majesty’s Prison 3’, replied old Bruce, making his filter. ‘Never heard of that mate … what is it? A

new Titan nick or something?’ asked Baz slightly confused. ‘It must be. It says on this paper here that I’m entitled to apply for a Majesty’s Prison 3, so with all this prison overcrowding lark, it looks like they want me shipped out’, grumbled Bruce. ‘Let me have a look at that piece of paper mate’, said Baz, holding his hand out. ‘Here’ replied Bruce, handing over the slip. ‘Bloody hell Bruce! It says here you’ve got enhanced status’, said Baz, raising his voice‘. It means you can have an MP3 mate.’ ‘Does that mean I can have those town visits then?’ beamed Bruce. ‘Does it balls! It means you can have an MP3 player mate!’ replied Baz, top note. ‘What’s that?’ asked Bruce, scrunching up his face‘. Is it all the fashion on the outside now?’ ‘Oh look! Brian’s on his way back from the phone’, replied Baz, changing the subject rapidly. ‘Some Christmas this is going to be!’ ranted Brian, throwing himself down on the chair. ‘Jesus, what’s wrong now?’ asked Baz, puffing and blowing. ‘Vera slammed the phone down on me’, whimpered Brian. ‘How come?’ said Baz, taking a drag of his cig. ‘What’s wrong?’ chirped in old Bruce. ‘Well, it was going fine until Vera said she’d bought me a ‘Top Gear’ poster of a Porsche’, mumbled Brian tapping his fingers on the arm of the chair. ‘And?’ probed Baz. ‘ And all I said was thanks but we’ve got Fanny all over the wall so there might not be any room to put it up’ replied Brian innocently, ‘and the next thing she hangs up on me!’ ‘Do you want me to ring her and explain that it’s my Fanny?’ interrupted old Bruce. ‘Oh would you Bruce?’ replied Brian, somewhat relieved. ‘Course I will’ smiled Bruce, taking a sip of his coffee. ‘And whilst you’re at it, tell her you’ve been shipped out to a jail in Thailand because that’s what it will bloody sound like!’ laughed Baz hysterically. ‘What?’ frowned Brian. ‘Oh For Christ sake, just ring her back and explain to her that Fanny is Bruce’s wife, he’s been in here for donkey’s years and has got photos of her pictured with The Bay City Rollers, Adam Ant, Oasis and Travis straight through to The Cheeky Girls and bloody Westlife!’ ranted Baz. ‘Well I’m gonna take that down’ panicked Bruce, shuffling to his feet.

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Insidetime December 2008 www.insidetime.org ‘Take what down?’ shouted Baz, stressed to the max. ‘I don’t know what Fanny was thinking of having a picture taken with him from the POA! She can piss right off!’ ranted old Bruce, kicking his green felt slippers to one side. ‘I think he means Travis’, whispered Brian nervously. ‘I know who he means! Oh I can’t take anymore! I’m nipping next door to see what the twins are up too’ muttered Baz, at his wits end as he crept out of the cell. ‘How’s it going Cyril?’ asked Baz, tapping lightly on the Walker brothers cell door. ‘Come in lad’, Magnus replied on Cyril’s behalf. ‘How’s tricks gentlemen?’ asked Baz, plonking himself down on the chair. ‘Thanks to the P.I.S.S test, things ‘aint looking right good lad’ replied Cyril, polishing his foot. ‘Oh no! You’ve not had a positive have you?’ gasped Baz. ‘Nah, not one of those P.I.S.S tests’ interrupted Magnus, ‘that prisoners’ family group have organised some kind of test thing.’ ‘Courtesy of my Maureen, your Sue and bloody Vera, between them all they’ve organised a Xmas Eve ‘Mr & Mrs’ quiz!’ coughed Cyril, as he puffed on his cig. ‘Ya what?’ replied Baz, taken aback. ‘Something to do with strengthening family ties and all that’ nodded Magnus; unimpressed. ‘And how’s this Mr & Mrs thing gonna work then?’ asked Baz, scratching his chin. ‘Via bloody video link!’ replied Cyril bemused. ‘Oh yeah, is it that quiz thing off the telly? It goes …’Mr & Mrs, be nice to each other ...’ sang Baz bursting into it’s theme tune. ‘That’s the one’ sniggered Magnus. ‘Should be a laugh then eh!’ replied Baz with a grin on his face. ‘Actually no!’ snapped Cyril, fiddling with the settings on his ankle. ‘Oh?’ Baz responded nervously. ‘Our Cyril and Maureen have to do it, Maureen volunteered them both’ chirped in Magnus, adjusting his calipers. ‘Oh Jesus!’ chuckled Baz apprehensively. ‘Afternoon gentlemen’ spluttered old Brucie, shuffling his way into the Walker twins pad for a nosy. ‘How you doing Bruce?’ asked Magnus politely. ‘Not too bad lads’ replied Bruce, making himself comfortable. ‘Hey Bruce, Cyril is doing a Mr & Mrs quiz via video link on Xmas Eve’ nodded Baz enthusiastically.

‘Can me and Fanny do it as well?’ spluttered Bruce, clearing his throat. ‘You can take my place if you want mate’ grumbled Cyril, propping his leg up at the side of the bunk. ‘How’s that gonna work then?’ replied Baz, intrigued. ‘Meaning?’ responded Cyril. ‘Fanny’s been married and divorced three bloody times on the out since he’s been in here!’ blurted Baz. ‘True I suppose’ replied Cyril, itching his stump. ‘Hey, imagine if they did a prison version of Through The Keyhole?’ laughed Baz mischievously‘. ‘Whose cell is this?’ he mimicked in a Lloyd Grossman voice. ‘It would be too easy that’ chirped in old Bruce disapprovingly. ‘Why?’ quizzed Magnus. ‘Because we’ve got all our photos up on the wall of our family’ replied Bruce, rolling his 25th cig of the day. ‘They take the bloody clues away for Christ sake! How can anyone guess whose cell it is when it looks the bloody same as the next man’s and the rest of the wing!’ argued Baz, shaking his head. ‘They’d guess ours’ butted in Cyril. ‘How come?’ replied Baz. ‘It’s got ‘toss pot’ engraved in the wall right there! Maureen would be right onto it.’ replied Cyril, rolling his eyes. The next three days passed quicker than old Bruce’s bowel movements. It was Xmas Eve, and the afternoon of the ‘Mr & Mrs’ quiz via video link. ‘No doubt there’ll be a cell spin whilst the lads are out watching this’ remarked Baz on the landing. ‘It looks like the quiz show contestant is on his way to the video link room’ pointed Brian below. ‘He’s dragging his leg a bit there is Cyril’, commented Baz. ‘So he is’ agreed Brian, studying Cyril shuffling along. ‘Right mate, let’s make tracks and watch this show’ smiled Baz, making his way into the orderly queue on the landing. ‘Right gentlemen, take a seat and remember to please be quiet at all times’ said Mr Wilkinson, the senior officer ushering the lads into the room. ‘Look at Cyril’ sniggered Baz as he plonked his backside down on the chair.

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‘He doesn’t look impressed does he’, whispered Brian. ‘Hush, quiet’, said SO Wilkinson bluntly. ‘Hey look at the screen Brian, Maureen’s there with our missus in the background’ Baz whispered. ‘Vera my princess! Can you see me?’ shouted Brian, waving excitedly. ‘Hey there’s my bird!’ shouted a con on the next row, waving as well. ‘Look! there’s Fanny on the screen!’ bellowed old Bruce, grinning.

The next three days passed quicker than old Bruce’s bowel movements. It was Xmas Eve, and the afternoon of the ‘Mr & Mrs’ quiz via video link. ‘Hey, have some respect will you old fella’, said the next man, nudging Bruce abruptly. ‘He means his missus mate’ replied Baz in Bruce’s defence. ‘What?’ said the next man cockily. ‘I said, he means he can see his missus on screen. She’s called Fanny’ replied Baz sternly. ‘Will you all be quiet please’ shouted SO Wilkinson, getting irate. As the room fell silent, the music began‘. Mr & Mrs ... be nice to each other...’

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‘It is a privilege to be hosting this quiz today’ spoke the Governor, ‘and special thanks goes to P.I.S.S for organising this worthwhile event. ‘Our first contestants are Cyril from F wing and his lovely wife Maureen. Cyril, you’ll be blindfolded with ear-muffs on whilst I ask Maureen the first set of questions. OK let’s commence with the show.’ ‘Good afternoon Maureen’ said the governor, looking at the screen. ‘Afternoon’ Maureen replied. ‘And how long have you and Cyril been together?’ asked the Governor. ‘About 10 years’ cooed Maureen. ‘Oh, it says on my card here that you’ve been together for 25?‘ frowned the Governor. ‘Well, he’s been with you for 15 of them’, answered Maureen in all innocence. ‘I think we’ll proceed with the questions as Cyril cannot see or hear you now,’ smiled the Governor eagerly. ‘Maureen, your first question is: If you or Cyril could be a celebrity couple, which celebrity couple would you choose to be?’ ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ answered Maureen without hesitation. ‘Jesus Christ!’ laughed Baz hysterically. ‘Err, question number two Maureen is: If Cyril could be a super hero, which one would he be?’ ‘Definitely Captain Hook’ answered Maureen confidently. ‘Captain Hook?’ whispered Baz, holding his stomach trying not to laugh. ‘He’s not a super hero’ replied Brian quietly. ‘He’d be knackered with a false arm as well eh!’ giggled Baz uncontrollably. ‘And your final question Maureen is ...’ ‘Oh God!’ shouted Maureen, interrupting the Governor. ‘Excuse me?’ replied the Governor politely. ‘It’s Cyril! Look at him! He’s peed himself! It’s running down the side of his leg!’ flapped Maureen on the video link screen. ‘Oh shit!’ whispered Magnus. ‘Poor Cyril, he must be really nervous’ mumbled Brian. ‘That’s not pee mate!’ cringed Magnus with his head buried in his hands. ‘Pardon?’ replied Brian, completely baffled. ‘That’s our gallon of bloody Hooch for over Xmas he stashed in his leg!’ whispered Magnus, mortified. ‘Oh Jesus!’ cried Baz … ‘Merry bloody Christmas eh!’

