the National Newspaper for Prisoners & Detainees a voice for prisoners 1990 - 2015 A ‘not for profit’ publication / ISSN 1743-7342 / Issue No. 198 / December 2015 / www.insidetime.org An average of 60,000 copies distributed monthly Independently verified by the Audit Bureau of Circulations
20 Mr Cameron, there ought to be more old lags in Whitehall Plans to revolutionise jails so prisoners leave rehabilitated and ready for work by Jonathan Aitken
25 Formal complaints the prisoners’ prerogative
35 In Prison
How to make a formal complaint the right way by Paul Sullivan
The politics of the IPP sentence by Geir Madland
Permanently
Seasons greetings to all our readers
POA Gives NOMS 28 DAYS to put its House in Order Eric McGraw
TEN MOST OVERCROWDED PRISONS at the end of October 2015
The letter, dated November 11, 2015, states that the prison service does not have enough staff to operate safely. This, says the POA, has been caused by a ‘disastrously miscalculated’ redundancy plan devised by the Government which has reduced the number of staff on the ‘mistaken assumption’ that prison numbers would fall: in fact, as everyone knows, they have risen. Glyn Travis, POA Press Officer, told Inside Time that, based on the number of prison places, there had been found to be a shortfall of 2,800 prison officers - only eighteen months after some 2,000 officers had been offered redundancy! Overcrowding has resulted in most prisons exceeding the number of prisoners specified in
cm
NJ GD>DOJMN
Prison
Designed to hold
Kennet Leeds Wandsworth Swansea Exeter Durham Leicester Preston Brixton Lincoln
175 669 943 271 318 595 214 455 528 403
Actually holds 317 1,166 1,577 442 511 928 331 695 802 611
their ‘Certified Normal Accommodation’ by upwards of 30 per cent., and in some cases by a factor of almost 100 per cent.. In its attempt to fill the ‘yawning gap in staffing levels’, the POA says that prison management is resorting to the imposition of excessive overtime, leading to officers working continuous shifts of as much as thirty-six hours. There is also the practice of ‘Detached Duty’, whereby prison officers are sent to other establishments, away from their families, to work in unfamiliar environments, and entailing additional stress and risk.
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Comedian, actor, author and television presenter Michal Palin CBE delivering the 14th Longford Lecture in London on November 17, 2015. An extract of his lecture, ‘Collateral damage: The effects of prison sentences on offenders’ families’ is on pages 18-19. © David Sandison
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n a letter to Michael Spurr, Chief Executive of the National Offender Management Service (NOMS), the Prison Officers’ Association (POA) has issued a 28-day notice requiring NOMS ‘to address a number of unlawful and widespread practices which exacerbate the parlous health and safety situation’ in prisons in England and Wales. Failure to do so, they warn, will lead to ‘appropriate legal action’.
Mailbag
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‘Best of luck Mr Gove’
the national newspaper for prisoners published by Inside Time Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of The New Bridge Foundation, founded in 1956 to create links between the offender and the community.
Oh, Mr Gove, what a beautiful, encouraging, idealistic speech you gave regarding prison and prison reform at the Conservative Party Conference on the 5th of October. I would love to be able to have the chance to ‘change my life for the better’, to ‘provide for my family and give back to the community’. I would love for prison to encourage me, teach me new skills and help build or maintain relationships with family, friends and prospective employers on the outside. I welcome a system that allows me to serve my time and come out as an improved, rehabilitated and useful individual. To be able to find employment in a sector suited to my skills, interests and abilities. To be respected and forgiven by society.
a voice for prisoners 1990 - 2015
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Trevor Grove - Former Editor Sunday Telegraph, Journalist and Writer Geoff Hughes - Former Governor, Belmarsh prison. Eric McGraw - Former Director, New Bridge (1986-2002) and founder of Inside Time in 1990. John D Roberts - Former Company Chairman and Managing Director employing ex-offenders. Louise Shorter - Former producer, BBC Rough Justice programme. Alistair H. E. Smith B.Sc F.C.A. - Chartered Accountant, Trustee and Treasurer, New Bridge © © a a Foundation. not not profit profit
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....................................................................................................... SHANE WOODFORD - HMP HULL
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I would love to be able to move forward without judgement of my past mistakes. To have selfrespect and pride in who I am now. To be given opportunities by a penal system that believes in giving individuals another chance, responsibilities and the tools to improve. You are so right Mr Gove, offenders do deserve another chance. But there are a few problems with your speech. The main problem being how are you going to achieve this utopian vision at a time when the Prison and Probation Services are on their knees? Crippled by budget cuts, understaffed but working at near 100% capacity. A time of rife substance abuse and an inability to detect and stop the latest scourge of ‘legal highs’. With a lack of trained and experienced staff, an increasing prisoner population and a decaying prison estate. If the prison system was a patient it would be on life support with its relatives gathered around the bedside to say their last goodbyes! To revive this patient would require massive injections of cash, the right people and serious changes to a system that operates more like a storage company than a place of rehabilitation. Here at HMP Hull the prison has a motto ‘Serving the community’, which always makes me smile. The only service this prison provides is one of containment. Don’t get me wrong, Hull isn’t a ‘bad’ prison, the staff do the best they can with what little they have. But we could do so much more. We could serve the community properly, with more money, staff and resources. So, best of luck Mr Gove, you are going to need it.
Extra 15 months for attempted suicide!
Where are my books?
..................................................... TY JONES - HMP CARDIFF Rachel Billington OBE
Insidetime December 2015 www.insidetime.org
I have never been to prison before, nor been in trouble with the police, but I was given 4 years. A week prior to me being sentenced to prison my son died, which devastated me. After a while I decided that I no longer wanted to live so I tried to commit suicide by setting my mattress alight. I sealed off the door and blocked all the windows so that the smoke would not escape and lay on my bed and waited to die. I wanted to kill myself via the fumes and not hurt anyone else. The next thing I remember is waking up out on the landing around 10 o’clock at night. Prison staff had pulled me from the smoke-filled cell and then put the fire out. I was charged with arson and had 15 months added to my sentence for attempting to commit suicide. If I’d had the care and right medical help I do not think it would have come to this. Do you think this is fair?
..................................................... CRAIG LLOYD - HMP WEALSTUN I was transferred from HMP Durham to HMP Haverigg in September 2014. Shortly after I arrived I received notice of a fine of £55.95. This was for 5 books that I had borrowed from the library at HMP Durham the night before I was transferred. I did not know I was going to be transferred prior to borrowing the books, it came as a complete surprise to me. When it came to the transfer I left the library books in my cell as I had no time to take them back to the library. I paid the fine and was told to write to the library every month to ask if the books had been returned by any other prisoner, if they were then they would refund my money. My letters to the library have been ignored, so I would like to send a message to your readers in HMP Durham - remember to return your library books because if not, it can be very expensive. And if you are a prisoner at Durham and my books are propping up your bed or TV, please return them as I want my money back!
Janine Doolan
Drug soaked books?
................................................... MD SOUTER - HMP RYE HILL According to recent headlines the pages of books sent into prisons are being ‘impregnated with mind-bending drugs’. As a cynical ex-journalist I know how to read beyond the bold type and explore the substance (legal or otherwise) of this story. At first this tale appears to have some credibility - ‘Inspectors alarmed!’ - we read. I’m sure the Independent Monitoring Board will be as concerned by that description of them as I am. Hard-working, they undoubtedly are, but they are not ‘Inspectors’. They are rightly concerned about legal highs and their widespread availability in society, including prison. But, impregnated into books? Frankly there would be no need, as the report says, legal highs such as Spice and Black Mamba are virtually undetectable, so, whilst I have never seen it myself I would certainly know who to ask for if I wanted it. Buried at the bottom of the report is the phrase that clinches it as nonsense to me - ‘It is not believed that’ - this translates as ‘there is no evidence’. My man in the know points out that LSD is completely different to the substances that are classed as legal highs but that it can be impregnated into books, but LSD is not a popular prison drug, and most legal highs in prison are smoked not swallowed. In a prison world where security rules take precedence over everything else, could this be the start of a campaign to try to ban books again? Something to ponder.
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Insidetime December 2015 www.insidetime.org
If you would like to contribute to Mailbag, please send your letters (including your name, number and prison) to ‘Mailbag’, Inside Time, Botley Mills, Botley, Southampton, Hampshire SO30 2GB.
Where is my tax rebate? Problems with legal prison visits ..................................................... ROBERT BRADLEY HMP BUCKLEY HALL
....................................................................................................... SOLICITOR - NAME SUPPLIED
I first wrote to the Tax Academy whilst at HMP Wealstun in February 2015. After a lengthy delay, which they apologised for, I received a letter back from them three months later in May 2015 which included the form 64-8 and Authority for a Tax Refund form, both of which I signed straight away and sent back in the pre-paid envelope they had supplied.
I write as a frustrated legal visitor. It is very concerning the impact current austerity measures are having in relation to prisoners accessing legal advice. Within only a few months, I have attended at HMP Aylesbury spending almost 1 hour waiting to be taken through to the visitors’ hall owing to there not being enough staff to escort legal visitors. Legal visits only take place there one day a week. Once within the legal visits hall, a prison officer had to collect each individual prisoner one-by-one which resulted in my prearranged 2 hour legal visit being reduced to 40 minutes. I recently had a prearranged legal visit with a prisoner at HMP Isis. When I attended at the prison, I was informed my visit had been cancelled. No explanation was given by the prison. I have attended at HMP Chelmsford, whilst having my visiting confirmation papers, upon arrival I was informed the prisoner’s details had not been added to the visits list and therefore I would not be able to see him!
Then I was transferred here to HMP Buckley Hall in August 2015. At the start of September 2015 I wrote to the Tax Academy to inform them that I had been moved and to ask them what was going on with my tax refund.
Whilst I have followed up my concerns with the head of the Prison Service it is worrying the difficulties prisoners are experiencing accessing legal advice. As for the wasted costs that are being unnecessarily attributed to the legal aid budget, which we are constantly being told by the Government is too high, is it any surprise given the system we are constantly battling to do our job.
It is now November 2015 and I have heard nothing from the Tax Academy to tell me what is going on with my case. It has now been 9 months since I first wrote to them and 6 months since they wrote back. I don’t know what is happening and wonder if Inside Time can find out as the company advertises in your pages. Paul from the Tax Academy
Writes
A cheque was sent to HMP Wealstun directly by HMRC in September 2015. Neither HMRC nor we at that time were aware that Mr Bradley had changed prisons. I have since received a letter (early October 2015) stating he had changed prisons but no date was given. I am arranging for the cheque to be reissued but this can take up to four weeks.
When will it end?
‘The latest rumour…’
I was sentenced in 2008 to an IPP with a 6-year tariff. This is my first time in prison and I have never had a nicking or an IEP warning and have completed 23 courses. I have been Enhanced for 6½ years. Also, I have been employed since I came into prison 7 years ago. Yet I still have not had a parole hearing. I came to prison when my daughter was only 2 months old and now she has just turned 7! On every visit she says ‘Daddy, when are you coming home?’ But I cannot tell her as I do not know myself. I know I speak for all IPP prisoners when I ask where do we go from here, when will it end? In Prison Permanently page 35 Robert Banks page 43
I am a serving prisoner at Littlehey and writing to you to seek clarification on the latest rumour doing the rounds. People are saying that the law is about to change and that from January 2016 any prisoner on license will not be able to be recalled back to prison unless they have committed a new criminal offence. Quite frankly, I do not believe this and I am writing to try and find out if anyone has heard anything definite or official about this? I look forward to hearing whether this is true and, if so, it is about time.
..................................................... KEITH ROBINSON - HMP WEALSTUN
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Contents Mailbag ............................................. 2-9 Newsround .................................... 10-17 Diary .............................................. 18-19 Comment ....................................... 20-29
© Fotolia.com
Witch hunts are very real by Alan Morris ............................................................. 22
..................................................... N JORDAN - HMP/YOI LITTLEHEY
Editorial note: We have checked our sources and can find no truth in this rumour. Though it sounds like a good idea.
Editorial note: When dealing with the Tax Academy it is advised that you inform them immediately if you are transferred. We have also had a letter from Mohammed Karim at HMP Stoke Heath reporting that he also has not received a cheque. Again he moved without informing the Tax Academy.
Russia to legalise prison beatings: could the same happen here? by John O’Connor ............................................................. 27
Education ....................................... 31-33 Inside Justice ................................. 34-35 Terry Waite Writes ............................. 36 Short Story .......................................... 37 The Rule Book ..................................... 38 Christmas Messages ........................... 39 Legal ............................................. 40-41 Legal Q&A ..................................... 42-43 Reading Groups ................................... 44 Wellbeing .......................................... 45 Inside Poetry .................................. 46-47 Jailbreak ........................................ 48-51 National Prison Radio ......................... 52
If you would like to contribute to Mailbag, please send your letters (concise and clearly marked) to ‘Mailbag’, Inside Time, Botley Mills, Botley, Southampton, Hampshire SO30 2GB. Please note letters for publication may be edited.
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Mailbag
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Insidetime December 2015 www.insidetime.org
If you would like to contribute to Mailbag, please send your letters (including your name, number and prison) to ‘Mailbag’, Inside Time, Botley Mills, Botley, Southampton, Hampshire SO30 2GB.
‘A little balance’
..................................................... GRAHAM COUTTS - HMP WAKEFIELD Thank you to P Johnson in the October issue for adding ‘a little balance’ in praise of HMP Wakefield’s swift response to his heart attack. In order to return the balance back in favour of the odd moan and groan, this is my experience of HMP Wakefield’s duty of care.
© Fotolia.com
Cockroaches with vegetables!
....................................................................................................... ANIYSAH ALI - HMP HOLLOWAY I would like to say that I have been in HMP Holloway for the past 6 months and have never encountered anything remarkable enough to write about. However all of that changed one recent Saturday afternoon. I was giving a helping hand to the ladies who were serving dinner only to receive the most disgusting shock of my life. I found a dead cockroach mixed in with the vegetables which seemed to have been boiled with the veg. After our shock and nervous laughter we came crashing back to reality as we realised that the food we receive is of awful quality and does not really provide us with the nutrition that we genuinely need for our bodies. I am no food critic and I realise that we are in prison so I am not asking for KFC box meals, but the food we receive is incredibly unhealthy and almost all carbohydrate that tends to stick to the stomach. Why can we not have better quality ingredients as food does affect our health and well-being?
Does the law apply to us? ‘Staff here really ..................................................... do go the extra mile’ DETAILS WITHHELD Having now spent several years in this prison and witnessed countless breaches of PSOs, PSIs and the law, I and many other prisoners are unhappy and would like to know - Do all parts of the law apply inside prisons for prisoners? Such as the Health & Safety Act, Food Safety & Hygiene Act, the Workplace Health, Safety & Welfare regulations? And does employment law apply to prisoners as we are employed by the prison? I only ask as in the case of Leonard Cartell vs The Home Office (Claim No. 6DH02489) the judge ruled that prison law cannot supersede English law, all the above mentioned Acts are English law so cannot be superseded. These issues affect every UK prison. I would be grateful for any help in this matter. Editorial note: This query has been passed to NOMS for a response. If there are any legal minds or prisoners who have some experience relevant to this query, letters would be welcome.
..................................................... IAN SCOTT - HMP NOTTINGHAM I would like to thank all the staff, both healthcare and officers, for their help and dedication. I came into prison and found myself in a very dark, lonely and fearful environment, made worse when coupled with my mental health issues and I cannot thank the staff enough for their help. HMP Nottingham has recently been voted as the 3rd worst prison in England & Wales. There are budget cuts, staff shortages and increased pressure from the inmate population, which cannot be easy to work under, but I have found the staff here really do go the extra mile to help the residents. All of them do a very difficult job and I would like to say ‘thank you’.
We are local to: HMYOI AYLESBURY & HMPs BULLINGDON, GRENDON, WOODHILL, READING and SPRINGHILL but Pickup & Scott Solicitors also cover many other prisons.
TIMELINE FROM 17th OF OCTOBER 2013 08.20 - I informed wing staff that I was experiencing severe chest pains. I was told to wait in the queue for the dispensing hatch. 08.30 - Saw a nurse who ‘diagnosed’ anxiety (despite my history of ischaemic heart disease). 08.40 - Saw the specialist cardiac nurse given ECG and put on oxygen. 09.11 - Cardiac nurse makes emergency call for an ambulance. It is no overstatement to say that she saved my life. 09.20 - Paramedics arrive at HMP Wakefield. 09.30 - Paramedics reach my location. The pain at this point was nauseating and had radiated to my jaw and down my left shoulder and arm. Despite the clear distress I was in and the cardiac nurse’s assessment of my condition as being serious, I was not allowed onto the ambulance by the Dispatch Manager. 10.20 - Prison clothes arrived at my location and I was forced to change into them. 10.30 - Allowed into ambulance - hurrah! 10.40 - Ambulance leaves HMP Wakefield and I am blue-lighted to hospital. So, 2 hours and 20 minutes after first informing staff of what was later diagnosed as a heart attack I was finally on my way to hospital. Despite the Dispatch Manager claiming the delay was ‘no more than 10 minutes’, the Prisons Ombudsman upheld my complaint. As a result the Deputy Governor gave me a written apology. I have since brought a civil case against the MoJ which they are (unbelievably) defending. In case you are thinking that this must have been a one-off, in September of this year I developed an irregular heartbeat (between 40 and 200 beats per minute) so I pressed my emergency bell at 7.10pm and did not get a response for 15 minutes. It took a further 2 hours before I was allowed in the ambulance. Just another example of what I have experienced at HMP Wakefield. I trust the balance is now restored.
Oceans away
..................................................... JACOB BARRETT - SANTA ROSA CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION, FLORIDA USA As a prisoner in the UK how much freedom of speech do you have? Can you pen a poem or write an ode? Strum some strings or beat a drum? As a prisoner who has spent more than 21 consecutive years in 18 US prisons in 5 different states I know from personal experience that freedom of speech is often a matter of degrees depending on the hamster cage they have us in at any given moment. However, the prison walls do not form a barrier between the prisoner and the world where speech is concerned. In the solitude of prison a number of published works by authors have been realised: Pilgrims Progress by John Bunyon (1684), Papillion by Henri Charriere (1970), The Ransom of Red Chief in Whirligigs, by O Henry (1910), Letters from The Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King (1963) and The Ballad of Reading Jail, Oscar Wilde (1898) to name a few. As prisoners, freedom of speech rests in our palm. With the stroke of a pen I have the power to reach across an ocean and touch lands that my own ancestors walked only 150 years ago before they boarded leaky wooden ships to set sail for distant shores. In the dank recess of my supermax isolation cell I have the power to communicate with fellow prisoners worlds away. As you sit in your cell reading this epistle I am several thousand miles away hunkered in a cell in a country you may never have visited wondering what stories you may have to tell. I say to you: write, write, write! Never stop writing. Put your thoughts to poems, your experiences to saga, and bring your dreams to the world’s front door. Touch a heart, touch a mind, touch a soul. Let your words stretch out across nations and be a legacy 22 years hence.
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Mailbag
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Don’t make us homeless
Good comparison
I am serving 6 months in HMP Wandsworth. I was convicted of ABH, despite my solicitor agreeing it was self-defence and that I would be found not guilty. As a single parent I am lucky my daughter could stay at her grans, or she would now be in care. Luckily for me, by law, I can claim housing benefit for 13 weeks so I won’t end up homeless on top of everything else.
I was fascinated to read the insightful article - To rebel with a cause - by Owen Davies. His comparison of 19th century Dostoevsky with 21st century offending was thought provoking. I’d not thought about the victim of a crime in terms of being a ‘symbol’, who might attract a particular criminal, until reading this. This insight by Owen Davies deserves deeper investigation, it might even develop into a new branch of offender therapy.
..................................................... JOE BUTLER - HMP WANDSWORTH
I read the story from the Howard League for Penal Reform saying that short prison sentences destroy lives and are counterproductive, and I have to agree. My rent was sorted out by St Mungo’s Trust and I am very grateful that I can get help with housing benefit for 13 weeks if convicted and 52 weeks whilst on remand. They tell me that it used to be 52 weeks when convicted but they changed it in order to save money. See, I thought the idea of prison was not just to punish, but to rehabilitate people so that they come out as productive members of society? How does it help to rehabilitate if you end up losing your home while serving a prison sentence? Anyone can find themselves doing a relatively short sentence and being made homeless. This does not ‘teach you a lesson’ but makes people bitter and does not help prevent reoffending. I feel that 52 weeks housing benefit for all prisoners should be reintroduced so that people have a chance to rebuild their lives once released. I shall be writing to people regarding this matter when I am released. If it affects you then feel free to get your families to write to your MP, etc. as this is an important issue that needs tackling. If you are on remand or convicted with 3 months to serve fill in a form for St Mungo’s Trust and they will help you. Michael Palin speaks page 18
SCC
..................................................... ROY BARCLAY - HMP CHELMSFORD
© Fotolia.com
Mince pies a security threat!
........................................................................................................ ANDREW ROBERTS - HMP WYMOTT Being in prison during Christmas isn’t the best place to be, although small things can add a little cheer to an otherwise miserable holiday. One small indulgence was being able to purchase a small box of mince pies to enjoy on Christmas Day - but not for us at HMP Wymott this year. The DHL Christmas leaflet featuring the seasonal extras they are willing to sell us arrived this week and there was a big black cross through the mince pies. I enquired of a member of staff, who said there was a ‘shortage’ of mince pies in the UK this year and this was why none had been allocated to prisoners! Being a somewhat cynical individual I made my own enquiries to DHL workers on the wing and it transpired that our new governor has deemed mince pies a ‘security threat’. Apparently the governor believes that the foil pie cases can be used to smoke drugs and the fruit content can be used to produce hooch! To add insult to injury it turns out that DHL will be selling mince pies in every other prison who have passed them as no threat to security. So think of us here at Christmas with no mince pies and just the M&S advert to remind us of what we are missing. Merry Christmas!
There is, indeed, much we might still learn from the life and works of the Russian literary great. Dostoevsky is typically equated with our Charles Dickens, because both writers dedicated their talents to illuminating the plight of the poor, the abused and the dispossessed. Although the Russian author wrote of scenes observed in his own country, he did have a sojourn of wandering Dickensian London, where he was impressed by the extent of back-street squalor and general suffering. Ironically, all the leading intellectuals who would instigate the Russian Revolution, came to congregate in an inner-city area of the capital (London) whilst in exile from the Motherland. One would assume that with their war-cry of ‘equality’ and stated hatred of injustice, the Bolsheviks would have embraced Dostoevsky as a leading light, but come the revolution, on the contrary; not only were his works blacklisted, but his name was blotted out of Russian history. The reason being that the great man had been one of the first to recognise the innate hypocrisy of the Bolsheviks, i.e. their true nature was to replace a cruel, hostile, unjust ruling elite with another of the same which only promised to be opposite. As an aside, our word ‘knackered’ has its origin in the Russian for punishment; ‘nakazeniye’ - punished to death.
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Insidetime December 2015 www.insidetime.org
If you would like to contribute to Mailbag, please send your letters (including your name, number and prison) to ‘Mailbag’, Inside Time, Botley Mills, Botley, Southampton, Hampshire SO30 2GB.
Who have we offended?
...................................................................................................... RAY AMOS - HMP OAKWOOD
Who pays the postage?
..................................................... BILAL ZAHEER AHMAD HMP WAKEFIELD Most prisoners assume that the onus of paying postage costs when writing to the Prisons & Probation Ombudsman is on them, but that is not the case. Paragraph 18 of the Ombudsman’s terms of reference state - ‘Complainants will have confidential access to the Ombudsman and no attempt should be made to prevent a complainant from referring a complaint to the Ombudsman. The cost of postage for written complaints to the Ombudsman by prisoners, detainees and trainees will be met by the relevant authority. Prisoners’ correspondence to the Ombudsman will be treated as standard second class mail if they wish the establishment to pay for postage. If a prisoner requires their correspondence to be sent by any method other than standard second class, i.e. recorded delivery, special delivery or first class, then the cost of the postage difference must be paid by the prisoner.’ This is important as some people may be deterred by postage costs. Editorial note: The Deputy Ombudsman confirms this correspondent is correct. Formal complaints page 25
Can someone please explain to me the logic of what seems like pure victimisation for the sake of political correctness? My daughter, granddaughter and son-in-law came to visit me recently and were made to feel like they were in a foreign country. My son-in-law, who is from Tunisia, was wearing a smart England top with no writing on it but just a small badge featuring the 3 lions. Reception staff made him turn it inside out and wear it like this in case it offended anyone in the visits hall. It was this or not have the visit. A female member of staff agreed with my visitors that this was the most stupid thing she had ever seen, but she was overruled by a senior officer. Now I could understand if his shirt contained an offensive message or picture, or even if it had a logo for a football club, but it was a national sports shirt that represented one thing - England. Last time I looked we are in England, so how could wearing a national shirt of the country you live in be ‘offensive’ to anyone inside one of that country’s prisons? My son-in-law loves England and normally wears his shirt with pride, so he was very embarrassed to be asked to hide it and be forced to wear it inside out in a hall full of visitors. So I would like to ask, in all sincerity, who have we offended?
Closed Visits: security or punishment?
...................................................................................................... CM - HMP PRESTON As I write this I find myself going into the 19th month of Closed Visits. The prison authorities tell me that Closed Visits is NOT a punishment but a ‘security precaution’. I understand that I was put on Closed Visits because Security claim to have intel about a mobile phone, but can they honestly say that their intel is visit related? If I have not had an open visit in 19 months, and my record shows I have never received an item on a visit then surely someone needs to ask the question - are HMP Preston telling the truth when they say they are not using the Closed Visits system as a punishment? Am I being treated illegally? It is pointless using the Complaints system here as staff treat it like a joke. Staff laughingly encourage us to put in Complaint forms because they never answer them on time, they get ‘lost’ or we get replies that bear no relation to the subject. Since legal aid was scrapped for prisoners they don’t seem to give a toss about our complaints. The staff are experts in not helping and shutting us down so we are left with the impression that a COMP1A form is just a waste of our ink. Where, now, is the protection?
Left out in the cold
..................................................... RACHEL FLATLEY - A PRISONER’S RELATIVE My daughter is currently at HMP Low Newton, her home town is Bolton which is over 100 miles away, it takes 2-3 hours depending on traffic to get there. This is longer than the actual visit itself. On a family visit it is only her partner and children who go in the prison, as he doesn’t drive we take them up. We can’t be the only family in this situation but I would like to know why the visits centres do not cater for families who have to do this? We have to either go into town for 3 or 4 hours or sit and wait in the car. I did ask if it was possible to wait in the visits centre but was told no. Surely we are all supposed to work together to make a difficult situation a little bit easier but it seems to me that obstacles are just put in the way and it makes it harder to keep the family together. Michael Palin speaks page 18
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If you would like to contribute to Mailbag, please send your letters (including your name, number and prison) to ‘Mailbag’, Inside Time, Botley Mills, Botley, Southampton, Hampshire SO30 2GB.
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Mr Oates claims, unconvincingly, ‘Whilst I fully support the right of freedom of expression’, his actions prove the opposite with the unspoken codicil of ‘except in cases or things that shock me and that I find to be deeply offensive to what I judge to be the commonweal’. Folks who do not care to read a history of capital punishment might be self-advised not to read such books where each individual is free to make his or her adult choices within the law.
..................................................... DES NILSON - HMP FULL SUTTON I was amazed to read the ‘Star Letter’ in the October issue of Inside Time; submitted by Peter Oates, stating and justifying ‘his’ decision to have the history book ‘Pierrepoint: A Family of Executioners’ removed from the library shelves of Hull prison as well as exhorting NOMS to have it removed from ALL prison libraries…as he judges it to be a dangerous publication and not conducive to the mental health of vulnerable prisoners. His text is replete with emotive language about the book but doesn’t say that he has actually read it: ‘Shocked’, ’morally wrong and deeply offensive’ at the prison abetting suicide by supplying ‘a manual on how to do it properly’ etc. In 2001, I wrote a 27 page ‘treatise’ on Albert Pierrepoint which included much testimony from the man’s own autobiography published in 1974, and updated this work by reading new information contained in Steve Fielding’s excellent and meticulously researched history of the ‘artificers’ of capital punishment in the 20th century with additional information from Home Office records. It forms a concise history of its subject and is to be commended for advancing our knowledge on these period but tragic events which were promoted and honoured by Parliament, the law and the State. The Pierrepoint family operated within the (then) refined requirements of prison policy as were the regulations, rules, and tools of his trade and procedures which put the will of the State into effect and with overwhelming support from the general public which approved of judicial killing as an answer to capital crimes. Britain’s hangmen plied their lethal trade until it was discontinued after a double execution in 1964 and abolished entirely in 1969. All of that is fact, history and reality…no matter how distasteful it may seem to most people today. Our history is filled with the stark reality of such dark passages and we cannot wish them away by comfortable denial.
The sinking of the Titanic on the 14 April 1912 in the north Atlantic Ocean.
‘Sinking fast’
....................................................................................................... MR KENDALL - HMP LOWDHAM GRANGE
People in prison do not want to kill themselves because they have read a history book, it is because they are made tragically unhappy and depressed by the seemingly hopeless circumstances of their crimes and within the bleak isolation of their wholly alienating prison conditions which promote utter despair.
I am writing to let you know what is happening at HMP Titanic, also known as Lowdham Grange. This was once a prestigious prison, probably the best in the country, but that reputation is long gone. In the 3 years I have been here never have I witnessed so much violence, daily and weekly, on prisoners and staff. Ambulances attend this prison regularly. The healthcare has a terrible medical team who ignore our wellbeing. On average you will wait 8 weeks to see a nurse who will then recommend an appointment for you to see a doctor! During this period you will not receive medication or treatment. The emergency dentist is a 4 month wait at least.
It’s not more Listeners they need, but more Hearers that are willing and able to help by addressing the immediate and long term miseries.
The once busy industries are now association areas as there is no work, no contracts and pay has been reduced based on the fact there is no work or money coming in. The only reason they send us to the workshops is to tick boxes for government targets for ‘out of cell hours’ and ‘purposeful activity’. There is a wait of 9 months plus for any job owing to under-staffing issues. Gym has been cut because gym staff are deployed on escort duty. We are unable to get to reception because of lack of staff.
