July 2010.pdf - Google Drive

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S pp ho Plu le rt s m S en to t i ry ns id e

insidetime

HM Chief Inspector of Prisons talks to Inside Time

the National Newspaper for Prisoners

pages ................ 38-39

A ‘not for profit’ publication /53,000 copies distributed monthly / ISSN 1743-7342 /Issue No. 133 / July 2010

‘Prisons are awash with drugs’ An estimated £100 million worth of drugs are smuggled into prisons every year but there is a worrying lack of knowledge about how they get there Eric McGraw reports

I

t is an open secret that our prisons are awash with drugs. The evidence points to the fact that the bulk of drug dealing, as well as the smuggling of mobile phones, into prisons is highly organised and involves the collusion of around 1000 corrupt members of prison staff – an average of seven for every prison in England and Wales.

These are the findings in a new Report: ‘Coming Clean: combating drug misuse in prisons’ by the Policy Exchange, an independent think tank – that carried out a Prisoner Survey in Inside Time in December 2009. The Report recommends that the Prison Service

comes clean about the level of corruption and introduces measures to root out and prosecute corrupt staff. It also argues that compelling the Prison Service to properly analyse which smuggling routes are the most common will have a big impact on curbing the supply of drugs into prisons. Cases of alleged corruption by prison staff are not routinely investigated and information on the number of staff accused, charged, prosecuted or convicted of smuggling drugs or mobile phones is not collected by central Government. The previous Government claimed that to find out would incur disproportionate cost. It is difficult to imagine, as Inside Time has noted on many occasions, how finding out how many members of staff are involved in corruption, putting the safety

of colleagues and the public at risk, could possibly involve disproportionate cost. The Report claims that in too many prisons maintaining prisoners’ addictions has become the easy option. A prison sentence should be a chance to get drug free, not an opportunity to be squandered simply because maintaining a prisoners’ addiction is easier than tackling the underlying cause of their offending. The existing Mandatory Drug Testing (MDT) should be scrapped and replaced with a quarterly testing of at least 50 per cent of the entire population of each prison. Much higher levels of illicit drug taking would be revealed, giving a more accurate picture of the scale of the problem in each prison, the Report says.

Prisoner Survey Results

35%

or around 30,000 prisoners have used drugs in prison

1 in 5

prisoners have used heroin

14,000

prisoners who use drugs at least once a week Source: Policy Exchange June 2010 Based on a Prisoner Survey, Inside Time December 2009

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

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The 130-decibel blast of the vuvuzela could soon be around us - the trumpets, beloved by South African football fans, are now flying off the shelves in Britain; Sainsbury’s has sold 40,000 of them, at £2 each, but they have been banned from Wimbledon. South Africa in Numbers page 52

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Mailbag

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

A ‘toxic missive’ ................................................................................................................

insidetime

Gerard McGrath – HMP Haverigg

a voice for prisoners since 1990 the national newspaper for prisoners published by Inside Time Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of New Bridge, a charity founded in 1956 to create links between the offender and the community.

In his prize-winning poison-pen letter published in your June issue, fellow prisoner Ian Hutchison ridicules me and impugns the integrity of the editorial team of Inside Time. Ian implied the May ‘Star Letter’ prize was awarded to me on the basis of favouritism; describing me as a ‘star pupil’ of Inside Time. ‘Contributor’ is more appropriate, but the word is probably not in Ian’s vocabulary as appears to be the case with myriad other words. The editorial team can speak for themselves, though I suspect they have treated Ian’s implication with the contempt it warrants. One trusts Ian’s £25 prize has sweetened his sour grapes and ameliorated his seemingly churlish, atrabilious nature.

Inside Time is wholly responsible for its editorial contents. All comments or any complaint should be directed to the Managing Editor and not to New Bridge.

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a not profit

©

Board of Directors

publication

Trevor Grove - Former Editor Sunday Telegraph, Journalist, Writer and serving Magistrate. Geoff Hughes - Former Governor, Belmarsh prison. Eric McGraw - Former Director, New Bridge (1986 - 2002) and founder of Inside Time in 1990. John D Roberts - Former Company Chairman and Managing Director employing ex-offenders. Louise Shorter - Former producer, BBC Rough Justice programme. © © a E. Smith B.Sc F.C.A. a Alistair H. not not - Chartered profit profit Accountant, Trustee and Treasurer, New Bridge publication service Foundation.

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Chris Thomas - Chief Executive, New Bridge Foundation.

The Editorial

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a Team not profit

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organisation

John Bowers

Rachel Billington

Writer and former prisoner

Novelist and Journalist

Eric McGraw

John Roberts

Author and Managing Editor

Operations Director and Company Secretary

Editorial Assistants Lucy Forde - Former prisoner education mentor Paul Sullivan - Former prisoner

Administration Assistant Sonia Miah

Layout and Design Colin Matthews - [email protected]

Correspondence

Missed opportunity

....................................................... Terry Brown - HMP Leyhill Having read the June issue of Inside Time, I have to say I was extremely disappointed to note that only 611 prisoners out of approximately 70,000 actually took the opportunity to participate in the mock election featured in your May issue. For many years, prisoners throughout the system have complained because they couldn’t vote and John Hirst fought hard for many years until finally he got the European Courts to rule against the government and in favour of prisoners. The vote in question might only have been a mock one, however if a substantial number of prisoners had bothered to take part it would have made our voice appreciably louder and stronger, and reinforced our case for being given the vote. Sadly, MPs up and down the country, particularly those who are against us having the vote and those in marginal prison constituencies, are rubbing their hands with glee at the poor turnout; and doubtless will use this as a convenient lever in their continued fight to prevent prisoners from ever having the vote.

Compensation claim

........................................................................................................ James Stewart - HMP Rye Hill Given the government’s refusal to allow serving prisoners the vote in the recent Election, I wish to pursue a claim for compensation and need details for the firm of solicitors to whom the claim should be made. Inside Time writes: Prisoners wishing to claim compensation can obtain a pro forma claim form from Elkan Abrahamson, Jackson & Canter LLP, 32 Princes Road, Liverpool L8 1TH. A stamped addressed envelope is required. Elkan Abrahamson and the top barrister in prison law, Flo Krause, are pursuing claims for damages for all those prisoners who wish to seek at least £1,000 each in compensation. 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.

Email a Prisoner Sponsors of the Mailbag section To find out more about the EMAP service see page 13 for details and look for the orange flash under the adverts of firms and organisations using the service.

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I suspect Inside Time of being a tad mischievous in awarding Mr Hutchison the June star letter prize. I feel sure many readers agree the axiomatic ‘star letter’ of the June issue was that of Peter Giannasi. Peter has the singular misfortune to be Ian’s fellow resident in the insalubrious precincts of HMP The Mount. (‘Insalubrious’ is Ian’s favourite word of mine and it would have been rude not to incorporate it). Juxtaposed with Ian’s toxic missive, Peter’s contribution is an erudite, well written, valid criticism of an issue that really matters. If Ian has any largesse of spirit he should at least share his prize-money with Peter.

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Inside Time is distributed free of charge throughout the UK prison estate. It is available to other readers via a postal subscription service.

It is my vocabulary Ian ridicules. He cites a radically abbreviated list of the plethora of words I have employed during the years I have contributed to Inside Time, words he did not understand. Ian complains that my contributions have him reaching for the dictionary as he finds many words abstruse. Surely a little gratitude for being instrumental in expanding his lexicon, for enlightening his ignorance, would be more becoming of him than ridicule. When I encounter a word I do not understand I too adopt a heuristic approach and refer to a dictionary. Yes, I could write in colloquial language but that is patronizing of readers ‘innit bro’.

Want legal advice?

Inside Time, Botley Mills, Botley, Southampton, Hampshire SO30 2GB. Accounts & Admin: Inside Time, P.O.Box 251, Hedge End, Hampshire SO30 4XJ. 0844 335 6483 / 01489 795945 0844 335 6484 [email protected] www.insidetime.org

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Star Letter of the Month


Prisoners’ bank accounts a priority ....................................................................................................... Chris Bath - Director of Projects, UNLOCK requires Governors to offer support and verify your identity. Recently, Steve Smith (serving at Blantyre House) volunteered at UNLOCK. As part of his role he contacted every prison to ask if they have an active service. Fifty-three said ‘yes’, so if it’s not happening, let us know.

Congratulations to our correspondent who wins the £25 cash prize for this month’s Star Letter

Count yourself lucky Andy! ................................................... Name supplied - HMP Usk I felt compelled to write to your paper after reading Andy Thackwray’s article in your May issue on life outside prison: ‘Benefits ... or lack of them’. I have been a keen reader of Mr Thackwray’s various contributions to Inside Time over the years and despite the excellent advice in his last paragraph, I am saddened at the ongoing lack of realism that prisoners seem to have in relation to state benefits. Many appear to have no idea that other people have to manage on a limited budget: day in - day out. I have worked in both prisons and Approved Premises and come up against this reality failing time after time. If Mr Thackwray has ‘forty quid’ in his pocket to survive on per week, after his hostel charge is paid, then he should count himself lucky. For his £25.00 weekly charge: not only does he have his room paid for, he also has two meals per day and does not pay for lighting and heating. All this for £25.00 per week! I think if Mr Thackwray were to ask around the staff that he comes into contact with on a daily basis, he will find that they will have less money in their wallets and purses than he has - after their living costs are met. Should Mr Thackwray ask a little further, he may also find that many people these days buy cheap foundation garments in supermarkets and their outer garments from eBay and charity shops. His idea of £500.00 to spend ‘on clobber’ is, frankly, laughable. As he quite correctly surmises, prisoners should make release plans the day they get sentenced. A quid here and there will add up and it is true to say that you value things that you have worked towards. I understand that it is very difficult for a huge percentage of ex-offenders to find work and leaving prison is just the start of the struggle - but there are many people who do not have a criminal record who are subject to the same rules and regulations. Through the columns of Inside Time, Andy Thackwray is providing an excellent service to both prisoners and staff in relaying how it really is out there. It is a shame that many fail to take on board good advice. Andy Thackwray page 32

In the January issue of Inside Time, I wrote about the importance of bank accounts and how difficult they are to open before release, something proved by Andy Thackwray’s excellent article last month. Andy is not alone in the problems he faced trying to open an account while inside (or with the Jobcentre after release). If you have plenty of ID, a stable address history and plenty of cash you may be in luck - but what if you don’t? Five years ago, our members told us they couldn’t get jobs without a bank account, which they couldn’t get without ID. We set up a two-prison pilot project working with a bank’s headquarters and using the Governor’s authority for ID. It was a success, opening over 130 accounts for prisoners in a year but a national roll-out promised by NOMS never happened. Five years later and things have improved slightly but nowhere near enough. Some people have been able to open accounts independently. We’ve set up projects in six prisons opening hundreds of accounts and many other prisons have also had success, helped in part by the new PSI 35/2009 which

But full coverage is what’s needed and many existing projects are pretty fragile. From your letters we know you’ve had to remind people that that PSI stands for Prison Service Instruction, not If-you-feel-like-it. However, other staff have been trying very hard to help but have been frustrated by banks refusing to accept applications, or even to respond. The hard truth is that none of us have a legal right to a bank account and there is nothing that any of us can do to force a bank to open one. We can only do our best to persuade. In June we succeeded in getting the banks together at the British Bankers Association to discuss the problem. We suggested they each ‘adopt’ some prisons until the whole country was covered. I think we got them to accept that prisoners weren’t out to defraud, money-launder and finance terrorism and I’m genuinely hopeful that we’ll soon see a bit more support from some. However, they were all very clear that opening accounts for prisoners would cost them money. Unless the government tells them it’s a priority to help prisoners, nothing is going to change. So I’m off to ask the Coalition to tell the banks that prisoners’ bank accounts are a priority. Wish me luck! Chris Bath is the Director of Projects for UNLOCK, the National Association of Reformed Offenders, which aims for equality for reformed offenders. They can be contacted at: 35a High Street, Snodland, Kent ME6 5AG. Telephone: 01634 247350 Web: www.unlock.org.uk .

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Mailbag

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Contents Mailbag ......................... pages 2-9 Newsround .............. pages 10-17 Health ....................... pages 18-19

Month by Month Rachel Billington ............. page 20

Comment .......................... page 21 Astrology .......................... page 22 Religions .......................... page 23 Comment ................. pages 24-36

‘An open letter to Kenneth Clarke Secretary of State for Justice’ John O’Connor ................................ pages 24-25

Short Story ................ page 37 Interview .............. pages 38-39 News from the House ................................ pages 40-42 Legal Comment .. pages 43-44 Legal Advice .................... page 45 Legal Q&A ............. pages 46-47 Book Reviews .......... pages 48 - 49 DVD Review ..................... page 49 Inside Poetry............ pages 50-51 Jailbreak ................... pages 52-56

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looking ahead August / Special Scottish pages September / 8 page Poetry Supplement October / Special Education pages

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Mailbag

Why the policy change?

..................................................... David Carty - HMP Shepton Mallet I have concerns about civilian nursing staff here at Shepton Mallet being allowed to complete parole reports to a standard NOMS template. This includes giving them access to our core prison files and offending details. Nurses are also being asked to assess our risk of re-offending. In my view this is wholly objectionable and I would like to know who authorised this disclosure of our files to civilian staff and what training they receive in risk assessments?

Writes The Public Protection Casework section advises that the practice at Shepton Mallet conforms with the policy outlined in Prison Service Order 6010 concerning the Generic Parole Process. There is no reason why a member of the Healthcare staff cannot complete reports regarding the risks that a prisoner poses, subject to the necessary training or experience. In doing so it is expected that, where necessary, appropriate account is taken of the information contained within the prisoner’s file in order to prepare the report. The fact that this may be a civilian member of staff is an irrelevance. It is of course correct that in many cases, the Healthcare report will not be lengthy or even touch on issues of risk; but this does not mean that they should not. All staff able to provide reports that assist the Parole Board’s decision making, in respect of a prisoner’s progress, should and indeed must be able to do so. It is a matter for the Parole Board to take account of, and place due weight upon, any information contained within the dossier.



Making challenges ..................................................... F Kelly - HMP Peterhead I have written to Inside Time before regarding inaccurate information held on me by the Prison Service. This information is then passed to third parties such as the Parole Board who can read it and form an opinion of you even before you know they have seen it. In a recent letter to me from the Information Commissioner’s Office it clearly states: ‘The fourth principle says that personal data shall be accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date’. They also agreed that the Scottish Prison Service should record any challenge a prisoner has to an allegation. Previously they would just ignore you; now they must pass your note of correction (your challenge) to every third party that they send their inaccurate information. For example: the Prison Service says they have ‘reliable information’ that I activate the fire alarms. ‘Reliable information is information which comes from a reliable source, for example a member of staff seeing an incident’. This is bullshit. However, my challenge to that is: I have never been on report (adjudication) for activating a fire alarm. If a member of staff has seen me activate an alarm then he is not doing his job right if he has not reported me. Finally, the fire control box on each landing will tell five cells where the alarm has sounded. It cannot pinpoint one cell. This would be my challenge to the SPS. I would urge that you let prisoners know they can challenge the Prison Service. The Information Commissioner’s office can be contacted at: Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF Tel: 0845 630 6060.

Getting to the heart of the matter ...................................................................................................... Elizabeth Moody - Deputy Ombudsman Keith Rose’s article in the May issue of Inside Time suggested that the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO) may not be entirely independent. He referred to a particular complaint about a missing memory stick. I cannot respond point by point about the case Mr Rose cites because it was a matter between the complainant and the Ombudsman and we take the complainant’s confidentiality very seriously, however I do want to respond to the general points Mr Rose makes about the PPO. Mr Rose is correct when he says that we cannot investigate every complaint. The PPO’s terms of reference only allow us to look at complaints that have already been through the internal prison or probation complaints procedures. We are not the first port of call for complaints – we are the last resort when, despite your best efforts, the matter cannot be settled locally. And there are some matters which we can’t comment on including sentencing decisions. That is only proper – we respect judicial independence and so should not comment on decisions made by the courts. But we can and do handle complaints about re-categorisation decisions, transfers, HDC decisions, IEP reviews and security issues. We deal with a lot of complaints about missing property – including missing memory sticks. We have never, to my knowledge, been asked to investigate a complaint that data was stolen or improperly downloaded from a memory stick. However, if the complaint was not resolved locally, then I would expect to investigate that too. One of the things that the PPO office takes a real pride in is getting to the heart of an issue. This means that we need to test out what we are told. Anyone who has had a complaint investigated by the Ombudsman will know that we can ask them to explain in a lot of detail what happened, and we can also ask them to respond to points made by the prison. We do the same with the prison – we regularly ask prisons to provide an explanation of what might have happened if they do not agree with the complainant’s version of events. Our job is to weigh up the differing accounts, along with all the other evidence, and reach a conclusion. Impartiality means that we will give you a chance to hear and respond to the prison’s version of events, and we will do the same for the prison. This isn’t breaching confidentiality. If a complainant (or the prison) tells us something in confidence, we will always respect that confidence. But if maintaining confidentiality means we are not able to test out an assertion, we won’t be able to place so much weight on it. Mr Rose also asks whether the source of funding for the Ombudsman’s office undermines our independence. The office is funded by the Ministry of Justice, but this does not mean that our independence is threatened. The Ombudsman, and indeed the Ministry of Justice, sets great store on preserving our independence. That means that there is no interference whatsoever with any of our investigations or with the conclusions that we reach. And if complainants are dissatisfied with our decisions or the way we have carried out our investigations they have the right to seek an external review. If a complainant thinks that a decision made by the Ombudsman is unreasonable, they can challenge it through Judicial Review. And if a complainant thinks we have not carried out an adequate investigation or have not acted independently, they can ask their MP to refer the case to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman which reports directly to Parliament. We investigated over 2,000 eligible complaints last year and I hope very much that Mr Rose’s comments will not deter people from making full use of the important service we offer. If you would like to contribute to Mailbag, please send your letters (concise and clearly marked) to ‘Mailbag’, Inside Time, Botley Mills, Botley, Southampton, Hampshire SO30 2GB. To avoid any possible misunderstanding, if you have a query and for whatever reason do not wish your letter to be published in Inside Time or appear on the website, or yourself to be identified, please make this clear. We advise that wherever possible, when sending original documents such as legal papers, you send photocopies as we are unable to accept liability if they are lost. We may need to forward your letter and /or documents to Prison Service HQ or another appropriate body for comment or advice, therefore only send information you are willing to have forwarded on your behalf.

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Asperger Syndrome experiences

..................................................... Neil Robertson - HMP Peterhead As an individual with Asperger Syndrome (AS), I am looking for other prisoners with the condition to provide me with their experiences of the criminal justice system including: • Police (arrest, detention, interrogation). • Legal advisors (support, knowledge of AS; use of AS as mitigating factor). • Pre-sentencing reports (social work/ probation, psychology, psychiatric – were the authors aware you had AS and was that taken into consideration in the reports?) • Prison (participation in offending programmes – have you been able to get on them and if so, did you experience any difficulties? Have you experienced bullying or intimidation by other prisoners and/or staff as a result of your AS, and has the prison been able to accommodate any sensory sensitivities you may have?) • AS diagnosis: were you diagnosed a] before entering the criminal justice system; b] prior to sentencing; c] after sentencing or d] you still do not have a formal diagnosis. I am especially interested in hearing from anyone who feels they may have been the subject of a miscarriage of justice as a result of AS or who has been discriminated against whilst in prison; in particular with respect to participation on offence intervention programmes. I am currently litigating against the Scottish Government under the Disability Discrimination Act regarding their failure to provide appropriate modifications to make offender programmes more ‘user friendly’ and effective for people with AS. I would be happy to provide any general or specific information about AS and in particular AS and the criminal justice system to anyone who responds; including information, literature, diagnostic support, sources of AS aware legal advice and support and advocacy groups and services. Write to: Neil Robertson 78510, HMP Peterhead, Aberdeenshire AB42 2YY.

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Human guinea pigs

Welcome to the ‘body bag club’ ........................................................................................................

Andrew Collins - HMP Frankland

Harry Bannermann - HMP Wakefield

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

expense than it costs to keep them inside; and would release a big hold in the overcrowding and not fill the courts up again, therefore saving further government expense.