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Legal Comment

Bob Woffinden writes... Leading investigative journalist Bob Woffinden looks at a highly controversial conviction he considers riddled with inconsistencies t six minutes past two on a Saturday afternoon, 16 November 2002, George Robinson, a taxi driver in Blyth, Northumberland, picked up a woman passenger, Diana Stoddart. Twenty-one minutes later, he dropped her at her destination. He was paid £5.30p, of which half would go to his company and half to himself.

A

So Robinson made exactly £2.65p from that journey, but the cost to him was to be incalculable. Subsequently, while he was carrying other fares, Stoddart made three telephone calls. Firstly, she phoned the company, Phoenix Taxis, to say that Robinson had asked her to lift her top and have sex with him, and she wanted to know how to claim compensation. Secondly, she telephoned the police to say that Robinson had raped her. Thirdly, she phoned Phoenix again to book a taxi for the following day. Robinson, who was then 55, was a very happily married family man with three grown-up children. He had never been in any kind of trouble. His account of that 21-minute trip has never varied. Stoddart suffered from cerebral palsy and was in a wheelchair. Robinson said he picked her up and placed the wheelchair in the back of his cab, which was the standard black hackney carriage. The wheelchair was not strapped down, but she was held in it by a lap-strap like that used on aircraft. During the journey, the end of the strap became entangled in a wheel so she asked Robinson to stop the cab and free the belt which, he said, is what he did. According to her, however, when Robinson stopped the cab and went round to assist her, he undressed her completely and raped her on the floor of his cab. He then dressed her again and subsequently dropped her off ‘in the middle of nowhere’. After she’d made her complaint, police officers

called at Robinson’s house. By then, he’d finished work for the day and had had a bath. He took the clothing he’d been wearing out of the laundry basket and gave it to them. Subsequent scientific investigations yielded two important pieces of evidence. A vaginal swab from the complainant revealed the presence of three sperm heads. Stoddart said that she had not had consensual intercourse with anyone for over two years. The semen would not have survived for more than ten days. The second piece of evidence was the presence of her DNA on his boxer shorts. In August 2003, Robinson was found guilty of rape by a 10-2 majority and sentenced to nine years’ imprisonment. There was, however, a critical problem with the prosecution case. Robinson had had a vasectomy in 1975. He was incapable of producing sperm. It was a classic miscarriage of justice like that of Stefan Kiszko. So the case went to appeal and the conviction was quashed. Unlike in the Kiszko case, however, a retrial was ordered. At Newcastle crown court in November 2005, Robinson was again convicted, this time unanimously, and was now given an eight-year sentence. Yet not only was there nothing in his background to suggest that he would ever commit this kind of crime - or indeed any crime at all - but the scenario put forward by the purported victim is inherently incredible. Of course, adventurous adults may engage in consensual sexual activity in unconventional and uncomfortable positions, and rape may also occur in strange circumstances; but quite how it was supposed to have happened here really does defeat the imagination. Robinson was six foot tall and weighed about fourteen stone. Stoddart herself was also six

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foot. The wheelchair stayed in position throughout: that was the evidence. There simply wasn’t enough space for all this to have happened. Then there was the location. The prosecution told the jury that the taxi stopped ‘in a secluded area’. This was misleading, as Ronnie Campbell, who has been the local MP since 1987, was aware. “I know every part of my constituency”, he said. “The area in question is not secluded. The road is busy, especially on a Saturday afternoon.” Had there been dramatic activity in the back of a parked cab, then someone is bound to have noticed something.

“

The prosecution told the jury that the taxi stopped ‘in a secluded area’. This was misleading, as Ronnie Campbell, who has been the local MP since 1987, was aware. “I know every part of my constituency”, he said. “The area in question is not secluded. The road is busy, especially on a Saturday afternoon.

”

These points should be considered in conjunction with the absence of evidence of any assault. Despite the fact that Stoddart would presumably have tried to defend herself, there were no marks or any kind of evidence in the back of the cab or on the wheelchair. Nor were there significant injuries on Stoddart. There were scratches on different parts of her body, but these could be attributed to the difficulties that her carers had in dealing with her. In any case, they could not have been caused by Robinson, whose fingernails were bitten down. Yet there was the DNA evidence. Robinson’s explanation was that after he had released the strap caught up in the wheelchair, Stoddart asked him to push hair away from her mouth. Her carers acknowledged that she had a tendency to slaver and not to swallow, so there was a build-up of saliva and sometimes her long hair stuck to her mouth. Robinson, who had experience in dealing with the disabled,

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He then stepped outside and straightened his own clothing so that he would not be uncomfortable when he resumed his driving position. In doing so, he may have transferred particles of her saliva to his own underwear. In this respect, the case bears comparison with that of Merrick Rogers (see Inside Time, October 2006) and concerns the secondary transfer of DNA material. It is, in any event, mere common sense that had Robinson actually been a rapist, he would presumably have given the police an alternative pair of boxer shorts. Stoddart said she had not had sex for over two years. The level of her sexual activity was fundamental to the case, and her account was untrue. The sperm could not have come either from Robinson or her boyfriend, who said that they had had sex several times in recent months, although not in the previous ten days. Nor was Stoddart dropped off ‘in the middle of nowhere’. She was taken to her destination, which was her boyfriend’s house. He paid the fare. She did not appear distressed or discountenanced. The CPS put this woman on the stand as a witness of truth knowing that aspects of her account were untruthful. Unsurprisingly, this led to an irrational outcome, which was the reconviction. There may be an additional problem here, which is jurors’ misunderstanding of the concept of retrial. The public know that convictions can be quashed with absolute finality. That happened in the very high-profile cases of, for example, the Birmingham Six and Sally Clark. So retrial jurors may mistakenly believe that the Court of Appeal has had to quash the conviction on some technicality or other, but actually considers the defendant to be guilty - otherwise why was the conviction not quashed outright? It is hard otherwise to make sense of a situation in which Robinson was originally convicted on a slender 10-2 basis, but then re-convicted unanimously, even though the second jury knew that the complainant was not telling the truth about her sexual activities. * The name of the complainant has been changed

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Short tariff IPP sentences George Cassidy asks whether they are a just punishment for criminals or a cash cow for everybody else

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n July 14th 2008 the Government changed the law concerning IPP sentencing policy. The Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 introduced a ‘threshold of seriousness’; namely a minimum tariff of two years. This meant that if the offence committed did not warrant a sentence of at least four years (equivalent to a tariff of two years) the court could no longer impose an IPP sentence. This threshold also applies to EPP sentences. There is an exception to the seriousness threshold; when an offender already has previous convictions for certain very serious offences, the court then has discretion to impose IPP even if the tariff for the current offence is less than two years. The list of very serious offences is called Schedule 15A and is based, with some updating, on the ‘two strikes’ or ‘automatic life’ offences. There were other changes: ‘The removal of the rebuttable presumption of risk.’ This means that the court is no longer obliged to conclude that the offender is dangerous when there is a previous conviction for a violent or sexual crime. Also, IPP and EPP sentences are no longer mandatory when the relevant conditions are met. They are simply available to judges to use at their discretion. For more details, get PSI 27/2008 from your solicitor or library. The purpose of these changes is to create fewer IPP sentences, especially with shorter tariffs. However, what about prisoners who are already serving IPP with a tariff of less than two years? Surely the IPP part would be quashed and we would be released on tariff? At the very least they would have to take us back to court to be re-sentenced? No, the new legislation did not make the changes retrospective. So our sentences are unaffected. If we had been sentenced before IPP was introduced on 4th April 2005, we could not have been given a life sentence. If we had been sentenced after 14th July 2008, we could not have been given a life sentence. It is only because we had the misfortune to be sentenced between these two dates that we are serving an indeterminate life

sentence. Is this just? Is this fair? Is this right? By altering the legislation the Government has effectively admitted that it was flawed. They never intended judges to be handing out IPP sentences like confetti. David Blunkett, the architect of this savage law, doesn’t even know that there are short tariff IPP prisoners. The following is an extract from his column in the Sun on 18th July 2007; somewhat lengthy, but illustrates the cognitive distortions that he is labouring under. He wrote: ‘… the froth that’s being talked about indeterminate sentences - where prisoners are kept locked up until it is safe to release them, rather than for a fixed term. That’s now the responsibility of the new Justice Department. But it is being said that these sentences are adding to prison overcrowding. As every Sun reader can work out for themselves these sentences were for really severe crimes which would have earned pretty lengthy fixed terms - and I’m not talking about four to five years. It was precisely to avoid letting these dangerous people out too early that the indeterminate sentences were introduced.’ So let’s do the maths here, if someone was sentenced to ten years in 2005, would they still be in jail, even with full remission? The answer is patently ‘yes’. If they were given an indeterminate sentence, would they still be contributing to overcrowding? Of course, as hopefully they would still be serving time; so why all the talk about getting rid of these sentences? They make no difference to our problem jails and won’t do so for years to come. I suggest that all the highly intelligent people dealing with the criminal justice system need a simple mathematics lesson’. May I politely suggest that it is Mr Blunkett who needs the mathematics lesson. The median tariff length for IPP sentences was 30 months before they changed the law in July. Or perhaps Mr Blunkett needs an English lesson? Maybe he got the wording wrong in the Criminal Justice Act 2003? Maybe he meant IPP to be applied to offences carrying a minimum ten year sentence (five year tariff) rather than for