Further response to ‘hanging book’
The food is absolutely terrible because a lot of it is stolen from the kitchens and sold on the black market. Staff morale is the lowest I’ve ever seen and it seems like they have just given up. This jail is in dire need of a new captain and crew as we are sinking fast. So class this as us sending out an SOS.
..................................................... SOLOMAN BYGRAVES HMP WAYLAND I am writing in response to the Star Letter in the October issue. I had seen the book, titled ‘Pierrepoint, a Family of Executioners’ by Steve Fielding, in the prison library here at Wayland. I had a quick browse through the book and found it wrong on all levels. I suffer from bipolar disorder and have previously had issues with trying to commit suicide. If I was not stable on my medication and going through a depressive phase, I would be able to borrow this book from the library and make an attempt to end my life. When I saw the book I immediately alerted our library staff and asked them to remove this book, and it has now been removed from our library. Because I have made attempts to end my life in the past, I know that even contemplating death is such a terrible and terrifying thing with lots of different emotions going through your head at one time. I would not want someone to borrow this book so they could get help with ending their life. Would it be possible for a note to go out alerting all prison libraries to remove this morally offensive book from their shelves.
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Unwarranted censorship of history books
By his crude action against Fielding, he has denied others that freedom of choice concerning what information they might have or seek out. In a real way, pertaining to educational literature, Peter Oates has killed the voice of expression of the author ... something Inside Time has not done in giving him voice in his own letter with its cognitive flaws of unreasoning. History is not condoning of past events but a revealing exposition of them. Under the well-educated tutelage of Michael Gove I hope that NOMS turns down Mr Oates damagingly censorus demands… bearing in mind that Mr Gove’s own book, ‘Celsius 7/7’ was put on the ‘banned list’ by them in the recent past.
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Insidetime December 2015 www.insidetime.org
If you would like to contribute to Mailbag, please send your letters (including your name, number and prison) to ‘Mailbag’, Inside Time, Botley Mills, Botley, Southampton, Hampshire SO30 2GB.
A warning about ‘legal highs’
........................................................................................................ DOUGIE FRYER - HMP GUYS MARSH This is a warning about legal highs and in particular NPS. I am a 43 year old prisoner, 4 years and 3 months into a 5 year sentence. I have struggled with drug addiction all of my life, but only in the past 3 years have I started smoking legal highs. Like most people I first thought that the word ‘legal’ meant these substances cannot be dangerous or addictive. The first couple of times I smoked it the effects were a lot more powerful than I expected but it helped me to forget my problems. That soon changed and I found myself addicted and even though I had several fits whilst under the influence I was buying larger and larger quantities, spending up to £200 a time. This all changed 2 weeks ago. I have no memory about what happened, apart from what staff and other prisoners tell me. I smoked a legal high called NPS which seemed to aggravate my mental health problems and I made a serious attempt on my own life. I was found hanging in my cell, I had no pulse and my heart had stopped, they say for between 5 and 10 minutes. If it wasn’t for two prisoners finding me I would now be dead. These two prisoners, Mario and Sheppard, saved my life. Also I have nothing but praise for the staff here at Guys Marsh who were very supportive of my family. I have received continued support from prison and healthcare staff, but I am now left with no feeling in the right hand side of my face and neck and serious memory problems. I would like to thank everyone involved in my treatment and recovery. Please take this as a warning about so-called legal highs.
IPP ‘personality clash’
..................................................... RICHARD KAVANAGH IPP PRISONER Could you please help me get an answer to my question about how many IPPs are still in custody owing to a personality clash or breakdown in their relationship with their offender manager? I have asked this question to the National Probation Service under the Freedom Of Information Act, they have said they do not have the answer to my question. I think the only way to find out this information would be to ask the question in your paper. I am serving an IPP sentence myself and was recalled incorrectly (for 1 year) due to a personality clash with my new OM, who was forced on me due to my SPO being sent to work for the private company CRC. This OM lied in the recall report and the parom 1, my OM never completed the Part B-risk Management plan at all. I was released quite correctly once I sat before the Parole Board and they realised the facts of my case were not as the Offender Manager had reported in her written reports that had led to my recall in the first place. I think that this is a serious problem that NPS have. The cost of these IPPs staying in custody runs into millions of pounds. In Prison Permanently page 35 Robert Banks page 43
Turn to
HMP Wymott: ‘slave labour’
..................................................... ROHEEZ KHAN - HMP WYMOTT I have been working here in the commercial laundry workshop for around 11 months, and the working week comprises of 2x 9-hour shifts, 2x 12-hour shifts and 2x 6-hour shifts, on the weekend. We have a lot of commercial contracts and further contracts are being taken on all the time. However, we get no pay rise to reflect our workload. We criticise the ‘sweatshops’ in 3rd world countries, yet if you compare the conditions in which we work and what we get paid, the sweatshops sound like a luxury workplace! Even according to the ever-increasing prices in the canteen, our living conditions are deteriorating rapidly. I recently did a full shift, 8.50-4.30 and asked the instructor if I could go back to the wing as I had intense pain in my back and legs. This request was granted but the next day I was given an IEP warning for it by the same instructor. I was also told I was not required. When I did get back to work I found I had been downgraded to basic pay of £7.70 per week. Prisoners are being blackmailed and threatened with IEPs to keep working here. 90% of us want out and do not know how the prison, making a vast profit from our labour, pay such a pittance in wages. There is slave labour at HMP Wymott.
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Butler Trust nominations
..................................................... TOMMY SMYTH - HMP FRANKLAND I have just been reading the November issue of Inside Time when I came to Page 14 - Butler Trust: rating the nominations. Reading through the list of names shortlisted for the Award it comes as no surprise that my nominations got nowhere. For 7 years now, myself and other inmates that do the Fine Cell Work class here at HMP Frankland have nominated the three ladies, Fo, Vicky and Linda for all their hard work over the years. These ladies give their time up for free in order to give the lads here a chance to learn a new skill and earn some money to save for release. Not only do they teach us how to sew but they listen, and talk to us when we are feeling down. Fine Cell Work has changed my life for the better and I feel I owe these ladies so much, so by making the nominations it is our way of thanking them, but the people who win every year seem to be the people who are paid to do their jobs. That is not saying that these people do not deserve recognition for the work they do, but it always seems to be those who are unpaid and do voluntary work to help change the lives of prisoners who get forgotten. I hope the Butler Trust will read this letter and realise that it is not only prison staff, nurses, probation or social workers who change our lives, but also the voluntary workers in the
background. Fine Cell Work, thank you for the time and effort you give to all of us. You have helped change so many lives and in our hearts you will always be winners. Simon Shepherd - Director Butler Trust
Writes
All of our nominations are reviewed by an independent panel, but as we receive over 300 of them each year, this means that we sadly can’t give everyone an Award or Commendation. However, our Awards are very much open to volunteers and we are keen to make sure that their important contributions are recognised. For example, earlier this year, two of our ten top Awards went to volunteers - one to Paul & Rita Conley for their volunteer work with older prisoners at HMP Wymott, and one to Elizabeth Shapland for her voluntary bereavement counselling at HMP Bullingdon. Finally, it is absolutely true that making a nomination is a great way of saying ‘thank you’ to volunteers and staff. And each year, we make sure that we write to everyone who has been nominated - regardless of how far they have got through the awards process - to congratulate them on their nomination. Being nominated is a great achievement in itself and really helps volunteers and staff to feel valued. We hope you’ll continue to send us your nominations.
Parole Board Hearing? IPP, Lifer, Standard, Licence Recalls. Independent Adjudication? Sentence Wrongly Calculated? Oral Hearing? - Tariff Reduction? Appeal against Sentence or Conviction? Second Appeal through the CCRC? The above issues are still covered under Legal Aid! So if you need help get it from dedicated London based Prison Lawyers, helping prisoners fight for their rights throughout England and Wales.
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If you would like to contribute to Mailbag, please send your letters (including your name, number and prison) to ‘Mailbag’, Inside Time, Botley Mills, Botley, Southampton, Hampshire SO30 2GB.
The final word on J-Cloths
..................................................... RUSSELL IRELAND HMP WOODHILL I write in response to the recent controversy over the number of J-Cloths different prisons are giving out. Whilst prisoners are occupied by this weighty matter the Russians are fighting an illegal war and pushing hundreds and thousands of refugees to flood into Europe. There are record numbers of people living in poverty, a social housing crisis threatening economic collapse and thousands of British jobs are lost as our steel industry lays in ruins.
How Synergy changed my life
The Chinese are buying up our country and posturing on the world stage with a nuclear arsenal and no human rights. The Americans are giving away free guns when you open a bank account and then wondering why so many of their citizens get shot. The Americans are also on the brink of an all-out race war.
I served a 17 year sentence from 1992-2004. In 2006 I was recalled on licence on yet another conspiracy to rob charge. While on remand in Brixton, a theatre company called Synergy Theatre came to the prison to put on a production during Black History Month. It was a scorching summer that year and I would have done anything to get out of the oven hot prison cell. I chose to audition for a role in Synergy’s production of ‘Elmina’s Kitchen’ written by Kwame Kwei-Armah. I was cast in the lead role. I can’t say I was surprised, because I had been involved in acting and drama in prisons in the past. Pantomime shows in Blantyre House and Maidstone and cabaret shows in Standford Hill, which we performed in a women’s prison too, East Sutton Park.
Isis are radicalising schoolchildren around the world. Home-grown terrorists are decapitating servicemen on the streets of London and as we have seen in the news recently, murdering innocent people on the streets of Paris. Slavery is alive and well and the world at large is watching it all on television with an energy-saving lightbulb and a bag-for-life under the mistaken impression that we are doing something to save the world.
I was facing a ‘life’ sentence in 2006 and Esther Baker the theatre director came to court and spoke on my behalf. She offered me immediate employment on a theatre tour if released from prison on bail while awaiting sentence. The judge agreed and the rest as they say is history.
But, let’s face it, all that pales in comparison to the lack of J-Cloths in our prisons. Just saying...
© Synergy
Synergy Theatre’s ‘Girls Like That’ by Evan Placey was performed by a company of professional and ex-prisoner actors and toured across London schools and prisons in October 2014.
........................................................................................................ FRANK PROSPER - EX PRISONER
Mailbag
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Smoking ban ‘not thought out’
..................................................... RYAN JAMESON - HMP BURE As a non-smoker I welcome the introduction of a smoking ban in prisons. However, I do have concerns that this issue has not been thought out properly. Here at HMP Bure we are shortly introducing 2 wings that will become totally non-smoking in all areas. This would leave space on other wings for smokers. But the rumour is that within the next 12 months HMP Bure will be going forcibly smoke free. The concern among a lot of people here is for the prisoners who are attending Offender Behaviour Courses, which are hugely stressful in themselves. I am sure this is not the only prison that has concerns about the forthcoming ban. And I am also sure it will provoke a lot of debate amongst the Inside Time readership over the coming months as more prisons are forced to be smoke free.
NOTICE BOARD The latest issue of Travellers’ Times is now available. Simply drop us a line here at Inside Time and the copy will be posted on to you.
I was a prolific offender, I hadn’t stayed out of prison longer than 2 years since the age of 16. I was 45 years old in 2006. I am writing this because it’s gonna be a decade next year since I was released, the longest that I have stayed out of prison, and in that decade I have achieved so much because of Synergy Theatre projects. I have appeared on a London theatre stage in plays, I have acted and appeared in red carpeted film premieres, music videos, tv and numerous adverts, I have attended the Cannes Film Festival and now I am currently in talks with major film and tv companies regarding the rights to my life story growing up in the Notting Hill area of London and what led me to a life of crime, in a film project called Saints and Sinners. I just wanted Inside Time readers to know how the Synergy Theatre changed my life for the best life I could ever dream of, and that there should be lots of other arts companies or charities allowed into prisons to change far more lives for the better.
Previous convictions and insurance
................................................. J McKIE - HMP LIVERPOOL My reason for writing is about insurance cover for prisoners on release, both home and car insurance. Over the last few years I have noticed that one of the questions asked by insurers is - Do you have any convictions? Up until last year I did not have any, but then I found myself in trouble with the council and received a fine and 60 hours unpaid work. Then, in January, I faced a POCA which I could not pay and I am now serving a prison sentence. I feel that most insurance companies are using convictions to hike up the cost of policies because they can! And we all need insurance to be part of this country’s workforce. I am a welder and need transport for most of the jobs I go on.
The September issue of Inside Time was the first one I came across but I did not find one insurance company advertising in your paper. I really think this would be a lucrative market for them, if they treat us fair, of course. What are your thoughts on this?
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Insidetime December 2015 www.insidetime.org know if they were being treated equitably; l very large offender assessment system (OASys) backlogs hindered prisoners’ progression and compromised the management of their risk;
THE INSPECTOR CALLS ... Nick Hardwick - HM Chief Inspector of Prisons Inside Time highlights areas of good and bad practice, along with a summary of prisoner survey responses at HMPs Standford Hill and Bullingdon. These extracts are taken from the most recent Reports published by HM Inspectorate of Prisons. HMP Standford Hill was previously managed as part of a cluster of Isle of Sheppey prisons but while some services continue to be shared, the prison is now independent and has its own governor. The number of prisoners with indeterminate sentences for public protection had increased significantly since the last inspection and nearly all these men were now well beyond their tariff expiry date.
HMP Standford Hill (Sheppey Cluster)
Category D resettlement prison for adult males CNA: 464 Population: 455 (June 2015) Unannounced Full Inspection: 29 June9 July 2015 Published: 03 November 2015 Last inspection: December 2011 SAFETY: Good RESPECT: Reasonably good PURPOSEFUL ACTIVITY: Good RESETTLEMENT: Good
‘A much improved resettlement prison’
Prisoners Survey 11% IPP/Life Prisoners 2% Number of foreign nationals 1% Prisoners on Recall 73% Treated well in Reception 27% Had legal letters opened 61% Food is bad or very bad 17% Don’t know who IMB are 76% Treated with respect by staff 14% Number who have felt unsafe 23% Victimised by staff 53% Difficult to see dentist 33% Easy to get drugs 20% Not engaged in any purposeful activities 5% Less than 4 hours out of cell 15% No Sentence Plan
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Inspectors say they found a ‘much improved prison’: previously resettlement work was ‘fragmented and inconsistent’ but now they said it was the core of nearly everything that happened at the prison. Prisoners felt safe and levels of violence were low. The prison resolved most problems informally without recourse to disciplinary measures. Support for vulnerable prisoners and those who self-harm is good and problems with drugs and alcohol are ‘well managed’. The living environment was, say Inspectors, ‘clean and decent’ although the condition of the Healthcare building is poor. Prisoner/ staff relationships had improved and the newly re-launched Personal Officer Scheme was having a positive impact although, Inspectors commented that ‘some wingbased staff remained too passive and distant in their interactions with prisoners, which wasted a valuable opportunity to provide further support for the resettlement aims of individuals and the prison as a whole.’ In summing up Nick Hardwick, Chief Inspector of Prisons, said; ‘Standford Hill had made significant progress since our last inspection against all of our healthy prison tests, most notably in putting resettlement work at the heart of the prison. The prison was very well led, and we had confidence that it would continue to progress.’
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l although the prison felt calm, more prisoners than at the last inspection said they did not feel safe;
HMP Bullingdon
Male adult category C training and resettlement prison Local Resettlement Prison Managed by HMPS CNA: 869 Population: 1,102 Announced Full Inspection: 15-26 June 2015 Published: 29 October 2015 Last inspection: July 2012 SAFETY: Sufficiently good RESPECT: Reasonably good PURPOSEFUL ACTIVITY: Not sufficiently good RESETTLEMENT: Poor
‘Progress held back by staff shortages’
Prisoners Survey 24.4% Remand 24.2% Aged under 17 9.3% Been in local authority care 42% Under 14 when last at school 11% Lost property on arrival 67% Treated well in Reception 22% Boys on Basic IEP 61% Food is bad or very bad 73% Had an adjudication 44% Been physically restrained 62% Treated with respect by staff 41% Number who have felt unsafe 26% Victimised by staff 14% Easy to get drugs 16% Not engaged in any purposeful activities 26% Don’t receive visits The prison had been through a difficult period before this inspection. However, the establishment had begun to turn the corner, although it was still getting to grips with its new resettlement function and progress was held back by significant staff shortages in a number of critical roles. Inspectors were concerned that: l data on levels of violence was unreliable and could not be used effectively to plan how to reduce violent incidents; l outcomes for prisoners with protected characteristics, such as disability, were not monitored adequately and the prison did not
l the rise in the availability and use of Spice was a serious threat, leading to debt and bullying and there was no effective prisonwide strategy to reduce the supply of drugs; l there had been five self-inflicted deaths since 2012 and although prisoners at risk of self-harm said they felt well cared for, not enough was being done to reduce the risk of further deaths and to implement the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman’s recommendations; l despite having enough places to meet the needs of the population, attendance at education and training was just 50% and inspectors found more than a third of prisoners locked in their cells during the working day; l the prison was on a restricted regime as a result of staff shortages; and l there was no strategy that set out how the prison would tackle the rehabilitation of its complex population, and offender management processes were undermined by acute staff shortages. In summing up the report Nick Hardwick said; ‘… at the time of the inspection overall outcomes were not good enough and the prison carried some significant risks.’ Recently published HMCIP Reports Aylesbury - October 2015, Brinsford - July 2015, Bullingdon - October 2015, Cookham Wood - September 2015, Dungavel IRC - July 2015 , Highdown - June 2015, Humber - November 2015, Isle of Wight - October 2015, Kirklevington Grange June 2015, Littlehey - July 2015, Lancaster Farms - September 2015, Lowdhamn Grange - November 2015, Liverpool October 2015, New Hall - October 2015, Pentonville - June 2015, Standford Hill (Sheppey) - November 2015, Stocken November 2015, Stoke Heath - August 2015, The Mount - August 2015, Wandsworth - July 2015, Wetherby - June 2015, Wetherby - Keppel Unit - August 2015 Copies of the most recent report for your prison are available in the library.
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FIGHTING FOR THE RIGHTS OF INDIVIDUALS IN THE SOUTH EAST WE ARE A RESPECTED ‘LEGAL 500’ FIRM FRANCHISED BY THE LEGAL SERVICES COMMISSION AND OUR DEDICATED AND EXPERIENCED TEAM IS AVAILABLE TO HELP YOU IN ANY AREA OF LITIGATION
PRISON LAW DEPARTMENT Catherine McCarthy All aspects of criminal law, including Appeals/CCRC/Confiscation Orders.
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CIVIL DEPARTMENT Tafadzwa Chigudu
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All aspects of matrimonial and children disputes, including proceedings involving the Local authority. Divorce, domestic violence, cohabitation and Civil partnerships. All aspects of financial disputes.
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The strongest legal representation in the fields of serious, complex and business crime. The most informed, expert advice for those being prosecuted. Rahman Ravelli has a reputation for gaining the best possible outcome for all its clients. This comes from our impressive success in protecting the rights of individuals in national and international criminal cases.
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We have earned an enviable status when it comes to handling substantial and complex cases, particularly those involving difficult legal challenges and especially those involving human rights. Our ability to argue whether evidence is inadmissible and to make prosecution disclose material that may help the defence case means we proactively defend all our clients. The firm’s dedicated team of criminal lawyers is abreast of all the latest legal developments. They have wide-ranging and in-depth experience of defending the most serious and complex cases - the types of case that we specialise in. Rahman Ravelli appoints Counsel, Queen’s Counsel and experts who have passed our vigorous vetting procedures. We routinely deal with large and high-profile cases, which we take to the highest possible domestic and international courts. Our speciality is defending cases involving large-scale police operations where authorities have been granted under the Regulations of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA). Such cases involve informants, covert surveillance, undercover officers and material that requires expertise in disclosure and public interest immunity matters. Many clients come to us on the recommendation of others who benefitted from Rahman Ravelli providing them with a strong, informed and proactive defence against the allegations they faced. It is often the case that other legal firms refer clients to us because we have the best chance of securing a favourable result for that person. At Rahman Ravelli, we have helped shape the law. We have taken cases to the highest courts in the UK and Europe and are acknowledged experts in coordinating defence cases across international borders. Our legal teams are experienced at negotiating with all UK and international authorities. As you read this, you may wonder why you should choose Rahman Ravelli. Of course, we have an enviable reputation. Yes, we have a proven track record of success. We also have a team of solicitors with expertise in every aspect of your case.
But don’t take our word for it. Listen to what the two most highly respected national and international legal guides - The Legal 500 and Chambers UK Guide - say about us: “An exceptional firm with exceptional people, Rahman Ravelli Solicitors is the leader in the field”
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12
Newsround
Insidetime December 2015 www.insidetime.org
HMP Maghaberry ‘unsafe and unstable’
Nine prisons to be built to replace Victorian prisons The Government has announced that nine new prisons are to be built under plans to close Victorian jails and sell them for housing. The reforms, part of Chancellor George Osborne’s Spending Review, would make the country’s prison system “fit for purpose in the 21st century”, the Treasury said. Around 10,000 prisoners will be transferred to new institutions, saving an estimated £80m a year in reduced costs. Five new jails are expected to be opened by 2020, in addition to the new prison being built in Wrexham and the expansions of HMP Stocken, a category C jail in Rutland and HMP Rye Hill, a category B prison in Warwickshire run by G4S. More than 3,000 new homes could be built on the city centre sites of the old jails, such as Pentonville in Isington, north London, which was built in 1840 and has been tipped for closure. Grade 2 listed HMP Reading, built in 1844 and closed in 2013, will be the first to be sold. The Chancellor and Justice Secretary, Michael Gove, made the announcement ahead of a visit to Brixton prison, a Victorian prison in south London. Mr Gove added: “This investment will mean we can replace ageing and ineffective Victorian prisons with new facilities fit for the modern world. We will be able to design out the dark corners which too often facilitate violence and drug-taking.”
Of 93 recommendations made after the last inspection in 2012 only 16 had been achieved. Staff morale within the prison was described as ‘low’ at the time of the inspection with some staff members subject to credible threats. Almost all areas of the prison were criticised and Nick Hardwick, Chief Inspector of Prisons said; ‘This was a concerning inspection of a prison which was as bad as any we have seen in recent years.’
And problems for a Maghaberry wedding A Maghaberry prisoner who wanted to marry his partner of 10 years says that every impediment was put in their way. When, eventually, the wedding did go ahead they supplied some CDs to be played, as is normal, but prison management refused to play the songs by Ed Sheeran and Mumford and Sons for ‘security reasons’. His new wife said; ‘It’s a particularly difficult day for someone to get married in prison but the people in charge at Maghaberry seem to have gone out of their way to make it even more difficult.’
pa Se ge e 45
Potential sites for closure include Victorian jails in London such as Wormwood Scrubs, Pentonville and Wandsworth, where land values would make the sites particularly valuable to housing developers.
A report has described Northern Ireland’s Maghaberry Prison as ‘unsafe and unstable for prisoners and staff’. The report stems from an unannounced inspection in May 2015 by Criminal Justice Inspections Northern Ireland and HM Inspectorate of Prisons who said; ‘What we found was a highly complex prison that was in crisis and it is our view that the leadership of the prison had failed to ensure it was both safe and stable. We had real concerns that if the issues identified in this report - which were brought to the attention of the prison leadership at a frank feedback session at the end of the inspection - were not addressed as a matter of urgency, serious disorder or loss of life could occur’.
THE PRISON PHOENIX TRUST
The things people say…
“Freedom of Information is misused by those who use it effectively as a research tool to generate stories for the media. That isn’t acceptable” Chris Grayling MP (pictured) the Conservative leader of the House of Commons and former Justice Secretary claiming that some journalists and others were misusing the Freedom of Information Act. According to The SUN ‘Grayling was the Tories chief political attack dog and in 2009 more than 50 articles generated by Freedom of Information figures appeared with his quotes blasting Labour’. The Freedom of Information Act was passed in 2000 to give journalists, campaigners and the public the right to request information about the decisions and actions taken by civil servants, politicians and public bodies. The Act has become a lever to prise open doors behind which policy is often decided. If politicians like Chris Grayling and senior civil servants are embarrassed by what they say, these officials should remember that with authority comes responsibility. They should also remember who pays their salaries.
FOI Act at work l Cracks at Hinkley Point nuclear power station Government nuclear inspectors had raised serious questions over the safety of Britain’s ageing atomic power stations. l MP’s expenses scandal While the scandal broke open after the Telegraph obtained the full accounts, the story first surfaced when the Sunday Times and The Sunday Telegraph asked for details.
Head doing you in? Stressed out? Can’t sleep? Simple yoga and meditation practice, working with silence and the breath, might just transform your life in more ways than you think ... Interested? Write to The Prison Phoenix Trust P.O. Box 328, Oxford, OX2 7HF. We’d love to hear from you anytime and have several free books and CDs, which could help you build and maintain a daily practice.
90,000 fans at the England and France match at Wembley sing and cheer as players unite against Paris terror. Meanwhile Egypt’s top Muslim clerics condemned the Paris killing as a ‘senseless and cowardly act’ and ‘a distorted interpretation of Islam’.
Newsround
Insidetime December 2015 www.insidetime.org
13
NEWS IN BRIEF Tell me about it!
Kevin Nunn case ‘is moving forward’ The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) has confirmed it is to review the 2006 conviction of Kevin Nunn for the murder of his girlfriend, Dawn Walker. (Louise Shorter writes). Forensic Science Service files and Crown Court files have been obtained, and the Commission is to consider new forensic testing following the recommendations of scientist Rosalyn Hammond who was brought on to the case by Inside Justice. Kevin Nunn has always protested his innocence. Post-conviction, Kevin Nunn’s solicitor asked the police for access to crime scene exhibits for new testing but Suffolk Constabulary refused saying they should be preserved in case of scientific developments. It has since been argued that that time has come but the force has shifted its position, now citing reasons of costs and concern for the victim’s family. Scientists believe new work could now establish beyond all doubt who killed Dawn Walker. “At last, after ten wasted years, Kevin’s case is moving forward,” said solicitor James Saunders. “It now isn’t a question of whether there’ll be further scientific work, but what forensic testing will be conducted. The CCRC have exercised their legal powers to take the materials from Suffolk Police and, thank heavens, Kevin’s fate is no longer in their gift.” “It is so very difficult to sum up how our family are feeling right now after receiving the news from the CCRC,” Kevin Nunn’s sister Brigitte told Inside Justice. “Our family have spent ten long years trying to prove Kevin’s innocence. Suffolk Police have been deliberately obstructive and continued to deny us access to the truth. We can now perhaps allow ourselves to see at last a light at the end of a very dark tunnel.” Inside Justice page 34
Michael Gove announces his choice as Chief Inspector of Prisons Michael Gove has announced his preferred candidate to take over from Nick Hardwick as Chief Inspector of Prisons. He is Peter Clarke a retired senior police officer. He was Deputy Assistant Commissioner in the Metropolitan Police Service where he was Head of the Anti-Terrorist Branch and National Co-ordinator of Terrorist Investigations. He was also head of the Royal and Diplomatic Protection Department and a non-executive Director for the Serious Organized Crime Agency (SOCA). Most recently he conducted the inquiry into Birmingham School ‘Trojan Horse’ affair and is currently a member of the Board of the Charity Commission. He is also a trustee of Crimestoppers.
Bacon sandwich dangers.
Items grown and made by prisoners raises £2k Janice Hodson (pictured) with some of the wooden objects made by Erlestoke prisoners which will be on display at Erlestoke House farm shop. The shop has raised more than £2,000 in five weeks since opening. The money that has been raised will be used to help the rehabilitation of prisoners at Erlestoke by paying for more materials and resources for the prisoners to use, helping them to learn new transferable skills for when they are released. Janice Hodson, who runs the shop, said: “We’ve had really good feedback from both prisoners and visitors, who can come and see that while their partner or family member is in prison, they are doing something worthwhile. You can’t underestimate the value of that.”
David Cameron’s Private Secretary breaks the news that George Osborne is to increase the State Pension for 13 million people by £3.35p a week each - enough for them to buy one Costa Coffee and half a Blueberry Muffin.
Human Rights Act to be axed Plans to end the abuse of human rights laws and stamp out the courtroom compensation culture can be revealed after a draft of the government’s blueprint to replace the Human Rights Act with a British bill of rights was leaked to the media.
Wrongly convicted of a crime?
In the most radical shake-up of human rights law in two decades, judges will be told they will not have to follow rulings of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg slavishly. Instead they would be able to rely on the common law - the body of judicial rulings built up in Britain over centuries - or rulings by courts in other Commonwealth countries such as Australia and Canada, when making their judgments.
Lost your appeal?
Senior government sources say the “victim” culture that has led to the creation of a vast human rights industry will be tackled with plans to “reduce the amount of compensation” that can be won by those claiming their human rights have been infringed by public bodies. A consultation document drawn up by Justice Secretary Michael Gove will make clear that Britain will remain a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). It would mean that when judgments were made in Strasbourg against the government - such as rulings against Britain’s ban on prisoners voting - it would be clear that MPs in Westminster should decide how to respond. The consultation document is expected to be published in weeks. A three-month consultation will follow, with the draft bill of rights published next spring. The Human Rights Act v A Bill of Rights page 23
What next?
The CCRC can look again If you think your conviction or sentence is wrong apply to the CCRC
• • •
It won’t cost anything Your sentence can’t be increased if you apply You don't need a lawyer to apply, but a good one can help You can get some more information and a copy of the CCRC's Easy Read application form by writing to us at 5 St Philip’s Place, Birmingham, B3 2PW. or calling 0121 233 1473
Prisoners in Scotland should contact; The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, 5th Floor, Portland House, 17 Renfield Street, Glasgow, G2 5AH. Phone: 0141 270 7030 Email:
[email protected]
14
Newsround
Insidetime December 2015 www.insidetime.org
Review paves way for scrapping of court charges
The things people say…
Ministers are preparing to climb down and fundamentally reform the Government’s controversial “tax on justice” just six months after it was made law by former Justice Secretary Chris Grayling.