I am currently located on the Westgate Dangerous & Severe Personality Disorder (DSPD) unit here at Frankland awaiting my assessment and therefore read with interest in your April issue the article regarding the effectiveness of the whole DSPD project, along with comments made by Professor Peter Tyrer in the June issue of Inside Time. It is highly likely that reports published later this year will cast doubt on the effectiveness of the treatment and question the costs involved against the benefits gained. However, to put this in some context the yearly cost per prisoner on the Westgate unit is approximately £96,000; at Rampton Hospital £120,000 and at Broadmoor Hospital as much as £250,000. Staff here, when questioned by concerned individuals, unsurprisingly have stated: “The Westgate unit will not get shut down”, citing if anything the hospital units will be closed and furthermore they fully believe in the benefit of the treatment. I can’t comment on treatment other than to say some prisoners think it’s great, others rubbish. However, I would like to point out some realities of life on the Westgate unit. The ‘living phase’ prior to assessment should be a few months, but prisoners are waiting 12 -24 months before getting assessed. Apparently this is much improved and includes psychologists working evenings and weekends to complete assessments. Another issue is a policy forcing the prison service into unlawful re-cats. Previously, prisoners who were C Cat could be located on the prison based DSPD units and retain their C Cat. However an updated policy means there will be no C Cat prisoners in the high security estate. Hence prisoners referred are being stripped of their status regardless of whether there are grounds to justify it. This has been challenged in the courts and there is now one prisoner on Westgate who has retained C Cat status. ‘Treatment’ lasts around five years. My concern is that I doubt funding is guaranteed for the next six years. The future is not clear for those labelled as fitting criteria or already undergoing treatment – what happens if it’s shut down or the treatment people are being told is helping them is subsequently declared a waste of time? Furthermore, it’s already clear that once you’ve been on a DSPD unit other prisons don’t want to touch you with the proverbial bargepole, so what courses are ‘we’ going to be given to reduce our risk? In my view yet another example of the government using prisoners as human guinea pigs.

We all know why they are not being released; they are easy to control, so prisons hang on to them using the excuse that if they do not do the prison programmes, even if they are incapable of doing them, ignoring the fact they are supposed to be voluntary, the government say they will not be released. Yet over the years I have seen healthy, hard to control weightlifters pushed through the system without doing any programmes at all and who are now out of prison.

© prisonimage.org In most British prisons there are old men in their late sixties and seventies, at least three-quarters of them very ill and years over tariff. They could never re-offend and the vast majority would not want to. The prisons are overcrowded and the government doesn’t really know what to do about it; when really it is there for them to see because these elderly prisoners could easily be controlled outside of prison for a lot less

Whose responsibility?

..................................................... Name & address supplied Can Inside Time tell me who is responsible for claiming the body of a prisoner who dies whilst in prison custody?

Writes When a prisoner dies in custody the death is reported to the Police and the local Coroner. A post mortem is then held to try to establish the exact cause of death; after which the Coroner will usually release the body so that a funeral may take place. National policy covering the payment of funeral expenses is contained in paragraph 4.29 of Prison Service Order 2710 ‘Follow up to Deaths in Custody’. When a prisoner dies, the prison must offer to pay reasonable funeral expenses and a contribution of up to £3,000 is usually made. This payment is normally made directly to the funeral directors.

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At least a third of Wakefield residents come under the category of the ‘body bag club’. They are well over tariff, very ill and disabled. Lots are in wheelchairs and it’s costing the government a small fortune to keep them in prison. A hell of a lot more than it costs to keep a normal healthy inmate. So this means there are more deaths per year in Wakefield than any other prison in the country! Men that will never see their families ever again and the government will probably have to finance the burials too. One might say this is an inhumane practice and should be looked into before inmates take it into their own hands and take the problem to the Court of Human Rights, which could mean yet another large financial price the government will have to pay.

Homophobic ignorance

....................................................... Are you a gay prisoner? Have you been a victim of homophobic bullying or assault by other prisoners or prison officers? Do you feel as though you have to keep your head down to get by? Have you been put in segregation and been told it was ‘for your own safety’? I am researching the manner in which gay prisoners are treated in prison, and will publicise my findings. If you identify as gay or bisexual and would like to tell me how you have been treated, I’d very much like to hear from you. Please respond ASAP by writing to: Sophie Willett, The Howard League, 1 Ardleigh Road, London N1 4HS.

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Wilful ignorance .................................................... Ian Hitchings LLB - Gwent In response to the excellent letter in your June issue (Treat everyone the same), may I be permitted to say that I totally agree with views expressed by this anonymous author. As a former Category ‘A’ prisoner myself, I entered the prison system in the days when slopping out was the everyday norm and from where I subsequently read Law; eventually graduating with a Bachelor of Law degree before being discharged from within the establishment’s cockroach infested wings in 2004 and back into some sort of the ‘normality’ which society brings. So I know from bitter personal experience how less than even-handed and manipulative prison establishments can be. Regrettably, it’s fairly accurate to say, HM Prison Service violate prisoners’ rights as an almost everyday occurrence; as defined by the Grand Chamber of the European Court on Human Rights. For example, under section 6(1) of the Human Rights Act 1998: “It is unlawful for a public authority to act in a way which is incompatible with a Convention right”, namely the right of each person to the peaceful enjoyment of their possessions guaranteed by Article 1 of the First Protocol of the European Convention on Human Rights, as well as, or in combination with Article 6 of the ECHR. Nevertheless, may I draw prisoners’ attention to Section 6 of the Prosecution of Offenders Act 1985 - Misfeasance in Public Office,


contrary to the Common Law. As every prisoner in this country is perfectly entitled to instruct their solicitor to instigate legal proceedings against any prison governor, if they reasonably believe that their human rights have been wilfully, negligently and deliberately ignored and/or if they have been unfortunately subjected to any sort of torture, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment, and/or if they strongly believe their categorisation has been wrongly allocated to them. A prison governor has a legal duty of ensuring the correct categorisation has been allocated to each and every particular prisoner within their prison establishment. If a particular prisoner’s categorisation is wrong, then they would have remained subject to a more severe regime and interference with their liberty than should have been the case, and their rights as a prisoner would have been breached for that period. It’s about time Prison Governors, together with their officers, started to voluntarily comply with the Human Rights Act 1998 and immediately refrain from wilfully ignoring the human rights of prisoners. In their capacity of appointed public servants, governors, prison officers and others have a legal, moral and social obligation to fully comply with the Human Rights of prisoners as defined by the Grand Chamber of the European Court on Human Rights. If they think for one minute that their Human Rights have been violated, I can only advise prisoners to seek legal advice immediately. There’s an old saying ‘you have nothing to lose but perhaps a lot to gain’.

Maintaining basic human dignity

Vice-President of the National Council, 2nd Floor, 2 Monck Street, London SW1P 2BQ [email protected] www.imb.gov.uk

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

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John Weightman - Independent Monitoring Boards

n I note the content of the letter in your May issue whereby two prisoners at Long Lartin highlight the practice of slopping-out and comment made by David Howarth MP that the lack of in-cell sanitation only serves to humiliate rather than rehabilitate offenders.

I noted in the contribution from two prisoners at Long Lartin (Inside Time - May 2010 issue) that there were a number of prisons which, during lockdown at night, still in effect required the long discredited ‘slopping out.’ It is recognised that this process has officially been terminated but, due to a lack of proper in-cell facilities, on some wings it is impractical. The item was clear that the practice took place at Long Lartin. Based on the IMB Annual Report from HMP Bullwood Hall, also referred to, it is apparently the case that it happens there, too. I understand that it is also practiced at HMP Bristol and HMP Isle of Wight (Albany). Reference was made to the fact that the then Minister of State, Maria Eagle MP had made a statement in the House claiming the practice no longer existed. As your readers will know, the strap-line for IMBs is ‘Monitoring fairness and respect for people in custody’. At its recent meeting the IMB National Council decided that this should be looked into with some urgency and that evidence should be gathered with a view to reporting to Ministers. The difficulty we anticipate here is identifying where the problem exists. Regional National Council representatives are making enquiries within their areas. It would also be of great use if Inside Time could place something in your next issue informing prisoners of this and inviting them to assist in identifying exactly where the practice still happens. In the event that we do make a report, we would credit prisoners for their part in its preparation. I do hope that something might come of this. At a time when we can reasonably assume that there will be considerably more financial constraints, it is more important than ever to maintain basic human dignity. Write to: John Weightman, Independent Monitoring Boards,

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My brother is serving time in Albany for a crime he did not commit, but even if he was guilty then he would still be entitled to be treated with dignity. Albany, like several other prisons in this country, has no in cell toilet facilities despite this being against Articles 8 and 3 of the Human Rights Act 1998. If prisoners there have stomach problems they have to do their business in the slop bucket and then have it in the cell with them all night. They are not able to wash their hands, also not good if they have to be sick after going to the loo and getting the splash back all over themselves. They have electronic bells to have cells opened 3 times in the night (if it is in use, not used if a prisoner requires a listener during the night), yet not a lot of good if you have upset stomachs and need to go all through the night. In the morning there is the added indignity of ‘slopping out’; not nice for the other prisoners or officers if the bucket reeks and not easy if, like my brother, they are on crutches. If however they ‘misbehave’ and get put into solitary they get the benefit of toilets and wash facilities in the cell. Hardly fair to prisoners who keep out of trouble? Albany is a relatively new prison so why were toilets not put in when the prison was built? Wormwood Scrubs, which is well over 100 years old, has in-cell toilets. I think it is time that all prisoners, whether innocent or guilty, were given a little dignity and not made to go to the toilet as though they were in a third world country. What is the point of having an electronic bell system if it does not properly address the needs of prisoners?


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Reply: far from reality

........................................................................................................... Keith Rose - HMP Long Lartin I write in reply to Elfyn Jones’ letter in the June issue of Inside Time, and the Ministry of Justice reply to a prisoner in HMP Channings Wood. Elfyn Jones is correct in that some psycho-babes may try to help, but given that his experiences include a DSPD unit, I would expect he would have received good quality care. This is simply because the amount of money spent on prisoners in DSPD units is £200 million over 10 years, or £666,666.66 for each of the 300 prisoner ‘graduates’. It should be noted that Channel 4 news broke the story on the ineffectiveness of DSPD units, psychological treatments therein, and poor results obtained. Psycho-babes (hyphenated), is a word in the public domain, and after featuring in a couple of Coronation Street episodes, will probably appear in a few years in the Oxford English Dictionary under the entry for Psycho-babble, which is already there, and which is what most psycho-babes spout. The Ministry of Justice reply to a prisoner in Channings Wood is far from reality. By stating that the Prison Service do not regard an external psychologist’s report as independent, simply because it has been commissioned on a prisoner’s behalf, is arrogant and ignorant. Any consultant psychologist or psychiatrist would not risk their professional reputation just because a prisoner commissioned them. In reality, most reports of this nature are written for the courts, by members of the Society of Expert Witnesses. Needless to say, such is the arrogance of the Ministry of Justice that they try to rubbish these reports as well.

Ticking over ......................................................................................................... Brian Uttley - Leeds (former prisoner) I write in reply to the letter by Elfyn Jones in your June issue (Psychology not a magic formula) reference psychology departments in prison, in which he asks whether ‘psycho-babes’ are there to condemn prisoners or to help them. The simple answer Elfyn is ... neither! They are there to ‘study’ inmates and then report on the results of the studies. Psychology does not give treatment, although it may suggest ways of changing attitudes and report on any ‘improvement’ in the offender’s attitude. However the report is not for the prisoner, even though he may be permitted to read the content. It is for the Probation Service to assess the possibility of a release plan and resettlement of the inmate. The rule to remember is that psychology is the study of what makes people tick, while psychiatry is the treatment of people who don’t tick properly.

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....................................................... Michael Robinson - Partner, Emmersons Solicitors We would like to thank all the prisoners who sent a copy of my June issue contribution ‘Open Letter to the Prime Minister - Cost to the Taxpayer – the IPP Sentence’ to their own MP. As a direct result, this issue has been raised in Parliament by Claire Perry MP (Devizes), who received a copy of the letter from a prisoner in HMP Erlestoke. She asked Crispin Blunt, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Prisons and Probation), whether he acknowledged that the previous Government’s mismanagement of the IPP sentence contributed to prison overcrowding, and asked what was going to be done to reform the IPP regime. Mr. Blunt commented that the previous Government had to reform the IPP arrangements in 2008, and that the current Government had inherited ‘a very serious problem’ with IPP prisoners. He said, ‘we have 6,000 IPP prisoners, well over 2,500 of whom have exceeded their tariff point. Many cannot get on courses because our prisons are wholly overcrowded and (they are) unable to address offending behaviour. That is not a defensible position.’ Although we are yet to receive a response from the Prime Minister or his Deputy, the Government has now announced a review on sentencing policy. Mr. Blunt said that the aim was to introduce ‘more effective sentencing and rehabilitation policies’ with the emphasis on ‘honesty in sentencing.’ The pre-election Conservative proposals for reform included the introduction of ‘mini-max’ sentences. Speaking in general terms, Mr. Blunt said, ‘… plainly the proposals that were in the Conservative manifesto will inform the outcome of the sentencing review.’ The proposals are due to be published in October. The Government has said that it will ‘consult widely before bringing forward coherent plans for reform.’ We have already contacted more than forty MPs so far and will continue to lobby for change. We would also encourage as many IPP prisoners as possible to write to their own MPs. Prisoners are welcome to contact us for more details on our campaign, or for a further copy of the open letter to send to their MP. Your local MP - page 42

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Polygraph results not admissible as evidence

..................................................... Name supplied - HMP Hull In the May issue of Inside Time there is a page covering ‘What MPs think of prisoners’. A question was asked about the use of polygraph tests to monitor former prisoners in the community. It went on to ask why the results cannot be used to demonstrate innocence at the Court of Appeal. After being charged with a sexual offence, I subjected myself to a polygraph test with a reputable polygrapher with the result that I was telling the truth and had not committed any offence. I took the test as I wanted to prove to family and friends that I could answer questions that were directly related to the charges truthfully and pass such a test. The outcome was that I sailed through the test not once but three times. On the first test the polygrapher sets up certain levels and then the full test is run twice. Failure of any part of the test is a failure of the whole test. A copy of the report, along with a disc – it is recorded on a webcam – was passed to my barrister long before my trial and she was asked if it could be shown to the CPS pre-trial. Just think how much money could be saved if the CPS stopped trials well in advance because their clients were in fact telling lies. I was made very aware that it would be inadmissible as evidence in a courtroom. My barrister accepted the test results from me but didn’t comment on what I had said about showing them to the CPS. Just prior to the start of my trial, I asked my barrister if the polygraph had been mentioned to the opposition and was told no. Nothing else was said. During my time in prison I have been in touch with the charity SAFARI. According to them, there was a Government response to a SAFARI petition stating that it was for the courts to admit this evidence if they wished. In an email I have from Professor Grubin of Newcastle University, who I believe is involved with the mandatory polygraph testing trials of sex offenders, suggesting that a test case could be brought before the courts. The professor was a member on a panel answering questions, some of which were covered in Inside Time but not to any great depth or scope. He also makes a comment that the test results cannot be used as evidence in court, which would seem to contradict the earlier account from SAFARI.

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Image courtesy the Prison Phoenix Trust

Oasis of calm ..................................................... Mark Pogson - formerly a Teacher at HMP Shepton Mallet I’ve recently finished working at HMP Shepton Mallet and wonder if through your columns I could express my appreciation to all the men there who have participated in the Yoga classes over the last 2 years. It really was a pleasure to come in and share my enthusiasm for Taoist meditation breath work and flowing stretches. They will certainly reap the benefits and I hope that the oasis of calm we created together will continue to ripple out from their lives to others. I deeply valued the chance to come in, make real connections and perform this ‘energy’ work. Given the financial pressure and cuts, I hope the authorities continue to support and give priority to this kind of activity for all throughout the prison system. I’d particularly like to send a message of healing to Simon Jenney and to thank the Prison Phoenix Trust for all their support. Keep practising! Best of Qi and farewell.

Gutter press carrion crows

Outdated report the basis of rejection

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

Monica & Glyn Wells - Address supplied

Brian Hosie - HMP Glenochil

Our daughter is currently held in HMP Low Newton and has forwarded to us a copy of the column in the May issue of your newspaper dealing with the Chairman of the Parole Board’s comments on the numbers of prisoners being rejected for release on parole.

With David Cameron and Nick Clegg between them now holding the reins of power at Westminster, wouldn’t it be justice if a law could be passed preventing the semi-pornographic media moguls being allowed to call their rags ‘newspapers’? In the May issue of Inside Time you headed my contribution: ‘Prisoners, the golden nuggets’. In said letter, I drew attention to the exploitative nature of the prison industry and how the taxpayer is being ripped off. As a result of this submission, I drew unwanted attention from the degenerate Scottish edition of the News of the World (16th May). Enough to say the small piece they carried was the usual verbal bile. It is a Godsend that Inside Time exists as a non-judgemental, non-profit making concern to give prisoners a voice in an open forum.

Our daughter is in prison because of offences involving two of her children - and only her children. She does not see the children and had given a commitment that, should she be granted parole, she would not be returning to live in the area where she previously resided and where her children are still based. We are all, therefore, at a loss to understand why her request was rejected. Having read the article, we are now a little clearer as to the possible reasons for rejection, but are still not impressed. During her imprisonment, she has undertaken several courses and has also been working with the Primrose Project at Low Newton over the last few years. We have to ask the point of all this work if an outdated psychiatrist’s report is now to be the basis of rejection of a parole request. We are not surprised that prisons are currently overcrowded if what has happened to our daughter is the norm - as it appears to be.

Raising standards

..................................................... Liam Blackmore - HMP Cardiff I’m currently being held in the segregation unit here at HMP Cardiff because I refused a direct order to ‘Bang Up’ when I was moved from remand wing due to my recent recall. I refused the order because the cell I was allocated to contained an individual who was completely incapable of keeping his cell clean and tidy!

Just as dangerous

Prisons are the equaliser of all men where a man is judged not by the baubles he accumulated on the outside. What carries status in prison is ‘courage’ and ‘loyalty’; virtues absent in the hack’s genetic make-up.

Leigh Tipple - HMP Bronzefield

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As a family we have considerable interest in his remarks because she has just had her first parole request rejected. She has told us that she understands the grounds for rejection were based on the psychiatrist’s report made at the time of her trial, some eight years ago, and that it was thought there was a strong likelihood of her reoffending. The psychiatrist involved has not seen her since the trial.

In a prison pecking order, setting these muckrakers would find themselves pariahs at the bottom of the hierarchal ladder where they belong.

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

I differentiate between the brave investigative journalists who travel to such places as war zones, often paying with their lives in their chosen vocation. I salute these journalists and hold them in extremely high esteem; this contrasts diametrically with the carrion crows of the popular tabloids that are beneath contempt; permeating their heavy toxic miasma throughout society; germinating a plague of self-induced idiocy with a perpetual diet of celebrity tittle tattle and other inane rubbish.

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I have suffered with bulimia for the past ten years yet never really known how and why I developed this illness. Since coming to prison I found it got worse with the amount of high calorie food that we get. I have been doing a choice of programmes including ‘Freedom’ and I am interested in doing a programme for eating disorders but I’ve been told they don’t currently run programmes for people with such disorders. I find this distressing because in my opinion any form of eating disorder is just as dangerous as alcohol and drug abuse. These problems need to be addressed, as people become very ill and sometimes die when suffering from such disorders. There is a lot of help for drug users and alcoholics to get clean but people like me just have to deal with it ourselves. I think the issue should be raised - I desperately need and want help but can’t get it.

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Gone, it seems, are the good old days of regular cell inspections and the inconvenience or fear of having your privileges revoked because you were unable to keep your cell at a required standard. This seems unnecessary to me. I was brought up differently to this and although I understand that not everyone has high standards, it doesn’t mean people have to live like this - especially when, due to prison overcrowding, most establishments require you to reside in a double cell. What I’m trying to say is that we need to bring back discipline to these individuals and make more effort to keep prison a cleaner and more acceptable place in which to be held. In effect, these people will be taught routine and maybe they can carry it through into their normal lives. This leaves me to wonder how many problems like this there are across the prison estate and I would welcome stories from others who have experienced similar problems. Write to: Liam Blackmore A6494AR, HMP Cardiff, Knox Road, Cardiff CF24 0UG.

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The toilet was covered in urine and smeared in excrement; the sink was unfit to pour sour milk in, never mind wash my face or clean my teeth; and the cell was caked in dust and filth; it really was unbelievable. How the chap I was about to be doubled-up with was able to eat and sleep in these conditions I don’t know!

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Satisfactory compromise ..................................................... I write with concern to seek clarification on wearing my turban, as a devout Muslim, and keeping my head covered. For the last five years I have had no trouble but on arrival at HMP Stafford I have been told that I can only wear it at the Mosque, as it is deemed a security risk. I am shocked. The jail talks about race equality and diversity but all I see is discrimination. How can it be possible for Rastafarians to wear hats, Hindus and Sikhs to wear their turbans but because a white Muslim wants to wear a turban he is told he can’t. I believe this to be an infringement of my human rights. I am getting my solicitor, MP and the Prisons Ombudsman involved but would like Inside Time to highlight the matter.

