Innocent The lifers and Chewbacca their dilemma Defence

the National Newspaper for Prisoners A ‘not for profit’ publication /57,000 copies distributed monthly / ISSN 1743-7342 / Issue No. 141 / March 2011

Charles Hanson spotlights miscarriages of justice pages .......... 26-27

Andrew Henley reveals the campaign against prisoner voting page ................. 29

Inside Poetry Supplement

8 pages highlighting the best of your poems

64 page issue

MPs reject votes for prisoners

Jeremy Moore represented Barry George in his successful appeal proceedings and subsequent re-trial where he was acquitted.

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A prisoner at Wakefield writing in this issue (page 9) accurately points out that to plan and discuss how to circumvent a law to which the United Kingdom freely and voluntarily subscribed constitutes, in legal terms, ‘a criminal conspiracy.’ The terms of the Court which issued this Ruling were substantially drafted by the British Government itself under the aegis of no less than Winston Churchill. The Chewbacca Defence page 29, A citizen’s right to be included in society page 32 and News from the House pages 36-37.

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During a six-hour debate in the House of Commons on 10 February, 234 MPs voted for a motion to continue with the blanket ban on voting for prisoners, contrary to the Judgment of the European Court of Human Rights. Only 22 MPs voted against the motion. Following the vote, Conservative MP Philip Hallobone said: ‘This is a clear indication of the will of Parliament and the government ignores it at its peril’, overlooking the fact that the overwhelming majority of Members of Parliament – 394 – abstained from voting at all!

Mailbag

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Ross Gleave - HMP Hull Generally speaking I am quite a courteous man and have been described as a polite individual, but I’ve been at HMP Hull now for over a year and I am almost at the end of my patience with this place. Every time we collect a meal from the servery we have been ordered to say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ to the servery staff or we get no food. It’s not the being polite that does my head in, but the fact that we are being ordered to do it. If we refuse to say it we are turned away from the servery. This rule has been introduced throughout the prison.

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A police state, is that England or Egypt? ..................................................................................................................... It is only in good democracies that the will of the people prevails, the right of the common man to protest and bring attention to what he considers to be unjust. But, in this country, those principles are now under threat because our police force has elected not to police the streets but to own them. We are well and truly on the way to becoming a police state, a grim prospect in anyone’s language. With cameras on every street we have become a surveillance soaked society, fully equipped with a whole legion of non-productive parasites observing our every move.

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In marked contrast, I couldn’t help but notice how well protesters got on with the authorities during the recent uprisings in Cairo. Egypt, recognised throughout the world as a police state, reacting to protest as a democracy should, with tolerance and understanding. Now cast your mind back to the events that occurred in Parliament Square, London, a couple of weeks before, and spot the difference! Students being ‘kettled’ by baton-wielding, boiler-suited bullies that were a disgrace to their uniform. When people’s tempers boiled over, as kettles are wont to do, the police steamed in with their batons working overtime. What a sad sight it was. Every decent copper in the country must have been ashamed to be associated with that brutal mob.

So the type of reaction you would have expected from a military junta or tin-pot dictator has now, sadly, become the norm in this country. If I were to blame anyone for this heinous transition it would be New Labour. They trampled roughshod through our constitution, took away basic human rights that had taken centuries to attain, and gave the police powers that are unparalleled in the western world. Whilst I am an advocate of a well-run, wellpoliced, society, I feel that something has to be done to redress the balance. The alternative is to fall into a dark age that will blight us for years to come, leaving us to be known as the generation who sold England down the river.

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Should we have to ‘perform’ for the food that we are entitled to by law? Prisoners are being banged-up hungry for not being polite at the servery, and surely this can’t be legal? I thought the prison system, under Statutory Implement, had a legal duty to supply us with food no matter what the circumstances? To make matters worse, the food we are saying ‘thank you’ for is usually improperly cooked and foul-tasting! My question is – is there any other prison in this country where inmates are denied food for not saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’?

This is a local issue to be resolved and the concerns raised by the prisoner have been passed on to the Governor to investigate and act upon. The prisoner also comments on the quality of food being served at the prison. There are regular and appropriately recorded food quality assurance checks at the prison, including regional management assessments, that confirm that food served at the prison is safe and acceptable and complies with Prison Service Instruction (PSI) 2010/4 - Catering - Meals for Prisoners. Editorial Note: We spoke to the Catering Manager at HMP Hull who refused to discuss the matter raised in this letter.

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Clinton, or Berlusconi? And even the Pope’s ‘lack of empathy’ for the thousands of child victims of his employees? Psychopaths?

Star Letter of the Month Congratulations to David Baker - HMP Frankland who wins the £25 cash prize for this month’s Star Letter

Hell hath no fury like a psychologist scorned

.................................................................................... My friend has let me read his Psychopathy Assessment, which, for those of you who don’t know, is a rating scale of psychopathic traits. It helps the psych’ crowd to label you a psychopath. The assessment said that my friend was ‘cunning and manipulative’ and ‘displayed glibness and superficial charm’. It also stated that he was a ‘pathological liar’ with a ‘grandiose sense of self-worth’, and that he ‘showed a lack of remorse or guilt, a callous lack of empathy, a failure to accept responsibility for his own actions, and is sexually promiscuous’. The conclusion was a recommendation that he be referred to the Dangerous and Severe Personality Disorder Unit (DSPDU). Then it dawned on me – the whole world is being run by psychopaths who, according to the criteria of this assessment, should all be in a DSPDU!

Send them home

..................................................... CJ Green - HMP Hewell As with all government bodies, the Prison Service is under immense pressure to make significant cuts, in keeping with the national imperative which is to reduce the massive inherited national budget deficit by 20% over the next 4 years. There is, however, an additional political aspiration that is being imposed upon the public service bodies under the auspices of the Justice Ministry, and that is to reduce the prison population by the seemingly arbitrary figure of 3,500. At an annual cost to the UK economy of £45,000 per inmate (£95,000 in Northern Ireland) Britain needs to toughen its stance in respect of foreign prisoners, who make up 16.5% of the prison population. Illegal immigration is every bit as much a crime as any other offence that might ordinarily result in a custodial sentence, and should be treated accordingly. But, by definition, foreign prisoners attract an even greater cost penalty to the Exchequer, because of the need to provide inter-alia, translation services, pastoral care specific to their culture, religious and dietary requirements. Whilst arguably strongly desirable, it is unlikely that the current government will bring in a policy to remove all foreign prisoners from British jails, even though doing so would swiftly lift some 14,000 inmates from the system, thus dwarfing the aim for a reduction of 3,500. With courage it should be possible to reduce the total foreign prisoner population by at least 75%, ideally by agreement, but enforced if necessary. And if the latter means the simultaneous removal of the inmate’s dependents, then so be it, and in the case of illegal immigrants this is an entirely appropriate procedure and one that would prove very popular with the voters!

Mailbag

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Let’s start with Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, who conned students with his glibness and superficial charm into believing he would abolish tuition fees. Thereby manipulating them into voting Lib-Dem. But when he gained power he voted to triple those same tuition fees. Psychopath? Or Gordon Brown, who displayed ‘superficial charm’ on his election campaign in public, but was caught calling a woman a bigot in private when he thought his mic was turned off. Psychopath? Then we have the MPs who were caught fiddling their expenses. Did they accept responsibility? No. They went all the way to the Supreme Court trying to claim Parliamentary Privilege. All Psychopaths? As for ‘sexually promiscuous’ – what about Bill

But the best bit is ‘grandiose sense of self worth’. Who is this report writer to tell anyone that they have a ‘grandiose sense of self worth’? I think this report says more about the author than the subject. The accusation of sexual promiscuity tells me that the author has a very boring sex life. It would appear that she sees my friend’s charm as ‘superficial’ not from any professional point of view, but from the point of view of a woman who has been charmed and then let down by somebody and so has become wary of charming men. This whole report cries out to me of a woman scorned. It could have been written by any bitter woman with man issues. Unluckily for us, this woman has found her dream job – sitting in a male prison, damaging men’s lives by writing absolute drivel. If I didn’t know that I was reading a report by a psychologist, I would have sworn that I was reading a letter from my ex-girlfriend! In fact, I think I’ll drop her a line and let her know that she’s missed her vocation in life; she needs to become a prison psychologist. Then people might actually listen to her ranting. Dr Bob Johnson page 32

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Contents Mailbag ......................... pages 2-9 Newsround .............. pages 10-17

Shona Brown

Scottish Focus ........................ Page 16

Diary ........................... pages 18-19 Comment ................... pages 20-32 Thoughts for the Day ....... page 33 Family Welfare ......... pages 34-35 News from the House .................................. pages 36-37 Legal Comment .. pages 38-40 Legal Advice .................... page 41

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marge or cheese to put on them, and toilet rolls are rationed to 6 a month. That alone should tell you all you need to know about this place, but there’s more.

False impression

....................................................................................................... Sue - a prisoner’s mother I was interested to read your article in the February issue reporting the percentage change in crime statistics for England and Wales for September 2010 compared with the previous year. It is even more interesting to read the various reasons given for the disproportionate rise in sexual crime above all other crimes. Doesn’t anyone question these statistics? If these figures are just for recorded and/or reported crimes, then the statistics are very much distorted. Suggested reasons including more people were willing to report sex offences, cultural changes, increasing sexualisation of society or growth of the night-time economy is all very well, and probably a mix of these could be attributable to the reported increase. However, what appears to have been discounted from these statistics are the percentage of sexual related crimes reported that have resulted in false allegations and convictions being quashed which, since the law changed and no longer requires corroborative evidence from the accuser, has made it easier for false allegations to be made out of spite, vengeance or obtaining compensation if winning a case. Even David Cameron, in a televised statement in June last year, acknowledged the high percentage of wrongfully accused and convicted sexual related allegations. Therefore it would appear that there is no consistency between one set of statistics to another. It’s about time that statistics related to sexual allegations were completely overhauled to reflect the truth, because it is this type of hype, propaganda and incorrect statistics that increases public scare-mongering that we are a society of sex perverts, and makes the public more inclined to believe the female, before the male has even had a chance to prove his innocence. It should also be pointed out to the public that they may be wrongly assuming that sexual related allegations are all about rape, under-age sex, pornography and other contact offences, because even a proven allegation of a male stealing undergarments off a clothes line will be regarded as a sex offence. It has gone too far, and if statistics are to be more near the truth, it’s about time the public were informed of the various categories of sexual offences, rather than placing them all under one category where a false impression is given. It would be interesting to see the results of these statistical percentages if the figures took into account the number of convictions for the same period that had been quashed. Jonathan King page 12 Views expressed in Inside Time are those of the authors and not necessarily representative of those held by Inside Time or the New Bridge Foundation.

Lifers should give Ford a miss ..................................................... Name withheld - HMP Ford I had the misfortune to be transferred to HMP Ford last November, after I told the lifer liaison officer that I would go anywhere as I was desperate to escape the nightmare of HMP Elmley. Had I known what I was letting myself in for I’d have stayed at Elmley! In Elmley I worked in the kitchens, earning £21.50 a week. I can do the same job here for £7 a week. Before I continue I should say that I’ve had experience of what an ‘open’ prison should be, having been at HMP Blantyre House for nearly 2 years. So I know what resettlement is, and I also know what it’s not. At Blantyre House the staff were mostly helpful; here they are awkward, lazy, and even antagonistic. At Blantyre we were treated like adults and given an amount of responsibility. But not here. The best way to describe Ford is ‘primitive’. Compared to Blantyre, Ford is more like a category C jail but without the wall. The personal officer scheme is non-existent here and the only time you see the staff is at roll checks or meal times when there is a huge shout of ‘Stand by your doors!’ I don’t even want to discuss the concerted indiscipline of December 31st as I’m sure that has been well covered by other people. What I will say is there is nothing here for lifers. There is no resettlement as such, I think there are only about 8 to 10 people on outside work, long queues for every meal (the prison CNA is 547 but I’m sure there are more as my meal ticket number is 553!). Mail has to be collected from a central room and you have to show an ID card. You can’t bring anything back from town visits. You have to hand-wash all your clothes as the prison does not have a washing machine. Hoodies are not allowed, and neither are black trousers. You are allowed to buy cream crackers from the canteen, but not

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The food here leaves a lot to be desired and it’s no wonder as Ford prides itself on being the cheapest run cat D in the system. I’ve yet to see any cleaning materials on this billet and the communal toilets and showers are minging. And we are not allowed to wear our own clothes during the day. I would advise lifers not to come here, it is a very petty place. Movement slips are required to get around the prison, and they hand out IEP warnings here as if they were sweets. Believe me, I have tried to be fair and objective about this place, but if you really want resettlement then you should go elsewhere.

....................................................... Nicolas Davis - HMP Bedford n In regard to the riot at HMP Ford on 31st of December 2010, I was there and my accommodation was damaged by fire. I was shipped out of Ford on the 1st of January 2011, along with 6 others from my billet. On the 4th of January, the governor here at HMP Bedford told us that we were only in the prison on temporary hold until spaces at other D cat prisons could be found for us. A week later we all got a letter saying that the police needed to interview us within the next 3 weeks. In the meantime we put in applications asking for our enhanced status to be returned, but were informed that we couldn’t have it as we were ‘under investigation’. Two weeks later, without any charges or nickings, my category D was taken away. The police eventually came to the prison and interviewed some people and asked whether they would be willing to give evidence at court. When I asked a governor why I had not been interviewed by the police I was told that it ‘could be arranged’ if I was willing to ‘help with the investigation’. I don’t see why I should help them when, as an innocent victim who could have burned to death, I am now being punished by being held in a category B prison, on standard for nothing. I believe that the authorities are trying to make things hard for certain prisoners so that they will be forced to testify. Only a minority of prisoners were involved in the riot, and the rest of us were not supportive of it, I know because I was there. In fact, some of us put out fires and tried to protect our billets from vandalism. If we had all been in on the riot I can assure you there would be nothing left of the prison. The bottom line is – why should innocent prisoners be blackmailed into helping with the investigation?

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Kick out the bigots Discrimination and bullying in the workplace ‘More hoops to ..................................................... ....................................................................................................... jump through’ Name withheld - HMP Glenochil Rob Burrell - HMP Swaleside ..................................................... I am an IPP prisoner serving a 2½ year tariff. I am one of the very few people that had faith in this system, but that faith has now been replaced by stress and anxiety. My tariff expired in January 2010, at which time I was entitled to a parole hearing but, like many others, my statutory rights were infringed and I didn’t receive a hearing until almost a year later. I have to admit that from my first sentence, in 2004, I had been a thorn in the side of the prison system. Fighting, trying to incite riots, you name it and I was in the middle of it. But, in 2008 I suffered a life-changing experience when I spent 6 months locked down in 24-hour isolation. I dropped to the lowest emotional depth that I could go without actually killing myself. I decided to turn my life around, and believed that if I genuinely changed then the Parole Board would see it and I’d be given a reprieve. How wrong I was.

The recent prosecution of two guest house owners for refusing to accommodate a gay couple has set a marker that discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation will no longer be tolerated in any service – public or private – across the UK. Yet, within our prisons there remain powerful gatekeepers who can exercise their prejudice to deny gay men access to articles which their ‘straight’ counterparts consider routine. Specifically at HMP Glenochil. The lifestyle magazines ‘Gay Times’ and ‘Attitude’ have been categorised as ‘top shelf/pornographic’ by canteen staff and are banned. Anyone who has seen these publications would place them alongside Cosmopolitan, FHM, or Loaded. This raises concerns as to the real motives behind the decision.

Now I’m in an open prison and find that I have to wait 6 months before I can access town visits, and 9 months before home leave. I did all the courses and more, and now I’m given a pat on the head and told I’m a good doggie, and that there are yet more hoops to jump through.

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I am a type 1 diabetic and if I, or anyone else, have to go to healthcare for an appointment, or to a legal or social visit, we only get paid 70p for the missed session. Which is bad enough, but this week the powers that be have decided we are not to be paid our honesty bonus (which is £5.85 per week) because they claim that ‘stock has gone missing’. They claim that £500 worth of stock has gone missing over the last 2 weeks! So they have put a blanket ban on the inmates’ honesty bonus. But how do DHL know that it’s not their civvy staff who are stealing goods? They certainly have more opportunity than us! I’m sure they are not getting their wages docked. What governors/DHL is doing is discrimination and bullying.

It is recommended practice in all prison retail workshops, that prisoners employed in this activity have the opportunity of increasing their pay through the operation of a bonus system. This gives them the chance to earn something extra through efficient work and good behaviour, and should not be considered as something being taken away when it is not achieved. Prisoners in many other work areas would be on a similar type of wage to the basic being paid in the retail workshop before any bonus, without any additional opportunity to increase this.

I spent the next 2 years changing my attitude, the way I handled situations, and my emotions. I matured considerably. By the time of my parole hearing everyone who knew me knew I was ready for release, staff, my parents, even my reports stated that I was now low risk. I went into the hearing feeling optimistic. The outcome of the hearing is that I was granted category D. I know that some people might argue that this is a good thing and that there are plenty of others worse off than me, but I can’t hide my disappointment. The Parole Board’s reason for not granting release was because they wanted ‘concrete evidence’ of change! They didn’t give me any further courses to do and apparently the only way I can produce this concrete evidence is by going on town visits/home leave.

I currently work in the DHL workshop, pricing, serving, and confirming 5,500 canteen orders for prisons in the Kent area. The average inmate workforce in this workshop is around 50. Recently Swaleside governors, or DHL, (we don’t get told who) decided to pay us on a ‘bonus structure’. As far as I am aware there is no provision in any PSO for this. They break it down to an ‘efficiency’ bonus, ‘productivity’ bonus, and an ‘honesty’ bonus.

Prisoners attending Healthcare or visits are still paid the sessional rate, even though they are not actually working and the remaining workforce have to cover their work for them. If they are not present, then they are not in a position to earn the bonus.

The Scottish Prison Service employs Equality & Diversity teams in each of their establishments with a remit to promote equality across all the strands covered by the legislation. However, when sexual orientation issues are raised they are described as ‘thorny’ or ‘sensitive’ and little or nothing is done.

Stock going missing either through theft, or because it is eaten by workers during the day, can be a significant cost to the prison service and the tax payer. If stock is missing, then it is not appropriate that an honesty bonus is paid. Wages are not being docked, rather the bonus is not paid. DHL staff do not have the opportunity to earn an honesty bonus in the first place, so there is not an option to decide not to pay it to them. If they are caught stealing, then this would be taken extremely seriously and they would be subject to DHL disciplinary procedures, keepfighting-170x260-2010-v3:swain-170x260 17/11/10 16:37 Page 1 and possible police action.

Perhaps the SPS will join the 21st century and kick out the bigots in its midst.

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Mailbag

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If you would like to contribute to Mailbag, please send your letters to ‘Mailbag’, Inside Time, Botley Mills, Botley, Southampton, Hampshire SO30 2GB.

Say what you mean Personal officer ..................................................... allocation Michael Wright - HMP ..................................................... Marsha Russell - HMP Bronzefield I would like clarification about how lifer officers are allocated to prisoners and whether prisoners can request to have different lifer officers to the ones they were initially allocated.

Claudia Busby - Briefing & Casework Unit, NOMS

Holiday camp jails?

..................................................................................................................... Rikki Mowforth - HMP Hull I’m getting a bit sick of how people are exaggerating about how easy prison is. I’m currently residing in HMP Hull, and I’m on remand, not yet convicted of any crime, so I’m entitled to as many ‘privileges’ as a convicted Enhanced prisoner. We do not get freeview television, and we’re lucky if we can get Channel 5. As for Playstations, for the gullible among you, yes – some category C and most category D prisons do allow them (as long as you are prepared to buy them yourself) but here we are allowed Game-Cubes that have no facility to play DVDs. We are not allowed DVD players at all. We do have a snooker table, table tennis table, and pool table on the wing – but we only get one hour after tea in which to use them, along with another hundred guys all trying to do the same thing!

If Marsha Russell has concerns about her personal situation, then she should pursue this locally, in accordance with the complaints system, as detailed in Prison Service Order 2510. This allows her the additional option of contacting the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman’s office for further investigation of her complaint. There are no set rules for allocating lifer prisoners to lifer officers in Bronzefield as each request would be considered on its individual merits. If a prisoner requests a change of lifer officer because their behaviour is being challenged, a change would not be recommended, as long as the officer is happy to continue managing the prisoner. In a different scenario, if there is a personality clash between an officer and a prisoner, or a prisoner feels uncomfortable working with a particular officer or they would benefit working with a different officer, then a change of officers would be considered.

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It is not clear if this statement is the words of Paul Norman, NOMS, or FC&A, but what is clear is that it makes a laughing stock of the writer. If you are one of these people whose ego can only truly shine against a backdrop of long words, there is a simple safety net; don’t use a word unless you are sure you understand what it means. You ignore this at your peril, because if you get it wrong you hold both yourself and the organisation you represent up to ridicule. The word the above writer was looking for was not ‘circumnavigate’ (which is a nonsense in this context), but ‘circumvent’. The less pretentious would probably have settled for ‘get around’ in preference to either word. Much is made of research that suggests illiteracy amongst inmates is one of the main causes of reoffending, so shouldn’t those in authority be setting an example?

Send your message (20 words max.) to Inside Time and we will publish as many as possible in a special Mother’s Day section in the April issue. All messages received will appear on our website. Include the name and address of your mum and she will receive a copy of the newspaper. Entries must be sent to Inside Time ‘Mothers Day’ Botley Mills, Botley, Hampshire SO30 2GB. Closing date 22nd March and don’t forget to include your full details too.

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I found the response to the letter from Darren Jenkins in connection with savings accounts (Mailbags January issue) very interesting. To quote: ‘Once money is deposited in the savings account it should not be available for use until release as otherwise this could enable prisoners to ‘circumnavigate’ the rules on spending’.

Mothers Day

Jails are not like holiday camps, far from it, unless your idea of a holiday is camping in Beirut! Now, with this ‘credit crunch’, prisons are getting much worse. Single occupancy cells are being used as doubles and trebles, they are packing us in like sardines, and also feeding us with ‘out of date’ food to save money. If you want to shower in cold water, eat rotten food, wear dirty clothes, and queue all day only to be told that they have run out of whatever it is you’ve been queueing for - then go ahead, commit a crime. But remember this - the brochures for these hotels are as false as Jordan’s breasts!

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We currently have no plans to implement the provisions in sections 33 and 34 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008. There would be significant practical difficulties involved in undertaking the necessary checks to ensure that a prisoner genuinely had the ties and the entitlement to live in the country he or she intended to settle in. This would involve seeking information from foreign jurisdictions which may not be possible to obtain.

Early release? ..................................................... Nick Heer - HMP Onley Can you please let me know if there is a scheme that allows British citizens early release? I have heard that if I apply to move abroad that I am entitled to 9 months off my CRD. Would these 9 months off allow me to progress earlier to open conditions if I am accepted? Please let me know what it offers and what the criteria would be for all prisoners. Finally, how would I apply and how would my time on licence be affected?

Writes Miss N Amin - Sentencing Policy and Penalties Unit Mr Heer is referring to a change to the Early Removal Scheme (ERS) introduced by Sections 33 and 34 of the Criminal Justice & Immigration Act 2008, which relate to prisoners who demonstrate a settled intention to reside permanently outside the UK.

As the prisoners being allowed to leave the country under these provisions would not be those whom UKBA intend to remove for immigration reasons, it would be necessary to find another way to administer and resource their removal. They would still be serving prisoners so could not simply be allowed to leave prison unescorted; arrangements for their travel and flights etc would need to be in place to ensure that they left the UK as intended. It would be difficult to justify using public funds to facilitate prisoners leaving the UK early to go and live in another country. We have carefully explored the issues around implementation of the 2008 Act provisions but without being able to put in place the necessary mechanisms and safeguards to operate the scheme effectively and to avoid the difficulties described above, we do not consider it appropriate to bring these provisions into force. The Government is reviewing all of its legislation with a view to repealing those provisions which are unnecessary or not functioning in practice. This will include a review of uncommenced legislation. If specific legislative provisions are not going to be brought into force then they will in due course form part of a Repeals Bill and Parliament will have the opportunity to decide if they should be repealed.

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......................................................................................................... Matthew Evans - Prisoners’ Advice Service Prisoners with consecutive default terms for confiscation orders were, under PSO 6300, deemed to be ineligible for ROTL on the original sentence, and instead were eligible to be considered purely on the default confiscation order term with eligibility calculated on the custodial part of that term alone. Following a High Court challenge this policy and PSO 6300 has now been amended (full guidance has yet to be issued but the changes in how the eligibility dates are calculated and criteria are to be given immediate effect through a notice issued to all prisons). The ROTL eligibility criteria for prisoners with consecutive terms of imprisonment in default of payment is now to be based on the overall term of imprisonment (i.e. the period between the date the initial criminal sentence was imposed and the release date of the default term) as opposed to purely on the default term to serve. This means ROTL eligibility dates will be re-calculated and in practice brought forward in all cases. In terms of the criteria to be used, the new policy requires that where ROLT is being considered for prisoners who are facing confiscation proceedings or whose sentences contain a confiscation order the usual risk assessment must be undertaken, including the risk of abscond in light of impending confiscation proceedings or the presence an unpaid confiscation order but also taking into account the individual circumstances of each case. Where a confiscation order has been made but not paid or the prisoner is actually in default then the agency responsible for the confiscation order (see PSI 16/2010) should be contacted and their views sought prior to a decision being made about ROTL. Matthew Evans, Managing Solicitor at the Prisoners’ Advice Service (PAS). PAS is a Charity providing free legal advice and information to prisoners in England and Wales regarding their rights. It is independent and receives no Home Office or Prison Service money.

‘Approval of the press’

..................................................... Alexander Potts - HMP Dumfries Having just received my latest parole dossier in anticipation of my forthcoming tribunal, I was amazed to discover that the prison social worker filed a 6 page report. She had previously only shown me a 2 page report that she said she was putting in. Is it any wonder that some people have a very low opinion of them? When I was at school, in the 1960s, I was taught that reports should be objective rather than subjective. However, this social worker is very subjective in her writing and remarks about me, which is not to mention the many inaccuracies. During her ‘discussions’ with me she let slip that her report had to meet with the ‘approval of the press’! Forgive me for not knowing that prison social workers are paid by Rupert Murdoch and co!!! It’s no wonder that us prisoners tend to call these people ‘anti’social workers. I have managed to answer all the points raised by the social worker, in a 40 page report of my own. I pity those prisoners who cannot read or write.

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Jumping onto the gravy train

..................................................... Adrian Burke - HMP Wakefield Once again a prison officer has hit the headlines. No, he wasn’t awarded an OBE or MBE, nor has he been caught out and swapped his uniform for a prison tracksuit, as a few of his colleagues have in the past. This one has jumped the gravy train and been awarded a 6 figure nest-egg, just for doing his everyday job (‘Stressed Jailer Pay’ – The Sun, 5-2-11). All I can say to this is that if the job is proving too stressful you do have two options – (1) you seek help before it gets too bad, or (2) you quit the job. I understand the difficulty of the latter as prison officers are not usually qualified to do anything else. Surely the Prison Service must have their own psychiatrists and psychologists to deal with any staff who are feeling stressed? By paying out this amount of money they have set a dangerous precedent, and you can almost guarantee a flood of such claims from screws who are looking for early retirement with a nice few quid. And what about other prisoners who have sat in on group therapy sessions, are they also entitled to a 6 figure sum for their stress? Get a grip!

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Charles Bronson - the good, the bad, and the ugly

Mental torture

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

I couldn’t help being moved by February’s Mailbag contributions. Several of the letters raised the same issue, an issue I have been campaigning about for the last few years; the mental torture that is indeterminate sentences.

Ian Hutchinson, aka Rab C Nesbit- HMP The Mount

‘Smack-Donalds’ ..................................................... Martyn Dance - HMP Dartmoor I am writing in response to the letter by Michael Boylan (Medical Confidentiality - February issue) about prison officers shouting for methadone users to collect their medication. When I was in HMP Exeter there was one female officer who used to open the cell doors and say ‘Come on then, my little smack rats!’, or ‘Go and get your Smack-Donalds’, as though it was all some kind of funny jape. We are recovering addicts doing what we can to stay clean, so what can you say to an officer like that without getting yourself an IEP warning? Some staff just have no respect for anything or anybody. Here at Dartmoor the staff just shout ‘treatments’ or ‘IDTS’, which gives more anonymity.

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Just thought I’d write and give a bit of advice to Charlie Bronson. I’m in the same boat as Charlie in that I also changed my name. I changed mine to Rab C Nesbit, and now I’m living the dream! I have read some of Charlie’s books, and his letter in Inside Time (MailbagsFebruary issue) and I have to say he does talk a lot of shite. Calling people ‘parasites’ and saying he’s been dehumanised, well from where I’m sitting he doesn’t seem to be deprived of human qualities, because if he was we wouldn’t have been able to read his letter! It seems to me that he brings all this nonsense on himself. In his books he talks about ‘respect’, but unless your name is Ronnie, Reggie, Mad Frankie, Billy the Bastard or Hard-as-nails Benny the Limp, I don’t hear or feel a lot of respect coming the way of anyone else. Charlie’s been in jail for 36 years, and I suspect that 35 of them are down to him being a pest. He’s done nothing to rehabilitate himself, and at the end of the day he’s made his point. His name will be forever known in prison folklore, and probably still be mentioned in 100 years. But it’s time to call it a day if he wants to be remembered for his books, art, poetry, rather than his ‘Britain’s most dangerous con’ tag. As a fellow con, I personally think it would be better if you were known as ‘Charlie Bronson free man’. As one waster to another – you are becoming a bit of a joke. So stop it. Oh, and if you give me a mention in your next book I’ll send you my string vest!

....................................................... S Taylor - HMP Styal n I think Mr Bronson is a total legend and I really admire him. I know he has done some bad things in his time but he has never killed anyone. There’s a high possibility that he will never be released, and that’s sad. He’s an inspiration to me, and I love him. I’ve read all his books over and over again. I’ve watched the film loads of times, and I follow him on every Facebook group he’s got. I don’t know

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how he’s coped with the horrendous abuse and solitary over the past 3 decades. I’m 22 years-old and I’ve spent the last 9 years in and out of custody. I have difficulties behaving and have spent a lot of time fighting with prison officers. I hate their bullying tactics and the way they provoke you to kick off. I know it’s no comparison to what Charlie has had to put up with, but I sort of understand his frustration. It’s disgusting what staff get away with, and there’s never anything you can do about it. They have even confiscated my Charles Bronson books because they say they were giving me ‘bad ideas’. There is not one Charles Bronson book here in the library at Styal! Charlie has been bullied by the system and there’s only so much he can take before he snaps. And then some lowlife screw goes and sells the story to the media, which gives him more bad publicity and in return lessens his chances of any kind of release. It’s brutal. He’s put up with a lot and is still going strong and is refusing to be beaten by this corrupt system. We all know he’s no angel, but give the guy a break. I love you Charlie and you are my hero.

....................................................... Alistair Moden - HMP Stocken n I would like to ask how anyone can blame Bronson for the ‘butter riot’. Come on, the man has been in solitary for 36 years, his mail is stopped, he’s not getting any progression. I can relate to this, in the fact that I too have been jailed indefinitely. These so-called officers who are supposed to be here to help do nothing whatsoever most of the time. And some of them are more double-agent than you can imagine. What I mean is, they are ok to Charlie to his face, then behind his back they are selling their stories to the press and getting off on someone else’s misfortune. How can the prison system justify keeping him in? He’s not dangerous; it’s just that some people are naïve and believe all the hype about him being a ‘monster’. Charlie is only human, and I’m sure he has feelings like anyone else. Let the man out, he’s done long enough and never killed anyone. I would like to say – I salute you Charlie.

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........................................................ David Silver – HMP Gartree

On page 2, John F Kelly quite rightly described the IPP sentence as tantamount to false imprisonment and the wilful infliction of torture. On page 6, David Baker suggests standing united and refusing to cooperate with psychology, OMU and probation. He claims that if we all did this, then the system would grind to a halt and the Ministry of Justice would be forced to ‘change its tune’. He is, of course, quite right. Imagine, for example, if every Indeterminate Sentenced Prisoner, not just IPPs, refused to cooperate with the Parole Board. There are almost 14,000 ISPs in the system, and if they all refused to cooperate then the system would come crashing down. The idea is perhaps a little quixotic, which, arguably, proves the point: An ISP suffers so much anxiety and mental anguish over his uncertain future that he will do almost anything if he thinks it will aid his eventual release. Critics would argue that this is then proof that indeterminate sentences work. However, what the critics fail to appreciate is the impact on society when these psychologically tortured prisoners are eventually released back into the community. Take, for example, Charles Bronson’s letter on page 7. I don’t personally know Mr Bronson, or much about his crimes beyond the biased media portrayals of him. What I would say though is that after 36 years of incarceration Mr Bronson has surely paid for his crimes. He is detained in custody on the basis that he may reoffend. Any criminal justice system that imprisons someone on the basis that they may commit a further crime is inherently inhumane. Mr Bronson succinctly lists some of the degradation that he is forced to endure before asking the reader if they could cope with what he has to, if they could cope with so much hopelessness. I am quite certain that many couldn’t. Make no mistake, the examples that I have listed are the ramblings of people being mentally tortured by a government that claims to be morally superior to them. What does Ben Gunn say about moral relativism?

Lewis Sidhu Solicitors Prison & Criminal Law Specialists

020 8832 7321 CCRC Applications Recatagorisations Adjudications Complaints Appeals Parole Even as a serving prisoner you still have rights and we will do our best to protect and advance those rights.

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Insidetime March 2011 www.insidetime.org

If you would like to contribute to Mailbag, please send your letters to ‘Mailbag’, Inside Time, Botley Mills, Botley, Southampton, Hampshire SO30 2GB.