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offences which carry a maximum sentence of ten years or more. No Mr Blunkett, you were not talking about sentences of about four to five years, you were talking about sentences measured in months. 28 days is the shortest one, I believe. Well done Mr Blunkett, no wonder you’re on gardening leave. IPP sentences have contributed significantly to prison overcrowding. If they had not been introduced in April 2005, the vast majority of IPP prisoners would have received a determinate sentence and been released on parole halfway through - this is how judges determine the length of tariff. But who really cares about prison overcrowding? The public want to see the jails full; it makes them feel safer. The politicians love it, as it looks like they are being ‘tough on crime’ - always a vote winner. And our illustrious prison officers and probation officers? They get all the overtime they want, their jobs are secure for life; a ‘nice little earner’. What about the programmes’ facilitators and the army of trainee psychologists? I understand the Government gives the prison £9,000 for every prisoner that goes on their programmes, and indeterminate sentenced prisoners can go on an indeterminate number of programmes! And solicitors and barristers? Now we’re really talking … all that legal aid. An indeterminate number of parole hearings where indeterminate (life) prisoners are entitled to a solicitor and a barrister to represent them. Every year or two we will be up for parole; for an indeterminate number of years. Nice work if you can get it. What about when we do eventually get parole? Apparently, thus far 31 of us have; the programmes Gestapo will be livid when they find out. We are going to need solicitors and barristers for the rest of our lives (well, minimum 10 years in any case). The median age for an IPP prisoner is 28. For many years we will be subject to the whims and mercies of hysterical probation officers and trainee psychologists with something to prove; an indeterminate number of recalls to work on. Surely this is the goose that lays the golden egg for solicitors and barristers? Prisoners themselves, and their families, must be upset about prison overcrowding. Well, actually, many thousands of prisoners are facing the prospect of having their sentences cut short and being released a few weeks early because of prison overcrowding. The Government ‘solution’ is to build even more prisons so that they can imprison even more people. What about the victims of our crimes? All

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IPP sentences are for violent or sexual offences. All victims are likely to have suffered physically and emotionally and are likely to do so for the rest of their lives. In effect, they are serving a life sentence because of what we have done. So why shouldn’t we? I have no answer to this question. We can not possibly pay the debt we owe to our victims and with an indeterminate life sentence we can never pay back the debt we owe to society until the day we die. The feelings of helplessness, despair and isolation that accompany the IPP sentence are overwhelming, for us and for our families. I am one of those fortunate enough to have support from my family and good friends. Here I would like to mention a friend of mine, Simon, who I met here at Manchester. He was serving an IPP and genuinely wanted to change his offending behaviour. He got himself a place on a therapeutic community programme at HMP Dovegate. He was there for a number of months, then killed himself this summer. We were all deeply shocked here at Manchester - our thoughts and condolences go to Simon’s family and friends on the outside. So, if you are a low tariff IPP prisoner, what can you do? Well, don’t despair! Don’t do anything stupid. I would encourage anybody who is feeling like Simon to contact a prison listener or the Samaritans. Go on the programmes they tell you to go on. You have no choice. But you can do something to give yourself hope. The Government thinks it has now fixed the IPP problem and that it has gone away, but it hasn’t; there are still some loose ends. Let them know that we are still here and we are not going anywhere. Write to your MP. Write to Justice Secretary, Jack Straw at the House of Commons, London SW1. Maybe David Blunkett would like to hear from us as well? Give yourself hope! Do something positive! What about you solicitors and barristers out there? Are any of you willing to take on the government? Do we have any kind of legal leg to stand on? Is the change in law to abolish short tariff IPP sentences prejudicial to prisoners who have already received the ill-conceived creation? I realise that violent and sex offenders are the lepers and pariahs of modern society, but we wouldn’t mind a little bit of compassion right now. Where is that wonderful man of compassion Lord Longford when we need him? George Cassidy is a pseudonym for a prisoner at HMP Manchester

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Legal Comment

Insidetime December 2008 www.insidetime.org

a case summary will be prepared to assist the judges, a copy of which will be sent to Counsel instructed (or the Appellant if unreprsented). At this stage, all the papers will be copied for the judges and the case details sent to the List Office for a hearing date. The Appellant has the right to be present at the appeal hearing.

A

ppeals from the Crown Court against conviction and/or sentence are heard by the Court of Appeal, Criminal Division. Such Appeals are based on a point of law, on a point of fact, or on mixed law and fact. The ultimate question for the Court of Appeal, when considering an appeal against conviction, is whether the conviction is unsafe. An appeal against sentence will be upheld where the sentence is regarded as either wrong in principle or manifestly excessive. In either case, the Court has in place a filtering process where applications are screened by a Single Judge. To those appeals that pass this initial threshold, leave is given to appeal and the case is referred to the Full Court where a hearing is set down and the appeal heard in open Court, usually before three Judges. The Single Judge sometimes, although not often, may simply refer the case to the Full Court of Appeal without passing comment on the merits of the application. Where an appeal is to be lodged, the process is commenced by completing and submitting to the Crown Court within 28 days a form NG (meaning notice of grounds). The form NG must be signed either by the applicant or on his/her behalf by the legal representatives. Where fresh lawyers are instructed to pursue any appeal, the court may extend the 28 day time limit. Upon receipt of the form NG, the Registrar will obtain all the relevant documentation, which is then passed to the Single Judge. If the Single Judge takes the view that an Appeal has merit, leave to Appeal will be granted; otherwise it is refused. The Single Judge will also consider at this stage any ancillary applications, e.g. an application for bail. It is impossible to list all the potential grounds of appeal that may be advanced, but commonly they include: misdirection

Appeals procedure David Wells, Partner with Wells Burcombe LLP, highlights the procedure for appealing against a conviction and/or sentence from the Crown Court to the Court of Appeal, Criminal Division. of law; non-direction on the law; failure to refer to a defence; misdirection on the facts; inappropriate comment by the judge; wrongful admission or exclusion of the evidence; defects in the indictment; rejection of no case to answer; jury irregularities; irregularity in relation to verdict and those relating to prosecution responsibilities such as non-disclosure or late change in nature of the case. Where an applicant’s representatives advise there are no grounds for appeal, it may be possible to be given further public funding to get advice from or have enquiries made by new legal representatives. There is limited funding available in these circumstances. If in doubt as to your eligibility for further funding, write to a Solicitor who specializes in appeal work.

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Appeals vary in the time they take to be determined. For appeals against sentence, cases with a shorter sentence are generally dealt with more quickly than cases with longer sentences. If a case is very complicated, or linked to another Appeal(s), it will usually take longer. The Criminal Appeal Office may also take into account an applicant’s old or tender age and health. If leave to appeal is granted, Appellants will be granted public funding to be represented (usually by Counsel only). If additional enquiries and investigative work is required to be carried out the Registrar may, upon written application, consider extending the legal aid to cover Solicitor representation also. Where leave to appeal is granted, and prior to any hearing before the Full Court,

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Where leave to appeal is refused by the Single Judge, a copy of the decision will be sent to the applicant. Where the applicant disagrees with the decision, and wishes to renew the application before the Full Court, notice must be returned within 14 days. Where this occurs, no right to public funding for representation by a Barrister exists. However, the Barrister who drafted the grounds will usually agree to appear before the Full Court on a pro bono basis, unless private funding has been arranged. When contemplating any Appeal, there is one very important matter to consider. Whilst the Court of Appeal cannot increase sentence in the event of an unsuccessful appeal, there is one way the Court of Appeal can penalise unmeritorious appeals and that is for the Full Court to direct that some or all the time the applicant has spent in custody between the submission of the grounds of appeal and the dismissal of the application for leave to appeal shall not count (as it normally would) towards service of any custodial sentence imposed by the Crown Court. This is known as the ‘loss of time provision.’ Such a direction is more likely to be made in cases which are plainly without merit, but less likely (although still possible) where Counsel has advised that arguable grounds exist and where Counsel has advised that an application be renewed. In recent times there has been an increase in the use of this provision. Those contemplating an appeal without the benefit of legal advice should perhaps reconsider and instead seek specialist legal advice from lawyers dealing with this complex area.