Writes NOMS respects the desire by some prisoners to wear religiously and culturally appropriate clothing. Occasionally, however, security concerns can make it necessary to restrict certain items of clothing. In such cases an attempt is made to reach a compromise between the prisoner and the prison. An officer saw Mr Nycz wearing a scarf on the route, which obscured his face, and asked him to remove the scarf so that his face could be seen. Mr Nycz refused on the grounds that the scarf was a religious item of clothing. The prison consulted with the Muslim advisor at HMP Stafford and arrived at the following solution. Mr Nycz can wear a scarf during corporate worship and in his cell but not elsewhere. At other times he may wear something that covers his head while leaving his face visible. It is our understanding that he now wears a cap provided to him by the Muslim advisor; who provides head coverings to any prisoner, from all faiths, who professes a religious need. We appreciate Inside Time bringing this matter to our attention and we are happy to report that it has been resolved so satisfactorily to all parties.

As for the 12 steps, anyone who has an interest in the history of AA will know that there is not a single original concept in these steps for they were the basis of the religious Protestant Oxford Group Movement to which the founder of AA, Bill Wilkinson, belonged and as such he was not the author as AA members are led to believe.

Ruffled feathers ..................................................... Charles Hanson - London (former lifer)

I make no apologies for my stand on Alcoholics Anonymous (A Purveyor of Myths and Propaganda, Inside Time April issue) which has certainly ruffled a few feathers; given the hostile response of three correspondents in your May issue. My argument was to challenge the effectiveness of AA as a whole and I based that on evidence including AAs own triennial membership surveys. For example in 1991, AA produced an analysis of the previous five membership surveys. This document revealed

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Flowers left at the taxi rank in Whitehaven where Derrick Bird shot and killed a taxi driver as he went on a gun rampage killing 12 people.

Suffering the consequences

..................................................... Bobby Chambi - HMP Risley Derrick Bird went on the rampage recently in Cumbria killing twelve innocent people and leaving ten injured, along with the accompanying traumatic consequences for countless people, which is totally shocking. However, as we know, Bird had no previous criminal history. If he was an ex-offender, a lifer on licence, can you imagine how many problems all lifers would face as a consequence of one person’s actions? Life for lifers in prison would grind to a halt. There would be no movements and the Parole Board would not release anyone - probably for the next few years. There would be a public outcry never to release lifers. If Bird had indeed been a lifer on licence, how would the Prison Service, psychologists, probation, staff, Parole Board and the Government have reacted? I dread to think what would have happened to me and other lifers.

Acquitted following remand

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David Golightly - HMP Durham I would appreciate Inside Time publishing an insert in praise of the efforts of prison officer Ron Cook who currently runs Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings here at HMP Durham. He does them off his own back and in his own time, and gets no financial support from the prison. He also organises prison visitors to come in who themselves run AA meetings throughout the North East and who have become sober and drink free through attending these meetings. I would like to take this opportunity to personally thank him from me and from all the lads who attend these meetings. We really do appreciate all that Officer Cook has done as each meeting we attend we learn so much more about and from each other’s problems and experiences through drink and the damage it’s done to us, our families and our victims.

Scott Lomax - address supplied I am aware that Inside Time is often read by former prisoners, and that many access your excellent website, therefore I am hoping to hear from any ex-prisoner who has been on remand but who was acquitted at trial, to learn about the experiences of what it is like to be in prison on remand when a conviction does not follow. I would be grateful if anyone who has experience of being on remand and who was subsequently acquitted at trial could contact me in confidence if they would like to share their experiences. My email address is [email protected]

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Being sober in prison or born again is an attractive outlet for those who might want to influence report writers, and I have met many of those in my total of 26 years in prison, but it really is not the same as being substance free in the outside world where it really matters and that is where the proof of the pudding lies, not where there are incentives which do not apply outside of prison.

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One of your correspondents (Kirsty Lacey at HMP Send) suggests that I have a ‘lack of understanding’ about addictions and asks what qualifies me to hold such an opinion and write what I did, going on to say that she was angered about what I wrote; but then again Kirsty perhaps I hit a raw nerve and your faith in AA isn’t so strong after all, for if it was you would not only have confidence in your faith but you would disregard any criticism, whilst David Southern at HMP Preston, who claims to have this life-long non-recoverable ‘disease’, also suggests that I have a lack of understanding about AA and alcoholism.

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that 95 per cent of those going to AA dropped out during their first year of attendance. Even if all those who remain in AA stay sober (which often is not the case), this in my view is still a poor success rate even in comparison with the rate of spontaneous remission.

Peter Nycz - HMP Stafford

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›› legally settled in the United Kingdom.

Marriage and civil partnership proceedings: ›› Filing a petition, including for divorce, dissolution, annulment and judicial separation £300. ›› Filing a second or subsequent petition with leave granted under Family Proceedings Rule 2.6(4) £80.

British citizenship is one of the six different forms of British nationality. Some of these were defined in the British Nationality Act 1981, which came into force on 1 January 1983. The laws defining how citizenship can be obtained changed on that date, which is why you will often see references to 1983.

›› Filing an answer to a petition or cross-petition £200.

Source: UK Border Agency

›› Filing an amended petition £80.

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

›› Filing originating proceedings where no other fee is specified £200. ›› Application to make a decree nisi, absolute (divorce), or a conditional order, final (dissolution) £40. Source: HM Court Services

....................................................... FL - HMP Maidstone Citizenship Q I have travelled the world with my family, having been born in Scotland and lived for most of my life in Canada, but am not sure whether I can qualify for British Citizenship should I want to settle here. A

If you were born in the United Kingdom before 1 January 1983, you are almost certainly a British citizen. The only exception is if you were born to certain diplomatic staff of foreign missions who had diplomatic immunity. If you were born in the United Kingdom on or after 1 January 1983, you are a British citizen if at the time of your birth one of your parents was:

TB - Cardiff housing benefits

Bureaux across the UK. BTG has permission (from The Prison Reform Trust) to reproduce a unique series of Prisoners’ Information Books on the Resource CD.

Bridging the Gap Helping prisoners and ex-prisoners adjust to life outside What does BTG aim to do? BTG aims to help reduce re-offending by helping discharged prisoners settle into their communities after release. What Services can BTG offer? BTG can provide help with form-filling, explaining changes to the benefit system, pursuing accommodation options, finding free training opportunities, identifying employers who take on ex-offenders, preparing a good CV and developing interview skills. BTG’s Resource CD lists contact details for Benefits Agencies, Housing Associations, JobCentre+ locations, housing benefits and Council Tax Offices and Citizens Advice

BTG’s Penpal Scheme facilitates and oversees some 750 prisoner penpals and currently have penpals waiting for applications from prisoners. Any prisoner, regardless of crime or sentence, can apply and ask for their details to be passed to a penpal. Prisoners can request one or more pen-pals and state a preferred age range. The nature of a prisoner’s offence will remain confidential but when joining, penpals may request not to be put in touch with prisoners convicted of specific types of offences and their wishes will be honoured. Prisoners are also invited to register on the BTG ‘Brighten Up Their Day’ service and receive cards on their ‘special days’ - birthdays, Christmas, Easter and other special occasions. For further details write to: The Vestry Hall, The Cricket Green, 336- 338 London Road, Mitcham CR4 3UD.

insideinformation the Comprehensive Guide to Prisons & Prison Related Services Published by insidetime - the National Newspaper for Prisoners www.insidetime.org

Q How long will I be able to claim housing benefit while I am in custody? A If you are a tenant, you may be able to claim housing benefit. Prisoners may be entitled to housing benefit and council tax benefit for up to 52 weeks whilst on remand. When sentenced, prisoners can only claim housing benefit and council tax benefit for 13 weeks (including the period they have spent on remand). If a prisoner has already claimed housing benefit for 13 weeks whilst on remand they will not be entitled to any housing benefit or council tax benefit after conviction. Source: Prisoner Families Helpline

Details of help organisations and other useful information can be found in insideinformation, a copy of which has been sent free to all prison libraries.

›› The Hardman Trust Prisoner Funder Directory: A directory of organisations providing Grants and Funding for prisoners. ›› Fact Sheets: Brief expla nations written in simple terms explaining the legal issues regularly queried by prisoners.

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›› Legal Directory: A directory of Solicitors and Barristers’ Chambers specialising in Criminal, Prison and Family Law.

›› Glossary of Terms & Abbreviations: Understand the hundreds of acronyms and abbreviations used in reports, documents and forms.

Specialist Solicitors & Accountants with 15+ years experience as:-

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›› Help and Support: A directory and summary of the services provided by the various organisations that offer help and support to prisoners and their families.

›› Useful Addresses: Useful and otherwise difficult to obtain addresses.

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Confiscation Defence Experts Defence of Restraint and Enforcement Enforcement Judicial Review Asset Management/Receivers

›› UK Establishments: Details of the Regime and Visiting arrangements and facilities in all UK establishments.

›› Rules and Regulations: Prison Rules, PSOs, PSIs, Offences against Discipline, Disciplinary Charges, Governors Punishments, MDTs

Compiled by Lucy Forde

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Newsround


The Inspector calls ... Taken from the most recent of Chief Inspector of Prisons Dame Anne Owers’ inspection reports, Inside Time highlights areas of good and bad practice, along with a summary of prisoner survey responses, at HMYOI Brinsford and HMP Altcourse

HMYOI Brinsford

Inspection 30 November - 4 December 2009 Report published 3 June 2010 Brinsford was not providing a sufficiently safe and purposeful environment for the young adults it held. Although its juvenile unit was due for closure, Brinsford held a volatile population of over 400 young adults. The design of the older wings, with poor sight lines, made supervision more difficult, but inspectors also found flaws in procedures needed to underpin safety. They found that there had been serious weaknesses in the investigation of violent incidents, and in the collection of data, though systems were improving; four out of 10 young adults said they had felt unsafe and nearly one in three said they had been victimised by other prisoners; and although suicide and self-harm prevention was reasonable, there were no Listeners, a serious gap. While the new learning and skills provider was making improvements, inspectors were concerned that despite sufficient activity spaces and a range of vocational training opportunities, attendance was poor, with classes and workshops only half occupied, wasting money and opportunity; a third of young men were locked in their cells during the working day; and achievements in many courses were unsatisfactory and allocation systems uncoordinated. Other concerns included elements of healthcare, underdeveloped work on foreign nationals and ineffective implementation of the resettlement strategy, with no planning for un-sentenced prisoners and inadequate supervision of those under offender management.

POCA

However, inspectors were pleased to find considerable improvements in the relationships between staff and young people, backed up by attempts to strengthen the personal officer scheme; diversity was well managed and it was commendable that young black, minority ethnic and Muslim prisoners did not report worse experiences than others - in many areas their responses were more positive; and drug and alcohol work was well managed, and some effective links with employers and colleges were being developed. Prisoner survey responses to questionnaires returned by 105 prisoners at HMYOI Brinsford indicate that: 94% were under 21; 15% were Muslims; 21% said they were not offered any information on their day of arrival; 56% don’t know who the IMB are; 40% said staff had opened letters from solicitors or legal representatives when they were not present; 76% said there was a member of staff they could turn to if they had a problem; 31% said the overall quality of health services was bad or very bad; 33% have never been on an induction course; 25% have children under the age of 18; 51% said the food was either bad or very bad.

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

Inspectors were pleased to find that the amount of time out of cell for prisoners was outstanding and for much of that time, prisoners were engaged in purposeful activity; Altcourse was safe, with good arrangements for newly arrived prisoners and support for prisoners at risk of selfharm; the environment and prisoners’ relationship with staff were excellent; and services for substance users were developing and healthcare adequate, though it had been affected by staff shortages. Inspectors also found, however, that resettlement work required attention: there was no strategy or needs analysis, too few interventions to challenge offending behaviour, and no effective custody planning for shortsentenced or remanded prisoners; reintegration services for English prisoners were underdeveloped while Welsh prisoners had much better support, funded through the Welsh Assembly, which included help with housing and finance; and many prisoners were further disadvantaged by futile moves, having been displaced from London to the West Midlands to Altcourse with very little time left to serve. Prisoner survey responses to questionnaires returned by 176 prisoners at HMP Altcourse indicate that: 32% had no religion; 9% were on licence recall; 86% were offered the opportunity to make a free telephone call upon arrival; 21% said they did not feel safe on their first night at Altcourse; 13% had not been on an induction course; 28% had been in prison more than 5 times previously; 19% felt depressed or suicidal within the first 24 hours after arrival; 36% said the prison shop / canteen does not sell a wide enough range of goods to meet their needs; 33% said applications were not dealt with promptly i.e. within 7 days; 19% said they did not know who the IMB were.

Chief Inspector of Prisons inspection schedule 2010

HMP Altcourse

Inspection 15-22 January 2010 Report published 25 May 2010 Altcourse remained an extremely effective local prison, with exceptionally good levels

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of activity, but its resettlement work required attention.

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11

Scottish Inspectorate

HMP Perth Inspection 14-18 December 2009 Report published 14 April 2010 Following an inspection of HMP Perth, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons for Scotland, Hugh Monro, reported that Perth Prison, built between 1840 and 1859 and Scotland’s oldest occupied prison, has been undergoing a major rebuild over the last five years. At the time of the inspection, massive construction work was still underway, however the Inspectorate said that management and staff have coped exceptionally well with running the prison during this period of reconstruction. The overall inspection of Perth concludes that it is a very well led and managed prison. There is consequently a distinct feeling of ‘unity of effort’ from the most senior to most junior members of staff. The effect of this on the prisoners appears to be very positive, with the staff/prisoner relationship particularly good and many examples of ‘good practice’. There are good living conditions; excellent visit facilities, including the Visitor Centre and contacts with family and friends; good opportunities to participate in education and work; and excellent healthcare facilities. Everyone is focused on trying to help prisoners and meet their needs. Inspectors said there were, however, areas for improvement. The number of prisoners testing positive for illegal substances on liberation seems high. The First Night Centre, although a good start, needs to reach its full potential. Food, at the point of serving, is open to improvement and the laundry should similarly be improved. More information should be available to non-English speaking prisoners, while those leaving the prison early to go to court do not always receive a proper breakfast, do not have the opportunity to shower, and do not always receive prescribed medication. Overall, the Inspectorate concluded that it is a positive report and Hugh Munro was impressed by so many areas of good practice, particularly given all of the disruption caused by the building works. Conditions have improved significantly at HMP Perth since the 2005 full inspection.

CRIMINAL DEFENCE & PRISON LAW SPECIALISTS

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

Simon Diable 020 8533 7999 SERIOUS CRIME SPECIALISTS WITH A TRACK 24hr Emergency RECORD OF SUCCESS IN CASES INCLUDING: 07968 358 509 write to:Erica Peat & Diable Solicitors 314 Mare Street Hackney London E8 1HA

• Murder/Attempted Murder • Rape/Serious Sexual Assault • Serious Fraud • Drugs Importation & All Drugs Offences • Blackmail • False Imprisonment • Armed Robbery

12

Newsround

Insidetime July 2010 www.insidetime.org challenging behaviour inappropriately.

or

challenge

u faith played a central role in Muslim prisoners’ lives, much more so than prisons often recognised, and could have a positive and rehabilitative role;

The things people say…

u staff were often suspicious of religious observance, particularly conversion or reversion, although some converts had mixed motives which could include perceived benefits or protection within a group; u chaplains often lacked the time to provide support and teaching, particularly to converts: a group that could be more easily misled; and sometimes lacked the trust of alienated prisoners. © prisonimage.org

Muslims in prison

greater engagement needed to prevent reoffending and radicalisation Anne Owers, Chief Inspector of Prisons, publishing a thematic report, Muslim prisoners’ experiences - a report based on in-depth interviews with 164 Muslim prisoners in 8 prisons.

June 8 2010

Prisons have come a considerable distance in meeting the religious needs of Muslims, but are not yet effectively managing a complex and varied population, said Dame

Muslims in prison are not a similar group. They may be Asian, black, mixed-race or white; some are birth Muslims while others have converted. One of their main grievances was that staff tended to think of them as a group, rather than individuals, and too often through the lens of extremism and terrorism, though fewer than 1% of the 10,300 Muslims in prison are there because of terrorist-related offences. A common theme was the lack of support and training available to staff. This meant staff could either back off from confronting

Anne Owers said: “It would be naïve to deny that there are, within the prison population, Muslims who hold radical extremist views, or who may be attracted to them for a variety of reasons. But that does not argue for a blanket security-led approach to Muslim prisoners in general. The National Offender Management Service must develop a strategy, with support and training, for effective staff engagement with Muslims as individual prisoners with specific risks and needs, rather than as part of a separate and troubling group.”

Muslim prisoners

“It is vital that we create a lifelong mental health screening service for combat veterans,” said Tony Banks, an ex-paratrooper and campaigner for the services charity ‘Combat Stress’. “Too many ex-soldiers are being locked-up because they haven’t received adequate mental health care following

SERVING TIME IN THE EAST MIDLANDS? NEED LEGAL HELP? Want to challenge an unfair decision? Independent adjudication? Recalled to Prison and don’t know what to do? Missed out on recategorisation again? Parole hearing coming up? Don’t wait...! Contact Simon Mears 6 yrs PQE experience Prison Law Specialist 11 Bowling Green St, Leicester LE1 6AS

0116 247 0790

Free advice & representation under legal aid

‘One offender a week’ is absconding from Leyhill

2513

9795

in 2008: 11% of the prison population

combat duties in Iraq and Afghanistan. The percentage of ex-serviceman in prison has increased by a third in the last five years.” “On average it takes veterans 14 years before they approach Combat Stress to seek help for post traumatic stress disorder. The campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan are creating a huge number of soldiers who need our help. Despite the economic situation, money must be found to monitor the mental health of the guys who have put their lives on the line for their country” said Mr Banks.

ZMS SOLICITORS

Cumbria’s Deputy Chief Constable Stuart Hyde speaking just a couple of hours after Derrick Bird had killed 12 people and wounded 25. He was standing in front of a main street sealed off by crime scene tape in the wake of one of Britain’s worst killing sprees and sounding more like a tourism official than a senior policeman.

in 1994: 5% of the prison population

One in ten of Britain’s prisoners are ex-servicemen Soldiers comprise by far the largest occupational group in the prison system according to the Howard League for Penal Reform – one in ten of Britain’s prison population is an ex-serviceman.

‘Cumbria remains one of the safest areas of the UK and is very much open for business and tourism despite the tragic circumstances of the last few hours’

More than one offender a week is walking out of Leyhill open jail in South Gloucestershire. Figures released for the period 2008 to 2009 show 58 inmates absconded. Northavon MP Steve Webb said he supported the concept of open jails but it was important the “right sort of people” were being sent there. The Liberal Democrat MP added: “What I find alarming is that when somebody does walk out, as happened a few weeks ago, the police put out a notice saying, ‘Don’t approach this person he might be dangerous’. “If they are that dangerous ... what are they doing being sent to an open prison?” The figures, released under the Freedom of Information Act to the BBC, show 362 inmates absconded in England and Wales in 2008/9.

Are you in prison in Northern Ireland? HMP Maghaberry, HMP Magilligan & HM YOC Hydebank

Quigley Grant & Kyle

Criminal Defence, Appeals and Prison Law Specialists All Prison issues including:

offer specialist advice and assistance in all areas of law, including:

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Criminal Law Immigration / Deportation Personal Injury Family / children cases Judicial Review

For an Immediate Response contact: Duncan Smith

All prison related matters including Parole, Lifer & disciplinary hearings, sentence planning _____________________________________________________

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For a quick response contact DON MAHONEY on 02871 374420 Quigley Grant & Kyle, 4 Queen Street, L’Derry BT48 7EF

Glaisyers Solicitors

0121 233 2971

Newsround


13

The things people say…

Thousands of people illegally stopped and searched

Prison Governors join fight against short sentences Prison Governors have joined calls to half the £4 billion prison building programme and for an end to short sentences, saying there are too many people behind bars already. The demand comes as part of a coordinated campaign to encourage the government to end short sentences, which campaigners describe as counter-productive and a waste of taxpayers’ money.

The campaign was also joined by the National Association of Probation Officers (Napo) and several penal reform groups. It comes just days after the new Justice Secretary, Kenneth Clarke, raised the possibility of rethinking sentencing policy in the UK. Penal reform groups have long argued that short sentences are counter-productive, and much evidence appears to substantiate their claims. Offenders sent to prison for 12 months or less are twice as likely to reoffend on release compared to offenders who had received a community punishment with a requirement to attend an intensive programme. Figures released by Napo show that of the 55,333 people jailed in 2008 for six months or less, 74% were reconvicted within a short time of release. Most served an average of between six and eight weeks at a cost of £350 million per annum to the taxpayer.