Don’t shoot the messenger but understand what is happening in the wider world

.................................................................................................................... Julian Young - Solicitor Advocate Together with numerous Solicitors acting for inmates, I am becoming the victim of and am being increasingly blamed for inefficiencies within the system over which I have no control. I am simply asking for inmates to understand our position and cut us a little slack. The worst examples revolve around legal visits and mail. Let’s take each issue in turn. Legal visits normally take place on set dates of each week and can and usually have to be booked weeks in advance. This means that a Solicitor has to wait in a queue whilst the client becomes more frustrated and upset at what appears to be inaction. Add to that the frequent movement of inmates between prisons, almost always without any notice to lawyers who will have made appointments and who will travel to a far flung prison to find that the client has been moved, to the knowledge of the Prison Service. This inefficiency is a waste of public money and usually results in the inmate then waiting even longer for a visit. This is so easily avoidable if the Prison Service used common sense and coordinated movements of inmates with details of Solicitors and records held in connection with legal visits - but I am not holding my breath. Even attempts to see clients through the videolink system are frustrated by breakdowns or

failures in linking the systems to the right place at the right time. As for letters; words fail me. Not only were there postal delays last year due to industrial action, but the Post Office runs to a system which defies rational explanation. It seems to take weeks for some letters to be delivered to inmates from Central London, and their letters to me are also held up by the Post Office as well as by the Prison Service notwithstanding the fact that the letters are suitably marked as ‘Solicitor’s letter Rule 39 [1]’. Delays by the Prison Service and the Post Office serve no useful purpose and frustrate all those within the criminal justice system. Yet this is so easily avoidable – and a simple telephone call from someone in HM Prison Service could result in a sensible protocol for legal visits and communications. I am not saying that all Solicitors deal with everything as quickly as an inmate would wish, but to blame the lawyer when there are delays may not be fair. And fairness is something we all strive for. This is all outside my control and even my complaint about this to the former Prisons Minister was ignored - perhaps he did not get my letter!!

We live in hope Mr Clarke

.................................................................................................................... Mr Walford - HMP Preston On the 10th of February we had a visit at this prison from Mr Kenneth Clarke MP, Minister of Justice. In the 2 days before the visit I have never seen a prison so quickly transformed, everything was cleaned and painted. The governors even cleared a space for him to park his limo, but apparently he came by train, first class, obviously. Mr Clarke duly appeared on the wing, escorted by every governor in the nick, most of whom we’ve rarely ever seen on a wing! We were told that Mr Clarke would not be talking to any prisoners. But we found out later that he had spoken to some specially picked prisoners on another wing who are Listeners and Toe-by-Toe mentors. I missed an opportunity to question Mr Clarke on what he intends to do about the IPP sentence. Clearly Mr Clarke was not interested in the views of ordinary prisoners, or ‘rejects from society’ as one member of staff here so eloquently calls us, but, you never know, he might just read Inside Time during his next first class train ride to a prison and hopefully he will allow ordinary prisoners to ask him a few questions. Particularly about IPPs. We live in hope.

..................................................... Xavier Themis – HMP Wakefield I would like to suggest that the MPs of this country stop and take a serious look at their attitudes and actions. In their debate in the House, on 10-2-11, I heard several MPs, including the Prime Minister, making statements about ‘law-breakers’ being allowed to vote. The debate in itself was a meeting amongst a group of people in order to discuss and plan how to disregard and break the law – this is known in legal terms as a criminal conspiracy! We are now in a position in this country where MPs themselves are ‘law-breakers’. I really am confused, can someone tell me how the actions and attitudes of these MPs further their supposed aims to reduce offending and reoffending, especially when social exclusion has been identified as a major factor in reoffending? I have one word for them – EXPENSES. In the same week as the debate, 2 of their fellow MPs have been found guilty of law-breaking. And we all know that their actions were not isolated incidents. The vast majority of the general public have no opinion either way on the issue of prisoners voting, despite the claims of the gutter press. Personally I can assure MPs that as a hard working member of that general public, I never gave a thought to prisons or prisoners. A majority of victims and their families, whose stories will sell lots of papers, are taken advantage of by the gutter press in order to turn the tide of public opinion against votes for prisoners, and MPs are encouraging this abuse by jumping on the bandwagon in order to look tough and further their careers. It’s a national disgrace. I don’t accuse all MPs of corruption, there are some who genuinely want to protect the public, just as not all prisoners are ‘murderers, rapists and paedophiles’, and forcing prisoners out of society is not the way to achieve change for the better. Here’s another word that MPs might want to ponder – INCLUSION.

We need an ex-con in Parliament

..................................................... Brian Colclough – HMP Lewes With the expenses scandal still fresh in our memories, and recent members of parliament being sent to prison for fraudulent claims, while many others have got away with all sorts for years, and still have their seats in the Commons, watching the hypocrisy of the debate on prisoners voting rights really left a bad taste in my mouth. Even worse than what is served off the hotplate. Maybe what is needed is one Member of Parliament to represent all prisoners. With a constituency of 85,000 potential voters, the by-election open to all parties and independents, we would be a captive audience when being canvassed for our votes. Perhaps we could even get an independent ex-convict voted into Parliament. Why not!? After all, Jeffrey Archer is back sitting in the House of Lords!

Thank you

..................................................... Jolene White - HMP Low Newton I would like to thank, from the bottom of my heart, the Governors and staff at Low Newton who were so supportive to me when my mother died, including allowing me to attend her funeral. They’ll never know just how much this meant to me and I hope this will go some way towards letting them know how grateful I am.

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MPs in criminal conspiracy to break the law

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10

Newsround

Insidetime March 2011 www.insidetime.org The inspectors commented on prisoners having to sleep on dirty and damaged mattresses and the lack of privacy when showering on the older accommodation. “Most cells were in good condition but we saw some that were filthy.”

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 HMP Wellingborough and HMP Holme House. Extracts are taken from the most recent reports published by HM Inspectorate of Prisons vening: verbal abuse and racist language directed against both staff and prisoners also went unchallenged.

HMP Wellingborough

Male Cat C training prison adult sentenced prisoners

Unannounced full follow-up inspection: 14-18 June 2010 Report date: October 2010 Published: January 2011 Some overall improvement – but too little and too late. At the last inspection, in 2008, inspectors expressed significant concerns; in their new inspection they found some improvements. The induction programme had recently been hurriedly relocated and induction arrangements were chaotic and first night cells were in a poor state of cleanliness and repair. Drugs were a problem with 43% of prisoners said drugs were easy to get hold. Bullying too was a problem with staff observed not inter-

HMP Holme House

HMP Holme House is a large category B local prison for male adult prisoners who are either remanded in custody or convicted. It can also accommodate a small number of young offenders, provided that they are unsentenced.

The Inspectors also commented; ‘food waste and spillages were not cleared overnight and the kitchen was left dirty, clothes were lost or returned wet from the laundry, and fire equipment was not unlocked and checked overnight.’

Announced inspection: 19–23 July 2010 Report date: November 2010 Published: February 2011

Healthcare was ‘reasonable’ but overcrowded with shabby facilities and waiting times that were too long. Too many prisoners were employed as wing cleaners & painters. Participants in one workshop were observed by Inspectors observed having little to do and sat about or played cards.

The Inspectors found the newer houseblocks good and the therapeutic community in Houseblock 6 ‘impressive’. There was good ‘purposeful activity, training and education, and most elements of resettlement were well run.’

Reasonably good outcomes for prisoners but some serious flaws

Management told Inspectors that; ‘ … the timing of the inspection was bad – there were a number of improvements in the pipeline and had they come a few weeks later they would have seen evidence of this.’

The reception area was poor, with prisoners required to squat during full searches, telephone calls were not offered to vulnerable prisoners. First night cells were dirty and graffiti covered. Prisoners could wait 14 days to access Canteen.

6% are on Recall; 13% are foreign nationals; 23% are Lifers or IPP prisoners; 25% have been in prison more than 5 times; 30% have felt unsafe; 48% said staff had opened legal letters; 58% said the IEP scheme was fair; 62% said food was bad or very bad; 62% said they were treated well in Reception; 65% said staff were respectful towards them.

Not everything at Holme house is rosy; the inspectors report, “Some services were poor. The laundry was chaotic, so prisoners were given back clothes that did not fit, were damaged or still wet. The kitchen was dirty and there was a risk of cross contamination between Halal and non-Halal food”. None of the kitchen or servery workers had undergone accredited hygiene or food-handling training.

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0151 236 3331 "I would like to thank DPP and most of all Rachel Barrow. I feel no other legal firm could do a better job! Even the Prison Governor commented on David Phillips and Partners by saying he had never known in his time any solicitor to put so much hard work into a case. Thank you once again." Wesley Lafferty Escape the technicalities and let us fight your case - call us now and ask for our Specialist Prison Law team. Established 1982 - Top ten provider of Criminal Defence services 2006 and 2009.

David Phillips and Partners Solicitors and Higher Court Advocates 1st Floor, Oriel Chambers, 14 Castle Street, Liverpool L2 8TD

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We are a new firm based in the North East, specialising in prison law, criminal defence and appeals. PRISON LAW Here at Kyles we are dedicated to representing the interests of prisoners and safeguarding your rights. Some of the areas with which we deal are as follows: • Parole applications • Lifer reviews • Licence recalls • Parole board oral hearings • Judicial review • Re-categorisations • Disciplinary adjudications The prison law dept is headed by John Turner, Solicitor. CRIMINAL DEFENCE Whether you are in need of representation at the police station, Magistrates' Court or Crown Court, Kyles Legal Practice Ltd is here to help you 24 hours a day. The criminal dept is headed by Nick Peacock, Barrister. APPEALS If you seek to appeal to the Court of Appeal or wish to make an application to the CCRC we will consider your case and look to give you clear, professional and honest advice, outlining the prospects of success.

Drugs were a major problem with up to 26% of prisoners testing positive on MDTs. Violence associated with drugs caused prisoners to feel unsafe. The inspectors noted; “The Integrated Drug Treatment System was in operation and treatment regimes were flexible, but clinical and psychosocial reviews were not up to date because of low counselling, assessment, referral, advice and throughcare (CARAT) staffing levels and inconsistent GP availability.” Applications were logged but not always followed up for a response. Prisoners expressed a lack of confidence in both the applications and complaints procedures. Video and paper evidence showed that ‘use of force’ was used disproportionately and there was no management reviews. 7% say they have been assaulted by staff; 11% are on recall; 38% don’t know who the IMB are; 46% said staff opened legal letters; 50% had been in prison more than 5 times; 59% had been there less than 6 months; 60% said they were treated well in Reception; 60% say it’s difficult to see the dentist; 65% said the food is bad; 71% said their cell bell wasn’t answered within 5 minutes.

Chief Inspector of Prisons inspection schedule 2011 14 March

Isle of Man

14 March

Lowdham Grange

Talking sense With offices at:

Beaconsfield, Bracknell, Cheltenham, Chesham, Gerrards Cross, Oxford Summertown, Swindon and West Drayton

Specialising in CRIMINAL DEFENCE and all aspects of PRISON LAW including:

LICENCE RECALL ADJUDICATIONS PAROLE HEARINGS JUDICIAL REVIEW IPP QUERIES For immediate help and assistance contact

Lisa Gianquitto on 01494 681442 or write to:

The appeals dept is headed by Brian Mark, Barrister. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SPEAK TO US ABOUT ANY ISSUE, PLEASE DO NOT HESITATE TO CONTACT US.

51 Amersham Road, Beaconsfield, Bucks HP9 2HB www.hinesolicitors.com

Newsround

Insidetime March 2011 www.insidetime.org

Unlawful force contributed to the youngest ever suicide

The tabloids trying hard not to confuse the European Union (EU) located in Brussels with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg - two very different and separate institutions!

Cameron is clear to defy European Court on prisoners’ votes says legal report The UK could defy the European Court over prisoner voting rights with few risks, Ministers have been advised. A leaked document makes clear that the Strasbourg Court is only able to put ‘political rather then judicial’ pressure on the UK, meaning that the government can ignore demands by prisoners for compensation. However the leaked document Prisoner Voting: issues a blunt warning to Ministers of the huge damage to Britain’s international standing if they ignore the ECHR ruling. Prisoners could claim compensation estimated at £143 million. But the document confirms that the Strasbourg Court has no legal powers to force the government to pay compensation for denying prisoners their human rights. In theory of course David Cameron or any other politician who refuses to obey the rulings of the Courts could face the seizure of their home and assets by a British court.There could also be a conviction for contempt of court, a crime that can carry a jail sentence!

2010 a turbulent year 2010 was a turbulent year for the Prison Service with five major disturbances (or riots) at; HMYOI Cookham Wood, HMYOI Warren Hill and three related disturbances at HMP & YOI Moorland. That follows on from the destruction of Ashwell in 2009 and precedes the riot and fire at Ford on New Year’s Day. As well as the riots there were 60 occasions, in 2010, classed as ‘concerted indiscipline’, where two or more prisoners refuse to obey orders or comply with the regime, 17 hostage situations and 375 occurrences of prisoners getting on roofs or scaling safety netting. The damage to Cookham Wood was £150,000 with a further estimated cost of £200,000 for the damage to Warren Hill and Moorland. Six prisoners at Cookham Wood were sentenced to 10 months each; investigations are still under way at Warren Hill and Moorland.

fisher meredith Award winning firm offering specialist advice on prisoners’ rights • Lifer panels • Re-categorisation • Adjudications • Inquest • Claims for compensation • Judicial review • Parole review and early • Human rights release • Compassionate release Contact solicitor Andrew Arthur Fisher Meredith LLP, Blue Sky House, 405 Kennington Road, London SE11 4PT Telephone: 020 7091 2700 Fax: 020 7091 2800 O r v i s i t o u r w e b s i t e w w w. f i s h e r m e r e d i t h . c o . u k

The jury in the second inquest into the death of Adam Rickward, at 14 the youngest ever British prisoner to take his own life, has ruled that the unlawful use of force contributed to his death. They concluded that there was a serious failure on the part of the Youth Justice Board in failing to prevent the regular unlawful use of force at Hassockfield Secure Training Centre, run by SERCO. Although over 900 instances of ‘restraint’ were recorded at the centre in the year before his death, nobody questioned it. Rickward, who had never been convicted of any offence, had only been at the centre, 150 miles from his home, for a few weeks before his death. To date, nobody has been disciplined or charged and nobody has accepted responsibility for what happened. It remains to be seen if SERCO will be charged with corporate manslaughter, or if Mrs Pounder (Adam’s mother) will initiate a claim for damages.

Suicide Letter Dear Mam, Dad, Sarah, Sharon, Laura, Nadia [his girlfriend], Nana and all of my loved ones. Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! I will miss of all you’s, and I know all of you’s will miss me. I know some of you will think I’m daft, stupid and selfish but that’s what you think. I will be OK with my granddads and my nana and I can look after them and make sure they’re all right. I’m sorry. I would like to be buried with my granddad Rickwood. I want my dad, Craig, Uncle Dave, Martin, Uncle Tom and Uncle Ste to carry my coffin to my granddad please. I want you to play these songs for me please. 2pac, That’s The Way It Is; UB40 - Red Red Wine; Bob Marley - NoWoman No Cry. I love you all. Sorry. PS I would like to be buried with my gold and my other personal belongings!! Especially a joint of green and a bottle of scotch for me and my granddad!

MILLERCHIP MURRAY

S O L I C I TO R S SPECIALISTS IN CRIMINAL DEFENCE WORK AND PRISON LAW in particular

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11

The things people say…

‘Most people are fed up with the way decisions of this house are increasingly being overturned by the courts’ Home Secretary Theresa May was taking questions in the House of Commons on the Sex Offenders Register ruling on the 16th February. The Home Secretary and Prime Minister demean their office by criticising the decision of the Supreme Court last April on human rights. The UK Supreme Court held that it was a breach of human rights for a person to have to remain on the sex offenders register for life without any review process, however blameless the life that person may have led after release from prison. The sex offender is subject to the most stringent requirements to report his or her movements, addresses and travel plans in person at a police station. This not only inhibits normal living but is potentially serious in that the recorded details are linked to the convictions and could in various circumstances be disclosed to third parties, with damaging effects. The Supreme Court recognised that the policy of the legislation was perfectly justified and that there might well be cases where lifelong reporting requirements were appropriate. What made the measures unacceptable was the absence of any mechanism for review. In giving its ruling the Supreme Court upheld judgments of the Divisional Court and the Court of Appeal, so that three separate courts comprising a total of 11 judges reached the same conclusion. The Prime Minister added it was “about time we started making sure decisions are made in the Parliament rather than in the courts”. Does he really not know that this is the position now? Parliament makes the laws, the courts interpret and apply them. If Parliament dislikes a law it can change it, within the broad limits set by European law and international law. So, the Home Secretary and Prime Minister must, stop blaming the judges every time a decision is given that they do not like. It is not open to the ordinary citizen to pick and choose what law he or she obeys. Be reminded of Thomas Fuller’s advice from 1733: ‘Be you never so high the Law is above you.’

12

Newsround

Insidetime March 2011 www.insidetime.org I’m going abroad and give officers tea and biscuits once a year when they pop round to check I’m still living at home. I can understand how it can affect the lives of those who want to work with children or the vulnerable but it has little impact on my life. Even if my appeal fails I would not stand a chance of having my name removed – I would have to show that my behaviour has changed; since I did not offend in reality in the first place, my behaviour has not changed. I’m not offending now either. The main reason for the absurdity of the Sex Offenders Register is that it simply doesn’t work. Most actual sex offenders would never have been on a register. They are family members or friends. The time and expense of keeping tags on 35,000 people is enormous. Police universally say that time and effort would be better spent preventing abuse or tracking down criminals.

The UK Supreme Court

© prisonimage.org

If registers worked, the far greater re-offending rate amongst burglars or muggers or drug pushers would make registers for them much more effective. But you don’t hear police asking for them. They know the paperwork and cost involved would prevent time and effort being devoted to far more important areas of policing.

People convicted of sex offences get right to challenge life term on Sex Register Thousands of people convicted of sexual offences should be allowed to argue that their names should be removed from the ‘Sex Offenders Register’ after the Home Office lost an appeal against a ruling by the Supreme Court that the Sexual Offences Act 2003, which set up the register, was incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights because it did not allow for a review of individual cases.

stances in which an appropriate tribunal could reliably conclude that the risk of an individual carrying out a further sexual offence can be discounted to the extent that continuance of notification requirements is unjustified.” The judges said that keeping people on the Register unnecessarily was not only disproportionate but also a waste of taxpayers’ money. People convicted of sexual offences have the lowest reoffending rate.

Anyone sentenced to over 30 months for a sex offence is automatically put on the Register indefinitely. Individuals are required to notify the police of any changes to their circumstances or an intention to leave the country.

Theresa May said the government were appalled by the decision and would only do the minimum necessary to comply. There are currently 35,000 required to register of which 25,000 must register for life; irrespective of their circumstances or health.

People as young as 11 have been put on the Register indefinitely and it contains details of elderly and infirm men who pose no risk to anyone. Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, the President of the Supreme Court, said: “It is obvious that there must be some circum-

The enormous quantity of generally unreported false allegations brought to court illustrate that there are many reasons for inventing or inflating a claim. From a desire for revenge to a misunderstanding provoked by alcohol or drug use, from greed for compensation cash to a need for sympathy, there are dozens of convictions a month in the courts and the implication is that there must be hundreds more which were never exposed and resulted in wrongful convictions for innocent people.

Former prisoner Jonathan King told Inside Time: As it happens I am innocent of my convictions and the appeal process is still continuing. But the Sex OffenderINSIDE Register poses very 1 TIME_ad3.pdf little problem for me; I simply notify police if

CRIMINAL DEFENCE SOLICITORS Wrongly Convicted? Specialist Criminal Defence and Sentence too Long?

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In our current social climate of simplistic slogan morality, it’s easy to understand Government Ministers wanting to appeal to tabloid readers and headline thinkers. The rejection of Human Rights seems ironic when featured next to stories supporting 22/10/2010 20:59 protests in countries from citizens wanting their human rights.

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Mobile phone sniffer dog A dog at Norwich Prison has been trained to sniff out mobile phones. The dog handler told the BBC that everything has its own scent and a dog can be trained to sniff out any scent. The spaniel, called Murphy, assists in cell searches and can find a phone wherever it is hidden. 61 telephones were found at Norwich Prison last year. Over the whole prison estate in England and Wales, over 10,000 mobile phones and SIM cards were found.

Soldiers trained to run prisons Thousands of soldiers are to be trained to run prisons as the Government prepares for strikes. Ministers expect staff to walk out over Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke’s plans to privatise two prisons and have drawn up plans with the Ministry of Defence, The Times reported. A source told The Times that between 2,000 and 3,000 soldiers will receive initial training beginning in April. It is thought that using soldiers to staff jails during industrial action would be much less provocative than employing police, whose relationship with prisoners would be strained.

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Newsround

Insidetime March 2011 www.insidetime.org

Prison officers to study for a degree in offender management Staff at Dovegate Prison are to start studying for a two-year foundation degree in custodial services. It is the first course of its type in England and will be taught by Stafford College, the degree being awarded by Sheffield University.

The Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) under the spotlight The European Court will shortly hear a test case in which three nurses sue the Government for loss of earnings and humiliation. Each of them had received a police caution for a very minor offence, not fit for court; yet under the “auto-barring” scheme, that caution meant a ten-year ban on working with anyone under 18 or vulnerable adults. Ten years. Their livelihood was gone (Libby Purves writes). What are the disputed cautions for? Obscenity? Negligence? Well, no Not always. One of the nurses who successfully appealed, a man with an “exemplary record”, was cautioned because while he was out at work his wife (without his knowledge) left their children alone for a short time. Another, a single parent, had let her 11-year-old son stay in the house alone while she went shopping. The third accepted a caution for indecent assault. What he actually did was kiss a colleague, not a patient or child, without permission. Rude, annoying – but not exactly proof that for ten years thereafter you are unfit to be a nurse or even a school dinner assistant. The bald fact is that the previous Government set up a cumbersome and oppressive system with little regard for justice. The equally bald fact is that the Coalition has done little about it and that lives are still being torpedoed. So a manager of a care home, school or nursery can’t easily sack people for being obviously below par. But they can instantly get rid of them if someone grasses them up to the police for commonroom horseplay or letting their teenager mind the toddler for an hour. Creepy Britain.

NOBLE SOLICITORS Specialising in Criminal Defence and all aspects of Prison Law

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13

The things people say… In 2009, Labour ministers furiously denied responsibility for the release of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi from a Scottish prison back to Libya. Did Labour interfere in the release?

Did Labour intervene to please Libya?

What they said then:

‘The issue of the prisoner’s release is quite separate from the general matter of our relations, and has not been influenced in any way by the British Government.’

Serco, who run Dovegate, are paying for the courses which staff say will help them understand how the prison works and give them insight into how they can assist prisoners. The University hope that other prisons will take up the course. Two years ago Paul Sullivan, in Inside Time, called for proper training and qualifications for prison staff, and in February 2010 the House of Commons Justice Select Committee examined the role of prison officers and called for proper training and qualifications to be introduced.

‘The release was a matter legislated for by the Scottish Parliament and not by us, it was a matter over which we could not interfere.’ Gordon Brown, Prime Minster, Aug 2009

Email a Prisoner ›› Faster than 1st class post ›› Cheaper than a 2nd class stamp ›› No cost to HMPS ›› Anyone in establishments using the service can receive emails from their family and friends, solicitors and other organisations registered.

What we know now: ‘We now need to work actively but discreetly to ensure that Megrahi is transferred back to Libya under the PTA (Prisoner Transfer Agreement) or on compassionate grounds.’ Foreign Office memo, Jan 2009

Did UK make a deal with Libya?

Lord Mandelson, Aug 2009

What we know now: ‘Our aim…should be to see Megrahi released before he dies. If he dies in prison, we will pay a significant price with the Libyans.’ Foreign Office minister Bill Rammell’s letter, April 2009

Was the issue linked to business deals?

›› Solicitors and organisations registered can provide clients with a fast and efficient service and keep them fully updated with progress. Note: Not suitable for Rule 39 correspondence. ›› Over 60 UK prisons and IRC’s are using the EMAP service and more are being added each month. Prisons and Solicitors should call Derek Jones on 0844 873 3111 for further details or visit the website

www.emailaprisoner.com

‘That is a slur both on myself and the Government.’

David Miliband, Foreign Secretary, Aug 2009

‘Was there a deal? A covert, secret deal…? NO, there was not.’

What we know now: ‘We can be supportive of the Libyans, facilitating contact between Libya and the Scottish Executive and responding to Libyan requests.’ Foreign Office letter, Nov 2008, (describing the government ‘game plan’ for securing Megrahi’s release.

What we know now: ‘We should sign (the Prisoner Transfer Agreement) quickly. Prompt signature of the PTA and other judicial agreements may speed up (MDBA defence) contract.’ Foreign Office memo, Nov 2008

Jack Straw, Aug 2009

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Appeals & CCRC Reviews We Conduct Full Case Reviews & Question Prosecution Evidence: Rape & Sexual Offences Murder & Manslaughter Offences Robbery & Violence Offences Fraud & Conspiracy Offences ALL CRIMINAL OFFENCES COVERED

Write or Call for Advice: Aisha or Cheryl Excel Solicitors 311b Island Business Centre 18 -36 Wellington Street Woolwich London SE18 6PF 0800 028 28 15 or 020 8317 3765 Emergencies: 07943 24 7 999 For Lifer Reviews & Cat A Reviews, contact: Mr. Baranta

14

Newsround

Insidetime March 2011 www.insidetime.org

Rising global grocery bills are hitting the poor Compare and causing political unrest It is an historical truth that when food prices rise, conflict increases. So it’s no wonder that the increase in the cost of agricultural commodities in recent months has been a contributing factor to revolution in the Middle East. The World Bank says food prices are at ‘dangerous levels’ and have pushed 44 million people into poverty since last June. People in relatively poor countries – including Egypt, Tunisia and others in the developing world – spend a much higher percentage of their incomes on food. But food inflation is affecting Britons and Americans too. What’s more, populations have constantly outstripped the effects of economic growth in these states that do not benefit from hydrocarbon resources and this will not change anytime soon. Egypt’s population was 22 million in 1950. Today it is more than 80 million with perhaps 10 million more settled abroad. If you take into account the already dire scarcity of fresh water and arable land in Egypt, the future seems even more bleak.

A Hungry World Percentages of total household bills going on food and population increase in the next 15 years Country

% on food

Population increase

US Kenya Mexico Brazil Indonesia Australia UK Tunisia China Pakistan Egypt Russia India Iran Nigeria Belarus

7% 45% 24% 25% 43% 11% 9% 36% 33% 46% 38% 28% 35% 26% 40% 43%

41.8 million 11.3 million 12.8 million 19.1 million 37.7 million 4.5 million 6.4 million 1.6 million 138 million 61.5 million 23.2 million -1 million 256.7 million 12 million 59 million -500,000

insideinformation

On £2 ly +P 5

the Comprehensive Guide to Prisons & Prison Related Services

&P

the Comprehensive Guide to Prisons & Prison Related Services

Published by insidetime - the National Newspaper for Prisoners www.insidetime.org

insideinformation

Published by insidetime - the National Newspaper for Prisoners www.insidetime.org

Including The Hardman Trust Prisoner Funder Directory

2011

Inside Time is proud to publish the new, updated version of the most comprehensive guide to prisons and prison related services. Supplied free of charge to every UK prison - it’s even bigger and better!

Over 970 pages covering every UK prison with Legal Fact Sheets for England & Wales plus a full range for Scotland. Hundreds of Help Organisations and courtesy of the Hardman Trust, details of Grants and Funding to help prisoners and their families. Legal help throughout the UK and 1000’s of useful addresses - often very difficult to find, especially for prisoners.

The United Kingdom

to Egypt

If Egypt were your home instead of The United Kingdom you would...

Have 5.5 times higher chance of dying in infancy

The number of deaths of infants under one year-old in a given year per 1,000 live births in Egypt is 26.20 while in The United Kingdom it is 4.78.

Have 2.3 times more babies

The annual number of births per 1,000 people in Egypt is 25.02 while in The United Kingdom it is 10.67.

Make 82.95% less money

The GDP per capita in Egypt is $6,000 while in The United Kingdom it is $35,200.

Use 77.07% less electricity

The per capita consumption of electricity in Egypt is 1,294kWh while in The United Kingdom it is 5,643kWh.

Consume 68.26% less oil

Egypt consumes 0.3720 gallons of oil per day per capita while The United Kingdom consumes 1.1719.

Spend 88.63% less money on health care

Per capita public and private health expenditures combined in Egypt are $320 USD while The United Kingdom spends $2,815 USD.

Die 6.76 years sooner

The life expectancy at birth in Egypt is 72.40 while in The United Kingdom it is 79.16.

Have 21.25% more chance of being unemployed

Egypt has an unemployment rate of 9.70% while The United Kingdom has 8.00%.

Sheppards Solicitors

Prison Law & Criminal Defence Specialists • Categorisation • Transfers • Adjudications • Licence Recalls • Parole & HDC Applications • Sentence Planning • Disability & Medical Issues For advice, assistance & representation in Prison Law Matters or Criminal Court Proceedings contact:

Mark Sheppard or Mark Nicholls

A comprehensive ‘not for profit’ 972 page guidebook, designed and compiled by former prisoners! insideinformation is published by Inside Time, the National Newspaper for Prisoners. Additional copies can be purchased from Inside Time PO Box 251 Hedge End Hampshire SO30 4XJ at the reduced price of £25 + £5 p&p.

(Higher Court Advocates)

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More information about Egypt

With its 80,471,869 people, Egypt is the 16th largest country in the world by population. It is the 30th largest country by area with 1,001,450 square kilometers. The regularity and richness of the annual Nile River flood, coupled with semi-isolation provided by deserts to the east and west, allowed for the development of one of the world’s great civilizations. A unified kingdom arose circa 3200 B.C., and a series of dynasties ruled in Egypt for the next three millennia. The last native dynasty fell to the Persians in 341 B.C., who in turn were replaced by the Greeks, Romans, and Byzantines. It was the Arabs who introduced Islam and the Arabic language in the 7th century and who ruled for the next six centuries. A local military caste, the Mamluks, took control about 1250 and continued to govern after the conquest of Egypt by the Ottoman Turks in 1517. Following the completion of the Suez Canal in 1869, Egypt became an important world transportation hub, but also fell heavily into debt. Ostensibly to protect its investments, Britain seized control of Egypt’s government in 1882, but nominal allegiance to the Ottoman Empire continued until 1914. Partially independent from the UK in 1922, Egypt acquired full sovereignty with the overthrow of the British-backed monarchy in 1952. The completion of the Aswan High Dam in 1971 and the resultant Lake Nasser have altered the time-honored place of the Nile River in the agriculture and ecology of Egypt. A rapidly growing population (the largest in the Arab world), limited arable land, and dependence on the Nile all continue to overtax resources      and stress society. The government has struggled to meet the demands of Egypt’s  growing population through economic reform and massive investment in com munications and physical infrastructure.

   

   

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Newsround

Insidetime March 2011 www.insidetime.org



m Do you know...? 51% of women are unhappy with their breasts. 52% of household expenditure is spent on services rather than goods. 53% of men aged 35 say redheaded women are the most passionate. 54% of 16-year-olds want to become famous. 55% of road accidents in which someone is injured lead to a breathalyser test. 56% of adults think government benefits to the unemployed should be lower. 57% of women shower before a night out. 58% of people killed in road traffic accidents are car users. 59% of students say their eating habits have become worse since going to college. 60% of students would star in a blue movie to help pay off debts. 61% of people say that bad driving makes them furious. 62% of people say they smile on a date even when they’re feeling uncomfortable. 63% of people say British holidays are most memorable. 64% of people are happy with NHS outpatient services. 65% of women would rather do odd jobs themselves than wait for their partners. 66% of people say that queue jumping makes them furious. 67% of the English and Welsh have confidence in their local police. 68% of owner-occupiers in England are very satisfied with their accommodation. 69% of women say they would like to do more physical activity. 70% of people booking hotels in Morecambe misspell Morecambe. 71% of adults aged 30-44 are living with a partner. 72% of men admit to fancying redheaded women. 73% of people said engaging with the natural environment makes them feel happy.

74% of accidental teenage deaths happen on the road. 75% of women check their car’s oil and water and tyre pressure. 76% of people say that being out in nature is a great stress redactor. 77% of mums felt that they hadn’t been given enough advice about salt levels in their babies’ diets. 78% of children expelled from school are boys. 79% of people say that bad manners and rudeness make them furious. 80% of train passengers are happy with punctuality and reliability. 81% of women over 40 say they are more sexually adventurous than when they were in their twenties. 82% of men over 17 have driving licences. 83% of 16-24 year-olds say they listen to music in their spare time. 84% of people are planning a break away over the next 12 months. 85% of parents believe that youngsters these days have little or no discipline. 86% of households have a CD player.

87% of people separate their waste to combat climate change. 88% of households have a DVD player. 89% of women want the rules on the summer wardrobe at work to be relaxed. 90% of people stick to the same recipes again and again. 91% of working women with children under 10 say their sex life has been ‘wrecked’. 92% of people say something in everyday life makes their blood boil. 93% of parents say they grew up respecting their elders. 94% of births to women under 20 are outside marriage. 95% of Britons are unhappy with the amount of ‘real’ time they spend face to face. 96% of 24-40 year-olds are immunised against diphtheria. 98% of two year-olds are immunised against diphtheria. 99% of high earners have central heating. 100% of surveys are somewhat unreliable.

News in Brief

Berlusconi says he wants to get his hands on whoever’s accused him of fondling them.

From various surveys in 2010

While news that the Big Society is taking shape, a group of women in Salford celebrate their battle against anorexia.

There is huge excitement in Egypt as military dictatorship ends and the Army takes over the running of the country. The last time the Egyptian Army seized power and promised free elections within three months was 60 years ago!

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Newsround - Scottish Focus

Insidetime March 2011 www.insidetime.org

The Referee’s an Ombudsman! Gráinne Byrne, Communications Officer (SPSO)

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he Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) is the last resort for complaints about most public services in Scotland. This includes councils, the NHS, housing associations, universities and colleges and the Scottish Government. In October 2010, we took on complaints about Scottish prisons. We provide a level playing field for unresolved complaints. All prisoners, their family or friends can complain to our office after using the prison complaints process. Family or friends with complaints should write directly to the Governor in Charge. Where we find failures, it’s our job to provide justice for people and share our findings to improve services. Our service is free, independent and impartial. The Ombudsman must act as ‘the man in the middle.’ He is not on the side of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) or the prisoner, but is an independent referee charged with looking at whether the proper procedures are in place and are being followed. Commonly, the cases that reach the Ombudsman are serious, sensitive and complex with a huge impact on those involved. As in football, the Ombudsman, as referee, is subject to criticism and even abuse – usually

from the ‘losing’ side, unhappy with his decision. Like the ref, it is the Ombudsman’s job to take difficult decisions even though it can make him unpopular. The Ombudsman answers to Scottish Parliament and reports his findings in public. He must make fair judgements, taking into account all the facts and evidence before making his decision. We can’t move the goalposts! The Ombudsman’s powers are set out in the SPSO Act 2002. We can’t look at every single subject of complaint and sometimes people find this hard to accept and are, naturally, very disappointed if we reject their complaint. The law says that we can’t normally look at complaints: • that happened more than one year ago; • that have already been dealt with by the Scottish Prison Complaints Commission; • about convictions or decisions about parole or life licence cases where legal proceedings are active; medical treatment; punishment awarded at an orderly room hearing (we can only look at whether the proper process was followed). We look at complaints about individual prisons and other organisations that provide services in a prison such as Reliance and Serco.