© Fotolia.com
Three in four new jobs go to migrants from EU countries A record 2.1 million European Union nationals are working in Britain while hundreds of thousands arrived to seek work over the past year. As employment rose by 448,000, three out of four of those jobs went to migrant EU nationals.
The Ministry of Justice has been inundated with complaints from magistrates, lawyers and campaigners about the charge. It is controversial as magistrates must impose a £150 flat court charge which is not means tested and can rise to £1,000 if someone pleads not guilty but loses their case in court. They have warned that some defendants are being encouraged to plead guilty to crimes they did not commit to avoid the charge while the charge adds extra hardship for those whose crimes were motivated by poverty. Justice Secretary Michael Gove is overseeing a review of how the court charges are operating with a view to either reforming the charge or scrapping it entirely. Pressure to address the unpopular charge increased as peers in the House of Lords condemned the policy in a debate as “Ryanair justice”. So far estimates suggest that less than £300,000 has been collected of £5m charges imposed. There is recognition that piling debt on to people who already have very little money can be counterproductive and could even lead them to commit further crimes.
There were more than 300,000 additional EU nationals working in Britain compared with a year ago, the largest annual increase since records began in 1997, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics.
Inexperienced police let the accused off lightly
“I was not very good at statistics. It’s an occupational hazard of Chancellors”
People accused of crime could be escaping justice because a whole generation of police officers has never been to court and misunderstand their role in the trial process, Inspectors warn.
Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown speaking on November 11 2015.
Numbers have been rising for the past year as the improving economy attracts workers from other countries, including EU states struggling because of problems in the eurozone.
Police are “increasingly distanced from the criminal justice system for which they are the gatekeepers”, a report by Inspectors for the Crown Prosecution Service and the police say, because of the aim to cut bureaucracy and free them for work on the beat.
As Chancellor for a decade, Gordon Brown signed off on every financial decision taken by the British Government. During his time in government Mr Brown was repeatedly accused of manipulating economic data and other figures. In 2010, he was criticised by the Chairman of the UK Statistics Authority for presenting statistics that were ‘not comparable’ to support his claim that immigration was falling.
Arrivals from South Africa dropped from 60,000 to 47,000 and those from the rest of Africa fell from 194,000 to 192,000. There are small falls in those coming from Australia and New Zealand and India but an increase in those from Pakistan and Bangladesh.
This has led to police failing to understand their role in preparing case files for court and presenting evidence, the Inspectors say, risking wrong pleas, wrong sentences and failed prosecutions. The need to complete particular forms in preparing case files also does little to improve understanding of the prosecution process, they add. The joint report looked at the quality of criminal case files prepared by police. Despite improvement since reviews in 2001 and 2013, Inspectors expressed concern that nearly one in three summaries of evidence in police reports were assessed as inadequate.
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Michael Purdon Solicitor Advising prisoners nationwide since 1994
National Firm Strengthens Links with Barristers Chambers National firm strengthens links with Barristers Chambers...
Our excellent former Tooks Chambers barristers continue to maintain a close relationship with Michael Purdon of Solicitor, supplementing Tooks,working the London based barristers chambers Michael Mansfield a wealth of experience our specialist teams across all criminalwith and and Patrick Roche has in developed a close working relationship prison law areas. We also work closely with Central Chambers, a Michael Purdon Solicitor, supplementing the wealth of experience in Manchester chambers. bring together our ‘in house’based specialist teams These acrossrelationships all criminal and prison law highly lawyers with a passion for human rights. regarded areas.
Criminal Appeals, CCRC, SOPO Judicial Review Challenges This relationship brings together two&highly regarded organisations with a passion for human rights. the imposition of IPP sentences, led We have successfully challenged the way in the review of mandatory tariffs as well as being central to
Criminal Appeals, CCRCchallengers and Judicial Review challenges... the development of prisoner to delays in progression and
the timing of parole reviews. We have an arsenal of experienced counsel who have worked with us for a number of years in High Court and Court of Appeal cases. Supreme Court To we have successfully the imposition of IPPCourt Wedate presently have permissionchallenged for challenges in the Supreme sentences, led the way in the review of mandatory tariffs as awell as relating to oral hearings for Cat A reviews and also seeking being centraloftothe therestrictive development of prisoner challenges to delays reappraisal aspects of the case of ‘James’ relatingin progression and the timing of parole reviews. to whether failure to provide courses gives rise to compensation.
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Parole Representation for all Lifer, Recall and IPP Clients Parole Representation for all Lifer, Recall and IPP clients... Obtain specialist advocacy at your parole hearing from our in house advocacy team backed up by barristers. We Obtain specialist advocacy at handpicked your parole prison hearinglaw from our in house provide a national service. advocacy team backed up by handpicked prison law barristers to enable us to provide a nationwide service. New Crown Court and Cold Case Reviews
We haveand a particular interest in clients facing further allegations where Crime Cold Case Reviews... new evidence has come to light due to forensic science advances as charges relating violence, sexual offences well as new We have a particular interestto in serious clients facing allegations relating and to fraud. Our expert knowledge of both crime and prison law puts us in a old unsolved offences especially those where new evidence has strong position to protect clients interests both at court and at the come to light due to forensic science advances. Parole Board. We have represented clients in criminal Crown Court matters as far afield as Chester, Liverpool, Preston, Chelmsford, Founding members, serving for first 3 years Birmingham, Guildford, Basildon, Cambridge and Ipswich.
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Newsround
Insidetime December 2015 www.insidetime.org
15
Upping activity lowers cardio risk
A dry January does work
Experts have long recommended that adults get at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise daily to promote general cardiovascular health. But new research suggests that to ward off heart disease, we need to exercise at least twice as long as that. The researchers reviewed studies that tracked 370,460 adults, who engaged in various levels of physical activity, over an average of 13 years. People who typically exercised for 30 minutes a day experienced only “modest” reductions in their risk of heart failure. Doubling that, however, resulted in a 20% lower risk, regardless of the participants’ age, gender, or race, while those who exercised four times as much registered a 35% drop. The results offer some clarity for doctors. “For a long time, the dogma in cardiovascular medicine was that when people were sick with heart failure, they should have bed rest,” study author Dr Jarett D. Berry said. “But that commonsensical approach turned out not to be true.”
Bid to curb global obesity failing
© Fotolia.com
Countless people gearing up for the Christmas party season will be pencilling in a dry, or teetotal, January, in the hope it will undo some of the damage wrought by festive drinking. And it could work, says a study at University College, London, which found that abstaining from alcohol for four weeks heals the liver, and improves blood pressure and cholesterol levels. The researchers tracked 102 people who had all drunk heavily in December, then after the January abstinence, their liver “stiffness” - an indication of damage - was reduced by 12.5%, on average; while resistance to insulin - a marker for diabetes risk - was down by 28%. The participants also typically lost 3kg in weight. Their blood pressure and cholesterol levels dropped, and many said they were finding it easier to sleep and to concentrate. The study is a larger version of one involving ten journalists at New Scientist magazine, which had similar results earlier this year. However, neither study established how long the effects last if (or when) abstainers return to their former drinking levels.
The best place to die The Economist Intelligence Unit ranked end of life palliative care in 80 countries around the world. Here’s a sampling of the results.
Air pollution ‘stunts lung growth’
UK / Number 1
Almost a billion people worldwide could be obese by 2025, owing to the spread of the Western diet, a leading health organisation has warned. At a summit in 2011, concern about levels of weight gain across the planet was such that the World Health Organisation was commissioned to set targets to slow the “epidemic”. It duly set a goal for 2025 of no increase in obesity or diabetes beyond the levels of 2010 - when 11.5% of adults, or 565 million people, were obese. But by 2014 that had already risen to 13% (670 million). Now, the World Obesity Federation has warned that if that rate of escalation doesn’t slow, 17% of adults will be obese by 2025; and 170 million of them will have a BMI of over 35 which would mean they required urgent medical intervention. Much of the recent growth is accounted for by soaring rates of obesity in developing countries, as people abandon their traditional diets and eat more processed foods and sugary snacks while exercising less. Between 2010 and 2014, the countries with the highest rises in adult obesity rates were Burma (29%), Uganda (26.7%) and Cambodia (26.1%). Obesity rates in wealthy nations in North America and Europe, however, are levelling off.
Overweight children
© Fotolia.com
In some parts of England the majority of children are overweight by the time they leave primary school, official figures have shown. Public Health England examined BMI readings taken annually from children in two age groups - four to five, and ten to eleven - in various areas of the country. Nationally, an average of one in three children in the older group was found to be overweight or obese, in the three years from 2011. But when the researchers broke they were able to identify nine areas where the rate was far higher. The list was headed by the Town and Pier area of Dover, Kent, where 56.4% of 11 year-olds were either overweight or obese. Other areas with a rate of 50% or more included North Lynn, in King’s Lynn, Norfolk, and Hackney Wick, in east London. And in one part of Redcar, North Yorkshire, more than a quarter of children were obese when they started school.
Bacon classified as a carcinogen
US / Number 9
Japan / Number 14
Israel / Number 25
Cuba / Number 36
Russia / Number 48
Source: Time Magazine October 2015
© Fotolia.com
High levels of air pollution in urban areas can stunt the growth of children’s lungs, new research suggests. Over a six-year period, a team analysed the lung function of 2,400 eight and nine year-old children at schools in a range of locations across east London. They also tested their urine for levels of heavy metals - produced by car exhausts. The researchers found a direct correlation between exposure to high levels of particulates and nitrogen oxide and reduced lung growth. Children living in the areas with the highest pollution levels had 5-10% less lung capacity than usual - which they may never get back. This could put them at increased risk of a range of diseases, including asthma and bronchitis. Some of the children involved were from an area close to the Blackwall Tunnel and the A12, where pollution levels are 25 times the national average.
© Fotolia.com
Evidence of a link between processed meat and cancer has been growing for years - and now the World Health Organisation has reviewed 800 studies, and declared that it is sufficiently convinced of the dangers to rank bacon, sausages and salami in its “Group 1” list of carcinogens. It has also concluded that red meat is “probably carcinogenic” to humans. The WHO found that eating 50g of processed meat a day increased the risk of colorectal cancer by 18%. However, it stressed that meat also has health benefits. Cancer Research UK said that the news was reason to cut down on, rather than give up, red and processed meats.
16
Newsround
Insidetime December 2015 www.insidetime.org
UK POPULATION
Quote of the Month
NEWS IN BRIEF
‘My spiritual President’ Dominic Lawson The Sunday Times 15 Nov
12.4 million
Lord Coe has been for the past three months the president of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and was for the previous eight years deputy to Lamine Diack, whom he described as “my spiritual President” and who has now been arrested for alleged corruption.
Children under 15, up a million from now.
The UK population will rise by almost 10 million over the next 25 years as numbers grow five times faster than in the rest of Europe. Two thirds of the population increase will be owing to migrants and their children according to the Office for National Statistics.
9.7 million Projected population increase between 2014 and 2039 (Equal to 40 cities the size of Southampton).
News that the Chilcot Inquiry into the nations role in the Iraq Waris now to be published next summercomes as no surprise to two news reporters.
When this newspaper, in association with the German broadcaster ARD/WDR, shone a light three months ago on the extent of doping in top-level athletics, Coe’s reaction was to denounce the whistleblowers (whose number included courageous Russian athletes who had fled the country).
74.3 million Total projected UK population over the next 25 years.
He fulminated: “It is a declaration of war on my sport. I take pretty grave exception to that. There is nothing in our history of competence and integrity in drug testing that warrants this kind of attack.” Even a couple of days before the World Anti-Doping Agency released its shattering report, Coe foolishly asserted (without having seen it) that he was opposed to issuing sanctions against the Russian athletics authorities. Finally, he has grasped the seriousness of the state-sponsored contamination of the sport he loves and once graced with a sublime combination of power and elegance. In so doing, perhaps he might also apologise to this newspaper and the whistleblowers whom hitherto he has ostracised as mere troublemakers.
16.5 million Pensioners up from 12.4 million now over the next 25 years.
There are suspicions that the World Archery Championships may have ordered the wrong umbrellas.
After the last tube strike a scheme is launched to increase the number of bike racks.
Our Team of over 25 specialist advisors have a wealth of experience to offer you including:
440,000 Number of people added to UK population every year for ten years.
111,000 People aged 100 or over in 2039, up from 13,000.
National means near YOU! We can help you in ANY PRISON in England and Wales, at ANY TIME.
0.7% Projected annual population growth from 2014-2024. It was just 0.1%: annually in the 1970s.
15% Total population growth from 2014-2039.
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You can also write to us FREEPOST at:
FREEPOST RTAB-BATB-HGAU Carringtons Solicitors Nottingham NG2 2JR
986 3472 0983 Tel: 0115 958
• Parole Board Hearings • IPP Sentence Issues • Mandatory Lifers • Discretionary Lifers • Automatic Lifers • Sentence Planning Boards • Re-categorisation • Category A Reviews • DSPD Assessments • Accessing Courses • Parole • Recall • Independent Adjudications • Governor Adjudications • Challenge of MDT’s • HDC “Tagging” • Transfer • Judicial Review • Tariff Representations • IPP Sentence Appeals • Police Interviews
Newsround
Insidetime December 2015 www.insidetime.org l
m Do you know...? l The Last Post, a bugle call traditionally sounded on Remembrance Sunday and other memorials, dates from the 17th century and originated with British troops stationed in Holland. It became part of military funerals by the 19th century, symbolising the duty of the fallen soldier is done, and that he or she can rest in peace. l Women’s pay has increased at twice the rate of men’s over the past five years but they still earn on average £9,000 less, new data suggests. Women’s earnings increased by 8% between 2009 and 2014, compared to 4% for men, according to Halifax. However, the average salary for a man in full time employment was £37,028, in 2014 - the latest year data is available. That is almost a third (32%) higher than the £27,991 paid to female full-time staff.
l Vomiting is considered the most acceptable reason to take the day off work, according to a new study. The new study of 2,500 employers and employees across the UK found that diarrhea came a close second. However, feeling stressed or depressed was found to earn far less sympathy, both from workers and from bosses.
without speaking to a friend, neighbour or family member. Fans of the Manic Street Preachers started an online petition to get the Welsh rockers to record the theme. Unfortunately, only 158 people have signed up. Maybe that’s why the honours went to rising star Aurora, singing a cover of the Oasis track Half The World Away.
l Every home and business in the UK will have access to a fast broadband connection within the next five years, David Cameron has announced. The Government plans to give the public a legal right to an “affordable” connection - making it a basic service like water or electricity.
l Facebook now has more than 1.5 billion registered users for the first time ever around half of the world’s internet-connected population. The good news saw Facebook’s share price soar, helping it break yet another company record - reaching a $300bn valuation for the first time.
l For many, it’s the moment the Christmas countdown truly begins: the John Lewis TV advert. The now traditional tearjerker was released last week to rave reviews. This year, the retailer has teamed up with Age UK to raise awareness of the million older people who go for a month, not just at Christmas,
l The foggiest place in the world is the Grand Banks off the island of Newfoundland, Canada, with over 200 foggy days each year. Fog is frequent here as the Grand Banks is the meeting place of the cold Labrador Current from the north and the much warmer Gulf Stream from the south. l The way we watch television has led to ‘binge-watch’ being named Word of the Year 2015. A survey found that 92% of viewers admitted to binge-watching - which means viewing more than three episodes of a series in one day. l The first words ever spoken by Mickey Mouse on film were “hot dogs” in The Karnival Kid in 1929 - although he had made his debut a year earlier in Steamboat Willie. And since making his bow, he has worn 175 outfits, albeit never too far away from gloves and red shorts. l The International Space Station flies at an average altitude of 248 miles above Earth and circles the globe every 90 minutes at a speed of about 17,500 mph.
David Cameron sets out his plans to reform the European Union. There was no mention in the renegotiation requirements soon to start with the European Union of the fact that for 21 years running the European Court of Auditors has failed to give the EU budget a clean bill of health and that last year 133.6 billion Euros of EU budget payments were ‘affected by material error’.
l Just 1% of the private data - such as emails and digital transactions - requested by government agencies relates to terrorism.
Subject to Confiscation Proceedings? Need advice concerning the Variation or Enforcement of a Confiscation Order?
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The rise and rise of Jerry Hall £50 million - Estimated net worth of Bryan Ferry, whom Jerry Hall dated in the 1970’s. £225 million - Estimated net worth of Mick Jagger, whom Jerry Hall dated from 1970’s to 1990’s. £8.35 billion - Estimated net worth of Rupert Murdock, whom Jerry Hall is dating now. l Long before Children In Need, the BBC’s first ever broadcast appeal for children was a five-minute radio broadcast on Christmas Day in 1927. The response was phenomenal and it raised £1,143 18s 3d which was split between four children’s charities. l One of the enduring Sherlock Holmes mysteries is where his apartment, 221B Baker Street, actually is. When the stories were written, Baker Street addresses did not go as high as 221, and Conan Doyle refused to divulge the building’s inspiration.
Diary
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Month by Month by Rachel Billington
This month Rachel highlights Michael Palin’s speech at the Longford Lecture titled: ‘Collateral Damage: The effect of prison sentences on offenders’ families’, and hails this year’s Longford Prize-winners.
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believe there is only one starting point when considering the efficacy of a prison sentence and that is how successful it can be in combining punishment with prevention from reoffending. One of the most important elements in this equation is the family of the offender. This was acknowledged by Lord Woolf in his report after the Strangeways Riot of 1990, when one of his central recommendations was that there should be better prospects for prisoners to retain their links with families. It was reiterated by Charles Clarke when he was Home Secretary. Addressing the question of successful resettlement, he noted “We need to remember the vital role of family, friends and community”, and it was underlined more recently in a review from the Inspectorate of Prisons which recognised “the central importance of an offenders family and friends to their successful rehabilitation”. The influence of the family relationship on the mental and physical state of the offender is profound. It can be damaging, or it can be powerfully beneficial. One thing it can’t be, is ignored. Yet my own feeling, backed up by reports, conversations and a wealth of anecdotal evidence is that this is precisely what families of offenders feel is happening.
Michael Palin addresses 700 people at the Longford Lecture including the Justice Secretary, Michael Gove. © David Sandison
Gove reiterated his much stated and welcome view that ‘Prisoners should be used as potential assets’ and that ’All should have access to education or to work’ and that ‘There’s a treasure in the heart of every mind…’ He was listened to by a capacity audience of over seven hundred, including Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, previous speakers, Bianca Jagger and Nils Oberg, Head of the Swedish Prison and Probation Service, outgoing Chief Inspector of UK Prisons, Nick Hardwick, Director of the Prison Reform Trust, Juliet Lyon and many of the ex-prisoner university students supported by scholarships from the Longford Trust.
Michael Palin
T
© David Sandison
he 14th Longford Lecture held in London on November 17th was an illustrious affair. Chairman Jon Snow had flown in from Paris where he’d been reporting for Channel 4 on the Paris killings and was leaving next morning for Bangladesh for a documentary report. Speaker Michael Palin is one of the most admired comedians, writers and documentary makers in England. However few know of his interest in prisons spreading over many years. Before he could talk on his chosen subject of ‘Collateral Damage: The effect of prison sentences on offenders’ families’, Minister of State for Justice Michael Gove came on the stage to answer a few questions from Snow and also present this years Longford Awards.
The details of the awards and their citations are on the adjoining page. The Lifetime Achievement Award was won by the retiring editor of Inside Time, Eric McGraw. The paper was Eric’s inspiration and I can remember very clearly that day in December 1990 when it was launched from a committee room in the House of Commons. I’m pretty certain noone thought it would grow as it has or last so long. Generations of prisoners have turned to its pages for information and encouragement. I can’t imagine a more well-deserved award. The second award went to PACT, an organisation which is well known to many of our readers and whose CEO Andy Keen-Downs has contributed to the paper. It was a particularly appropriate award this year given the subject of Michael Palin’s talk. In an ideal world I would produce all 5,000 words of Palin’s well-argued and passionate advocacy for the family being made far more central to our justice system for prisoners. Those of you who are not behind bars can read it online on the Longford Trust website. Meanwhile there follows an edited version:
From the moment an arrest is made, the family is intimately involved. Sometimes quite brutally so. Doors can be broken open and rooms searched, personal belongings seized, parents handcuffed and hauled away in front of their children, brothers and sisters in front of their siblings. If not present at the time of the arrest, family members will often find it hard to glean information about the reason for the arrest, the location to which their arrested relative has been taken and what access, if any, they will be allowed. An arrest warrant does not come with any description of their legal rights. The marginalization of the family begins from the very first moment of detention. Even if the person detained is eventually proven guilty in court, there can be no excuse for adding lack of information to the emotional shock already imposed. “My partner had nothing to do with it, my children had nothing to do with it, it’s just that their lives have been thrown into a tornado by what I’d done” was one testimony I heard. The guilt is there on both sides and stigma by association is a theme reiterated by almost all the family members I talked to. They have committed no crime, but they are made to feel as if they are accomplices just because they’re related. After the arrest and before trial comes the remand stage, a judicial limbo-land which can last weeks or even months, adding the extra burden of uncertainty to the feelings of guilt and shame that are already present, along with loss of earnings and, in some cases media intrusion, local press revelations and the resulting strain on friendships and social life. As no formal charge of wrongdoing has been proven, one would expect this to be a time when the family were able to keep in contact, but many report being kept in the dark as to where their family member is being held, and what rights of access they might have to them. Making communication difficult at this early stage only strengthens the suspicion that both individual and collective guilt is assumed
Insidetime December 2015 www.insidetime.org before the case has even come to court. The trial period can be particularly unsettling for both families and the accused. The process of justice is intimidating and often difficult to follow. One mother, Paula, made one powerful point: “everyone I met on my journey to court - police officer, custody sergeant, duty solicitor, prosecuting barrister, my barrister, the judges. All male”. Some, especially those with children in school, find it physically impossible to attend court every day. One woman who wasn’t present to see her partner sentenced was not informed by anyone about the verdict. These things may seem incredible to those of us who can get ourselves organised but many family members are vulnerable, with mental and physical health problems. Confused, shunned by friends, their confidence eroded during the long remand process, these are the people who need help from within the criminal justice system but so often find that they are left to sink or swim. “Did anyone ever ask about how your family will be affected?”, I asked Paula. “No”, she told me ‘they were just interested in the process, and enforcing the penalty”. Once the accused becomes the convicted a different set of pressures comes to bear on the families. The possibility of innocence, or wrongful arrest, is no longer a sustaining hope. They must now live with the reality of incarceration and a criminal record. Just when the going gets tougher the state and society turn their backs. Justice has been done. A sentence must be served. But why should the families themselves have to be punished? Committing an offence does not mean that feelings of love and affection are suddenly negated, and it is not the families who have been incarcerated. Depriving them of contact or just making contact difficult is penalising the innocent as well as the guilty. The story of one young man shows the cruel price the innocent can pay. Jacob lived with his younger brother and his mother, a care worker who had looked after children on a troubled estate, for 15 years. Her work had been judged outstanding by Ofsted. One night he had gone to the help of his friend in a pub, and had thrown a punch and knocked a man to the floor. A month later police came round to the house and arrested him. The man he had punched had hit his head on the floor and later died. Jacob was put on bail. Because he had just turned 18 years, the nature of his alleged crime was deemed to be confidential. For two weeks, as evidence was being gathered, his own mother was not allowed to be told what her son was accused of. To make matters worse Ofsted suspended her from her job, on the grounds that she had failed to inform them that she had allowed a man facing a criminal charge to live in her house. Now, with her income cut off, she not only had to deal with a son waiting to be taken to court, but a mortgage to pay and Jacob’s younger brother to be put through school. Though Jacob received the minimum sentence for manslaughter, his mother had to face local media reports branding her son a killer, the taunting of his younger brother and, as she didn’t drive, and was no longer able to work at her old job, and the unaffordable expense of visiting her son in a prison many miles from home. All this tipped her, once so good at sorting out other family’s problems, into a downward spiral of alcohol-related depression. By the time Jacob came out of prison he
Diary
Insidetime December 2015 www.insidetime.org had begun to turn his life around, but it was too late to save his mother. His attempts to impress the social services and his local GP of the seriousness of his mother’s illness were ignored until it was too late. “She was proud of the way I turned my life round”, he told me. But the stigma of the sentence had been too much for his mother to bear. Jacob, a convicted criminal, was able to sort himself out in prison, and is now studying to be a criminologist. His mother, blameless of any crime, suffered and died, feeling herself to be the failure. After conviction families have to get used to significantly changed circumstances. The four visits a week which they were allowed during the remand stage are reduced to one a month. The prison may well be many miles away from the family home, requiring considerable expense to get there and back, particularly for multiple family members. The conditions on the visits can be deeply depressing. Prisons are not intended to be welcoming. Doors are unlocked and then locked again behind the visitor. Two or three times in some cases. If there have been drugs involved in the crime then children and adults have to run the gauntlet of body searches and sniffer dogs. As one family visitor I talked to, put it, “as soon as you walk through those doors, you feel you’re being judged. You feel like you’re a prisoner yourself”. Once inside they meet their convicted family member in a large open interview room, under the watchful eye of uniformed prison staff, who will make sure that a child cannot run towards his father or mother for a hug, or vice versa. For partners too, where greetings or farewells are allowed, Eric McGraw receiving his Lifetime Achievement Award
it’s closed-lip kisses only. Besides these physical restrictions are the often much less tolerable emotional stresses, as the combination of separation, guilt and shame begins to take its toll. Often these stresses become too great for people to bear, and prison visits dry up, and the offender is left to find their place in a new family. The family of fellow prisoners. Some take refuge in their new family because they can’t face the old one. A probation officer I talked to saw many fathers unable to deal with the feeling that they had failed their family. They can sometimes barely recognise their own children, and certainly can’t remember their birthdays, I was told. Instead they fall back on the reassurance of prison routine, the removal of all the intolerable pressures that drove them to commit crimes in the first place. They embrace a world of order, routine and the relief of knowing exactly where the limits are. The state may have done its work, and the court passed down its verdict. The offender may have been removed from the streets, but for those left behind there is no such thing as a comfortable conclusion. A mother has been removed from her children. Fathers find themselves unable to cope, children of 10 or 11 become the ones who have to run the household. Wives and mothers and husbands and partners find that they are ostracised, unable to keep their jobs because of their association with a lawbreaker. The children are bullied at school, or in trying to compensate for the shame of what has happened, become the bullies themselves. * This is an extract of the Lecture. The full text can be seen on the Longford Trust website. Andy Keen-Downs Chief Executive of PACT
NPR is here for you on Christmas Day
C
hristmas can be a difficult time when you’re inside, but NPR is with you to help make things go a bit more smoothly.
Christmas Day begins at 7am with a bit of fun as the NPR presenters battle it out on our Porridge Quiz of the Year. The carol service from the chapel in Brixton follows at 8am, then it’s two hours of the famous NPR Rock Show. l At midday we’ll be featuring the story of a group of women from HMP Styal who set up their own choir. l At 1pm we’ve got a very special Request Show which will feature messages and requests from people’s loved ones on the outside. That’s repeated at 7pm in case you miss it. l At 3pm we’ve got the Hot 20 - the countdown of the best-selling tracks in the UK. Then at 5pm join the team at Coldingley for a special Christmas edition of NPR Friday. Plus we’ll have special editions of all your favourite music shows, including Bob and Beyond, NPR Urban, the Love Bug and Classics on NPR throughout the festive period. Check the back page of Inside Time for more details.
National Prison Radio’s Request Show goes LARGE for New Year National Prison Radio will be seeing in 2016 with a supersized five hour Request Show. © David Sandison
Longford Prize 2015 The judges of The Longford Trust include chairman John Podmore, Lord Ramsbotham and Juliet Lyon. Jon Snow announced that this year’s nominations for the Longford Prize, as reported by the judges, contained many eyecatching examples of innovative practice and extraordinary individuals who are making a real difference. The judges were particularly impressed by two nominees one well-established and one of more recent origin, in the Thames Valley Partnership and In 2 Change. But finally they decided to make two awards. The first Longford Prize of 2015 is a Lifetime Achievement Award and went to Eric McGraw of Inside
© David Sandison
Time. The judges’ citation read:
vision into practice.”
“It is hard to think of another individual in recent times who has had more of a direct and sustained impact on the everyday life of prisoners in this country than Eric McGraw. In 1990, he set up Inside Time as a newspaper that gave prisoners a voice. Under his inspired leadership, it has grown from a small quarterly publication, initially viewed with suspicion by the prison service, to become a 56-page, self-financing monthly, with a truly national circulation of 60,000 - lively, challenging, entertaining and respected by everyone with anything to do with prisons. Its indispensability is a testament not just to the brilliance of Eric’s founding vision, but also to the 25 years of hard and sustained work he has given unstintingly to put that
The winner of the second Longford Prize went to PACT - the Prison Advice and Care Trust. The judges’ citation read: “Good research and good practice have both long shown that maintaining strong family ties is one of the key factors in offenders’ rehabilitation and avoidance of reoffending. And for that reason the judges want this year to celebrate the outstanding work of PACT and the thoughtful and wideranging support it provides for the parents, siblings and children of prisoners, who are often the hidden victims of crime.” Eric McGraw and Andy Keen-Downs, Chief Executive of PACT received their prize and a cheque from the Secretary of State.
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It begins at 7pm on New Year’s Eve and will be presented from each of the NPR bases in Brixton, Coldingley and Styal.
NPR is taking part in the Reading Ahead challenge, and this month there’s loads more great programmes to enjoy. We’re taking the multi award winning poet Mr Gee to meet prisoners at HMYOI Deerbolt (1st December). We’ll bring together a reading group inside and outside HMP Drake Hall to discuss the moving memoir ‘The Last Act of Love’ with its writer Cathy Rentzenbrink (8th December). Philosopher and self-help writer Roman Krznaric will be at HMP Erlestoke to explain why empathy can be an incredibly powerful tool (15th December). And we’ll hear how multicultural Leicester has inspired the books of Bali Rai when he meets prisoners at HMYOI Glen Parva (22nd December). You can hear Reading Ahead every Tuesday at midday and 6pm - so don’t forget to tune in! And if you miss any of our Reading Ahead shows, they will be repeated from 28th December. Plus on 24th December you can hear a special takeover day from HMP Pentonville, where an amazing number of prisoners have completed Reading Ahead. If you’re interested in taking part in Reading Ahead, just head to your library. Reading Ahead - every Tuesday on National Prison Radio at midday and 6pm.