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Restraint & Receivers … your money or theirs? Aziz Rahman and Jonathan Lennon In this article we give a brief overview on the law relating to Restraint Orders - that is an order made by the Crown Court which effectively freezes the assets of someone who is either being prosecuted or investigated for alleged criminal offences. The orders themselves can be very restrictive, and we consider here how such orders are made and what steps should be taken if you find yourself on the wrong end of a Restraint Order. Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 The purpose of a Restraint Order is to freeze property that may subsequently be confiscated. Confiscation of course is the power the Crown Court has to make orders depriving convicted offenders of their assets if the offender has benefited from his criminal conduct. Prosecutors worry that suspects who are under investigation, or have just been interviewed or charged, may start hiding their money just in case they are convicted. In such circumstances, the prosecution can apply to the Crown Court to restrain those assets that power is contained in the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA). A Restraint Order does what it says - the Order will specify what you cannot do; i.e. you cannot ‘deal’ with the property cited on the Order. If the Order mentions your car, for example, it will mean that you cannot sell the car or transfer it or dispose of it, or in any way ‘realise’ it i.e. turn it into cash. When and how can a Restraint Order be made? Section 40 of POCA creates a number of circumstances in which the Crown Court may issue a Restraint Order. Usually the Crown will apply for an Order after a suspect has been charged with an offence, but the authorities can seek such an Order even before there is an arrest - as long as an ‘investigation’ has started, s40(2)(a). The Crown has to establish that there is a reasonable cause to believe that the alleged offender has benefited from his criminal conduct (s40(2)(b)). The Crown does not have to convince the Judge that any named property was purchased directly with ill-gotten gains. All they have to do is persuade the Judge, to the civil standard, i.e. on the balance of probabilities, that there is reasonable cause to believe that the suspect has benefited from ‘criminal conduct’ - this ‘criminal conduct’ is widely defined as any conduct which would constitute an offence (s76) and the Crown may rely on hearsay evidence to persuade the Judge. The Crown’s application to the Court is likely to be made ex parte, that is the prosecution seeing the Judge privately in Chambers without notice to the suspect; s42(1)(b). The first a suspect will know about it is when he or she is served with the Order, or even finds that his or her cash-card for some reason no longer works at the bank’s ATM.

Receivers If a suspect’s finances are complex, the Court may appoint a Management Receiver (s48) to receive and manage the property. This will be a sizeable accountancy firm who could have the legal authority to take possession and control of any or all of the suspect’s property and sell any assets. This is a major step which has significant implications for those on the receiving end. Management Receivers do not come cheap. They are officially appointed by the Court but they charge for their services and the first port of call for their fees is the restrained or confiscated assets, see s49(2)(d). One area that is of concern is the Receiver’s costs - which are rarely insignificant. This can lead to a gross injustice where the restrained assets have been used to pay the Management Receiver’s large bills only for the suspect to then go onto trial and be acquitted - in that scenario the innocent suspect may have to bear the cost; see House of Lords ruling in Capewell v Commissioners of Custom & anor [2005] 1 ALL ER 900. That possibility of manifest unfairness should be taken into account at the time the Order is made – or challenged. Defenders can ask for the Court to consider to satisfy itself that the expense of appointing a Management Receiver is proportionate and should remind the Court of the duty of proportionality and the risk of injustice – tailored of course to the individual facts of the case.

Property held jointly Third parties holding an interest in property can be affected by a Restraint Order. The most obvious example is the spouse of someone who is facing criminal charges, for example the wife of someone facing serious fraud charges where the wife has a joint bank account and holds the matrimonial home in joint names. In law, where any person has been, or may be, affected by the actions of a Management Receiver, an application can be made to the Court under s62(3) for directions as to the exercise of the Receiver’s powers. The Receiver potentially has the power to sell property to satisfy his bill even before the matter has come to trial - though such a serious step should not be taken without seeking a direction from the Court first; Re P [2000] 1 WLR, 473. The recent case of Gibson v RCPO [2008] Times Law Reports 14/7/08, is instructive in this scenario. In that case, a Confiscation Order was made against a convicted drug trafficker. The assets identified had been the 50% equity in the matrimonial home and joint bank account, held by the offender’s wife - the home had been purchased in joint names. The Crown Court took the view that the wife must have realised that the mortgage was being paid by the husband’s illgotten gains and was thus an asset which could be sold to satisfy the Confiscation Order. The Court of Appeal took a different view. It found that there was no legal principle under which a spouse could be deprived of the benefit of illegally obtained property on the grounds of public policy. The wife kept her half of the house and bank account. Applying that principle to start of proceedings, i.e. the Restraint Order stage, there is solid argument for limiting the scope of any such Order where there are assets held in joint names with a spouse.

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Living & legal expenses This is another area which often rankles with those on the wrong end of a Restraint Order - the amount allowed by the Order for ordinary living expenses. Variation applications made after the initial ex parte Order will often challenge the amount allowed. What is required is a careful analysis of expenses, together with as much proof as possible - these steps need to be considered at the very earliest opportunity. An exception cannot be made for legal expenses in relation to the actual offence in respect of which the Restraint Order is made (s41(4)(a)). The State therefore must pay for the defence through Legal Aid. Application for variation or discharge Once a suspect has been served with a Restraint Order and he has decided he wants to fight it then the first step must be to sit down with the legal advisors and figure out what the challenges are, how much money is needed for reasonable living expenses, what is said about the charges/ proposed charges, the ‘reasonable belief’ test, and how much of the defence it is tactically wise to give away at that early stage. The Restraint Order will have been made with no opportunity for the suspect to say anything. By s42(3) he has the power to apply to the Court to discharge or vary the Order. The Judge will hear the arguments which may, if appropriate, also include human rights arguments about the proportionality of the Order. Either party (prosecution or defence) may appeal to the Court of Appeal, s43. The Future The Home Office very recently published guidance on how money gathered in from Confiscation Orders is divided up. It is split 3 ways between the Court Service, the prosecution and investigators (i.e. police, customs, SFO, SOCA etc). The split used to be one-third each of 50% of the confiscated assets (i.e. 16.6% each of the total recovered). The shares are now: investigators 18.75%, prosecutors 18.75%; and courts 12.5%. It will therefore be readily understood why we believe that the Crown will now use their confiscation powers (and thus their restraint powers) more and more in the future. Having your assets restrained is a serious step. There is not only the worry of impending or actual criminal charges but a protracted period of time when you are having to battle with the authorities over your own assets. Anyone affected by such a Restraint Order needs to get to grips with their own finances as soon as possible, consider the case against them and the terms of the Order, and develop a strategy with their lawyers as soon as possible.

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. Jonathan Lennon is a Barrister specialising in serious and complex criminal defence cases at 23 Essex Street Chambers in London. He is a contributing author to Covert Human Intelligence Sources (2008 Waterside Press) and has extensive experience in all aspects of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.

36

Legal Q&A

Insidetime December 2008 www.insidetime.org

A PSO 4411 governs Prisoner Communications

Inside Time Legal Forum 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. Replies for the Legal Forum kindly provided by Frank Brazell & Partners; Levys Solicitors; Parlby Calder Solicitors; Stephensons Solicitors LLP; Stevens Solicitors; Henry Hyams Solicitors; Morgans Solicitors; De Maids; Switalskis Solicitors; Hine Associates - see advertisements for full details. Send your legal queries (concise and clearly marked ‘legal’) to our editorial assistant Lucy Forde at Inside Time, PO Box 251, Hedge End, Hampshire SO30 4XJ. For a prompt response, readers are reminded to send their queries on white paper using black ink or typed if possible. Use a first or second class stamp. halfway point how is this fair?

A Your correspondent is understandably annoyed and confused. He has been caught by the fact that when determining the release date for a prisoner repatriated to the UK, the authorities set the date halfway through the balance left to serve. In this case your correspondent was returned to the UK with an outstanding balance of 40 months. His release date would therefore be after he has served 20 months in a UK prison. This would equate to a total period of custody of 4 years and 2 months. It is unclear why this regime is applied to repatriated prisoners but the simple answer to your correspondent’s question is that it is not fair!

From Mr P - HMP The Mount Q I was arrested in 2005 for possession of cannabis in Tokyo, Japan. This led to a sentence of 6 years. After 2 years and 8 months suffering in an extremely harsh regime I applied for repatriation to the UK. This took 4 months to complete. I agreed not to be released before 50% of the sentence was complete and had 4 months spent on remand deducted. However I now discover that I will have to do two-thirds of my sentence before I am eligible for release. When everyone else is being released at the

As far as we can tell, this has been challenged in the courts twice, once in 1996 and once in 1999. Both pre-Human Rights Act; it may be time to revisit this issue. Contact your solicitor.

............................................... From Mr M - HMP Kingston Q

I am querying the Public Protection Order placed upon me and wish to know if it is relevant. I realise the reason for the order but I would like contact with my nieces and nephews and my sister is happy for this. However, the PPO prevents me any contact via visits or correspondence or photos, thus denying any form of relationship. Our mail is censored so anything inappropriate would be intercepted. Should this order prevent me having contact with relations?

Correspondence. It specifies that prisoners can be allowed contact with children (persons aged under 18) provided that the person with parental responsibility for the child does not request that contact not be allowed. Prisoners identified as a risk or potential risk to children are restricted on contacting children in order to safeguard the children. Contact can occur where there is a responsibility toward the child and the PSO actually refers to nieces and nephews as being children with whom contact can be allowed. You should apply to be allowed to correspond with your nieces and nephews in the way that you describe and explain that your sister is agreeable to this. Your sister could also write to the prison to confirm her position. I do not know anything about the offence that you have committed or why your contact with children is restricted, therefore I am unable to assess if the restrictions could be justifiable. If the prison still denies you the correspondence with your nieces and nephews despite the assurance from your sister, you may wish to raise it with your probation officer to see if the objections can be resolved. If you remain unable to correspond with them you can contact a local prison law specialist who will be able to advise you as to any further challenge to the restrictions.