A group of prisoners at HMP Addiewell, a local prison for remand and convicted males, have joined a new choir set up by Sound Routes, headed by BBC Musician of the year finalist, Shona Brown (pictured). Managers at the prison, run by Kalyx, hope it will help prisoners on their road to rehabilitation by teaching discipline, and also lower stress levels amongst the participants. Sound Routes have three touring choirs and although the Addiewell choir will not be touring just yet, Shona says that there is some real talent in the choir and there is always the possibility of making a record. Many chaplaincies in the UK have chapel choirs but Addiewell’s is the first independent choir in Scotland.

Hundreds of Scottish trials halted

We receive a variety of complaints and since October 2010 we’ve looked at complaints about access to property, home detention curfew (HDC), visits and drug testing.

A recent ECHR ruling has meant that hundreds of criminal cases have been dropped in Scotland’s courts. According to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, 867 prosecutions have been halted because the ECHR says it was illegal for police to question suspects without legal representation.

Staff at SPSO are always happy to give advice at any stage. Call us on freephone 0800 377 7330.

In Scotland, a person could be questioned without a lawyer for six hours but an ECHR

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ruling in October found this breached the person’s Human Rights. Sixty of the dropped cases were due to be tried by a judge and jury. Nine were destined for the High Court as they were for the worst forms of crime. The ruling mainly affects cases where the sole evidence was a confession by the defendant before they spoke with a lawyer. In these cases the police are now searching for additional evidence to try to continue the prosecutions.

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Newsround - No Smoking Day

Insidetime March 2011 www.insidetime.org

Time to Quit?

Many healthcare teams also run support groups, where quitters can share their experiences and encourage each other. Giving up smoking with a friend or cellmate can greatly improve your chance of success, a fact which inspired successful stop-smoking mentor schemes at HMP Erlestoke, HMP Everthorpe and HMP Swinfen Hall.

Be ready: • Once you’ve made the decision to quit, set a date to start and stick to it. • Get rid of all your smoking gear and clean your cell to get rid of the smell of smoke. • Write down all the reasons you want to quit - these will help you during weak moments. • Tell friends and family – their support will boost your determination.

G

Prison healthcare teams can be a huge source of help and support when giving up smoking. A wide range of nicotine replace-

Why not use No Smoking Day to help you kick the habit? Ask your healthcare team what support services are available in your prison to help you give up smoking.

Top tips for quitting smoking

iving up smoking is never easy. And giving up while in prison, with all its pressures and stresses and surrounded by other smokers, can seem impossible. Many people decide to put off trying to quit until they are released. In actual fact, you’re much more likely to give up smoking successfully in prison than if you try to give up when you leave. National Prison Radio, the world’s first national radio station for prisoners, tells us why…. According to NHS statistics, you are four times more likely to be successful in giving up smoking if you have help, and in prison there is plenty of help on offer. Prisons in the UK are currently exempt from the Smoke Free Legislation Health Act 2006 (otherwise known as the ‘public places ban’), which means that your cell is considered your home and therefore yours to smoke in. However, if you are a nonsmoker or if you’re trying to kick the habit, then you do not have to share with a smoker and you can ask to be moved to another cell, which will help make quitting easier.

Tune in to a special edition of National Prison Radio’s weekly health programme Your Life on Wednesday 9 March at 17.00. Repeated on Thursday 10 at 08.00 and 12.00 and on Sunday 13 at 12.05.

England and Wales talk about their smoking experiences, from battling with smoking addictions in prison – with and without success – to living in a smoke-free prison. There is also an exclusive interview with actress and star of Big Brother, Aisleyne Horgan-Wallace, who started smoking whilst in the BB-house, an experience she likened to being in prison. She discusses how she kicked the habit and offers advice.

ment therapies (NRTs) can be provided, such as lozenges, patches and inhalators. Using a combination of these treatments to help you quit outside prison can be expensive – sometimes more expensive than smoking itself – but in prison they are provided free of charge.

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Be active: • Have an alternative for times when you will want a cigarette, such as mints, fruit, smoothies, even cleaning your teeth. • Keep busy - read a book, play with a stress ball or Rubik’s cube to keep your hands occupied. • Stay healthy – use the opportunity to start a healthier lifestyle and go to the gym or do simple exercised in your cell – you’ll find it easier when you’re not smoking. Chill out: • You may think cigarettes help you to relax, when in fact the physical effect on your body is actually increasing your blood pressure and heart rate. • Find other ways to unwind – meditate, breathe deeply, listen to some relaxing music (check out the Love songs Hour every night at 22.00 on National Prison Radio).

This month sees the return of National No Smoking Day on Wednesday 9 March, a date many people have used to quit smoking. Working with Offender Health and No Smoking Day, National Prison Radio offers a range of reports and interviews designed to help you ban the burn. Healthcare experts from HMP Brixton and HMP Pentonville answer your questions on smoking and its effects and offer practical advice on how to quit. Prisoners from across

Why Bother? There are loads of great reasons to give up smoking, from the money you could save, to

big improvements in your energy levels, visibly clearer skin and eyes, fresher breath and whiter teeth. It could also give you a fantastic sense of achievement and control over your own life, which will boost your confidence and self-esteem.

Here are just some of the changes to your physical health that you’ll benefit from when you give up smoking: 20 minutes Blood pressure and pulse return to normal. 8 hours Nicotine and carbon monoxide levels in the blood are halved, oxygen levels in the blood return to normal. 24 hours Carbon monoxide is eliminated from the body and the lungs start to clear out the build up of tar 48 hours There is no nicotine left in the body. Taste and smell are greatly improved. 72 hours Breathing becomes easier, bronchial tubes begin to relax, energy levels increase. 2-12 weeks Circulation improves, making walking and running a lot easier. 3-9 months Coughs, wheezing and breathing problems improve as the lungs have room for up to 10 per cent more oxygen. 1 year Risk of heart attack is halved. 10 years Risk of lung cancer is halved.

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Diary

Insidetime March 2011 www.insidetime.org

Month by Month by Rachel Billington

HMP Brixton, Pentonville and a Guide to Life: Rachel drops in for a lively discussion, admires elegant art and notes useful advice. Brixton’s a big place but it turns out to be a busy day so we end up in an unaccustomed room, on the medical wing, I’d say, and very hot. But then the welcome’s warm too – in a good way. The presence of Recalls and IPPs make this a group with special problems, which is one of the reasons Brixton started it. Julia told me it was ‘a good way to bring the guys together to discuss any concerns and to inform them of any future change…’ She added, ‘It is also good for the guys to meet up with others in the same boat, who are feeling the same. Some lifers may not get to leave the wing often so it feels like an afternoon out.’

Danny Afzal

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MP Brixton on a bright sunny day. You’d hardly know it was there from the road. I’m going to visit the Lifers’ Group who meet every two months for discussion, information and a bit of entertainment – of an encouraging sort. My invitation came from Officer Julia Stevens, who runs the group with her colleague, Mr. Moran.

Last May it was decided to bring in the guest entertainment part and, on the day I visited, Danny Afzal had come along. Danny’s the kind of bad boy turned good whose story would make a lively TV series. He gave us the abbreviated version: ‘At thirteen I was expelled from school. At sixteen I served my first sentence. All my heroes were gangsters. I was very very angry. And lonely. In prison I was mostly in solitary. Drugs f – up my head. I was sectioned for months at a time. Stealing to support my habit. Ten user friends from that time are dead. In prison I fought everybody. One day I fought with another prisoner over a screw of tobacco and ended up in hospital, chained to a prison officer.’ Change came to Danny in 2005 when he spent time in HMP Highdown on a detox programme. Having hit the bottom, he began the turn around. ‘I was in a dry house, a hostel. Someone asked me, ‘Why don’t you get some learning?’ He joined Wake-ups and studied English and

Maths. From there he was encouraged to go to Goldsmith’s College. ‘Scarier than the first time I walked into prison’. But Danny was on the go now and told by his adviser, John, ‘By the way you’re doing a history degree’. He did. ‘My history degree was the first qualification I’d ever had.’ From there he began serious writing and now writes professionally as well as working for Open Book, the programme which has so far helped 60 ex-prisoners to a university degree – plus five MAs and two PhDs. Danny is also a trustee of the Prison Education Trust and has given evidence on prison officers in the House of Commons. It’s no wonder he thinks education can be a route out of the prison and the post prison trap.

Danny thinks that’s exactly where education comes in. He admits ‘every day’s a struggle’ – it still is for him - But you have to do it for its own sake, ‘It’s about doing something for yourself’. He points to the amount of success stories coming out of Blantyre House. We all agree finances are always going to be a big problem but there are grants out there both from councils, the Inner London Education Authority, and charities (I give a quick plug here for the Longford Trust of which I’m a trustee and which provides scholarships for ex prisoners.) The whole meeting showed a level of intelligence and positive thinking which might have surprised many of those people who look the other way when they pass the turning to HMP Brixton. I thought of it again the next day when the House of Commons voted against giving

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Incidentally, our discussion was taped by Marianne Garvey for the National Prison Radio Association so some of you might get to hear it.

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Danny is a charismatic speaker and a discussion soon takes off – led by Ray, Sacha and Richard - mostly about the difficulties of what is laughingly called re-settlement. Yet Danny is convinced there are things out there to help. It’s a matter of having the right attitude which includes boring but essential disciplines like getting out of bed in the morning when you feel like a lie-in. Everyone agrees it’s not easy to make a new life, particularly when jobs are scarce and ex-prisoners are last in the line. Ray comments, ‘You can change your spots but not many people believe you can do it.’

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prisoners the vote by 234 votes to 22. This followed David Cameron’s surprising comment, given his usually more liberal stance, that ‘It makes me physically ill even to contemplate having to give the vote to anyone who is in prison.’ Luckily Ken Clarke, his Minister of Justice, seems to have a more sensible view of the situation. Maybe the leaders of our country should spend more time finding out exactly who are in our prisons and why. A visit to the Brixton Lifers Group might make a good start.

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Art made in prison always seems to me a bit of a miracle. How does anyone locked away from everything they know, decide to take up a paintbrush or make a pot? Sam Miller, who teaches pottery in HMP Pentonville, gave me a pretty convincing answer: ‘Daycare provides a respite from the myriad of worries attending incarceration. It serves as a place for reflection

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Diary

Insidetime March 2011 www.insidetime.org

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Female vase’ give an idea of the inventiveness. For paintings, there was the dazzling ‘Seascape’, ‘Heavenly hunt’, ‘Chilean miner’ or the powerful ‘Flayed’ showing a man tied to a bed. I’m now hoping to arrange a visit to Pentonville so I can see Daycare in action. It also includes on its agenda musical sessions.

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and problem-solving with those who have shared experiences and anxieties. Sometimes it is simply a space to be quiet with others who understand.’ I met Sam at an exhibition (held in London’s Together Our Space Gallery) of work done by mental health patients in Pentonville and St. Ann’s Hospital. The standard was high with bright, quirky designs for pots and some amazingly professional landscapes and stilllives. Almost all the work was for sale and the traditional red spots for sold items were multiplying every minute. Names like ‘Tree of life’, ‘Bird pot’, ‘Leaf pot’, ‘Crumple pot’ or ‘Male and

Finally, I’ve been sent a little book written by Tom Langdale who I met at HMP Highdown. He is the Samaritan Co-ordinator for Listeners at Highdown and Downview and his work convinced him of the need for some kind of helping hand for young men growing up in our complicated times. The result is ‘A Young Man’s Guide to Life’ (Grosvenor House publishing Ltd). It covers, in a practical way, all the decisions and problems that face a boy growing into manhood, with chapter headings including, ‘Living with your Parents - financial and social benefits’, ‘Caring for Yourself – eating, cooking, cleaning and emotional care’, ‘Sex and Sexuality – the pursuit and care of women, trying to understand women...’ ‘A cry for Help – suffering from overwhelming worries – seeking help, alcohol and drug use and abuse’, ‘Fashion – clothes, hair, shoes, fashion victim or not.’ It may not have the excitement of the latest thriller but it is filled with sound and sympathetic advice and would make a good starting point for anyone in a discussion about their future.

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Nature Notes A monthly feature for Inside Time by James Crosby

‘A hopper of ditches, a cropper of corn, A wee brown cow with a pair of leather horns’ The Names of the Hare Some years ago, I was lucky enough to encounter a magical and fascinating scene during a dawn bird watch. There was dew on the meadow, poised between home and school, and the spring sun bathed the back wood. A blackbird was in full song, making a competing thrush sound unmusical, however it all transcended into a great awakening, a fresh March morning. It is said that if a pregnant woman encountered this animal, lying in its shallow scrape – called a form – her child was likely to be born with a deformity of the lip and in Cornwall it was believed that if a girl died of grief after having been betrayed by her lover, she would turn into a white hare and her spirit would return to haunt him. It is an animal shrouded in ancient folklore, custom and superstition – it is, of course, the Brown Hare. I saw a number of hares engaged, as they often are at this time of year, in battle and insanely driven by their passions, four buck hares were cantering and chasing a single doe. Suddenly, rearing up onto their

hind legs, two hares kicked and sparred with their forepaws. The mad March hares engage in this ritual and erratic boxing due to the nights becoming shorter, forcing this mainly nocturnal animal into the daylight arena. Local bucks try to impress a doe but she boxes away suitors who are weak; she only mates with the strongest and fittest of bucks therefore passing on the dominant hare’s genes to the next generation – they were oblivious to me as I stood on a bank and afforded some excellent views – normally they are very alert creatures capable of dashing away at speeds of up to 35mph at the slightest hint of danger. March is always an exciting month. It is a month of transition. Our visiting winter thrushes, waxwings and geese return to their breeding grounds and summer migrants, such as sand martin, swallow, various warblers and members of the chat family come to breed on our shores. The chiffchaff, a member of the warbler family, is one of the first migrants to arrive – the males tend to arrive first and find areas of woodland to stake their territorial claim by calling their distinctively onomatopoeic song: ‘chiff- chaff-chiff-chaff’ – it is a green, yellow and buff bird with dark legs that restlessly flits around looking for insects. James Crosby is currently resident at HMP Stocken

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Comment

Insidetime March 2011 www.insidetime.org

What is left of the ‘Just’ in ‘Justice’? The prosecution and conviction of Jordan Towers leaves author and researcher Sandra Lean questioning what is left of the ‘just’ in ‘Justice’?

J

Previous advice given to Jordan appears to have also been grounded, to a large degree, in concerns for the possible consequences for another client – for example, he was advised only to speak about himself in police interview (presumably to avoid him saying anything which may incriminate another.) The consequence of this, clearly, is that Jordan was not able to adequately defend himself, by providing information about what the others had done that night.

ordan Towers was 16 years-old when, along with two others, he was convicted of murder. The basis for the conviction was Joint Enterprise doctrine, the central tenet of which is that persons believed to have participated in, or in some way to have contributed to, or to have anticipated the likelihood of the act of murder are, themselves, guilty of the crime of murder. What is wide open, however, is any secure definition of “participated in”, “contributed to” or “anticipated the likelihood of.”

At trial, the co-accused being represented by the same firm made several allegations about Jordan. For obvious reasons, defence counsel could not address these allegations on Jordan’s behalf, without seriously undermining the interests of their other client. The impact, therefore, of Jordan being advised not to give evidence, was compounded.

In Jordan’s case, there was no direct evidence of any of the above, other than that Jordan was with two other youths when a man was stabbed to death. The trial Judge, Recorder David Hodson, clearly stated that it was common ground that Jordan took no part in the killing. There was no evidence that Jordan inflicted any harm whatsoever on the victim. The two other youths blamed each other. The murder was the result of a spontaneous eruption of violence – there was no evidence of a planned attack, none of any gang-related issues- nothing, in fact, which could possibly be used to suggest that Jordan could have, or should have, anticipated the events which unfolded that night. The one piece of “evidence” which was used in court was that Jordan threw a rock to the ground. He did so after the fatal wound had been inflicted, it did not strike the victim (nor was it intended to,) and was thrown when Jordan was, according to the evidence of witnesses at the scene, standing some way off from the victim and the other youths. In what way does the throwing of a rock, well away from the victim, after the fatal blow has been inflicted, demonstrate participation in, anticipation of, or contribution to the act of murder? Common sense tells us it does not. But we are not discussing common sense, we are discussing the law, and in particular, the application of Joint Enterprise principles in serious criminal cases. How did Jordan Towers come to be convicted of the crime of murder? The Human Rights Act, at Article 6, provides that: Everyone charged with a criminal offence has the following minimum rights: (a). to be informed promptly, in a language which

A mural on the side of St. John’s Church in Edinburgh

The CCRC is incapable of addressing any “ issues which fall outside of that narrow remit he or she understands, and in detail, of the nature and cause of the allegation against him. (b). to have adequate time and facilities for the preparation of his defence. (c). to defend himself in person or through legal assistance of his own choosing or, if he has not sufficient means to pay for legal assistance, to be given it free when the interests of justice so require. Two issues arise here. Was Jordan Towers informed, in a language he understood, and in detail, the nature and cause of the allegations against him? It would seem not. Jordan was not charged with “joint enterprise,” he was charged with murder. Had the charge been simply murder, without the need for basing it in Joint Enterprise doctrine, then it could not have stood – all of the evidence, as agreed by the judge himself, proved that Jordan took no part in the murder. The nature of the allegation against him was that he somehow participated in a murder which all of the evidence showed

”

he did not. But was that ever explained to Jordan in detail, or in a language he understood? Clearly not. Jordan was 16 years-old, and wholly dependent on his legal representatives to advise him, and this is where the second issue arises – was Jordan Towers able to be properly defended by the legal representatives engaged to do so? One of the other co-accused was represented by the same firm of solicitors which was defending Jordan, creating an immediate and clear conflict of interests. Since the two other co-accuseds were blaming each other, and Jordan was blaming both, it is clear that Jordan’s testimony could have been extremely damaging to the defence of both co-accuseds. Jordan was advised by his legal representatives not to give evidence in his own defence, in what can only be seen as a calculated move to protect the interests of the co-accused being represented by the same firm.

An application to the CCRC explored these issues in depth. Extensive submissions covering the failings of the legal representation, and in particular, the impact of a clear conflict of interest, were made. Further submissions, relating to the detail of charges under Joint Enterprise were also made, namely that of the three tenets of Joint Enterprise – knowledge, participation and intent – only one, participation, was addressed in Jordan’s defence, therefore a full and proper defence was not before the jury. The CCRC refused to refer the case back to the Court of Appeal, on the basis that Jordan, himself, made the decision not to give evidence in his own defence, that the CCRC did not consider that there was any real possibility that the Court of Appeal would be persuaded that any deficiencies in the standard of defence Jordan received affected the fairness of his trial, or therefore, impacted upon the safety of the conviction, and that assumptions had been drawn that Jordan would have been a credible witness. The first of these is patently ridiculous. Jordan was 16 years-old, facing a charge of murder. He could not possibly have known what was the “right” thing for him to do, and was entirely dependent on the legal team to make those decisions on his behalf. The law in the UK deems that 16 year-old children are not mature enough, and do not have enough life experi-

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Insidetime March 2011 www.insidetime.org ence, to make informed decisions as to whether they should smoke cigarettes or drink alcohol, or which political party they should vote for in an election. To suggest that they are mature and experienced enough to know what is in their best interests when facing something as serious as a murder charge defies logic. The last of these appears to have missed the point entirely. Had Jordan been properly advised, his accounts in police interview would arguably have been more coherent, more reliable, and more credible. It was the advice of the solicitors themselves which led to Jordan being unable to tell the police properly his experience of events that night, not because it was not in his own best interests to do so, but because it was in someone else’s best interests for him not to do so. Jordan could not have known that by acting on advice designed to maintain the best interests of another, he would be damaging his own best interests. But it is the “real possibility” test, as highlighted here, which appears to have hog-tied the decision making powers or possibilities of the CCRC. The Commission’s conclusion is that it “did not consider that there was any real possibility that the Court of Appeal would be persuaded….” Therefore, cases can only be “reviewed” in the very narrow confines of what it is thought will persuade the Court of Appeal that a conviction is unsafe. Any semblance of an independent Review Commission evaporates when that Commission is working within the confines of the very body whose findings it is supposed to be reviewing. There is no remedy to be had for Jordan Towers, when the CCRC cannot refer his case back on the grounds that his basic human rights were denied. There is no remedy to be

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had for Jordan Towers when the CCRC cannot address the fundamental issue that Jordan was charged and convicted of murder, but that charge could not have stood without being rooted in the principles of Joint Enterprise. The purpose of a review commission, most would believe, would be to consider cases where clear injustices have occurred, and to address both those injustices themselves, and the causes of those injustices. Tied by the “real possibility test” the CCRC is incapable of addressing any issues which fall outside of that narrow remit, regardless of the extent to which those issues may have contributed to, or resulted in, injustice and unfairness occurring. This strictly legalistic approach allows many cases, such as Jordan Towers’, to slip through the net. Yet to return momentarily to the Human rights Act, Article 7 requires that the law must be clear so that people know whether or not what they are doing is against the law. Where is the clarity which informs citizens that simply being in the vicinity of the commission of a crime is against the law? Where is the clarity which informs a 16 year-old youth that the throwing of a rock which strikes nobody can see him convicted of murder? Where, indeed, is the clarity that a charge of murder, which could not stand alone, can still be the basis for a conviction for murder, by the simple utilisation of other legislation? These are issues which the CCRC does not, and cannot address. Yet where do those who have suffered injustice turn, when the body they believe can review their cases impartially, and remedy the failings which have led to those injustices, cannot do so?

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Mail restrictions The Prison Reform Trust’s Francesca Cooney examines the implications of the new PSI on mail

PRISON REFORM TRUST

T

here is a new Prison Service Instruction about correspondence (letters) that will be in place from March 2011. The instruction can be found in PSI 06/2011 and should be in the library. Most of the rules about letters have stayed the same. The governor can decide to pay for a special letter (one that does not count against your allowance) if there are special circumstances. There are some situations where the prison must pay for a special letter, if you ask for one, for instance if you have been transferred and need to let your family know. The prison should also pay for a special letter if you need to write to your probation officer or offender managers for help with resettlement, or to your council tax office, or the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman. These are usually sent second class, unless it is about a transfer or if the governor approves postage at a higher rate. Sometimes, you will need to ask for permission if you want to write to certain people. If you would like a pen-friend or to write to someone in another prison that you are not related to, you will need to get permission from the prison staff. You are usually allowed to write to an ex-prisoner but the governor and their probation officer, if they are on licence, will have to approve this. There are also rules about people prisoners cannot write to or get letters from or make contact with. The guidance about social networking sites like facebook explains that prisoners are not allowed to access or contribute via another person to any social networking site whilst in custody. In addition, people in prison usually can’t write to box office numbers or receive anonymous letters. The governor can also decide not to allow correspondence with any person or organisation.

There are two different types of confidential mail. Rule 39 covers your letters to your lawyer, the courts, bar council, law society and official solicitor only. These letters are legally privileged. There is also confidential access for other organisations such as your embassy, or the Samaritans or an Ombudsman. The new PSI has updated the list of organisations. These letters should be handled in the same way as legal letters under the ‘confidential handling arrangements’. These letters should not be opened, read or stopped unless there are special circumstances. They can only be opened if the governor instructs this and you can be present when it is opened. The only reason that this mail can be opened is the governor believes it contains a banned item or believes it is not really a letter from a lawyer or legal body. Legally privileged correspondence can only be stopped opened and/ or read if the governor believes it contains information that is a threat to the prison security or might put someone in danger. Items sent in under recorded delivery, or letters that need a signature for special delivery must be signed for by staff at the gate. They can then be opened, examined and passed to the prisoner as soon as possible. Any parcels or letters must be opened with two staff present and a record will be kept of all parcels and special delivery letters. If a prisoner wants the original Royal Mail receipt for their records they can request and be given this. If your family or friends send you stamped addressed envelopes, these should be given to you, without any impact on your cash allowance. There are also new guidelines about medical confidentiality, for prisoners who have been diagnosed with a life threatening medical condition. Letters relating to the treatment the prisoner is receiving can be marked Confidential Access - Medical In-Confidence and marked with the prisoner’s and doctor’s name and address. If you have any questions about the new PSI, or anything else to do with prison life, you can contact the Prison Reform Trust. 0207 251 5070 9.30-5.30 or call on the free number 0808 802 0060. Open Mondays 3.30-7.30 and Tuesdays and Thursdays, 3.30-5.30. Our freepost address is Prison Reform Trust Freepost ND 6125, London EC1B 1PN.

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Insidetime March 2011 www.insidetime.org

What’s your problem? Former prisoner Ian Charley thinks responsibilities should take precedent over rights

I

find social issues fascinating and try to be as objectively neutral as possible when reading other people’s opinions and thoughts, especially those containing firsthand accounts. Having said that, even firsthand accounts can be biased in favour of the narrator . . . To the point: What exactly is it that everyone is so upset about? There are approximately 85,000 prisoners in the system at any one time, which means that there are 85,000 different varying answers to ‘what’s your problem?’ I’d agree that ‘the system’ is totally out of control, but what would you personally do to fix it? Here we’d be presented by a further 85,000 answers. Here is mine. Seventy-two percent of prisoners suffer from two or more identifiable mental illnesses. (PRT). “The highest per capita prison population in Europe and consistently amongst the highest level of drug use and drug deaths in Europe”. There are an estimated 46% drug users and anecdotally the figure is 70 to 80%. (TDPF). The truth (in my opinion) is that both the prisoners and the politicians have caused the mess that prisons now find themselves in. The politicians with their years of neglect and equality based dogma and prisoners with their predilection for all things chemical or alcoholic. It is hardly the fault of the prison system itself that it now finds that it has to ‘manage’ seriously disturbed people who ought to be on now long closed down psychiatric wards and chemically fuelled zombies, who ought to be in (closed) rehabilitation centres. Add to that a

At the end of the day it’s for you to change and accept responsibility for your own life; your life doesn’t belong to the system or politicians, it’s yours to change culture of violence, lack of education and a complete absence or even knowledge of civilized behaviour and what you get is what you’ve got. Instead of a question of ‘rights’ let’s briefly look at a word that many don’t seem to think applies to themselves, ‘responsibilities’. In the politically correct, equality based UK in which you now live it’s a word that doesn’t go down well. You didn’t personally take responsibility for your own actions, but expect everyone else to take care of the consequences. Why? Having made a mess of your life, why are you now

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in the inner cities, the warehouse conditions in the prison system, one of the worst performing education systems in the western world and the worst recession in living memory can be placed squarely on their shoulders. You are simply the pawns and as you wait for the politicians, the system, or anyone else to mend the broken society, prisons and your own broken lives, also remember that every time you pass on the blame for your own actions or your own predicament, you’re not only perpetuating the system, you’re actively encouraging this mess to go on. At the end of the day it’s for you to change and accept responsibility for your own life; your life doesn’t belong to the system or politicians, it’s yours to change. Please don’t put two fingers up to society and insist on ‘doing your own thing’ and when it all goes wrong presume that the same society cares anything at all about your problems. It doesn’t and don’t expect it to.

‘demanding’ that other people pick up the pieces and if they don’t then they’re the ones at fault? The government are equally at fault for allowing this equality charade to continue, with ever more increasingly bizarre adjustments to ‘entitlements’ and your dogmatic EU based ‘human rights’ which take responsibility away from you and try to move it somewhere else. In this they have simply reaped what they have sown and as the politicians look around them, which I suspect few do, concentrating instead on the parliamentary ‘gravy train’; the mayhem

I feel the deepest sympathy for those who are stuck in this broken system and who, through lack of opportunities, cutbacks or any other reason can’t get on and try to make a change in their lives and circumstances. You’re now being openly referred to as the ‘lost generation’ and seem to be not only dependent on chemical stimulants, but also on everybody else. Losing the power to think, to plan ahead and to take responsibility for yourself will not only drag you deeper into a cesspit, but keep in power those who now benefit and earn money from the prison industry ‘complex’ and your misfortune. Don’t let them; don’t wait for others, the system or politicians to change or to ‘change’ you. Stand up and take responsibility for your own life.

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Ben’s Blog

Stop, thief February 13, 2011

Lifer Ben Gunn’s Prison Blog … the only blog by a serving British prisoner which ‘looks stupidity and ignorance in the eye whilst attempting to inject some neurons into the criminological debate’. Bogeymen January 29, 2011 Why is it that whenever politicians and the media take a swipe at prisoners, they always manage to refer to murderers, rapists and paedophiles? As - together - this lot comprises the minority of prisoners, is this demonising or just pathetically lazy characterisation? Oddly, the terms “fine-defaulter” and “petty shoplifter” make much rarer appearances in the debate. How strange...

...................................................... Whining Screws January 31, 2011

If there is one of the many whines that perpetually emanate from the Prison Officers Association that get my goat, it’s the one about how dangerous their job is. It’s a Big Fat Lie. There are dozens of jobs which are more dangerous. And should I ever get the chance to nail one of the POA leaders in public, one of the first questions I’d ask is this: How many screws have ever been killed by cons? And how many cons have been killed by screws..? And here’s a thing. The Ministry collect the stats on how many cons assault staff. They know how many cons assault other cons. But they don’t collect the figures for how many staff assault cons.

...................................................... Serious Crime February 6, 2011

When is a crime “serious”? This cropped up recently when, in connection with the prisoners vote issue, some jackass politician decried the fact that there are a couple of thousand people serving a year or less in prison for violent or sexual offences.

These were said to be “serious”, as if all sexual or violent crimes were inherently beyond the pale. The impression is given that no crime involving sex or violence can ever be “minor”, though a sentence of a year or under may suggest they can. Let’s think. If a drunken slob slaps a woman on the bum and shouts “wahey, darlin”, that’s common assault and sexual assault. Insulting, demeaning and Neanderthal, certainly. But a “serious” crime on the scale of wickedness? To characterise all sexual or violent crimes as being “serious” is to indulge in the lazy luxury of absolutism. It is also to demean victims. To lump the experiences of a woman who has been gang-raped, or a person who has been crippled with a brain injury, into the same category as bum-slapping or a punch in the face is insulting. I’d like to say that I’d expect better from those charged with guiding the ship of State. But given their past ramblings, I really don’t.

........................................................ Rubbish February 9, 2011

When a prisoner dies, why do staff clear property out of their cell by putting it in bin-bags? The prison service has its own line of bespoke property bags designed for - wait for it – prisoners’ property. To choose to use bin-bags for a dead man’s possessions is a matter of choice. It may just be a little thing, but it is the little things that comprise the fabric of prison life that inform the prisoners’ views and attitudes of our keepers. And being categorised with rubbish is a useful indicator of management’s private view of us.

........................................................ Compensation February 11, 2011

The Prison Service coughs up quite a few quid

simon bethel solicitors Criminal Defence & Prison Law Specialists

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each year to cons, in compensation for their various misdeeds. It’s instructive to take a shufti at the breakdown of last years numbers. It’s your money, after all. The grant total of compo last year was £3.28 million. Spread amongst 85,000 cons, that’s not too awful a headline. It could be worse. The scandal is in the detail. The highest single category was some £1.6 million coughed up for medical negligence. As our healthcare is NHS, I can only assume that these costs accrue because prison staff delayed calling for help when one of us was in difficulty. Night-staff telling people with chest-pains that “its indigestion”, for example, only for it to be a heart attack. The next highest category was £535,000 paid out as a result of assaults by staff. Only £107,000 was paid out as a result of assaults by other prisoners. Some people may wonder just what the hell is going on when prison staff are brutalising prisoners a damn sight more than we beat the crap out of each other. Who are the “animals” behind these walls..? Then there is £259,000 paid out for “unlawful detention”. That is, the prisoner wasn’t released when his sentence ended. This may raise an eyebrow, for the sheer inefficiency of it. These compensation payments really are worth looking at. They reveal a prison system which is incapable of adding up the days to when a prisoner should be freed. A staff culture that is riddled with violence against prisoners. And an indifference of our health that veers way over the line of benign neglect. What a shambles. Not only do you pay a fortune to keep us here, you pay again because those charged with jailing us are incapable of doing their job properly.

Prison law can be an interesting pursuit and object of study. It’s not for everyone, I appreciate that, but it does throw up things that should worry anyone interested in little principles like fairness and justice. Prisoners are subject to perpetual searches. Our cells, our property, our person. All available to be prodded at random. One such time is returning from workshops to the wings. In one prison, this involves passing through metal-detectors. This means divesting one’s person of metal, like watches, for the process. The watch is handed to a screw. What happens if, having being searched, your watch is missing? Having handed it to a screw, surely there is some recourse? Think again. The Courts have held not. This is what a more colloquial writer might call “a thieves’ charter”.

...................................................... The saddest man I ever met February 16, 2011

In a hospital cell at Dartmoor, where I was suffering a major bout of depression, I began talking to the man in the cell across the narrow corridor. This was made simple by hatches fitted into our doors, allowing us to talk freely and quietly across the four feet that separated us. Pulling up a chair I balanced on the back of it, feet on the seat, and settled in for a long exchange. After listening to my rather torpid tale, he shared his. He was there as being a suicide risk. His girlfriend has just been raped, they had lost their baby, and his mother was newly diagnosed with cancer. It was such a litany of misery it almost - but not quite - sounded like a Country and Western song. He was in a terrible emotional state, incredibly and understandably fragile and all I could do was listen. And I was happy to just be there, being quite worried that without the meagre presence of another human being he may not survive the night.

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Inside Drink and Drugs News Drink and Drugs News (DDN) is the fortnightly magazine for all those working with drug and alcohol clients, including in prisons. In a regular bi-monthly column, Editor Claire Brown looks at what’s been happening lately in the substance misuse field

and alcohol field – as much for what might happen as what has actually been handed down by the Coalition Government. Their proposals to crack down on the sale of cheap alcohol have been met with scorn by health campaign groups. Government plans will stop shops from selling a litre bottle of 37.5 per cent vodka for less than £10.71 or a 700ml bottle of 40 per cent whisky for less than £8. But you can still buy a 750ml bottle of 12.5 per cent wine for £2.03, a 440ml can of 4.2 per cent lager for 38p or a litre bottle of 4.5 per cent cider for 40p, so the charity Alcohol Concern says the move will ‘hardly touch the sides’ in addressing bingedrinking and alcohol related harm. Some media didn’t think much of it either. The Daily Mirror’s Brian Reade said: ‘Why does every law hit the poor the hardest? Take the plans to tackle binge-drinking by taxing alcohol by unit strength, meaning the stronger the drink the more you’ll pay. It’s effectively a tax on tramps.’