NPR Takeover Days for December
It all builds up to midnight, where we reveal which NPR listener has been selected for the final request of 2015.
Twice a month, National Prison Radio goes on the road to feature a different prison on National Prison Radio in our NPR Takeover Days.
After the bongs of Big Ben we’ll be going into the early hours with special mixes from the NPR presenters.
For an entire day, the main programmes come exclusively from that prison.
We need you to send in your requests for NPR’s biggest show of the year. Write to: National Prison Radio, HMP Brixton, London SW2 5XF.
NPR continues its Reading Ahead tour of prisons National Prison Radio has been visiting prisons up and down the country as part of our special series of Reading Ahead programmes. Reading Ahead used to be called the Six Book Challenge and it’s a great way to develop your reading skills. It’s run by the charity The Reading Agency.
l 2 December - HMYOI Warren Hill Day l 16 December - HMYOI Glen Parva Day If you think your prison deserves an NPR Takeover Day, please write to us and tell us why. Write to: National Prison Radio, HMP Brixton, London SW2 5XF.
Comment
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Insidetime December 2015 www.insidetime.org
Mr Cameron, there ought to be more old lags in Whitehall The Prime Minister plans to revolutionise jails so prisoners leave rehabilitated and ready for work. But there are many obstacles, including the government’s own reluctance to employ former offenders, writes Jonathan Aitken
Former MP and prisoner
M
ichael Gove is making waves as justice secretary with his promises of the most radical overhaul of the prison system in more than half a century. Enthusiastically backed by the prime minister and the Tory conference, whose mindset has made a U-turn since the days when Edwina Currie was cheered to the rafters for brandishing a pair of handcuffs, the prospects for a rehabilitation revolution sound hopeful. Yet hope has to be mixed with scepticism. Bridging the gap between rhetoric and reality may be challenging in the face of cost-cutting by the chancellor and traditional sentencing from the judiciary.
“Aitken, stop weeding so fast,” was my first reprimand as a prisoner. It was an indication of the bleak truth that work in most jails is a phoney exercise in time filling. In HMP Standford Hill, where I served much of my sentence, the 2½-hour lunch break, the four 30-minute tea breaks and the three 20-minute smoking breaks (granted equally to nonsmokers) created a “down tools” atmosphere worthy of Peter Sellers in I’m All Right Jack. Yielding to this typical culture of institutional indolence the Prison Service long ago abandoned its own underwhelming target for inmates to do three hours a day of so-called “purposeful activity”. The last annual report of Her Majesty’s chief inspector of prisons gave a “dismal” picture of inadequate facilities for prison work and education. These outcomes for 2014-15 were the worst in a decade with 20% of inmates spending less than two hours a day out of their cells. Creating new industrial workshops or new classrooms and teachers to fulfil the Gove vision of prison academies will be prohibitively expensive in a period when the offender management service’s budget faces cuts of another
This is where compassionate Conservatism and judicial conservatism are likely to meet. Gove made a summer recess visit to Texas (a state better known for its high execution rate than its low reoffending rate) and has returned with some back-of-the-envelope ideas about specialist courts that might pass massively fewer prison sentences. This blue-sky thinking is unlikely to gain popular acceptance unless a completely new consensus on judicial punishments arises from an improbable coalition of opinion shapers ranging from the lord chief justice to the editor of the Daily Mail. So dream on . . . unless there emerges (as it just might) a completely new level of political commitment to penal reform of a kind that has never been applied by a prime minister to this unfashionable backwater of government. I know that Cameron is sincere in his endeavour. But like most prime ministers he will not have time for detail — and that is where the devils abound in our penal system.
Jonathan Aitken
Take, for example, the prime minister’s pledge: “When prisoners are in jail, let’s treat their problems, educate them, put them to work.” Gove went further, promising that prisons would be freed from drugs and turned into places of “hard work and rigorous education”. Three cheers for such ministerial idealism! But the old blocking mechanisms on the wings, on the bench and in the Treasury may be obstacles to the new brooms of compassionate Conservatism.
86,000. For the Gove-Cameron agenda to succeed, a rehabilitation revolution will have to be matched by a sentencing revolution.
The image of prison officers may be stuck in the era of Porridge, with Ronnie Barker and Fulton Mackay, but the best officers know the system is broken and are willing to change it 25% on top of the 30% reduction in the last parliament. New healthcare services will be costly. At present at least a third of prison inmates have untreated mental health problems. There is at present no funding at all in jails for the treatment of alcoholism, which affects 65% of inmates and is linked to 45% of violent crime. Drug abuse programmes have been cut by 40% in recent years. So have many other therapy programmes, from anger management courses to art classes. Such negatives abound, justifying the chief inspector’s gloomy conclusion that prisons are in their “worst [state] for 10 years”. So where are the positives that might make the Cameron-Gove rehabilitation revolution happen? The first priority is to get prison officers firmly behind the reforms. Difficult but doable. The prison service’s image may be stuck with Porridge but its record has been progressive in delivering new practices such as economic benchmarking. The Prison Officers’ Association leadership is becoming more moderate and more professional. The best officers know the system is broken and some are willing to work innovatively to change it. Of all the prison charities I try to help, the one that fills me with greatest hope is Tempus Novo - founded and run by two Yorkshire prison officers to work in rehabilitation on both sides of the prison walls. Steve Freer and Val Wawrosz between them have 50 years of uniformed service as prison officers, most of it in tough nicks such as Wormwood Scrubs and
Armley. Tired of being turnkeys, they now mentor young men on their wings at HMP Leeds who want to go straight. Then they approach businesses in the LeedsBradford-Halifax area and persuade employers, sometimes with Geoffrey Boycottstyle bluntness, to give their lads a second chance. In one year Steve and Val have found 40 jobs for their offenders on release. Tempus Novo’s reoffending rate is a stunningly low 14%. It is being cheered on by local employers, councils, police commissioners and by Andrew Selous, the prisons minister, who wants to launch the scheme nationally. David Cameron made an interesting reference in his conference speech to the cost savings that could be achieved by greater use of electronic tagging. He is right. In January 2000 I was one of Britain’s earliest taggees. My 60 days as an electronically monitored home detention curfew prisoner cost less than £4,000. My previous 150 days as an incarcerated prisoner cost about £45,000. So the scope for cost savings led by electronically monitored non-custodial sentences is considerable. So also are the financial and employment results that might be achieved by Gove’s idea of offering earned early release to prisoners who achieve educational or vocational qualifications. However, these tweaks to the system will barely dent today’s prison population of
The highest single priority in the rehabilitation of ex-offenders is helping them find jobs. Nacro, the crime prevention charity of which I am a trustee, is making a study of the obstacles to such employment. Guess which big employer is the worst discriminator when it comes to rejecting job applications, without an interview, from those who disclose they have a criminal record? Answer: Her Majesty’s government, often by its own human resources departments but almost as a matter of routine by its legion of subcontractors. A small administrative change on job application forms requiring them to comply with the best non-discriminatory employment practices of the likes of Boots, Virgin, Sainsbury’s and the law firm Freshfields could bring at least 5,000 more ex-offenders a year into employment. Such small details need attention by our compassionate Conservative leaders as well as the big policy sweeps of prison reform. The reformers might have to settle for a change in the culture by evolution rather than revolution. Chris Grayling’s underestimated community rehabilitation companies are worth developing. So are the localised initiatives of the best community charities. Turning around a broken penal system will take more time, more public money and more attention to detail than Gove’s speeches have suggested. But he has made a good start. Jonathan Aitken is an author, broadcaster, columnist, lecturer and campaigner for prison reform. He is a former Cabinet Minister, Member of Parliament, and a former prisoner. This article first appeared in The Sunday Times on 18 October 2015. Mr Aitken has kindly given his permission for Inside Time to reproduce it.
Late News It’s almost 40 years since the doors slammed on Norman Stanley Fletcher, but the BBC is to revive it’s classic comedy Porridge. Ronnie Barker privately regarded Porridge as his best work.
Comment
Insidetime December 2015 www.insidetime.org
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‘Treasure in the heart of every man’ In the autumn of a varied professional life I have just passed another milestone. At the end of September after a decade as a member of the Parole Board my time came to an end. By John Samuels Former member of the Parole Board
treasure in the heart of every man, if only you can find it’. Like so many of the prisoners I encountered during my time on the Parole Board, and before that as a Crown Court judge, I drifted into a life of crime by accident. As a barrister I was destined for anything but crime, focusing on a multitude of specialisms and even changing the law on Sunday Trading. (That campaign lasted 12 years, and taught me that no change happens quickly in this country).
COMPENSATION FOR VICTIMS OF CHILD ABUSE
Helping victims plan for the future and achieve justice When I first became a full-time judge, the last
thing I expected to be criminalinspecialist. Our specialist team are committed to helping victims of abuse andwas areaexperts Yet, by what I regard as happy good fortune, bringing action against local authorities, such as social services, and residential I spent the last 12 years of my judicial career institutions, such as children’s homes. exclusively in the Crown Court and was priviOur dedicated team of male and female lawyers have a proven track record with of the leged to chair the Criminal Committee Councilabuse of Circuit Judges. This was at a critical claims. sexual, physical and emotional time, which saw among other developments Child abuse can take a long time to come to terms with and it can be difficult for the introduction of the IPP sentence. (This was victims to speak out about their traumatic experiences. how long agoaccurate despite ourRegardless grave - andofsadly all too the abuse took place, you may still be able to make a claim. - warnings of what the consequences would Anything you say to us will be handled withbe). the utmost levels of professionalism, sensitivity and understanding. © Prisoners Education Trust I also saw the introduction of the drug funding and Jordans recognised by which Child abuse claims are often eligible for pubictreatment and testingareorder (DTTO) subsequently became the drug rehabilitation the legal services commission as one of the few specialist providers of legal aid for uring recent years I had been type of workrequirement in the UK. of the community order. The sitting up to three this days each
D
power regularly to review those subject to a week and have lost count of the DTTO was a revelation to me. A most numbers of prisoners - virtually fortunate meeting with a senior member of all lifers - I interviewed. It must the Center for Court Innovation in New York have been well in excess of 600. What stands led to my discovery of the transformative out are the life stories of so many I met and power of periodic reviews by a judicial officer. the combination circumstances which led to the CallofChristine Sands and team on 01924 868911 A figure of authority, willing the offender to their offending. I have developed an overEmail
[email protected] succeed in overcoming an addiction, is as whelming certainty, as Winston Churchill put Write to Neil Jordan House, Wellington WF13programme 1HL usefulRoad, as any Dewsbury, offending behaviour it so aptly over a century ago, that ‘there is a
COMPENSATION FOR VICTIMS OF CHILD ABUSE Helping victims plan for the future and achieve justice
Our specialist team have already helped victims at the following places;
In Foster Care Leeds Care Homes Wales Care Homes North East Care Homes Manchester Care Homes St Williams, East Yorkshire Medomsley Detention Centre, County Durham
If you have suffered sexual abuse in any institution or whilst in the care of your local authority we may be able to help.
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[email protected]
Write to Neil Jordan House, Wellington Road, Dewsbury, WF13 1HL
the continuing “ oversight of a sentence by the original sentencer can help determine whether or not the objectives anticipated at the time of sentence have been realised
”
yet devised in persuading and assisting desistance from crime. A growing awareness of the benefits which this ‘sentencer supervision’ could achieve inspired me to investigate successful drug courts overseas. This led to visits not only to the United States and Canada but to Norway, Belgium, Ireland and Scotland. Fifteen years on from that discovery, I am now convinced that a similar approach could successfully be applied to those serving custodial sentences here, as well as those being supervised in the community. I am not suggesting that the role of the prison or probation officer should be supplanted by that of the judge or magistrate. However, the continuing oversight of a sentence by the original sentencer can help determine whether or not the objectives anticipated at the time of sentence have been realised. Incidentally too, it often encourages an offender to make the effort to alter his behaviour precisely because he recognises that by so doing it might result in a positive modification of his sentence plan. Such a change might well transform the way the judiciary and the magistracy relate to offenders in this country. More important, it
might well unlock the possibility of transformative positive change for those offenders too. If we saw it introduced I would - with modesty - regard it as a very satisfying personal legacy. With the passage of time, so much spent waiting in the Gate Lodges of so many of Her Majesty’s prisons, it is perhaps inevitable that I have also formed a view of how most effectively we might tackle what by common consent are the other serious problems still faced by the prison system. My own shopping list of remedies would certainly include:
1
A radical reduction in the overall numbers of those who must necessarily be detained in custody.
2
Exploring the extent to which, where a custodial sentence is inevitable, the prisoner should have certainty in relation to his release date. Uncertainty as to whether and, if so, when release will occur merely undermines all efforts to rehabilitate.
3
(The careful reader will have noted my reference to the prisoner above as ‘him’. Save in exceptional circumstances women should not be detained in a custodial establishment at all.)
4
Increased dialogue between a prisoner, a prisoner’s legal representative and those responsible for the management of the prisoner while in custody, from the moment when sentence is passed.
5
Improving the opportunities for sentencers routinely to engage with the progress of those whom they have sentenced and, perhaps, reducing the need for so lengthy a custodial term in the light of good progress.
6
Enhancing the opportunity for prisoners who are to be returned to the community after lengthy periods of absence in closed conditions to experience a progressively normal environment, including opportunities for work, family engagement, vocational training and structured education in locations which are, as far as possible, much more like normal everyday life than a remote open prison.
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Facilitating the growth of restorative justice within a custodial environment, and enabling a genuinely successful restorative justice meeting to affect the length of the prisoner’s sentence. If all, or indeed just some, of these were to be secured in the near future we could have within our grasp a very different criminal justice world from that which I first discovered, more than half a century ago. His Honour Judge John Samuels QC is Chairman of the Criminal Justice Alliance
Comment
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Insidetime December 2015 www.insidetime.org
Witch hunts are very real Alan Morris explores the reality of the effect of bad legislation
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olicitor Peter Garsden asserts that the analogy between the Salem witch hunts and current historic sex abuse cases is ‘clearly wrong’ and concludes that ‘In a civilised country with all the rules of evidence there are…a witch hunt by the police clearly could not happen ‘ (‘Another trial by media’ - October issue). I beg to differ. Witch hunts scarred the histories of Europe and the New Territories in North America in the 17th and 18th centuries. Typically, as at Salem in the eastern colonies of North America, a teenage girl would accuse somebody in the community of putting a spell on her. The accusation would usually be accompanied by lurid sexual detail. The first accusation would lead to many more girls coming forward to testify to demonic sexual experiences. During these testimonies the girls would become hysterical, foam at the mouth
and fall down in convulsions. No further evidence, beyond multiple allegations, was required for a conviction, which usually led to the execution of the accused. Zealous prosecutors would trawl the settlements encouraging ‘victims’ of witchcraft to come forward. Those accused were often sad old women or those in the community who were in any way a little unusual or different; and then there were those against whom someone bore a grudge or whose demise would yield the accuser financial gain. In the 1950s the American playwright, Arthur Miller, wrote his play ‘The Crucible’, depicting a typical visitation of a puritan community by a zealous witch hunter. Miller wrote the play in order to hold up a mirror to a society almost paralysed by fear of communism, in which Senator McCarthy had set himself the task of rooting out communist sympathisers from
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every level of American society. Universities, unions, entertainment, the arts - no one was safe; anyone could be accused and ruined, no matter how successful, no matter how valuable or well-loved. An accusation was enough to destroy anyone. And such were the fates of nuclear physicist Edward Teller and the singer Paul Robeson. Mister Garsden’s confident assertion that ‘clearly’ a witch hunt couldn’t happen these days is glib. It happened in 1950s America, it happened in Chairman Mao’s China (when under the Cultural Revolution the academic and professional class was culled); it happened similarly in Pol Pot’s Cambodia, it happened in Nazi Germany and in Stalinist Russia, it happened in the 1790s in France in the wake of the revolution. Whenever a society becomes deeply troubled or insecure the scapegoating phenomenon erupts as a mechanism to express and satisfy communal anxiety.
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In France, in the wake of the revolution, a country (renowned for its literary giants, its scientists and philosophers) became prey to ‘The Terror’, a campaign in which tens of thousands of innocents went to the guillotine, denounced because they were not sufficiently in tune with the revolution, not sufficiently committed to the quest for ‘civic virtue’. The slaughter was driven by Robespierre but enthusiastically assisted by similarly possessed zealots across the land. Once again, a mere allegation made out of spite or in hope of financial reward, was sufficient to lose anyone their head. In many ways ‘The Terror’ in 1790s France makes a better comparison with the current pursuit of sex abuse allegations than the Salem witch hunts, because, while aristocratic abuses did occur in pre-revolutionary France, most rational people would agree that witches (as understood in the 17th and 18th centuries) do not exist. The Bourbon monarchy of Louis XVI had to end; the old order had to be reformed; but the noble revolutionary ideals of ‘liberty, equality and brotherhood’ gave way to a bloody obsession in which the equally noble ideals of justice and truth were forgotten. The eradication of the all too real phenomenon of sexual abuse in the UK is a noble goal, but, increasingly, many social commentators are beginning to believe that future generations will look back on this moment in our history and judge that the equally noble pursuits of justice and truth were abandoned in our society’s anxiety over the national loss of sexual chastity.
Alan Morris is currently resident at HMP Wymott
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The Human Rights Act v A Bill of Rights (possibly) implied repeal. An entrenched Bill of Rights would secure individual’s rights and freedoms and create rights which would be less vulnerable to legislation that can take away rights, similar to that of the Charter of Fundamental Rights created by the European Union, which incidentally, the UK opted out from. If the UK opted out of the HRA, concern is that, Article 6(2) of the Treaty on the European Union provides that the EU members shall respect fundamental rights, as guaranteed by the ECHR, as general principles of Community law. Under Article 7 of the TEU the Council could decide to suspend the rights of Member States under the Treaty, including voting rights in the Council if a Member State breaches the values referred in Article 2. The ECJ in Nold v Commission (case 26/69) [1969] ECR 419 acknowledges the importance of fundamental rights within the legal order, paragraph 13 and its influence lives on today in Article 6(3).
by Michael Downey
I
t is well established that the Conservative Party is making argument to repeal the Human Rights Act 1998 and replace it with a UK Bill of Rights. Some of the most important principles upon which human rights law is based are expressed and given legal recognition such as, the ‘Magna Carta’ in 1215 (chapter 29, of which is still in force), the Bill of Rights 1688, which contains the famous ban on ‘cruel and unusual punishments’ were used by the Council of Europe when drafting the European Convention on Human Rights. When the ECHR afforded further effect in domestic law by the Human Rights Act 1998, it represented a minimum guarantee of fundamental rights in the UK and Member States and can be relied on by any person, non-governmental organisation or group of individuals. Under the convention member states of the Council of Europe agree to secure for everyone in their territories the rights and freedoms listed in the convention and agree to abide by the judgements of the ECHR, a court created by the Council. The absolute rights are those provided for in Article 2, 4, 7 and 14. All the others are subject to limitations. In particular, the rights provided under Article 8, 9, 10 and 11 are subject to legal restriction. Public authorities have been greatly affected by the inception of the HRA due to the requirements of s.6. Under s.6, it is unlawful for a public authority to act in a way that is incompatible with a convention right. The strength of the convention system lies in the right of individual applications by which individual victims of a violation of convention rights can take their own government to court. However, some key rights were missing from the ECHR (in contrast to EU law, there is no express right to enter another country either to take up residence or to seek asylum) and some of the existing rights are weak (e.g. Art 14 has no protection from discrimination of sexual orientation or disability). Also, some rights under the ECHR are not absolute. Where a state finds itself unable to comply with specific articles, it is possible under Art 15 for it to ‘derogate’ from them (with exception to Art 2, 3, 4(1) and 7). A new Bill of Rights could build on all of the
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Doubt and criticism about human rights is concerned that human rights law narrow the scope for society to debate and decide issues in democratic and participative ways. Proponents of this view support the idea of human rights but doubt whether legal judicial mechanisms are the best way forward.
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UK’s obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights by containing a more extensive list of rights, including social and economic rights. Justice would no longer be discretionary and inconsistent but guaranteed by a Bill of Rights without interference. Opponents see s.3 of the HRA as undermining other forms of political participation and democratic decision taking, as words can be read into a parliamentary statue, by the judiciary, in order to achieve convention compliance, and if it is found to be impossible a court of sufficient seniority can issue a declaration of incompatibility under s.4. Statues in a new Bill of Rights would be drafted with a set of fundamental principles which UK courts could uphold against official decisions that infringe liberties in mind and award damages where appropriate. However, this
The choice of the HRA as the enforcement mechanism for the ECHR means that the convention is incorporated into domestic law. It could be removed by simple method of repeal, as argued for currently by the Conservative Party. Entrenchment of the HRA was rejected in order to maintain parliamentary sovereignty; under this doctrine, a purported Bill of Rights would in fact have the same status in that it would be vulnerable to express and
To repeal the HRA (as intended), or create a new Bill of Rights would undermine the existing principle of the rule of law affirmed by s.1 of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 and widely recognised in laws of other countries around the world, of much of its virtue.
Michael Downey is currently resident at HMP Wymott
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could be seen as unnecessary, as the range of remedies available under the HRA is the same as in any ordinary UK court case (apart from criminal sanctions), which includes injunctions and specific performance.
Around 800 million citizens and 47 Member States are protected by the convention rights. The great philosopher Spinoza once said that law was the mathematics of freedom. This has been calculated by professors such as professor A V Dicey in the ‘rule of law’ which has been universally accepted and, to which ‘the convention draws its inspiration’ (Engel v The Netherlands (No 1) (1976) 1 EHRR 647. 672, para, 69).
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Insidetime December 2015 www.insidetime.org
Jonathan King writes Appreciating the good things about being alive
my saved pension cash”. The first Christmas No1 I remember was Emile Ford and “What Do You Want To Make Those Eyes At Me For?” 1959, I was a child. Of course the era of my generation really began in 1963 when The Beatles had the Christmas No1 with “I Want To Hold Your Hand”. Tom Jones was No1 in 1966 with “The Green Green Grass of Home”. I hated that. I think the most famous ever Christmas chart topper was 1971’s “Ernie” by Benny Hill, a delightful comedy smash although I suspect, in 2015, Benny might not be battling Two Ton Ted in Teddington.
A
Freddie Mercury was top in 1975 (Bohemian Rhapsody) but the rot set in with Band Aid’s ghastly Christmas hit (1984) - because it was for charity. The era of Christmas hits selling on quality (even if not my particular taste in quality) was over. It became a marketing ploy. Seeing how well it worked for Bob Geldof and charity, big corporations began using it to promote their priorities - sometimes decent artistes but often simply the girlfriend or boyfriend of the Label Boss.
s we come up for the biggest moment in the Music Industry Calendar - Christmas - I thought we should look at the changes in the saga of the Christmas Num-
out on vinyl singles but many bought them for relations too and a huge quantity of albums sold - to people who entered the shops and saw those wonderful old twelve inch sleeves in the bins.
In days gone by, when I was a young lad, this was a major event because it got loads of media coverage during the traditional great period of music sales. Not only did people splash
“Oh, Granny loves Jim Reeves”, punks would say, and would splash out some of their meagre pay packet. Or “little Arthur the Skin Head (is that what they call them?) loves reggae (or is it Reggie?). I’d better buy that with
ber One.
for those of us who remember the golden days, the fascinating media explosion had disappeared. Last Christmas Ben Haenow was No1 - who remembers him, let alone the X Factor song? Who will be No1 at Christmas 2015? Sadly the majority answer would be “Who cares?” I miss the excitement of that time. But everything must change. More people than ever buy music these days but they pay less and care very little. That time of cherished copies, frayed around the edges, packed with memories of the girl or boy of the moment, of the taste and smells of our youth, of the dreams and hopes for the future - gone. In superficial world 2015, when society is governed by slogans and headlines, where satisfaction is simple and short, our species has altered. Which voice will dominate our seasonal ears? Probably Bing Crosby dreaming of a “White Christmas”. From 1942.
And with the advent of downloads, the era of buying music as a present disappeared. Granny didn’t have iTunes so there was little point in buying her a song. A few still managed to grab the prize - Cliff Richard’s “Mistletoe and Wine” in 1988 for example - but the magic had gone by the 90s. The Spice Girls era was followed by The X Factor era and even the Anti-X Factor era but
Just another baby? We do not know how many babies have been born since Jesus’ birth over 2000 years ago! (Apparently, there will have been more than 135 million births in 2015.) However, we can be sure that Jesus was not just another baby and not like any other man. We can be certain of that by the very fact that His birth is still celebrated more than 2000 years later. Sadly, many people fail to recognise that it is the birth of Jesus we commemorate at Christmas. Clearly, Jesus was someone very special and His birth must be one of the most momentous events in the whole of history. Perhaps the most momentous? But today, more than 2000 years later, the most crucial question for us is, ‘Who was Jesus?’ or, indeed, ‘Who is Jesus?’, for Christians believe that He rose from the dead after being crucified and is now seated at the right hand of God the Father in heaven. ‘What do Christians believe?’ and ‘What is the point of life?’ are questions which are too important to be ignored. These, and several others, are considered in the booklet, ‘Good Question’. Please contact us for a copy.
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Formal complaints the prisoners’ prerogative Inside Time’s Paul Sullivan looks at the Prison Complaints system wishes to sue NOMS or a member of staff in the Small Claims Court they must follow the internal procedure first or the Court is likely to strike it out. Referrals to the Prisons Ombudsman must be done quickly and copies of all relevant paperwork, copies of complaint forms and any other evidence must be included. Prisoners can write to the Ombudsman under Confidential Access in a sealed envelope and do not need to affix a stamp.
Writing the complaint
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any Prison Inspection reports pick up on the fact that very few prisoners have any faith in the formal complaints procedure, with complaints either going missing or getting inappropriate responses. The Prison Service itself says; ‘An effective system for dealing with prisoner complaints underpins much of prison life. It helps to ensure that the Prison Service meets its obligation of dealing fairly, openly and humanely with prisoners. It also helps staff by instilling in prisoners greater confidence that their needs and welfare are being looked after, reducing tension and promoting better relations.’ Prisons dislike complaints because not only does it take time and effort to investigate them and apply proper responses but they also permanently register a problem which can’t be hidden from the Prison Inspectors, Independent Monitoring Board or the Prisons Ombudsman. PSI 2012-02 which deals with the complaints system acknowledges that answering complaints properly and fairly actually reduces the number of complaints and helps maintain a ‘prison’s equilibrium’. In order to get a proper resolution it is important that the prisoner not only follows the correct protocols but also ensures his/her complaint is legitimate and clearly explained with evidence. In 2012 the system was changed to a two stage system and the old three day target for a response to the first stage was abolished although a prisoner must get an interim reply within five days if a full answer hasn’t been provided in that time. It is always best if a prisoner tries to resolve an issue by speaking to staff or by submitting a wing application. The prisoner could submit
an application asking to speak to a ‘senior governor’ about a problem. If the response is negative then that application response can become part of the evidence for a formal complaint to show that the prisoner has tried to resolve the problem informally - very useful if the matter goes all the way to the Ombudsman. Complaint forms (COMP1) must be freely available and boxes for completed forms placed in prominent positions (but not outside wing offices). Prisoners who have problems submitting a written complaint must be given assistance which might include recording the complaint on cassette. Prisoners may submit a complaint in their own first language and leaflets explaining the procedure are available in 19 languages. Complaints must be submitted within three months of an incident. If a complaint is about the conduct of an officer then it can be submitted as ‘Confidential Access’ and should only be read by a governor or senior staff. If a prison thinks a prisoner is submitting too many complaints it can limit them to one a day but cannot bar a prisoner from making complaints. Responses must address the issues raised. If a complaint is not upheld the prisoner must be given the full reasons why. Where a prisoner has moved after an incident it is their current prison who must answer the complaint. If a prisoner is unhappy with a response the first line of action is to place an appeal (which must be answered by a member of staff at a higher level than the original respondent), followed by either a discussion with the Independent Monitoring Board or by referring the complaint to the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman. If the complaint concerns loss of or damage to property and/or the prisoner
The complaint should start with a short description of what is being complained about including dates, times, location and any witnesses. Explain what happened and why you think this is wrong (quote any prison rules you are aware of). If your complaint is about loss of property get copies of your Prop card to use as evidence. Be concise and polite, just state facts and not your opinion or feelings. Finish by explaining what you want done about what you are complaining about. Complaints can be about actual occurrences,
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failure by the prison or staff, bullying, equality, regime issues, visits, food, exercise etc. There should be no intimidation of prisoners making complaints or ‘revenge’ actions. Should you feel discriminated against because of your complaint then place another complaint to that effect.
Sample complaint
“On 5th August 2015 officers searched my cell whilst I was at Education, without telling me, and not providing me with an opportunity to safeguard my legal privileged paperwork. This is against the Prison Rules and Prison Service Instructions. I want an explanation as to why this happened, assurance that my privileged paperwork was not read and an undertaking that there will not be a recurrence.” When asked by prison inspectors, of those who had made a complaint, if they thought it was dealt with fairly, a sample of 12 recent inspections (below) showed that an average of only about 17% of prisoners considered their complaints were dealt with fairly by the prison. Altcourse Belmarsh Glen Parva Hollesley Bay Long Lartin North Sea Camp Northumberland Oakwood Pentonville Thameside Wakefield Wormwood Scrubs
16% 15% 21% 20% 22% 21% 17% 18% 9% 17% 22% 12%
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No Smoking Former prisoner Kirk Brown says the smoking ban is necessary was also clear, I did not want it happening while I was still serving at Her Majesty’s smoke filled pleasure. I am a non-smoker. However, I do know that if you want to make a prisoner hellfire cranky, you take away his tobacco.