............................................... From Mr J - HMP Usk

Q My licence was revoked and I was subsequently recalled for the second time in January 2007. My Barrister advised that my recall was unlawful, being in breach of two conditions that were improperly added onto the 12 approved licence conditions. The panel at my oral hearing agreed with this and put it in writing, however they refused my release and I quote: “however, it is accepted that the Secretary of State has a residual discretion to recall a prisoner whose behaviour indicates a significant increase in his risk of further offending.” The Home Secretary did not recall me, in fact there was no mention of this in my ‘Reasons for Recall’ or in my dossier. Do you think I may have grounds to file for a possible successful Judicial Review against the Parole Board’s decision?

Nelson Guest & Partners Criminal and Prison Law Specialists

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A You have been recalled on two occasions. The most recent recall followed breaches of licence conditions that were improperly included on your licence. You have challenged the recall by way of an oral hearing. The Parole Board agreed that the conditions were improperly included on your licence but cited the fact that the Secretary of State has a discretion to recall any prisoner whose behaviour indicates a significant increase in his risk of further offending. You ask if you can seek Judicial Review of the Parole Board’s decision. My first concern is the fact that there is a 3 month time limit in applying for Judicial Review and this has expired. You can apply out of time but may fail immediately if the delay is deemed to be unjustified and you are not then allowed to apply out of time. My second concern is that when dealing with a recalled prisoner, the Parole Board do not simply review whether the decision to recall was correct or not. They do not just assess whether or not there was a breach of licence. They also consider risk management issues and decide if risk can be safely managed in the community. In the case of R (on the application of GULLIVER) v PAROLE BOARD [2007] EWCA Civ 1386 the Parole Board found that there had been no breach of licence but that they could not recommend re-release as they did not believe that risk could be safely managed in the community. This case shows that there are two distinct issues for the Parole Board to consider and that the issues are independent of each other. If you challenged the recall successfully you may still fail to show that you should be re-released in the circumstances. You also express concern that you are now serving the one year extended licence and were sentenced under the Criminal Justice Act 1991. Section 37(1A) of the Criminal Justice Act 1991 (as amended by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998) states that where a prisoner is recalled, subsequent release is on licence for the whole of the sentence. This means that your licence and sentence end on the same date. The effect is that when recalled you can be lawfully detained until the very end of your sentence, as release will only occur where the Parole Board find that risk can be safely managed in the community.

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Legal Q&A

Insidetime December 2008 www.insidetime.org

37

BANKS ON SENTENCE Answers provided by Robert Banks, a barrister who writes Banks on Sentence, the book the Judges use for sentencing more than any other. www.banksr.com Q I was sentenced for dangerous driving and was disqualified for 2 years. I am due to be released soon. I heard you can apply to reduce the disqualification. How does it work? A The Magistrates’ Court has the power to remove periods of disqualification. However no application can be made until the disqualified person has served two years of that disqualification so you will not be able to apply. I think the Court would be reluctant to remove the disqualification without a significant period of disqualification being served after release. If an application was made by someone who has served the 2 years I anticipate Magistrates would be influenced with hardship caused to others because of the disqualification and the need for the disqualified person to drive for his employment. The Court is obliged to have regard to “the nature of the offence and character of the person disqualified and his conduct subsequent to the order.” Q

I was convicted of causing death when driving dangerously. I killed three people when racing. My barrister says I will receive more prison than if I killed one person. It was only luck 3 people were killed. Is my barrister right and why should my sentence be determined by what I think was my bad luck?

A Your barrister is right. Causing multiple deaths is an aggravating feature which

will increase your sentence. I expect your judge will consider you knew you were driving dangerously and knew the risks involved and as you caused 3 deaths you must accept the consequences of your actions whether you wished them or not. I should work hard to ensure the court knows the good side of you.

Q

I pleaded guilty to 8 charges of handling and not guilty to two charges. The two not guilties were dropped. The goods were cars. The prosecution gave the value of the cars as £375,000. In fact that included £63,000 for the 2 charges dropped. In May 2008 I was sentenced to 3½ years. Can I get a reduction in my sentence? Is it too late to do anything about it? What should I do?

A Your barrister should have corrected the value figure. Answer 1. The issue is not whether there was a mistake but whether the sentence was manifestly excessive. I know very little about the facts but if you were the main man I would not expect your sentence to be manifestly excessive. Answer 2. It is possible to apply for leave to appeal after the time limit has expired but it becomes more difficult. My experience is that the key factors are the strength of your appeal and the reason(s) for the delay. Answer 3. I suggest you ask for a written advice on sentence from your barrister. S/he is under a duty to provide one. You should then know exactly what your situation is.

OLLIERS S O LI C ITO R S

Q I pleaded guilty to ABH at the first available opportunity. I was sent to the Crown Court. There I pleaded to another ABH. I was told I had 7 specified offences including these two. I was sentenced to 5 years extended sentence made up of 2½ years custody and 2½ years extended licence. As the maximum for ABH is 5 years, and I pleaded, should I not have my third off for my plea? A You are entitled to a discount for your

pleas. If there were both at the first opportunity then the discount would normally be one third. The Court of Appeal has repeatedly said they are concerned with the overall sentence. I don’t know how the two sentences were made up. The judge can pass a “global” sentence. This is the figure s/he thinks is appropriate for two or more offences which is then made

the sentence for the most serious offence. Lesser concurrent sentences are then passed for the other offences. If your sentence was a global sentence then you would need to look at the appropriate sentence for each of the two offences. Suppose after considering the pleas one was worth 2 years and the other was worth 12 months. The Court of Appeal would consider 2½ years custody for both was appropriate because you had a slight reduction for having two offences dealt with at the same time. They would also consider you have received your discount for the plea. I don’t know what your background is but a 2½ year extension does not sound excessive if you have 5 earlier specified offences on your record. However the age, background and penalty imposed on the earlier matters would affect that issue.

There have been a number of enquiries about how prisoners can buy the book. If a friend visits the website or rings 01435 883838 and buys the book, Banks on Sentence will ensure it is delivered to the prison. Please make sure questions relate to sentences and not conviction or release. Unless you say you don’t want your question and answer published it will be assumed you don’t have an objection to publication. No-one will have their identity revealed. Facts which indicate who you are will not be printed. It is usually not possible to determine whether a particular defendant has grounds of appeal without seeing all the paperwork. Going through all the paperwork is normally not an option. The column is designed for simple questions and answers. Please address your questions to Michaela Hoggarth, Frank Brazell & Partners, 97 White Lion St., London N1 9PL (and mark the letter for Robert Banks).

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38

Book Reviews

Dear Fatty by Dawn French Jane Andrews recommends a great read from one of Britain’s best loved comediennes ‘Dear Inside Time reader ... Happy Christmas ... another year past ... another year closer ...’ Well, I really couldn't resist copying (which of course is the biggest form of flattery) as long as it isn't in the form of plagiarism in the literary sense, of borrowing the way that Dawn French has written this amazing book. So why not put this on your list of books to read before the end of the year, because I can guarantee it will bring the odd wry smile to even the most ardent 'Bah Humbugs' out there! The book is full of ‘quaint’ and not so quaint anecdotes; one being about her 'Evil Granny Lil’, who nearly swindled her own granddaughter out of £100 from the sale of a pearl necklace. You really have to read it to believe it! Dawn's description of 'Lil' sums her up in a few words ... ‘Lil loved to have a good time. A drink, a song, some darts and a fight would be the perfect evening for her’. Dawn and her older brother Gary grew up in the life of the RAF and spent many of their early years changing schools on such a regular basis she found it difficult to make true friends and thought nothing of bribing new chums with toys, and as she herself said: 'this was an extremely risky strategy and you stood to suffer a high incidence of collateral damage, sometimes losing four or more well-loved Cindys (dolls in the 70's for those of you too young to remember!) or even a pair of champion skates... '

Dawn went on to specialise in some unorthodox pastimes, one being a kissing inspector. 'I fancy I can judge a contender from a simple observation ... duty bound to forage out an elite crack team of lip meisters ...and so one 'letter' is dedicated to listing some of her... ’memorable liptastic moments... 'and to name but a few... 'Boyzone - enjoyable, varied’, ‘Jonathan Ross - for a joke, never again', 'a cat’s posterior - less enjoyable, but better than Jonathan Ross'. Sorry, I couldn't resist putting in that one in light of recent events! And her lifetime ambition is to have her final breath on someone else's lips; let's hope it's her husband, comedian Lenny Henry, whom she states is 'really good' at kissing. Luckily, but sadly at the same time, there has only been one 'kiss and tell' story about Dawn over the years and that was in the form of her first love, who got sucked into the clutches of the media: ‘I have endeavoured to advise people of the depths to which desperate journos of a particular ilk are prepared to plummet’. Sadly, this intrusion came a few years later in the guise of her husband's infidelity. But remarkably in one letter to 'Dear Len' she fills nearly 13 sides saying 'Thank You' to him (and what left a mark on me) …’for all of the poetry, the letters and the cards. You haven't let a month of our marriage go by without reminding me of something meaningful ... for loving me so well, and for being an all-round, tip-topmost chap’. ‘Dear Reader,' I could write on but there is too little space to fill such words to describe this great read. So, as it is Christmas, I should recommend one of Dawn's favourite pastimes '... I am extremely fortunate because I have such an active metabolism that I can scoff tons of chocolate and it doesn't seem to show on me at all...!