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. ›› 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.

Most penal reform groups cite the high success rates of intensive programmes and their low cost to the taxpayer - as a clear sign that a root-and-branch re-evaluation of the government’s approach to rehabilitation is needed. “Not only would this option [community programmes] be cheaper, but the reconviction rates would be much lower at 34% on programmes compared with 74% on short-term prison sentences,” argued Napo.

RICHARDSON SOLICITORS We are on your side Prison Law, Criminal Defence and Appeals Specialists

Contact us for representation in any of the following areas of Prison Law: • Disciplinary Hearings and Adjudications • All Parole Board Hearings (written & oral) • Lifer Parole Hearings and IPP • Home Detention Curfew • Release on Licence • Recall • Recategorisation • Prisoners’ Rights and Complaints • Judicial Review For a prompt response and visit please contact John Naylor

Prisons and Solicitors should call Derek Jones on 0844 873 3111 for further details or visit the website

Richardson Solicitors Columbia House, Columbia Drive, Worthing, W.Sussex BN13 3HD

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01903 831000

According to a Times report, police forces have unlawfully stopped and searched thousands of people under section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 which allows police to stop and search people. At least 14 forces have detained people without the necessary permission from a Home Office Minister and detained them longer than allowed. Many innocent people have come under police scrutiny recently under anti-terrorism laws; including a schoolboy who liked to draw bombs, a primary school child who wrote in a school book about being a suicide bomber, a couple who kept their curtains closed and a pensioner who found some new friends.

‘Reforming the House of Lords has been talked about for 100 years and we are absolutely determined to do something about it this time’ Nick Clegg - Deputy Prime Minister In February, David Cameron made an impassioned speech in which he claimed that the public were fed-up with ‘Money buying influence … we can’t go on like this’, he said. But in May 2010: David Cameron nominated 16 new party-political life peers (Lib Dems 9) including millionaire businessman Dolar Popat and Next’s Simon Wolfson; both men have donated large sums to the Conservative party.

The Times quotes Security Minister Baroness Neville-Jones as saying, “I am very concerned by these historical administrative errors. To maintain public confidence in our counter-terrorism powers, it is absolutely crucial that all those responsible for exercising them do so properly.” Nick Herbert, the Police Minister, also blames ‘administrative errors’ for the blunders. The government has pledged to review the controversial terrorism laws.

Early departure The Director General of the Northern Ireland Prison Service, Robin Masefield (pictured), has announced that he is to leave before the end of the year. Mr Masefield, who has been Director General since 2004, leaves after a series of problems at Maghaberry Prison. The POA, who issued a declaration of no confidence in him earlier this year, refused to comment on his departure.

W

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[email protected]

‘I’ve only read about it in the press. There’s been no official communication. In the British system you are summoned to that, and so far that has not happened’ Former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott speaking on the BBC TV programme ‘Have I Got News For You’ on June 3 claiming he had absolutely no knowledge whatsoever of being nominated for a peerage. He had always maintained, over the years, that he would rather be seen dead than go to the House of Lords. Strange then that the No. 10 Website announced on 20 May 2010: ‘The Queen has been graciously pleased to signify her intention of conferring Peerages of the United Kingdom to … ‘Twenty-nine people nominated by the Labour Party including John Leslie Prescott.’ Obviously someone should tell JP that Her Majesty has been giving the matter some thought for some time and she just wouldn’t do that without first consulting him!

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14

Newsround


What do you do with an old prison?

Prisoners must get the vote

Isle of Man prisoners’ sponsored walk

The Council of Europe has ordered that prisoners must be given their right to vote by next year when there are elections for the devolved assemblies in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland on 5 May 2011.

A group of prisoners, along with PEI Senior Officer Mike Pacey and other members of staff from Isle of Man Prison, have completed a 23 mile sponsored walk from the new prison at Jurby to the old prison in Douglas to send a disabled child to the USA for a week’s intensive therapy. It took over 5 hours in rain, wind and fog and although wet, weary and worn out, everyone completed the challenge. One prisoner told Inside Time, “It was the hardest thing I have ever attempted”.

It is now 5 years since the European Court of Human Rights ruled that a voting ban for prisoners was unlawful and breached their human rights. In the intervening years, the government has delayed, ignored their own reports and prevented prisoners voting in the May 2010 General Election - for which many prisoners are now seeking compensation.

In a novel approach to disposing of their old prison, the Isle of Man government held a public auction and sold everything from the prison generator to cell doors. The auction raised over £5,320, with old Victorian cell doors flying out the gate at £30 each. A Scottish art project bought the remaining items; pushing the takings to over £8,500.

Healthcare standards questioned

The Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers voiced ‘profound regret’ over the continuing ban. There are now new European laws which could result in Britain’s suspension from the Council of Europe if it does not comply with the ruling that prisoners must be allowed to vote. Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust, said: “The Committee of Ministers has given the coalition government a valuable opportunity to overturn this outdated and unlawful ban. The ban should be swept away as part of the Government’s drive for wider constitutional reform and its commitment to a ‘rehabilitation revolution.” A Government spokesman in the House of Lords said that they will bring their conclusions to a September meeting of the Council of Europe.

Aziz Sharpe was born in August 2006 with Microcephaly, a condition causing sufferers to have a smaller head than normal, and cerebral palsy, which affects his co-ordination and posture. Once a year, Aziz and his parents make the long trip from the Isle of Man to The Institute for the Achievement of Human Potential in Philadelphia USA for the therapy, which costs £6,000. So far over £700 has been raised.

It is four years since the NHS took charge of prison healthcare yet according to a report prison healthcare is still not good enough. A recently published joint Care Quality Commission and Inspectorate of Prisons report found that although there was improvement in a number of areas, many problems remained. The surveys, which reviewed 21 NHS trusts on which the report was based, were conducted three years ago and the Department of Health insist progress had been made since the surveys were carried out.

The IOM government is still discussing what to do with the old building which, since all the prisoners moved to the new Jurby prison, has been used as a film location for emergency services training and even a street soccer event for 150 children.

SCOTTISH SOLICIT ORS Par ole Board Repr esentation, Prison Law and Human Rights

• Life Prisoner Tribunals • Licence Recall Hearings • Parole Applications for Long Term Prisoners • Downgrades from the Open Prison Estate • Judicial Review and Human Rights • Foreign National Prisoners - Parole - Access to Open Prisons - Deportation

Contact: Mark Templeton

0141 429 4354

Quinn Martin & Langan 87 Carlton Place Glasgow G5 9TD

Enquiries from Scottish prisoners ONLY please

Dentistry and health promotion were singled out by Alex Baylis from the Care Quality Commission as specific areas where improvements must be made. Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust, speaking to the BBC about the report said: “Mental illness, addiction, sickness and disability are far more prevalent in custody than in the rest of the community: yet, as this report highlights, NHS healthcare is often ill-equipped to meet the standards of care it is legally required to provide.” Care Services Minister Paul Burstow said: “The Department of Health is working closely with the NHS and partners to make sure prisoners have access to the care they need when they need it.” Several recently published reports by the IMB indicate that it is often the dental and healthcare services that are highlighted as problem areas in many prisons.

HMP Styal

Victorian Prisoner

Samuel Stevenson 3899 Age (on discharge): ............................ 14 Height: ....................................... 4ft 5” Hair: ........................................... Brown Eyes: ............................................. Brown Complexion: .................................. Fresh Born: ............................................. Leeds Married or Single: ...................... Single Trade or Occupation: ............... Printer Any other distinguishing marks: . None Address at time of apprehension: 38 Esmerelda Street, St James Road, Bermondsey Date of Conviction: ........... 30 Nov 1872 Offence: ........... Stealing a ream of paper Sentence: 6 weeks hard labour + 4 years reform school Address on Liberation: The School Ship “Cornwall” off Purfleet Researched by Louise Shorter at the National Archives

BlackWhite Solicitors In need of efficient representation? Look no further ! LEGAL AID AVAILABLE FOR: ALL PRISON LAW MATTERS adjudications, parol applications and hearings, re-categorisation & reviews, judicial reviews, licence recalls, unlawful detention & death in custody, confiscation proceedings, IPP and extended sentences. ALL APPEALS AGAINST CONVICTIONS AND / OR SENTENCES. CCRC APPLICATIONS. We are available 7 days a week / 24 hours Tel : 020 8522 4150 24hrs : 07944 868 537 Fax : 020 8534 2136 E-mail: [email protected] www.blackwhitesolicitors.com Please contact Chuks or Sandra at : Suite 112, Queens Way House, 275-285 High Street, Stratford, London E15 2TF

Newsround


American executions up as man is killed by firing squad

Britain now leads the EU in accepting asylum seekers

15

News in Brief

Britain gave more asylum seekers permission to stay than any other country in Europe last year, with a 22 per cent annual rise in the total number approved, according to EU figures. More than a third of the 12,510 successful asylum seekers came from Zimbabwe, despite an increase in the government grant to help them to return home from £4,000 to £6,000 and the threatened reintroduction of forcible repatriation. The US carried out its first execution by firing squad in 14 years on 18 June when convicted murderer Ronnie Lee Gardner (pictured) was executed after 25 years on Death Row. Gardner chose the firing squad before Utah banned the method in 2004 and is only the third man executed that way for more than 30 years.

lethal injection. A further 3,200 are on Death Row awaiting possible execution some of whom have been there for over 20 years. In 2008 a man was executed after 25 years on Death Row. Nine executions have been set for later this year (5 in Ohio, 3 in Texas and 1 in Tennessee).

Gardner was hooded and strapped to a black metal chair (pictured) with a white target pinned to his chest before being shot by 5 marksmen. Critics described the execution as ‘barbaric’ and ‘harking back to the wild west’.

Number of persons in USA under sentence of death 1955-2008 Year

Number

1955

125

Tom Patterson, Executive Director of the Utah Department of Corrections said after the execution ‘the warrant has been served’ ‘It was done’, he said, ‘with absolute dignity and reverence for human life ...’

1965

331

1975

488

1985

1,575

The number of executions in the US is increasing again after gradually falling from a high of 98 in 1999. 52 prisoners were executed during 2009, up from 37 the previous year. Already this year, 22 prisoners have been killed, all but one by

1995

3,064

2005

3,245

2008

3,207

Oil spill update

$1.6b clean up costs of the oil rig disaster. $20b compensation fund demanded from BP by US government for victims of oil spill.

0 number of mentions of the US company which owns the rig and Haliburton responsible for the sealing, or the US authorities responsible for overseeing offshore drilling. US President Barack Obama makes his first speech from the White House and tells Americans: ‘I’m going to kick ass.’

$7b compensation paid out by US Government to families of some 3,000 victims of 9/11.

11 people killed in the Deepwater Horizon

15,000 + people killed in accident at

4 number of Presidential visits to the disaster area.

Bhopal plant in India owned by US company Union Carbide resulting in no presidential visits, no clean up and $470 million compensation in 25 years.

oil rig accident in the Gulf of Mexico by British company BP.

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The coalition government introduce new PAYBACK jackets for persistent offenders.

The UK’s acceptance rate was about the average for the EU but its popularity as a destination for asylum seekers meant that because of the large number of applications, it moved above France and Germany into top place for the numbers of refugees granted protected status. Somalians, Iraqis and Afghans were the largest groups given protected status across the 27 nation EU, in which there was a general rise in the number allowed to remain of 5 per cent from 75,000 to 78,820. After Britain, the countries admitting the highest amount of applicants were Germany (12,055), France (10,415) and Sweden (9,085).

A tennis fan complains that he was made to feel uncomfortable when he arrived with a vuvuzela at Wimbledon.

Meanwhile, recently released figures reveal that more than 200,000 foreign nationals were given British citizenship last year - at the rate of one passport every three minutes. The figures show that 1.5 million migrants have been given a passport since Labour took office in 1997.

Asylum in Europe 2009 Country

UK Germany France Sweden Italy Netherlands Austria Belgium Poland Malta

EU

At a secret BP location, research goes on to find a way of plugging the hole in the Gulf of Mexico.

Total Percentage Approvals Accepted 12,510 12,055 10,415 9,085 8,550 8,120 4,995 3,190 2,615 1,690

26.9 36.5 14.3 29.6 38.4 48.3 21.7 20.2 38.4 65.7

78,820

27

Following news that the Queen will also have to make financial savings, Her Majesty insists that she is doing all she can.

16

Newsround


Girls now begin puberty aged 9 Growing numbers of girls are reaching puberty before the age of 10, raising fears of increased sexual activity among a new generation of children. Scientists believe the phenomenon could be linked to obesity or exposure to chemicals in the food chain, and is putting girls at greater long-term risk of breast cancer. A study has revealed that breast development in a sample of 1,000 girls started at an average age of 9 years and 10 months – an entire year earlier than when a similar group was examined in 1991. Scientists warn that such young girls are ill-equipped to cope with sexual development when they are still at primary school. “We were very surprised that there had been such a change in a period of just 15 years,” said Anders Juul, head of the Department of Growth and Reproduction at the University hospital in Copenhagen, a world leader in the study of hormones and growth.

“If girls mature early, they run into teenage problems at an early age and they’re more prone to diseases later on. We should be worried about this regardless of what we think the underlying reasons might be. It’s a clear sign that something is affecting our children, whether it’s junk food, environmental chemicals or lack of physical activity.” Hitting puberty early can mean longer exposure to oestrogen, which is a factor in breast cancer. There is also a greater risk of heart disease. Another factor in puberty could be diet. Children are eating more than previous generations and growing bigger – and in many cases becoming obese. Researchers at Brighton University found that 49% of girls who ate meat 12 times a week at the age of 7 had reached puberty by the age of 12.5, compared with 35% of those who ate meat four times a week or less. 45,861

Child pregnancies in England and Wales 2002-2009

45,861

14,777

Are children hooked on porn? The average child sees their first porn by the age of just 11. And between 60 and 90 per cent of under 16’s have viewed hardcore online pornography, and the single largest group of internet porn consumers is reported to be children aged 12 to 17 according to a Survey carried out on behalf of Psychologies Magazine.

A serious proposal for beating Aids

There is nothing new about pornography but this is the first generation to grow up seeing rape and sexual violence before even becoming sexually active themselves. Such an unprecedented change has occurred in less than a decade and raises disturbing questions, says the Magazine.

could be all but wiped out by 2050 – provided

Schools boosting league tables

have as yet failed to develop one that’s suf-

The worldwide spread of Aids could be halted within five years, and the HIV virus agencies adopt a radical new approach. The many researchers and scientists employed in combating Aids have tended to focus on the hunt for a vaccine, but despite all the time and money dedicated to this goal, they ficiently effective, owing to the virus’ mercurial mutating nature. Now, South African expert Professor Brian Williams has suggested that it’s time to change tack: he says that rather than trying to make the healthy resistant to the illness; we should

2,527

15 10

39

11

be seeking to make sufferers less contagious. And the beauty of it is, we already

268

know how to do that, using anti-retroviral therapy (ART).

12

AGE

13

14

15

Good news for working mothers Working mothers can breathe a sign of relief. A major study has found no evidence that children are harmed by their mothers going back to work. Researchers looked at the lives of 17,000 children, most of whom were born in the 90s, and found – “despite public opinion to the contrary” – nothing to suggest that the children whose mothers had gone back to work had suffered as a consequence. According to the team at the institute of Education, other factors, such as a stable home environment, had a much bigger impact on child development. The findings would appear to contradict research published recently by the Institute of Child Health, which found that children with working mothers had slightly less healthy lifestyles than those with stay-at-home mothers. The children of working mothers ate less fruit and vegetables, watched more TV and were more likely to be driven to school.

Schools are inflating their league table scores by entering pupils for “easier” vocational qualifications, previously secret government data have shown.

Professor Williams advocates universal screening for HIV in key areas, and proposes putting all those found to be HIV positive onto a lifetime course of ART. These drugs

For the first time, the figures show separately the proportion of children gaining good grades at GCSEs and those gaining the grades in less academic alternatives. Until now, official league tables have combined the two, obscuring the difference between schools that are more or less academic.

don’t destroy the virus, but they greatly

Critics accuse schools of pushing some academically bright pupils into taking unsuitable vocational exams to boost their league position.

would die out”. One problem with the

reduce its concentrations, making carriers 25 times less infections. It boils down to this: if enough HIV patients were to receive ART, it would greatly limit the transmission of the virus, and eventually “the epidemic scheme is its likely cost: around $2bn-$3bn a year in South Africa alone. Another is that it would require people to submit to annual screening, which they might be unwilling to do. However, feasibility studies are now

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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If you require assistance with any Prison Law issues, whether or not listed above, please contact our specialist Prison Law Solicitor Lynne Williams

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underway in the US and Africa, with the results due in the next two years.

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Newsround


m Do you know...? • Almost 700,000 households each receive more than £15,000 a year in handouts; between them they pocket £13bn a year – more than the entire annual budget of the Home Office; an estimated 50,000 households receive more than £26,000 a year in benefits. • On a typical day, most people conduct about 22 searches on Google, each one lasting about 11 seconds - extrapolating this across Google’s 504 million unique users, this represents over 33 million hours of searching each day. • £1m made up of £20 notes weighs 25 times as much as the equivalent of £1m in 500 euro notes. • Facebook is the most-visited site on the web with 540m unique users, the BBC is placed at 43 in the top 1000 sites with 45m unique users. • Retailer WH Smith and electronics store Currys Digital (formerly known as Dixons) have been named as the worst shops in the UK – Richer Sounds and Lakeland topped the survey. • Watching TV sill remains the most popular form of UK digital entertainment for 87% of people; radio listening is second with 75% tuning in; logging onto social networks is third with 66% of the nation choosing to connect with friends and family online. • Jose Mourinho is rumoured to be getting £40m from Real Madrid over the next four years, making him the best-paid manager in the world. • China is the largest country in the world to operate under a single time zone. • Coalitions in the UK may need to catch on: the electoral share of the smaller parties has grown steadily - in 1951, only 3% of votes did not go to the two main parties; in 2010 it was 35%. • How the credit crunch changes everything: bicycle sales are up by 25%, cinema admission is up 7%, car sales lowest for 36 years, home made lunch is back in fashion and the sale of Cava is up, while Champagne sales are falling.

17

• The average Briton spends 14 hours and 39 minutes a day sitting down.

And Gerrard passes to Heskey, who slips the ball to Rooney who ...

• Only 50% of Britons have any significant savings and one in four have nothing; in 2007 British shoppers were adding £1bn every month on to their credit cards - now the trend is reversed and we collectively pay off our debts by £400m a month. • There is £57m in loose change scattered around the nation’s homes. • The Ministry of Defence launched an advertising campaign urging women soldiers to take precautions; it follows 102 cases of service personal becoming pregnant while serving in Iraq, and 31 in Afghanistan. • There are 14 million single people in the UK; online dating was worth £100m last year up from £80m in 2008 – online dating is said to be the third most popular way to meet a partner. • The average parent will spend more than £2,126 each year on clothes, shoes, presents and activities and sports clubs for their little girl; that’s a total of £28,439 between the ages of five and 18 - however, sons will cost their parents £1,999 a year - or £26,630 over the same 13 years. • Nearly three-quarters of a million children aged 10 to 15 supplement pocket money with jobs such as gardening, window cleaning, baby-sitting – and designing websites.

What’s that mean Fab?

• The combined global land and ocean surface temperature in May 2010 was the warmest on record, at 0.69 degrees Celsius (1.24 degrees Fahrenheit) above the twentieth century average.

Beckenbauer says we have no sophistication

• The population will grow by more than four million to nearly 65 million by 2020, of which almost 12 million will be under 30. • A decade ago houses made up a third of all buildings, but that figure has fallen to just 5%, while one and two bedroom apartments now account for 77% of the total; just 155 new house builds are underway in inner London and only 1,100 houses in London as a whole. • During the 13 years of the Labour government, the five ministers of the Department of Health were each supplied with £8 worth of fruit a day; at an overall cost to the taxpayer of more than £100,000.

After England’s first performance at the World Cup in South Africa, Germany’s Manager Franz Beckenbauer told reporters that England lacked sophistication, ‘The English are being punished for the fact that there are very few English players in the Premier League as clubs use better foreign players from all over the world.’ In contrast, Germany’s goals in their 4-nil victory over Australia were scored by two players of Polish origin, one of Tunisian origin, and a Turkish German set them all up.