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recent court ruling has brought the prison “Smoking Ban” in England and Wales back into the spotlight. I always said that the ban was good and necessary. I
I only served fourteen months, but I could always see it was going to be a significant short-term problem. I preferred to put up with second hand smoke rather than be around whenever the government finally got around to enforcing the ban. For that matter, most staff smoke, and cannot be bothered to enforce a ban. Ministry and HMP officials often make statements like: “Prisoners can’t smoke in communal areas - only in their cells and outside in the exercise yards.” Those statements, as with most MoJ statements, bear little relation to what actually happens in prison. In similar fashion, the hysteria and media hype created by these same people the warnings of prison riots and instability - is never likely to materialise either. Ever since Big Tobacco and governments stopped lying about the risks associated with smoking, the Western world has been both progressive and unrelenting in banning it. There is no question that smoking should have been properly banned in UK prisons years ago. Other
places, including some states in America, Canada and New Zealand have managed to ban smoking - without realising the prison service’s vision of Armageddon and pandemonium. Recent riots in Melbourne which reportedly involved 300 inmates were supposedly in protest over a soon to be enforced smoking ban across the state of Victoria. This type of report stokes the fears of the ministry and prison officials, as 80% of UK inmates smoke. They fear it will bring instability in an already fractured prison system. In Thameside, I did the numbers on my own wing. There, around 95% of offenders were smokers. In fact, Thameside is almost exclusively double bunks, but the fast track to being in a room on your own is being a non-smoker. The MoJ conducted an analysis of the health effects of smoking in prisons. The MoJ has declined to release that 2007 report requested under the Freedom of Information Act. They declined on the basis that it, “could lead to an inaccurate impression, causing damage to staff (HMP) morale, which would likely prejudice the maintenance and security and good order of prisons.” It does make one wonder what could be in that report that would have such a detrimental effect on staff morale. Successive ministers have delayed or only paid lip service to implementation plans, however a recent court case has now forced the issue. The government must finally act. The judge in his decision said, “As I have already said in my judgement, the secretary of state (at that time Chris Grayling) proceeded on an understanding of the law which is wrong. Accordingly, the
Secretary of State would be expected to reconsider his decision in accordance with the law.” Implementation of the smoking ban was and is never going to be easy. Prison governors and unions have warned repeatedly that a ban could trigger serious control problems apart from addiction, as tobacco is the main currency among inmates. They fail to mention that tins of tuna are also common currency in prison. Thanks to this court case Michael Gove, the new Minister for Justice, has for the first time on behalf of a government, announced a pilot scheme that will begin in early 2016. It will include eight prisons, starting with Parc in Bridgend, Wales (G4S) where Paul Black’s case originated. Whatever fears ministry officials, staff and prisoners have about the ban there are two things that will mitigate all the predicted horribleness. First, the problem is only short-term. If the ban works, most smokers will be through the worst of nicotine withdrawal in a matter of months. People will simply adapt, as hard as that might be at first. This problem will be over in relatively short order. It is true many prisoners will pick up the gauntlet and stop smoking for their own benefit. That brings us to the second problem: not everyone will stop smoking. It is foolhardy to think that a ban will simply stop smoking in prison. Since the MoJ and HMPs can’t stop heroine, steroids, marijuana, hash, Tramadol, Valium, etc. from getting into prisons, how the hell are they ever going to stop cigarettes from getting in? It will just become one more part of a black market that no government, minister or HMP has ever come to grips with.
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Russia to legalise prison beatings: could the same happen here? make their beds properly, or an undone button, for example”, said Lyudmila Alexeyeva, the head of the Moscow-Helsinki Group of human rights campaigners. Stories of torture by prison and police officials are common in Russia, reports The Times. According to a human rights website, at least 169 people have died in police holding cells since the start of this year. Foul play is suspected in many of these cases.
by John O’Connor
R
ussia is on its way to legalising the beating and torture of prisoners. Supported by MPs from President Putin’s ruling United Russia party, the second reading of this proposed legislation was passed recently in the Duma (Parliament) by an overwhelming 240 votes to 59 against. With such enormous support amongst parliamentarians (at least in Russia), could similar legislation in this country appeal to the “hang ‘em and flog ‘em” brigade of MPs within David Cameron’s government? It seems that various aspects of Russia’s totalitarian rule of law already appeal to the British government, so the attractions of this latest initiative by Russia’s rulers shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand. Presently the British government is proposing new laws to allow the tracking of everyone’s web and social media use in a way currently only legal in Russia. Already the police in this country have lost all credibility in their use and abuse of existing powers to snoop on people’s right to privacy when “making enquiries” under the Regulation of Investigative Powers Act (RIPA). And under the government’s proposed Investigatory Powers Bill many of the features already enshrined in Russian law will be mirrored in British legislation.
This year an inmate of a Moscow prison died after boiling water was poured down his throat by another prisoner, allegedly on the orders of prison staff. An inquiry was ordered six months after his death, when journalists brought it to public attention. In the meantime Russia’s prison authorities have sought to calm fears. Activists say the proposed legislation violates European law on prisoners rights.
Liverpool Echo, Gary Murphy is among exprisoners who have spoken out following a damning report in which prison inspectors told of a “concerning” practice regarding the use of balaclavas. In November an independent inspection team revealed how they saw prison officers wearing balaclavas enter a different, unknown, inmate’s cell and restrain him before leaving him naked.
So having confirmed the extent to which Russian law already attracts Britain’s lawmakers, would they go as far as to legalise the beating and torture of inmates in Britain jails? The more cynical of prisoners and ex-prisoners would say there’s no need for any such law for presently beating and torture happen daily throughout the 135 jails in England and Wales. Not that such inhuman behaviour is part of official Prison Service policy. Far from it. But undoubtedly it occurs everyday in a variety of forms and degrees of seriousness, sometimes so severe it allegedly results in death.
But there’s nothing new in reports of prisoners being subjected to beatings and often what amounts to torture. In September of this year The Independent reported that 25 prison officers from Wormwood Scrubs are to be charged with offences linked to assaults on inmates after the biggest criminal investigation at a jail. Forty-three serving and former officers were under investigation during the Scotland Yard inquiry earlier this year. Fifteen officers were suspended, including a junior governor, when the allegations came to light.
As recently as last October a former Walton prison inmate claimed officers wearing balaclavas beat him in his cell. According to the
The charges follow allegations of beatings and mistreatment by inmates at the west London prison. A Scotland Yard spokeswoman said : “We can now confirm that we have today
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received advice from the Crown Prosecution Service, which is that there is sufficient evidence to charge 25 prison officers with offences relating to assault on prisoners.” Most of the allegations relating to a period from January 1997 to May 1998. The Prison Service has also settled a further 32 cases without admitting prisoners’ claims of violence were true. It has paid out £1.7m so far - although this figure could become much higher. Wormwood Scrubs has been dogged by allegations of brutality for years, but only one case had been proved - until the admissions now revealed. The documents show that prison officers tried to cover up assaults by bringing false disciplinary charges against inmates. The Prison Service has also admitted senior officials in the jail and in management failed to investigate assaults properly. If legislation being proposed in Russia becomes law, could this Russian initiative foretell what could also happen in England and Wales? “If this bill becomes law in its current form, it will mean prison staff will be able to beat a prisoner for the most minor of violations. A failure to
This itself is cause for more concern in the light of attempts by the British government to replace the Human Rights Act 1998 with a Bill of Rights which may leave prisoners vulnerable to officially sanctioned abuse. The government’s present position regarding reform remains ambivalent. On the one hand Michael Gove, the Justice Minister, says Britain is to remain signed-up to the controversial European Court of Human Rights. But on the other hand will no longer slavishly abide by the rulings of Strasbourg judges. Under the new British Bill of Rights, the UK’s own courts would have the final say where there is a clash between the Government and Europe. Instead of the extension of democracy, the rule of law and order and human rights being promoted by those countries which most embody these principles (including Britain), it now seems our politicians may be tempted to adopt the values of totalitarian regimes notorious for their abuse of human rights, especially in the treatment of its prisoners. John O’Connor is a former prisoner and London representative of Restore Support Network, a registered charity which mentors/befriends older ex-prisoners (
[email protected])
ON YOUR SIDE Being on your side is one thing. Fighting your corner is another. We do both. • Miscarriage of Justice experts • Defending false allegations • Crown Court advocacy • CCRC applications • Prison law specialists • Parole applications • IPP and Lifer reviews • Adjudications • Recalls • Sentence progression We offer Legal Aid and Fixed Fees along with a nationwide service. For more information contact us using the details below.
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Living in role The treatment of transsexual people in prison has been in the news recently. But it’s not a new issue and there is very detailed policy from NOMS about it. It can’t deal with every individual’s personal situation, but the principles are clear PRISON REFORM TRUST
Peter Dawson Deputy Director
I
’m holding the fort this month, following Francesca Cooney’s departure from PRT. Her successor, Ryan Harman, starts in December, and I’m delighted that Inside Time have agreed that we should continue this column. The first job I did which involved prisons was over 25 years ago, in what was then the Prison Department of the Home Office. I remember being taken aback when one of the first issues that crossed my desk was about how to look after transsexual prisoners. It was the first of many reminders that prisons are whole communities, and that people in prison retain all civil rights that are not taken away “expressly or by implication”. Things have moved on a good deal since those days, but it’s encourag-
ing to see that statement of principle reasserted near the beginning of the detailed Prison Service Instruction (PSI 7/2011), which deals with a wide range of issues affecting transsexual prisoners. The PSI starts with definitions. It says that a transsexual person is someone who lives or proposes to live in the gender opposite to the one assigned at birth. The gender in which the transsexual person lives or proposes to live is known as that person’s acquired gender. A transsexual person may or may not have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria. The Gender Recognition Act 2004 provides for transsexual people to apply to the Gender Recognition Panel for legal recognition of their acquired gender through the issue of a gender recognition certificate (GRC). This PSI contains guidance on the care, management and treatment of transsexual prisoners - both with and without gender recognition
certificates. It covers medical treatment, living in an acquired gender role, and location in the estate, as well as other issues. So far as medical treatment is concerned, the starting point is that establishments must provide prisoners who have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria with the same quality of care (including counselling, pre-operative and post-operative care and continued access to hormone treatment) that they would expect to receive from the NHS if they had not been sent to prison. Whether treatment has started before coming to prison, or is requested after reception, the prison must consult with a specialist clinician, and consider referral to a forensic psychiatrist. In regard to “living in role”, when a prisoner proposes to undergo, is undergoing or has undergone a process (or part of a process) for the purpose of reassigning their sex by changing physiological or other attributes of sex, the prisoner is considered to have the protected characteristic of gender reassignment for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010 and must not be discriminated against or harassed because of this. An establishment must permit prisoners who have demonstrated that they wish to begin gender reassignment to live permanently in their acquired gender. Where a young person under 18 is concerned, the establishment must be satisfied that this is consistent with its duty to promote the young person’s wellbeing. It was the issue of location which hit the headlines recently. The PSI is clear. Prison Rule 12(1) provides that women prisoners should normally be kept separate from male prisoners.
In most cases prisoners must therefore be located according to their gender as recognised under UK law. Where there are issues to be resolved, a case conference must be convened and a multi-disciplinary risk assessment should be completed to determine how best to manage a transsexual prisoner’s location. A male to female transsexual person with a gender recognition certificate may be refused location in the female estate only on security grounds - in other words, only when it can be demonstrated that other women with an equivalent security profile would also be held in the male estate. A female to male transsexual person with a gender recognition certificate may not be refused location in the male estate. This is because there are no security grounds that can prevent location in the male estate. But even where there is no gender recognition certificate, if a person requests transfer to a prison in the opposite estate their request must be considered and referred outside the establishment for a decision. There is much more detailed information contained in the PSI and if you are affected by these issues it is crucial that you and prison staff are aware of it. The PRT advice line has helped a number of people in this situation over the years, and we are pleased to be contacted if you need us. You can write to the Prison Reform Trust’s advice team at FREEPOST ND6125 London EC1B 1PN. Our free information line is open Monday, Tuesday and Thursday 3.30-5.30. The number is 0808 802 0060 and does not need to be put on your pin.
BITTER P ILLS YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE TO SWALLOW
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or mentally, as a result you could be due 1000’s of pounds in compensation. Negligence may not just affect you now it could have painful or expensive
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Prison Night a success, thanks to your contributions! Noel Smith
O
n Saturday the 7th of November, in a unique countdown, Channel 4’s ‘Prison Night’ revealed the number one prison movie, as voted for by British inmates, and explored the truth behind the world’s most memorable prison films. Prisoners voted for their favourite films after the production company placed an advert in the pages of Inside Time. Several ex-prisoners appeared on the show, including Inside Time’s Noel Smith, Shaun Attwood (who spent time in Sherriff Joe Arpaio’s infamous Arizona jail), William ‘Billy’ Hayes (on whom the film Midnight Express was based) and the egregious Sherriff Joe himself even made an appearance. As most of the ex-prisoners confirmed, prison is a violent and brutal place where the food is ‘rank’ and prisoners cherish any little victory they win over the system. Sherriff Joe, on the other hand, advised - ‘If you let them treat the place like a goddamn hotel, then it’s obvious they’ll be back’ (this is the man who reintroduced
1
The Shawshank Redemption
3 The Green Mile
2
Dead Man Walking
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prison chain-gangs to America). There was a very good response from Inside Time readers and excerpts from prisoner’s letters were displayed on the screen throughout the programme, though with names and details blanked out. It may come as no surprise to learn that the prisoner’s favourite film contains both a successful prison escape and a con giving it to the parole board straight and then being released after many years - The Shawshank Redemption. Other films that made the top ten include; Bronson, Midnight Express, The Green Mile, Scum, The Great Escape, Cool Hand Luke, Stir Crazy, Escape From Alcatraz and that old BBC favourite Porridge (two films were made based on the programme). No real surprises there, but I found it surprising that some classic British prison films did not make the final cut. For example, I and many others, have long cherished the 1979 biopic ‘McVicar’, based on the autobiography of London robber and prison escapee John ‘Mr Muscles’ McVicar. It depicts a pretty accurate picture of life in British prisons in the 1960s and features a nail-biting escape from HMP Durham’s special security unit. Also missing from the line-up was a more recent prison film that reveals the harsh reality of modern day British jails - Starred Up. On the whole it was good to see a national television channel put the spotlight on prisons, if only for the sake of entertainment. Well done to everyone who took the trouble to write in and vote.
Canter Levin & Berg 1 Temple Square, 24 Dale Street, Liverpool, L2 5RL
Education
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Want to be self employed or increase your employability? This adds up... A pilot project, provided with OLASS funding from Weston College, in partnership with Sage UK, the software giant in Newcastle, entitled ‘Computerised Accounting for Business’ is successfully running in Dartmoor Prison.
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his pioneering project was tailored for use within the prison education department, with funto-do case studies, examples, activities and quizzes which take the pain out of ‘bookkeeping’ - traditionally seen as dull, boring and difficult. Fiona Bradley, lead consultant for Sage on the project, worked closely with Vickie Keast, Team Leader from Weston College, at Dartmoor to ensure the learning materials were easy to use and suitable for delivery within prisons. Fiona commented about the project after her visits to Dartmoor saying ‘I was struck by the enthusiasm of the learners undertaking the qualifications, how supportive they were of one another and how keen they were to progress. One learner even said that he would not proceed with his planned transfer nearer to home, if he could stay at Dartmoor to take the next level of the course.’ This highly practical course, which replaced the Business Course, starts at Level One and gently progresses through to Level Two and if required to a diploma at Level Three. There is also a similar payroll course available, for those interested in running their own business upon
than the purchases and overheads to create a profit). Learners comment about the course, ‘As prisoners we have concerns over employment upon release, and this course will give us the confidence to be self-employed and become a self-sufficient member of the community. The skills gained are invaluable and actually helps our future prospects. We learn the importance of financial management, how to manage business accounts and data using the industry standard SAGE accounting software, which we also get to use upon release’. Sage UK are immensely proud of being able to work with the Weston College and their learners on this project and would like to extend their thanks to Dartmoor Prison, its staff and enthusiastic learners who are just a pleasure to work with.
Dartmoor prison: learners hard at work on the next level of their course release and who may want to employ others. Every learner is provided with their own copy of Sage 50 Accounts Professional Software (which is time limited) and the course can also be provisioned using a Sage Educational site licence. The students progress through the
Increase your employability
workbooks supplied by Sage UK whilst also learning the underpinning knowledge of how the software is processing the information. Simply put, this moves the learner comprehensively through the administration of a business to understanding the formation of accounts (and how income must be greater
For more information about the Sage UK business courses and the partnership that Sage enjoys with awarding bodies using OLASS funding, talk to your education department and ask them to contact Fiona Bradley -
[email protected]
Get hands-on experience with Sage Accounts software and increase your employment prospects by taking a Computerised Accounting for Business course and gain a Sage UK Accredited qualification. in partnership with QCF awarding bodies. Contact us,
[email protected] for more information. To sign up for the course, submit an application (prison service only)
32
Education
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Inside Time, the prisoners’ newspaper: 25 years of news and views behind bars Last month, the Founder and Editor of Inside Time, Eric McGraw gave PET’s Annual Lecture. The lecture, on Monday 2 November 2015, was followed by a discussion with a panel and audience question and answer session. And finally - as many have said - I believe courts should use women’s centres in the community, not prisons. Eight in every ten women entering prison under an immediate custodial sentence had committed non-violent offences. Women’s centres are known to be much more effective than prison in helping women change their lives and reduce reoffending. In bringing my remarks to a conclusion may I relate the story of a young boy who was on holiday in Ayrshire, Scotland.
W
hen I look back to the birth and early development of Inside Time - coming as it did just after the Strangeways Prison riots - in 1990 it is a story of good news and bad news.
He found himself one day walking across some rough farmland and ended up mired to his waist in a bog. He was so terrified that he started to shout and scream for help. Fortunately for him a farmer from a nearby smallholding heard the boy and rescued him from what could have been a slow and terrifying death.
The good news was that we had the full and enthusiastic support of the Prison Service. And so the Newspaper was launched in December 1990 assisted by BBC Breakfast Time from Grendon Prison.
The next morning the boy’s father went to thank the farmer for saving his son’s life. He met the farmer’s son and was immediately struck by their poverty. He said to the farmer I’d like to give your son the same level of education my son will enjoy.
The bad news was that the then Governor of Lincoln Prison banned the paper and urged all prison governors by electronic mail to do the same. This was the same prison Governor who had just won a Butler Trust Award and was presented with the Award by Princess Anne at Buckingham Palace. I remember attending the ceremony and I made a note of the citation. It said: he was ‘commended for his open door policy’ - a strange citation for a prison Governor - I thought at the time. The good news was that in our second issue we were able to publish his picture receiving the Award from Princess Anne together with the citation and his letter telling us he was banning the newspaper.
© Prisoners Education Trust
fortune was to persuade the novelist Rachel Billington to join us. One of her first interviews Rachel did for us was with a man called Tony Blair who at the time was Shadow Home Secretary and she noted he had just been voted ‘the most popular politician’. Mr Blair told her: ‘It would be very foolish of the Government to believe that the more people you have in prison the lower the crime rate.’ Wise words indeed ... unfortunately the prison population increased dramatically during his time as Prime Minister.
Ministers have come and gone. They have announced reforms that failed dismally. This, he says, is because of too many people being in prison for too long at too great a cost, ironically making the reforms unaffordable. The result: the prison population has doubled from 40,000 to well over 80,000.
So what have we learnt in 25 years since the Strangeways Prison Riots?
In February this year a Report was launched calling for a Royal Commission on the Penal System to explore the idea of taking politics out of Prison. The Report by a distinguished barrister, a Former High Court Judge and a Professor of Law at London University said: ‘Our penal policy is adrift, fragmented and full of contradictions’.
Lord Woolf - former Lord Chief Justice conducted the Inquiry into the worst series of riots in this country following the riots at Strangeways Prison.
If you asked me to give you a brief shopping list of reforms needed to make sense of our prison system I think I’d put this Report at the top of my list. Secondly I would abolish prison sentences of under 12 months - a measure proposed by the Prison Governors Association earlier in the year.
And so by the third issue we were forced to change the title from ‘Time’ to Inside Time.
He delivered a report identifying the reforms needed to make sense of our prison system so that prisoners left prison less, not more, likely to reoffend. His recommendations were largely accepted by the then Home Secretary Kenneth Baker.
Despite the occasional bad news our good
Since then Lord Woolf says that Government
The irony of the photograph together with his letter was not lost on our readers. Not long afterwards, the POA Annual Conference passed a resolution calling on all its members ‘not to distribute the prisoners’ newspapers’. But the news soon reached prisoners, giving our efforts a huge credibility boost. There was more bad news when Time magazine threatened to sue us if we didn’t change our title from ‘Time’ - perhaps they saw us as a commercial threat.
Recalls to prison after being released is now 55 times greater than it was 20 years ago. Many people are recalled not for committing offences but for technical beaches of their licence.
And so the farmer’s son left for London aged 13 and eventually trained as a doctor. He qualified with distinction from St Mary’s Hospital Medical School in London at the age of 25. After a distinguish career, 40 years later he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine. Ten years later he died and was buried at St Paul’s Cathedral. His name was Fleming. Alexander Fleming. That story reminds us that a good education plays a vital part in our lives, more so for those with disadvantages. The Prisoners Education Trust in their 25 years has provided some 30,000 courses for prisoners. I urge you to consider helping the Trust to provide some valuable education for prisoners. Your help may not lead to someone discovering penicillin but it may well change their life forever.
Education
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Vital statistics: English and Maths skills of prisoners
The Q&A session
A
t Prisoners’ Education Trust we have long called for better information on the education attainment levels of people in prison and now, for the first time in more than a decade new data has been published.
© Prisoners Education Trust
Eric McGraw was then joined by fellow Inside Time staff, journalists and PET Alumni Noel Smith and John O’Connor, PET’s Head of Policy Nina Champion and former Prisons Minister Sir Peter Lloyd.
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oel, who studied a journalism course in prison funded by PET, said: “I wouldn’t be sitting here today without the support of Prisoners’ Education Trust and
Alliance conference, for the first time awards were held to celebrate individuals doing just that. She says that when education staff, officers and prisoners work together to improve learning this helps to change prison culture.
He went on to highlight some of the barriers facing prisoners today who want to access education, and says there should be more incentives to study, highlighting that most workshops pay more. Noel adds: “If one wants to do education they shouldn’t be at a financial disadvantage. Education is the key to rehabilitation and it’s been a low priority in prisons. Perhaps that’s why recidivism is so high.”
John O’Connor, who also writes for Inside Time, says education gives people back what’s been taken away from them by being imprisoned, control of their own lives.
Inside Time.”
PET’s Nina Champion said that there are many examples of teachers, officers and prisoner peer mentors who do understand the value of education and go the extra mile to support learners and at the recent Prisoner Learning
The event ended with praise from former prisoners in the audience for Eric McGraw on the impact of Inside Time which for the past 25 years has been dedicated to informing and educating prisoners about their rights, a space to ask questions, raise concerns and offer outsiders an insight into the reality of life in prison. Closing the event Eric McGraw said ‘Inside Time seeks to be the voice of the prisoner’.
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Data has emerged revealing that 46% of people entering the prison system have English literacy skills no higher than those broadly expected of an 11 year old child, three times the 15% of people with similar skills levels in the adult population. The government figures show that 52% of those assessed in prison have the equivalent capability in Maths which compares with 49% of the general public. The statistics also show that 46% of newly assessed prisoners have Level 1 and Level 2 literacy skills, (GCSE equivalent) which compares to 85% of the general population. In contrast, 39.8% of prisoners assessed had the equivalent level of numeracy skills compared with 50% of the general population and 12% of prisoners assessed are at the level of GCSE grade A*-C. The report also showed that 23,550 of those prisoners assessed self-reported having a learning difficulty or disability. The report, OLASS English and Maths assessments: participation 2014/15, is based on the results of 74,300 prisoners who have enrolled in education since August 2014 and does not reflect the entire static population of men and women in prison, because the data is representative of people going into prison, who are largely serving shorter sentences. But it is the
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Rod Clark, Chief Executive, Prisoners’ Education Trust, said: “This report does indicate that many prisoners have lower levels of literacy than the general public and that needs to be addressed.” Following this report, Brian Crease from the UCL’s Institute of Education has published a new report on literacy and numeracy. The overall results are very similar to the government statistics, but this report also considers how the results vary by education provider, age and gender. For example this report suggests that women have slightly higher skills in English, whereas men show better skills in maths. The report also suggests that prisoners assessed in category D prisons have higher literacy and numeracy skills, suggesting that improvements may have been made during their sentence. The report states: “Adults with these low levels are by far the hardest to address, and policy makers need to be aware that sustained educational effort is required to bring adults at these levels up to an acceptable standard.” Rod Clark said: “These figures represent individuals who were failed by the conventional education system the first time. So prisons need to provide new approaches to engage, incentivise and support them to get essential skills in English and Maths and then to keep learning.”
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first time since 2002 that such a large group of prisoners have been assessed.
If you would like advice or funding to study a distance learning course or tell us about your experiences of prison education - write to FREEPOST Prisoners’ Education Trust (PET) or call 0203 752 5680.
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The Landscape of Criminal Appeals: 2015 and Beyond Last month, Sheffield Hallam University played host to the Second Annual Criminal Legal Appeals Conference. Charlotte Rowles reports
G
iving the introduction, Elizabeth Smart, Sheffield’s Principal Lecturer in Law welcomed the audience saying “I’m delighted to see students from Sheffield, Birmingham, Leeds, Lancaster, Oxford and stakeholders like Inside Justice.”
of tweets written by Evan’s victim. The content of the tweet contained references to a ‘win big’ and treating friends to an amazing holiday. Though the tweets were later deleted, it seems they were found on French twitter server by a firefighter based in New York. This evidence forms part of Evans’ appeal.
Delivering the keynote speech, CCA’s Director, Sophie Walker discussed their current cases, collaborations with university criminal appeals projects and observed how the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) is dealing with one of the Commission’s most high-profile cases, that of the footballer Ched Evans.
The importance of new investigations was a strong message coming through in the keynote speech. The guidance to students was clear for fresh evidence in an appeal. But Sophie Walker noted “Legal aid pays £21 an hour for travel: there is a financial incentive for lawyers to stay at their desks.”
Evans, 26, was released from prison last year after serving half of a five-year sentence after being convicted of raping a 19-year-old woman at a hotel in Rhyl in April 2012. The former Sheffield United and Wales striker’s case represents the most testing issue for the CCRC.
In the afternoon the conference heard from Mark Newby, a senior solicitor with Jordans who has been successful in challenging a number of historic sex abuse cases. In his speech, the veteran lawyer looked at the many problems faced by people working in this area.
Comparing approaches between America and the UK Sophie commented “Most (US) trial legal teams include an investigator. The lack of an investigator is particularly problematic at the appeals stage: fresh evidence is not (usually) found in the case papers.”
“I have described the situation we find ourselves in now as the gravest we have ever faced.” In addition, he noted the significance the funding cuts are having in all areas of the criminal justice landscape.
Evans’ new legal team, David Emanuel from Garden Court Chambers employed a former senior investigating police officer to look at aspects of his appeal which led to the discovery
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A care worker by the name of Anver Sheikh had been convicted of sexual offences whilst working in a children’s home in 1980. The lawyer’s approach was to take a proactive investigative stance: asking why Anver was convicted and what was missing from the case. Mark wanted to understand why other prosecutions against workers at the care home failed. “What was so different about the case of Anver Sheikh? Why did this man get convicted when every other accused in the (police) operation did not?” He found evidence in a number of sources. Unusually, a former resident came forward who claimed to have been part of a ring of complainants who made up false allegations for compensation.
The lawyer had advice for the audience on how to turn their passion into successful criminal Newby told the audience that “The (teacher) appeals: “Identify the cases in which we can support group remembered that Anver Sheikh help and how we then harness enthusiasm to was only employed at the school for about a deliver real outcomes for our applicants”. Blackfords new ad 24.1.14:Layout 1 24/1/14 12:59 Page 1 year”.
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In the 5 years since it has been in operation, Inside Justice has been asked to investigate nearly a thousand cases of alleged wrongful convictions and are seeing an increase in the number of offenders applying to us who have been convicted of historic sex offences. Although a notoriously difficult area of appeals, Jordan’s legal team have notched up 3 acquittals in North Wales care home convictions.
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School documents showed that in September 1979 Mr Sheikh had been appointed but a year later he was no longer employed at the school. Records of pupil school attendance showed that one complainant arrived on 1 August 1980 and that he had left the school in 1982. The solicitor was excited at this development, commenting that “This meant that if we could show Sheikh had left by the time the complainant had started we would prove this to be a false allegation”. After much work, the Jordans’s team achieved justice for Anver Sheikh. “This conviction was quashed… highlighting the dangers of miscarriage in care home enquiries”. The conference speakers had pulled off an impressive feat: acknowledging the very real difficulties faced by those of us working to overcome miscarriages of justice but still managing to inspire the audience to rise to the challenge. The audience reaction was positive with aspiring barrister, Georgia-Rose Bjister tweeting: “Brilliant conference today #clac15 well done and thank you for a very informative conference!”
Charlotte Rowles is a member of the Inside Justice Advisory Panel.
Inside Justice, part of Inside Time, is funded by charitable donations from the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, Inside Time and the Roddick Foundation. Website: www.insidejusticeuk.com Facebook: insidejusticeUK Twitter: @insidejusticeUK
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Insidejustice investigating alleged miscarriages of justice
Insidetime December 2015 www.insidetime.org
In Prison Permanently
But in 2014 the Supreme Court found that, whilst the state had a duty to provide a reasonable opportunity for a prisoner subject to an indeterminate sentence to rehabilitate himself and demonstrate that he no longer presented a danger to the public, this duty did not affect the lawfulness of detention.
Geir Madland looks at the politics of the IPP sentence
In his conference speech, Michael Gove stressed the need for education as part of rehabilitation and resettlement: “Prison should offer offenders the chance to get the skills and qualifications which they need to make a success of life on the outside.”