Insidetime December 2008 www.insidetime.org

Yoga Without Words by Sandy Chubb with illustrations by Korky Paul David Emsley at HMP Leeds reviews this colourful, pictorial story of how to rise above the misery of prison life by concentrating on the breath and using it with yoga postures. can’t read or speak English. In my opinion this book will also help those who have reading difficulties. The illustrations are clear, colourful and easy to understand, so it’s a great book for beginners, and my advice to anyone interested in the teachings of yoga practice is write to the PPT and ask for this book.

As I have a cell all to myself, I do yoga every day (loose clothing and barefooted all the time) for at least 30 minutes and some days for an hour. Yoga is the performance of various postures, which are also called asanas, and this is also done with breathing exercises called pranayama. I’ve learned that no matter what posture, position, or asana (whatever you prefer to call it) you’re in, always think of making your spine longer. Think of bringing length and flexibility to the whole back. I’ve already discovered it is the secret to getting in the most advanced asanas and maintaining them.

Happy reading! Dear Fatty by Dawn French is available in all good bookshops Jane Andrews is currently resident at HMP Send

Yoga Without Words has been produced to help and encourage people who are unable to read, and it will also be very helpful for those who

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The book has a section on meditation, which works with silence and breath. Yoga can relax and calm you at a deeper level if practiced daily for at least one month, 30 minutes every day. I’m in prison for criminal damage, affray and common assaults, so you could say I’ve a problem with my anger. I also have problems with depression, anxiety and paranoia. But I think the yoga eases it a lot, it helps anyway. And it certainly gives me an energy boost. Although yoga is not a cure for your problems in life, it can present a method for coping with them.

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The Prison Phoenix Trust has a team of people you can write to for support. My spiritual penpal has encouraged me a lot, so thanks Ava for being so helpful and kind-hearted towards me. So, if any of you know of anyone who would like to learn yoga (it might be you). Write to: The Prison Phoenix Trust, PO Box 328, Oxford OX2 7HF. Request a free copy of Yoga Without Words and breathe deeply, friends!

Book Reviews

Insidetime December 2008 www.insidetime.org

Ronnie Biggs: The Inside Story by Mike Gray and Tel Currie

THIRD SECTOR AWARD Small Charity, Big Achiever

Written by two of Ronnie Biggs’s closest friends and most ardent supporters, the book delivers exactly what it says on the label; giving a very personal, unique and yet disturbing insight into the mind and subsequent treatment by the judicial and penal system of the man who became a legendary household name for his role in one of Britain’s most notorious crimes, the Great Train Robbery of 1963, and his subsequent life on the run upon his escape from Wandsworth prison in 1965. Raising pointed questions and dispelling many myths, it is the story of a carpenter who played a bit part in an unarmed robbery 45 years ago, who has remained incarcerated since his return to the UK in 2001 despite the fact that he is now a frail, wheelchair-bound 79-year-old grandfather who is no threat whatsoever to society; is fed through a tube to his stomach; and can only communicate by pointing to letters on a laminated sheet. One thing’s for sure, although Ronnie Biggs’s body is letting him down after a series of strokes and other illnesses, his legal team, campaign supporters, underworld friends and devoted family certainly aren’t, and neither is his own fighting spirit. All he wants now is to be able to die a free man, rather than suffer a ‘slow crucifixion on the Home Office cross’.

EXCLUSIVE - AVAILABLE NOW Ronnie Biggs: The Inside Story by Mike Gray and Tel Currie will be published in February 2009 price £9.99 but advance hardback copies are available now exclusively to Inside Time readers in UK prisons at the reduced price of £7.50 including p&p. Postal orders and cheques payable to ‘Inside Time’ (Book Offer) PO Box 251, Hedge End, Hampshire SO30 4XJ.

J BON Solicitors We are Experts in the following: Criminal Court Proceedings including Defence and Appeals Licence Recalls

39

New definitions...

ADULT: A person who has stopped growing at both ends and is now growing in the middle. BEAUTY PARLOR: A place where women curl up and dye. CANNIBAL: Someone who is fed up with people. CHICKENS: The only animals you eat before they are born and after they are dead. COMMITTEE: A body that keeps minutes and wastes hours. DUST: Mud with the juice squeezed out. EGOTIST: Someone who is usually me-deep in conversation.

Storybook Dads Every year, about 150,000 children are affected by the imprisonment of a parent. It can be a traumatic experience for many of these children, often to the detriment of their behaviour, mental health or education. On top of this, many parents are jailed far from home, making it hard for them to keep in contact with their families. Storybook Dads was formed in 2003 to help these parents maintain family ties. Despite its limited income - £120,000 in the year to June 2008 - the charity has come a long way since it began work in Dartmoor Prison, the imposing Victorian jail on the bleak hills of the Devonian moors. The charity now helps prisoners in 55 jails across England and Wales to record CDs of themselves reading bedtime stories for their children and has trained staff in seven prisons to set up audio-editing suites. The charity produced more than 4,000 CDs in the year to June 2008, which were sent to an estimated 12,000 children. The production of the recordings also gives prisoners the opportunity to learn audioediting skills and improve their self-esteem.

The name of the charity suggests it works only with male prisoners, but it has also started working with female inmates. In summer 2007, Storybook Dads also began a DVD project for prisoners: they are filmed reading stories so their children can see as well as hear them.

GOSSIP: A person who will never tell a lie if the truth will do more damage. HANDKERCHIEF: Cold Storage. INFLATION: Cutting money in half without damaging the paper. MYTH: A female moth.

Storybook Dads: helps prisoners to stay in touch with their children; chief executive Sharon Berry (second from right) and project supervisor Terri Bailey (second from left) accept the award from Third Sector associate publisher Beth Pedersen (left). Awards host Paul Ross is on the right

The charity has also started to reach beyond work with prisoners. It is now also training armed forces personnel so that servicemen and women overseas can record bedtime stories for their children. Under an agreement with the RAF Association, the charity's Dartmoor Prison team is also editing recordings of bedtime stories read by RAF personnel in Afghanistan - a job the RAF Association will eventually take on itself. And it's not only Third Sector that has been impressed with the achievements of Storybook Dads. Prime Minister Gordon Brown featured the charity in his book Britain's Everyday Heroes, which profiles the work of individuals whose commitment to good causes have inspired him. The Third Sector Excellence Awards are intended to recognise and celebrate work done by charities.

MOSQUITO: An insect that makes you like flies better. RAISIN: Grape with a sunburn. SECRET: Something you tell to one person at a time. SKELETON: A bunch of bones with the person scraped off. TOOTHACHE: The pain that drives you to extraction. TOMORROW: One of the greatest labour saving devices of today. YAWN: An honest opinion openly expressed.

The A-Word The new Arts Magazine (pictured), edited by Charlie Ryder at the Anne Peaker Centre. Prisoners should look out for it in the library. A new magazine, The A-Word is created for offenders and ex offenders with an interest in the Arts. The first edition is themed around 'Forgiveness'. Full of inspiring poems, stories and pictures, the magazine is currently being made available in prison libraries and writing groups. The next theme for the magazine is the art of hope. Anne Peaker Centre, Neville House, 90-91 Northgate, Canterbury, Kent CT1 1BA. Tel: 01227 470 629

Human Rights Judicial Reviews Categorisation Reviews

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40

Inside Poetry

If you would like to contribute to the Poetry section, please send your poems to ‘Poetry’, Inside Time, PO Box 251, Hedge End, Hampshire SO30 4XJ.

STAR POEM OF THE MONTH Congratulations to Mr Curtis - HMP Wandsworth - who wins our £25 prize for ‘Star Poem of the Month'.

Understanding my cell mate

When will I be free?

Steve McCarthy - HMP Lewes

Luke Harrison - HMP Risley

One minute life can feel so sweet Till that day comes when you’re blown off your feet

When will I be free? Slave to the system, which I’m conditioned to believe in Brought up in a dogmatic religion, where I’m born into Education! Education! Succeed or fail Have a job and go to work or commit crime and go to jail

Taken away from everything and out of society You soon realise you’re no longer a priority

I think about my release date, I can’t wait to be free Free to be with my family, so happy and glad Free to be a man, free to be a Dad Free to prepare and eat my own food Free from the prison regime, free from the screws Free to live life but am I really free Do I live life or life live me

When the sun rises and we get out of bed We get mentally prepared for the day ahead Looking out the window at the fields in the distance Then there’s the bars causing this resistance There’s no point having a moan Like it or not, this is our new home No matter how loud we roar No one can hear, once we’re behind this metal door

Redhead

No one can understand our pain Sat in this concrete box, with only our thoughts on our brain

Mr Curtis - HMP Wandsworth If only I could remember your number I’d give you a call.

But I’ve met a new friend, he’s a lot like me Every time I look in the mirror, he’s all I can see

I know it starts off 075 But I can’t remember the rest at all.

Me and him get on really well We have to, we share a cell

Just to see you, smell you, kiss your lips.

99% of the time he’s such a nice bloke We sit here together and have a laugh and a joke

I remember the last time I saw you. The last time we were together and you Left, swinging your hips. Your natural red hair blowing in the breeze, A voice in the back of my mind said you’re such a tease. It’s one of the attractions, the reason I gave you my number. That day we met, that day I can’t forget. I guess you’re pissed off With me, thinking I’m blanking your calls.