Heroin shortage

O

ur magazine held its fourth national service user involvement conference last week. The idea of a conference might not sound that exciting, but this one’s more like a rally, mainly made up of people who are in drug and alcohol treatment themselves, and the atmosphere is galvanising. We’re all familiar with the idea of consumer feedback, and nowadays understand the concept of patients’ charters and the right to expect a decent standard of care from health services. But for a stigmatised group like drug users, the game is different – they not only need to shout loudly when they don’t get the

treatment they’re entitled to; they also need to engage politically to make sure stigma doesn’t routinely creep into legislation that affects them. Andrew Selous MP came to speak from the Department of Work and Pensions and was heckled loudly about welfare reform. Many of our delegates were worried about proposed changes to benefits such as disability allowance and housing benefit, and the MP left with a list of questions to take back to Parliament. We’ll be following up his response in DDN.

Alcohol crackdown?

It’s been a lively month generally for the drug

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Just as elsewhere, there is widespread panic about the threat to drug services – including one of the most respected helplines available to drug users. For more than 40 years the Release helpline has been helping people with legal advice when they most need it – whether young people arrested for a minor drug office, homeless heroin users being refused treatment, desperate parents of drug users, young black

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Stigma, stigma, everywhere!

It’s an uphill struggle. Julie Burchill’s comments in The Independent, a respected newspaper, are typical of the dismissive attitude towards the drug and alcohol client group that can make their fight for rights that much harder: ‘Personally, I think that lots of people create problems in order to get attention, and there’s many a time I have had to restrain myself from bursting into a nearby Overeaters Anonymous group with a stack of pizzas, and also from putting my head around the door of a local church’s Cocaine Anonymous group and announcing ‘Oi, I’m gagging for a line – anybody holding?’ Finally, thanks to all of you who responded to my request for keeping a prison diary of your drug and alcohol treatment in my last column. I was delighted with the response. Several respondents have begun their diary, and I hope to be in touch with more of you who took the trouble to write in.

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Meanwhile a shortage of heroin – as a result of crop disease in Afghan poppies – is putting drug users’ lives at risk as dealers are mixing heroin with other substances to make their supplies go further. Furthermore, there are worries that when supplies return, risk of overdose will be greater, as tolerance levels will be reduced among those taking less during the heroin drought. One of the major drug testing companies recently reported that the number of people testing positive for opiates has fallen by 50 per cent.

men being harassed on the streets, or employees being dismissed because of a random drug test at work.

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25

Looking forward to achieving recovery by Mike Trace

the temptations of drug use. Prisons need to create safe space, including recovery wings, and to support peer mentor schemes and other ways to help people have the strength to maintain abstinence amongst the pressures of being in prison.

APt (The Rehabilitation for Addicted Prisoners Trust) wants to stop people going to prison. We have always existed for this purpose – to help people who are addicted to drugs or alcohol break their addiction and be able to build a normal life for themselves afterwards. We provide 12 step drug and alcohol programmes for that purpose, at a range of levels of intensity to suit short and longer-term prisoners; we provide to date the only specialist secondary rehab for offenders outside of prison; and our CARAT teams aim to move people onto pathways of recovery at the pace that’s right for them.

n For most people, prison is only the start of the journey. The real challenge of staying off drugs and/or alcohol, and away from crime, begins outside the prison gates, on release. If a treatment pathway is started in prison, it should continue outside. For most chronic drug/alcohol users this means secondary treatment, which needs to be arranged and paid for before release. And if people are faced with returning to chaotic home lives, or are being sent to hostel accommodation, they should be offered options which will help them continue their recovery as they build healthier lives for themselves.

(Chief Executive of RAPt)

R

Now, the Government are saying that they want to achieve the same – that they want to bring about a ‘Rehabilitation Revolution’, by helping as many people as possible have the opportunity, and the right support, to become abstinent, and get out of the revolving door of addiction, crime and prison. They have faith in this bringing down the prison population. We share that faith in the benefits of proper treatment. However, this doesn’t mean that the future is entirely bright. As we all know there is now less money. If there is an expansion in treatment services for addicted offenders, this will only be accompanied by bigger cuts in other services. The challenge to the Government, and to the prisons, and to us, is to make better use of the limited resources we have: to get the right support to the right people at exactly the right time. The good news is that we seem to be entering an era of new freedoms – where we do get the

Another successful RAPt Treatment Programme

opportunity to challenge how things are done, and try out new approaches. In many prisons this is already happening. There are a few key things that we think are important to any changes, if we’re to do good and not harm. These are the things that thousands of prisoners over the years have told us about the services they have been offered and received, including the prisoners we have helped to achieve recovery, and the ones who haven’t yet got there: n The importance of access to recovery-orientated treatment. Becoming abstinent is a big deal, and can’t be done without prompt access to effective, usually intensive, treatment programmes (a quick detox and then back on the wing doesn’t work). Most prisoners don’t have access to treatment of this kind.

n The importance of options and choices. Not everyone is at the same place at the same time, for example some people are ready for abstinence and some aren’t. However all the options should lead step by step towards full recovery. There is little point in putting people on a short programme, and then nothing else; and little point ‘warehousing’ people on substitute medication with no future plans for review. n Alcohol problems are equally as prevalent and serious amongst the prison population as drug problems. There are currently a relatively wide range of interventions for drug users, and hardly anything for alcohol users. This needs to be addressed. n It is incredibly difficult to become abstinent, and remain abstinent, in the prison environment. There can be no place to go to escape

If we get this right, offering such support should work out cheaper than the current system, and deliver much better results. We wholeheartedly believe that more prisoners will move away from drug and alcohol addiction, given the right support, and we have the evidence that when people do this, the benefits both to themselves, their families, and wider society, are huge. RAPt work in 22 prisons, and with around 13,000 prisoners every year. They deliver CARAT services in 17 prisons and have ten intensive drug treatment programmes, and two alcohol programmes in the prison system, which work with about 1,000 people a year. They are the largest (and first) provider of intensive drug and alcohol treatment programmes in prisons.

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Comment

Insidetime March 2011 www.insidetime.org

Innocent lifers and their dilemma Charles Hanson spotlights miscarriages of justice guilt, with the system falling back on two key elements; that it cannot go behind the verdict of a jury and have to accept the decision of the court as to guilt, and that without risk reduction and offending behaviour work it cannot carry out any effective risk assessments on those protesting their innocence.

Charles Hanson

H

aving been sentenced to life imprisonment in 1996, I thought, in the early stages, that I must be the only lifer who was actually guilty in spite of some arguable issues with the fairness of my trial. And, having heard so many protestations of innocence from fellow lifers, I began to think that prison was the safest place to be for all the guilty ones must be at large in the community. Through the passage of time it became apparent that I was serving my sentence alongside some lifers who I became increasingly convinced were innocent, a view reinforced when I saw myself progressing on to lower category prisons towards my eventual release whilst they remained behind, stubbornly refusing to undertake any offending behaviour work or admit guilt so compellingly that it was punishing. For them it would have been so easy to escape that kind of self-inflicted stagnancy of going nowhere through the simple act of acknowledging guilt and yet, whilst I progressed to release on life licence, I left many behind me who could have been standing in my shoes but they chose instead to languish in prison year after year, many with no realistic prospect of release until they admit

I can think of nothing more devastating than to be wrongly convicted of the offence of murder and have to face an indeterminate number of years in prison and, for some in the United States, decades on death row never knowing if on awaking it is going to be their last day on earth. In the United States over 140 people have been released from death row since 1973 due to evidence of wrongful convictions, with ten being released in 2003 alone. As of August 9 2010, 258 people previously convicted of serious crimes have been exonerated by DNA testing. Almost all of these convictions involved some form of sexual assault and approximately 25% involved murder. There is no way to tell how many of the over 1,000 people executed since 1976 may have been innocent. Courts do not generally entertain claims of innocence once the defendant is dead. Defence attorneys move on to other cases where clients’ lives can still be saved.

Sean Hodgson - released from prison after serving 27 years for a crime he did not commit. April 2009

In January 2000, Governor George Ryan of Illinois, in declaring a moratorium on executions in his state after the 13th Illinois death row inmate had been released from prison due

137 lifers and the years they spent behind bars before being eventually cleared on appeal Sean Hodgson - 27 Years Stephen Downing - 27 Years Frank Johnson - 26 Years Robert Brown - 25 Years Andrew Evans - 25 Years Paul Blackburn - 25 Years (Life sentence aged 16) Patrick Nichols - 23 Years Henry McKenny - 23 Years Terrence Pinfold 23 Years Patrick Nichols - 23 Years Robert Alan Haddon - 23 Years Robert Maynard - 22 Years Andrew Smith - 22 Years (Scotland) John Kamara - 20 Years Reg Dudley - 20 Years Anthony Steele - 20 Years John Duggan - 20 Years Joseph Steele - 20 Years Thomas Campbell - 20 Years Raymond Gilmour - 20 Years Jim Robinson - 18 Years Michael Hickey - 18 Years Vincent Hickey - 18 years Judith Ward - 18 Years Albert James - 18 Years George McPhee - 18 Years Peter Fell - 17 Years Raymond McCartney - 17 Years George Long - 16 Years Paddy Hill - 16 Years (Birmingham Six) Hugh Callaghan - 16 Years (Birmingham Six) Gerard Hunter - 16 Years (Birmingham Six) Richard McIlkenny - 16 Years (Birmingham Six) William Power - 16 Years (Birmingham Six) John Walker - 16 Years (Birmingham Six)

Stefan Kiszko - 16 Years Patrick Irvine - 16 Years Michael Shirley - 16 Years John Roberts - 15 Years Donald Pendleton - 15 Years Paul Hill - 15 Years (Guildford Four) Gerry Conlon - 15 Years (Guildford Four) Paddy Armstrong - 15 Years (Guildford Four) Carole Richardson - 15 Years (Guildford Four) Eamonn Macdermot - 15 Years Roy Burnette - 15 Years Anthony Poole - 14 Years Gary Mills - 14 Years Anthony Adams - 14 Years Patrick Nolan - 14 Years Ashley King - 14 Years Trevor Campbell - 14 Years Andrew Adams - 14 Years Thomas Green - 13 Years Daniel Mansell - 13 Years Danny McNamee - 12 Years Michael Davis - 12 Years (M25 Three) Raphael Rowe - 12 Years (M25 Three) Randolph Johnson - 12 Years (M25 Three) Trevor Wickens - 12 Years Keith Twitchell - 12 Years (Manslaughter Conviction quashed after 17 years) Michael O’Brien - 11 years (Cardiff Newsagent 3) Ellis Sherwood - 11 Years (Cardiff Newsagent 3) Darren Hall - 11 Years (Cardiff Newsagent 3) Leopold Willis - 11 Years David Cooper - 10 Years (Released on licence - Died 1995) Conviction quashed 2003 Michael McMahon - 10 Years (Released on licence - Died 1999) Conviction quashed 2003 Alexander Hall - 10 Years (Scotland)

John Brannan - 10 Years Gurbinder Singh Samra - 10 Years Victor Boreman - 10 Years Michael Byrne - 10 Years Malcolm Byrne - 10 Years Jan Christofides - 10 Years Bernard Murphy - 10 Years Mary Druham - 10 Years Billy Allison - 10 Years Steven Johnston - 10 Years Tarlochan Singh Gill - 10 Years John McGranaghan - 10 Years Mark Cleary - 9 Years Josephine Smith - 9 Years Noel Bell - 9 Years (Northern Ireland) Winston Allen - 9 Years (Northern Ireland) James Hagen - 9 Years (Northern Ireland) Barry George - 8 Years Ian Lawless - 8 Years Phillip Rowland - 8 Years Wayne Darvell - 7 Years Mark Dallagher - 7 Years Paul Darvell - 7 Years Thomas Rooney - 3 Years (Scotland) Craig McCreight - 7 Years Winston Silcott - 6 Years Engin Raghip - 6 Years Mark Braithwaite - 6 Years Donna Anthony - 6 Years Eddie Browning - 6 Years Sion Jenkins - 6 Years Richard Karling - 6 Years John Heemphill - 6 Years Richard Roy Allan - 6 Years Clifford Ashton - 6 Years Barri White - 6 Years

Yusef Abdelhi - 4 Years (Cardiff Three) Tony Paris - 4 Years (Cardiff Three) Steven Miller - 4 Years (Cardiff Three) Sheila Bowler - 4 Years Darren Cullen - 4 Years Sydney George Mair - 4 Years Michael Gilfillan - 4 Years David Asbury - 3 Years (Scotland) Sally Clarke - 3 Years Waquar Ahmed - 3 Years Azhill Khan - 3 Years Afzal Khan - 3 Years Suzanne Holdsworth - 3 Years Jonathan Jones - 3 Years David Ryan Jones - 3 Years Angela Canning - 2 Years Arnel Gnango - 2 Years Donna Tinker - 2 Years Donna Clarke - 4 Years Jacqueline Fletcher - 4 Years Annette Hewins - 3 Years Denise Sullivan - 3 Years Jonathan Jones - 3 Years David Ashbury - 3 Years Patricia Bass - 3 Years Phillip English - 3 Years Kiranjit Aluwhalia - 3 Years Gary Shaffi - 3 Years David Noble - 3 Years Craig Lane - 3 Years Michael Beadle - 3 Years Margaret Smith - 2 Years Michael Burridge - 2 Years Trevor McCalla - 18 Months Michelle Taylor - 1 Year Liza Taylor - 1 Year

Comment

Insidetime March 2011 www.insidetime.org to wrongful conviction went on to say that; “I cannot support a system which, in its administration, has proven so fraught with error and has come so close to the ultimate nightmare, the state’s taking of innocent life. Until I can be sure that everyone sentenced to death in Illinois is truly guilty, until I can be sure with moral certainty that no innocent man or woman is facing a lethal injection, no one will meet that fate.”

tigative bodies like the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), a politically appointed body set up in 1997 to investigate miscarriages of justice, is very rigid when deciding what cases to refer to the Court of Appeal, basing all of its decisions within the very tight framework of the ‘real possibility test’ of the conviction being overturned, not whether they believe the applicant to be innocent.

Whilst members of the judiciary and indeed politicians are defensive of their criminal justice systems and very rarely admit that they got it wrong, we had here someone who recognised that those systems are not infallible and that innocent people do fall foul of them and in the process become its victims.

The Criminal Appeal Act 1995, which sets out the criteria for referrals by which the CCRC works, has become its straightjacket so that there is little room for flexibility and it really is a wonder that any cases are actually referred to the Court of Appeal by them at all. Richard Foster, the chairman of the CCRC, puts it very clearly when considering what cases to refer to the Court of Appeal, “You do need evidence, a deeply held passionate belief that somebody is innocent based on arguments from the original trial that have already been considered is not sufficient.”

In the United States worse was to follow when George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld covered up the fact that hundreds of innocent men were sent to the Guantánamo Bay prison camp because they feared that releasing them would harm the push for war in Iraq and the broader War on Terror. Colonel Wilkerson, who was General Powell’s chief of staff when he ran the State Department, was most critical of Mr Cheney and Mr Rumsfeld. He claimed that the former Vice-President and Defence Secretary knew that the majority of the initial 742 detainees sent to Guantánamo in 2002 were innocent but believed that it was “politically impossible to release them”. Such is the American way. In Britain, we have had our own tragedies and miscarriages of justice, where innocent victims of the criminal justice system have, in some cases, spent decades in prison before finally being cleared of the offence which sent them there. But for many still incarcerated the struggle to clear their name goes on and even if released on life licence the stigma remains. The British criminal justice system displays an unbelievable arrogance in its treatment of prisoners who protest their innocence, with all the obstacles an innocent person faces in challenging his or her conviction, so that the judiciary hides behind the jury’s verdict as if to say that it really has nothing to do with them and that the jury are the deciders. Whilst inves-

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Causes of miscarriages of justice might include: • Non-disclosure of evidence by the police or prosecution. • Confirmation bias on the part of investigators. • Fabrication of evidence. • Poor identification. • Overestimation of the evidential value of expert testimony. • Contaminated evidence. • Faulty forensic tests. • Unreliable confessions due to police pressure or the psychological instability of the accused. • Misdirection by a judge during trial. • Perjured evidence. • False evidence of confession given by prison informants. Any of these points in relation to a miscarriage of justice might be outweighed by other factors which the CCRC might consider as being more relevant to a decision not to refer a case, as happened in the case of Michael Stone and the evidence of a self-confessed prison informant who later admitted that he had lied at Stone’s trial, along with another witness who was herself facing criminal charges and later claimed that the police had been instrumental in offering her a deal to reduce the charges against her.

For some, a decision to refer a case can come too late, as in the case of the following four prisoners who were hanged but eventually cleared by the Court of Appeal. Timothy Evans. Hanged 1950. Pardoned 1966 George Kelly. Hanged 1950. Conviction quashed 2003. Mahmood Hussein Mattan. Hanged 1952. Conviction quashed 1998. Derek Bentley. Hanged 1953. Royal Pardon 1993. Conviction quashed 1998. The 137 lifers highlighted on the previous page detailing the years they spent behind bars before eventually cleared on appeal with some having spent over 25 years in prison. Colin Stagg, who in 1993 was charged with the murder of Rachel Nickel, was another victim of the criminal justice system, although he was subsequently cleared after 12 months on remand when the trial judge threw out the case. It emerged that Stagg had been the victim of an unethical police operation sting. In December 2008, Robert Napper pleaded guilty, on the grounds of diminished responsibility, to the manslaughter of Rachel Nickel after DNA testing had identified him as the offender. He was ordered to be detained indefinitely in Broadmoor. In 2008, Stagg was awarded £760,000 for wrongful prosecution. The case of Stagg is merely one in a long line of miscarriages of justice, but for him he was fortunate in that the trial judge called a halt to the proceedings, perhaps prompted by the fact that the whole investigation had been corrupted and was now in the public arena, and certainly there had been some disquiet about the whole series of events that had led up to Stagg’s arrest.

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For those lifers who continue to protest their innocence there is always the uphill struggle to clear their names, which impacts on any decisions to release them if they have refused to cooperate with sentence plans, offending behaviour programmes and risk assessments. So the prospects of release will always seem remote, even though it is unlawful for the Parole Board to refuse to order release on the grounds that the lifer is protesting his or her innocence which can be challenged in the courts. The reality is that the Parole Board relies heavily on reports by probation and psychology staff, who are unlikely to recommend release for a lifer who has not addressed their offending behaviour and therefore cannot be risk assessed and might present as a management problem after release. The unlawful reasons not to release are overcome, a bit like shifting the goalposts to avoid litigation as in the case of R v (1) The Parole Board (2) Secretary of State for the Home Department ex parte Owen Oyston (2000) Independent, April 17, 2000, where it was held that; Maintaining innocence was not, in itself, a legitimate reason for denying release and/or progression. After a catalogue of miscarriages of justice cases over the past decade, I am no longer as cynical as I once was and when I do hear that someone is protesting his or her innocence I am now more inclined to think that we should all sit up and take note, that the criminal justice system is not infallible and that mistakes are made as in any profession. The problem is in correcting those mistakes. Charles Hanson - formerly resident at HMP Blantyre House

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Comment

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I

self-harm can be a way of communicating something that cannot be said, e.g., ‘I desperately need to talk to someone’, or ‘I need help’. This can be confused with ‘attention seeking’.

came to prison in 2010 and could not deal with it . My way of escaping was to cut myself. I’ve now been left with horrid scars for the rest of my life which will always remind me of prison. I found ways of coping after a while. For example; drawing a red line on my arm (I know it sounds daft), using an elastic band on my arm to cause pain, scratching myself with a toothbrush, reading or drawing in order to distract myself, or seeing how long I could go without harming myself and then try to beat that time, and talking to members of staff or healthcare.

‘People self-harm to gain something’ - this is TRUE and FALSE It is true that sometimes people self-harm in order to gain some control over what might seem a hopeless situation. For example; ‘I was too scared to come out of my cell but I couldn’t stand another day of being alone so I cut up to get moved’. This behaviour may seem manipulative, but is actually an attempt to gain support and care. Writing self-harm off as manipulation does not help anyone. ‘People who self-harm don’t feel pain’ - this is FALSE It is a common myth that people who self-harm don’t feel pain, but they do feel pain, they are not less than human. It’s just that they numb themselves to the pain at the time, though they feel it afterwards.

If it was not for the support of the officers and health team here at Downview, I would probably still be self-harming. It is not easy to stop self-harming, but if I can do it then I’m sure others can do it too.

How common is self harm? In prison during 2008 there were 24,692 recorded incidents of self-harm. Of these, 12,944 were female, and 11,748 were male prisoners. Self-harm is generally more common amongst women than men, and more common in the young than in older people – both in prison and the wider community. It is also more common among people with complex mental health problems, including drug and alcohol addiction. In prison, those who have a personality disorder, a psychotic illness, or are depressed, dependent on drugs, alcohol, or are heavy smokers, are more likely to self-harm.

Why do people self-harm? People who do not self-harm find it very hard to understand and can be extremely judgemental. There are a number of reasons why people self-harm, including; • to manage distressing experiences or memories ; • to relieve tension or anger; • to punish themselves; • to get rid of ‘the bad inside’; • to communicate feelings of distress; • to try and get the help that they are too scared to ask for; • to survive (not to kill themselves); • to kill themselves; • or to obey the voices they hear in their head.

Library picture

Self-harm My name is Zoe, and I am a 22 year-old recovering self-harmer ... Some of the factors associated with self-harm • Abuse – sexual, physical or psychological; • Use of drugs and/or alcohol; • Domestic and relationship problems; • Grief and loss, e.g. death or divorce; • Childhood neglect; • Bullying; • Oppression, e.g. racism; • Isolation; • Physical illness; • Refusal of license or ROTL/HDC. Everyone is different and they all have their own reasons for self-harming.

Common myths of self-harming ‘Self-harm is always a suicide attempt’ - this is FALSE Many self-harm to avoid suicide, however, some people do try to kill themselves by selfharming. But even those people who do not want to kill themselves are at increased risk of death from self-harming. It is vital to talk to the person if you feel they are at risk. ‘Self-harm is attention seeking’ - this is FALSE Many incidents of self-harm take place in private and do not reach the attention of professionals. This is less likely to be so in prison where everything is likely to be discovered. However,

Distress signals Almost any event can trigger self-harm, or in worse cases – suicide, depending on the state of mind and how the event affects them. Some recognisable behaviours can be; • Crying and emotional outbursts; • Giving away possessions; • Withdrawing from social contact; • Self neglect (not eating or washing); • Alcohol or drug misuse; • Recklessness/fighting. And physical changes, such as; • Loss of weight; • Change or loss of appetite; • Disturbed sleep; • Lack of interest and physical energy; • Increase in minor illnesses. My advice is: Try to get a routine going, it will keep you busy and keep your mind active. And don’t suffer in silence. Talk to staff, they can help more than you think. You can approach staff in confidence, others do not need to know.

Zoe is currently resident at HMP Downview

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The Chewbacca Defence: How Cameron, the tabloids and a multitude of politicians are fighting the campaign against prisoner voting Andrew Henley

Unfortunately we have seen this approach spill over into more overt prisoner-bashing with a particularly distasteful example being the 2010 General Election campaign of the Labour MP for Birmingham Hall Green, Roger Godsiff. This included the production of leaflets which, although eventually scrapped, included pictures of high-profile prisoners and the question: “Do you want convicted murderers, rapists and paedophiles to be given the vote? The Lib Dems do.”

F

ans of the TV programme South Park may recall a memorable episode in 1998 which parodied the lawyer Johnnie Cochran’s closing remarks in the OJ Simpson murder trial:

“Ladies and gentlemen of this supposed jury, it does not make sense! If Chewbacca lives on Endor, you must acquit! The defence rests.” The ‘Chewbacca Defence’ has come to represent any legal or propaganda strategy that is won by nonsensical and illogical arguments that are designed to confuse the audience and drown out any legitimate opposing points of view. The idea being that if you can get the opposing side to shut up, you’ve won by default! Given the recent government backtracking over the issue of prisoner voting, and the sadly unsurprising alliance between fellow hardliners David Davis and Jack Straw, it seemed appropriate to examine the political discourse over the issue. The comments that follow from David Cameron reveal his true thoughts on prisoners: “It makes me physically ill even to contemplate having to give the vote to anyone who is in prison. Frankly, when people commit a crime and go to prison, they should lose their rights, including the right to vote.” (Hansard, House of Commons, 3rd November 2010: Column 921) This begs the question, which other rights does the Prime Minister think prisoners should lose as a result of incarceration and perhaps more importantly, why does he even think this in the first place? Unfortunately, Cameron has yet to explain this beyond saying that he has to do something about prisoner voting because Labour didn’t. The loss of liberty of prisoners is often presented by opponents to prisoner voting as a way in which we already restrict the rights of prisoners. This is simply not true. The European Convention on Human Rights allows for “the lawful detention of a person after conviction by a competent court” in Article 5, so imprisonment is not in itself a breach of a person’s rights. Protocol 1, Article 3 on the other hand states that: “The High Contracting Parties undertake to hold free elections at reasonable intervals by secret ballot, under conditions which will ensure the free expression of the opinion of the people in the choice of the legislature”. Nowhere in this second statement is an exception granted for prisoners – hence why John Hirst won his case, twice. Politicians and journalists often use rhetoric such as that displayed by Cameron as they know that in the minds of the public, sympathy for victims of crime will always trump any feelings of compassion that might exist towards prisoners. Numerous stories about prisons in the Right-wing press often begin with an immediate association between the issue and the ‘murderers, rapists and paedophiles’ who they know will generate the most public fear:

© prisonimage.org

‘Mr Blunt… also indicated an end to sentences which allow judges to lock up indefinitely thousands of the country’s worst offenders including rapists, paedophiles and murderers.’ (Now you pay for prison parties, Daily Mail, 23rd July 2010). ‘RAPISTS, paedophiles, a killer and drug-dealers may pocket £300,000 after prison sarnies gave them food poisoning.’ (Lags want £300k for dodgy egg roll, The Sun, 13th December 2010). Another common tactic is to create a false choice between the rights of victims of crime to be offered the help and support they deserve and the rights of prisoners to be treated in a way that respects fundamental human rights. Issues of human rights are often presented as though any improvement in the situation of prisoners is somehow designed to reduce the rights of victims. ‘Human rights legislation is effectively weighted towards the criminal because as inmates they have access to legal aid while law-abiding people who are less well-off cannot afford to instruct a solicitor’, she suggested. ‘In order to access the human rights system you have to pay a lawyer. If you’re on the outside, being a good citizen and working, you can’t afford a lawyer, if you’re a prisoner on the inside you’re entitled to a lawyer.’ (Victims’ commissioner Sara Payne calls for major law and order reform in first report, The Daily Telegraph, 20th September 2009). This quotation immediately reveals an erroneous conclusion from the newspaper. Sara Payne is actually making a point about fairer public access to legal aid, but the Telegraph is using this to claim that “Human rights legislation is effectively weighted towards the criminal”, the implication being that the only way to achieve a fairer system is to remove human rights and legal aid from prisoners rather than simply making legal aid more widely available to victims. Sara Payne herself was subject to considerable criticism from the Chairman of the National Victims Association during her one-year tenure

as ‘Victim’s Champion’ for her failure to engage with the organisation. In a letter to Payne dated February 11th 2009, David Hines wrote: “On a number of occasions since your appointment, I have emailed you and written to you, to both your home and office addresses but have not received any acknowledgement.” And after her non-appearance at the charity’s Annual Memorial Service he wrote on the 19th February 2009: ‘Saturday was an ideal opportunity to demonstrate that there was in fact someone in Government interested in bereaved families and the truth is that many people trusted that their Victim’s Champion wouldn’t have dreamt of not being there. That may not be what you want to hear but honesty is always best.’ It may well be that the appointment of a Victim’s Champion and the subsequent introduction of Victim’s Commissioner Louise Casey is merely a fig-leaf for successive governments who aren’t really interested in engaging with those who have been affected by crime. However, that doesn’t stop politicians from exploiting concern for victims in order to duck the issue of criminal justice reform: ‘Shadow justice secretary Sadiq Khan said: ‘I am pleased that this government has undertaken this U-turn. The Government should be standing up for the victims of crime but instead they are slashing police numbers and giving dangerous convicted prisoners the vote. I hope for all our sakes this is the first of many U-turns.’ (U-Turn claim on prisoner’s votes, Daily Express, 20th January 2011). Again we see a false choice presented between prisoner voting and concern for victims. Yet from a cynical perspective, which politicians wouldn’t want to present themselves as the caring and concerned champion of the defenceless? Politicians and newspapers do this safe in the knowledge that nobody in authority will dare to challenge their view for fear of being branded unsympathetic towards victims, or worse, more interested in the rights of ‘criminals’.

Godsiff not only incurred the second highest expenses of all 647 MPs for 2008/2009 with claims for £189,338 but also has a voting attendance in Parliament that has declined steadily during his time in the House of Commons (1997-2001: 72.2%, 2001-2005: 62.4%, 2005-2010: 56.0%). However, the lesson here is that if you play to the public’s fear of crime – you still get elected. Godsiff won his campaign and the Liberal Democrat candidate ended in third place. His voting attendance in Parliament is currently well below average at 50.5% (www.publicwhip. org.uk, Accessed: 1st February 2011). Is it yet to be adequately explained how allowing prisoners to vote in elections will in any way cause harm to either victims of crime or the general public. Politicians and large sections of the media continue to argue that prisoners should not vote, but are yet to explain adequately why they think this beyond saying that it would cause ‘outrage’. Yet just because someone might take offence or be outraged over an issue doesn’t automatically make them right. Unfortunately, most of the discourse around the issue presents prisoners as though they are a distinct group from the rest of society rather than a part of it. The objectives of HM Prison Service are stated as “holding prisoners securely”, “reducing the risk of prisoners re-offending” and “providing safe and well-ordered establishments in which we treat prisoners humanely, decently and lawfully”. It is time for the politicians to explain properly how a blanket ban on voting achieves any of these.

Andrew Henley, Post-graduate student in social science with the Open University.

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Comment

30

Insidetime March 2011 www.insidetime.org

The national population census…

A citizen’s right to be included in society such as a National Population Census, should, equally, be afforded the opportunity to enjoy and partake in all of the privileges and expectations bestowed upon a holder of that title.

Billy Little

By the latter point I mean that as prisoners we are still subject to the law, we still pay tax on the goods that are purchased from the prison canteen and the 20% VAT expectation for other goods; just like any other citizen. David Cameron (aka Eric Morecambe) and his sycophantic sidekick Nick Clegg (aka Ernie Wise) really should pay more attention to just how much of a say prisoners have. More importantly, they should listen to what prisoners have to say on matters related to drugs, crime and prisons. It is easy to use emotive, simplistic rhetoric to appease the public or tabloid media. It is not that easy to persuade the prison population to comply with a ‘legal requirement’ when the people in charge are not doing it themselves.

A

s is the case with consecutive British governments, they have little or no regard for the law, and if it doesn’t suit them, they will endeavour to alter it…a wee bit. Like having your cake and eating it! The expectation on 27th March is that the prison population will complete the census form, a legal requirement for all citizens, but, since citizens have the right to vote, does this not cause a dilemma? I mean, the right to vote for prisoners is legally binding, but Eric and Ernie (Cameron and Clegg), in conjunction with an ever-keen media machine, have managed to convince most of the supporting cast to renege on the Hirst ruling from the European Court of Human Rights. For those of you who neither read Paul Sullivan’s PSI Update on coverage of the forthcoming census (Inside Time February issue), nor know of the census, i.e. what it’s for and who can access the information provided, you should ask in your library for further information. Paul Sullivan’s PSI Update noted, under the heading of ‘Refusal’, that there is a ‘legal requirement’ to complete the census form. Now, from MY point of view, there are concerns about this sort of thing, particularly under the current state of disenfranchisement (i.e. not being allowed to exercise the right to vote, despite it being a binding legal requirement, by consecutive British governments). So, what is the census? The census (originally

© iStock

denoting Poll Tax … and many of us know how well that was received by contemporary society) is nothing more than a count up. It’s conducted every 10 years, to count, classify and locate the population of a country, nation, commonwealth or political society. As a principle, the census is a legal requirement of all ‘citizens’ within a specific place; a mass registration of each and every person legally afforded the moniker of ‘citizen’. The legal requirement comes from the Census Act (1920), and, as such, there is this demand for each individual, and/or any person(s) in their care, to divulge a whole range of normally confidential informa-

PROBLEMS WITH THE PRISON? YOU NEED

tion to the state. This information can then be used by any government agency, or any private firm that the government deem ‘appropriate’, to use within their operational remit. A ‘citizen’, broadly defined, is a person who is legally recognised as a subject, native or from a particular state, commonwealth or political society. It is a person who has the legal protection of their political society, nation or state; someone who has been afforded ‘franchise’ – the right to vote – within that place. Irrespective of status, any person classified as being suitable to complete a legally binding document,

One of the cornerstones of citizenship is having the ability to express political favour, to affect change through the electoral system. Who knows, maybe one day we will live in a society that prevents the media from playing police, judge, jury and executioner on its citizens. A society that treats everyone as equal status, not just those who sit on their high horse! My census form will be in the bin and in pieces … no vote … no recognition … no citizen! Billy Little is currently resident at HMP Bullingdon Editorial Note: Readers should be aware that a fine may be imposed on anyone not completing the census form.

KRISTINA HARRISON

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Comment

Insidetime March 2011 www.insidetime.org that the administration will fill out general forms for all residents. Prisoners should fill in details for the prison they are currently in. Prison staff are not allowed to see your completed forms or discuss them with you unless you specifically ask for their help. The confidentiality of the forms is protected by three laws: the Data Protection Act 1998; Census Act 1920; and the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 (SRSA). A special Prison Service Order (PSI 2011-002) was published in January which explains the procedure for prisoners. The PSI was covered in depth in our February Issue and is available in prison libraries. When you have completed the form, staff will give you an envelope for you to seal it in.