I
The very next letter asks “how much more do IPP prisoners have to take before they see the only way to bring attention to our plight is to riot, hunger-strike or, even worse, take their own lives because they see no hope? Surely there must be some way IPP prisoners can challenge this sentence?” The contrast to the quote from Michael Gove’s party conference speech, A Chance to Change, is striking: “Prison should offer individuals a chance to change their lives for the better. Committing an offence should not mean that society always sees you as an offender. Because that means we deny individuals the chance to improve their lives, provide for their families and give back to their communities.” Sentences of Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPPs) were created by the Criminal Justice Act 2003 and started to be used in April 2005. They were designed to protect the public from serious offenders whose crimes did not merit a life sentence. Offenders sentenced to an IPP were set a minimum term (tariff) to be spent in prison. On completing their tariff they could apply to the Parole Board for release. The Parole Board would release an offender only if it was satisfied that it was no longer necessary for the protection of the public for the offender to be confined. However, problems soon arose with the practical application of IPP sentences:
l Some less serious offenders were given very short tariffs but then kept in prison for a long time after these expired.
A prisoner serving an IPP who wishes to challenge their continued detention will therefore need to seek legal advice in the light of their full circumstances.
Gove wants to replace Victorian prisons with cheaper, supersized modern facilities. Yet prisoners, experts and officials have criticised teaching and rehabilitation resources available at new supersized prisons. “Smaller prisons tend to be safer and more effective than larger establishments, holding people closer to home and with a higher ratio of staff to prisoners,” Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust, has said. “Slashing prison budgets and introducing harsher regimes while warehousing ever greater numbers overseen by fewer and largely inexperienced staff is no way to transform rehabilitation.”
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n a letter to Inside Time, a prisoner voices the irony of our Foreign Office’s response to the recent Saudi sentencing of a booze-bussing Brit to imprisonment and lashes - ‘degrading and inhumane’ - while he serves an IPP sentence in a British jail - ‘like being mentally lashed every day’.
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l The prison and parole systems could not cope with the need to give all these short-tariff prisoners appropriate access to rehabilitative and resettlement programmes so that they could demonstrate they were no longer a risk to society.
l The administrative delays resulted in uncertainty and perceived injustice for prisoners and litigation. l The rapid increase in the numbers of those on IPPs contributed to prison overcrowding, which in turn exacerbated the problems with providing rehabilitation In 2007 the Court of Appeal found that the Secretary of State had acted unlawfully, and that there had been “a systemic failure to put in place the resources necessary to implement the scheme of rehabilitation necessary to enable the relevant provisions of the 2003 Act to function as intended”. A prison lifer put it more pithily: “It is as though the government went out and did its shopping without first buying a fridge”. In 2008, Section 47 and Schedule 8 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 came into force. The effect of these changes was that IPP sentences might only be imposed where the offender would be required to serve at least 2 years in custody. The Act also removed the presumption of risk (requirement for judges to conclude that the offender is dangerous) where there was a previous conviction for violent or sexual crime. Kenneth Clarke, then Secretary of State for Justice, said: “The Parole Board has been given the task of trying to see whether a prisoner could prove that he is no longer a risk to the public. It is almost impossible for the prisoner to prove that, so it is something of a lottery and hardly any are released. We therefore face an impossible problem.” Reviews of the scheme resulted in the abolition
of IPPs in December 2012, and their replacement with different sentences for dangerous offenders. However the change was not made retrospective. It didn’t apply to existing prisoners serving those sentences at the time. Amendments put forward in the House of Lords were withdrawn or not moved. In 2012 the European Court of Human Rights found that a prisoner’s continued detention beyond the expiry of the minimum term of his sentence of imprisonment for public protection without access to rehabilitative courses violated the European Convention on Human Rights.
Cuts have also reduced Parole Board staff numbers by nearly one in five, which will inevitably further delay the release of IPP prisoners post-tariff. At the end of March 2015 there were still around 4,600 prisoners serving IPPs, more than three quarters of them post-tariff. At £35,000 to £40,000 per prisoner, the post-tariff IPP prison population is costing the taxpayer more than £12 million each year. Justice aside, this hardly makes economic sense. Robert Banks page 43
Former Supreme Court judge calls on government to end ‘terrible scourge’ of IPPs On BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Susan Hulme reported on the Lords’ discussion of the fate of post-tariff IPP prisoners, some of whom have served more than five times the normal stretch for their crimes, with no knowledge of when they might finally be released “When will this Lord Chancellor finally decide to bring this terrible scourge to an end?” asked former Supreme Court Judge, Lord Brown. “This is a form of preventive detention, internment entirely alien to our traditional criminal justice approach.” More than 4,000 prisoners languish in jail under IPPs, some for relatively minor offences. The sentence was abolished in 2012. Michael Gove has the power
to relax the test for release, though, speaking for the Government, Lady Evans said he had no plans to do so, but that the Parole Board was working through the list to see if people were ready to be released. She made no mention of rate of progress, or of the backlog, which could take ten years to clear.
paramount.” A point with which Lady Evans was happy to concur.
Lord Morris, a former Labour law officer, said any delay “in considering cases is reprehensible but the safety of the public must always be
Sign Katherine Gleeson’s online petition at: https://you.38degrees.org. uk/petitions/free-theremaining-ipp-prisoners
However, former Prisons’ Inspector, Lord Ramsbotham added: “Some risk assessments are very old and the prisoners have changed in the time since that assessment was made.”
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Terry Waite Writes
Insidetime December 2015 www.insidetime.org
From over the wall
about the fact that mental illness is a major problem in our country. It’s incredibly expensive to keep a patient in one of the secure hospitals. It’s far cheaper to keep a man or woman in prison. Given the widespread use of illegal substances amongst the young, and the fact that in some cases this can lead to the user having mental problems in the future, one wonders if we are approaching an era when mental illness will be even more prevalent than it is today. I hope not but it could well be the case. Apart from any other consideration, care for the criminally insane is extremely expensive and well in excess of the £38,000 per annum that it is said to cost to keep a man or women in prison.
Terry Waite writes his monthly column for Inside Time
Terry Waite CBE
‘M
onsters! That’s what they are. Monsters!’ The unnamed complainant was referring to the patients housed in the three main secure hospitals in this country, Ashworth, Rampton and the rather better known Broadmoor. This popular misconception was confirmed as I sat chatting to one of the nursing staff at Ashworth in Liverpool. ‘I suppose it’s understandable,’ he said. ‘We are surrounded by a very secure wall and most members of the public will never set foot through the main gate.’ We were chatting in the cheerful reception area housed in a Portacabin situated outside the main perimeter wall. In a corner was a small pile of toys for the children of visitors to play with and in an adjoining room a couple of showcases in which there were examples of prisoners handicrafts for sale. There was a magnificent ship in full sail and some really attractive pottery items. The annual Koestler Exhibition, to which Ashworth sends exhibits, has shown to a wider public the amazing talent there is within our prisons and secure hospitals. After a cup of coffee we set to walk the few yards to the main entrance. The security procedures were virtually identical to those one
As well as mental problems the number of crimes committed that can be linked to drugs in one way or another is truly alarming. Should certain substances be made legal? Frankly I don’t know!
© Fotolia.com
experiences in the Prison System but there was a gentler atmosphere for this is not a prison. It’s a secure hospital. Once through the inevitable scanning procedure, and past the several locked chambers, we entered a vast open space with well tended grassy areas and several featureless buildings dotted here and there. ‘Another popular misconception,’ said my guide as we walked towards the venue where I was to meet some of the patients, ‘is that everyone stays here a lifetime. Not so.’ Apparently the average length of stay is about five years give or take a bit. There are people who do stay for a lifetime, of course. I remember some years ago asking a patient in Rampton how long he had been there. ‘Thirty two years,’ he replied cheerfully. At Ashworth it had been arranged for me to spend the morning talking with the patients
and in the afternoon to have a meeting with some of the staff. Patients had been asked to submit questions in advance and most of them were centred around my own incarceration and how I coped with solitary without falling into mental illness. The sessions had been oversubscribed and the group were as attentive as any group I have spoken to. A fair number attending that morning were in segregation, mainly for their own protection, and so were really attentive. It was a great morning and I only wished I could have had further interaction with the group. After a pickup lunch, the afternoon was spent with a group of staff members and the impression they gave me was of a group of people who really cared about their patients and were doing their best to get them back into robust health. We discussed many points and spoke
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If they are legalised would this give the impression that it’s ok to use them? On the other hand it might take the control of the market away from the big dealers. Whatever, drugs are frequently lethal. Only yesterday I was speaking to a former heroin addict whose girlfriend died as a result of an overdose. This was a wake up call but the road back from hard drugs was a nightmare for him and although he is clean at the moment he admits that he has been damaged. I don’t want to preach at anybody but if you can, whilst you are inside, take the opportunity to get clean. As far as I know we only have one life on this planet. Don’t ruin it for yourself. Terry Waite was a successful hostage negotiator before he himself was held captive in Beirut between 1987 and 1991 (more than 20 years ago). He was held captive for 1763 days; the first four years of which were spent in solitary confinement.
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Short Story
Insidetime December 2015 www.insidetime.org
him on the servery, thought Pete, that way he could stare at fish fingers all day long. Pete had to get onto another class, if only to get away from Captain Tedium in the afternoons. The only problem being that he’d burnt many a bridge with the tutors, he’d burnt many things. There had been many ‘heated debates’ some of which had turned nasty. He’d avoided full-time employment thus far as he liked the afternoons free to read and work on the second volume of his memoirs. He’d led a full and interesting life and the world deserved, no, needed to hear about it. Like the time..
The winners of the 2015 Prison Reform Trust writing competition have been announced.
‘I stuck me thumb in the socket an’ the dog bit me on the bum, laugh, I nearly ‘ad an accident, n’ Jerry was in borstal an’ the twins..’
Winning entries were chosen by judges Minette Walters, Rachel Billington, Chris Mullin, Erwin James, Kingslee ‘Akala’ Daley and Femi Oyeniran.
‘Oh please shut up.’ ‘Cakes!? You never seen so many, mate, Ian come down to mine with ‘is missus when she was preg with Mick’s sprog, see’
© Fotolia.com
There were three categories: short story; lyric/rap; and comment. There were around 767 entries across all categories - the highest number received in the history of the competition. Judges commended the high standard of entries to the competition. Some of the winners will be published in the Guardian and all of them can be read on the Prison Reform Trust website www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk The best piece by someone aged 21 years or under won a special prize. We were pleased to receive some entries from secure training centres (12-15 year olds). We noticed that, in some cases, education tutors had helped people, which is allowed particularly when someone has a learning disability or difficulty. Today we publish the 1st prize winner of the short story category, The Challenge by Michael, described by the judges Minette Walters and Rachel Billington as "A witty, well-crafted, excellently written short story with a genuine surprise at the end." We will publish other winners in future editions of Inside Time.
Mark Day - Head of Policy and Communications
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The Challenge By Michael
T
he challenge seemed quite clear to Peter McKenzie; he would not allow his new cell-mate to drive him crazy. Pete sat on the lower bunk staring up at the TV, a Dlist celebrity was having trouble with a halibut. Meanwhile, the new arrival sat above him and continued to talk about: his troubled childhood, his dead grandmother’s cooking, his dog, his four children, his mates, his mates’ mates and his love for all things cowboy related as well as twenty other things which all merged together into one never ending unstructured monologue. ‘..yeah fish.. me nan could cook a good piece of ‘addock, before that track doner ‘er in.. like I said to me mate Stan..’ Pete ignored the man whose name he’d already forgotten or refused to recall. Three days, three long, long days since the man had arrived and he hadn’t shut up since. Even in his sleep the man’s ‘dialogue’ continued, whether it be snoring, chewing, various scratching, breaking wind ferociously or general mumbling, usually about John Wayne. Not long now, Peter thought. He was thir-
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‘..shut up..’ ‘..so e’s wearin’ this cowboy hat an’ ‘e don’t know that I know, that ‘e knows..’ ‘SHUT UP!!’
teenth on the waiting list for a single cell and it couldn’t come soon enough. Pete’s last cell mate had also been a problem, they had argued constantly. But as luck would have it, that man had been transferred to another wing for some reason. Pete hadn’t known why and had cared even less, one day the fellow had been there, the next day, gone. Bliss. He’d enjoyed two whole days of serene solitude which had then been obliterated by the man with hyperactive-verbal-diarrhoea. ‘..bream.. that’s a good fish.. skate an’ all, our Dan caught a trout as long as me leg when we lived in Suffolk..’ How can a human being have no internal monologue, mused Pete. Not every thought needed to be vocalised. Perhaps this was the result of excessive use of social-networks? Which encouraged everyone to share every thought at all times. Or perhaps he was just a... ‘..fresh, innit.. gotta be fresh.. cor.. I’d go for some fishfingers right now.. on toast yeah.. with sauce an’ all.. our Bill’s mate lost a leg in the war, right ‘an..’ Pete rubbed his temples and tried to block the man out. He was exhausted and hadn’t slept properly since the intrusion. He was too tired to argue. He laid back and stared at the TV; not actually watching it, but looking through it. Outside he heard the ‘clink-clink’ of a passing guard, doors being opened and slammed shut, the chatter of some wing-cleaners and the sound of someone listening to Chris De Burgh of all things. Not long now. He wondered what the time was, probably about two o’clock, which meant over two hours until they were unlocked for food, not that he ate much. This torturous tedium could have been avoided had he been ‘assigned’ in the afternoon, but since being kicked out of Literacy Level 2 due to an argument with the tutor (over the correct use of the apostrophe) he now found himself in close proximity with the Rambler. Who incidentally expressed no desire for work or education; they should stick
Pete stood up and stared at the man who by some miracle had actually stopped talking. ‘DO YOU EVER SHUT UP, YOU UTTER DULLARD?!’ The man was about to ask what a dullard was, but Pete continued, ‘You just NEVER stop.. EVER.. I mean.. for GOD’S sake, man!’ At which point the cell door opened, and there stood officer Katie Holt with a concerned look on her face. Pete hadn’t heard the door open; upon seeing her he immediately felt calmer. She was always especially nice to him and reminded him of his daughter. ‘Is everything alright, Pete?’ she asked. ‘It’s not me, miss, it’s him’, said Pete, motioning to the dullard. ‘Him who, Pete?’ said officer Holt as she stared into the cell. All she saw was a sparse single cell. There was no TV as McKenzie was on ‘basic’ once again, there were no books as Pete had on several occasions set fire to them. There was just a bed and nothing more. Pete stared at the wall, the chatterer had clearly run off somewhere, the cell looked different somehow but he wasn’t sure how. ‘Did you take your meds?’ she was asking. ‘Meds?.. No.. not yet..’ His head hurt, also officer Holt seemed to have disappeared and the door was shut again. Pete began to scream. Eventually officer Brian Davis, alerted to the noise, opened McKenzie’s cell to find the man laid on the floor in the foetal position, quietly crying. There was no officer Holt, it was another of McKenzie’s manifestations; an endless procession of characters and personalities. The challenge seemed quite clear to officer Davis; he would not allow men like McKenzie to drive him crazy. Stress in this job was a killer. Synchronistically, later that night Brian treated himself to a fish finger sandwich, with sauce.
38
Insidetime December 2015 www.insidetime.org
The Rule Book Sentence Calculation Determinate Sentenced Prisoners
The Rule Book
PSI 2015-003
Issued: 01 February 2015, Effective from: 01 February 2015, Expiry Date: 31 January 2019 This PSI replaces PSI2013-013 with the same title. This PSI incorporates the new provisions of the Offender Rehabilitation Act 2014 which require prisoners who were convicted of offences on or after 01/02/2015, and who are sentenced to a determinate sentence of at least 2 days but less than 2 years and who are aged 18 years or more at the half way point of the sentence; to be released on licence to the end of the sentence with an additional period of Post Sentence Supervision.
Inside Time’s Paul Sullivan has a look into Prison Rules and Instructions
© Gstudio Group - Fotolia.com
On 9 May 2013 the Ministry of Justice published the response to a consultation entitled ‘Transforming Rehabilitation: A strategy for Reform, in which, the Government’s intention to extend statutory supervision in the community to those prisoners released from short custodial sentences was confirmed. Provisions in the Offender Rehabilitation Act 2014 (ORA 2014) amend the release provisions of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 and apply new arrangements for release on licence to those prisoners convicted for offence(s) on or after 01/02/2015 and are serving a standard determinate sentence of more than 1 day but less than 12 months. The provisions also introduce new supervision
arrangements for prisoners convicted of offence(s) on or after 01/02/2015 and who are released from a standard determinate sentence of less than 2 years so that all prisoners sentenced to one day or more are supervised in the community for at least 12 months. The PSI says: The changes that affect sentence calculation are in respect of the following:l Prisoners serving a Standard Determinate Sentence (SDS), a term of Detention in a Young Offender Institution (DYOI), or a term imposed under Section 91, who are aged 18 years or over at the half way point of such a sentence/term and the sentence or term has been imposed for an offence committed on or after 01/02/2015 then:l Where the SDS or term is one of at least 2 days but less than 12 months - they will have a Conditional Release Date (CRD) at the half way point instead of an Automatic Release Date (ARD), and a Sentence & Licence Expiry Date (SLED instead of a Sentence Expiry Date (SED); l Where the SDS or term is one of at least 2 days but less than 2 years - in addition to the CRD and SLED, they will have a Top Up Supervision End Date (TUSED) which will be 12 months after the half way point of the sentence (as adjusted by Unlawfully at Large time (UAL) and remand); l Prisoners serving less than 12 months who are released on licence to a SLED and who breach the conditions of the licence may be recalled from licence by the Public Protection Casework Section (PPCS) as a Fixed Term Recall (FTR). An FTR issued for such prisoners will be for 14 days and must be served in full. (28 day FTR’s still apply to prisoners serving 12 months or more);
l A prisoner breaching the Post Sentence Supervision (I.E the breach occurs between the SLED - or appropriate LED - and the TUSED) will be liable to be returned to custody by the courts for a period of up to 14 days. Such a period is to be served in full and release from that period will be on anything extant from the original supervision notice; l DTOs are still single termed with one another and have a Mid Transfer Date (MTD), Sentence & Licence Expiry Date (SLED), Latest Transfer Date (LTD) and Earliest Transfer Date (ETD). l Where the single term is one of less than 24 months, the offence, or an offence within the single term, was committed on or after 01/02/2015 and the prisoner is aged 18 years or over at the MTD (as adjusted by any UAL), a TUSED will need to be calculated 12 months from the date of the MTD. This is a very long PSI, over 190 pages, and covers every aspect of all the different sentences and scenarios. It is important that prisoners, to whom it might apply, read and understand its contents, which are very technical and involved. There are many new terms and acronyms and the provisions of the PSI are likely to be just as confusing to prison staff as they are to prisoners and lay observers so this is an area where it would be very wise to get a competent solicitor to review your own individual circumstances and provide proper legal advice. PSIs are available in prison libraries to read, or copies can be requested (a charge may be made). PSIs only apply to prisons in England and Wales. Prisons in Scotland, Northern Ireland, Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey do not have an equivalent. Scotland publish ad-hoc policy updates from time to time. We will be looking at these in a future issue.
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Christmas Messages
Insidetime December 2015 www.insidetime.org Jordan, sending Christmas wishes your way. We love and miss you loads. From all your family xx
Mam, Saul, Rob, Denise and Steve xxxx
Thinking of you Shane! Can’t wait until you take me to spend a Christmas in Blackpool (I’m holding you to that) Love Garfield xx
Christmas Messages
Andy baby, I’m missing you like mad. Love you hunny xxx merry Christmas, hopefully get to be together soon xxxx Happy Christmas Damon, another year without you here. So very proud of you, love and miss you loads. Love always Mum xxxx
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today and I’ll love you tomorrow. Merry Christmas. I love you always and forever, Sarah xxxx xxxx xxxx
love Poomin x
To my gorgeous princess Donna, I miss you and can’t wait until we are back together forever, Merry Christmas my baby, love Alfie xxxxxxxxx
To Dieter, though we are far apart you are always in my heart. Happy Christmas, love David x
Carl, much loved and missed by all the family this Christmas, love mum, Mandy, Dylan and the family x
Merry Christmas to my D1 Girls – Kelly, Claire, Kerry, Charlene, Maxine and Emily. To my dad Vince in Lowdham Grange and all my Derby people. Love you all & Merry Christmas, Emma x
MERRY CHRISTMAS SON. Thinking of you, love from Mam & Keith xx
Hi baby, Happy Xmas n New Year, I wish I could be there with you. It would be the best Xmas ever! Love you baby, Sammie xxxxxxxx
To my big boo Keith, life is hard without you by my side, especially this time of year – next Xmas we will unwrap prezzies together xxxx Love Ryan xxxx
To my husband John, thinking of u this Christmas wishing you were home, missing you so much. Merry Christmas, lots of love always, Claire xxx
To my Baby Sis, have the best Christmas you can in the circumstances, I love and miss you loads, Ben. Hot H, wishing you a merry Xmas and all the best for the New Year. Only 4 months left now, then the world is you oyster, lots of love “That Guy” xxx
Merry Christmas dad, wish u were here to help us open our presents. It’s not the same without you, miss you, Kaitlen May, Robbie Joe, McKenzie Matthew xxx
Sam, wishing you a very happy Christmas and an even better New Year. Make my Xmas baby and become my wife??? All my love, Yasmina x
All thinking of you at Christmas, miss you and look forward to a happier time. Our love always… Mum, Robin, Chloe, Max, Shaz & family xx
King Bubbalicious, Christmas time, kids smiling, getting wavey on Bacardi baby, whilst we’re apart, you’re in my heart, love ya like life, Queen B xxxx
Garry, wishing you a very Happy Christmas and New Year. Love Mum & John xxx
Shout out to Shaun ‘Diddy’ Dunn (HMP Perth), my wife Ash (HMP Cornton Vale), Shozzy, Pez, Mam & Alan. Merry Xmas J ‘Cyaz Soon’. Danny ‘Twinny’ x
Hello Jack, it’s your Mumma, Granny and Mick. Christmas will never be the same with you babe but we will celebrate when you are back where you belong babes. You stay strong for us all and your bandit loves you even more babes. We thinking of you every day and night and love you millions. All our love, Mumzy, Mark, Bandit, Mick and Granny xxxxxxx
To Shireena Killnorton, I love you the world and more, merry Xmas babe. Next year will be our year, downhill now. Your loving Hubby xxx To Amanda Spencer, Happy Christmas beautiful, I miss you millions babe. I love you beautiful forever always, Danny H x To Danny Fenton, Merry Xmas to a special Hubby and Daddy. Another Xmas apart, but no one can ever take you from our hearts. We love & miss you millions. Big hugs & kisses, love Ellie, Harley Warren, Corsa & Shae xxx I wish my son Aaron Lloyd a very Merry Christmas, we’ll be home & together soon. Love you loads, keep smiling Mam x To my A6902AH, I loved you yesterday, I love you
My darling Wolfman, yet another year has gone by and yet my love for you never wanes. Merry Christmas my love, we’ll have to make the best of things for now. Love from your wee kitten xx To the best daddy, Happy Crimbo, miss you loads, love you to the moon and back, can’t wait for next Crimbo, Big Hugs, love Chloe x My darling Debbie, let the sky be our mistletoe this Christmas, I love you and always will, sending kisses and big hugs from Robert XO Hey Welshy Bum! Hope you have a good Christmas and New Year. Keep ya chin up soulja! See you in Feb xxx If I had one wish Jon, it would be to be with you, I love you BUBBA, now and always, your wife, Floss xxx Lovers like us don’t just meet somewhere, we’ve been in each other all along and will remain eternally. Merry Christmas baby, I love you xxx c c c xxx Our two souls with but a single thought, two hearts that beat as one, Merry Christmas love, we soon be together, love your wife Shireena x Moo I love you and miss you this Christmas, can’t wait until I can be your Christmas present, lots of
Merry Christmas Son, hope you had a good day, hope to see you back home soon, love Mam and Dad xx
To all my friends on lockdown, I know it’s hard for us all this time of year without out loved ones around us. We will be home on day with them. All keep strong darlings & keep smiling. Merry Christmas & Happy New Year for 2016, Love from Buffy xxxx
Jambo 1, Merry Xmas and Happy New year gorgeous. Can’t wait till we are enjoying them together. Love you lots, from Bo.Bo
MERRY CHRISTMAS bubs, love you to the moon and back. Rock on 2016 when you’re back home where you belong. All my love forever yours xx
Merry Christmas Daddy. I’m so proud to have a Daddy like you. I love you and miss you lots. Your little princess Lucia xx
Lisa Pemberton, I’m so lucky to have you as my wife, you’re my everything and I love you so much. Happy Christmas, Love forever Lee x
Merry Cams son, Love Mam xxxxxx
My beautiful girlfriend - Sammii, it’s like we’ve become soul mates although behind bars. I’ll never leave your side, Happy Christmas, I love you forever! X
Merry Crimbo to all the D1 massive lasses, especially to my nearest and dearest Kelly, Kerry and emski, nuff love - Noddy
Merry Christmas to my husband Wayne, I love you and I’ll see you soon. I miss you, your wife, Jade xxxxxxx
Merry Xmas son, all the best for 2016, love Mam & Dad xxxxxxx
Sarah, Happy Christmas Gorgeous! Here’s to me & you ehy! There’ll be more than Santa in your stockings one day! Haha! Love you, Mike x
To Gummie, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I’ll be thinking about you lots. Love ‘Spanner’ xxxx
To Billy, it’s my first and last Christmas without you, thinking of you babe, Merry Christmas, miss and love you from you Santa Babe Bev x
Merry Xmas Daddy, love from Kenzie xxxxx
Peter Riley I love you so much and wish you was at home. I’ll always love you. Love Shane xxxx
JAAD, I love you with all my heart & everyday you’re in my life is a blessing… miss you billions, you wife Kellz xx
Merry Xmas Nyah my pickle, I love and miss you my darling. Wish you were here all my love forever and a day, Sharon xxxxxxx
Happy Christmas to the best fiancé and daddy in the world, we love you loads. Gail, Josh and Megan xxxx
To my gorgeous boyfriend Andy Bennett. It may be cold outside but I am forever warm knowing you’re in my heart. Miss you and love you more than ever. Love Joanne, merry Christmas xxx
Hello Jack, hope you ok bro, we thinking of you every day. We love and miss you lots and will see you over Christmas. Love Jake, Lou and Bandit xxx
To my Dumbass Dan, Happy Christmas, lots of love your Dozymare, Batman and Sweetpea x
A Christmas message for my little princess. Anna you’re a beautiful kind hearted lady, an amazing wonderful person. I hope you have a great Christmas. Nigel
Carl, my Clare Bear, I love you now and I always will, I love being with you every moment of the day. Forever yours Lisa Marie xxxx
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Merry Christmas Luke. We all miss you loads. Can’t wait till you’re back home. Loads of love Laura,
We have been inundated with messages this year especially those from people in prison to their loved one’s outside. Rather than see people missing out we have decided to publish in the newspaper only the messages to people in prisons and IRC’s etc. Messages to loved ones on the outside will now only be published on our website where space is not an issue and the closing date is not so critical. Christmas messages can be seen at www.insidetime.org on the home page.
Send a message to your loved one on Valentine’s Day Send your message (20 words max.) to Inside Time and we will publish as many as possible in a special Valentine’s section in the February issue. All messages received will also appear on our website. Include the name and address of your loved one and they will receive a copy of the newspaper. Entries must be sent to Inside Time ‘Valentine’ Botley Mills, Botley, Hampshire SO30 2GB. Closing date 22nd Jan and don’t forget to include your full details too! Inside Time’s Valentine’s message service is sponsored by Jailmate Cards. Why not send your loved one in prison a card ‘with a difference’. Go to www.jailmatecards.co.uk you’ll love what you see! See back page for advert.
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Legal
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Insidetime December 2015 www.insidetime.org
A pass to the executive lounge… A brief look at the Recall process and when executive release may apply Emma Davies Partner Luke Deal Prison Law Hine Solicitors
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ffenders will be aware that there are a few ways in which they can be released from custody following their recall to prison.
Those subject to a Fixed Term Review (FTR) will automatically be released after 14 or 28 days (14 days if their offence was committed on or after 1 February 2015 and sentenced to a custodial term of less than 12 months). Those who are not eligible for FTR will be subject to standard recall and will have their case referred to the Parole Board within 28 days of their recall to custody and it will be the Parole Board who will make the decision to rerelease them. Offenders subject to standard recall who are not released by the Parole Board will automatically have their re-release considered at an annual review which must take place every 12 months following the first review. However, both those subject to FTR and standard recall can be released earlier under the Secretary of State’s power to re-release. This article seeks to look at what executive release is and when it may apply to those offenders subject to a determinate sentence.
What is executive release? As well as the Parole Board having the power to direct re-release of a recalled determinate sentence prisoner, the Secretary of State may also determine re-release if he is satisfied that it is safe to do so. This power is exercised on his behalf by staff located at the Public Protection Casework Section (PPCS). This power is usually exercised where there is significant and substantial support from the Offender Manager and on occasion Offender Supervisor. This means recalled prisoners can be released directly from prison bypassing the need for their case to be referred to the Parole Board. The process is completely independent of the Parole Board. This process only applies to those prisoners subject to a determinate sentence. When is executive release likely to be considered? Executive release is usually exercised where there is significant and substantial support from a recalled prisoner’s Offender Manager and on occasion Offender Supervisor. A recalled prisoner could be released executively in the following circumstances:i) Those serving a Fixed Term Recall could be released by the Secretary of State any day prior to the conclusion of a 14 or 28 day recall period. ii) Anyone serving a standard recall could be released at any point by the Secretary of State
prior to their licence expiry. It is important to note that there is no automatic right for a recalled prisoner to be considered for executive release and it is not considered for every individual who is recalled. Executive release will not normally be considered for those subject to standard recall until their Offender Manager has submitted a report known as the PART B report, which will include proposals about release. This report must be sent to the PPCS within 10 days of a recalled prisoner’s return to custody. The report must contain sufficient up-to-date information on the prisoner’s risk assessment and risk management to enable the Parole Board and/or the Secretary of State to make an informed decision about re-release. At this stage those officials at the PPCS who are acting on behalf of the Secretary of State should look at the information available to it and decide whether the recalled prisoner should be considered for executive release. From experience, executive release will be considered in the following (although not limited) circumstances:1. Following an initial recall when the Offender Manager reconsiders the grounds of the recall and supports re-release. However, it would be common practice for such information to be left to be considered by the Parole Board at the 28 day review. 2. At an annual review, where any outstanding offending behaviour work has been completed and both the Offender Manager and Offender Supervisor both support re-release, and a risk management programme and release arrangements are in place.