Insidetime December 2008 www.insidetime.org

I get out of prison but I’m still not free What we call a free society isn’t really free to me I have to get up every day to report to work and I can’t be late I do what my boss tells me to do, this job I really hate If I rebel then I get the sack I don’t get paid so I can’t afford food or the rent for my flat It’s not only me, I have a family to support! If I don’t serve the system, my family is no more I’m looked at as a failure, no job, no car, no money Free society is a joke but I’m not finding it funny So I’m back where I started When will I be free? I serve the system; the system doesn’t serve me.

Then there’s the 1% when he flips his lid I can see it in his eyes, he’s just a scared kid BANG, he’s gone, turned into that nasty geezer I look at him and say, mate I don’t wanna be anywhere near ya I stare him in the eye He stares straight back and starts to cry I feel his pain, I know what he’s going through I give him a hug, tell him I’m here for you

If only you knew, no not at all. How much I miss you now. See I’ve got that earring you’ve been asking for. I found it back at mine, when I was cleaning the floor. I swear when I get out of here I will return your earring, no worries dear. I’ll even buy you new ones, yes a new pair, when I get out of here. You probably threw the other in the bin.

I’ve been there for him when he’s feeling down He’s helped me get my feet back on the ground Even though he’s entertaining and amusing It sometimes feels a little confusing

Da concrete man

Hold on a minute, I know this guy Oh yer, it’s me, myself and I

S Crewe - HMP Lincoln

If I’m lucky I’ll turn that earring into a big diamond ring So do not forget me or cast me aside.

I now know without a doubt I know myself inside out

Keep dreaming redhead ... keep the dream alive.

23 hours a day in the company of yourself Makes me wonder if it’s good for your health.

Did you hear about the man who grew from concrete Proving nature’s laws wrong. The man truly DID, he grew from nothing Funny it may seem. But by keeping its dreams He learned to breathe fresh air. Free at last, long live the man that grew from concrete.

Denton Solicitors Commissioners for Oaths

Did you suffer physical, sexual or emotional abuse as a child?

LEGAL AID FRANCHISE FOR CRIME WE ARE SPECIALISTS IN:

WBW Solicitors can help you claim compensation for your lost childhood. For sympathetic, straight-forward, confidential advice, contact

Applications to the Criminal Cases Prison Law and Representation Review Commission Magistrates Court Representation Judicial Reviews and Human Rights Crown Court Representation Prisoner’s Rights Court of Appeal Cases Immigration Cases and Appeals CRIMINAL DEFENCE SERVICES

Contact: Mr Denton or Seama Denton Solicitors 113 George Lane, South Woodford, London E18 1AB

020 8989 7477 (24hrs 07888 745 077)

[email protected] www.dentonsolicitors.co.uk Languages spoken include Punjabi, Hindi, Amharic, Nigerian languages plus Swedish and Danish

Penny Ayles Member of the Association of Child Abuse Lawyers

01392 202404

Had an accident or suffered an injury in prison?

County Chambers, 75 Queen Street, Exeter, Devon EX4 3RX

Martin White Personal Injury Specialist www.wbwpersonalinjury.co.uk

APPROACHABLE UNDERSTANDABLE ACCESSIBLE

Insidetime December 2008 www.insidetime.org

Prison. Rehabilitation? SH - HMP Downview All hope disappeared when I walked down those steps With life slowly seeping out of me Just a shadowless ghost A faceless picture Led to a place Where my footsteps no longer leave prints in the snow Where water never splashes No matter how hard I fall Eyes just see through me A big black hole Evicted from normality Starving for affection Pushed further from reality Where eyes show no love And love is just a word My forgotten existence Just a fictional character Lost in a story Memories of the past only a dream A fairytale never to be seen A whole life judged on mistakes Being suffocated by loneliness With no air left to breathe My vision blurred by darkness Shrinking from confinement Weighed down by loss Meaningless time where clocks have no numbers Voices without ears to listen A place where rainfall never touches your skin A colourless sky Where no birds sing A place where the grass isn’t green And the sun never shines Where most are numbed with guilt Surrounded by stone walls Echoing its own sadness Rehabilitation? This is a poem of how prison has made me feel. It is about what prison has taken from me as a person and that I no longer feel there is a place for me, inside or outside of here.

If you would like to contribute to the Poetry section, please send your poems to ‘Poetry’, Inside Time, PO Box 251, Hedge End, Hampshire SO30 4XJ.

Mr Holland - HMP Manchester You’re so sweet You’re so tasty You’re so hot I love to hold you as I chill I love to share you with my friends I love to wake and see you by my bed Times I hate you, as you’re too hot to handle Yet you soon turn cold Times I’ve seen you wetting other’s lips Times you’re used for a quick dip Wanted on each break, I take Wanted all around the world Wanted not just by boys, but also girls People think you’re a bit of a drip People think you’re just a square People know how to make you weak But with me you’re strong Let me quote these words said of you … I could kill for you. I would die for you

Gerald R Smith - HMP Birmingham

The Shadow of Fear

Christmas getting close Kids are all excited Counting down the hours Myself I’m not invited

Tommy Dooley

I’m sitting in a prison Feeling sorry for myself No tree no decorations And no stocking on the shelf No searching in the shops For the perfect little gift The one you know will do the trick Give the saddest heart a lift No mistletoe no kisses Just a room without a view No happy children’s faces As their presents they undo No family at the table With crackers there to pull Paper hats and toys Eating turkey till they’re full Still the tables set at our house As the kids they sit and wait For Grandad and his carving knife I’m afraid I will be late In fact I wont be coming Though I send my heartfelt wishes For a very merry Christmas To you all with love and kisses

Through new eyes! Gary Wilkinson - HMP Elmley

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' PO Box 251 Hedge End Hampshire SO30 4XJ.

41

Lonely Noel

Hot stuff

TEA I LOVE IT!

Inside Poetry

I used to be completely cruel, a heartless arse, Using people and girls and then tossing them aside. I used to feel an angry, bitter, hunger, Not knowing why, I’d just tell lies. I used to think the goal of life was pleasure my own course No matter, whatever. I hunted for my lonely ecstasy and Even when I wanted to be in company The only one I cared about was me! A woman’s feelings had to be her own problem, her mistake. We make our own world and mine was full Of other fools to be used, Or girls to be screwed. I’d take my pleasure they’d take theirs But never unified, Just something to pass the time. And then I fell in love with you, And somehow your happiness meant more to me than mine, All this time I’d been drinking wine, Acting like a swine Now I’m with you and looking through different eyes, And I can’t help but realise, I wanna keep you so there’ll be no more lies.

Don’t make me go on association Leave me safe behind my door Keep me away from the other lads I can’t take the pain no more This prison inside a prison Will be the end of me The sly digs and mental stress That no one else can see Every night I go to sleep The end of another day I dream they will see me differently And begin to keep away

Everybody is the same Daniel Jones Bullying, it’s a way of life for some But we all know that they’re scum They think it’s good they think its fun They don’t realise until the damage is done Some poor dad or mum of a son They feel the effect after it’s done Think again bullies, it aint no fun Punching, teasing, calling their mum It doesn’t matter if you’re fat or thin Or got a mole on your chin Take a step back and look within Everybody is the same It’s only you bullies, you’re the ones to blame When an innocent kid has gone insane. Two poems from HMP Hindley to mark the Anti-Bullying Week (November 17-21)

AA LAW

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Contact John Townsend 60 Green Lanes LONDON N16 9NH

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42

Insidetime December 2008 www.insidetime.org

Jailbreak

Identify the following pop groups or artists from these anagrams and picture clues:

?

1. SLOW ALIENE 2. SLING NOOKEF 3. TAHAKETT

COUN

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Gema Music Quiz

TRY POP

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CAPTION C OMPETITION And all on my Daddy’s Airmiles!

Music & Computer Games

Richard Garriott, a British -born tycoon, has made history by becoming the first offspring of a Nasa astronaut to go into space. Garriott actually paid the Russian space agency $30 million for his trip and is only the second person to wear the Union flag in space.

Gema, sponsors of Jailbreak, Suppliers of Music CD’s and Computer Games, both new & pre-owned. Catalogues cost £2 (postal order payable to ‘Gema’) but this is r e f u n d e d w i t h f i r s t o r d e r.

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APOLOGIES FOR THE ERROR IN LAST MONTH’S QUESTION 6 ROBBIE WILLIAMS. ANSWERS TO THIS QUESTION WERE IGNORED IN THE SELECTION OF OUR WINNERS

See below for details of how to enter. The first three names to be drawn with all correct answers (or nearest) will each receive a £15 Gema Record Voucher and a free catalogue. The answers to last month’s quiz are on the back page

Prize Quiz winners: Joyce Pierson HMP Send John Diamond HMP Barlinnie Jamie Netherton HMYOI Northallerton

GEMA MUSIC QUIZ WINNERSr + UCHER £15 VO logue ta free ca

Jon Scragg HMP Altcourse

£5 Consolation prize WINNERS

Peter Johnson HMP Wealstun

Roslyn Dainty HMP Low Newton

Matthew Back HMP Maidstone

Adrian Barud HMP Wandsworth

CAPTION COMPETITION WINNER

Geoff Duke HMP Haverigg

ANOTHER £25 PRIZE IS ON OFFER FOR THE BEST CAPTION TO THIS MONTH’S PICTURE. What do you think is being thought or said here?