2011 Census A guide to answering those awkward questions

Paul Sullivan

A

census is a complete count of the population. In the UK we have one every ten years. The Census is run by three different organisations: in England and Wales it’s the Office for National Statistics (ONS); in Northern Ireland it’s the Northern Ireland Statistical Research Agency

(NISRA); in Scotland it’s the General Register Office of Scotland (GROS). All three will carry out a census on 27 March 2011. Prisoners are required to fill in census forms if they have been convicted and are serving over six months. Remand prisoners and those serving less than six months are classed as ‘visitors’ and they should be included on the census at their home address (if they don’t have a home address then the prison address is used). Residents in YOIs are also required to fill in forms. The situation in secure hospitals is

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The census asks for certain personal information and also has questions about accommodation, employment and lifestyle. Because of the nature of prisons, many questions are difficult for prisoners to complete. To assist you, Inside Time has worked with the Office for National Statistics to give you preferred answers to some of those awkward questions.

Household Questions

H1 - H6 - The census know it is a prison so answer just for you: It is your permanent home with no housemates or lodgers. Just write in details for yourself even if in a shared cell or dormitory. There is no one else staying or visiting. H7 & H8 What sort of accommodation is it, is it self-contained? It is a commercial property and is not selfcontained. H9 & H10 - Number of rooms. The answer to these questions is ‘One’. H11 Central heating - ‘Other’. H12 Own or rent - ‘Lives here rent free’. H13 Landlord - ‘Other’.

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Individual Questions

Answer individual questions for yourself Q7 Are you a student? If you attend education full time the answer is ‘Yes’, otherwise ‘No’. Q14 Do you look after other people? Even if you have a ‘caring’ job within the prison the answer is ‘No’. Q21 One year ago, what was your usual address? If at home give that address, if at another prison then give that address (the name will do). Q26 Last week were you working …? All prisoners should answer this as ‘Working as an employee’. Prisoners do not need to answer the questions about seeking work. If a prisoner is new to a prison and has not been allocated work they may wish to answer ‘None of the above’ and fill in the questions about seeking work; but it is easier to use the first answer. Q30 Last week were you? Prisoners should answer ‘Other’. Q33 - 38 - Prisoners should answer about the work they do in prison, it is not the main activity of their employer. The organisation they work for Her Majesty’s Prison Service. The address of the workplace is the prison address. Q41 How do you travel to work? Prisoners would travel ‘On foot’.

Visitor Questions

Prisoners do not need to fill in the section on visitors. When you have filled in the questions and checked them you must sign the declaration. You have no phone number! Grateful acknowledgements to Chris Dowsett at the Office for National Statistics.

Comment

32

Insidetime March 2011 www.insidetime.org

The PCL-R is not valid in law Dr Bob Johnson

S

ixty murderers can teach you a lot about the law, especially if you get to know them really well, as I did over 5 years in Parkhurst Prison. A good number of them of course were not strictly speaking murderers at all – the law is quite clear on that – you have to have the intent to kill to qualify for the crime of murder. “When you picked up that spade, did you intend to dig or to kill?” No intent means no murder. Sadly, some courts are more interested in conviction than intent, and deliberately ignore their own fundamental legal principle. Professor Hare in his PCL-R, Psychopathy Check List (Revised), goes further, and simply makes no reference to intent whatsoever, either in the test itself or in the lengthy manual which accompanies it. For Professor Hare, intent is an illusion. Parole Boards, Mental Health Review Tribunals and other courts of law are usually scrupulous about what evidence they admit, and what they abhor – with the PCL-R however, they avidly and blindly clasp to their collective bosoms a real legal viper. Let’s see how murder works. Take Johnny, serving life for ‘murder’. Johnny was a ne’erdo-well if ever there was one, bratting about at the back of the classroom, or forever truanting, at 27 he still couldn’t read. No-one had ever taken any interest in him, no one bothered. In fact, that’s what I said to him one day. “Hello Johnny,” I said, “you think you’re rubbish, don’t you?” “Yes”, he replied. “Well, I don’t” I said. That’s because I believe psychiatrists should say that sort of thing to all ne’er-do-wells, without exception. Johnny however, disagreed. He sent me to Coventry for months – refused to talk – cut me dead on the wing. No wonder people still say ‘nothing works’.

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Happily I had an ace up my sleeve. It happened that I was invited onto the local radio to discuss my prison work. And in a gap, I told Johnny’s story, anonymously of course, as here. The following week Johnny poked his head round my office door, saying “you were talking about me, weren’t you?” – so we started again. Let’s review. Johnny reacted ‘violently’ to my friendly overture. His violence to me was verbal – to his victim, it wasn’t. Suddenly his crime can be viewed in a different light. He was out with his girlfriend one day when he abruptly pushed her away – she fell back on a stone, cracked her skull and died. Being the daughter of a local VIP, a ‘murderer’ had to be found – why not a ne’er-do-well? So Johnny is serving life. With a smidgeon of imagination however, let’s suppose Johnny’s girlfriend had said something benign, perhaps more ‘loving’ than I permitted myself. Johnny’s reaction is likely to have been the same – pushing her away, as he pushed me. ‘Intent to kill’ just wasn’t there – ‘murder’ was the last thing he intended. Intent matters. The law is right, and the PCLR is wrong. The only realistic Risk Assessment of future violence entails uncovering past intents, and future intentions. Every violent act has an ‘intent’ behind it, a tantrum. Persuade the perpetrator to grow up emotionally and violence evaporates, just as it did on C-Wing Parkhurst, where no alarm bells were rung for 3 years, a unique worldwide record for any maximum security wing. Time to rescue intent from Professor Hare’s clammy hand. It’s vital for civilised society, for free-markets, let alone our democracy. Wake up lawyers, you’re being duped. Shouldn’t the Supreme Court do something? Dr Bob Johnson is a consultant psychiatrist, author and Co-founder of the James Nayler Foundation. Formerly Head of Therapy at Ashworth Maximum Security Hospital, he was also Consultant Psychiatrist, Special Unit, C-Wing, Parkhurst Prison 1991-1996.

Quote of the Month

Women who can’t cope with a sexist joke need to toughen up By Katie Hopkins - Apprentice Star

When I was on BBC Question Time recently the issue of sexism in the workplace came up following the departure of Andy Gray and Richard Keys (football commentators) from Sky TV over their private comments on a female linesman. Predictably, most of the panel were united in horror over the chauvinism of the Sky pair. But I did not join in this chorus of disapproval. Instead, I argued that the entire episode illustrated the intolerance and absurdity of a twisted brand of feminism which has taken over public life. This creed does women no favours since it treats all women as pathetic victims who need special treatment. I added that the furore showed that Britain is in danger of losing its sense of humour. It is not equality for women that today’s feminists are seeking, but special treatment. It is imposing discrimination on the basis of gender. A classic example is Harriet Harman’s so-called Equality Act. This legislation encourages employers to discriminate in favour of women in order to address ‘gender imbalances’. So a male candidate can be excluded from a job because of his chromosomes. Such ‘positive discrimination’ means companies are no longer able to pursue the policies that suit their requirements. Instead, they are subjected to constant bullying over ‘positive action’, ‘awareness raising’ and ‘gender audits’. One of the worst ingredients of this intervention is the expansion of maternity rights and pay. As an Apprentice contestant, owner of a management consultancy and mother of three, I have always wondered why employers should have any duty at all to support the offspring of their staff, particularly in the lavish way the Government demands. When I worked in Manhattan at a management consultancy company, I was impressed to find that mothers are given just four weeks of unpaid leave, then they are expected back at their desks. Staff are recruited to make money for their employers, not to fulfil some trendy notion about work-life balance. Which brings us back to the whole issue of the ‘sexist’ comments by Andy Gray and Richard Keys. When I was in the Army for three years and training at Sandhurst, I learnt that such banter is a normal part of life. It is vital for releasing pressure, establishing relationships and forging a closer bond through shared humour. If a woman finds it offensive, that says more about her inability to deal with challenging situations. Far from helping women, the feminist agenda is weakening their ability to handle the real world. The more we bang on about rights, the less robust women become. And that is the real offence to my sex - not the inane comments of two football commentators. Female Magazine. Daily Mail February 3, 2011

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Thoughts for the Day

Insidetime March 2011 www.insidetime.org

From over the wall

The Book of Uncommon Prayer

Terry Waite writes his monthly column for Inside Time

Terry Waite CBE writes from New Zealand

J

ust a couple of weeks ago I was in San Francisco looking across the sea to the notorious jail of Alcatraz. I visited it many years ago and spent a few moments in total darkness in the punishment cell. I remember thinking at the time I could never endure more than a couple of days in complete darkness. As it was, just a few weeks later I found myself a hostage in Beirut beginning almost five years in solitary. You never know what you can manage until you have to face it! Last year I visited Devil’s Island off the coast of French Guiana. Here poor old Drefus, who was wrongly convicted, spent years in total isolation before he was finally cleared and released. The island prison is also well known for the book Papillion by Henri Charriere who claimed to have escaped from the place. His claim is somewhat doubtful and most agree that his so called true account is really a work of fiction. Both these prisons must be some of the best known prisons in the world and I imagine that if you wanted to add a UK prison to the list, Dartmoor might be a natural choice. Today Dartmoor is a Cat C prison with a long history going back to 1809. It has housed both French and American Prisoners of War in its time and anyone reading this who has done time there will know what a damp and draughty old place it is. I didn’t realise that granite is porous but if you have spent any time there in one of the old blocks you will have found out that the outside damp penetrates the walls

and gets into your bones in double quick time! Well, from the most unlikely of situations good things emerge and it was from Dartmoor that a project that has brought so much happiness to the children of prisoners started. Sharon Berry knew how disruptive a prison sentence could be for family life, especially for children. She came up with the simple but brilliant idea that prisoners might be given an opportunity to read a story which could then be animated on a disc and sent to the children of the prisoner. So began Storybook Dads which has now spread throughout the prisons of our land. Sharon began in a room hardly larger than a broom cupboard in Dartmoor and now, because of the success of the project the prison has made available much larger accommodation where there is a very professional recording suite manned by serving prisoners. From time to time a prisoner who would like to send such a disc to his family turns up who can’t read. No problem! Someone will read the story a sentence at a time. The prisoner will repeat it on tape and bingo - there is a full recording of mum or dad reading a goodnight story. Many prisoners will know from bitter experience how hard it is to keep a family together and how hard it can be for children when a parent is absent. Storybook Dads does not solve all problems obviously but it is one small creative project that has stemmed from one of the notorious prisons of the UK and is bringing some happiness into the lives of some youngsters. Terry Waite was a successful hostage negotiator before he himself was held captive in Beirut between 1987 and 1991. He was held captive for 1763 days; the first four years of which were spent in solitary confinement.

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It doesn’t sound much, does it? It doesn’t even seem to make sense. But I found that if I kept saying it over and over again, rather like a slow, even chant, it made me feel calmer about a very dubious future. You might like to give it a go. There’s also something to be said for keeping calm by concentrating on whatever you’re doing right now. It might be reading this. It might be doing the laundry. It might be working in Picta. Or it might be doing something as simple as putting on your shoes. If you can give your actions all your attention and stop your mind from wandering by thinking only about the task in hand, it gives you a focus and can eliminate unsettling thoughts.

I’m in a maze now – Need some direction. Searching for some help. Please show me the light Now I’m hoping there is something out there If you are there, Cleanse me of the mud. Allow me to bathe In the clarity of light. Spread my wings and fly. Alone I wonder, will I pray? Who to, Where to, Do I really want to? Is this just the ramblings of an atheist Or the screamings of a lonely man? Who knows? In truth, who cares? It helps with the anxiety. LOST was written by John, a former inmate of HMP Springhill who has now been released. John used to be a Catholic but doesn’t have any religion now. His poem comes from The Book of Uncommon Prayer which is a collection of prayers and sayings from men at HMP Grendon and Springhill. If you would like a copy, send £4.99 plus £2 for postage and packaging to Writers in Prison Network, PO Box 71, Welshpool SY21 OWB. Please mark your envelope THE BOOK OF UNCOMMON PRAYER.

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That’s where Monthly Meditations comes in. This month’s theme is how to cope with uncertainty. I remember once going to a counsellor because my life had changed in a way I hadn’t expected. She said something to me that helped and may help you too. It was this. ‘Nothing in life is certain but that’s all right.’

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M

arch is a funny month. It doesn’t have the excitement of a New Year but it isn’t yet spring. Even if you’re on the Out, it can be a rather unsettling time of the year. But Inside, where days can feel much longer than they really are, it can get you down.

I’m a great believer in writing down your emotions. It doesn’t matter if it’s just a collection of random words. Anything will do. It works because it helps you to release feelings which would otherwise build up inside. Below is a piece of writing which does exactly that.

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Immediate visit, proactive advice and assistance and vigorous representation in all aspects of prison law including:

Or write to Vallee at: Sam Solicitors 2 8 8 H i g h St r e e t Sutton Surrey SM1 1PQ

Jane Bidder former writer in residence of HMP Grendon/Springhill

33

waldrons.co.uk

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01922 426232

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Family Welfare

Insidetime March 2011 www.insidetime.org

Are PlayStations the answer? Much has been written about the impact of imprisonment on young children. As a result, prison ‘family ties’ initiatives tend to focus on this group. But what of teenagers?

by Diane Curry OBE Director, POPS

O

Sharon and Toni are not alone. Every week POPS encounters families struggling to support teenage children through the difficulty of ‘maintaining family ties’. With no specific support in place, teenagers who visit loved ones in prison are often left feeling isolated and frustrated. A report by Families Outside in 2001 entitled ‘Teenagers with a Family Member in Prison’ highlighted that ‘the loss of a family member to imprisonment creates multiple problems’. In addition the report found that the ‘experience of visiting a family member in prison indicates that the needs of young people are largely unrecognised’.

ur teenage years can be a complex and confusing time and the imprisonment of a parent or relative can only exacerbate this. Yet despite the pressures facing teenagers with a loved one in prison, little is done to address their specific needs, particularly with regards to visiting. Token gestures such as play-stations in visits halls may appear ‘relevant’, but what part, if any, do they actually play in maintaining, or in many cases re-building the relationship between a teenager and their family member? And what are the wider-reaching implications of not addressing the issues facing teenagers? Toni was fifteen years-old, doing well at school with a bright future ahead of her, when suddenly and unexpectedly her older brother was sent to prison. As she faced the challenges of supporting and relating to her imprisoned sibling, Toni began to rebel against authority in a way that she never had before and her school work began to suffer. Fortunately, in the midst of this challenging time, Sharon, Toni’s mum, got involved in a Family Forum through the visitor centre run by POPS at the prison where her son, Toni’s brother, was being held. Here, Sharon began to find her voice, challenging the prison authorities and developing the confidence to visit Toni’s school to highlight the support needs of Toni and other teenagers in a similar position. As a result the school helped Toni set up a peer support and mentoring scheme for other young people affected by imprisonment and in time Toni started to excel again. Although she still found visiting her brother very distressing, she felt less isolated and alone.

“Toni was fifteen years-old, doing well at school with a bright future ahead of her, when suddenly and unexpectedly her older brother was sent to prison” A recent survey, conducted by POPS to ask young people how they felt about visiting a relative in prison, supported these findings. All of the young people surveyed had a dad in prison. Despite the widely acknowledged reluctance of teenagers to visit prisons, the young people surveyed by POPS all indicated that they wanted to see their dads. One girl summed up why, “I want to make sure he’s OK and have time to talk”. The negative impact of the experience was not lost on them however. “The prison is scary, there is no privacy and the

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visits too short”. One teenager reported feeling “like they [the prison officers] look upon me as a criminal and that really gets to me”. The parents of teenagers in this situation know only too well the struggle of engaging a teenager who has become withdrawn or distressed as a result. As well as anger towards people in authority, a young person may also feel anger towards their relative in prison. Visits halls are a challenging arena in which to experience normal family conflicts and young people may instead withdraw, worried about hurting their parent in prison or uncomfortable about expressing feelings in such a public place. Whilst there has been some work done towards recognising the importance of bonding between prisoners and their young children, the particular stresses faced by older children are rarely addressed either by the Prison Service or authorities outside. For families ‘intergenerational offending’ is a distant concept. Of greater concern is the mental well-being of teenagers, an area POPS feels merits urgent action to increase awareness of the impact on young people and to help give them a voice. Schools and colleges should be encouraged to explain this issue, as Toni’s school did. Prisons too, need to do their part to ensure that, along with their focus on security, they also consider the needs of young visitors struggling with the situation and environment in which they find themselves. If the Prison Service is to address the issue of ‘family ties’ in any meaningful sense it needs to recognise that young people and their relative in prison may need more than a tea bar and a bare table to build, or rebuild a relationship. The onus of ‘maintaining ties’ with their children often falls on the offender, but without the support of the establishment in which they find themselves such policies are all but meaningless. If the experience of young people is, in the main, distressing or fearful such that they choose to opt out of the relationship with their relative in prison, that in itself is a matter that should concern the Prison Service and other agencies far more than it currently appears to. Examples of good practice do exist. Homework clubs have been introduced at a number of

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prison establishments across the UK including HMP Wandsworth, HMP Parc and HMP Wormwood Scrubs. These clubs enable prisoners with school aged children to spend time on a regular basis assisting their children with their school work and in doing so have some involvement in their day-to-day activities. But is it enough? The thinking behind homework clubs is a sound one, aiming to encourage quality and productive interaction between child and prisoner. However whilst this setting may work for some, for many teenagers, particularly those who are older, the nature of the homework to be undertaken, the timescale for completion, or simply the idea of ‘homework’ full-stop, blocks their involvement with this intervention. In order to reflect the diversity of age, experience and expectation amongst teenagers, both statutory and voluntary sector agencies must become more creative, moving away from a ‘one-size-fitsall’ approach. The principles exist; it is the practice that needs refining. Creches in visits halls have for a long time provided young children with a range of activities, enabling adult partners and relatives to spend better quality time together by reducing the pressures that accompany occupying a child. Acknowledging that currently teenagers must be accompanied by an adult on visits, cannot the same principle be applied but in reverse? Instead of attempting to make visits more accessible for teenagers by providing activities that remove them from their loved one, maybe our approach should be to make the necessary provision (both in terms of risk assessments and practical considerations) to enable teenagers to visit on a one-on-one basis allowing them the opportunity to sustain their relationship with their parent on their own terms. Toni is now doing her A-levels at college. Sharon works in one of our visitors centres. Their family is back together again but their experience is one they will never forget. Sharon and Toni found a way to speak out and use their experiences to educate and empower others but there is so much more that needs to be done to help young people with a relative in prison. Offenders’ Families Helpline 0808 808 2003 Mon-Fri 9am-8pm, 10am-3pm Sat and Sun Partners of Prisoners 0161 702 1000 www.partnersofprisoners.co.uk Prison Chat UK on-line support service run by and for prisoners’s families www.prisonchatuk

W

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Insidetime March 2011 www.insidetime.org

vans disappear!” I suppose it wasn’t his fault. He’s been in prison for donkey’s years and the festivities were quite overwhelming for him. Even when the wedding guests started to smash plates, as it’s their Greek tradition, he never joined in because he said he didn’t want to get done for criminal damage bless him.

by a Prison Widow

W

hat a week it’s been for me! As the founder of Prisoners Families Voices, I have to deal with lots of emails on a daily basis. I was astounded the other day when I received over 30 emails from a company trying to flog Viagra to us. Now then, considering our email address starts with: prisoners families, you’d think these folk would have some kind of common sense wouldn’t you? We are a prisoners families online blog who receives emails saying, 50% off Viagra! That would be like someone trying to flog the contraceptive pill to a hysterectomy group wouldn’t it? Or even worse the Ministry of Justice receiving an invite to a Mafia wedding! Talking of weddings, my hubby’s cousin, who is finishing off his sentence in an open prison, attended a Greek wedding last month. His brother was marrying a beautiful Greek lady. He was granted weekend home leave because he had been a model prisoner. The celebrations were going swimmingly until the bridewho works for a well known bank – noticed 20 counterfeit notes pinned to her dress. From what I can gather, investigations are still ongoing. But my hubby’s cousin didn’t exactly make matters any better by telling the guests that he was a professional illusionist. The bridal party apparently told him in no uncertain terms not to tell anyone he was a prisoner. That secret didn’t last long though. The bride’s uncle had asked my hubby’s cousin what his profession was. He said he made ‘things’ disappear. The bride’s aunt smiled and chirped in, “Are you a bit like, David Copperfield then?” My other half’s cousin confidently replied, “Yes, but I don’t think David Copperfield ever made Securicor

I didn’t attend the wedding myself, but my Granddad did. He’s another story too. At 85 years of age, he’s no spring chicken. Anyway, a few weeks ago I took him on his first prison visit to see my hubby. It all went horribly wrong in the search area. First of all, we had to stand on the yellow lines whilst the dog walked past us. We ended up standing there for 20 minutes because every time the dog walked past Granddad, he told it to sit and shake a paw. The next incident was when he was asked to put his possessions in a tray. I was busy taking off my rings and jewellery only to turn around and see Granddad standing there with sod all on! God knows what the screws thought. His little legs were like clothes props and his crinkly bottom was on show for all and sundry! I tried to tell him that when the screws had asked for possessions to be put in a tray, they didn’t mean his shoes, trousers, buttoned shirt and Y-fronts. Being a typical British male though, he did leave his socks on, so I guess he didn’t let the side down when it came to representing the majority of men in this country! No doubt Inside Time may receive some replies regarding my comments on that score! Inside the visits room was no better. I’m not sure he knew exactly where he was to be honest. He asked one of the screws if there was a gift shop so he could take a present back home for Hilda, his next door neighbour. He was rather disappointed that there wasn’t one. But even if there was, I wouldn’t have thought Hilda would have appreciated a set of handcuffs at her ripe old age. I shouldn’t say it, but he was a nightmare. After he’d gone round shaking all the screws hands, we had approximately a 15 minute visit. Great! Needless to say, I have been stressed out, so this month I shall make a point of going to Granddad’s local to tell his domino friends that my hubby does not live on HMS, but thanks for all the cards and letters of support of which they asked me to pass on to him in Afghanistan.

Prisoners Families Voices prisonersfamiliesvoices. blogspot.com/ Prison isn’t one of those things Karen Mellor, 6 February I might be controversial here, but I don’t care. To a degree, I agree with Charlotte Linacre’s comment in The Sun newspaper, and I’ll tell you why. As Anonymous so rightly says (below post) there are indeed genuine families of prisoners around who want to make a difference. Therefore, I have no problem with assisted prison visits whatsoever. What I do have a problem with is paying for people to visit when they have no clue about parenting and think it’s alright for their loved one to be in prison. I have heard countless women on visits talk about how this is their partners 8th time inside, and how this is their son’s 5th time inside etc. It’s alright talking about this maintaining family ties crap, but how can families maintain ties when some of them can’t even look after a goldfish? You can’t tell me any different because I’ve seen it for my own eyes. I take imprisonment seriously. I know people who see it as ‘one of those things.’ It’s not ‘one of those things’ when someone goes inside for their 8th time is it? So why should tax payers keep paying for it? Sitting at a visits table isn’t going to improve parenting. Writing letters about having fish fingers for tea isn’t going to improve it either. It’s all about the lifestyle families lead on the outside.

........................................................ Parenting matters Anonymous, 6 February

I would like to respond to Maureen Jame’s post please. I know exactly where she is coming from when she mentioned the youths talking about prison. I live on an estate where there are repeat offenders. I also live on an estate where their mothers and fathers couldn’t care less what they are getting up to of a night. Then when a Police van comes and picks them up, their mothers are ranting and raving as to why. Sorry to say this, but I know there are genuine families out there who want to make a difference, but there are others who couldn’t care less too. I spoke to one Mum who said she was glad her son was in prison because he’s a pain

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in the backside. Sorry, but if that’s what you call parenting then what a sad world we live in.

........................................................ Probation Service Have No Idea

Anonymous (Via Facebook), 16 February Pray do tell? Because I’m as confused as everyone else. My better half was released last year. His probation appointments are now down to once a month. He has a job, which is only temporary, but it’s still a job when all said and done. His probation officer hasn’t lifted a finger in terms of help and support regarding employment. He went to an agency that so called helped ex-offenders find work and that was a joke too. I have heard they have since lost their funding - surprise surprise. It was me who helped him back into employment by sitting at my PC sending CV’s off for him everyday. Eventually it paid off. He has been working now for 6 months, which all goes towards his CV should he be laid off. Families can help to reduce re-offending. But I believe that some may need support in order to do this. When I sat back and thought about how much his probation officer did for him - my conclusion was, they may as well have paid me his wages. Considering also that he is on a MAPPA licence, I’d have thought he may have received some extra help. But no. Probation did help him to put a CV together and the spelling mistakes in it were rife. I had to redo it and if anyone requires any proof of this, then I would certainly send it off to whoever wants a look. I agree with others on the blog that families aren’t included with their so-called rehabilitation with probation. Well, probation have no clue what rehabilitation is. They think that group sessions with other offenders work? How? I have known ex-offenders to attend these lame meetings only to have hooked up with another offender afterwards and go off the rails. I have also heard many say that their probation officer is nice? All well and good, but ‘nice’ does not achieve results. I will be glad when my partner’s once a month, 5 minute drop-in at probation is over and done with. It’s not worth catching a bus for!

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News from the House

Insidetime March 2011 www.insidetime.org

Voting by Prisoners An extract from the debate on 10 February 2011 Editorial Note. Prisoners have written about ‘Votes for Prisoners’ on a regular basis in this newspaper and Inside Time sent a copy of the paper to Mr Straw every month throughout the entire period he served as Justice Secretary.

Mr David Davis (Haltemprice and Howden) (Con): When someone commits a crime that is sufficiently serious to put them in prison, they sacrifice many important rights: not only their liberty, of course, but their freedom of association, which is also guaranteed under the UN charter of human rights and the European convention on human rights, and their right to vote. The concept is simple and straightforward: “If you break the law, you cannot make the law.” The Court also argues that the penalty is not proportionate, but again that is plainly wrong. We are not one of those countries where, when someone is convicted of a criminal offence and sentenced to prison, they lose the right to vote forever. Such places do exist. Indeed, in one state of the United States, people lose their right to vote de facto for ever, but we are not one of those places. When someone is in prison, they cannot vote; when they are released, all their civic rights are completely reinstated, meaning that that denial is an absolutely proportionate response to the seriousness of the crime. If the sentence reflects the crime, the denial of the vote also reflects the crime. Let me be clear. In my view, convicted prisoners should not have the vote: robbery, rape, drug dealing-frankly, the crime does not matter, given its seriousness. But, despite what the Justice Secretary said the other day, violent criminals, sex offenders and drug dealers will get the vote if we accept the compromises that have been aired so far. The Government talk about a less than four-year rule, but 28,000 people convicted of serious violent crimes, sex crimes and crimes against children would be incorporated into that. Even a one-year rule would include thousands of people, many of whom will have committed serious crimes from which we would recoil.

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We also reported on the two ‘Consultations’ Mr Straw organised, ostensibly to gauge the views of the public before deciding what option to take in reply to the European Court judgment. Many of the people who wrote in response to the Consultation were indeed prisoners and/or members of their families; but it is now apparent that this was an entirely time – wasting exercise. In May 2010 we organised a vote for prisoners and in June we published the results of more than 2,000 prisoners who participated in the Inside Time national ballot.

Not exactly a packed House of Commons debating a motion to continue the blanket ban on votes for prisoners.

Let me go back to the compromises that have been talked about. It is not my aim to put the Government into a difficult position from which they cannot escape; the issue is about whether those compromises would work. The proposals put up so far-four years, one year, six months-would not work. They would not escape the threat that we have had held over us of compensation or some other form of penalty against our taxpayers. In fact, one member of the Council of Europe, Austria, did give the vote to prisoners serving less than one year, and it then appeared in the Court and was found against. Just how ridiculous this is became clear earlier this week, when the European Commissioner for Human Rights appeared on Radio 4. Because he had said that a blanket rule would not work, he was asked what the guideline was, and he said, “A breach of electoral law.” That would put us in the ridiculous position whereby we denied the vote to somebody who broke electoral law, in however minor a way, yet gave it to the rapist and the murderer. It is so ridiculous that I cannot believe he really meant it. The Court’s authority rests solely on the European Convention on Human Rights,

which is both the source of its power and the limit of its power. When Britain signed up to the European convention on human rights, it was to help to prevent a repeat of the horrors of the second world war and of Nazism, and, indeed, the horrors of the growing Soviet empire at that point in time; it was to protect people from ill-treatment, and to protect their life, liberty, free speech, and right to a fair trial. Those are all very serious and fundamental issues. What we emphatically did not sign up for was giving prisoners the right to vote.

Mr Jack Straw (Blackburn) (Lab): I nor my staff can recall one letter, among the hundreds of complaints from prisoners with which I have dealt in my 32 years in this House, calling for the right to vote from prison.

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One of the most powerful arguments for giving prisoners the vote in general and local elections is that Members of Parliament would be obliged to visit the prison establishment(s) in their constituencies on a far more thorough and regular basis. They would soon learn that not all of the 85,000 prisoners in England and Wales are ‘pervs and paedos’ to adopt the language used by some Honourable Members in the Chamber. Before the last General Election, Inside Time sent a number of prison related questions received from prisoners to a total of 27 members of the Home Affairs and Justice Select Committees. Only one condescended to reply. What does this tell us about our Members of Parliament?

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Insidetime March 2011 www.insidetime.org Mr Edward Leigh (Gainsborough) (Con): With respect to the right hon. Gentleman, is the problem not that his Government got us into this mess by incorporating the convention into our law? There is no way out now for this Government. There is a queue a mile long of people on no win, no fee cases, waiting to sue the Government. What is he going to do about it? Mr Straw: Importantly for this debate, and to answer the hon. Member for Gainsborough (Mr Leigh), the White Paper preceding the Human Rights Act was entitled “Rights Brought Home”. It was about repatriating British rights in the convention that we had provided for other countries in Europe, but that were not available to our own citizens.

The Attorney-General: Does he not agree that, with hindsight, it is rather unfortunate that such a debate did not take place? When we were first confronted with the problem we had only the Hirst judgment, but since then we have had a number of further judgments without the UK Parliament’s having had an opportunity to influence how the Court’s jurisprudence evolved. He may recall that I asked for such a debate when we were in opposition. Mr Straw: I understand the right hon. and learned Gentleman’s point, and hindsight is a wonderful thing. He knows better than anybody that neither set of Whips was keen on such a debate, not least because it was clear that it would be impossible, particularly in the pre-election atmosphere, to have the sober debate that we are to have today. If I thought that our acquiescence in the Court’s decision in Hirst would be the instrument for a change in approach to those recalcitrant countries, I might be persuaded to

drop my objections for the greater good. However, there is no evidence of that-indeed, I suggest the reverse. By extending its remit into areas way beyond any original conception of fundamental human rights, the Court in Strasbourg is undermining its own legitimacy and its potential effectiveness in respect of the purposes for which it was established. In other words, the Court and the Council of Europe would have greater success if they reined in their unnecessary excursions into members states’ policy. In that way, we might see some of those judgments better enforced. This is my last set of points and I shall be brief. On compensation, I simply say this: there are many predictions that the Court in Strasbourg will award compensation against the UK Government, but as yet there is no certainty. In 2005, the Strasbourg Court denied Hirst compensation. Unless the Court now sees the purpose of compensation as some kind of gratuitous fine on the elected British House of Commons, I fail to see by what algebra or alchemy any court could equate the absence of a vote for prisoners, which almost no prisoners of their own volition ever sought, and which still fewer would exercise, with some monetary amount. I am a strong supporter of the Human Rights Act 1998, the Council of Europe and the text of the convention. I seek no train wreck, but a solution-that is the purpose of our motion. In turn, I hope the Court pulls back from placing the supporters of those instruments in a near-impossible position. The Attorney-General: I am mindful of the strong views held in the House on this matter. On the maintenance of a blanket prohibition on all sentenced prisoners, the House should note that the Hirst case was followed by two other cases. This was the cause of my criticism of Labour’s dilatoriness on this matter. The first was Frodl v. Austria, in which the Court found that a ban on voting imposed on people sentenced to more than 12 months was wrong. The second case was Greens and MT, in which the Court appeared to make it clear that it wanted the United Kingdom to enact some form of legislation. CCRC Advert Portrait

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Jeremy Corbyn (Islington North) (Lab): Is not the fundamental issue that the European Convention on Human Rights applies to everyone, including those who are in prison, and that when people are convicted they do not lose their convention rights? They have to suffer a penalty following conviction, but losing their right to vote is out with the terms of the convention.

Lorely Burt (Solihull) (LD): I am probably the only Member of the House to have served as a prison officer and an assistant governor in Her Majesty’s Prison Service, so I hope that I can throw a little light as well as heat on the debate. It was a long time ago that I served in the Prison Service, and I hope things are different now, but when I was there prisoners were treated by many staff with contempt. They were regarded as the lowest of the low, and not deserving of the smallest consideration. People who write to me today to tell me how soft prison is do not necessarily understand the nature of the punishment that prisoners undergo. There has been a lot of discussion about the terrible, heinous things that prisoners have done, and I in no way wish to detract from some of the terrible crimes that have been perpetrated, but I want to put the other side as well. More than half of people who are sentenced receive a sentence of six months

or less. Around 70% of people come into prison addicted to class A drugs or alcohol. The offences committed by the women for whom I was responsible at Holloway were often minor, but persistent. They included fencing stolen goods and shoplifting, often to feed a habit. Many prisoners who commit cynical and premeditated offences, but some cherish hopes of returning to society and their families and behaving themselves, if they are given the chance. If we want prisoners to leave prison and rejoin society as citizens who will work, pay taxes and become full members of our society, we must wake up to the idea that depriving them of their dignity and identity as well as their liberty is not the way to go about it. When I was assistant governor of Holloway prison, I was put in charge of a wing of adult prisoners and the young offenders wing, and I can tell hon. Members that those girls had some of the least attractive personalities of any individuals I have ever met. They were disparaged and looked down on by prison officers throughout the jail. However, as part of my training I spent time with the probation service and at a mental hospital, and the frantic and destructive behaviour of some of the girls started to make sense. They had suffered all forms of abuse, many so awful that they would shock even those hon. Members who have dealt with abuse situations. That is the context in which we are working. When we take away a prisoner’s human rights, we deny their humanity. We are telling them that they are worthless and reinforcing their isolation from the world. Lorely Burt: I will give the last word to Juliet Lyon CBE, chief executive of the Prison Reform Trust, who sums it up well: “Hanging onto a 19th century punishment of civic death is legally and morally wrong. The outdated ban on prisoners voting has no place in a modern prison service, which is about rehabilitation and respect for the rule of law.” Colleagues, let us move forward today, rather than backward. I will not be supporting the motion.