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3. Where there is a significant change in a recalled prisoner’s circumstances following the initial 28 day review. Such circumstances could be when a prisoner is recalled for alleged further offences and the Police decide to take no further action or following an acquittal during Court proceedings. However, even if these circumstances do arise there would still need to be support from an Offender Manager and a report prepared to inform that it is safe for re-release to be effected. This list is not exhaustive and it should be noted that there can be other circumstances when executive release will be considered. However, the above list outlines common situations when the PPCS should be looking at executive release on behalf of the Secretary of State. Unfortunately, from a prison lawyer perspective, given the exceptional nature of executive release it is not something that is always proactively considered by officials at the PPCS and is often instigated at the request of either the Offender Manager or instructed solicitors. What if it is agreed that my recall was based on inaccurate information. Can I ask for executive release? The PPCS, again on behalf of the Secretary of State, can consider rescinding a recall decision. This is not the same as executive release but
means that PPCS will overturn the decision to recall a prisoner. If recall is rescinded they will be released immediately and the prisoner should be treated as if he has not been recalled. A decision to rescind a recall will generally only be taken where the recall decision was based on erroneous information or the Secretary of State is satisfied that the licence conditions have been complied with or have only been breached in circumstances beyond the control of the offender. I think executive release is for me, what should I do? It is dependant on each prisoner’s individual circumstances as to whether executive release will be considered. As stated above there is no automatic right for a prisoner to be considered for executive release and there is no rule to say a prisoner must be considered. The power is simply there if those acting on behalf of the Secretary of State wish to use it. If it is not used there is no appeal process and no procedure in place to ensure that it is considered. Reference to the executive release process is made within Prison Service Instrument 30/2014 which deals with recall reviews and the power is set out within the Criminal Justice act 2003 which simply states that: “The Secretary of State may, at any time after the person is returned to prison, release him again on license if satisfied that it is not necessary for the protection of the public that he should remain in prison.” No other reference to the procedure is made, so it is easy to see why the process is not commonly used. A prison law specialist should be able to advise a recalled prisoner whether executive release is likely to be considered in their case. They can also make a request to the PPCS to see whether such consideration has been made or is likely to be made. It may also be worthwhile for a recalled prisoner to discuss this procedure with their Offender Manager if at all possible, particularly if the reasons for this is due to a change in the recalled prisoner’s circumstances. If a prisoner’s Offender Manager is supportive of re-release then they can be requested to instigate the request for executive release with the PPCS or alternatively write to the PPCS or request a solicitor to do so giving an explanation as to what circumstances have changed and why release should now be considered. Ultimately, the power is applied discretionally and on a case by case basis and the Secretary of State is not obliged to consider executive release in every case. There are no specific time-frames, limitations or targets that must be adhered to by the PPCS when considering executive release. Due to this, it can take much longer than the usual Parole Board process and equally, the PPCS can seek further information from probation, the prison and yourself where required which can cause delay. Although executive release may not be considered for all, it is important for all recall prisoners to bear this process in mind following their recall. The power for a pass to the executive lounge is there, so those effected should not be afraid to ask for it to be used.
Legal
Insidetime December 2015 www.insidetime.org
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Advertorial
Constant breaches of Defending & appealing 140 day rule ‘oppressive historic cases and unconstitutional’ David Wells - Partner
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here is no doubt that there has been a significant increase in the number of historic prosecutions in recent years. Such cases prove problematic to both the defence and prosecution. They are not always easy to sentence and often attract lengthy sentences which are simply too long. Historic allegations often relate to complaints dating back a number of decades and frequently involve simply one person’s word against another. Such cases will invariably come down to issues of performance in the witness box, i.e., who performed best under pressure which is far from an ideal way of determining guilt or innocence. These cases often make it very difficult for a defendant to disprove the allegation that is being made. This can be for a number of reasons, and largely because the passage of time means that evidence can be lost, or witnesses who might have been available at the time are no longer available because they cannot be traced or that they cannot recall events so long ago. This can lead to major injustice and wrongful convictions. A significant proportion of historic prosecutions concern allegations of a sexual nature. There is a stigma attached to allegations of this type which enhances the difficulty in defending them. Unlike some European jurisdictions, there is no time period for which a sexual offence may be prosecuted in England and Wales. Prosecutions for historic allegations place reliance on old evidence and rely on the memory of the complainant. There is a real danger that witnesses and complainants may unintentionally (although sometimes intentionally) fabricate aspects of an allegation simply because they cannot remember what actually happened and because they feel it helps and supports the complaint being made. Juries I suspect will often be more sympathetic in these cases to a complainant who says ‘sorry, I can’t remember, it was just so long ago’ when being challenged on the accuracy or truthfulness of a complaint by a defence barrister in cross examination. Is this fair on a defendant? Arguably not, and you can see how historic cases do create additional obstacles to a defendant facing trial that are simply not there in cases where complaints are recent in time. I am not saying that such cases should not be prosecuted. I am simply highlighting the fact that in my view such cases are exposed to more miscarriages of justice. The consequences for a defendant who is found guilty are, as I say, severe, and arguably even more severe in current times given public perception and the increase in such cases coming before the courts. The consequences are similarly severe, unfortunately, for those defendants who are acquitted, particularly those in the public eye. Lives and livelihoods can be destroyed. There is always less publicity for an acquittal than there is for a conviction.
Defending historic allegations requires skill. It requires a pro-active approach and most importantly instructing the right lawyer. In most cases the prosecution will simply rely on the word of a complainant about whom the prosecution feel they have no reason to disbelieve or doubt. Even in cases where there may be a doubt, I suspect there is nowadays an unfortunate tendency for the crown prosecution service to prosecute and simply leave it up to a Jury to decide rather than take criticism from the police and complainant and decide not to prosecute. The outcome of such cases, although to some extent affected by how the evidence actually transpires during trial, is in my view mostly influenced by the quality of the solicitor and defence advocate instructed by the defendant. Having experience in these cases is everything. Given the increase in arrests, charges and prosecutions for historic cases, the workloads of defence solicitors dealing with these cases has similarly increased. My firm is no different. There is no doubt in my mind that success in these cases is linked to the quality of representation. If anything is taken from this article, it should be to ensure that as far as possible, defendants facing trial for allegations of this type should ensure representation by those with experience. This equally applies to inmates facing interview under caution for such offences during the commission of your sentence which is increasingly common these days. Unfortunately, as the numbers increase of those facing historical prosecution, so does the number of defendants who are found guilty and who subsequently write to me for advice on appeal. Appealing such cases can be even more difficult, but appeals against conviction and sentence are possible. Judges routinely don’t know how to approach sentencing for such offences and often impose sentences which are open to appeal, particularly where multiple offences are involved. Equally, Judges often impose unnecessary or even unlawful ancillary orders. Restraining orders, SOPOs, SHPOs are just some of the ancillary orders which can be reviewed and appealed.
Scottish Legal News reveals the tarnish on the jewel in the crown of the Scottish legal system Kapil Summan Assistant Editor - Scottish Legal News
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cottish Legal News reveals that the 140 day rule, once the “jewel in the crown” of the Scottish criminal justice system because of its guarantee of justice without undue delay, is being routinely ignored and that remand wings in Scotland’s prisons are now bursting with prisoners awaiting High Court trials for up to 10 months. Leading defence lawyers are angry and frustrated at what can best be described as a shocking state of affairs.
Mr Ross added: “It is essential that the trend be monitored so that a proper assessment can be made of what is required to reverse it.
One senior QC said: “Sheriffs are remanding prisoners in the belief that they will face trial within 140 days as laid down by statute. But it is just not happening.”
“Yet it is routinely disregarded in an oppressive and unjust way,” he added.
A triple whammy of lack of judges, lack of court space and lack of resources for the preparation of trials mean that victims of crime are denied timeous justice while accused persons languish in prison completely contrary to the spirit of Scots law. The president of the Scottish Criminal Bar Association, Thomas Ross, fears the situation is set to worsen: “Every busy High Court practitioner has noticed that the period between preliminary hearing and trial is getting longer and longer.” Mr Ross added that at a preliminary hearing on 24 October he had a trial assigned for 6th May 2016. “The custody time limits applied to the accused, with the result that the 140 day time limit was extended by 164 days!,” he added. And this is not a temporary situation accord-
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ing to the SCBA president. Worryingly, he said that “all of the data available would suggest that things will get worse before they get better.”
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“Until people oppose the extensions nothing will change.” George Donnelly, vice president of the Dundee Bar Association said that when the 140 day rule for High Court trials was introduced practitioners were promised that it would not be the thin end of the wedge.
He warned that the seriousness of this problem has not been acknowledged adding that it is a matter of constitutional importance and that if the rule is to be changed it should be the subject of legislation by the Scottish Parliament and not left to judges who are having to work within the crippling constraints of the system. He said: “The fact is that the system is broken. There are not enough judges or court rooms to try these cases and not enough resources or facilities to prepare the cases.” Mr Donnelly mentioned another case where he thought the Scottish legal system had been brought into disrepute. He said: “I represented an English client charged with serious offences and told him that unlike England he would not be left to rot on remand here in Scotland. I have now had to go cap in hand to this client and tell him that is exactly what is happening to him.” Presently in Glasgow, trial dates in the High Court are being fixed for next March/April/ May. A Scottish government spokesman said in response to the issue: “There can be no extension of the 140-day remand limit without approval of the court, upon application from either the prosecution or defence. The court’s decision to grant or refuse an extension can be appealed. “We have no plans to change the law around the High Court remand limit.” A senior QC responded: “It will not do for the Scottish government to hide behind judges whom they are placing in an impossible situation.”
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Legal Q&A
If you have a question you would like answered please send to: ‘Legal’, Inside Time, Botley Mills, Botley, Southampton, Hampshire SO30 2GB. (including your name, number and prison)
AS - HMP Moorland
Q
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. Capital Defence Solicitors, Olliers Solicitors, Hine Solicitors, Cartwright King Solicitors, Crowns Solicitors, Wells Burcombe LLP Solicitors, Carrington Solicitors, Pickup & Scott Solicitors Send your Legal Queries (concise and clearly marked ‘legal’) to: David Wells, Solicitor c/o Inside Time, Botley Mills, Botley, Southampton, Hampshire SO30 2GB. For a prompt response, readers are asked to send their queries on white paper using black ink or typed if possible.
HOWARD AND BYRNE
In February 2014 I was convicted of a sexual crime and sentenced to a total of 8 years, four in custody and four on license. The alleged offence was in 1984. The question is: should the sentence have been calculated for the time of the offence, and as it is historical should I be serving my sentence under the old rules? I also have a problem with my OM, she will not answer letters and emails from my OS. I have been inside for 18 months and have no sentence plan or OASys. Neither have I done a SAQ. I am classed as high risk and cannot bring this down. She refuses me an IVP to see my father who is in HMP Hull. Can she do this? Her reason for this is that we share the same victim, I believe this is in contravention of the Human Rights Act article 8. Could you please give me some guidance?
A
In relation to your query with respect to your sentence, you should have been sentenced in accordance with the sentencing regime applicable at the date of your sentence. However, in terms of the sentence imposed by the Court this would have been limited to the maximum sentence available at the date of the commission of the offence. You will not therefore have been sentenced under the old regime, just the old sentencing rules. Your release at the half way stage of your licence is therefore correct. I note that both yourself and your OS are having problems in communicating with your OM. I would suggest that if you attempt a telephone call to the office and if you are unsuccessful then proceed to raise your concerns by letter to your OM’s supervisor documenting the contact that you have made and the issues that you are having. If this does not address matters then look to refer your concerns to the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman. In terms of the contact with your father I am unclear as to whether he is also in custody as you have referred to the fact that he has the same victim as you. In order to properly advise
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I would need further information, such as whether he is a serving prisoner and whether he was involved in your court proceedings. Have you sought to discuss this issue with your OS? Response supplied by Hine Solicitors
..................................................... JM - HMP Stafford
Q
I recently had two adjudications for writing to my victim who is also my girlfriend. The charges were under Rule 51, paragraph 23 - breaching the telephone and correspondence notification and my SOPO, which states I cannot have any unsupervised contact with anyone under the age of 18. The police investigated and after I told them that my mail is monitored and therefore supervised they took no further action. However the independent adjudicator found me guilty of breaching my SOPO and gave me 14 extra days. He found me not guilty of the second charge which was breaching the telephone and correspondence notification as my girlfriend wrote to me first. Can the independent adjudicator find me guilty of an offence the police didn’t charge me for? Surely prison law and criminal law are separate?
A
Prison Law and Criminal Law are separate areas of law which are governed by different legislation (rules). Criminal Law involves Police investigations and the Court process whilst Prison Law involves internal Prison disciplinary matters. It appears from your letter that you were adjudicated under Prison Rule 51 paragraph 23, which says that you “disobeyed or failed to comply with any rule or regulation applying to him.” I would anticipate that the wording of that charge was on the basis that you had breached the terms of your SOPO which was a rule/regulation that was application to you. However, this matter was referred to the police and again I would assume that the adjudicating governor referred this alleged offence to the police as they are required to do so. The discipline manual states that in situations where a serious criminal offence appears to have occurred the police should be contacted immediately it is discovered. In other cases the decision to refer the charge to them will be made during the adjudication. After the opening procedures have been completed the adjudicator should consider whether the charge against the prisoner is serious enough to be referred to the police for further investigation, and possible prosecution in the courts. The decision on referral to the police is for the adjudicator, taking account of the individual circumstances of the case [subject to forthcoming reporting crime guidance]. If the charge is referred the
Insidetime December 2015 www.insidetime.org
adjudication hearing must be adjourned until the outcome of any police investigation is known. If a prosecution goes ahead, the adjudication will not proceed (since it would be double jeopardy for the prisoner to be punished - or acquitted - by a court, and then face a further adjudication punishment). If the prisoner is not prosecuted in a court the adjudication may then resume, provided the delay in reaching a decision on prosecution has not made it unfair to proceed (natural justice), or the adjudication would rely on the same evidence that was known to the CPS, which they had decided would not support a prosecution. In your case, the Police made the decision to take no further action for the alleged breach of SOPO and it therefore did not go to Court. Breach of a SOPO is a criminal offence and can only be dealt with in the criminal courts. As you were not prosecuted the prison were within their rights to proceed with the adjudication charges under Rule 51 paragraph 23. There would have been some ground to argue that the charges relied on the same evidence that was known to the CPS and therefore they should not proceed, but without knowing the exact wording of the charge it is difficult to advise you fully on this. The Prison reserves the right to continue with adjudication even if you are not charged with a criminal offence by the Police. If you were to have been charged by the Police and taken to Court, the prison body would have to wait for that outcome before looking to pursue adjudication. As your matters were dropped by the Police, the adjudication could then be re-commenced. You indicate that your case was before the Independent Adjudicator, in which case you should have been given the opportunity to instruct a solicitor to represent you during these proceedings. If you disagree with the punishment imposed you are entitled to request a review of the adjudication conducted by an independent adjudicator and should set out your reasons on form IA4 or in a letter, and forward it to the Governor within 14 days of the end of the hearing. The Governor will then forward all the adjudication papers. The Senior District Judge only has the power to quash or reduce the punishment imposed. He has no power to quash a finding of guilt by an IA. The Prisons Ombudsman’s remit does not extend to judicial decisions so if you remain unsatisfied with the outcome the only avenue open is to apply for a judicial review of the finding of guilty and ask a court to look into the case and rule whether proper legal procedures were followed. There is a 3 month time frame to apply for Judicial Review. Response supplied by Hine Solicitors
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If you have a question you would like answered please send to: ‘Robert Banks’, Inside Time, Botley Mills, Botley, Southampton, Hampshire SO30 2GB. (including your name, number and prison)
Banks on Sentence Robert Banks, a barrister, writes Banks on Sentence. It is the second-largest selling criminal practitioner’s text book and is used by judges for sentencing more than any other. The book is classified by the Ministry of Justice as a core judicial text book. The 2015 edition of the book and app was published recently. The app is for Apple iPads and Windows 8/10 tablets and computers and costs £99 (incl. VAT). Updates will appear in the relevant paragraph. The print copy costs £106 and there will be regular updates on www.banksr.com. There is also a discount available when the print copy and app are purchased together. If you have access to a computer, you can follow Robert on Twitter @BanksonSentence and you can receive his weekly sentencing Alert.
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Q
Another year is slipping by and I am still here waiting for release, which is so dependent on courses. My courses are either cancelled or don’t seem to make any difference. I got an IPP sentence in 2007 and I seem trapped in the system. I served my sentence years ago. It’s a disgrace. Nowadays people who have committed far worse crimes than I did get a fixed term and at the end of it are released. But not me. Is anything going to be done about us?
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I wish I knew. Perhaps you would like to know the context of this stain on our criminal justice system. A House of Commons briefing paper issued in August 2015 sets out the government’s view. The paper says, ‘The main concerns about IPP were that: a) Some less serious offenders were given very short tariffs but then have been kept in prison for a long time after these have expired. b) The prison and parole systems could not cope with the need to give all these short-tariff prisoners appropriate access to rehabilitative and resettlement programmes so that they could demonstrate they were no longer a risk to society. c) The administrative delays resulted in uncertainty and perceived injustice for prisoners
and litigation. d) The rapid increase in the numbers of those on IPPs contributed to prison overcrowding, which in turn exacerbated the problems with providing rehabilitation. In October 2008, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons said, in a review of IPP, “The large number of new IPP prisoners led to IPP prisoners languishing in local prisons for months and years, unable to access the interventions they would need before the expiry of their often short tariffs. A belated decision to move them to training prisons, without any additional resources and sometimes to ones which did not offer relevant programmes, merely transferred the problem. As a consequence, the Court of Appeal found that the Secretary of State had acted unlawfully, and that there had been ‘a systemic failure to put in place the resources necessary to implement the scheme of rehabilitation necessary to enable the relevant provisions of the 2003 Act to function as intended’. Rather more pithily, a prison lifer governor told me that it is as though the government went out and did its shopping without first buying a fridge”.’ Also in 2008, the government made it more difficult to impose IPP but failed to address all those wrongly in prison on short tariffs.
In June 2010, after the change in government, the prison minister said, “We have inherited a very serious problem with IPP prisoners. Many cannot get on courses because our prisons are wholly overcrowded and unable to address offending behaviour. That is not a defensible position.” There followed a review of IPP, which on 21 June 2011 led to the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill. The Prime Minister, David Cameron, said at a press conference that day, “The consultation also raised significant concerns about the effectiveness of IPPs. We have inherited a system that is unclear, inconsistent and uncertain. Unclear because actually a large proportion of the public don’t really know what indeterminate sentences are or how they work. Inconsistent because they can mean that two people who commit the same crime can end up getting very different punishments. And uncertain because victims and their families don’t have any certainty about the sentence that will be served or when their assailants will be let out. So we’re going to review the existing system urgently with a view to replacing it with an alternative that is clear, tough and better understood by the public.” Kenneth Clarke, the Secretary of State for Justice, said that the government was replacing a regime that did not work as it was intended. He also said, “What is wrong is that indeterminate sentences are unfair between prisoner and prisoner. The Parole Board has been given the task of trying to see whether a prisoner could prove that he is no longer a risk to the public. It is almost impossible for the prisoner to prove that, so it is something of a lottery and hardly any are released. We therefore face an impossible problem.” The following year, the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 abolished IPPs for those convicted on or after 3 December 2012. A new extended sentence was introduced. The real problem of those already serving IPP and who were wrongly held in prison was not dealt with. It had, however, been addressed in the House of Lords while the Bill was being considered. Lord McNally, a government minister, responded by saying, “We do not think that it is right or appropriate retrospectively to alter sentences that were lawfully imposed by the court simply because a policy decision has now been taken to repeal that
We take pride in providing a full range of criminal and prison law services. Prison Law services include: • Parole Reviews • Life Sentence Reviews • IPP Reviews • Recall • Sentence Planning
• Re-categorisation • Category A Reviews • Adjudications • Home Detention Curfew • Judicial Review
If you require assistance with any Prison Law issues, whether or not listed above, please contact our specialist Prison Law Solicitor - Hannah Rumgay
At Tates we never use unqualified caseworkers. All prison law work is undertaken by a qualified solicitor who specialises in Prison Law.
Tates 2 Park Square East Leeds West Yorkshire LS1 2NE 0113 242 2290
Legal Q&A
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sentence.” He described dealing with the backlog of cases as being like “disarming a time bomb. It is not just a matter of throwing the gates open; this has to be a managed process. However, I hope that I have made it clear that that process is being managed ... and that we are trying to target resources to make sure that this is carried forward with due urgency.” Interestingly, every part of that analysis was flawed. The problem has never been properly addressed since. It is not as if it is legally difficult to construct the legislation to deal with this. One of the most helpful contributions was made by Eoin McLennan-Murray, the President of the Prison Government Association, who said at the annual conference of his Association in October 2010, “IPP was a blatant injustice. The government should urgently review those cases with a view to immediate release, unless there is clear evidence that the prisoner presents an unacceptable risk to the public.” In 2013 and 2014 attempts in the Supreme Court to rectify the problems with IPP failed. Since then nothing has happened. It cannot be said that the government does not understand the problem. Those in charge just seem to prefer to do nothing about it. Perhaps they think that then they can’t be accused of being soft on crime. The problem is that the large number of people in prison who should not be there creates serious problems, not only for the prisoner, but also for other prisoners and the prison system itself. There is one piece of news. On 10 December 2015, in the Court of Appeal, the Lord Chief Justice will hear about a dozen beyond-tariff IPP cases. I am involved in one of the cases and I understand that all the defendants are challenging the imposition of IPP rather than detention beyond the end of the tariff. Normally when a series of cases are linked together this is because the Lord Chief Justice wants to issue new guidance. On a different point you might like to consider those trapped with the old automatic life sentence, who think they have been forgotten. Unlike the new automatic life, the order applied to any length of sentence once the provisions were triggered by a second serious offence. It has most of the faults of IPP, but no one seems to be fighting for them to be dealt with justly.
Asking Robert and Jason questions: Please make sure your question concerns sentence and not conviction and send the letter to Inside Time, marked for Robert Banks or Jason Elliott. Unless you say you don’t want your question and answer published, it will be assumed you have no objection to publication. It is usually not possible to determine whether a particular defendant has grounds of appeal without seeing all the paperwork. Analysing all the paperwork is not possible. The column is designed for simple questions and answers. No-one will have their identity revealed. Letters which a) are without an address, b) cannot be read, or c) are sent direct, cannot be answered. Letters sent by readers to Inside Time are sent on to a solicitor, who forwards them to Robert and Jason. If your solicitor wants to see previous questions and answers, they are at www.banksr.com.
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Reading Groups
Insidetime December 2015 www.insidetime.org
Shared Reading
Reading group round-up
Maggie McCarney reads with prisoners in the PIPE at HMP Eastwood Park.
Image courtesy of Matthew Meadows
If
HMP Kirkham boasts two PRG reading groups supported by the library. This month the facilitator Michelle reports on the brilliantly varied activities of one of them.
Responses to the book varied from admiration of Armitage’s ‘wry gritty sense of humour’ to a feeling that the book was ‘cluttered’ with trivial concerns and ‘didn’t live up to my expectations of what a poet would experience or explore’. Reactions to Boris Johnson’s biography of Churchill were equally mixed. One reader described it as an absorbing ‘warts and all’ account. Another drew unflattering comparison between the author and his subject: ‘They both appear to be egotistical, ambitious, bombastic, insulting, self-centred, arrogant, untrustworthy, disloyal, impetuous … the list goes on.’
One of the innovations of the group is our discussion of two or three quotations from different sources chosen for the way they echo or challenge each other. A recent set: 1. ‘If your aspirations are not greater than your resources, you’re not an entrepreneur.’ C K Prahalad (1941 - 2010) 2. ‘Nobody talks more of free enterprise and competition and of the best man winning than the man who has inherited his father’s store or farm.’ C Wright Mills (1916 - 1962)
To round off each meeting Michelle invites
The Kirkham reading group has something for everyone and is hugely enjoyed by all. The Kirkham group is part of the Prison Reading Groups (PRG) network, sponsored by the University of Roehampton and generously supported by charities including Give A Book www.giveabook.org.uk If your prison doesn’t have a reading group, encourage your librarian to have a look at the PRG website www.roehampton.ac.uk/ prison-reading-groups PRG also worked with National Prison Radio to set up their book club. If you have access to NPR, listen out for details and ways to take part.
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e had just read Roald’s Dahl’s short story, ‘The Umbrella Man’, in our Shared Reading group, and spoken of how the old man’s scam about fooling people to buy ‘his’ umbrella off him for a pound, was quite clever. We did wonder about the little girl in the story; how she felt to see her, ‘snottynosed mum’, as Emma* called her, be taken in by the story of his plight. The girls eagerly related past scams they knew of, and so the mood was lively and engaged as we moved onto the poem, If, by Rudyard Kipling. I read it out aloud first. Silence. Then Emma responds with, ‘It could be better written!’ Before I say anything Lucy* states, ’But I like the first verse.’ ‘Oh yeah,’ Emma replies ‘That, Being lied about, don’t deal in lies,\ Or being
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3. ‘Pessimists are usually right and optimists are usually wrong but all the great changes have been accomplished by optimists.’ Thomas Friedman (1953 - )
‘Heaven, when it is about to place a great responsibility upon someone, first tests his resolution with suffering, wears out his sinews with work, starves his body to skin and bone, exposes him to emptiness and poverty and brings chaos to all that he is. Thus his intentions become resolute and his deficiencies are made good.’
If you can think and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two imposters just the same; If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools (verses 1 and 2 of 4)
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The group also often reads and discusses a short story during the session. Stories by Saki (the pen name of H H Munro) have gone down well for their witty twists and all the members have enjoyed taking a turn at reading aloud.
members to talk about books they are reading and enjoying on their own. At a recent meeting one reader described a ‘fantastic’ book about the rules of business in China and the way the author connects his experience as an entrepreneur today with stories of the great Chinese dynasties of the past. The reading group member was especially struck by a quotation from Mencius, a Chinese philosopher writing over two thousand years ago:
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In 2010 Armitage set out to walk the more than 250 miles of the Pennine Way in 19 days. As one member of the group described it, the poet ‘conceived of the project as a modern odyssey, with himself as both Odysseus and Homer’. On his website Armitage offered evening poetry readings in exchange for bed and breakfast and ferrying his luggage to the next destination. Over the course of the walk he read poetry to 1158 people and raised over £3000. ‘Better paid than I thought’ as one reader commented.
If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies, Or being hated, don’t give way to hating, And yet don’t look too good, not talk too wise:
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t the monthly meetings the group starts with the book we have chosen and read in advance. Recent choices have included Simon Armitage’s Walking Home: A Poet’s Journey and Boris Johnson’s The Churchill Factor.
by Rudyard Kipling
hated, don’t give way to hating, I try to do that in here, and, And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise…., I try to do that too; causes less trouble.’ ‘Yep,’ agrees Jane, ‘That’s what I meant’. Both Emma and Lucy have been in HMP Eastwood Park for quite a while but have not been in the same group with me until now. It is good to see them figuring the poem out together, while recognising their own ways of coping with life. I suggest we hear the poem again, and Lucy reads it out aloud. I am taken by the lines: If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools. I share from my own life experience how it reminds me of an ex-partner who seemed, I realised later, good at throwing back what I had said and so confusing me. Lucy jumped in suddenly, ‘That’s why I’m here, cause of an ex and that twisting’. We talk of twisting and twisted, and then of, building up ourselves again, with whatever tools you’ve got. It feels like certain words from the poem, e.g. twisted, build, tools are being taken by us and used to help share this complex process of rebuilding one’s life, but also this word If keeps being said in the poem. I mention the title, If. ‘Not easy really,’ says Lucy. ‘Keep trying, I suppose, but there’s lots of If’s,’ states Emma. ‘If only this and if only that …’ I am wondering about the use of men/man in the poem and say so. Without hesitation Emma says, ‘It’s okay, means both’. She then shares how she bravely came out to her Dad: ‘He don’t like it cause of his religion, but I did it, and I’m glad’. I say how brave that is. I tell them how I know some women would take offence at the use of men in the poem, and not using women, or human, but the group see it all as ‘human anyway’. ‘But the end sounds a bit religious, that ‘Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it, \And what is more - you’ll be a Man, my son!’ says Lucy. We talk of the expectations put on men and women, and the ones we put on ourselves. Time is running out; Emma has a visitor. She leaves us and we come to an end. Lucy takes away a copy for herself and her best friend. *Names have been changed to protect identities. The Reader is an award-winning charitable social enterprise working to connect people through great literature. In weekly sessions, a practitioner reads aloud a short story or extract and a poem. Anyone in the group may choose to read too: some do, others don’t. In this way, connections are made with thoughts and feelings; some people reflect on these privately, others are more vocal. Either is fine. The emphasis is on enjoying the literature.
Wellbeing
Insidetime December 2015 www.insidetime.org
Yoga for Sleep
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Head to knee 5 breaths each side
The Prison Phoenix Trust Getting a decent night’s sleep can be hard at times. Noise from your neighbours, stress and worry or a dodgy mattress can make the problem worse. The most common thing we hear from people in prison who start yoga is that after their first yoga session they have a fantastic night’s sleep.
Child 10 breaths
As you do these poses, concentrate on your breath. Breathe slowly and fully, letting the air flow in and out of you without forcing or hurrying it. Don’t push yourself while you work. Just enjoy the stretches and the shapes your body makes as your muscles loosen and prepare for a solid 40 winks.
Bridge 5 breaths
Wide leg forward fold Side Stretches
5 breaths
5 breaths each side
Twists 5 breaths each side
Legs up wall 20 breaths
Savasana Lie like this, as still as you can, for 5-10 minutes. Focus on your breathing, and the way the air feels in your lungs. If your thoughts wander off to something else, bring them gently back to the breath. Know that you have done something to help yourself and make yourself feel better.