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O'GARRA'S Prison Law Dept, 32 Park Square West, Leeds, LS1 2PF It's your future at stake contact us now! stake so don't hesitate, hesitate, contact [email protected]

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Care Proceedings Contact with Children Divorce Community Care Contact the Family Law Team at:

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18

Health


Inside Health ... with Dr Jonathon and Dr Shabana

A Most of my patients suffer with their nerves, meaning they get really anxious. It’s a particular problem where I work because it’s a very poor area with dreadful housing, very low employment and high rates of crime. Many people manage their anxiety by drinking and smoking excessively and some cope by taking illegal drugs.

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. If you have a question relating to your own health, write a brief letter (maximum one side A4 paper) 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.

Q

I am an Asian male of medium brown complexion. For some time I have had very dark circles around my eyes. At times they get slightly lighter but are still predominantly dark. I am constantly being asked if I am on drugs or not sleeping at night - I sleep fine.

A lot of my patients are in and out of prison quite frequently and I know that they suffer with their nerves far more than people fortunate enough to live in decent houses with financial and employment security.

Can you please tell me how I can get rid of or reduce these dark circles? Is there any medical procedure I can undergo or creams/ medications that can be used? What is the cause of the dark circles?

A I’m frequently asked about dark coloured skin surrounding people’s eyes, especially by my patients from Asian backgrounds. I have never come across a medical reason for it, nor a satisfactory treatment. Skin lightening creams are definitely NOT recommended as they often contain steroids which can cause thinning and damage to the delicate skin around the eyes and steroids are also associated with cataracts. Swelling or puffiness of the skin around the eyes can be associated with sleeplessness or, rarely, kidney disease and it may happen following an allergic reaction. If you are otherwise well I would reassure those who keep worrying you that there is nothing wrong. If you want to try something I would

L A T I F A D A M S S O L I C I T O R S

suggest? Could it be something to do with how I feel emotionally at the moment? I have terrible bouts of wanting to cry and other times when I am very buoyant. Because I’m not suicidal, no-one seems to take my feelings seriously. When I was out of prison I used alcohol on a daily basis but was not an alcoholic; I also used ecstasy and cocaine. I would appreciate your advice on this matter.

There’s little that doctors can do to improve their patient’s living conditions, or make their lives and futures more secure, though many do admirably campaign for these things. What all doctors can offer is a secure professional relationship and psychological support. In many cases, patients are referred to a psychologist for treatment. Group and individual therapy can be very effective. suggest a simple moisturising cream and drinking sufficient water every day to ensure that your urine is very pale in colour - which is an indication that you are well hydrated.

Medications such as anti-depressants do help some people and are worth a trial for 2-3 months. They should be stopped if they are ineffective and they are no substitute for psychotherapy.

Q

I have been suffering with being very agitated at times and can become scared because I feel very restricted and fearful for no reason that I can see. Although when I’m unsure or uncomfortable with a surrounding, that is when these things happen. My heart beats rapidly and I struggle with breathing and get very hot and flustered. If it happens, I have to change my surroundings; I don’t like these episodes but don’t know how to stop them. Is there anything you can

I hope your doctor will take you seriously. I’m sure all prisons ought to offer psychotherapy.

Q I have been suffering with bladder problems. It started with wanting to pee all the time and some burning sensations. I initially presumed it was an infection and drank plenty of water. However, after a week this didn’t clear up so I went to healthcare.

24 HR CRIMINAL DEFENCE SPECIALISTS. ~PAROLE HEARINGS AND RECALL ~ POLICE STATION ATTENDANCE ~HUMAN RIGHTS ~PRISON DISCIPLINE ~ LIFER REVIEWS ~ CATEGORISATION ~ ADJUDICATION ~ JUDICIAL REVIEW ~MAGISTRATES /YOUTH COURT ~COURT OF APPEAL ~CROWN COURT ~EXTENDED SENTENCE HEARING RECALL ~DISCRETIONARY LIFER PANELS

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They found traces of blood and protein in my water and I was prescribed Trimethropine which didn’t solve the problem. I then started to suffer further symptoms; stomach ache, slight burning sensation when passing stools and periods of constipation or diarrhoea. I have been prescribed Ditropan but although the burning sensation when passing urine is slightly better, I still feel the need to pee all the time. I am usually a fit and healthy 29 year-old and not overweight. I would appreciate your advice on my problem.

A A young man with a burning sensation on peeing needs to see a doctor for tests. The possible causes fall into 3 main categories. • Firstly, sexually transmitted infections especially Chlamydia and Gonorrhoea which are very common in young men and women and should be tested for by either sending a urine sample away or taking a swab from your urethra (where the pee comes out) and treated with antibiotics at the earliest opportunity. • The second category is urinary tract infections, where the infection is in your bladder, in which case it is called cystitis, or in your kidneys (pyelonephritis). These infections are very uncommon in men and need further investigations to check the prostate, bladder and kidneys in case of underlying problems such as kidney stones or even cancer. • The third category is prostate infections and inflammation. In your case, the combination of burning pain when you pee, needing to pee very frequently and pain when passing stools and stomach ache is strongly suspicious of prostatitis. Although the diagnosis can be made by a GP, often we refer to a urologist for further tests including testing the prostatic fluid for infection, doing an ultrasound of the prostate and prescribing a long course of antibiotics and another medication to relax the muscle in the prostate. Fortunately the treatment is usually effective. I would recommend you see a urologist if your symptoms are not improving.

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12 Victoria Avenue Blackley Manchester M9 6QL

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To apply you need: Cat C (Wolds), At least 18 months left to serve before Cat D, Good literacy and numeracy, Basic computer skills, Clean MDT, Total commitment. www.summit.co.uk

Request an application pack:

Charlotte Broughton-May, Summit Media Ltd, HMP Wolds, Brough, East Yorkshire, HU15 2JZ

Health


What is tinnitus?

....................................................................... Tinnitus is the perception of a sound in the ears or head when no external sound source is actually present. The sound is usually of ringing, but it may also be a buzzing, roaring, whistling, or hissing noise. It may also vary in its quality and intensity at different times.

19

once that infection has been treated, then you should seek additional advice.

Tinnitus

What can I do myself?

....................................................................... Many people fear that the noise caused by tinnitus will get louder, last forever or make their lives intolerable when none of these need be true. It may change in both its nature and intensity, but the noise is usually present as a continuous sound, although the sufferer may only be periodically aware of it.

It is very common, affecting up to 1:6 of the adult population. Those with normal hearing as well as the deaf or hard of hearing may be affected.

Tolerance of the condition varies considerably. Some can accept it without distress while others find it almost unbearable.

What causes tinnitus?

....................................................................... In many people with tinnitus, the cause is not known. The ear is otherwise fine. What seems to happen is that signals are sent from the ear down the ear nerve to the hearing part of the brain. The brain interprets these signals as noise. It is not clear why these signals are sent from the ear. The noise may also originate somewhere else in the hearing nerve pathways in the brain.

Other causes of tinnitus

....................................................................... ›› Tinnitus often develops at the same time as the hearing loss of older age. ›› Meniere’s disease. In this condition you develop attacks of vertigo (dizziness), hearing loss and tinnitus. It is due to a problem of the cochlea (in the inner ear). ›› Exposure to very loud noise. Some people develop persistent tinnitus after being subjected to loud noise for a long time. For example, after years of working in a loud factory. Sometimes permanent tinnitus persists after a ‘one off’ loud noise experience. For example, following a rock concert. ›› As an uncommon side-effect to some medicines. For example, aspirin and quinine. ›› Following an ear or head injury. ›› Some other ear disorders such as otosclerosis. ›› Some uncommon diseases of blood vessels, brain or nerves can cause tinnitus. In these situations you are likely to have other symptoms or signs such as nerve weakness, etc. However, rarely, tinnitus may be the first symptom to develop. ›› An ear infection. The tinnitus tends to clear when the infection clears. ›› Psychological factors may have a role to play. For example, mild tinnitus that is not bothersome may become more bothersome if you become depressed, anxious or stressed.

How is tinnitus diagnosed and treated?

....................................................................... The doctor will start by asking about the symptoms and about possible causes. The ear will be examined for signs of infection, damage or the presence of excessive earwax. If the cause is

not apparent, you may be referred to a hospital ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat) department to be seen by an Otologist (ear specialist). Many causes of tinnitus are readily solved by simply cleaning out the ear. It may be that you need to stop taking, or reduce intake of, certain drugs, such as aspirin or quinine. Although damaged inner hair cells cannot be replaced, it is usually possible to reduce the distress caused by tinnitus. There are a number of ways to achieve significant relief. Examples include: Counselling: Professional counselling, often from a hearing therapist, can help to remove the unnecessary fears and anxieties associated with tinnitus. Hearing aid: Even if there is only a slight hearing loss, the use of a hearing aid may reduce or mask tinnitus.

....................................................................... Tinnitus is not dangerous in itself. Most cases get better without any treatment. A change in attitude about the negative aspects of the condition can often result in its eventual disappearance.

Medications: These may help with the effects of tinnitus, for example anxiety, sleeping problems or depression.

When should I see my doctor?

....................................................................... Consult your doctor if you find tinnitus troublesome, or if it persists after exposure to a loud noise. If tinnitus is thought to be the consequence of another disorder, such as an ear infection, and if it does not disappear

every day

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family relationships run into trouble

Parole Board Hearings Recats Recalls Adjudications Complaints Appeals

Is tinnitus dangerous?

Tinnitus masker: This device looks like a hearing aid and generates a quiet, gentle sound which gives the ear something else to listen to and diverts the listeners attention from the tinnitus. Maskers may be available through the NHS as well as via commercial outlets.

CRIMINAL DEFENCE & PRISON LAW SPECIALISTS including:

Having something else more pleasant and interesting to listen to, such as music, TV or radio, can prove a valuable distraction. Generally, keeping busy can have a positive result as this draws attention away from the tinnitus. At night, try the effect of leaving a fan on, leaving the window open or using a bedside radio (try tuning off station on FM) to create a distraction. Anxiety and tension can make tinnitus worse, so learning how to relax is important. It may be useful to join a relaxation class. Although alternative therapies have no proven effect on the condition, the possible reduction in tension resulting from acupuncture and hypnotherapy for example, may be a positive measure. A change in diet can help if certain foods aggravate the situation. Sufferers should also avoid excessive noise from industry, discos and so on, and wear ear protection (ear muffs or plugs) in very noisy situations.

Family disputes or relationship breakdowns can result in every aspect of family life being affected, so it is essential that you find a solicitor who you can talk to easily, who understands you and whom you can trust.

Advice given on all aspects of Prison Law Contact Michaela Hoggarth or Vanessa Welch at

FRANK BRAZELL & PARTNERS FOR ADVICE 0800 0832724 020 7689 8989

Everys provide legal services in the South West to HMP Exeter, HMP Channings Wood and HMP Dartmoor. Everys can help with all aspects of family law including: • Divorce • Contact with Children • Care Proceedings • Legal aid work undertaken For more information contact Lesley Powell, one of our Family Accredited Panel Members, at Everys, Hertford House Southernhay Gardens, Exeter, EX1 1NP. Tel 01392 477983.

We also specialise in all aspects of Family Work, Divorce, Contact with Children, Child Care arrangements for mothers in prison.

FRANK BRAZELL & PARTNERS 97 White Lion Street London N1 9PL

Further advice, information and help ....................................................................... ›› The British Tinnitus Association Ground Floor, Unit 5, Acorn Business Park, Woodseats Close, Sheffield, S8 0TB. Freephone: 0800 018 0527 Web: www.tinnitus.org.uk A national charity. It supports local self-help groups as well as assisting research. Its quarterly journal, Quiet, gives advice on the relief of tinnitus and publishes research. ›› RNID Tinnitus Helpline 19-23 Featherstone Street, London, EC1Y 8SL. Helpline: 0808 808 6666 Web: www.rnid.org.uk A national helpline offering information and advice about tinnitus. Includes advice on where to obtain equipment used to help combat tinnitus such as noise generators.

DCK

S O L I C I T O R S

DYLAN . CONRAD. KREOLLE Commissioners for Oaths

Specialist in Criminal Defence and Prison Law including: Adjudications, HDC & ROTL Applications, Licence Recalls, Categorisations, Judicial Reviews and Police Station Representation. Advice given on all aspects of Prison Law

We also offer specialist advice on Immigration Law Housing Law Employment Law Divorce

For advice, representation or legal visit please contact Victor at:

DCK Solicitors

Stirling House, Breasy Place 9 Burroughs Gardens, Hendon London NW4 4AU

0208 359 1123

Representing our clients 24 hours a day, 365 days a year

Inside Time Family Law ad.indd 1

www.everys.co.uk 10/11/09 17:01:50

07951 138343 (24 Hour Emergency) [email protected]

20

Diary


Month by Month by Rachel Billington Rachel feels like Alice in Wonderland as she goes to The Clink restaurant in HMP Highdown

1,300 men as quickly and cheaply as possible. Actually Al didn’t say that; he’s obviously as devoted to his cooking in the main body of the prison as he is inside the restaurant. But he wanted his trainees to learn to cook to a really high standard and then he wanted them to get the feedback from real customers. Which is where Kevin came in to make what seemed to be a dream possible. The restaurant has been going over a year now and is drawing all sorts of people, including Nick Clegg, (pre election), the Lord Chief Justice, the Chief Constable, Liveried Companies, the Chartered Surveyors Trust and other local businessmen - plus every WI in Surrey! It’s even being recognised abroad. The kitchen will soon be preparing thirtythree portions of crab ravioli for a group of Japanese tourists. They’re now hoping Crispin Blunt, the new Prisons Minister and local MP for Reigate, may be persuaded to come. As Kevin commented, ‘It’s a good way to draw influential people into prison.’ Even more important, it’s a way of showing off the students’ skills to prospective employers. Attached to the restaurant is a smart meeting-room so that, as was happening the day I was there, it can be booked for a meeting before lunch. One thing is for certain, there’ll be no excessive drinking since The Clink is a strictly no booze area.

L

ast month I went for lunch at The Clink restaurant in HMP Highdown. It was like going down the rabbit hole with Alice and entering Wonderland. Or opening the door in the back of the wardrobe and finding yourself in Narnia. One minute I was in the usual Cat B prison yard with miles of barbed wire above, concrete below and walls between, the next minute I was in a glamorous West End restaurant – or so it seemed.

and still raises money to keep the show on the road. This year The Clink’s kitchen is going to produce canapés for The Longford Trust’s lecture on November 16th with speaker, Martha Lane Fox. The essential point about the restaurant is that it is a training centre for would-be chefs and waiters who find themselves in prison. Visitors, like myself, act as real life test for the trainees.

kitchen will soon ‘beThe preparing thirtythree portions of crab ravioli for a group of Japanese tourists

’

The tables were made of glass, reflecting the globes of changing coloured lights above, the chairs were padded, the kitchen, visible in the most modern design, gleaming chrome. The maitre d in black suit greeted us warmly with a touch of je ne sais crois, the waiters in chic plaid waistcoats hovered with menus. The other clientele scarcely looked up from the pleasure of their meal. The only giveaway was the handful of uniformed prison officers, not a common sight in London restaurants. Later I discovered the furniture was made in HMP Frankland and the wall decorations also by prisoners.

Al immediately impresses with his enormous energy and dedication. Although he was born in England, both his parents are Italian by origin, from the Naples region, working as psychiatric nurses here. Al told me, ‘I love food and I love helping people,’ which seemed to just about sum it up. He has eighteen men working for him at present, the majority doing their NVQs, although two exprisoners have come back as mentors. Francis, the maitre d had six years at Highdown and told me what a good training he’d got and what a pleasure it was now to go home at night!

I had gone to Highdown with John Podmore, ex-governor of HMP Brixton and now head of the corruption prevention unit at NOMS and Maggie Evans, Scholarships’ Manager of The Longford Trust of which John and I are both trustees. We had been invited by Kevin McGrath, whose McGrath Charitable Trust was instrumental in setting up the restaurant

As Highdown governor Peter Dawson told me when he popped in to say hello, the whole aim is to give prisoners a chance of a career outside prison - which makes it slightly odd that this is a Cat B local prison with all the usual movements in and out. But this is where Al is, and men are very happy to work here up to the finishing line if they can have the opportunity for this sort of training. I spoke to

The idea is the brainchild of Alberto (Al to his friends) Crisci (pictured) who has run the kitchens and cookery training at Highdown for fifteen years. He gradually realised that it was no use training men to work in restaurants if their only experience was feeding

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The food is already of a very high standard. The prices, including a huge breakfast menu, are low but the prison only pays for one chef because the McGrath Charitable Trust raises donations to make up the shortfall. I ate delicious sea bass followed by a selection of strawberry deserts but I could have had ‘slow braised beef skirt with chasseur sauce, served with fresh pont neuf chips & seasonal vegetables’ or ‘The Clink’s famous spicy chicken, served with coconut and red bean risotto of plantain’ or ‘a selection of salads from the salad bar.’ As Al Crisco said, ‘Every day I’m proud.’ There are always places for new students so I promised to spread the word to readers of Inside Time that, if you’re at all interested and in the London or South East and completed offending behaviour programmes, you should talk to your Offender Manager. Al obviously expects high standards but no previous experience is necessary. At the moment I’m trying to persuade my colleagues at Inside Time that we should have a Christmas meeting there and then celebrate with a good lunch. When I mentioned this to Al, he advised me to book very early. Obviously, the word is out. One of the prison’s biggest worries was that the British press might not see the point of The Clink. It was pointed out to me that there are absolutely no security issues as guests go through the usual routines and no money changes hands. (There is a special Clink payment card.) The proof of the pudding is in the eating - to use an appropriate metaphor. The more men who go through the training successfully and find jobs, the more The Clink will find its place as an innovative form of rehabilitation ‘a bridge to employment’ as Kevin calls it. He also said, ‘If Al could get a Michelin Star, he’d be a happy man.’ Al himself is confident enough to feel that the same programme could be rolled out through others prisons.

As the heavy door and second barred door are noisily unlocked for us and we return to the world of barbed wire, I have a surreal sensation of crossing between two realities. I know which I prefer.

SHERIDAN BOWLES

SOLICITORS

FIGHTING FOR THE RIGHTS OF INDIVIDUALS IN THE SOUTH EAST

Marcus and Jason and Winston and Kenneth, all keen to make the most of what’s being offered. Now that the restaurant’s up and running, Al has further plans, for example to get celebrity chefs in for master-classes.

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Comment


Jonathan King writes ...

I

The first of a monthly feature for Inside Time by James Crosby

H

e appeared to be a cheery old card, dallying amongst the red clover, and buzzing bumble bees, born of the sun, were airing their yellow and black racing colours. He, a little red shard of feature and colour - his complexion a curious mystery - beset with four deeply hypnotic, symmetric ‘eyes’. As I observed his flashing, direct flight with my mortal eyes, he flitted over the red clover with fancy and choice; not particularly concerned which flower would aid his supping of sweet, sugary nectar. And therein I had entered a sphere of light and warmth, my vision framed - saturated by the silent art of this insect - by a peaceful Peacock Butterfly. I was delighted as he settled - after belting to and fro - amongst the waving wild flowers, of tonal birdsong, punctuated by the mockingly poetical cries of a cuckoo in a near wood. All combined, it was consoling; an antidotal method of escape from prison and future uncertainties; a serene stillness of being, charmed with the entomological virtuoso performance of a flashy, inoffensive addition to the prison garden; a personal encounter with nature and a mighty yearning to fall

into the arms of Morpheus and unexpectedly feel free. “I only ask to be free”, said Charles Dickens, “the butterflies are free”. For your own encounter – even inside the prison grounds outside your cell window or mind’s eye – unlock your sight to be warmly introduced to the Peacock Butterfly, a flitting illumination of nature and found in many prison grounds.

To a Butterfly by William Wordsworth Self - poised upon that yellow flower And, little Butterfly! Indeed I know not if you sleep or feed. How motionless! - Not frozen seas More motionless! And then What joy awaits you, when the breeze Hath found you out amongst the trees, And calls you forth again! James Crosby is currently resident at HMP Stocken

4th Floor, South Central 11 Peter Street Manchester M2 5QR

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As I strolled around to collect my winnings, the William Hill staff said: “We don’t see you in here often; only before Eurovision. Why haven’t you put anything on this year?” “They are all awful this year; no clear winner at all”, I answered.

mentioned Eurovision in my last column, which brings me to a problem I know exists in prison - gambling.

I’ve never been a gambler. Over the years, investing in a session in a recording studio was quite risky enough. I was lucky enough to produce enough hits to cover all my costs and make some profits, but that was my only real gamble. My friends who enjoyed a session at a casino were infuriated by my attitude when I joined them for a quick burst of “Vingt et Un” - 21-I would decide how much I could afford - say £100 - and quit either when I lost it or when I’d doubled it.