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Legal Comment

Insidetime March 2011 www.insidetime.org

MDT’s - Lawful or Not? Mark Bradshaw and Duncan Smith highlight some commonly arising issues surrounding drug testing in prison

M

andatory drug tests (MDT’s) were introduced into the prison system in 1995. The Prison Act 1952 was amended to include a requirement for prisoners to submit to tests. Such tests are not to be confused with drug testing for clinical purposes to determine appropriate treatment, or voluntary drug testing as part of a compact, both of which require the informed consent of the prisoner and the outcome of which cannot lead to a disciplinary charge. Only MDT’s can be lawfully ordered of ‘any prisoner confined in the prison’ and carry the potential sanction of a charge under the Prison Rules. In particular, the refusal of a prisoner to take a valid MDT test often leads to a charge of disobeying a lawful order. This article focuses the early stages of the MDT process, before the prisoner reaches the MDT suite, to highlight commonly arising issues to prisoners and lawyers alike.

selected for this programme on the basis of previous history of drug misuse; • Testing on reception – prisoners may be selected for testing on reception on a routine or occasional basis. For testing to occur lawfully, there has to be in place already an authorisation from the governor. This requires a formal document to be signed by the governor and published - a copy should be displayed in the MDT suite and a copy may be placed in the library. Rule 50 of the Prison Rules sets out conditions that must be followed if a requirement to provide a sample for drug testing purposes is to be considered lawful. Two of those are that before the sample is taken, a prisoner shall be informed, as far as is reasonably practicable, the legal basis for the requirement to provide the sample (section 16A Prison Act 1952, Prison Rule 50(3)a), and the reason why the sample is required of the five listed above.

There are five areas where MDT’s may be applied: The MDT Manual states, at 2.7, that officers • Random testing – selection on a strictly should take the Test Authorisation Form random basis; (MDTA Form) when collecting the prisoner • Reasonable suspicion - where there is reason to simplify this process, presumably to believe the prisoner has misused drugs; because when filled in correctly, it clearly • Risk assessment – where a prisoner is shows the reason for the test. Lawyers being considered for a privilege or job and involved in such cases should check to a high degree of trust is to be granted; make sure that the form has been completed •Inside Frequent test programme – prisoners Time magazine ad PATHS_Layout 1 24/02/2011 10:26 Page 1 correctly as our experience has shown such

a failure can render the order to provide a sample unlawful. The form itself does in fact satisfy the other conditions as to what is to be told to a prisoner before a sample is taken and the form must be given to the prisoner before a sample is taken. It is somewhat unclear whether a failure to provide the form at the point the request is made would render it unlawful, if the information as to the legal basis and the reason for the test is given orally and form given only at the testing suite. This would seem to remain a point for potential argument on the wording of the manual. It appears clear that failures at the point of the request (i.e. at the cell door) to either explain these two points or to hand over a copy of the form would render the order unlawful. These requirements had been revisited to this present position in light of the judgement in R v Secretary of State for the Home Department ex parte Russell (2000) WL 976013. In summary, Mr Russell was authorised as a “random test” but refused to take it. He had recently been required to attend a number of such random tests and he took the view it would be improbable that he could have been selected again on this occasion at random. On that basis he refused to comply with the order, rendering him liable for the disciplinary offence of disobeying a lawful order. The charge was found proven – the adjudicator considered the challenge to the lawfulness of the order was not relevant on the adjudication and the evidence satisfied him that the offence had been committed. 14 additional days added to his sentence. The matter reached the High Court, where it was clarified that randomness did have to be proven for the order to be lawful. In addition, the court ruled that the order to submit to a test is a single order to go to the suite and submit to a test, meaning a failure at that early stage may arguably invalidate the order even before the MDT suite is reached. The order in Russell was proved to be random on evidence submitted to the court, but the prison had not publicised the selection process, meaning Mr Russell’s conviction was quashed because he honestly (and not without cause in the view of the court) believed his selection was not random and therefore the order was not lawful. This was considered a reasonable view in the absence of any explanation for his selection until the parties were at the High Court hearing itself. Whilst he did not have a defence to the charge, it was considered that he did not receive a fair hearing and the punishment of additional days may have reflected the error of law in the Governor’s view that randomness was irrelevant. Importantly, the Prison Service decided during the course of Russell’s case to publicise the procedure for random selection and in future to provide a document setting out that procedure (together with the MDTA form) to all prisoners ordered to take a test. It was noted by the court that if that procedure was followed, it was likely to be rare if much or any evidence as to randomness would be required at disciplinary hearings if the issue is raised.

The MDT manual is somewhat unclear as to precisely what is to be provided to prisoners at what stage. The manual provides that the booklet, ‘Information to Prisoners on Mandatory Drug Testing’ is to be made available on request at prison libraries, within MDT units and to be given to prisoners following a positive screen. In addition, the leaflet, ‘MDT Information to Prisoners’ is to be given to prisoners at reception and be available widely throughout prisons. Both documents are included within the appendices to the MDT manual. Further, a poster providing information is to be made available – it must be displayed within MDT units and on each wing, as well as at other sites at the discretion of the MDT co-ordinator. The only clarification is given at 5.16, which states that “Prisoners will need access to comprehensive information about mandatory drug testing, specific information on each occasion when they are requested to provide a sample for testing...” (emphasis added). This would appear to confirm that something more than just the MDTA form is to be given to prisoners when a sample is requested, seemingly following the Prison Service’s intention for the future at the time of the Russell case. We know of at least one prison which, when faced with the argument that insufficient information was provided to a prisoner and therefore the order was unlawful, changed its procedures to ensure the leaflet, ‘MDT Information to Prisoners’, is to be given to prisoners every time they are requested to provide a sample. It is a pre-requisite of any charge of disobeying a lawful order that the order is itself lawful, which the prison must prove. A failure to prove the lawfulness of the order should lead to a charge being dismissed. Whether this new step of providing the leaflet at the time of the test would prevent a potential argument that the order is illegal from an earlier stage, such as where the prison failed to provide information at reception, which is a mandatory requirement from the MDT manual at paragraph 5.17, or on the wings, pursuant to paragraph 2.8, remains a moot point and a likely subject for challenge in the future. Remembering the burden of proof lies with the prison to prove the order given was lawful, any lawyer dealing with a charge of disobeying a lawful order in connection with MDT’s would be wise to consider the following issues in taking instructions from a prisoner and in cross-examining officers involved with the MDT process: • Was a governor’s authorisation for testing in place and appropriately publicised at the time of the request? • What information was provided to the prisoner on reception to the prison? • What information is on display in relation to the MDT procedure? Where is it on display? • Was the MDTA form given to the prisoner at the time of the request? Was it correctly completed? • What precisely was said to the prisoner at the time of the request to provide a sample? • Did the prisoner raise any issues at the time of the request? With the above questions is mind, consideration can then be given to whether the order was in fact lawful and therefore whether any charge of disobeying a lawful order could be successfully challenged. Mark Bradshaw, No5 Chambers Duncan Smith, Glaisyers Solicitors

Legal Comment

Insidetime March 2011 www.insidetime.org

Under the guise of science Margaret Jervis, Oliver Cyriax and Chris Saltrese examine the all-too-human failings in interpreting DNA evidence

I

t was another day in court. A father was convicted of raping his teenage daughter on the most compelling of evidence – DNA. That was in 2005. Six years later on 28th January this year, without contest by the Crown, the Court of Appeal overturned the conviction. The case, termed R v JE for legal confidentiality reasons, raises a number of significant and enduring problems in the use of DNA evidence. The evidence turned on the presence of minute quantities of genetic material detected on a pair of shorts worn by the complainant. The prosecution expert had determined that a mixture of DNA had been found. The profiles were incomplete but one matched the complainant, the other, the defendant. And it was not just any DNA but derived from semen, although there were no sperm. For the Crown this evidence was the smoking gun: the mixture of respective fluids had drained through the complainant’s underwear onto the shorts – with the sperm being filtered out in the process. There was one problem. The complainant had very little contact with the defendant on the night in question. Moreover her evidence at trial was unconvincing, monosyllabic and tantamount to a retraction. However the mundane realities of time and space paled before the dazzle of DNA. With defence counter-explanations duly brushed aside, the jury convicted. But once a fresh expert was instructed the significance of the DNA evidence, and with it the mirage of cogency, evaporated into the ether. The shorts, though nominally owned by the complainant’s brother, were habitually worn around the house by each member of the family without being washed. The ‘mixed’ profile was a conjecture: the DNA may have derived from one family member, or several, just through being worn. The stains identified as a ‘mixture’ containing ‘semen’ may have been cellular material and not semen at all. As the family members were closely related, there were strands of DNA in common. With the incomplete profiles, the factoring in of father and daughter and factoring out of the son and mother, the evidence turned out to be an arbitrary and non-probative opinion. The absence of sperm in the alleged mixture, notwithstanding the possibility of underwear as a filter, made it unlikely that the stains derived from the alleged offence. As the knickers were not found, the filtering was pure speculation. All in all, the expert concluded, the stains provided no support for the prosecution case. As JE’s solicitor Chris Saltrese commented the case demonstrates how ‘subjectivity, speculation and conjecture were presented under the guise of objective science’.

What was key in this case was context and interpretation. The police were looking for DNA support for the prosecution case. Scientific method ought to proceed on the basis of refutation – arriving at a conclusion based on excluding alternate possibilities. While the code of investigation obliges the police to consider evidence pointing away from the suspect, this may be more honoured in the breach when it concerns a sexual allegation in a domestic context. Equally, forensic examiners may too readily accept the facts as presented by the police and, contrary to the dictates of scientific methodology, interpret the evidence accordingly. Laboratory staff undertaking the testing may be unevenly trained and work to different standards. Sometimes there is even a fundamental confusion as to the provenance of genetic material and whether it is derived from semen. In JE terms such as ‘seepage’, ‘mixture’ and ‘semen’ infused with the magical component of DNA mesmerized the court and the jury into accepting the prosecution case. There is a rising tide of disquiet about DNA evidence. While it can be a powerful tool in the investigation of crime – exonerating the innocent as much as fingering the guilty - its evidential value is dependent on the interpretations of scientists. For it is the fallible human being, and not the evidence, that speaks. Partial and mixed profiles, minute traces, uneven statistical and amplification methods intensify the risk of mistaken identity or interpretation, while judges may, as happened in this case, unwittingly retail a speculative description of the evidence to the jury. The Inside Justice unit at Inside Time is currently setting up a trial to test subjective interpretation of DNA evidence. It follows research reports in New Scientist magazine last year questioning the reliability of DNA evidence in complex cases. As with JE apparently convincing evidence may be nullified through proper scrutiny. The difficulty is ensuring that this takes place. While prosecution experts may be under pressure to come up with a result meeting police expectations, defence experts may follow suit unless legal representatives give full instruction. Meanwhile, with the popular perception of DNA evidence still that of infallibility, there is real possibility that more innocent defendants have been, and are still being, railroaded into conviction under the guise of science. Margaret Jervis is a legal researcher and consultant, Oliver Cyriax a retired solicitor and family law consultant and Chris Saltrese a criminal defence solicitor in Southport. See www.chrissaltrese.co.uk

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Miscarriage of Justice Unit

gives hope for wrongly convicted Louise Shorter reports

M

ore than 90 readers of Inside Time have written to Inside Justice in the past six months since this unit was set up by Inside Time to investigate alleged miscarriages of justice. The idea came from a realisation that when the BBC axed their campaigning documentary series Rough Justice in 2007, it cut a long-standing association between the media and miscarriage cases. What started with World in Action, back in 1963, spawned a whole genre of investigative work, which led directly to innocent people being freed and, through the power of the media, a public spotlight being trained on the criminal justice system. I worked as a Producer and Director on Rough Justice for 10 years. The last programme I made about two Milton Keynes men, Barri White and Keith Hyatt, led to their convictions in a murder case being quashed. Unusually for miscarriage cases the police then re-opened their investigation resulting in new suspects being arrested late last year. Another programme I made in this field was about John Kamara and his struggle, on release, to cope in a world he no longer knew, after serving 20 years for a murder he did not commit. The programme received the highest number of viewers in its time slot on BBC Two for the entire year, so we know these programmes matter and crucially that the public wants to see them. What has changed is that broadcasters and newspaper editors are no longer prepared to invest time and money in training staff and researching the cases; after all, investigations can all too easily lead nowhere: no new evidence, no story, no programme. Charitable funding from the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, the Michael Newsum Charitable Trust and Inside Time has allowed Inside Justice to be set up as a not-

Chris Saltrese SOLICITORS

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for-profit unit to continue this work. We will endeavour to investigate individual cases and, if appropriate, gain a wider public audience flexibly across the media, whether that is in print, on television or online. We are also working on an academic study using real cases which will examine whether DNA evidence really is the barcode indicator of guilt that juries understand it to be, and test whether DNA evidence is being interpreted properly and uniformly by experts. I will be writing a regular column for Inside Time now about the work we are doing and, each month, will highlight a case or an issue. If you would like to be considered please write, where possible via your solicitor, to: Louise Shorter, Inside Justice, PO Box 251, Hedge End, Hampshire. SO30 4XJ.

Inside Justice is supported by an Advisory Panel of experts

1. Louise Shorter Manager, Inside Justice Unit and Board of Directors, Inside Time. 2. Campbell Malone referred in Legal 500 as “‘undoubtedly the elder statesman of criminal appeals,’ Campbell is the Chair of the Criminal Appeal Lawyer’s Association. 3. Correna Platt, partner and head of the appeals team at Stephensons Solicitors LLP. 4. Dr Peter Bull, Forensic Scientist, University of Oxford. 5. Simon Ford, television Executive Producer 6. Dr Ruth Morgan, Head of the Jill Dando Institute of Forensic Science. 7. Tracy Alexander, Independent Forensic Consultant . 8. Eric McGraw, Managing Editor Inside Time.

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40

Insidetime March 2011 www.insidetime.org

IPP continues to plague the prison system By Erica Restall

T

he purpose of this article is to provide prisoners with an overview of the current developments insofar as the controversial IPP sentences are concerned.

When IPP sentences were first introduced the courts had no discretion in cases where a specific legal test was met. The Government at the time believed that there would be no need to introduce additional resources in to the prison system to enable these new types of prisoner to satisfy the criteria for release by the Parole Board i.e.: to demonstrate that their risk to the public had been reduced and they were suitable for release on expiry of their mandatory tariff. How wrong they were! It very soon became clear that the resources in place were insufficient to cope with the massive influx of IPP prisoners and the system was very quickly swamped. Between November 2003 and March 2007, the lifer population increased from 5475 to 8977 with no corresponding increase in the number of first and second stage lifer prison places. The net effect of this was to create a huge bottle-neck in the system. Many IPP prisoners reached tariff expiry without having undertaken any courses or activities to address their risk offending behaviour. Most of these prisoners remained detained in local prisons

which did not provide such facilities, with no hope of moving to a first stage lifer prison to commence the sentence planning process. The Government did attempt to address this problem through the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008. This made IPP sentences no longer mandatory and only applicable where the minimum tariff imposed was 2 or more years.

“

If the UK Government wins then that will be the end of the matter. If, however, our claim is successful then the Court will issue a declaration that the IPP system is incompatible with the European Convention

”

Despite these changes, the problems within the system continue with prisoners unable to progress through the prison system and unable to access sentence planning and appropriate courses to address offending behaviour. It is only likely to get worse with budget cuts.

A claim for judicial review was brought against the Ministry of Justice in several cases in 2007. An appeal was finally brought before the House of Lords in R (James and others) v Secretary of State for Justice [2009] UKHL 22; [2009] 2 WLR 1149. The House agreed with the lower courts in concluding that the Secretary of State had failed in its public law duty to put into place systems and resources necessary to furnish the IPP system. But the House did not go further to say that this failure meant that those prisoners detained post tariff were detained unlawfully and should be released. Similarly, the House did not consider that there had been breach of either Article 5(1) or 5(4) of the European Convention of Human Rights. I lodged, together with solicitors for Stephensons and Russell and Russell, an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg against the decision of the House of Lords in relation Article 5(1) and 5(4) in July 2009. This is in James and others v UK. It is argued that the failure of the UK Government to put in place necessary resources to enable an IPP prisoner to demonstrate to the Parole Board that he is of reduced risk, makes detention of that individual post tariff contrary to the right to liberty under Article 5(1) and that a Parole Board hearing in those circumstances cannot be a meaningful review of the legality of post-tariff detention and so contrary to Article 5(4).

I am pleased to say that after an 18 month wait, the European Court has permitted the case to proceed. Last year only 37% of cases were allowed beyond this stage. This means that the Court accepts that this is a matter which requires closer scrutiny. The UK Government has now been asked to respond to our claim. Their response is expected in April. Thereafter, we will have 6 weeks to respond to the Government, following which the Court will make a decision. It is difficult to say when this will be. If the UK Government wins then that will be the end of the matter. If, however, our claim is successful then (depending on what basis the Court has found a violation) the Court will issue a declaration that the IPP system is incompatible with the European Convention. As signatories to the ECHR the UK Government will then be required to take action to protect the rights of IPP prisoners. This may mean putting in place more resources, courses etc, allowing prisoners to bring compensation claims or it may go so far as to require the release of certain IPP prisoners who are post tariff. Whilst the problem of IPP prisoners continues to plague the prison system, all I can say is watch this space…

Erica Restall, Solicitor for Mr James, Switalskis Solicitors LLP

Legal Advice

Insidetime March 2011 www.insidetime.org

Prosecuting serious fraud:

a glance at the future Aziz Rahman, Solicitor and Jonathan Lennon, Barrister

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round this time three years ago we were all getting used to the dreaded phrase ‘credit crunch’ and its unpleasant consequences – around that time the American investor Bernie Madoff must have been a worried man. Readers will recall that the extremely successful trader Madoff pleaded guilty in March 2009 to fraud charges in the US – accepting that the asset management arm of his firm was really just a giant ‘Ponzi fraud’. Such frauds are really very simple in their conception; you take money from one investor and pay it to an earlier investor pretending that, that is the return on his investment. Today the National Fraud Authority estimated in its latest figures (January 2011) that fraud is costing the UK over £38 billion per year. We are certainly seeing an increase in heavyweight fraud allegations coming to charge. Over the last three years fraud allegations have been springing to the fore with almost boring regularity. Fraud investigations range from the mundane exaggeration on a mortgage application to embezzlement by multinationals and wealthy businessmen on a global scale. Times are a changing – more existing frauds, large and small, are being exposed and more people are prepared to take risks – either to commit a fraud or invest in an ‘opportunity’ they might not have done 3 years ago. In this article we look at the prosecution of fraud offences and have a glance at the future.

Serious Fraud Office The SFO was established in April 1988, its remit has never been to prosecute all cases referred to it; it takes on the largest most complex cases, often with an international dimension and where the value of the fraud exceeds £1m. It has been extensively criticized over the years for the poor conviction rate in the cases they do prosecute; the conviction rates for SFO cases fell from 82% in 2002/03 to just 61% in 2007/08. There has long been a demand for a shake-up and the SFO was frequently compared to the American Securities & Exchange Commission and other agencies which were seen as tougher and more effective. That comparison now seems a little unfair given that America seems to be the birthplace of the credit crunch and greatest fraud of all time (Madoff); not to mention the Enron scandal. The SEC came under fire for failing to prevent Madoff; meanwhile the SFO increased its success rate in 2008/09. The SFO has now refocused and there is a greater concentration on fraud prevention and the use of the civil courts. The SFO obtained its first ever Civil Recovery Order in a case in which the firm Balfour Beatty was required to pay £2.25m in 2008 in connection with corruption allegations. No criminal conviction was required.

International Co-Operation The authors of this article were involved in a case (SEC v Manterfield) where the US SEC pursued a British hedge fund manager who was alleged by the U.S. authorities to have operated a fraudulent investment scheme in the United States. The SEC’s website described the unusual move of seeking a freezing order from a foreign court; i.e. the High Court as Mr. Manterfield held assets here. The case in part revolved around issues about whether the SEC’s action was truly civil in nature given the draconian nature of some the penalties

that could be imposed on Manterfield in the US in the event of failing in the ‘civil’ action. The world’s financial prosecution authorities seem to becoming together more and more to tackle the credit crunch and international fraud. A recent example is the global settlement reached last year between the SFO, the American Department of Justice and BAE Systems PLC. This was a first; a coordinated global settlement of criminal investigations in two jurisdictions. BAE Systems had been fighting long-running investigations of bribery allegations in several countries. In the UK, the company agreed to plead guilty and pay £286m in fines in the UK – and a far larger amount in the US in connection with regulatory filings and undertakings. Very recently the UK and US authorities dealt with a company M.W. Kellogg Ltd. That company tipped off the authorities themselves about contracts which it suspected had been obtained by bribery and corruption. The company paid £7m following an uncontested High Court civil recovery action where no fault was placed on the firm – the money represented the proceeds from the tainted contracts. This approach by the SFO of co-operation with other agencies and encouraging companies to self-report has its difficulties – especially when it comes to so called ‘plea bargaining’.

Civil Recovery The authors are presently engaged in an appeal case which involved a lengthy trial of a man and woman accused of drug trafficking and money laundering. The alleged offences themselves took place between 10 and 20 years ago in Spain and Portugal – in Portugal there were two criminal trials and both were acquitted! The case was pursued here complete with evidence that would never normally be seen in a criminal court. Much of the evidence was in the form of hearsay account in witness statements. There was no jury. What kind of trial is this – answer a civil trial at the High Court? What the police could not prosecute in the UK for lack of evidence was pursued in the civil Courts by the Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) under its powers of Civil Recovery contained in the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. We are seeing more and more of this. SOCA’s powers to claim civil recovery of what it says are the proceeds of crime have been extended to the major law enforcement agencies since April 2008. We have already mentioned the SFO who are now using this power. Customs and Excise too are starting to get used to the idea of pursing a civil remedy. Their man does not go to jail but may lose everything he owns – all on the lower standard of proof of the balance of probabilities. It is that standard of proof which is now under

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challenge – the case of SOCA v Gale and others is being heard at the Supreme Court in May 2011. Developments in human rights case law and in confiscation law has presented the highest Court in the land with an opportunity of insisting that where criminal allegations are made the criminal standard of proof should apply – whatever label is put on the proceedings. Watch this space.

Criminal Trials Without a Jury The Criminal Justice Act 2003 introduced the notion of non-jury criminal trials in cases where there is a clear and present danger of jury ‘knobbling’. The first such trial has already taken place and convictions secured. But the Act sought to go much further and introduce – as perhaps almost the norm, the possibility of trial without jury in cases of complex fraud. However, after the Act came into force the then Attorney General subsequently sought to repeal those provisions and to replace it with new provisions under the Fraud (Trials Without a Jury) Bill. It is with pleasure we report that the Fraud (Trial Without a Jury) Bill was voted down by the House of Lords in March 2007. Thus in the midst of so much change and so many threats to our basic system of criminal justice it is ironic that it is the un-elected side of Parliament which, yet again, strives the furthest to preserve our most precious liberties. Jonathan Lennon is a Barrister specialising in serious and complex criminal defence cases at 23 Essex Street Chambers in London. He is a contributing author to Covert Human Intelligence Sources, (2008 Waterside Press) and has extensive experience in all aspects of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. Aziz Rahman is a Solicitor- Advocate and Partner at the leading Criminal Defence firm Rahman Ravelli Solicitors, specialising in Human Rights, Financial Crime and Large Scale Conspiracies/Serious crime. Rahman Ravelli are members of the Specialist Fraud Panel.

Plea Bargaining The Attorney General’s Guidelines on Plea Discussions in Cases of Serious or Complex Fraud was introduced in May 2009. It is at least a step towards US style plea bargaining. On 25th September 2009 Mabey & Johnson Limited an English company supplying bridging equipment, largely to the third world was sentenced at Southwark Crown Court after pleading guilty to corruption offences prosecuted by the SFO. It was fined £3.5m and had a confiscation order made against it in the sum of £1.1m. It was significant because it was the first successful prosecution of a company for overseas corruption and was also the first time that a case was disposed of following the SFO’s engaging in plea discussions with the company under the AG’s Guidelines. However, after that flying start the SFO’s co-operation with overseas authorities and enthusiasm for plea negotiation has hit a series of criticisms in the Courts. In March 2010 the British chemical firm Innospec pleaded guilty to conspiracy to corrupt in exchange for an agreed fine and confiscation deal. This may have been acceptable to the US authorities dealing with the case on the other side of the Atlantic but here the Courts were very troubled excusing himself. The SFO got there in the end but only just and since then there have been more high level judicial criticisms of the plea bargaining approach in other cases. This leaves the SFO’s policy of wrapping up ‘deals’ with companies with the help of the US authorities in grave doubt. For our part, though ‘deals’ maybe tempting they are ‘wrong’ in principle. If there is evidence the Crown should prosecute or use the civil recovery route – and if there isn’t – then there isn’t. There is now evidence that Plea Discussions are branching out into the more mainstream cases – the authors are involved in a case where the CPS allege that the defendants are all involved in a massive series of mortgage frauds (over £300million) leading to the near collapse of a Bank. No one has been charged yet but the CPS have asked the defence whether discussions about a plea can place. Such discussions can never form part of the evidence if the talks fail but do form the foundation of any agreed basis of plea which flows from such discussions.

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42

Legal Q&A

Insidetime March 2011 www.insidetime.org probation officer and OMU think would be the right move before re-entering the prison estate. Being an IPP prisoner, and concerned about a prison transfer, would I be right in saying that I should be on hold and not transferred without warning to another prison until all appropriate assessments have been carried out?

A Your correspondent is serving a 4 year IPP having been diagnosed with an emotionally unstable borderline personality disorder. He has been recommended a move to a secure hospital setting to obtain treatment. He is in agreement with this proposal, together with his counsellor, offender manager and offender supervisor.

Inside Time Legal Forum Answers to readers’ legal queries are given on a strictly without liability basis. If you propose acting upon any of the opinions that appear, you must first take legal advice. Replies for the Legal Forum kindly provided by: ABM Solicitors; Chivers Solicitors; de Maids; Frank Brazell & Partners; Henry Hyams; Hine & Associates; Levys Solicitors; Morgans; Oliver & Co; Parlby Calder; Petherbridge Bassara Solicitors; Stephensons Solicitors LLP; Stevens Solicitors; Switalskis Solicitors and WBW Solicitors - see individual advertisements for full details. Send your legal queries (concise and clearly marked ‘legal’) to our editorial assistant Lucy Forde at Inside Time, Botley Mills, Botley, Southampton, Hampshire SO30 2GB. For a prompt response, readers are reminded to send their queries on white paper using black ink or typed if possible. Use a first or second class stamp.

JC HMP Wormwood Scrubs Q Last year I completed nearly five years for a Section 18 with intent. During my sentence I was diagnosed with ‘Emotional Unstable (Borderline) Personality Disorder’. I received no help or support. I am now back in prison serving a 4 year IPP for a similar offence. Since being here I am receiving ongoing support from CPN, counselling and case management protocol which is for disruptive prisoners with complex issues. I have been referred to a hospital secure setting which myself, counsellor, offender supervisor,

I believe your correspondent is asking whether he can be subject to a transfer hold until he has received an assessment from an appropriate psychiatric unit. If he is supportive of a transfer to a hospital setting it is only reasonable that the experts at a psychiatric unit are able to assess whether they are able to treat him. A prisoner is normally placed on transfer hold until such assessment takes place. Your correspondent states he can be transferred to a category B prison with no support in place. The prison service has a duty of care towards all prisoners. It is irrelevant whether your correspondent is in a category A or B prison; that duty remains. If he is transferred to a category B prison, provision should be put in place for similar support to that which he is already receiving i.e. CPN counsellor nurse and CMP. If the psychiatric unit accept your correspondent he is liable to remain there until treatment is complete. He will then be required to either return back to the prison estate or is able to seek release firstly via a Mental Health Tribunal and then, if successful, the Parole Board.

year. The consultation is due to close on 4 March 2011. There have been various proposals put forward in relation to sentencing reform. The government is proposing a simpler sentencing framework that is easier for courts to operate and for the public to understand. They are also attempting to make better use of prison and community sentences to punish offenders and improve public safety. The government has also confirmed what it will not be doing: ‘We will not end short sentences, which remain an important tool for magistrates, particularly for recidivist criminals who have not responded to community punishments or fines. We will certainly not be saving robbers, burglars and those who use knives from prison sentences. We will not allow our jails to run out of capacity and we will not introduce any early release schemes’ In relation to IPP sentences the government believes these should be restricted to the most serious of offences and suggests those which warrant a determinate sentence of at least 10 years. This would suggest the minimum term (tariff) to be imposed should be 5 years. This is only in relation to new IPP sentences and will not apply to current prisoners sentenced to IPP. A further proposal is that consideration should be given to whether the test for release as applied by the Parole Board should be amended. The government has said: ‘We are exploring whether a new test for those who have served their punishment would focus indefinite imprisonment on those who clearly pose a very serious risk of future harm’. These are all proposals at this stage and it remains to be seen whether these will be incorporated in changes to the law in due course.

............................................... ............................................... DV HMP Wymott

NH HMP Onley

Q

Q Can you please let me know about PSI 03/2009 which was issued on 14/5/2009 and updated PSI 45/2004. PSI 03/2009 had an

On behalf of other prisoners here we were wondering if the new coalition government is considering imminent changes to the judicial system and in particular the farce that is the IPP system. Is it likely to be scrapped? If so, what will happen to prisoners who are presently incarcerated under the old system?

C

expiry date of 24/5/2010, would this mean that this PSI is no longer valid, or does it mean another PSI takes over, if so can you provide me with any information concerning what happens now. Also, would this make any difference to when ROTL could be applied for as I have been told it can only be allowed when an offender is within two years to CRD. Would the expiry of this PSI 03/2009 make any difference?

A

PSI 03/2009 does have an expiry date of 24/5/2010 and we would advise that if the Prison Service are relying on this to justify a recategorisation decision then this would be arguable, however, from a current Judicial Review application we are aware that this PSI is soon to be replaced. PSO 6300 refers to ROTL. There are 4 types of temporary licence: Resettlement day release, Resettlement overnight release, Childcare resettlement, Special purpose. Prisoners who are excluded from release on temporary licence: Cat A prisoners, prisoners on the escape list, prisoners who are subject to extradition proceedings, remand and convicted un-sentenced prisoners, sentenced prisoners who are remanded for further charges or further sentencing, prisoners held on behalf of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, prisoners with consecutive default terms for confiscation orders are ineligible for ROTL on the original sentence but are eligible to be considered purely on the default confiscation order term and additionally, Cat B prisoners are not eligible for Resettlement day or Overnight release. Prisoners will be eligible for ROR on the later date of either; 24 months before the release date or once they have served half the custodial period less half the relevant remand time. The reference to the release date must be taken as meaning the half way point of the sentence, ie PED or where there is no PED, the conditional release date. Prisoners must have passed the risk assessment process before any release takes place.

carringtons solicitors

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A Your correspondent asks whether imminent changes will be made to the judicial system, specifically in relation to IPP sentences. He also wishes to know what the position will be for existing IPP prisoners.

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Legal Q&A

Insidetime March 2011 www.insidetime.org

Q In 2005 I was convicted of conspiracy

Banks on Sentence

to import cocaine. The Judge gave me 22 years. I would like to renew my appeal. Can I appeal out of time?

Answers by Robert Banks, a barrister who writes Banks on Sentence, the book the Judges use for sentencing more than any other.

www.banksr.com Q My barrister said I would get 15 years. Because my wife had Alzheimer’s disease I pleaded guilty at the first chance. I was thinking 15 years, a third off, so down to 10 and get out in 5 years. I didn’t ask for reports but the Judge did. It was a bad report. I received life with a 10 year term. There were concurrent sentences for some of the charges of between 13 and 16 years. My barrister came to see me in the cells and said, “Sorry”. We appealed and the court decided the starting point was 25 years. However the concurrent sentences were 13 to 16 years. With a third off it would 10 years and divided in half that would make 5 years 4 months. In fact I got 8 ½ years. Did they get the sums wrong? A No. I have looked at your Court of Appeal judgment. Fixing life terms in non-murder cases is done as follows: Firstly, work out how long the sentence should be if it wasn’t a life sentence (in your case 25 years). Secondly, work out the proportion that should be deducted for the plea if any, (in your case one third). Thirdly, divide the notional term by that figure and deduct that from

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the notional term, (in your case 25 – (25 years ÷ 3). The Court of Appeal rounded that figure up to 17 years). Fourthly, divide the notional term by usually one half to arrive at the minimum term, (in your case 17 ÷ 2 = 8 ½ years). Lastly, deduct the period on remand, (in your case 161 days). This is the minimum term, (in your case 8 years 21 days). This calculation is not concerned with the fixed term sentences (in your case 13-16 years). In murder cases there is a different calculation. You might be interested to know, the Court of Appeal noticed, whereas the Judge and the advocates did not, that one of your sentences was unlawful. Correcting the sentence had, however, no impact on the life sentence.

Q

I am serving a sentence for counterfeiting currency. I have a shoplifting previous. I have just been charged with shoplifting. Does the three-strike rule apply to me?

A No. It only applies to domestic burglary (three years) and Class A drug trafficking offences, e.g. supply and importing cocaine and heroin (seven years). There are minimum sentences for certain firearm offences. However, those minimum sentences do not depend on whether the defendant has been convicted of another similar offence.

A I assume that you appealed the sentence and were not given leave by the single Judge. Once the time limit for renewing an appeal (14 days) has expired, applicants have to apply to lodge an appeal out of time as well as applying for leave. The official rule is that the power would be rarely exercised and the only issue is whether the applicant has an excuse. The Court has held that a change of heart is not an excuse. One would expect no problem if the appeal was renewed a day late. The longer the delay, the more difficult it is to renew an appeal. However if the sentence is clearly unlawful then the Court grants leave to renew, whatever the delay. In case it appears that in your case your counsel argued on his paper application that the sentence was too long. The single Judge considered all the arguments. I can, on those facts, see no prospect of the full court at the Court of Appeal wanting to grant either the renewal out of time or the leave to appeal. Q

I used to be in the French Foreign Legion. Back here I was convicted of murder and my colleague and I were sentenced to 28 and 29 years detention during HM’s Pleasure. My date of birth is listed in the court papers as ten days

before my actual birth. Also the court papers mis-spelt my middle name and missed a letter in my surname. Are my arrest, conviction and sentence valid?