Butterfly 10 breaths
TurningPages Prisoners who can read teach prisoners who can’t The Shannon Trust Reading Plan (Turning Pages) is a simple & efficient way of helping people to learn to read. If you would like more information on how to become involved, as either a Mentor or a Learner, contact the Reading Plan Lead in your prison (ask a Shannon Trust Mentor who this is) or write to: Shannon Trust, Freepost RTKY-RUXG-KGYH The Foundry, 17-19 Oval Way, LONDON SE11 5RR.
ShannonTrust
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Call now to speak with:
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Purcell Parker Solicitors
204 - 206 Corporation Street Birmingham B4 6QB
0121 236 9781
This sequence was taken from our newest CD, which features two complete yoga, relaxation and meditation lessons, plus a bonus yoga moves track. It is based on our radio show, Freedom Inside, which airs every week at noon on Friday and 7am and 6pm on Sunday on National Prison Radio. If you’d like a copy of this CD, write to us and ask for Freedom Inside. If you want a free book and CD to help you set up a regular yoga and meditation practice write to: The Prison Phoenix Trust, PO Box 328, Oxford OX2 7HF. The Prison Phoenix Trust supports prisoners and prison officers in their spiritual lives through meditation and yoga, working with silence and the breath. The Trust supports people of any religion or none. We also run weekly yoga classes for inmates and prison staff.
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Inside Poetry
If you would like to contribute to the Poetry section, please send your poems to ‘Poetry’, Inside Time, Botley Mills, Botley, Southampton, Hampshire SO30 2GB.
Star Poem of the Month
Being There - A Father’s Love Adam Higgins - HMP Littlehey I was there on the day that you came into this world Eyes shut tight; mouth wide open; skin pink and wrinkled Lungs pulling in their first breath of air Revealing the voice that you would grow to own I was there when you first fell down Helping you up and brushing you down Consoling you, and soothing away your tears Reassuring you that the pain would soon pass I was there on your first day at school Wearing a uniform too big for your small frame Smiling outwardly, crying inwardly - easing your fears Encouraging you to be brave I was there as you stepped into your teenage years Anxious about the pressure of your peers Knowing that you had to find your own way Hoping that we had taught you to make good choices I was there when you turned twenty-one The young boy now grown into a man Celebrating with friends and family - seeing your joy The pages of your future lie ahead, like an unwritten book I was there when you left home and spread your wings Waiting at home for your call or text A proud father who missed his son so Knowing you had flown the nest and moved on You were there when I stood up in court Tiny child; young boy; grown man; my son Smiling at me - your love keeping me strong As my sentence was passed down from the bench
Some Good, Some Bad Isaac D - HMP Belmarsh Screws on the yard They do think they’re hard They stand in fours, threes and twos They’re nothing special, just screws
We will award a prize of £25 to the entry selected as our ‘Star Poem of the Month’. To qualify for a prize, poems should not have won a prize in any other competition or been published previously. Send entries to: Inside Time, Poetry, Botley Mills, Botley, Southampton, Hampshire, SO30 2GB. Please put your name, number and prison on the same sheet of paper as your poem. If you win we can’t send your money if we don’t know who or where you are! By submitting your poems to Inside Time you are agreeing that they can be published in any of our ‘not for profit links’, these include the newspaper, website and any forthcoming books. You are also giving permission for Inside Time to use their discretion in allowing other organisations to reproduce this work if considered appropriate, unless you have clearly stated that you do not want this to happen. Any work reproduced in other publications will be on a ‘not for profit’ basis. WHEN SUBMITTING YOUR WORK PLEASE INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING PERMISSION: THIS IS MY OWN WORK AND I AGREE TO INSIDE TIME PUBLISHING IT IN ALL ASSOCIATE SITES AND OTHER PUBLICATIONS AS APPROPRIATE.
Past and Present Gary Moore - HMP Grendon Hello mother It’s good to have you back I’m sorry I mistook your love For an addiction to Heroin & Crack
They come here to work, to get some pay Some are genuine and kind Others can just stay well away
You nurtured and cared for me Always standing by my side Cuddles and bedtime stories For the child chose to run & hide
There’s Officer ‘T’, what a lovely man If I saw him on the out I’d shake his hand He shows people kindness, dignity and respect He gives good advice to help you reflect
When dad was took from us I felt rejection anger and rage Bedtime stories gone now No longer able to turn the page
Some screw are rotten right down to the core Some try to hurt you while you’re restrained on the floor Some even laugh as they slam the seg door
Your boy grew up quick now In a world of me, myself & I I loved you dearly Dad But never got the chance to say goodbye
One day I’ll be out, but still they will be locking them doors Turning that key
My life became a rollercoaster With no end in sight The boy trapped within man now Self-taught to steal & fight
There’s SO’s, Po’s and governors too But we all take it out on the houseblock screw Like me, some are masons, but show no brotherly love As they look down at you from the landing up above
To a door full of steel A window made of bars Etched within the child’s soul Distant memories & violent scars
Yes one day I’ll be free With my daughter once again But you’ll still be here guv With your key on chain
Lost years of innocence wasted Trapped inside the child’s fears Ashamed & scared to ask for help A frozen burden of icicle tears
Some close the cell door after saying ‘Goodnight’ They’re not ALL bad I guess, some are alright
Over 30 years of incarceration Pent up emotions full of rage Treated like a dirty rat In the dooms of a dungeon’s cage
There for me now Congratulations to this months winner who receives our £25 prize for ‘Star Poem of the Month’.
Insidetime December 2015 www.insidetime.org
Long Lartin ‘D Wing’ Paul Wiggins - HMP Oakwood All the windows shone by floodlight Infrared CCTV recording all night Electronically locked cell doors Watched by lenses, from the ones to the fours
For now the flood gates are open And the child’s tears run free Like a cascading waterfall No longer ashamed for people to see
Never trusted or believed Barked at by dogs Biting at our sleeves
It starts with a trickle Gathering pace and turning into a stream For the child is free now A lost voice & smile starting to beam
Inclement weather We all know what that means A perfect excuse To withdraw our needs
What started as hate And become trapped within The ice has now melted mother For the child’s life to flourish & begin
Stripped naked squat on a mirror Two homosexual screws searching with vigour Dignity lost confidence shot Still not approved You are now red hot
I read this today For all the victims I chose to create I’m so deeply sorry For buried emotions that turned to hate
Insidetime December 2015 www.insidetime.org
If you would like to contribute to the Poetry section, please send your poems to ‘Poetry’, Inside Time, Botley Mills, Botley, Southampton, Hampshire SO30 2GB.
Inside Poetry
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Penny for the Guy Adam Jacobson - HMP Lindholme
© Fotolia.com
12 Days of Bang Up Matthew Jones - HMP Parc On the first day of bang up me prison gave to me, a high risk in a Cat B On the second day of bang up me prison gave to me, 2 mouldy pies, and a high risk in a Cat B On the third day of bang up me prison gave to me, 3 more nickings, 2 mouldy pies and a high risk in a Cat B On the fourth day of bang up me prison gave to me, 4 extra years, 3 more nickings, 2 mouldy pies and a high risk in a Cat B On the fifth day of bang up me prison gave to me, 5 days of seg! 4 extra years, 3 more nickings, 2 mouldy pies and a high risk in a Cat B On the sixth day of bang up me prison gave to me 6 torn up sheets, 5 days of seg! 4 extra years, 3 more nickings, 2 mouldy pies and a high risk in a Cat B On the seventh day of bang up me prison gave to me 7 sarky comments, 6 torn up sheets, 5 days of seg! 4 extra years, 3 more nickings, 2 mouldy pies and a high risk in a Cat B On the eighth day of bang up me prison gave to me, 8 TV channels, 7 sarky comments, 6 torn up sheets, 5 days of seg! 4 extra years, 3 more nickings, 2 mouldy pies and a high risk in a Cat B
Sittin’ outside my pad with my pockets stuffed and bold Looking like a penny for the guy on the hunt for gold Instead of newspaper my clothes are rammed with spice Calling out to next man, listen up for your price A fat joint in folded paper for a half oz of burn No rattlers be pushing in line, just wait for your turn It’s Halloween screws wont suspect i’m dealing spice Manz gotta earn a livin’, I wanna be eating nice But I wont be getting high on my own supply Otherwise wastemen will come over for a piece of the pie A drug abuser came over and asked me for strap I said I’ve been giving you my little fellas all week Do you want a f****n slap? You’re bringin me Bangon and you’re a punny Don’t be messin up my Halloween money So he came back with his drug abusing mates with sticks Tryna beat the spice outta me like I was a piñata So I took them all on Jackie Chan style then wrapped a fat spliff like a big enchilada Then I returned to the dopespot making my pounds and p’s If Guy Fawkes was a drug dealer, he would be proud of me So if you’re in some need of drugs and you’ve gotta penny for a high Catch me chillin on da 2’s screamin’ ‘Penny for the guy’
A Child’s Christmas in Jails Denzil Davies - HMP Erlestoke Dylan Thomas died 33 days before I was three, 33! - his position in class trigonometry He broadcast that in ‘Return Journey’ How similar a little boy, - he was the same as me First heard him in form four - Boys Grammar Laughing at our teacher’s sta - sta - sta - sta - stammer In English, Mr Thomas (no relation) - in’ dictation His ‘lectric eyes and swordsmith’s tongue, skewered any banter
On the ninth day of bang up me prison gave to me 9 prisoners shouting, 8 TV channels, 7 sarky comments, 6 torn up sheets, 5 days of seg! 4 extra years, 3 more nickings, 2 mouldy pies and a high risk in a Cat B
My own poetic efforts, ‘go gentle’ ‘fore such legend Yet both our Mams they swore the same - “You’ll put me in Bridgend!” I thought I was going to join him once, so ‘Raged at my Goodnight’ This ‘Child’s Christmas in Wales’ turned into thermos-nuclear-fight
On the tenth day of bang up me prison gave to me 10 sleeping pills, 9 prisoners shouting, 8 TV channels, 7 sarky comments, 6 torn up sheets, 5 days of seg! 4 extra years, 3 more nickings, 2 mouldy pies and a high risk in a Cat B
I drank like him too, very much in me, same ‘spirit’ risen Prodigal son, his heavenly state, me, different gates - ended up in Prison! My family like Dylan’s dad - all ‘Tidy’ - all are teaching Not me - black sheep, in my ‘Milk Wood’ - consequence far reaching!
On the eleventh day of bang up me prison gave to me 11 minutes of yard, 10 sleeping pills, 9 prisoners shouting, 8 TV channels, 7 sarky comments, 6 torn up sheets, 5 days of seg! 4 extra years, 3 more nickings, 2 mouldy pies and a high risk in a Cat B On the twelfth day of bang up me prison gave to me 12 hours of nothing, 11 minutes of yard, 10 sleeping pills, 9 prisoners shouting, 8 TV channels, 7 sarky comments, 6 torn up sheets, 5 days of seg! 4 extra years, 3 more nickings, 2 mouldy pies and a high risk in a Cat B And a hiiiiiiiiiiiiigh riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiisk in a Cat Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
I love the way his brain waves link, the way they ebb and flow ‘The Young Dog’s’ pen, familiar ink, makes me laugh out loud you know I’m with him and Gwillyn, in ‘The Peaches’ It’s his footprints - not Jesus’ - on my dark sandy beaches So ‘Diolchi’ Dylan, take me home, to ‘Ugly lovely town’, I mumble Evening Post, Swansea pubs, the Valleys - I feel humbled You really were, a ‘naughty boy’ a prodigal well before me We’ll raise a glass one day in death - but not yet mun - “Uch-a-fi”
Jailbreak
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Insidetime December 2015 www.insidetime.org
Christmas Christmas Crossword 1
Crossword
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11TWENTY a hot alcoholic drink made of wine mixed with sugar and spices, QUESTIONS TO TEST YOUR GENERAL KNOWLEDGE traditionally drunk at winter festivals such as Christmas (6,4) 15 bright and colourful in a way that makes you think of a celebration (7)
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11. If someone is described as ‘garrulous’, 1. Which word connects the time when 16 a traditional meal eaten at Christmas, often consisting of turkey with something is most powerful or successful, what docalled they do a lot? vegetables, followed by a heavy fruit pudding Christmas pudding and the point in the sky directly overhead? (9,6) 12. What word, which is a blend of ‘cine17 the day or evening before Christmas Day (9,3) 2. Which popular alcoholic spirit has a ma’ and ‘complex’, is given to a cinema with 18 awhich traditional (5) name means song ‘little sung water’atorChristmas ‘dear several separate screens? 20 the birth of Jesus Christ, celebrated by Christians at Christmas (3,8) water’ in Russian? 22 small lights used for decorating something, especially a tree at Christmas 13. When translated literally, what does 3. What (5,6)word, which is a blend of the the Italian word ‘pizza’ mean? words ‘smoke’ and ‘fog’, is given to a type of Down haze or air pollution? 14. Which George Orwell novel opens 1 a religious festival such as Christmas or Passover (5)
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with ‘It was a bright cold day in April, and longword, thin pieces paper used as a Christmas decoration (6) 4.3 What a blendofofshiny the words ‘breakthe clocks were striking thirteen’? anisimaginary with a long white beard and red clothes who 5 and BRITISH fast’ ‘lunch’, given to aold lateman morning (6,9) meal?brings children their Christmas presents15. Which letter is represented by a single
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Across 2 a bush that produces small white fruits. Its branches are often used as a Christmas decoration. (9) (9) 1. A religious festival such as Christmas or Passover (5) 2. A bush that produces small white fruits.
Long thin pieces of shiny 4. An meaning the periodthe of time around 4 old anword old word meaning period of time 3. around Christmas (8) paper used as a Christmas decoration (6) Christmas (8) 6 an imaginary man with a long white beard and a red suit who brings 5. Another name for an old man with a white beard 6. An imaginary man with a long white beard and a presents for children at Christmas: who brings children their Christmas presents (6,9) red suit who brings presents for children (5,5) 7. The period of time around Christmas (13) 11. A hot alcoholic drink made of wine mixed with 8. Used as a greeting during the Christmas period, sugar and spices (6,4) especially on cards (7,9) 15. Bright and colourful in a way that makes you This page has been downloaded from www.macmillandictionary.com. A box or basket of foodPublishers and drink, Limited sometimes think of a celebration (7) It is photocopiable, but all copies must be complete pages.9. Copyright © Macmillan 2002 given as a gift at Christmas (6) 16. A traditional meal eaten at Christmas, often 10. A friendly message sent to someone on their consisting of turkey with vegetables, followed by a birthday, at Christmas etc (8) heavy fruit pudding called Christmas pudding (9,6) 12. A man dressed as an old woman who performs 17. The day or evening before Christmas Day (9,3) in a Christmas pantomime (4) 18. A traditional song sung at Christmas (5) 13. In the Christian religion, the four-week period 20. The birth of Jesus Christ, celebrated by before Christmas Day (6) Christians at Christmas (3,8) 14. A model of the wooden box that Jesus Christ 22. Small lights used for decorating something, was born in, according to the Bible (4) especially a tree at Christmas (5,6) 16. A decorated paper tube that makes a bang when you pull it apart. (7) 19. A small brown European bird with a red chest (5) 21. An old word meaning ‘Christmas’ (4)
Matthew Price A9417AM HMP Highdown Y U L E D T T J E S U S R W R E D J U B
V E R F V S F T U H J B Y Q W E R T Y E
S S K C S H C F F F M F H O N A I P L T
Angels Bethlehem
T T Z R Q W H P I Y I U J M T N N F F H
A A X C U C U C W I N T E R T G R Z M L
R T C V C T R H B R C E K N A E E X N E
Q D S D R A C R G U E A Z Y R L I C V H
M E B X X J H I D D P T B T E S N V X E
Christmas A R Y J E C O R A T G T B G I C V B N R C V T G S E S U C L H O L L E H S F H I G O H Y G O L L S H I E T L T T H O R Y D E Y L B X B F T E I O F S T E L G I H I D B M L G N G D S A T M Y R M Z X D O
Snow Star
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U O T E C O Y H M I S L E T O E M J H E
G N S H T F G J L P A F U J E N N T G V
D S I T N D G E T G N T G R C I R G U Y
F V O R F C V B N S T F T J B M S N O W
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Angels ACTS COLOSSIANS Bethlehem CORINTHIANS Blitzen DEUTERONOMY EPHESIANS Cards EXODUS Carollers GALATIANS HEBREWS Church ISAIAH Decorations JAMES Dove JEREMIAH JOB Elf JOHN Gifts JOSHUA LUKE Grotto MALACHI Holly MARK Jesus Magi Mary
Mine Pie MATTHEW NAHUM Mistletoe PETER Myrrh PHILIPPIANS PROVERBS Reindeer PSALM Robin REVELATION ROMANS SAMUEL Rudolph THESSALONIANS Santa TIMOTHY TITUS Sleigh Snow Star Toys Tree Turkey Winter Yule
Thanks to Matthew Price - HMP Highdown for compiling this word search. If you fancy compiling one for us please just send it in max 20 x 20 grid & complete with answers shown on a grid. If we use it we will send you £5 as a thank you!
7 the period of time around Christmas (13) dot in Morse Code? 5.8Used inas emails and texts, whatthe does the used a greeting during Christmas period, especially on cards (7,9) abbreviation ‘FYI’ stand for? 16. In populargiven parlance, letter sometimes as a agift at of which 9 BRITISH a box or basket of food and drink, Christmas (6) colour describes an important or especially 6. Which word from the Spanish meaning day?at Christmas etc (8) 10 a friendly message sent to someone onmemorable their birthday, ‘fair weather’ is used for something that is a RITISH a man dressed as an old woman who performs in a Christmas 12 Bof source wealth or good fortune? 17. What is the Russian word for an astropantomime (4) naut? before Christmas Day (6) 13 in the Christian religion, the four-week period 7. What name connects Shakespeare’s Moor of Venice and a board game involving 14 BRITISH a model of the wooden box that Jesus Christ was born in, 18. Which word, meaning ‘children’s garblack according and white counters? to the Bible. Some Christians have these in their churches and den’ in German, is used for a type of nursery houses at Christmas. (4) school? 8. word for someonepaper who damages a decorated tube that makes a noise when you pull it apart. 16 Which BRITISH It usually aa small toy, joke, and paper hat inside and is traditionally property is takenhas from Germanic tribe who 19. Which name is given to a word or used atin Christmas. sacked Rome AD 455? (7) reads the same as chest. which They are often used forwards as a 19 a small brown European bird with a red phrase wellon as Christmas backwards?cards and symbol ofiswinter areafrequently 9. What name given and to both bombproofshown decorations. (5) shelter and a sand hazard on a golf course? 20. Established in 1804, which British 21 an old word meaning ‘Christmas’ (4) organization is also known by the abbrevia10. What does a teetotaller abstain from tion RHS? drinking?
Inside Chess by Carl Portman It is Christmas - or Yule as I prefer to call it. I always take this time to reflect on aspects of my life and this year I shall certainly do that with regard to prisons chess. It’s been a very busy year. I have not visited as many prisons as I would have liked to - I need official invites from governors or other staff to do that please - but this column has kept me in touch with you, the chess fans. I have received more correspondence than I could ever have hoped for and I am grateful to you all for every single letter. I do have to say that not every letter I post is received and not every letter you post is received either! We must always hope for the best. Many of you have said that my column has brought some kind of sanity to your lives. For me that’s the best reward of all but I have received much in return. I have had nothing but courtesy and friendliness in letters and also on my prison visits. Without your feedback I would have no idea how effective my efforts are. I am always asked why I do this job, especially on a voluntary basis and my answer is always the same. I want to bring chess to those who are not necessarily in a position to go out and find it. I want inmates to take up the game, to appreciate that it is a very positive use of time and that it has transferable educational and social benefits. I think you all ‘get’ that - but it is the people on the outside I try hardest to convince, and that work will continue. Meanwhile I want to wish everyone the very best for the season and I do hope that 2016 brings something positive into your lives. Perhaps a good start would be a chess set. The problem this month is called the Christmas tree puzzle (because its geometry looks like the shape of
8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 A
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a Christmas tree) It was composed by T. R. Dawson and first published in the Chess Amateur in 1924. Please study the following position with white to play. It is deliberately tricky to hopefully keep your brain busy over the Christmas period. What is the best way to win? A chess magazine donated by Chess & Bridge of London is the prize. Write to me with your answer care of The English Chess Federation at The Watch Oak, Chain Lane, Battle, East Sussex TN33 OYD or you can email me at
[email protected] and they will forward it to me. Please note that you should always write to me at the ECF not via InsideTime. Congratulations to Ash from HMP Lancaster Farms who was the winner of October’s problem. The answer to November’s problem was 1.Nf7+ Kg8 (…Rxf7 leads to checkmate on the back rank) 2.Nh6+ Kh8 3.Qg8+ Rxg8 4.Nf7 checkmate. Winner will be announced next month.
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“QUOTES” I just see him [Boris Johnson] in a room with Putin, naked from the waist upwards, wrestling fish The Tory MP Heidi Allen, who also says George Osborne is “too smooth” to be prime minister Life happened Singer Adele explains why it’s been three years since her last album
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Dar es Salam
Arusha Dhows
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Equator Freddie Mercury
Indian Memories Mount Kilimanjaro Prison Island Serengeti Stone Town Tanzania
If you would like to win £5, please submit your Pathfinder - grids should either be 15 x 15 or 12 x 12 squares. Remember when you send us your Pathfinder to include your name, number and prison - otherwise you will not receive your prize money.
Neil Speed is a former prisoner who came up with the concept of GEF BAD CHI whilst in prison. Inside Time features a GEF BAD CHI puzzle on this page. GEF BAD CHI by Neil Speed is published Arabic by Xlibris. RRP: £12.35 Using the letters G,E,F,B,A,D,C,H & I fill Arusha in the blank squares. Each letter A-I must appear only once in Dar es Salam each line column and 3x3 grid. Dhows Equator Fish Submitted by Michael Lister - HMP Northumberland. Start on the left with the first Freddie Mercury number and work your way across following the instructions in each cell. See how Hakuna Matata quickly you can do each puzzle and how your times improve month by month! Answers Hawkers on back page. If you would like to submit similar puzzles we will pay £5 for any that Indian are chosen for print. Please send in a minimum of three puzzles together with the answer! Mehru Memories Mount Kilimanjaro ×3 / Half It / ÷3 / ÷3 / Half It = ? Prison Island Serengeti Stone Town / ×2 / ÷6 / ×5 / ÷15 = ? Tanzania Squared
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ANSWERS Equator
Daily Sudoku: Wed 4-Nov-2015
5 3 4 6 6 4 Licence 9 2 7 8
Zanzibar/Tanzania
MIND GYM
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In the old days heroes didn’t go to see therapists Great literary figures have gone all soft, complains the author Jilly Cooper
(c) Daily Sudoku Ltd 2015. All rights reserved.
SUDOKU & GEFBADCHI
Heidi Allen
Arabic
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There is too much comedy around where the men are hopeless and despicable Maureen Lipman thinks it’s men, not women, who get a raw deal from showbusiness
All my teammates ever talked about was tax Sol Campbell, the former England defender reveals the secrets of
Pathfinder
Pathfinder Zanzibar/Tanzania
the dressing room
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Squared
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10. Who auditioned and was cast in the lead role in ‘Elmina’s kitchen’? 11. Who received a Lifetime achievement award from the Longford Trust? 12. Who will be thinking about Gummie lots? 13. Who was one of Britain’s earliest tagees? 14. What is Russia on its way to legalising? 15. Which prison boasts of two PRG groups?
Answers to Last Month’s Inside Knowledge Prize Quiz 1. Ai Wei Wei, 2. Prison Library, 3. Mark ‘Chopper’ Read, 4. Dave E Ferguson, 5. Magnus Carlsen, 6. Sally Taylor, 7. HMP Winchester, 8. Never Let Me Go, 9. Professor David Wilson, 10. Terry Waite, 11. 1807, 12. Electronic Cigarette Industry Association, 13. Amber Leaf Tobacco, 14. A bag, 15. 5th December
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ANNIVERSARIES
ROCK & POP QUIZ
10 Dec 1915 // 100th Anniversary The Ford Motor Company produced its 1 millionth car. (It produced its 10m car in 1924 and its 20m in 1931.)
1. What is the nationality of R&B/soul/hip hop singer Jamelia? 2. Which country singer/songwriter added 43 years to his life when he gave up his seat on the fateful Buddy Holly airplane which crashed in February 1959?
12 Dec 1925 // 90th Anniversary The world’s first motel opened in San Luis Obispo, California. Originally named the Milestone Mo-Tel, it is now known as the Motel Inn of San Luis Obispo. (It closed down in 1991).
3. What was the title of the 1983 debut solo album that propelled Cyndi Lauper to super-stardom?
12 Dec 1945 // 70th Anniversary Ballpoint pens were launched in the UK by the Miles-Martin Pen Company. Previously in WWII, the Royal Air Force needed a new type of pen, one that would not leak at higher altitudes in fighter planes as the fountain pen did. The British Government bought the licensing rights to Laszlo Biro’s patent for the war effort.
4. Later released as a single that became a big hit for the band, which Paul Simon song featured on the Lemonheads album It’s A Shame About Ray? 5. Harper Valley PTA was a major hit single for which country singer in 1968? 6. Shadowland was the 1988 debut solo album of which singer? 7. The albums Songs From The Last Century, Older and Listen Without Prejudice are all by which artist?
13 Dec 1950 // 65th Anniversary American actor James Dean made his first television appearance, in a commercial for Pepsi Cola.
8. The rap trio Naughty by Nature scored a big hit with the single O.P.P. Which Jackson 5 song was sampled in the production of this record?
20 Dec 1955 // 60th Anniversary Cardiff was proclaimed the capital city of Wales. 22 Dec 1965 // 50th Anniversary A maximum speed limit of 70 mph was introduced on previously unrestricted roads in Britain. (The limit was introduced on a trial basis but was made permanent in July 1967.)
9. Which album by Sonic Youth shares its title with that of a Creedence Clearwater Revival single?
© MW Released life sentenced prisoner
10. Joachim Krauledat escaped from East Germany in the 1940s and changed his name to John Kay to eventually become the front man of which famous rock band?
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29 Dec 1975 // 40th Anniversary The Sex Discrimination Act and the Equal Pay Act came into effect in the UK, preventing women from being paid less than their male counterparts. 1 Dec 1990 // 25th Anniversary Construction workers on the Channel Tunnel broke through the last wall of rock separating the two halves, and Britain and France were linked for the first time in thousands of years. 2 Dec 1995 // 20th Anniversary British ‘rogue trader’ Nick Leeson was jailed for 6.5 years in Singapore for fraudulent financial dealings which led to the fall of Barings Bank. 13 Dec 2000 // 15th Anniversary George W. Bush finally claimed the U.S. presidency, 36 days after the election was held. (Result was delayed due to disputed votes in Florida.) 5 Dec 2005 // 10th Anniversary The first same-sex civil partnership in Britain was formed in Worthing. The Civil Partnership Act was not due to come into effect until 19th Dec, but an exception was made in this case as one of the partners was terminally ill. (He died the following day.) Source: www.ideas4writers.co.uk
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www.fonesavvy.co.uk for more info.....
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Upon his release, what started as a business plan created in a prison cell became a reality - the only service of its kind. Now Fonesavvy customers throughout the UK receive calls from people in prisons, hospitals and many other situations where keeping the callers’ call charge to a minimum is vital. Perfect for self employed people who are out and about all day
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Please note restrictions may apply in some geographical areas.
Fonesavvy - the brainchild of a former prisoner.
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Simple solutions tailored to the individual requirements of our customers.
SUDOKU
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13 Northenden Road Sale Cheshire M33 2DH
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MOTOR, HOME & PUBLIC LIABILITY
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AWARD WINNING INSURANCE PRODUCTS DESIGNED FOR FORMER PRISONERS AND THEIR FAMILIES
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A perfect solution for mobile phone SIS Insurance users wishing to reduce costs for those 0161who 969 6040call them.
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games and new Xbox 360 consoles. For a personal catalogue send a £2.00 postal order to: Gema Records PO Box 54 Reading RG1 3SD
Daily Sudoku: Wed 4-Nov-2015
of our friendly team
Prisoners in over 100 UK prisons now get e mails from their family, friends and legal representatives For full details call 0844 873 3111
hard
69 6040
• Faster than 1st class post • Cheaper than a 2nd class stamp
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PUBLIC LIABILITY
Sale Cheshire M33 2DH
Email a Prisoner
Daily Sudoku: Wed 4-Nov-2015
surance
NSURANCE PRODUCTS SONERS AND THEIR FAMILIES
See advert page 3
1. 2, 2. 4, 3. 15 Equator Arabic Dhows 1 9 6 3 7 5 2 4 Prison Island 7 6 4 5 2 1 8 9 Stone Town 5 4 1 8 9 6 7 3 Fish 9 8 7 4 5 3 6 2 Tanzania 3 2 8 9 6 7 4 1 6 7 3 2 1 8 9 5 Mount Kilimanjaro 4 5 2 7 3 9 1 8 Arusha 2 1 5 6 8 4 3 7 Dar es Salam 8 3 9 1 4 2 5 6 Serengeti Mehru Freddie Mercury http://www.dailysudoku.com/ Indian Hawkers Memories Hakuna Matata
ue send a £2.00 postal order to: PO Box 54 Reading RG1 3SD
• Faster than 1st class post • Cheaper than a 2nd class stamp
1. British 2. Waylon Jennings 3. She’s So Unusual 4. Mrs Robinson 5. Jeannie C Riley 6. K.D. Lang 7. George Michael 8. ABC 9. Bad Moon Rising 10. Steppenwolf
S2 Bundles and pre owned ew Xbox 360 consoles. For a
SIS INSURANCE Second chance! 1 in 5 people are routinely refused insurance (See full advert page 36)
GENERAL KNOWLEDGE
1. Zenith 2. Vodka 3. Smog 4. Brunch 5. For your information 6. Bonanza 7. Othello 8. Vandal 9. Bunker 10. Alcohol 11. Talk 12. Cineplex 13. Pie 14. 1984 15. E 16. Red 17. Cosmonaut 18. Kindergarten 19. Palindrome 20. Royal Horticultural Society
rds - Supplier of the UK’s ck Catalogue of Music
GEMA RECORDS Supplier of music, dvds and games (See full advert page 44)