Well done to Geoff your £25 prize is in the post. A very brave Lorna Smith bungee jumps from a 160’ high platform to raise funds for PrisonchatUK. Lorna, whose partner is in prison, founded PrisonchatUK the online chatroom facility in 2005. Her team of volunteers in similar situations offer advice and vital support to others who have a loved one in prison. www.prisonchatuk.com

Inside K nowledge The p rize q uiz w here w e g ive y ou t he Q uestions a nd t he A nswers ! A ll t he a nswers a re w ithin this issue o f I nside T ime - a ll y ou h ave t o d o i s f ind t hem ! ! 1. Who needs a wig and Zimmer frame?

10. Ian Blair paid tribute to Frank Longford for what?

2. When does Geoff Carter expect an answer to his application?

11. What are papers like the Daily Mail, Sun, Times and News of the World trying to destroy?

? ? ? ?

? ?

?

3. Whose glass is half full?

12. Who thought prisons were 'wonderful' and all staff 'angels'?

4. Who cannot be ordered to work and would not face disciplinary action if they refused?

13. What did Sir Alexander Patterson once write?

5. As from April 2009, the Ministry of Justice is to introduce what for a trial period? 6. Who is 'content to reverse my decision'?

7. Where did Mamady Sidibe present trophies?

8. How many people were curfewed in England & Wales in 2007/08? 9. Up to four children die each week in England from what?

14. Who advised John Hirst to buy a £1 deal of cannabis for depression? 15. Whose unorthodox pastimes included being a 'kissing inspector'?

Answers to Last Month’s Inside Knowledge Prize Quiz 1. £185,780 2. Gerard McGrath 3. Tony Lee 4. Inspector of Prisons

5. Nigel Foyle 6. 16 7. Stephen Shaw 8. Homosexuality

9. Fang, Gnasher & Chunky 13. Mental health in-reach 10. Ben Gunn 14. Scott Lomax 11. Michael O'Brien 15. Lorraine Manzi 12. Baz

TO ENTER ANY OF THE ABOVE PRIZE COMPETITIONS PLEASE DO NOT CUT OUT ANY OF THESE PANELS. JUST SEND YOUR ENTRY TO ONE OR ALL OF THESE COMPETITIONS ON A SEPARATE SHEET OF PAPER. MAKE SURE YOUR NAME, NUMBER AND PRISON IS ON ALL SHEETS. POST YOUR ENTRY TO: INSIDE TIME P O BOX 251 HEDGE END HAMPSHIRE SO30 4XJ.

£

£

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CLOSING DATE FOR . ALL IS 20/12/2008

YOU CAN USE ONE ENVELOPE TO ENTER MORE THAN ONE COMPETITION JUST MARK IT ‘JAILBREAK’. A 1st OR 2nd CLASS STAMP IS REQUIRED ON YOUR ENVELOPE.

EP D

CRIMINAL DEFENCE & PRISON LAW SPECIALISTS

ERICA PEAT & DIABLE N AT I O N W I D E A D V I C E & R E P R E S E N TAT I O N O N SOLICITORS A L L A S P E C T S O F P R I S O N L AW I N C L U D I N G : For a fast, experienced and professional service ‡ Adjudications ‡ Judicial Review ‡ Categorisation ‡ Parole Review ‡ Licence Recalls ‡ Tarrif/Minimum Term Reviews please contact: ‡ Criminal Appeals & CCRC Cases ‡ HDC Applications

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ANIMAL WORLD WORDSEARCH

TWENTY QUESTIONS ABOUT CHRISTMAS 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.

43

Jailbreak

Insidetime December 2008 www.insidetime.org

T A N F S A Z V D N U L I Z A R D S G J

Santa Claus is sometimes known as which saint?

? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

What date is the feast of St Stephen (according to the western calendar)?

In which country do children place clogs by the fire instead of stockings? What gifts did the Wise Men take to Jesus? Does Myrrh come from plants or minerals?

Which Top Gear celebrity turned on the Christmas lights in Blackpool this year? Who always has a show on Christmas Day TV & Radio?

Which country gives a Christmas Tree every year for Trafalgar Square? What date is the Winter Solstice?

Which Royal Consort is credited with introducing the Christmas tree to this country? Which Christmas tradition started in this country in 1840?

What day should the decorations be taken down?

Which country has the Oplatki wafer as part of their Christmas tradition?

S T E R R E F U R N G I R A F F E E F F

E U K H E F C O F E S E K A N S E L R D

E R C G I K C C R H P E R N I P H I T C

What did my true love give to me on the fifth day of Christmas?

B K I S S I T B A G I V A O S I O D Y V

E E H S N O I R R T D T T I G D R O O B

D Y C U P L K A S X Z R S L U E S C L N

L T D P S S O R E C O N I H R R E O F M

I V I B A D G E R T U J N K K S M R S O

W H A L E S F D O L P H I N S T A C A L

H S U M A T O P O P P I H E H H B N C R

R P S X X S R F S A Y H A T E E H C V R

F A U Z H A M S T E R G A N E Y H O G D

R R M E B E S S A S L D L S P E T W T D

O R K B L F W G E E S E D H E K I S H F

G O I R T S S D R I B W K J W N G M F V

S T N A H P E L E Y S D R A P O E L H C

S G O D E K A E H O L L I D A M R A H O

T L H B V F D S C V B N M L O P O L K I

A J N B G F D R O K Y G F R S D E V C X

FIND THE HIDDEN ANIMALS ARMADILLO - BADGER -BIRDS - CATS - CHEETAH - CHICKEN - CROCODILES - DOGS DOLPHINS - DUCKS - EAGLE - ELEPHANTS - FERRETS - FISH - FROGS - GEESE - GIRAFFE HAMSTER - HIPPOPOTAMUS - HORSE - HYENA - LEOPARD - LION - LIZARDS - MONKEY PARROT - RABBITS - RATS - RHINOCEROS - SHARKS - SHEEP - SNAKES - SPIDERS - TIGER - TORTOISES - TURKEY - WHALES - WILDEBEEST - ZEBRA

Who sang the original version of White Christmas?

In which country would you say E ku odun, e hu iye' dun! (Merry Christmas)? St Nicholas is the patron saint of sailors in which Country?

Plus find the Mythical word hidden! The person who sent this in didn’t even tell us what it is . If he does we will print it in the next issue. CHECK FORWARD, BACKWARD AND DIAGONALLY, THEY ARE ALL THERE! £5 is on its way to John Stubbs - HMP Bedford for compiling this wordsearch for us. IF YOU FANCY COMPILING ONE FOR US PLEASE JUST SEND IT IN MAX 20 X 20 GRID & COMPLETE WITH ANSWERS SHOWN ON GRID IF WE USE IT WE WILL SEND YOU £5 AS A THANK YOU!

Which plant, revered by Druids adds a little romance to Christmas? Which reindeer has a red nose?

Which British knight of the theatre played Kris Kringle in the 1994 version of Miracle on 34th Street?

ANSWERS CAN BE FOUND ON THE BACK PAGE PAGE

MW HMP DOVEGATE

MICHAEL PURDON We can look again

Solicitor Ward's Building, 31-39, High Bridge, Newcastle-upon-Tyne NE1 1EW

Tel: 0191 2321006 Fax: 0191 2320445

The Criminal Cases Review Commission is the independent public body which investigates possible miscarriages of justice in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. For an information pack and application form, please phone us on 0121 633 1800 or write to Criminal Cases Review Commission, Alpha Tower, Suffolk Street Queensway, Birmingham B1 1TT. www.ccrc.gov.uk

Irrespective of where you are in your life sentence you will experience delay in your progression. We can help. We advise on sentence planning, risk assessment and career progression of life sentence prisoners. We also specialise in mandatory lifer panels, discretionary lifer panels, IPP cases, recalls, CCRC applications and judicial reviews.

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3. A cut above the rest 4. Runs in the blood 5. A little white lie 6. Put out to pasture 7. Free for all 8. Pain in the neck 9. A little goes a long way 10. Female intuition 11. Doubled up with pain 12. It breaks the monotony 13. Life has its ups and downs 14.I give up 15.Turn the tables 16.One thing after another 17.Up in the air 18. It’s all the same to me 19. Set your teeth on edge 20. Backwards and Forwards

Insidetime December 2008 www.insidetime.org

Jailbreak

Catchphrase answers...Catchphrase answers...Catchphrase answers... Catchphrase answers... 1.The Three Musketeers 2.Jumping to conclusions

44

> NEXT ISSUE Week commencing 29th December 2008

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646-648 High RoadLeytonstone, Leytonstone, London, E11E11 3AA 3AA 646-648 High Road London, This Firm is aThis Member THE SPECIALIST FRAUD PANEL Firm is aofMember of THE SPECIALIST FRAUD PANEL Regulated by the Solicitors Regulatory Regulated by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority Authority

1. Sir Paul McCartney 2. Britney Spears 3. Brian Wilson 4. Peter Andre 5. Aerosmith

6. Robbie Williams*** 7. The Beatles 8. The Four Seasons 9. Supremes 10. The Rolling Stones

11. Sending Christmas cards 1. Saint Nicholas 12. Twelfth Night (Jan 6th) 2. 26th December 13. Poland 3. Holland 4. Gold, Frankincense & Myrrh 14. Five Gold rings 15. Bing Crosby 5. Plants (small tree) 16. Nigeria 6. The Stig 17. Greece 7. The Queen 18. Mistletoe 8. Norway 19. Rudolph 9. 21st December 20. Richard Attenborough 10. Prince Albert