A Yes. The differences you raise could not have had impact on the arrest, the evidence or the court processes. Two months ago, I wrote about an Albanian girl who was thought to have been trafficked for prostitution. The answer I gave was in part based on R v O 2008 EWCA Crim 2835. The day after I sent my article to Inside Time, the Court of Appeal gave its judgment in R v LM 2010 Crim LR 2327. This was a consolidated appeal of a number of defendants. Three defendants who had pleaded guilty to controlling prostitutes had their convictions quashed at the prosecution’s invitation because of the failure of the prosecution to apply Article 26 of the European Convention on Human Rights. That article deals with not imposing penalties on victims when they have been compelled to be involved in unlawful activities. At a late stage the CPS accepted that the women had been coerced into prostitution. The court found that the women were victims of trafficking and they had also become voluntary abusers of others through violence and threats. The message is clear that the police, the immigration agencies, the lawyers and the judges have to give every assistance to these victims.

If prisoners leave out key matters such as relevant and serious previous convictions or that the Court of Appeal has already rejected an appeal, the answers given may be incomplete or wrong. Please make sure questions concern sentences and not conviction or release. Unless you say you don’t want your question and answer published it will be assumed you don’t have an objection to publication. No-one will have their identity revealed. Facts which indicate who you are will not be printed. Letters without an address cannot be answered. It is usually not possible to determine whether a particular defendant has grounds of appeal without seeing all the paperwork. Going through all the paperwork is not possible. The column is designed for simple questions and answers. Please address your questions to Inside Time, Botley Mill, Botley, SO30 2GB (and mark the letter for Robert Banks). Letters sent direct cannot be answered as all correspondence has to go through a solicitor.

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

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• Re-categorisation • Category A Reviews • Adjudications • Home Detention Curfew • Judicial Review

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Tates 2 Park Square East Leeds West Yorkshire LS1 2NE 0113 242 2290

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Health

Insidetime March 2011 www.insidetime.org

Inside Health ... Providing this valuable service are Dr Jonathon Tomlinson and Dr Shabana Rauf, both GPs practising in East London. Dr Rauf is particularly interested in women’s health.

Q When I was 8, I started dressing up in girl’s clothes and for the past seven years I have been thinking about a sex change. In 2009 I spoke to a counsellor and told him that many of my behaviour problems and self harming were caused because I couldn’t be who I really am. I may be able to start on medication while I’m still in prison. I would like some information on the subject if you could help. A

Feeling that you are a woman in a man’s body or the other way around can be incredibly confusing and difficult to cope with and most people need expert help. Having a sex-change is a process that needs a lot of time and expert support. There are some excellent specialist clinics and charities that can help. Patients usually have to demonstrate commitment by living as the gender they wish to become and discussing their feelings in detail with doctors and a specialist psychiatrist over several sessions. I’ve attached details of two charities with a lot of very useful information for you.

Gender Trust Community Base, 113 Queens Road, Brighton BN1 3XG. Tel: 0845 231 0505 www.gendertrust.org.uk Operating since 1990, the Gender Trust is the largest UK charity in a position to help anyone affected by gender identity issues. The Trust is a membership organisation but its services are

available to all. They can offer: custom training and support to organisations/companies in the private/public sector; a corporate membership; transgender policy review and development services. The Trust publishes leaflets and guides on a wide range of topics within the field of gender identity many of which are downloadable from their website.

GIRES (Gender Identity Research and Education Society) Melverley, The Warren, Ashtead, Surrey KT21 2SP. Tel: 01372 801554 www.gires.org.uk The Gender Identity Research and Education Society (GIRES) was established in 1997 to inform a wide public of the issues surrounding gender identity and transsexualism. Its aim is to improve the circumstances in which transgender people live by informing and educating all those who can support them, including family members, politicians, policy makers, commissioners and providers of healthcare, the police and other agencies within the criminal justice system, teachers, employers, and representatives of the media. The charity’s education programmes and its contributions to policy development are soundly based on research. It makes an annual award to the authors of the best published research.

Q

I have recently been getting numbness in my legs and arms but only when I sleep. Last night, for instance, I woke about 4am and the

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whole of my right leg, from the knee down of my left leg and the right side of my skull were numb and took quite a time to come round. Sometimes when I wake up my hands are in fists and my arms are numb. I have never suffered with this before and it doesn’t happen when I’m awake. Could my medication be causing this? I’m on 45mls Zispine and 70mls Methadone. Please help, it’s freaking me out.

A Numbness in your arms or legs at night is something my patients complain about a lot. Fortunately in most cases it is not caused by anything serious. It may be caused by compression of the nerves, for example numbness in the hands can be due to compression of the radial nerve as it passes through the wrist to supply the thumb, index and middle fingers. This condition is called Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Numbness of the legs can come from compression of a nerve as it leaves the lower back, as may happen in sciatica, or from damage to the nerves further down the legs, as may happen in diabetes. In your case you have had numbness in different places at different times. This is less likely to be due to nerve compression. It is possible that it can happen as a side effect from your Mirtazapine though that would be unusual. I would recommend some blood tests to check for other reasons. If these are normal and the symptoms do not improve you might need to see a neurologist (nerve specialist) for a second opinion.

Q Before I came to prison I was on Dhyracode for my back – I had had a bad fall. When I first got to prison I went on 80mls Methadone so they wouldn’t give my painkillers. I’ve started reducing my Methadone because I want to get clean and am now on 45mls. However, I have started feeling the pain in my back again and I suppose that is

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because of the reduced Methadone. The doctor here has given me Naproxen and Diclofenic but they aren’t working and I’m feeling depressed as I’m not sleeping and in constant pain. I’m even thinking of upping the Methadone again.

A

The methadone you are prescribed is an opiate analgesic. Opiates include dihydrocodeine, tramadol, oxycodone, co-codamol, pethadine, morphine and heroin. They are all potentially addictive and act on the same receptors in your brain in subtly different ways. Doctors are therefore reluctant to prescribe any opiate to someone with a previous history of addiction because of the high risk of them becoming addicted to the new drug. Chronic back pain is very difficult to treat effectively. Taking painkillers for years is not effective and with opiates there is not only the risk of addiction, but the effects diminish with time. What is recommended is a mixture of treatments including regular exercise, physiotherapy, drugs to reduce the sensitivity of the nerves such as amitriptyline or pregabalin, a pain specialist review and psychotherapy or relaxation therapy. A cure is unlikely for most people who have had back pain for years, and the aim of treatment is to enable the best possible quality of life with the least amount of medication. If you have a question relating to your own health, write a brief letter to Inside Time (Health) Inside Time, Botley Mills, Botley, Southampton, Hampshire SO30 2GB. Everyone will receive a reply, however only a selection will be published each month and no names will be disclosed.

                                         

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              

  

  

 

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

 

Health

Insidetime March 2011 www.insidetime.org

What causes stomach ulcers?

....................................................................... Your stomach normally produces acid to help with the digestion of food and to kill bacteria. This acid is corrosive so some cells on the inside lining of the stomach and duodenum produce a natural mucus barrier which protects the lining of the stomach and duodenum. There is normally a balance between the amount of acid that you make and the mucus defense barrier. An ulcer may develop if there is an alteration in this balance allowing the acid to damage the lining of the stomach or duodenum.

Stomach Ulcers

Anti-inflammatory drugs - including aspirin Anti-inflammatory drugs are sometimes called non-steroidal anti inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). There are various types and brands. For example: aspirin, ibuprofen, diclofenac, etc. Many people take an anti-inflammatory drug for arthritis, muscular pains, etc. Aspirin is also used by many people to protect against blood clots forming. However, these drugs sometimes affect the mucus barrier of the stomach and allow acid to cause an ulcer. About 2 in 10 stomach ulcers are caused by anti-inflammatory drugs.

Other causes and factors Other causes are rare. For example, some virus infections can cause a stomach ulcer. Crohn’s disease may cause a stomach ulcer in addition to other problems of the gut. Stomach cancer may at first look similar to an ulcer. Stomach cancer is uncommon, but may need to be ‘ruled out’ if you are found to have a stomach ulcer.

What are the symptoms of a stomach ulcer?

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

Pain in the upper abdomen just below the sternum (breastbone) is the common symptom. It usually comes and goes. It may be eased if you take antacid tablets. Sometimes food

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around the ulcer during endoscopy. These are sent to the ‘lab’ to be looked at under the microscope. This checks for cancer (which is ruled out as the cause of the ulcer in most cases).

What are the treatments for a stomach ulcer?

....................................................................... Acid suppressing medication A 4-8 week course of a drug that greatly reduces the amount of acid that your stomach makes is usually advised. The most commonly used drug is a proton pump inhibitor. Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are a class (group) of drugs that work on the cells that line the stomach, reducing the production of acid.

Infection with Helicobacter pylori Infection by Helicobacter pylori (commonly just called H. pylori) is the cause in about 8 in 10 cases of stomach ulcer. More than a quarter of people in the UK become infected with H. pylori at some stage in their life. Once you are infected, unless treated, the infection usually stays for the rest of your life. In many people it causes no problems and a number of these bacteria just live harmlessly in the lining of the stomach and duodenum. However, in some people this bacterium causes an inflammation in the lining of the stomach or duodenum. This causes the defence mucus barrier to be disrupted (and in some cases the amount of acid to be increased) which allows the acid to cause inflammation and ulcers.

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If your ulcer was caused by H. pylori

makes the pain worse. The pain may wake you from sleep. Other symptoms which may occur include: bloating, retching, and feeling sick. You may feel particularly ‘full’ after a meal. Complications develop in some cases, and can be serious. These include: Bleeding ulcer. This can range from a ‘trickle’ to a life-threatening bleed. Perforation. This is where the ulcer goes right through (‘perforates’) the wall of the stomach. Food and acid in the stomach then leak into the abdominal cavity. This usually causes severe pain and is a medical emergency.

What tests may be done?

....................................................................... Endoscopy is the test that can confirm a stomach ulcer. In this test a doctor looks inside your stomach by passing a thin, flexible telescope down your oesophagus. They can see any inflammation or ulcers. (See leaflet called ‘Endoscopy’ for details.) A test to detect the H. pylori bacterium is usually done if you have a stomach ulcer. If H. pylori is found then it is likely to be the cause of the ulcer. See separate leaflet on Helicobacter Pylori & Stomach Pain and how it can be diagnosed. Briefly, it can be detected in a sample of faeces, or in a ‘breath test’, or from a blood test, or from a biopsy sample taken during an endoscopy. Biopsies (small samples) are usually taken of the tissue in and

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Most stomach ulcers are caused by infection with H. pylori. Therefore, a main part of the treatment is to clear this infection. If this infection is not cleared, the ulcer is likely to return once you stop taking acid-suppressing medication. Two antibiotics are needed to clear H. pylori. In addition, you need to take an acid-suppressing drug to reduce the acid in the stomach. This is needed to allow the antibiotics to work well. You need to take this ‘combination therapy’ (sometimes called ‘triple therapy’) for a week. One course of combination therapy clears H. pylori infection in up to 9 in 10 cases. If H. pylori is cleared, then the chance of a recurrence of a stomach ulcer is greatly reduced. However, in a small number of people H. pylori infection returns at some stage in the future.

If your ulcer was caused by an anti-inflammatory drug If possible, you should stop the anti-inflammatory drug. This allows the ulcer to heal. You will also normally be prescribed an acid-suppressing drug for several weeks. This stops the stomach from making acid and allows the ulcer to heal. However, in many cases the anti-inflammatory drug is needed to ease symptoms of arthritis or other painful conditions, or aspirin is needed to protect against blood clots. In these situations, one option is to take an acid-suppressing drug each day indefinitely. This reduces the amount of acid made by the stomach, and greatly reduces the chance of an ulcer forming again.

Treatment for other uncommon causes Treatment depends on the underlying cause.

Information kindly supplied by Patient UK - Comprehensive health information as provided by GPs and nurses to patients during consultations. www.patient.co.uk

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Wellbeing

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Insidetime March 2011 www.insidetime.org

Yoga for small spaces by Caroline Sherwood

K

um Nye yoga comes from the ancient Tibetan medical tradition and was often practised by monks to assist them when sitting in meditation for long hours in confined spaces. The name means ‘interaction with the subtle body’ referring to the way in which the very slow movements, combined with gentle breathing encourage an awareness of embodiment which penetrates deeper than our usual more superficial bodily awareness. The slowness of the movements and the unusual shapes of some of the exercises encourages the energy that we normally hold in deep tension to be released. While quietly sitting for a few minutes after each exercise that energy can then redistribute around the body, bringing with it deep relaxation and revitalisation. Kum Nye has sometimes been humorously described as the Heineken of exercise systems, because it refreshes the parts that other systems can’t reach… The focus is on the sensations generated by the movement. By focusing on the feeling of the energy moving in the body, we gently encourage ourselves to come into the present moment, rather than fragmenting ourselves as we so often do, when the physical body is engaged in one activity while our mind is elsewhere. Through Kum Nye we can come to enjoy and appreciate being embodied in this human form. The exercises are divided into those which lead to balance and integration and others which are designed to stimulate and transform energies. This takes place at all levels - physical, psychological and emotional and can be experienced at three distinct levels of increasingly subtle relaxation and inner opening. Tarthang Tulku describes how each exercise can be experienced in three ways - positive,

negative and neutral. ‘These terms are not judgments,’ he says, ‘it is as important to feel and work with negative qualities as it is to work with positive ones. Awareness of these qualities is an important part of each exercise: positive feeling can be recognized as a warm, soft and gentle sensation located primarily in the heart area; negative feeling tends to manifest itself as a dull, dark heaviness in the lower abdomen; neutral feeling possesses a quality of light, balanced stillness, which permeates the entire body and beyond into the surrounding space. With time you will discover different levels of feeling and experience, until eventually you gain awareness of the energy that is present within every atom and molecule of your being. When this occurs you can increase your contact with this energy until every part of your body becomes a source of energy. Once you realize that energy is without location, that it is abundant and available at any time, you can truly experience the integration of body and mind.’ Names such as ‘Loosening Up the Mind,’ ‘Increasing Endurance,’ ‘Transforming Emotions,’ ‘Touching Positive Feeling,’ and ‘Building Strength and Confidence’ point to the way in which Kum Nye has profound benefits on our emotional and mental health as well as increasing physical strength, relaxation, stamina and energy. You don’t need to be religious or even to like physical exercise to be able to gain benefit from Kum Nye practice. It is suitable for all age groups and students of all fitness levels.

How to Find Out More and Ways to Start Practising Kum Nye: Books by Tarthang Tulku, published by Dharma Publishing: Kum Nye Tibetan Yoga - explanatory texts with all the exercises. You can begin to teach yourself from this book. The Joy of Being - advanced Kum Nye: sensory and movement exercises You should be able to order these books through the library system. Invite a Teacher to your Prison: If you would like to experience an introductory Kum Nye workshop, please write to Bram Williams, c/o Inside Time or email him - [email protected] E Kum Nye: The online E Course offers a 5-level year long training. Each class consists of a video introduction, theory, 60-90 minute practice session, 5 minute meditations, suggestions for practice to engage during the day, reading assignments and a meditation video. www.kumnyeyoga.eu If you are soon to be released: Kum Nye classes are held in various UK locations. Details at www.kumnyeuk.org

Caroline Sherwood attended the 3 month Kum Nye training at the Nyingma Institute in Berkeley in 1981 and taught meditation and Kum Nye workshops and retreats for 30 years. Recently she has retired from teaching to concentrate on writing. She is the author of ‘Making Friends with Ourselves: Introducing Children to Meditation’ and ‘Naming:Choosing a Meaningful Name.’ Her experience of being a prison visitor has convinced her of the value of this form of Tibetan yoga for both prisoners and staff.

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Tarthang Tulku was born in Tibet in 1934 and is a lama from the Nyingma tradition - the most ancient of Tibetan Buddhism. He was educated in preinvasion Tibet by some of the greatest spiritual masters of his time. When forced to flee his native land, he went first to India where he taught for some time at the Sanskrit University of Benares. In 1969 he settled in Berkeley, California where in 1972 he established the Nyingma Institute which offers a rich human development programme.

“In all you do, remember that Kum Nye is your armament against negativity that scratches from within or affects you through others. It is knowledge that you can master and sustain through mindfulness…It is important to make strong efforts to develop this knowledge and apply it. You can do this by reminding yourself daily: There is beauty that you have not yet seen. There is sound that carries consciousness into heavenly spheres. There is fragrance more exquisite than the rarest incense. There is joy that expands beyond ecstasy and dissolves the seeds of suffering. You deserve to experience all these treasures and manifest their significance to all humanity.” Tarthang Tulku

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Wellbeing

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1

– 10 times. Try to work with the breath. Repeat on the other side.

Sit comfortably on a chair with your knees slightly apart and your feet flat on the floor or (if they do not reach the floor) on a book or folded up blanket. Let your feet relax. Let your legs relax. Soften your belly, let the waist spread, let the weight of the elbows release any tension in the shoulders, open the hands and rest them on your thighs. Take your attention to your head, relax the root of every hair, of every eyebrow and eyelash, feel the scalp moving backwards on the skull, opening the brow, releasing the expression from the face, softening all the muscles of the face. See there is no tension in the jaw or in the throat. If there is, swallow once. The throat has the softness of the throat of the bird. Breathe naturally. If you can, breathe with the lips lightly together, breathing through the nose as it filters, warms and moistens the air. The breathing may slow down a little and that is fine but do not try to alter it since it is ideal if it is free to operate as it wishes. Feel the little pear-shaped lungs receiving the breath, and the movement of 12 pairs of protecting ribs on both sides, as they expand and deflate sideways, back and front, just like an umbrella. Where does this breath come from? Everyone knows the place where they are right at home although they cannot explain it. Most of us have some sense of intimacy to the place we arrived from, before we were born. Some people say it is Blackness, No-thing, Love, or God. All these names can only hint at something we know and experience to be sacred – just as we experience it when we see a sunset or wake up to a tree. Yoga is hard because mostly when we breathe we are doing something else. In a way, the movements in yoga are quite unimportant as all that matters is that we try to stay aware of the breath. Still, the movements can help us get rid of the blocks in our bodies and then, when we feel better, and able to sit still, we can let the silence work on the blocks in our minds.

2

Look at your hands. With the breath, rotate the wrists in one direction and then in the other, about 10 times. Extend the hand backwards and curl the hand forwards. Spread the fingers. Shake the hand. Using the other hand’s thumb pad, press the palm of the hand, all the way up the inner fingers, mound of the thumb and thumb. Repeat on the other side. Try to stay aware of your breathing throughout.

3

Bring the fingertips to the shoulders and raise the elbows to shoulder height. With the in-breath open the arms forward and as the breath flows out, bring the fingertips back to the shoulders. Repeat three times.

4

Breathe in and hunch the shoulders; breathe out and release. Three times.

7

Become aware of the belly, the “hara” as it is known in the East, the seat of our power (unlike the head as in the West). As you breathe in, feel the breath full in the belly as you arch slightly, with a feeling that the buttocks are moving back. As you breathe out, allow the breath to flow out as the spine rounds slightly and the buttocks feel as though they are moving forwards.

8

Place the hands on the lower belly. As you inhale, stretch up with the hands until they are extended towards the ceiling. As you breathe out, bring the hands back to the belly, rounding the back. 3 times. Internal locks: Breathe in, breathe out and drop the chin to the chest. 3 times. Then take the attention to the pelvic floor. As you breathe in, try to draw up all the muscles between the legs, as though you are rising in a lift to level 1, 2, 3 & 4. Hold for a second or two at the top and repeat as you reverse and release. 3 times and finish with a squeeze of these muscles.

9

Yoga sequence in a chair A lot of people think you have to be super fit to do yoga, and that you’re going to have to twist yourself into weird shapes and stand on your head. This isn’t true at all! People of all levels of fitness and with disabilities can do yoga. This yoga sequence can all be done sitting in a chair, and everyone can benefit from it - your muscles will be less tight and more flexible and you will feel calmer and less stressed.

5

Cross the legs and rotate one foot 10 times as you breathe, first in one direction and then the other. Breathe in as you point the toes, and exhale as you release – 3 times. Spread the toes to make space in the bones. Rest the foot down and, with your breath, extend the heel

“Locked in here all day; you don’t turn criminals into citizens by treating them this way” with kind permission from Billy Bragg

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away from you, 3 times. Shake the leg and foot, feeling you have opened up the channels to the legs. Repeat on the other side.

6

To strengthen the knee, lift the foot from the ground, using the muscles of the thigh

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Bring the right ear to the right shoulder as you inhale. Return to the centre as you exhale and repeat on the other side 3 times. Breathe in as you turn your head to the right, chin level. Exhale as you return to the centre. Do the same on the left. Breathe in as you look up, just as far as you wish to go. Exhale as you come back to the centre. Inhale as you drop the chin to the chest. Repeat 3 times.

10

Hold onto the chair aware of the solidity of your feet, and your buttocks on the seat. Relax. With the breath, gradually drop the right shoulder down to your right hip gently opening the left waist and torso. Repeat on the other side. Breathe in and turn to the right, placing your left hand on the right thigh. Breathe out. Inhale and turn so that you may be able to hold onto the back of the chair with your right arm (only if this is comfortable). Enjoy the twist for 3 breaths and repeat on the other side. Twists squeeze the discs of the spine and when they are released, the entire area can feed on fresh nutrients and work more efficiently, including the area of the nervous system.

11

Gently slide the hands down the legs, bend forward and breathe for a few breaths. Uncurl slowly and sit and recover. Check that the bottom is situated at the back of the chair allowing you to sit with a straight back with the head level, the palm of the right hand facing up in the lap and the left hand resting on it with the thumb tips coming together. In this position there is no pressure on the nervous system in the spine and no pressure on the organs of the body. In this straight position of comfort, relax around the bones of the body. Come back to the breath and sit receiving the breath as it flows in and out for 1 minute (or longer – up to 25 minutes is good). The eyes look down and gradually go out of focus. Feel free to close the eyes if it is your custom.

THE PRISON PHOENIX TRUST If you want a freedoing book and to help you Head youCDin? set up a regular yoga and meditation practice out?Trust, PO Box write to: The Stressed Prison Phoenix 328, Oxford OX2 7HF. The Prison Phoenix Can’t sleep? Trust supports prisoners and prison officers Simple yoga lives and through meditation in their spiritual meditation, practice, silence yoga, silenceworking and the with breath. The Trust works with breath, people ofmight any religion or none. and the

just transform your life in more ways than you think...

48

Book Reviews

Insidetime March 2011 www.insidetime.org

Under and Alone

Chequered Justice

Infiltrating the World’s Most Violent Motorcycle Gang

by John Bartlett

by William Queen

Review by Lucy Forde - Inside Time

Review by Billy Little - HMP Bullingdon When I see this sort of book I tend to think of it as being just another character dining out on the highlights of a professional working life; not to mention attempting to safely enhance any pension plan. That aside, Queen leaves little room for doubt as he takes you on a journey into the paradoxical world of the highly organised, but extremely violent and anarchic, ‘Outlaw Motorcycle Gang’ (OMG). Having joined as a ‘prospect’ with the San Fernando Valley branch of the Mongols, Queen rose through the ranks to become the Club treasurer. His 2 year undercover investigation would transpire to be something that went straight to the top of one of the most dangerous OMGs. Special Agent William Queen, aka ‘Billy St. John’, sets his stall out as being the stereotypical all-American virtuous do-gooder. With a background in the US Army Special Forces, Queen’s motivation and learned skills served him well during a 20 year career with the Department of Treasury, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF). His undercover investigative work was highly acclaimed and earned him some significant awards, including a Distinguished Service Award and a Medal of Valour (or two). Queen states quite early in the book he used knowledge learned from others working on undercover investigations, about the meanings behind different coloured badges worn by gang members and how ‘prospect’ members would be treated prior to being accepted into the fold. Essentially, any wannabe prospect wanting to become a bone fide member would be tested on his loyalty, fortitude, stamina and physical prowess. He adds: ‘Sometimes gaining the trust of the gang requires engaging in violent criminal activity, including murder’. As he passes through the ranks he learns the history of the Mongols and how they have spread throughout the Southern and Western states of America. In order to maintain and support his own credentials within the gang he soon becomes embroiled in a range of criminal activity for the gang; crimes that he would later document as: murder; narcotics; motorcycle

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theft; extortion; rape and armed robbery. I think what surprised Queen the most was that the Mongol Nation, as the spread of them had become known, had their own constitution, rules and even behavioural protocols. There are ‘The Five Commandments’, which are explicit in their intention; as are the consequences for breaking them. The Mongol’s investigation is told as though Queen developed a significant degree of camaraderie with some of the more colourful, but equally sociopathic, members. There is clarity in how events happened and a candid expression of how his emotional and psychological frame of mind was kept in check. At one point, with the Hells Angels believed to be the source, rumours were circulating that the Mongols had an undercover agent within their ranks. However, this only served to motivate Queen into delving deeper into the anarchic world of the OMG; to glean more information about the Mongol Nation and their organisational structure and financial resources. As is traditional with this type of book, the obligatory photo-album is comprised of images that act as credentials to compound his version of events. One photo shows Queen, aka ‘Billy St. John’, astride a stolen Harley Davidson as a ‘full patch’ SFV Mongol member; the same guy, long hair, beard and all, who turned up during the investigation to a Parent’s Night’ for his children. Although not the same conscientious, clean-cut parent and Special Agent who turned up in court to convict the 1%ers of the SFV Mongols. This is a decent read. It’s solid in its content and detailed in its history of all involved. Thankfully it doesn’t read the same as those written in crayon by those from the British police; in which the attitude seems to be ‘Shoot everything that moves, and anything that doesn’t just in case’! Under and Alone: Infiltrating the World’s Most Violent Motorcycle Gang By William Queen. Published by: Mainstream Publishing. Price £7.99

Unless the reader has ever been a ‘victim’ of the criminal justice system I can almost hear the sharp intake of breath as they read of the behaviour meted out to our hero, Will Middleton. Many a law abiding citizen finds it hard to comprehend that the justice system in this country is anything but fair – I’m certain many reading this will have an opinion on the subject! The hero of Chequered Justice is Will Middleton, a man who lives his dream, the ultimate in ‘boys’ toys’. He drives for a very successful racing team – his very successful racing team. The future looks rosy and one could be tempted to wonder where the storyline is going. Will comes up against the law who behave in a manner that would make the Stasi proud. An insurance claim is investigated and blown up out of all proportion and Will finds himself under investigation for fraud. How could his actions have landed him in court and, ultimately, prison? The story has an autobiographical bent, the author, John Bartlett, having experienced a similar situation with the same result; he ended up languishing in HMP Ford – when it was still standing! It is obvious that John Bartlett knows

his subject; it is written with the passion of one who has ‘been there, done that and got the fire resistant racing overalls’. For a fan of motor racing there are many moments when you can feel yourself there. Being honest I think that one of the reasons that this book appealed to me so much was that I recognised so many of the places mentioned, be it Climping or Brands Hatch. However, much as I enjoyed the story I am not a fan of leaping around from present to past and therefore the author’s style of writing grated on me. I like to get lost in a book and go with the flow, not leap from one time or place to another like Dr Who on speed. Having said that, my personal reading foibles must not put the next reader off and I would recommend this book for the plot line. If you read it in jail you will be the person saying, ‘been there, got treated like that’; if never having visited Her Majesty’s finest you will - I hope - be concerned about the corruption that is portrayed in Chequered Justice; be assured it really does go on! Chequered Justice by John Bartlett Published by Book Guild Publishing ISBN 978-1-84624-524-4 Price £12.99

B - ACTIVE competition: win

£25!

Bored in prison?

• • •

Found ways of entertaining yourself and others? Know of any games to overcome the boredom and stay active? Want to win a cash prize?

If you answered yes to any of the questions above, then you could win £25 by entering the Nacro B-ACTIVE competition. To enter, write to Nacro explaining how you stay healthy and active during your time in prison. For example, what games have you played for entertainment and what hobbies have you taken up?

Closing date 8th April 2011

Send your ideas to Dawn McAleenan: Nacro, Park Place, 10-12 Lawn Lane, London, SW8 1UD or for further details and terms & conditons, contact Inside Time 01489 795945

HENRY HYAMS

SOLICITORS 7 South Parade, Leeds LS1 5QE 0113 2432288 Categorisation Parole/Recall HDC Progression Adjudications Appeals/CCRC Lifer/IPP issues Judicial Review Contact our Prison Law Team Katy Cowans - Rebecca Seal Rachel Jamieson ›› Registered with EMAP ‹‹

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Book & DVD Reviews

Insidetime March 2011 www.insidetime.org

The Social Network

Blood Road by Caspar Walsh

Released 14th Feb 2011 Rating 12 116 minutes Gema’s Price £17.95

Review by John Flint - Guernsey State Prison I started this book by reading the prologue, not something I’d normally do, but I’m glad I did Vincent Cracknel is an underworld operator, a heavy, a drug dealer, and he’s busy administering his own brand of justice to some poor, lost cause. The vivid detail in which the above is described is clear and concise, there is no messing about. We see from the start what Vincent is all about and how ruthlessly he goes about his business, he’s as cold as an attic with a north-facing window. At this point the book seems promising, no excessive frippery, this book could well live up to its name. Or so I thought. However, I never felt that initial frisson of excitement again, and, for me, the storyline soon began to wane. The main character, Nick Geneva, a thirty-something career criminal and chancer has over-reached himself and, although his latest criminal venture has proved very profitable, financially, the ramifications for his life are dire. So he makes, what for him, seems a sound decision – London is no longer for him. So Nick heads back to his native Scotland to try to find the life he once had. But, to make matters worse, his two sons become embroiled and have to be dragged along. It’s from here that things really go downhill. If you want to witness a well-meaning fool test the limits of how bad he can make things get, then Nick Geneva is your man. Meanwhile Vincent Cracknel’s battle with inner demons and his own imminent mortality causes Nick to become a festering carbuncle that he’ll

do anything to have cauterised. The story is quite straightforward with no subplots or complexities. And though the plot consists of some strong ingredients (death, robbery, persecution, retribution and women) the author stirs them with a plastic spoon rather than mixing with a decent blender. His approach often seems too reserved and even bland. Caspar Walsh’s is competent but rarely thrills. His characters are convincing, but rarely enthralling, and this is probably because we all know people like them; they’re biographical rather than fictional. As a result the book has a kind of stripped-down functionality, a stopstart technique that’s consciously literary, simple by design and yet tough to achieve. His narrative, and there’s plenty of it, is clipped and punchy, with the best lines going to the kids, but it lacks pathos. For me, the storyline just seems to become more and more tenuous, until it morphs into surrealism. This book, I feel, is ideal for those wishing to progress their literacy, as the style and pace keeps the reader’s attention and is not focussed in one area for too long. Which all helps move the book along. The chapters are kept very short and all the text is 12pt/2pt leaded, making it very clear. The lack of any humour, however, leaves the book wanting. Blood Road by Casper Walsh published by Headline. Price £7.99

Have you ever served in the Armed Forces? Do you or your partner need help? If the answer is yes, you may be entitled to assistance from The Royal British Legion and SSAFA Forces Help - two charities assisting the Service and ex-Service community, working together to reach all those eligible for assistance. Whether you are still serving your sentence or are due for release, we may be able to provide financial support to you and your family. · · · · · · · · ·

If you would like further information, or a visit from one of our caseworkers to discuss assistance please write to: TRBL / SSAFA Forces Help (Ref Inside Time) Freepost SW1345, 199 Borough High Street London SE1 1AA

Or tell your partner to telephone Legionline on 08457 725 725 or SSAFA Forces Help on 020 7403 8773 or they can log on to w w w. b r i t i s h l e g i o n . o r g . u k o r w w w. s s a f a . o r g . u k

chiefly at the service of his story and his players. The opening scene is a conversation, no more, no less: long, gripey, captured only with overthe-shoulder point-of-view shots – and yet, it is utterly mesmerising. It entertains, it sets up the main, complex, infuriating character (not to mention his outraged soon-to-be ex) and makes us crave the rest of Fincher’s dramatisation of his professional ascent, and personal downfall. Above all, as its slew of Bafta and Oscar nominations confirm, The Social Network more than delivers on this promise, proving as satisfying and as rewatchable as cinema gets.

The Town

What a crafty film The Social Network is. Take its director (that modern master of hip, edgy, polished cinema, David Fincher), its subjectmatter (the emotional and financial fall-out from a colossal digital success story) and its score (an ingenious collage of high-techery from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross): combined, they at times gull you into feeling as though you’re watching pure science-fiction, a story from some impossibly distant future. In short, for anyone who has ever thrilled to anything from Blade Runner to Fincher’s own Fight Club the whole thing is pure catnip. And yet, beneath this often dazzling surface gloss, the film not only deals with themes as old and as durable as the hills (friendship, betrayal, revenge), it is endowed with precisely the same virtues one might expect and desire of cinema from a bygone era. Aaron Sorkin’s screenplay is masterful, concentrating above all on character, but never losing sight either of plot, structure, or wit. The performances - especially Jessie Eisenberg’s meticulous rendering of billionairein-waiting Facebook supremo Mark Zuckerberg - are beyond reproach. And, for that matter, much as Fincher can’t resist shooting in luminous modern nightclubs, or throwing in one of his trademark pieces of never-seen-that-before cinematography (that truly astonishing boat-race in Henley, like an old post-card come to exhilarating life), he, too, puts his talents

Released 31st Jan 2011 Rating 15 125 minutes Gema’s Price £16.95 This truly exceptional heist-thriller-cum-romance was almost entirely sidelined in the recent Oscar nominations. Unforgivably so, for it is one of the most gripping and skilfully crafted films of the past 12 months, in any genre. With almost infuriating assurance, Ben Affleck (who made his directorial debut with 2007’s Gone Baby Gone) once again proves he’s so much more than some big Hollywood lug, authoritatively writing, directing and starring in this tale of a bank robber who falls for a woman he briefly kidnaps during a heist. In fact, it all feels like a blue-collar Heat, which is praise indeed. Echoing Michael Mann, in that 1995 masterpiece, Affleck expertly interweaves drama and action, giving plenty of screen time to cops and robbers alike, while stirringly conveying the “emotional fallout” of the protagonists’ pursuits. In front of the camera, he makes his hero both strong, weak, and never less than compelling, potently torn between his fellow robbers (including Oscar-nominated Jeremy Renner – at least the Academy got that right) and the new object of his affections, played by a subtly smouldering Rebecca Hall.