Nature Notes

21

“You’re not a real gambler” they would sneer. But before April’s Grand National my 80 year-old friend - a big racing fan - urged me to put something on half a dozen horses he said it was much more fun having several horses, so I could continue to cheer after some fell when watching it on TV. So I picked seven names and put a tenner on each. Obviously one had to be King John’s Castle. This became my favourite ever horse when, at the start, 39 nags shot away and he remained totally stationary, to the fury of his jockey. “A very cool character”, I thought whilst waving goodbye to that £10! However, another I’d backed at 20-1 because a song I wrote in 1965 was called Don’t Push Me (the follow-up to It’s Good News Week, for older readers), won - Don’t Push It brought me £210 - minus the other £60 on losing racers.

Eurovision winner, Germany’s 19-year-old Lena

They then revealed that normally every year, after I put on my Eurovision bet, they all placed their hard earned wages on my selection too, as I invariably won! I even suspected that Germany, the eventual winner in May, could win this year but simply couldn’t face putting any money on a song which included a lyric about a girl painting her toenails. I remember when I was in Belmarsh, in 2001, I read and adored Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials and told a lifer friend that Pullman would win the 2002 Whitbread literary award - he got his wife to put £100 on him at 7-1 and won £700. The worst thing about prison life is the boredom, and gambling is one way to ease that, but it does tend to lose more than win; something inmates should always bear in mind. In fact, my method of alleviating boredom was reading - books like His Dark Materials… a far better way of spending one’s time!

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22

Astrology

Insidetime July 2010 www.insidetime.org largest planet in the solar system - after the Earth. Its seasonal cycle and also its rotational period are similar to those on Earth. Mars’ year (the time it takes to orbit the Sun) is 687 Earth days and its day (rotation on its axis) is 24 hours 37 minutes. Light from Mars takes between one and five minutes to reach the Earth, depending on whether the two planets are on the same side of the Sun or on opposite sides. Mars has two moons - Phobos (fear) and Deimos (terror).

Cycles of the Planets A monthly column devised by astrologer Polly Wallace exclusively for readers of Inside Time as a follow on to ‘Wheel of the Year’. In this new series the focus is the planets themselves - providing a set of profiles that showcase each planet in turn

Polly Wallace

L

ast month we looked at the Earth and the Moon. So now our exploration of the Solar System takes us to planets that lie beyond us – further and further away from the Sun. The first of these is Mars, the red planet.

Astronomy Like Venus, Mars is our neighbour in space. Moving outwards from the Sun, it is the next planet after the Earth. Mars is the fourth

Named after the Roman god of war, Mars is often described as the Red Planet. This is because the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives the planet a reddish appearance. Mars has surface features reminiscent of our own – volcanoes, valleys, deserts and polar ice caps. It also has impact craters that appear similar to those on the Moon.

Mars has a rich heritage of mythology, dating back about 4,000 years to Mesopotamia. Various cultures have woven potent stories around this vivid god. Often Mars’ mythical reputation has been based on the planet’s red appearance – with its associations of fiery and tempestuous characteristics. Stories of Greek Ares often feature warlike tales of rivalry and power. Mars, the Roman equivalent, was a more rounded, complex character. Originally a god of agriculture and fertility, Mars was associated with male potency and with sexuality. Legend relates that he fathered Romulus and Remus, the mythical founders of Rome. As Rome’s imperial ambitions grew, Mars took on the attributes of a war god.

to wiser gods. Only Venus falls in love with Mars, and the episode of the two lovers being caught in Vulcan’s net is a familiar image in classical art. Mars and Venus are often depicted together with Cupid, and such images have been interpreted as an allegory of the warrior spirit being won over by love.

Mars in Astrology In astrology, Mars is symbolic of energy and drive. He stands for motivation and direction, for self-assertion and the impulse to move forward in life. In contrast to Venus, Mars shows how and where we are prepared to fight. He also indicates what principles or activities inspire us to competition. This is a powerful dynamic and one that can vary from being a real asset to becoming the source of challenging issues. Mars symbolises the primal survival instinct – not just muscular strength and brute force, but also the energy and heat which is necessary as a spur to action. In times of conflict with others, it is our Mars function which gives us courage to defend our own territory.

Planet Mars has long been a target for speculation – especially about the possibility of life on its rocky terrain. Galileo, standing on the boundary between the medieval world of astral deities and the modern world of scientific astronomy, examined Mars through his telescope. Ever since then astronomers, intent on probing the mysteries of Mars, have produced images of strange phenomena – lines that resemble ‘canals’ and geographical features that suggest a blurry ‘face’. Science fiction, comics and song lyrics are evidence of how Martians abound in the popular imagination. An example is the TV series Dr Who, which includes beings known as the Ice Warriors whose home-world is Mars.

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Mars in Mythology

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Mars is the ruler of Aries and, traditionally, of Scorpio. Through Aries, a fire sign, Mars exerts his pioneering and adventurous spirit. This god is the warrior of the sky! Scorpio, a water sign, brings out a different facet of Mars – enabling him to activate the power of emotion. Passion of any sort, from sexual lust to philosophical idealism, is likely to carry the signature of Mars. In the natal chart, Mars shows where we may be impulsive and quick to react. He indicates our courage – even though this may, at times, give way to recklessness.

The myths in which Mars appears are often linked to battles – either literal or emotional. However, Mars is not always the victor – and at times he shows the courage of submitting

Essentially Mars is about activity – of one sort or another. Mars is quick, Mars is dramatic, Mars is brave. This is an energy that demands outlets through physical activity, creative pursuits and courageous impulses and acts. Where Mars is in the birth chart, courage and daring are available to us. Bravery comes in many forms – physical, mental, emotional, intellectual. Astrological Mars indicates where and how we may be prepared to go that extra mile in order to display our courage and achieve our goals.

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Religions


Seventh-day Adventists In an extension to the popular World Religions series featured recently in Inside Time, Charles Hanson highlights lesser known religious denominations - continuing this month with Seventh-day Adventists

T

he Seventh-day Adventist Church is a Christian denomination distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the original seventh day of the JudeoChristian week, as the Sabbath, and by its emphasis on the imminent second coming of Jesus Christ. It is the twelfth-largest religious body in the world. The denomination grew out of the Millerite movement in the United States during the middle part of the 19th century and was formally established in 1863. Among its founders was Ellen G. White, whose extensive writings are still held in high regard by the church today. The Seventh-day Adventist Church is the largest of several ‘Adventist’ groups which arose from the Millerite movement of the 1840s in upstate New York, a phase of the Second Great Awakening. Miller predicted on the basis of Daniel 8:14-16 and the “day-year principle” that Jesus Christ would return to Earth on October 22, 1844. When Christ did not come, a group of these disappointed Adventists in the United States continued their Bible studies and concluded that they had misinterpreted prophetic events and that the second coming of Christ was still in the future. This same group of Adventists later accepted the teaching of the seventh-day Sabbath and became known as Seventh-day Adventists. The Church organised formally in 1863 and began its mission to the world. Some Millerites came to believe that Miller’s calculations were correct, but that his

that Christ’s second coming would be imminent, although they refrained from setting further dates for the event.

Adventism from the rest of the Christian world, although not all of these teachings are wholly unique to Adventism:

The church was formally established in Battle Creek, Michigan, on May 21, 1863, with a membership of 3,500. The denominational headquarters were later moved from Battle Creek to Takoma Park, Maryland, where they remained until 1989. The General Conference headquarters then moved to its current location in Silver Spring, Maryland.

A Growing Church Seventh-day Adventist Churches literally circle the globe. Recent (2008) statistics show membership beyond 15.9 million worshipping in more than 128,000 congregations in 203 countries. On average over 2,800 people join the Adventist church each day. The membership in the UK and Ireland is just over 30,500 members (December 2009).

Much of the theology of the Seventh-day Adventist Church corresponds to Protestant Christian teachings such as the Trinity and the infallibility of Scripture. Distinctive teachings include the unconscious state of the dead and the doctrine of an investigative judgment. The church is also known for its emphasis on diet and health, its holistic understanding of the person, its promotion of religious liberty, and its conservative principles and lifestyle.

Charles Hanson

John Harvey Kellogg (1852 - 1943) was a Seventh-day Adventist. John Kellogg and his brother started the Sanitas Food Company to produce their whole grain cereals around 1897, a time when the standard breakfast for the wealthy was eggs and meat while the poor ate porridge, gruel, and other boiled grains. In 1906, Will started his own company, the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company, which eventually became the Kellogg Company. interpretation of Daniel 8:14 was flawed. These “Adventists” arrived at the conviction that Daniel 8:14 foretold Christ’s entrance into the “Most Holy Place” of the heavenly sanctuary rather than his second coming. Over the next decade this understanding developed into the doctrine of the investigative judgment: an eschatological process commencing in 1844 in which Christians will be judged to verify their eligibility for salvation and God’s justice will be confirmed before the universe. The Adventists continued to believe

The world church is governed by a General Conference, with smaller regions administered by divisions, union conferences and local conferences. It currently has a worldwide membership of over 16 million people, has a missionary presence in over 200 countries and territories and is ethnically and culturally diverse. The church operates numerous schools, hospitals and publishing houses worldwide, as well as a prominent humanitarian aid organization known as the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA). The official teachings of the Seventh-day Adventist denomination are expressed in its 28 Fundamental Beliefs. This statement of beliefs was originally adopted by the General Conference in 1980, with an additional belief being added in 2005. Acceptance of either of the church’s two baptismal vows is a prerequisite for membership. Adventists have but one creed: “The Bible, and the Bible alone.” Adventist doctrine resembles trinitarian Protestant theology, with premillennial and Arminian emphases. Adventists uphold teachings such as the infallibility of Scripture, the substitutionary atonement, the resurrection of the dead and justification by faith alone, and are therefore often considered evangelical. In common with certain other Christian churches, they believe in baptism by immersion and creation in six literal days. In addition, there is a generally recognized set of “distinctive” doctrines which distinguish CCRC Advert Portrait

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23

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A Caring Church The Adventist Church also operates 171 hospitals, 429 clinics and dispensaries, 11 medical centres and 162 nursing homes, retirement centres, orphanages and children’s homes, that in the year 2000 served over 10 million people. In the UK you will find that many churches run feeding programmes and are engaged with their local communities in mentoring programmes, children’s clubs and other activities. A Teaching Church In addition, the Church runs a world-wide system of more than 5,900 schools with over 1,065,000 students from kindergarten to graduate professional schools. Educational institutions in the UK and Ireland include 1 college, 2 secondary schools and 7 primary schools. A Serving Church

In response to Christ’s invitation to feed the hungry and clothe the naked, Seventh-day Adventists try to help friends and neighbours in need - irrespective of race, colour or religion. Internationally, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) help victims of war, famine, floods, earthquakes, and other disasters - in total over 24 million men, women and children worldwide. Charles Hanson is a lifer formerly at HMP Blantyre House 10:00

Page 1

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24

Comment


‘An open letter to Kenneth Clarke: Secretary of State for Justice’ John O’Connor challenges the government to implement measures that would lead to a better criminal justice system

‘C

ongratulations on your appointment as Justice Minister. In this role you certainly face many challenges. None are helped by the potential for policy clashes with your Lib-Dem bedfellows. For instance, in the run-up to the General Election the Tories promised ‘honesty in sentencing’ - what the Judge imposes you serve the full term. However, if implemented, already overcrowded prisons simply couldn’t find the required extra spaces. So, understandably, the coalition Government has gone very quiet on this point. As for the Lib-Dems, they advocated ending imprisonment for sentences of less than six months, yet this pledge appears to have gone the same way as other (non-penal) promises. Without doubt, the extra prison spaces you promised are essential just to meet the everexpanding prison population. The Tories have promised to bring back prison ships as a temporary expedient, however first-hand experience with HMP The Weare confirmed just how unsuited ships are for this task; a failing vividly described by Dickens in ‘Great Expectations’. And as a variant of one of C Northcote Parkinson’s laws, you can be sure that as more prison space becomes available, more prisoners will be found to fill it. So why not use Britain’s present economic difficulties as an ideal opportunity to look again at the prison expansion programme and assess just how many of these extra places could be replaced with non-custodial alternatives? This approach would certainly resonate with the Lib-Dem promise to introduce more community-based forms of punishment. At least the

certainly knows what he is talking about when recently stating: “Local authorities, voluntary organisations, the police, probation services should work more closely together to develop community-based solutions to crime and to inspire the public and stimulate judicial confidence. What resources there are should not be spent on building more prisons - but in reducing the need for new ones.”

“

What resources there are should not be spent on building more prisons - but in reducing the need for new ones

”

Lib-Dems have the honesty to recognise that short-term custodial sentences act more as primers for subsequent (and invariably) longer periods of imprisonment. In other words, it’s better to keep convicted criminals out of prison in the first place, especially if their offence warrants a community-based penalty. In these harsh economic times, more recent

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support for alternatives to prison has come from a surprising quarter - Lord Woolf, a former Lord Chief Justice. When it comes to an authoritative voice, it would be hard for anyone else to match his, for he is the author of the seminal report on the spate of prison riots which broke out almost 20 years ago that started at the aptly-named Strangeways, now renamed HMP Manchester. Lord Woolf

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However, if you want to build more prisons then keep the public sector away from them. While this plea may sound like music to the ears of your many chums in the City who so generously financed much of the Tory election campaign, the only way for new prisons to emerge quickly from the ground is when financed by the private sector. And if privately financed, why not privately operated? Never mind the objections of the POA, that Neanderthal of the trade union movement legendary for its restrictive practices. For far too long it has been allowed to hold weakkneed prison managers to ransom when threatening “summers of prison unrest” in the hope of provoking outbreaks of violence by prisoners. Lead from the front Mr Clarke when calling the POA’s bluff. What was the outcome a couple of years ago when the local/remand prisons were put on lockdown when staff reported sick en masse? Apart from hitting the weak and vulnerable, and causing unnecessary distress to prisoners’ families, this cage-rattling achieved precisely nothing. With the jobs market as it is nationally, now is not the time for anyone to be thinking of what is euphemistically called ‘industrial action’. Nowadays, no-one is owed a job: if you can do it efficiently and conscientiously then you deserve the opportunity,

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whether as Lord Chancellor or as a prison officer. Those prison officers who regard the bullying of prisoners as being part and parcel of their job need to look over their shoulders also because increasingly, managers are no longer prepared to turn a convenient blind eye to what was formerly acceptable. As Justice Minister, you are responsible for enforcing the Human Rights Act 1998 (no matter what Mr Cameron has said about reforming it). Abuse of prisoners is a fundamental breach. I personally know of a recent incident at HMP Whatton where such behaviour drove a fellow prisoner to attempt suicide. More hardened prisoners will say this happens all too often. However, what makes this incident different is management’s response: it actually took disciplinary action against the officers allegedly responsible for driving this prisoner to the depths of despair. But officers’ behaviour such as this should have been nipped in the bud before it reached this dreadful and potentially fatal conclusion. Such behaviour by just a few out of control officers risks tarring their colleagues with the same brush. This is unfair, for there are many who rely on interpersonal skills instead of brute force and threats to achieve their objectives. Of course Mr Clarke, as Minister of Justice in these straitened times you must ensure even greater value for money in everything the Prison Service does. So can you, with hand on heart, say that the creation of NOMS achieves this? Not according to the probation officers trade union. In reassessing the role of NOMS, could you at the same time dust down the plans for relocating Prison Service HQ to Derby? For what on earth is it doing presently located in the heart of one of the world’s most expensive capital cities? What can’t it quite satisfactorily achieve in Derby, or indeed in any provincial business park, which it does presently just a stone’s throw from the Houses of Parliament? Value for money also means reassessing the cost-effectiveness of the much vaunted offending behaviour courses. In recent years they have proliferated faster than a pair of breeding rabbits, yet no one appears to have paused for even a moment to assess their true effectiveness. The Home Office research unit claims statistically-questionable differences

(themselves highly marginal to be significant) between prisoners who have undergone these courses compared with those who haven’t. However, the normal yardsticks of peer review highlights more uncertainly than clear-cut conclusions about the efficacy of these courses. Cynically, is the continued provision of offending behaviour courses more a case of being seen to be “doing something about it” than actually reducing reoffending? In other words - window dressing. In this context there is no better time than the present to look afresh at the almost £1 million per head cost of treating the 240 prisoners in the “dangerous and severe personality disorder” scheme. According to Peter Tyrer, professor in

psychiatry at Imperial College London, there is “scarce evidence” of any improvement in the outcomes of prisoners being treated in the four secure units specially created for this purpose. Professor Tyrer claims that the DSPD programme appears to be about “locking people up” rather than treating the mentally ill. This is a scheme which has never been able to fulfil its expectations: when it was launched it was claimed that up to 5,000 prisoners could benefit from it. Prof Tyrer says that it …”would be better to abandon this programme and spend the money elsewhere”. As Justice


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Surely a better way of reducing reoffending is to remove much of the reason it occurs in the first place. Invariably, economic necessity is its driving force. People lacking skills sufficient to earn a living have nothing to offer prospective employers: a life of crime becomes their default position. So if a prime purpose of imprisonment is to reduce reoffending, why not place more emphasis on providing training courses for those skills in demand? They include auto-mechanics, building trades (including electric, plumbing, carpentry), as well as hi-tech computer-based courses including software development (programming, video games). These are all

u Cutbacks in Prison Service budget; u Reduce prison overcrowding; u Speed-up prison building programme; u Prison privatization; u Reduce re-conviction rates; u Improve effectiveness of non-custodial sentences; u Prisoners voting rights; u Assess effectiveness of offending behaviour courses; u Introduce more realistic learning and skills courses; u Abolish NOMS; u Speed-up parole hearing process; u Make Legal Aid funding more cost-effective; u Make prison canteen a not-for-profit operation: u Relocate Prison Service HQ.

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skilled areas demanding trained workers. Put more emphasis on this type of training instead of the many mind-numbing “employment training opportunities” presently provided, and when training prisoners for worthwhile employment, teach them on-the-job business management skills. Set up commercial-type activities within prisons; this is already done successfully in many prisons abroad. India in particular has recently commenced prison-based commercial activities with some of that country’s

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leading commercial organisations. It seems ironic that we need to look at a so-called “less developed” country for ideas that actually work. For instance, many prisons in the UK are located deep in the countryside and have access to acres of land presently laying fallow which could usefully be turned into market gardens. Get business minded prisoners to run them, with the Prison Service as the main customer. Creating an internal market for goods and services instead of mainly buying them in would replicate the realities facing entrepreneurially-minded prisoners upon release. Such an attitude certainly doesn’t exist amongst Prison Industries staff, for they have the happy reassurance that, come what may, they will always have a job. (Try telling this to people working in the private sector). But please, whatever you do as Minister of Justice, don’t try and micromanage the Prison Service budget. That way you will make yourself a laughing stock, just as Gordon Brown did when vetoing the 37p per week pay rise for prisoners. Be assured that budget micromanagement is already alive and well, with prison catering managers implementing a 10% cut in the cost of prisoners’ daily food budget. Unlike your predecessor, the mumbling, stumbling Jack Straw, who couldn’t complete a sentence without equivocating, you Mr Clarke, in contrast, appear relaxed in manner and well capable of tackling the difficult tasks facing you over and above those relating directly to prisons. Any beer-supping, jazzloving, occasional cigar smoker gets my vote, especially someone who brings to the job a bottom line mentality acquired in your former role as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Hopefully, your desperate need to implement significant cost savings will motivate you to effect practical rather than solely political solutions. For the past decade, decision-making within the Prison Service has been predicated by fear of negative media response, with costbased factors taking second place. A new Government, not restricted by dogma and driven by a quest for pragmatic, realistic solutions, stands a greater chance of finding cost-effective answers to the problems facing our criminal justice system of which prisons form a key part.’ John O’Connor is currently resident at HMP Whatton

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work for you. Try a more conciliatory approach with people; don’t blame the outside world for your woes, the Prison Staff, or even ‘News of the World’ readers. These are the people who pay their taxes for your free food and free accommodation; they’ve every right to complain - you haven’t. You say … ‘the public need to be educated’. No Mark, you need to be educated. Prison is about politics, because it’s funded totally by taxpayer’s money. The public you seek to ‘educate’ would, if given the chance to vote on it, probably vote to hang you. That is the reality of the world you seek to join.

n the April issue of Inside Time, Mark Sleman wrote an article (The Nature of the Beast) in which he says he is ‘angered by the prison systems continued attempt at legitimising the charade of rehabilitation’ and in my view appears to play the role of a ‘system victim’. Hopefully I can demonstrate that, contrary to what Mark believes, there is a way out … Just to establish my ‘credentials’. In the 1980’s I was sentenced to ten years for robbery and a further four years for firearm offences. My explanation that I used the sawn-off shotgun found under the floorboards of my house to shoot rabbits with, due to short sightedness, was not accepted by the jury and so began prison with my co-accused on Cat ‘A’. And for those that think I’m a ‘system lover’: when I did my Borstal back in 1970, only a few years after they gave up hanging, you lived on a concrete floor and inmates were on occasion literally beaten to death. Prison officers wore jet black uniforms, SS style. Punishment was a regulation three slices of bread per day plus unlimited cold water, with a mandatory daily kicking thrown in for good measure. You got one weekly shower. At 16, I went into the ‘box’ for fighting. I still swear to God after all these years that for the hundred yard journey, my feet didn’t actually make contact with the floor or stairs; like a human football. The ‘box’ was an aptly named small square concrete box. You went in head first, naked; no light, no heat, no sound, nothing to touch, blackness. Nowadays they call it ‘sensory deprivation’. When you came out of there, you crawled out on your hands and knees like an animal because you didn’t know whether what was in front of you was real anymore and your head was, in current phraseology, ‘properly cabbaged’!