Review by Andrew Cousins, Managing Director of Gema Records, the leading supplier of Music, Games and DVDs to UK prisons.

Household goods Clothing Rent deposit guarantee Education and training courses, including distance learning Equipment and/or Work Tools Relocation Costs Advice and Guidance on getting a job or learning a trade Advice and Guidance on applying for a war pension Ass i stan ce fo r yo u r partn er an d fami l y

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See Jailbreak page 54 for how to order

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• An honest assessment of your case. • A named solicitor who will review your case, visit you and advise on grounds of appeal. • A named paralegal who will assist your solicitor & provide a second point of contact for you. • A set timetable of work with regular updates to ensure you know what stage your matter has reached and what work is still to be undertaken. Our experienced Prison Law team can assist you, both in writing and orally, with: Adjudications, Parole Applications,Recategorisation Representations and Lifer Hearings. For help please contact Richard Brown or Dawn Burrows at:

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Entertainment

Insidetime March 2011 www.insidetime.org

Album Reviews Reviews by Andrew Cousins, Managing Director of Gema Records

to a stilted, out-of-time piano and an everpresent static fuzz, it fits in perfectly among the dubstep experiments that surround it. Blake is heavily influenced by artists such as The XX, and claims their success has made it easier for others to understand his music.Of course, none of these heady ideas would succeed if Blake weren’t such an excellent musician. Chilly atmospherics, electronic noise, production studio fiddling, and meditative vocals have all been done before, but nobody has ever synthesized them the way James Blake does here.

James Blake James Blake Runner-up in the BBC’s ‘Sound Of 2011’ poll, London-based dubstep artist James Blake’s debut album reflects his famously eclectic style. It may have been his remarkable re-imagining of Feist’s “Limit To Your Love” that grounded him as one of the most compelling and unorthodox dubstep DJs around. The track was also his most commercial success, drumming up well over 2 million hits on Youtube. But the 22-year-old Londoner has done so much within so little time, producing a brilliant trio of EPs last year. Now comes James Blake’s self-titled album, his first solo debut LP, which premieres his soulful singing voice and knack for the keys. This album seamlessly incorporates the aesthetics from his past EPs while remaining completely unpredictable from track to track. Easily his most commercial song on the album, “Limit To Your Love,” Blake manages to manipulate Feist’s once breezy pop tune into one that is taut and brooding. Blake creates tensioninducing moments where the song dips into 3-to-4 second pauses, forcing a creeping unease until the song willfully resumes. Like the cover, the album taps into the barren maturity of Blake’s voice-work, lyrics and instrumentation. On “I Never Learnt To Share,” Blake extracts depth and meaning in only a handful of words, in which he repeatedly says: “My brother and my sister don’t speak to me / But I don’t blame them.” It seems that he relies much on your imagination to fill in the blanks; he never tells the listener why. Everything about this album and the emotions that are reminiscent of it are intentional; even the seemingly involuntary choppy piano in “Why Don’t You Call Me” has its purpose. It creates a fascinatingly cruel atmosphere; it’s dark and foreboding, but lush at the same time. Blake’s philosophy throughout the album, especially on tracks like opener “Unluck” and “Give Me My Month,” is to alert the listener to questions of form rather than content. The latter song could easily have been recorded as a clean, clear-cut piano ballad; instead, thanks

This is one of those albums that is best appreciated alone. Its captivating undercurrent won’t be immediately apparent; but be patient enough with it, and you’ll be grandly rewarded. When it’s all said and done, James Blake’s fulllength debut is thoughtful, rich, often spine tingling, and nearly always thrilling, and in twelve months’ time, we may all be crowning it one of the greatest achievements of 2011.

A new contender emerged on the scene this year, Hawaii pop singer/songwriter Bruno Mars. Mars came to prominence as a songwriter on hits like Sugababes’ “Get Sexy” and Flo Rida’s “Right Round” before stepping up as guest vocalist earlier this year on the hits “Nothin’ on U” by B.o.B. and “Billionaire” by Travie McCoy. Finally his solo debut UK #1 album has emerged in 2011, capitalizing on his growing popularity while delivering a set of consistent pop song craft. “Grenade” doesn’t waste any time, currently the UK’s #1 single, diving into the album with huge sound–minor keyed synths, a piano refrain, and sharp beats. International #1 hit “Just the Way U R” remains as irresistible now as it did when we first heard it months ago. It’s hopeful sound matches perfectly with Mars’ slightly rough but completely sincere vocal delivery (“when I see your face, there’s not a thing that I would change, ’cause you’re amazing just the way you are”). My guess is we’re going to be hearing this one for years. “Marry U” is another heart-on-his-sleeve romantic number, but its charged tempo and party vibe complete with “shots of Patron” makes it more fun than if it was a soppy ballad. The lyrics are cliche, but Bruno Mars is an amazing singer because he has his own style. He doesn’t follow trends; he sings with his soul, he doesn’t need to use auto-tune to sound better either. With his debut, Mars firmly solidifies his pop music cred and raises expectations as one to watch in the coming years.

Neptunes, The Dream, Kid Cudi, Eminem, Drake, Keri Hilson, Trey Songz and Christina Aguilera to name but a few. Being one of the south’s most consistent artists he makes a very strong case here, unfortunately he will be celebrating the release of his album from a cell. Ti has made a career of excelling when the chips are down but also of getting complacent when he’s at the top. Improving on every album leading up to 2004’s Urban Legend, he still wasn’t satisfied despite breaking through to the public consciousness. This motivation led him to make 2006’s King and in 2008, Paper Trail, by far the project most responsible for making him one of Rap’s superstars. So where does Ti find himself in 2010 – hungry or complacent? Arguments could be made for either side. Is Ti complacent because his fans simply want to hear more music from him, or is he hungry, trying to reclaim his throne following a stint in prison? No Mercy starts out with “Welcome To The World” ft Kanye West with Kid Cudi on hook duty. “That’s All She Wrote” reunites Ti and Eminem and the production is mean, suiting both emcee’s moods. Shady and Tip’s backand-forth reaches incredible heights here, and makes for one of the album’s high points. “Amazing” is The Neptunes’ second contribution to the album, and it sounds as if Ti went to Pharrell and Chad and requested the sound that the ‘Tunes usually reserve for the Clipse. That’s not to relegate the track to a cheap imitation in some way, quite the contrary – the simple drum arrangements highlighted by an unnerving xylophone are perfectly complimented by Ti’s menacing rhymes and subdued delivery. The album comes to an end with a great closer, talented vocalist Christina Aguilera lends her assistance on “Castle Walls” while the Atlanta native waxes about how his career looks in retrospect. No Mercy takes Ti’s recent experiences and frustrations, and effectively bottles them up into a potent and complete work. From the epic production to the furious rhymes and flows, framed perfectly within the notion of righteous redemption, Ti has released arguably his most focused effort to date.

Bruno Mars Doo Wop And Hooligans

Ti No Mercy

Ever since the decline and then the passing of Michael Jackson, the title for largest male pop star has been up for grabs. Justin Timberlake was up for it at one point, Usher was too, but his high points are too sporadic.

Ti is back with his 7th studio album No Mercy. Previously named King Uncaged, the selfproclaimed “King of the South” makes his case for retaining his crown with this effort. The King enlists the help of Kanye West, The

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The Gema Records Catalogue For your own personal copy, please send a cheque or PO (payable to Gema Records) for £2 to Gema Records, PO Box 54, Reading RG1 3SD and we will immediately despatch a copy to you along with a £2 voucher to use against your first order.

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Drum & Bass/Dubstep Top 50 New Releases

by DJ Puzzle - Gema Records

B

ack in the day, you would be lucky to catch some D&B searching through your dial on pirate radio stations such as the legendary Kool FM. These days the likes of Chase & Status and Danny Byrd are now household names for the average daytime radio listener, receiving regular plays on Radio 1 & Radio 1Xtra. Without a doubt they are setting the pace for the rest of the scene to spread the word of D&B. Of course this reflects in the demand for releases. Of late, the public are obsessed with the euphoric Drum & Bass sound. The DJs are getting booked in universities throughout the country week in week out and 10,000 people-deep raves all around the world. Artist albums are in abundance, regular compilation CDs are at the forefront pushing the sound with the likes of Drum & Bass Arena and Innovation releasing on a near yearly basis. Many D&B artists are grasping the opportunity to get tracks into the mainstream and spread the word of D&B with tracks you can listen to not only in the dance but also at home, in your lounge. For example the recent Shy fx - Raver is the street single and debut offering from Shy FX’s forthcoming studio album ‘Larger Than Life’, due for release in 2011. If this sampler is anything to go by, it will be his best album yet! Featuring lead vocals from Kano and Donaeo, alongside Roses Gabor (of Gorillaz fame), the track has already received heavy rotation on

the radio from across all genres of dance music. On the events scene you will find a lot of promoters now blending styles with D&B, typically the underground sound that was Dubstep. With prime suspects Skream & Benga, now on a Radio 1 fortnightly rotation In New DJ’s We Trust show, Dubstep is being pushed into the ears of millions and is without doubt the most exciting genre to come out of the UK in just under a decade. You might know about UK garage music, which has been around for almost 10 years, spawning chart hits and controversy in almost equal measure. You might even have come to terms with grime, its coarse East London offshoot, which produced Dizzee Rascal. Dubstep’s arrival in the mainstream owes a great deal to the support of now former Radio 1 DJ, Mary Anne Hobbs. When Mary featured the music on Radio 1 in a one-off showcase, the response was unprecedented: “I was astonished. I’ve never seen a bigger global response to anything that we’ve ever done in eight years. There were 20,000 hits on an Internet site that referred to the show. It just blew everybody away.” I urge you to invest in a couple of Drum & Bass and Dubstep records, if you’re starting now then Ministry of Sound’s – The Sound Of Dubstep or Drum & Bass Arena Anthology find the bassiest speakers (or headphones) you can and play it as loud as you can stomach it. Explore the most cutting edge and exciting underground sound the UK music scene has to offer in 2011. If you have any of your own recommendations then please let us know.

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Jailbreak

Insidetime March 2011 www.insidetime.org

Steering by the stars Rod Harper Rod Harper works as a consultant, writer, and teacher of astrology. Aries The Ram 21st March to 20th April There’s a tense start to the month, and a feeling that someone in authority has got your number and is waiting to trip you up, but tensions ease as the month wears on. Watch out for sparks over the weekend of the 19th and 20th, as the Sun and rebellious Uranus both enter your sign with a bang. Taurus The Bull 21st April to 20th May Your popularity is on the rise this month, and this in turn could attract a friend or two who holds a position of influence and may be willing to lend a hand if you need one. If it’s a favour you’re after, the 10th is an especially lucky day. The full Moon on the 19th could reveal a few surprises that may otherwise have been kept secret from you. Gemini The Twins 21st May to 21st June Spring is in the air, and you’re full of energy and ideas as the month gets underway, but with difficult aspects between your ruler, Mercury and heavyweights Saturn and Pluto, it won’t be plain sailing by any means. There could be a blast from the past around the Full Moon of the 19th - expect the unexpected. Cancer The Crab 22nd June to 23rd July The need to expand your horizons is strong. You may not be in a position to literally take off into the wild, but you can use your mind to explore the far reaches of knowledge. The full Moon on the 19th could be a volatile time in the family - keeping an open mind and staying flexible is strongly advised. Leo The Lion 24th July to 23rd August Winter isn’t the best time of year for the Lion, and this one seems to have been a long one, but with the Sun moving into your complementary fire sign, Aries, on the 20th, you should feel those cylinders beginning to fire up again. There could be some unexpected news on the financial front around the 19th, too. Virgo The Virgin 24th August to 23rd September Things may have been a bit foggy lately, especially in

the realm of your relationships, however a flash of insight on the 9th could bring sudden clarity to an otherwise confused situation. Don’t be too sure that you have a handle on what others are thinking though; the full Moon on the 19th could throw up a few surprises. Libra The Scales 24th September to 23rd October With pleasure-seeking Venus travelling through your Fifth House of fun, there should be a few lighter moments this month to take your mind off more serious concerns, especially around the 15th. The Full Moon on the 19th could bring some unexpected news about a loved one. Things could go either way, so keep your head and don’t do anything rash.

after their convictions for the murder of 21 people in two pubs are quashed by the Court of Appeal.

MARCH 20th 2003

US launches missiles against Saddam

American missiles hit the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, signalling the start of the US-led campaign to topple Saddam Hussein.

March 2nd 1969

Concorde flies for the first time

MARCH 24th 1989

Exxon Valdez creates oil slick disaster

Scorpio The Scorpion 24th October to 22nd November Tensions seem to be running high this month for you Scorpio, so it would be wise for you to try to find some kind of positive release for your energy. With your ruling planet Mars along with a whole host of activity going on in your 5th House, sports games and competition would be ideal avenues of release for you.

The supersonic airliner Concorde makes a “faultless” maiden flight.

An oil tanker, the Exxon Valdez, has run aground off the Alaskan coast, releasing crude oil into the sea.

MARCH 4th 1969

MARCH 26th 1973

Sagittarius The Archer 23rd November to 21st December You start the month in a positive frame of mind, and with the Sun and Uranus arriving in your compatible fire sign, Aries, things should really start hotting up - in a good way - although there may be financial issues at the back of your mind. Don’t be put off by friends trying to bring you down. The Full Moon of the 19th may bring to a light an unexpected talent.

MARCH 11th 1985

Capricorn The Goat 22nd December to 20th January Your recent social status doesn’t seem to quite have the same kind of authority as before and you may find yourself having to keep a close eye on things on the home front as there seems to be a larger than life character that needs a Capricornian bringing back down to earth. Aquarius The Water Carrier 21st January to 19th February With Venus in your sign, and in positive aspect to both your ruling planets, you’re Mr - or Miss - Popular this month with friends and associates looking to you for advice and wise counsel. There may be a bit of a stand-off with someone who doesn’t quite get your cool, collected approach, but stick to your guns. Shine on you crazy diamond! Pisces The Fish 20th February to 20th March The Sun is shining his rays upon you Pisces, and a Venus/Mars conjunction at the start of the month adds extra impact to this by giving you some serious powers of attraction. Don’t waste this opportunity - get out there and show the world what you’re about. By the end of the month your attention is turning to your finances - proceed with caution. 4th Floor, South Central 11 Peter Street Manchester M2 5QR

Realistic advice, practical assistance Prison Law and Criminal Law Specialists N o w welcomes

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to their Prison Law Department Adjudications • IPP and EPP • All Lifer Reviews Parole Board Reviews • Licence Recall • Recategorisation • Cat ‘A’ Reviews • HDC • Judicial Reviews To request assistance please contact 2 4 H o u r s - 7 D a y s

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Kray twins guilty of McVitie murder

The Kray twins, Ronald and Reginald, face life sentences after being found guilty of murder at the Central Criminal Court.

Gorbachev becomes Soviet leader

There is a new man in charge at the Kremlin - Mikhail Gorbachev takes over following the death of Konstantin Chernenko.

MARCH 11th 1977

Stock Exchange admits women

Women are allowed on to the trading floor of the London Stock Exchange for the first time in the institution’s 200 year history.

MARCH 29th 1981

Triumph at first London Marathon

Thousands of people jog through the normally quiet Sunday streets of the capital to try and cross the finish line of the first ever London marathon.

Roman Polanski charged with rape

French film director Roman Polanski is charged with raping a 13-year- old girl in Hollywood.

MARCH 12th 1969

Paul McCartney weds Linda Eastman

Paul McCartney and Linda Eastman are married in a civil ceremony at Marylebone Register Office in London.

MARCH 14th 1991

Birmingham Six freed after 16 years The Birmingham Six walk free from jail

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MARCH 31st 1990

Violence flares in poll tax demonstration

An anti-poll tax rally in central London erupts into the worst riots in the city for a century.

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53

TWENTY QUESTIONS TO TEST YOUR GENERAL KNOWLEDGE

Challenge

1. Which form of London public transport was pioneered 11. In 2005, which English dramatist won the Nobel Prize for Literature? by George Shillibeer in 1829?

3. By which nickname was William Joyce, the propaganda broadcaster from Nazi Germany during the Second World War, better known? 4. In 2002, which Scottish manager took the helm at Everton Football Club? 5. Who is actress Bridget Fonda’s Oscar-winning aunt? 6. In 1963, which Conservative cabinet minister resigned because of a scandal involving a Russian spy? 7. In Britain, pillar boxes are traditionally which colour? 8. Which wartime engineer designed the so-called ‘bouncing-bombs’ used in the ‘Dambusters’ raid? 9. In 2003, which TV presenter, known for birdwatching, received the OBE for his services to Wildlife Conservation? 10. On which river does the city of Bath stand?

1. Which number is missing from the bottom triangle?

12. In 1997, which French Canadian driver won the Formula 1 world championship?

2.

Which letter from the bottom row completes the puzzle?

13. From which material was the children’s storybook character Pinocchio made? 14. Which British soul singer is the host of the Radio 2 show Beverley’s Gospel Nights? 15. Which seventeenth-century English architect designed the Banqueting House in Whitehall? 16. The TV drama series Silent Witness originally starred which actress as pathologist Sam Ryan? 17. Of what is pomology the study?

3.

What is missing from the last star?

18. In which decade of the twentieth century did India gain independence from Britain? 19. The red, pink or white houseplant properly termed Impatiens, is popularly known by what name? 20. Which alcoholic drink is sometimes referred to as ‘The Green Fairy’? ANSWERS CAN BE FOUND ON page 55

Submitted by Andrew Weir-Blake - HMP Winchester. Start on the left with the first number and work your way across following the instructions in each cell. See how quickly you can do each puzzle and how your times improve month by month! Answers on page 55. If you would like to submit similar puzzles we will pay £5 for any that are chosen for print. Please send in a minimum of three puzzles together with the answer!

Mind gym

It’s a Con

Answers 1 -11 The value of the numbers in the lower triangle equals the sum of the numbers, in corresponding positions on the upper two triangles. 2 - G Starting on the left, and working down in columns, if possible, and moving to the right, letters follow alphabetic sequence, in steps of 2, 3 and 4, 2, 3 and 4 etc. 3 - 7 Find the difference between corresponding pairs of numbers, on the left and central stars, and put the result in the same position on the right hand star.

2. In the Highway Code, which background colour is used in a school bus sign usually displayed in the rear window?

66

÷11

4

Squared

36

Square root of / +96 / ×4 / ÷8 / ×11 = ???

/

×8

/ /

Triple ×3

/

It

-72

/ /

-66

/

÷21

=

?.?

+134

/

÷5.5

=

??

MW - HMP Stocken

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>> www.insidetime.org Exciting ‘interactive’ website. Allowing readers to add their comments to published articles and letters. Let your family members and friends know about this facility - Inside Time is now also a voice for them.

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54

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CAPTION COMPETITION

Gema Quiz

That’s the last time I take Andy Gray’s side!

The new Gema Records catalogue is out now! (Winter 2010) For the first time, we have a DVD section with over 20,000 Films, Documentaries, TV Series etc. In addition, we have 12,000 New Releases and over 5,000 Special Offers included in the catalogue.

Last month’s winner

PS2 Bundles now come with 2 free pre-owned games. We are now also offering new Xbox 360 consoles.

£25

prize is in the post

Thousands of price reductions across the board.

Which film do the following song titles feature in: 1. Bachelor boy 2. Mr Cellophane 3. Tonight 4. Shall we dance? 5. Take a chance on me 6. Diamonds are a girl’s best friend 7. Somewhere over the rainbow 8. Windmills of your mind 9. Drip drip drip little April showers 10. Brighteyes

For your own personal copy, please send a cheque or PO (payable to Gema Records) for £2 to Gema Records, PO Box 54, Reading RG1 3SD and we will immediately despatch a copy to you along with a £2 voucher to use against your first order.

See below for details of how to enter. The first three names to be drawn receive a £15 Gema Record Voucher & free catalogue

Gema sponsors of Jailbreak Derek Wallace - HMP Addiewell Mark Dillon - HMP Addiewell Angela Wood - HMP Askham Grange

with all correct answers (or nearest) will each

Answers to last months quiz: 1. Dirty Dancing, 2. Gone with the wind, 3. Singing in the rain, 4. Hungry Heart (Bruce Springsteen), 5. Casablanca, 6. Calendar Girls, 7. Little bit more (Dr Hook), 8. Love is all around (Wet wet wet or Troggs), 9. Ghost, 10. Living on a prayer (Bon Jovi)

insideknowledge The prize quiz where we give you the Questions and the Answers!

All the answers are within this issue of Inside Time - all you have to do is find them!!

?

The first three names to be drawn with all-correct answers (or nearest) will receive a £25 cash prize. There will also be two £5 consolation prizes. The winners’ names will appear in next month’s issue. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

Another £25 prize is on offer for the best caption to this month’s picture. What do you think is being thought or said here?

GEMA RECORDS - SUPPLIER OF THE UK’S LARGEST BACK CATALOGUE OF MUSIC Telephone: 01189 842 444 Last month’s winners

Who will be celebrating the release of his album from a cell? What contains details of elderly and infirm men who pose no risk to anyone? Who is becoming ‘a bit of a joke’? What was the cost of damage at HMYOI Cookham Wood? Which organisation ‘wants to stop people going to Prison’? How long does it take for there to be no nicotine left in the body when you give up smoking? If Egypt were to be your home instead of the United Kingdom, you are 82.95% less likely to make what?

8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15.

Former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith poses in front of a sex shop to promote her programme on porn.

>> To enter

Please do not cut out any of these panels. Just send your entry to one or all of these competitions on a separate sheet of paper. Make sure your name, number and prison is on all sheets. Post your entry to:

Inside Time, Botley Mills, Botley, Southampton, Hampshire SO30 2GB. You can use one envelope to enter more than one competition just mark it ‘jailbreak’. A 1st or 2nd class stamp is required on your envelope. Closing date for all is 22/03/11

In the United States how many people have been released from death row since 1973? Staff at Dovegate Prison are to start studying for a two year foundation degree in what? Who thinks today’s feminists are far from helping women? In Prison, how many incidents of self harm were recorded in 2008? At which Prison has a dog been trained to sniff out mobile phones? Who raises expectations ‘as one to watch in the coming years’? Who is more inclined to think that we should all sit up and take note? On March 2nd 1969 what made its first ‘faultless’ maiden flight?

Answers to Last Month’s Inside Knowledge Prize Quiz 1. 336, 2. HIV/Aids, 3. Cain Thomas, 4. 67, 5. The Prison Officers Association, 6. Wilbert Rideau, 7. Charles Bronso, 8. FM Radios, 9. 268, 10. Jonathan King, 11. 75%, 12. The Music Instinct, 13. Eddie Gilfoyle, 14. Stephen Fry, 15. Lulu Our three £25 Prize winners are: C J Green - HMP Hewell, A MacInnes - HMP Peterhead, Claudio Lamponi - HMP Full Sutton Plus our £5 Consolation prizes go to: Michael Hardy HMP Swinfen Hall, Luke Robinson - HMP Birmingham

Criminal Defence and Prison Law Experts Nationwide professional and experienced Advice and Representation in the following areas: • Adjudications, Judiical Reviews • Categorisation • Parole Review/Hearings, Licence Recalls • Tariff/Minimum Term Reviews & Appeals • CCRC, Confiscation Proceedings • Criminal Defence of all types from Murder to Motoring Offences

Contact Tony Marshall at: Alexander Johnson Solicitors 246 Bethnal Green Road London E2 0AA

0207 739 1563

Wayne Reed HMP Channings Wood

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Jailbreak

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Comedy Corner

“Quotes” Match the following quotes to the celebrity pictures, answers below

(B) “ My husband is married to a lawyer but nobody calls him a legal husband ” (C) “ Welcome to positively the last Newsnight daily e-mail. The reason for killing it off is pretty straightforward – it’s crap ”

(D) “ I’ve been called a pommy bastard many times, but look what it has done for me. If you want to develop character, go to Australia ” (E) “ Joe Jordan was breaking my balls throughout the second half ”

Gennaro Gattuso

Jailbreak Answers

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Daily Sudoku: Tue 8-Feb-2011

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Daily Sudoku: Sun 6-Feb-2011

8 Inigo2 Jones 7 8. 3 Barnes Wallis 1. 8Bus 1 15. 8 1 Burton 8 3 1 2. Yellow 9. Bill Oddie 2 7 16. Amanda 1 9 17. Fruit 8 4 3. Lord Haw2Haw 4 10. River Avon 7 3 4. David Moyes 11. 18. 1940s 5 6 2 Harold Pinter4 5 5. Jane Villeneuve 19. 8 6 Busy Lizzie 4 Fonda 3 8 12. Jacques 7 6. John Profumo 6 13. Wood 20. Absinthe 9 3 4 7. 9Red 14. Knight 3 5 2 4 5 Beverley 3 1

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CRIMINAL DEFENCE LAWYERS

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Keith Park Solicitors Claughton House, 39 Barrow Street, St Helens WA 10 1RX E: [email protected]

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Call us on freephone: 0800 374388 (24 hours).

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CATEGORISATION. If you want us to assist by way of written representations – we can help.

PRISON COMPLAINTS AND REFERRALS TO THE PRISON OMBUDSMAN. If you feel you are treated badly in prison, you can make a complaint. We can help you through the procedure.

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PAROLE BOARD HEARINGS. We can supply written representations and attending oral hearings.

PRISON RECALL. Have you been recalled and do you think the decision is justified? We can prepare written submissions and appear on your behalf before the parole board.

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5.

David Cameron

SCOTTISH PRISONERS Has the justice system let you down? Need help getting your conviction and/or sentence reviewed?

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Benefit from our years of experience and get specialist advice on:-

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• Appeals (including late appeals) • Referrals to Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) • Parole Applications (including Lifer Tribunals, Recall etc.) • Generally all aspects of prison law

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We specialise in: OUTSIDE ADJUDICATIONS. Have you committed an offence whilst in custody? We can provide representation for you in front of the adjudicator.

Daily Sudoku: Tue 8-Feb-2011

At Keith Park Solicitors we have many years experience representing our clients, not only before sentencing but also once they are in custody. There are many ways we can help you with advice and representation once you are on the ‘inside’. Our team of Legal experts will be your friends on the outside.

judicial review categorisation sentence planning

Miriam Gonzalez Durantez

General Knowledge Crossword

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YOU NEED A FRIEND ON THE OUTSIDE...

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General Knowledge

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INSIDE?

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Do you have any jokes (printable) that you would like to share with our readers? If so, send them in to: Inside Time (Jokes), Botley Mills, Botley, Southampton, Hampshire SO30 2GB. If you do not want your name or prison to appear please make it clear. You will receive £5 for every one we print so don’t forget to include your details even if you don’t want them printed.

4.

3. AC Milan’s

Quotes (A)5 (B)4 (C)1 (D)2 (E)3

1. Jeremy Paxman 2. Prince Charles

Mind Gym 1. 3.7, 2. 20, 3. 561

The third kid pulls out a matchbox, opens it and takes out a spider and places it on the table and says “walk forward”, the spider walks forward. So he says, “Walk backwards” and the spider walks backwards. The teacher looks at the kid puzzled. So he tells her, “Wait a minute Miss”. He pulls the legs off the spider then places it back on the table. He now repeats his commands, “walk forward”, the spider stays still. “Walk backwards”, the spider stays still. “Well Miss, I learnt that spiders with no legs are deaf.” Simon Rowsell - HMP Woodhill

(A) “ If the Queen asks you to a party, you say yes. If the Italian prime minister asks you to a party, it’s probably safe to say no ”

Across: 1 Medici, 4 Modesty, 9 Collation, 10 Lucas, 11 Omega, 12 Stockpile, 13 Towpath, 15 Flower, 17 Stucco, 19 Patient, 22 Pierpoint, 24 Fichu, 26 Chick, 27 Ostracism, 28 El Greco, 29 Aegean. Down: 1 Mycroft, 2 Dolce, 3 Charabanc, 4 Mintoff, 5 Dalek, 6 Sacrilege, 7 Yasser, 8 Kitsch, 14 Wuthering, 16 Out of date, 18 Orinoco, 19 Petite, 20 Thurman, 21 Apache, 23 Pekoe, 25 Chile.

Send in your jokes, you will receive £5 for every one we print!

Ê NEWSFLASH: A security van carrying prisoners to court has crashed into a concrete mixer and the prisoners have all escaped. Police say ‘Be vigilant and are looking for ten hardened criminals.’ Darren Stewart - HMP Wakefield ......................................................... Ê What’s a florist’s favourite sandwich filling? Piccalilli D J Clarke - HMP Littlehey ......................................................... Ê There’s a class full of thick kids. The teacher tells them that for their homework tonight, she wants them to go home and learn something new about spiders. So they all go home and then come back the next day, finally the teacher says homework time, the kids put their hands up, the first kid says “Well Miss, I learnt spiders live in webs.” “Well done” she replies. The second kid says “Well Miss, I learnt that spiders eat flies”. “Well done” she replies.

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Problems inside? Don’t know where to turn? Need a specialist prison lawyer? Whether you are coming up for parole or require advice about a Judicial Review against the Prison Service, we can help. So, if you need professional, confidential legal advice, call Howells’ prison law specialists on Sheffield 0114 249 6717. 15 -17 Bridge Street Sheffield S3 8NL

www.howells-solicitors.com

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For an immediate response and visit to any prison in Scotland, write or telephone:

Susan Rhodes Bruce & Co 89 - 91 High Street Arbroath DD11 1DP

01241 430660

Solicitors to fight your case!

Jailbreak

1 Elder brother of Sherlock Holmes (7) 2 “La _____Vita, a film directed by Federico Fellini (5) 3 A tourist coach (9) 4 Dom _____, controversial prime minister of Malta before and after independence (7) 5 Alien machine-organism appearing in the BBC TV series “Dr Who” (5) 6 desecration of something sacred (9) 7 _____ Arafat, Palestinian leader (6) 8 Work in any of the arts that is pretentious and inferior or in bad taste (6) 14 “_____ Heights”, a novel by Emily Bronte (9) 16 Old-fashioned or no longer current (3,2,4) 18 “_____ Flow”, a song that was a hit for Enya in 1988 (7) 19 Small, slender, and trim (6) 20 Uma _____, American film actress (7) 21 Name of an American Indian tribe, also applied to hooligans in Paris (6) 23 Orange _____, a type of black tea made from very small leaves (5) 25 South American country with a long Pacific coastline (5)

Norwegian Ossetian Portuguese Russian Serbian Sotho Swahili Tamil Urdu Vietnamese Welsh Xhosa Yoruba Zulu

H S I N N I F A D D D A N I S H G H P A V I E T N A M E S E S N A A K I R F A F B G F C R E N C H W I S L I R N U I C P E E S E T L A M A R A B W T C D S A A O M O I B A B E H E B A O T A S I S R A R B R N U H S I L O P I U I L A A I P Q T R G I A E L I C E L A N D I C A A R C U A I B N I T X N O I R A S U R L N S I G V A M O L A G A D R S R K N F A G T B U O N A E R O K S L O V S N T E G H Y A E H A M A T A E N H A N V O B D N I U R S I R E E K E F X I G L E H E U I J V A E Check forward, backward and G A N O T A M I L I B B S M C L K B L N diagonally, they are all there! L C A Z C E B W I N O O A I B A U Q M A U I I Y O A M U G R A N I N A R Z Z N P Thanks to Petros Williams - HMP G D B B N F E N A I G E W R O N Y W X A Manchester for compiling this wordsearch. If you fancy compiling one for A A R M G R O R Y I I C E Y O N A B N J us please just send it in max 20 x 20 N N E U M I R O N G O X L A P A L A P A grid & complete with answers shown If we use it we will send you Y N S Z O O Y N O H T O S S E T I A N L on a grid. £5 as a thank you! N S B Y A W R O N T W I H B U L G A R A Afrikaans Arabic 7 4 8 1 7 6 1 Cebuano 3 4 2 1 Danish 8 2 Finnish 8 1 7 3 Georgian 2 7 8 1 8 3 1 Hiligaynon 1 9 8 4 2 4 Hindi 4 5 7 3 5 6 2 Icelandic Indonesian 8 6 4 3 8 7 Japanese 9 3 6 4 Korean 2 4 9 5 3 Lapalapa 3 5 Daily Sudoku: Sun 6-Feb-2011 Daily Sudoku: Tue 8-Feb-2011 Lingala Maltese Norway Norwegian 5 9 2 7 4 3 6 8 1 7 6 5 8 2 3 4 9 1 Ossetian 6 8 3 2 9 1 4 7 5 2 3 4 1 9 7 6 8 5 Portuguese 7 1 4 5 8 6 2 9 3 Russian 8 9 1 6 4 5 7 3 2 SerbianWe’re 9 outside 2 7 fighting 4 3 5for8your 1 rights 6 inside 6 8 2 7 3 1 5 4 9 Sotho Prison Law Specialists in Wales 1 3 6 9 7 8 5 2 4 3 5 9 2 8 4 1 7 6 SwahiliDealing With: 8 4 5 6 1 2 7 3 9 Adjudications Tamil 4 1 7 5 6 9 3 2 8 Parole Reviews Urdu Licence 4 Recall 7 8 3 6 9 1 5 2 1 4 3 9 5 2 8 6 7 Categorisation Vietnamese 2 6 9 1 5 7 3 4 8

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1 Italian family who ruled Florence in the 15th century (6) 4 “_____ Blaise”, 1960s spy movie starring Monica Vitti (7) 9 A light informal meal (9) 10 George _____, American film director, screenwriter and producer, best known for the “Star Wars” series (5) 11 The last letter of the Greek alphabet (5) 12 A supply stored for future use (9) 13 Track alongside a canal used by horses hauling boats (7) 15 “Full many a is born to blush unseen” (Gray: Elegy) (6) 17 Plaster used to coat walls or make architectural mouldings (6) 19 “The English _____”, Oscar-winning film directed by Anthony Minghella (7) 22 Middle name of the American financier and philanthropist J. P Morgan (9) 24 A woman’s small triangular shawl for the shoulders and neck (5) 26 _____ Corea, American jazz pianist and composer (5) 27 Banishment or exclusion from a group (9) 28 Renowned Greek-born Spanish painter of religious works (2,5) 29 Sea between Greece and Asia Minor (6)

Down

Afrikaans Arabic Cebuano Danish Finnish Georgian Hiligaynon Hindi Icelandic Indonesian Japanese Korean Lapalapa Lingala Maltese

Don’t Rot On Recall!

Transfers Lifer Panels Criminal Defence and Appeals

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Daily Sudoku: Sun 6-Feb-2011

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Petros Williams A8380AF HMP Manchester Mind your

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