Prison is whatever you want it to be … Former robber Ian Charley reflects on his own years in prison and argues that the key to change rests with the individual breath and let’s cut out the politically correct nonsense! Welcome to the real world Mark!

Don’t even mention prison conditions nowadays Mark. You’ve no idea of the hell we youngsters went through and that folks takes us away from a not very nostalgic view of the ‘old’ prison system and back to his current rehabilitation problem.

You were never released; you just got some extended association and you assumed the main gate was freedom, when in reality all it did was show you how unprepared you are to live in the outside world. Your answer to that was to think money was the path to success. You’re now back where you started and again, blaming everyone else. Has the thought ever occurred to you that you’re the problem? Has it occurred to you that it’s up to you to sort out your own problems? The key is in your head mate, not on someone’s key chain. Even in such a short article, your lack of self-discipline and general self-centredness comes across in bucketfuls.

Unfortunately he plays the role of ‘system victim’ quite well, however I’d like to take this opportunity to show him and many others a possible way out. Look on me as an agony aunt, or the friend who tells you that you’ve got bad

You state … ‘there needs to be some clarity as to the actual purpose of the prison service’. No there doesn’t Mark, no one has an obligation to clarify anything to you, but I will. Life is what you make it yourself. You want to

Do I forgive all that? Yes, with the passing of years and maturity; in the way I hope I’m also forgiven by the people I stole from and the hurt and misery I caused others in my younger life. Call it well deserved Karma.

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bang your head against the wall; sit and vegetate? Then prison will let you do that. You want to change, the chance to learn and improve yourself? There’s room for that as well. Prison is whatever you want it to be … it’s entirely your choice. You say release ‘fills you with dread’. Again, it needn’t Mark. The day you’re released and you know you’re never going back and you’re on your own, standing on your own two feet, no freebies anymore? Now that is frightening. Don’t think that it’s easy out here, you can’t do what you want, so learn to accept that and go with the flow. Don’t you think people outside are controlled and told what to do? My own school Deputy Director frequently nags me to death and gives me earache … that’s life, accept it. Rehabilitation is about you Mark, not the ‘system’. The ‘system’ simply provides the tools for you to use. It’s about you grabbing the opportunities on offer and making them

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Many years ago, I was speaking to my Probation Officer in a dispersal prison. The conversation went, Me: “You’re talking a load of s**t.’ PO: “Yes, but I get paid for it and I get to go home tonight!” That comment has stayed with me for many, many years. The next day I enrolled in an education class. The theory behind that was that although I could make myself comfortable in any dispersal prison, outside I needed a new set of rules to live by and an education, plus social skills comparable to those people I was to live and work with.

17/5/10 14:17:42

To cut rather a long story short, I continued in education for many years - even on my release. I ended up with a handful of Diplomas, two Degrees and a Masters, plus Managerial experience in Residential Mental Health. It took me ten years of hard work to do that, but it gave me an impressive CV. I’m now a Secondary School Teacher. I anonymously but purposefully use my experiences every day to steer my class children away from the life I went through. I also, time permitting, do voluntary work without pay, which I look on as my personal payback for being the nasty, self centred character I once was. Some reading this will agree with what I’m saying, some will strongly disagree. Tonight, when that door slams shut, the lights go out and the noise dies down … when you’re lying there in the dark with thoughts running round your head, maybe tears …. I’ve been there myself - not very glamorous being ‘wicked’ then is it? Which of us would like our own children to go through what we’ve been through – God forbid. Do it for yourselves people, hold your heads high, do it for your kids, do it for whoever you like, but give change a try before you simply dismiss it and continue to rot. I’ve got faith in you, so that’s one person already in the world cheering for you!

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t was 1965 and having already completed a Borstal sentence I was back before the courts for a catalogue of offences involving the theft of company safes. No doubt Borstal had been the breeding ground for all that followed. I had made my choice and would continue to do so in the years ahead; perhaps it takes that little while longer for some people to ‘learn from experience’.

In those days, three years imprisonment before the days of parole meant serving two whole years with plenty of bang up, no TV or radio, no telephones, no wearing of one’s own clothes, visits once a month for 30 minutes, sewing mailbags at six stitches to the inch (in silence) for a pittance that might buy you half an ounce of tobacco, and bread and water punishments over three-day periods for the most minor of refractions; and I had plenty of them. Screws? One never spoke to them unless it was to make an application. No time for ‘chit chat’. Such was life. You got used to it. No human rights legislation then and no social worker to offer you a convenient ‘cop out’. You were in the shit and had to get on with it …and hard luck if you couldn’t hack it. This was prison. And so I returned to the remand centre for under 21s who were awaiting transfer to Borstal or detention centre and if I had found myself rejected by the world at large, I was in for another rejection. The remand centre staff didn’t want me either, for I was viewed as a corrupting influence on those lads who had yet to go through the Borstal and detention centre system. Instead, I was told to pack my gear and was escorted to the main wing of Winchester Prison next door. ‘An adult at last’ I thought. Perhaps my offences had defined me and so I was housed amongst old lags and proper villains. I always recall for very good reason being in the cells underneath the court as my trial progressed and talking to a couple of older chaps who were awaiting trial and to take their place in the dock. Like any other defendants one might meet in that uncertain environment, the focus is always going to be on one’s own fate at the time. We met, we talked and we departed, they were simply no more than many others who had come into conflict with the criminal justice system and, like me, were there to be judged. However the outcome of their case was in

stark contrast to my own; for theirs really was a matter of life and death and an outcome that might attract the death sentence which then still existed, at least on the statute books. As expected, the death sentence was imposed on one of the defendants whilst his codefendant was sentenced to life imprisonment. The lifer went one way into the prison system and onto normal location whilst his codefendant was lodged in the condemned cell on Winchester Prison’s ‘D’ wing two’s landing. There he remained for a few days until his reprieve came through and his death sentence commuted to life imprisonment. Fortunately for him, Parliament had suspended the death penalty for a trial period of five years and a reprieve became automatic, although he was still required to undergo all the formalities of one under sentence of death - including sleeping next door to the execution cell. He was then removed to the prison hospital and a few days later brought onto normal location where I spoke to him. Just another con. The suspension of the death penalty eventually became permanent and thus ended capital punishment. From what I know of this particular lifer, he went to Dartmoor and served a mere eleven years before being released. Following the condemned man’s reprieve, and because I was a wing cleaner, I was selected to go into the condemned cell and clean it out. The cell was unremarkable; consisting of a prison hospital bed, a table and three chairs. The actual features of the cell are as vivid today as it was then. Is this because it was always going to be a one-off experience?

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Another aspect of the criminal justice system which then existed came to feature in my life when a lifer was brought from Maidstone prison to be birched at ‘The Scrubs’ (Wormwood Scrubs in London). Serving a life sentence for the murder of a borstal prison officer in 1965, he had engaged in a prison riot and one disposal available to the Board of Visitors at the time was to order the prisoner to be given a number of strokes of the birch whilst he stood strapped to a wooden frame.

Charles Hanson reflects on the austere, often brutal regimes that existed before the liberalisation of the prison system

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The cell was later converted into two single cells and as far as I know used as such today. Perhaps the present day occupants have no idea just how many men went in there and never came out. Having completed my task, the landing officer carried out his inspection of the cell to ensure I had scrubbed the floor up to the required standard, and before pulling the door shut reminded me that I too could take the short walk next door if I didn’t behave myself in future. He pushed aside a wardrobe on castors to reveal the actual execution cell next door and walked me in and onto the trap, which was simply a wooden floor area which fell away once the condemned man stood on it and a lever was pulled; sending the prisoner into eternity. Again, nothing visibly remarkable about the cell, it was simply a double empty cell with all the execution paraphernalia removed and just what appeared to be an RSJ beam across the roof of the cell. Perhaps the screw had a warped sense of shocking me or a strange sense of humour. Who knows, but given that the minimum age for hanging was a mere eighteen I was certainly old enough to meet the age criteria. Shocking? Horrendous? An eye-opener? Whatever I might have thought it was par for the course for a certain category of offences and that was how it was during those times. Before the end of my sentence, and as soon as I was aged 20, the prison system decided that I should be removed from the young prisoner category and re-categorised as a star adult prisoner which was simply a status given to

The birch, a leather-handled device with a number of birch twigs protruding from the end, would have previously been soaked in water to ensure that the lengths of twigs were supple. The prisoner being strapped down would then have been thrashed by an unidentified prison officer across his buttocks with the ordered number of strokes with a medical officer being present. We all knew the routine and what to expect if we ever crossed that line. With the liberalisation of the prison system starting to take effect the Home Secretary refused to confirm the sentence and the lifer, after spending some time in the segregation unit, came on to the main location for a while before being transferred elsewhere. I had the opportunity of talking to him and it was clear that he had been affected by the sheer enormity of what he faced and the uncertainty of whether or not it was going to be carried out. At the time I was employed on the prison yards with more freedom of movement than most other cons and I was able to do him a few favours. He was eventually released and from what I know he never again offended. And the moral of this narrative? Things could be worse. I have known worse. I don’t advocate returning to the old days but one thing is for sure, prisoners knew exactly where they stood, what they were entitled to, what to expect and what not to expect and there was less of passing the buck. For sure you cannot beat having some certainty in your life ... prisoners need that, for it keeps things simple. Life’s a lot easier that way. We have however, come a long way from those days and there has been progress which includes being able to criticise prison regimes and conditions today, something which the old lags could be penalised for, including making false allegations; especially against prison staff which meant spending time in segregation units. And what was false? Unfortunately, whatever the screws and Governors decided. You simply did your time.

Charles Hanson is a lifer formerly at Blantyre House

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The learning experience Prison is actually a good place for acquiring and developing new life skills, says Ryan Penn

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n my view, you can look at your past as a messy deterioration of loss and worsening … slowly moving towards a steady improvement. Or you can choose to look at it all as one bloody thing after another. Whichever you choose, it’s progressive. You can apply the same idea to human history in general. As barbaric as it’s been at times, I have to believe we are progressing. Not often have I been presented with evidence that some people are actually regressing. The evidence I am talking about was in the form of a person being released after six years; on his way out the door he turned to me and said, “see you in a couple of weeks.” A combination of this and an upcoming psychology review has forced me to think about some questions recently put to me, such as, “how are you coping with prison?” … “how do you deal with crisis?” and … “what have you learnt from prison?” There are, of course, the relatively simple answers to these questions, “just fine, thanks”, “I don’t know” and “I have learnt - through observation not experimentation - that a sure fire way to electrocute yourself is to put two paperclips into a wall socket and try to heat up a cup of water, to make a cup of coffee, because your flask is empty.” And most recently I have learnt that smart-arse answers will get me nowhere ...”I’m resting; my ambition is currently handicapped by my laziness” is not a suitable response to the question, “why are you here?” None of these answers would satisfy a psychologist; at least I hope they wouldn’t. The biggest difference, for me, between prison and my life outside, is the frequency with which things happen. The main shock now, is to have a day when something out of the ordinary happens. Once you acclimatize to the slow pace, prison becomes all about distraction - books, films, gym, Playstation, pool, etc. I quickly realised that, before prison, I was massively unaware of my own appearance. I caught the occasional glimpse of some of my most deplorable characteristics - always

arrogant, absolutely abrasive, mostly mercurial, might even be misanthropic and maybe magniloquent, to name just a few. This taught me not to gawp at myself too much. My advice short bursts of self-analysis is recommended. It’s less painful and more productive. Prison has shown me that there are few things more stressful than coping with unforeseen events. The occurrence of surprises in life is as sure as the laws of physics. I was taught about physics in school, you can even do an Open University course in the subject if you want, but where is ‘Y2105’; ‘How to plan for that which you can’t predict. Integrating new realities into a constructive framework instead of playing the victim.’ Maybe I’ll write to the OU?

“

prison is not that dissimilar from how I drink my coffee - black no sugar. You can’t always rely on there being milk and sugar about, in here. Drink enough of it and you eventually get used to the bitter taste ”

The best way I have found to cope with the unknown is to have dealt with that which is known and have optimal responses. I prefer concentrated focus on singular goals rather than multi-tasking. High intensity environments - and let’s face it that’s exactly what prison is - can be ideal for producing high performance, whether your goal is; achieving Level 1 English and Maths, completing TSP &

CALM or working towards a degree. Do it all one thing at a time. Prison has taught me that the skills of ‘planning intelligently’ and ‘focusing on singular tasks’ are valuable, transferable skills for personal and professional life. Prison has taught me that if you like stability in your life then you should allow yourself room for disruption. Prison has taught me that I can surprise myself. Yet prison has also taught me that I’m actually not that intelligent; I’m just ambitious with my arguing. There is a quote by Nelson Francis, a famous linguist, ‘words don’t have meanings … people have meanings for them.’ Prison has taught me that before prison, I relied on other people to find meaning for me. I have learnt that I’m actually a dilettante, but it’s okay. I would sooner know a little bit about a lot than a lot about a little bit. I have learnt that I am the kind of person who will use a hundred words when a few will do. I have learnt just how dangerous and incendiary it can be to be lazy and flippant with words. The most innocuous of words can start a Mexican-wave of violence, faster than you think. I have learnt that shared suffering is no guarantee of friendship. I have learnt that the only good day is yesterday. I have also learnt prison might be a world within a world, with its own rules, but life still goes on. Since coming to prison I have defined a new condition, one I will call, ‘Loquacious Syndrome’ - loquacious from ‘loqui’ the Latin for ‘talk’. People just come up to me and start talking, with absolutely no prompting. What’s this all about? People just feel the need to tell me their stories. One guy told me how he considers his prison experience as the next stage of his evolution. Another guy sat down and said, ‘I don’t like the colour yellow.’ Then stood up and walked away. Prison has taught me that everybody truly is individual. I have learnt that before prison I subscribed to a narrow school of social thought. A school which dictated there is no need to cultivate or

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develop relationships past the point of necessity. You take want you want and I the same; then lets both be on our way. Just like peppers on a pizza, they aren’t there out of necessity, they’re superfluous - cheese is enough. Prison didn’t really teach me that this is no way to live. It was one person, I met in prison. Cheers Steven. I have met some of the most passionate and altruistic tutors and some of the most lazy and cynical officers. I have met lawyers and doctors, racists and xenophobes; bricklayers and plasterers; ex-police and paramedics. I have been padded up with people who are polymath and people who are polydactl. Prison has taught me that it takes tolerance of all sorts to survive; that I sleep like I drive, as though it were a task to be completed rather than something to be enjoyed; that prison is not that dissimilar from how I drink my coffee - black no sugar. You can’t always rely on there being milk and sugar about, in here. Drink enough of it and you eventually get used to the bitter taste. Prison has taught me that jail is jail regardless of geography. The population is the same, the same group of wannabe heroes and superstars, philosophers and psychologists - that’s jail philosophers and psychologists, who have all read one book and are now ‘experts’. Beware of these people - Paul Fluster said, “The men here are just like any other men, they walk with two legs, see with two eyes and touch with two hands. They all speak from both sides of their mouths at once.” After all the meaningful and the trivial is said and analyzed, I have learnt that I have to believe all this will lead somewhere and my eyes will be open to the experience. I have learnt that I never want to come back. What have you learnt? Ryan Penn is a pseudonym for a prisoner at HMP Kirklevington Grange

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Comment


Ben’s Blog 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’.

to retire from the public arena, a shadow of who I am remains scattered across the internet.

political issues that it raises. Not all prisoners have that breadth of view.

And so my strong recommendation to my peer was to think very carefully about what future he was planning for. If he desired obscurity then he shouldn’t blog. Even with the strongest efforts at anonymity, there are those who will slowly and persistently piece together disparate fragments of information until the real identity is laid bare; the experience of Erwin James is a reminder of this. And so even attempting to blog anonymously is not a path to be chosen by the reticent.

And so I explained to my peer that blogging was a commitment both to oneself as well as the readers, was a hostage to future fortune, and not to be started on a whim.

Not only is identity forever placed into the public gaze, but one’s statements. Already, something I wrote several years ago which ended up on the Web has been used against me in one specific debate. Always remember, the Web never forgets. And an interesting Blog must, by definition, occasionally push the boundaries of thought, politics or morality and so be a source of quotes ready to be recycled by some future opponent.

Blogging 14 June 2010

O

ne of my peers wandered into my cell the other day and raised the question as to whether he should begin a blog of his own. As his knowledge of blogs and blogging was essentially zero, I had to explain not only the concept but the practicalities and consequences. In doing so, it made me think about the whole enterprise. What I told him was that blogging is obviously not for introverts, but it has the added twist for a blogging prisoner of stripping away anonymity and the possibility of future obscurity. Most Lifers leave prison and essentially vanish; there are very few who ever intrude into the public domain. This is their choice. In blogging, though, that choice is limited. As the Web never forgets, for the rest of my days anyone can ‘Google’ me and find my background. Even if I wished

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Consistent output is also expected. A blog, I realise, is a commitment made to the readers and one that must be taken seriously. It was always my intention to produce one post a day with rare exceptions; I am glad to have been able to maintain that output. A mere single piece a day sounds quite simple, a matter of a few moments work, it isn’t! As my blog is comprised of my original content, no guests, no posting news, then it means that I have to think of something new each and every day which I feel may be of interest to readers. I notice that I have produced nearly a novel’s worth of wordage by now and not even a year has passed. And I strongly stressed this commitment to my inquirer. Readers are not sheep to be gathered and dispersed as a whim; there are expectations to be fulfilled and any potential blogger must realise this. There is also the most important matter - that of having something to say. A blog which restricts itself to a diary format runs the risk of becoming quite dull. The life of the prisoner tends to be quite boring overall. Something more needs to be added, a set of lenses through which to examine both the minutiae of prison life as well as the large moral and

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Having listened to my long explanation of these issues, I can rest assured that I will remain the only blogging British prisoner…at least for this week!

............................................... Useless 18 June 2010 After the shambles that masqueraded as my last parole hearing, I made a formal complaint to the Parole Board about the conduct of the Judge who chaired the proceedings. As I allege, it was his inefficiency that led to the hearing being abandoned. That letter was posted a month ago. According to the Parole Board’s timetable for dealing with complaints, the matter should have been dealt with by now. And yet all I have heard is a resounding silence. Not a single peep has emanated from the Board, not even an acknowledgement. This suggests two possibilities; one is that my letter failed to leave the prison; it is not unknown for letters which are problematic to ‘go astray’. The other possibility is that the Parole Board are in such a shambles that they can’t even deal with complaints made about that shambles. Oh, the irony!

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part of the Life sentence. This has never sat comfortably with me. My tariff of ten years reflected my age as much as any quality of my victim. Today, in the same circumstances, the tariff would be pretty much the same. And yet, as the news reports that the killer of Sarah Payne has a tariff reduction to 40 years (down from 50), I can’t help but wonder about the value of human life. Or, rather, the value that society collectively assigns to life. Over the past few years I have sat, baffled, as a series of hospitals have killed thousands of people through negligence and ineptitude. I’m baffled as no one has ever been held responsible for these deaths. It seems that society is reasonably comfortable with such deaths being marked by someone symbolically resigning, to take a pay-off and pension and promptly get employed elsewhere in the field. And yet one man kills a pretty, white, blue-eyed blonde girl with a vocal, determined mother and the criminal justice system undergoes paroxysms of change. Why, I can’t stop wondering, are some lives more valued by society than others? Why is a stabbing outside a pub worthy of acres of print and buckets of outrage, when mass homicide on an institutional level is shrugged off?

............................................ Life..? 20 June 2010 The setting of the tariff period of a Life sentence is an exercise in placing a numerical value on the life of the victim. The tariff comprises the deterrence and retribution

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Comment


Y

informs the court that he will be delayed; coincidentally until the penultimate day of the trial, when his will be the last testimony imprinted on the jurors before the prosecution summing-up.

ou, like me, have probably re-lived your trial over and over a thousand times in your head and asked yourself how on earth did that happen? I’d always been led to believe that the Judge was in charge of a trial, but I saw little sign of that, nor was it my barrister; not because we lost but because of the way we lost.

When he arrives, his presence is deliberate. He must impress because the police tactics have been seen in a bad light. They have admitted to losing evidence that might cast doubt on your guilt. You know they have lied, so they’ve arranged for their expert to be introduced late.

Prior to the trial you probably experienced the farcical system of disclosure dates; dates that are set down and supposedly controlled by the Judge so that one’s defence can prepare to challenge the prosecution’s evidence. The police blatantly flout the deadlines so that revelations can reach you a matter of weeks before a trial (revelations that should have been disclosed may not be found out until years later.) Say, for example, the original charge is based on the evidence of a partial fingerprint. Perhaps you know it cannot be yours so you don’t feel as concerned as you would if you were aware of a way that the prosecution would insinuate that it could be yours. Weeks before the trial it is disclosed that the way the police charged you was a ‘catch all’ term and that it wasn’t actually the print itself but DNA taken from the print. This causes you a whole bunch of problems; suddenly your defence team is running around trying to find an expert to challenge. There isn’t one and the balance has been tipped well and truly in the prosecution’s favour. But the fact that the police have broken disclosure dates as well as committed deception seems to be regarded with ignorance. Now you find yourself at the pre-trial hearing. You are new to all this and most of it goes over your head. The police try to introduce similar fact evidence but it is so far away from similar it is laughable. The judge bans a further line of questioning; take note, because your future Parole reports may be based on this since the Ministry of Justice allows report makers to use any source material even if it is fake. This could follow you for years and to have it removed is hell. INFLUENCE: The jury is sworn in, which causes you immediate concern. Your case may be complex; the jurors are young,

© prisonimage.org

Trials, timing and influence Tony Joyce highlights the psychological process he believes underpins many of today’s prosecutions impressionable, inexperienced in life and sourced from the locality. They certainly know little about DNA or complex fraud cases. They do know about the case because of media coverage. They portrayed that they have their man. Regardless of whether one is guilty or innocent, the trial is supposed to be fair. Already it is not and the jury must make a decision, not just on the evidence but on who can influence their decision the most convincingly. Your alibis and character witnesses paint a positive picture, but cross examination and

underhand tactics by the prosecution cast elements of doubt in the minds of the jurors. Indeed, underhand tactics come in various disguises. TIMING: Stopping the trial and having the jury sent out is a favourite. Because its timing is not predictable, it thus plays a vital part in imprinting on the jurors’ minds; ‘what don’t they want us to know?’ It can happen so often it becomes monotonous and frustrating. It serves to break continuity, especially for defence witness statements. Disruption too, as the prosecution’s ‘expert’

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The expert treats the trial as if it is beneath him. This has worked before in the many trials he has sat on. His scientific jargon has been deliberately designed to obfuscate and to influence. This leaves not only the judge confused but the whole courtroom. But it must be right because, after all, he is an ‘expert’. The prosecutor sums up and as a parting shot not only throws in a banned line of questioning, but speculates about rearranging the dates surrounding the incident and thus questioning your alibis. Objections bring a reprimand from the judge when really you believe he has tampered with trial procedure and the case should be thrown out. The seed has been planted once again! How many of us have regretted not giving a verbal outburst to the absurdities mouthed by the police or prosecution. If only I had my day in court again we reflect. The timing and influence of my outburst might just have planted a different seed. It might just have changed the outcome. Gone are the days of beating a confession out of someone. Exploitation of ignorance; manipulation of due process and pushing the boundaries to and past the limit are the psychological processes which underpin a prosecution in this day and age. The timing and influence by which they are implemented are the tools that engineer how a trial will be manipulated.

Tony Joyce is currently resident at HMP Albany

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Comment


Anonymity Until Trial Stanley Best

W

hen the newly elected coalition government announced that it was contemplating granting anonymity until trial to those charged with rape and kindred offences to put them on level terms with complainants, the interim leader of the Labour Party, Harriet Harman, announced in the House of Commons that she would oppose the idea. People were entitled to know, she claimed, of any allegations made whether proven or not proven. Perhaps she should have considered the case of David Bell, reported in The Independent on 3rd June. Mr Bell, a 54 year-old schoolmaster in Northern Ireland, had, it seems, noticed that a 12 year-old pupil ‘from a broken home’ was looking downcast and had lifted her chin with one finger so that she was looking at him, and he at her, when he spoke to her, telling her in a kindly way to ‘cheer up’. The girl, however, alleged that he ‘had run his fingers between her breasts’. He was suspended from work and two years later, shortly before he was put on trial for indecent assault, the other schoolgirl who had initially supported the complainant, and was the only independent witness, admitted that Bell was telling the truth and that he had indeed only ‘touched the girl’ (complainant) ‘under the chin to raise her face while he told her to cheer up’. The trial would have collapsed as there was no evidence to support this serious allegation, but it rather looks from the scant details in The Independent as though the prosecution sought a quid pro quo, namely that in exchange for offering no evidence on the indecent assault charge, he should plead to a charge of common assault, i.e. touching her chin. What persuaded the prosecution to pursue the lesser charge we are not told, but it seems that Mr Bell may have accepted it as a trivial matter and have misunderstood the effect of the absolute discharge which would

follow. If he did, he is not the only one over the years to fail to understand what it would mean for him. Two years or more on, he seeks to fully clear his name and to expunge this finding – the absolute discharge – from his record as a teacher at the Education Authority. The idea that raising the girl’s head with his finger was an assault is nonsense, I suggest. There appears to have been no sanction against the complainant on the basis of a false allegation, although from time to time, but by no means always, the wrongful complainant is prosecuted in England or Wales. How Harriet Harman and the Labour Party can be content with a situation where matters may be so one-sided beggars belief. This and more will have been no doubt in the mind of X who was also charged with a sexual offence in this country. He pleaded not guilty and his family arranged his defence by a lawyer whom X was told in correspondence with the retained solicitors was a barrister. In the event, it turned out that he was, in fact, an employed assistant solicitor – i.e. not even a partner – with the solicitors retained (i.e. who had agreed to act) for X. The facts were reported to the Solicitors Regulation Authority and X and his family await the outcome of their complaint. Even more unfortunately, X was found guilty and wants to appeal, so his mother and brother approached a different firm of solicitors, indicating that X wanted this time to be represented by Counsel. Once bitten, twice shy you may think. This firm, who we will call ABC (not their real name) agreed to act and sent the usual legal aid forms for completion by X. The family had had some difficulty in finding solicitors to act in a case which might, of course, necessarily involve criticism of the conduct of the trial solicitors. The mother and brother of X were, like many others from time to time, mightily relieved that they were over the first hurdle, but their hopes were cruelly dashed when a letter arrived from ABC saying: ‘ ... I had indicated

that I would assist with your son’s case and advised that the forms be completed and sent … to me … Upon reflection … we have concluded that it would not be appropriate for us to accept this case and undertake the work required’. In this letter you will note that it is acknowledged that the solicitors had already ‘accepted’ the case (i.e. had agreed to act for X) and there is not one word explaining why it was not ‘appropriate’ to do so. Even more curiously, the letter continues: ‘This is no reflection upon our view of the merits of your case and I strongly advise that you pursue this matter further, as I am sure that you will do’. The letter concludes: ‘I wish you all the best of luck in this pursuit for (sic) justice for your son’. It may well be, I know not, that as I write, a further letter from X’s mother is winging its way to the Solicitors Regulation Authority. What grounds had ABC to determine its retainer with X or his family? Not a single reason is given in the letter quoted above and one can only speculate as, no doubt, X and his family are doing at this very moment that there were no legitimate reasons. Can it be right for an unfortunate would-be appellant who has already been badly let down by the trial solicitors to be treated in this fashion? I hear all too often of the difficulties which attend prisoners and their families in obtaining representation by competent solicitors and it has to be said that ABC appeared to be competent, so what has brought about this volte face? Are solicitors to be allowed to terminate their retainer at will? The Guide to the Professional Conduct of Solicitors which the Law Society rightly says needs to be consulted from time to time, notwithstanding a later Code of Conduct, says: ‘A solicitor must not terminate his or her retainer with the client except for good reason …’ No reason at all being given by ABC, it must

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surely be concluded, at least at this stage, that there is no good reason. This leads to the question of what can be done to protect vulnerable clients within or without prison walls from the capricious conduct of a minority of solicitors. Is it enough that X wanted to be represented and advised by Counsel? Sensible clients do, whatever solicitors say. Prisoners in particular have very limited resources and I recall vividly a year or so ago at a meeting of FACT (the association for Falsely Accused Carers and Teachers) to whose members I was speaking, being told by several members of the audience how difficult it was for individuals to find suitably experienced solicitors to help them. It surely ought not to be beyond the wit of the average solicitor dealing in criminal law cases to take full and careful instructions from the lay client, to send the papers to Counsel and to act thereafter under his or her guidance? Is anything less than these minimal requirements to be accepted as proper? Higher Courts Advocacy solicitors do not provide, on the whole, the same standard as Counsel. It looks as though there is, in the case of X, the opportunity for the Solicitors Regulation Authority to make clear the solicitor’s duty to his client and to ensure that those who cannot or will not act responsibly are weeded out. Prisoners and others facing serious charges or pursuing appeals deserve better treatment than some get today. Stanley Best is a practising barrister and a mediator at Barnstable Chambers, EX19 8 ED and Chairman of the British Legal Association Tel/Fax: 01837 83763. Editorial note: • The coalition Government has pledged to extend the current ban on identifying victims in rape cases to defendants as well. It would mean only those convicted of rape would ever be named. • The Solicitors Code of Conduct 2007 Rule 7 permits solicitors to publicise their firm in a number of ways ensuring that clients and the public have appropriate information about the firm and the way it is regulated; but prohibiting misleading publicity. Inside Time take appropriate steps to check that the law firms that advertise in this newspaper are fully regulated.

24

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Comment

Insidetime July 2010 www.insidetime.org For simplicity, let’s just examine the advert line by line and see what the advert is actually asking, in layman’s terms, and see what is expected of any potential tenant who is on a low income, has just left prison or, alternatively, has just left a hostel after a spell in the slammer.

Housing...

brick by brick! lies, discrimination and total lunacy which I had to endure in order to finally secure a place of my own.

by Andy Thackwray

I

was going to write about the Citizen’s Advice Bureau this month. I had already spoken to them and had them all tee’d up for an interview when suddenly something came right out of the blue. I was given the green light to move on from the hostel which I had existed in for three months. In other words, I had to go and find somewhere to live. I eventually achieved my goal and I’m now writing this article in my very own gaff; the first piece which has not been written or thought out in any form of institution whatsoever. So I thought it fitting to write and inform you all of the problems,

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Let’s start with the property itself – One Bedroom Flat. I looked at a few properties that fitted this description. Yes, they had one bedroom alright, but sod all else! No kitchen, lounge and a shared bog and bathroom. Just one room, with a sink and a baby belling cooker shoved in the corner - otherwise known as a bloody bedsit! Be careful; don’t be led up the garden path with such ‘creative descriptions.’ Phone up the landlord or letting agent and ask how many rooms the property actually has, and do this before you waste your time, and bus fare, by travelling halfway across town to view what could turn out to be nothing more than a cell without bars. Bedsits are depressing places; and dangerous too for those in the early stages of trying to beat an addiction. Remember you want to move forward not backwards after your release. If I had my way, bedsits would be made illegal; the only purpose they serve is to make unscrupulous landlords and property developers rich at the expense of their tenant’s sanity. Next line - Furnished. This is a very confusing word when it is associated with the renting of a new gaff. I found, during my search for my own place, that the word ‘furnished’ can mean any one of the following - ‘fully furnished,’ ‘ part furnished,’ ‘ a little bit furnished,’ ‘ sort of furnished,’ ‘ not really furnished at all but it gets the punters in to view,’ and ‘totally unfurnished.’ I found that the word ‘furnished’ could mean either that a place possessed everything in the way of furnishings from three piece suite right down to knives and forks, or to having only an upturned tea chest and a deckchair and yet still be classed as furnished. Again, check exactly what is included in the furnishings when you ring to enquire and, if you do go on to view the place, make sure the furniture is the same furniture when you move in and that it hasn’t been taken out or replaced with furniture of inferior quality, because I am reliably informed that these kind of practices do go on. I asked a reputable letting agent as to what ‘Furnished’ actually means with regards to renting a property, they informed me: ‘There’s no set way a

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furnished property has to be. However, some properties include everything from large furnishings through to bed linen and crockery etc. The minimum required in order for it to be a furnished property would be beds, sofas, white goods and wardrobes’. Next line - £395 per calendar month. If, like me, you are to rely on Housing Benefit to pay for your rent, then check with the local council of where you intend to live and ask how much benefit they are prepared to pay. I’d looked for a place in different areas of the country. Some would pay as little as £55.00 per week, whilst I found another council was prepared to pay as much as £105 per week. This is based on a single person renting a onebedroom place. The rate is quite a bit lower for bedsits and shared houses so, like I have said before, give bedsits and bedsit-land a miss if you can and get as much as you can out of the state. After all – you are entitled to it. Next line - £500 deposit. I was lucky enough to have had enough money for the deposit needed to secure my new place. However, some people have to rely on bond schemes and the like. Regardless of where the money comes from, a deposit is a landlord’s way of getting hold of you by the short and curlies. There was a time when landlords sat on this money, enjoyed the interest it earned throughout the duration of your tenancy and when you were ready to leave the premises, they would come round and look for damage; in some cases damage that was already there before you moved in, and if they found any then they would gleefully deduct what it would cost to repair this ‘damage,’ or indeed ‘fair wear and tear’ from the deposit money. My advice before you sign any tenancy agreement is to have a good old butchers’ around your new place and look for any problems, i.e. stains on carpets, tears in furniture etc. If you find any, then make a note and bring them to your landlord’s or letting agent’s attention and make a note of it on the inventory papers (list of furnishings to you and me). This way you should cover your arse and there are no ‘unforeseen financial surprises’ when it’s time for you to leave and get your deposit back. Having said that – nowadays, all deposits should be paid into The Deposit Protection Service by your landlord or letting agent (please see details below).

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Comment

Insidetime July 2010 www.insidetime.org And finally - No Smokers, Dogs or DSS. I thought I’d save the best till last. If ever there was a case for outright discrimination then it is captured in this statement that adorns many an advert for letting a property. I don’t mean discrimination against smokers, in this day and age smokers are getting it from all sides. I don’t mean discrimination against dogs either; I can understand a landlord’s viewpoint where dogs and pets are concerned. No, it is the sheer arrogant and discriminatory attitude levelled at people on low incomes that really gets my back up. Not to mention that the words ‘No DSS’ usually come at the end of the ‘undesirable list’ after pets and bloody dogs. Bloody cheek! Well if you want to get the last laugh then listen up. I had a natter with a very nice chap at the council, who reliably informed me that there is no such thing as the DSS anymore. It went out with the Ark. Therefore this ‘No DSS’ bollocks is totally obsolete and applies to no one other than the discriminating bastards who wrote it. Housing benefit is paid directly to the tenants nowadays and not the landlords. My only advice, like I said earlier, is to find out how much benefit you are entitled to in the area where you wish to live, and that the amount will cover the rent each month. This way you don’t get out of your depth financially by having to add to the rent from your own pockets. So remember, keep your gobs shut and don’t tell them anything about being

DPS

The Deposit Protection Service

About The Legislation Did You Know... An estimated 85% of all private sector tenancies require the tenant to pay a deposit

on housing benefit. Also say nothing about your criminal record, especially if renting privately or through an agent. I rented through an agent and wasn’t asked any questions, which is a good job because I have more ‘form’ than Desert Orchid! However, I’ve learned that most councils do ask about any convictions on their tenancy application forms, if you have to actually disclose them is a different matter. I’d seek legal advice on that one, but I know what I’d do! It is a sad state of affairs when the probation service advise you to, let’s say, “Bend The Truth A Little” in order to get a place of your own, but that’s what was told to me, and, without grassing myself up, it worked. But surely something must change in order to help those leaving prison to get into a place of their own. Finding a place is one thing, and moving into a new place is another, without having the added burden of the “I hope they don’t find out syndrome” pecking away at your head before you collect the keys. I’m absolutely sure that a more structured, user friendly, not to mention legal way of getting there is desperately needed for all concerned. Really, is it too much to ask?

Andy Thackwray was resident at HMP Hull and HMP Doncaster

of it back at the end of that tenancy, actually get it. Who is affected? The legislation covers virtually all new AST contracts through which private landlords let property in England and Wales. Why is legislation needed? The return of a deposit at the end of a tenancy is by no means guaranteed. For example, in 2006/7: 64% were returned in full 20% were returned in part 16% were not returned at all The reasons given by landlords for withholding some or all of a deposit were:

Source: 2005/06 Survey of English Housing

As part of the Housing Act 2004 the Government is introducing tenancy deposit protection for all assured shorthold tenancies (ASTs) in England and Wales where a deposit is taken. From April 6th 2007, all deposits paid under an AST have had to be protected within 14 calendar days of receipt by the landlord. The legislation aims to ensure that tenants who have paid a deposit to a landlord or letting agent and are entitled to receive all or part

• Damage to the property (26%) • Cleaning the property (30%) • Unpaid rent or bills (3%) • Other reasons (32%) Over half (52%) of tenants who had some or all of their deposit withheld felt that it had been withheld unjustifiably. The new tenancy deposit protection schemes are working to ensure that deposits are returned on a fair basis to tenants, which is in every landlord and tenant’s interests.


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Reducing isolation … increasing socialisation Francesca Cooney, Advice and Information Manager at the Prison Reform Trust, highlights the Trust’s work on older people

PRISON REFORM TRUST

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lder people – those over 50 – now make up one in eleven of the prison population. Despite this, at the moment there is no PSI or strategy from NOMS that tells prison staff how to meet the specific needs of older people or make changes to help them cope in prison. However, there are some prisons that are trying to support the older people in their care. The Prison Reform Trust has just published a report based on a survey of prison staff, called ‘Doing Time: Good practice with older people in prisons’ – the views of prison staff. We asked them to tell us about the best work they do with older people in prison. We received surveys back from three-quarters of the prisons holding older people. One interesting thing we found out is that many prisoners themselves are involved in work to support older people. Over of a third of the prisons that replied to the survey had some kind of older peoples’ committees or forum going on. These are usually concerned with prison matters and, at best, give older people in prison the opportunity to have a direct input into regulations and services that impact on them in prison. Older prisoner forums were cited by 12 prisons as examples of the best work undertaken with older prisoners. In the south west, five prisons have forums linked into the national network of older peoples’ forums in the community and they are organised in the same way. These forums enable older people in prison to

have a voice both inside and outside prison. Another way in which people in prison are supporting each other is through peer support. Over the last five years, many more prisons have implemented peer support programmes for people with mobility or social care difficulties. This has been a direct response to the need of the ageing and less mobile population. These schemes are also developing in prisons which recognise that not only do staff have limited time, but that many prisoners have talents and time to offer. The benefits of these schemes are many and it has been seen by some prisons as a good way of developing the skill set of one group of prisoners while meeting some of the daily living needs of others. There are also add-on benefits in terms of reducing isolation and increasing socialisation. In addition, prisoners taking part in peer support schemes find their time is used productively and their skills are increased, as well as experiencing the positive emotional benefits that come from volunteering. Thirty prison staff (almost a third of the survey respondents) said there was some form of prisoner to prisoner support with social care or daily living in the prison for older people. Six further staff explained that this was being looked at as a model of working. One of our recommendations in the report is that, in prisons where peer support is happening, prison staff should explore systems so that prisoners needing care are consulted and prisoners giving support are trained, monitored and paid for their work.

You can get a copy of the report by contacting the Prison Reform Trust. Our information line: 0808 802 0060 is open Mondays 3.30-7.30pm and Tuesdays and Thursdays 3.30-5.30pm. We can give you advice and information about prison life and your rights in prison. We are not solicitors and we cannot give you legal advice.


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Comment


Deliberately inflicted powerlessness John Bowden is angered by what he considers to be disinformation and rhetoric intended to camouflage the reality of the Wakefield Close Supervision Centre

In terms of trying to convey something of the true reality of the atmosphere and aura that exists within the segregation unit at Wakefield, it might be appropriate to ask the question what exactly it is about the place that has made it a favourable location for behavioural modification experiments in the past, as well somewhere traditionally used to contain and punish the system’s most “disruptive” and “difficult” long-term prisoners? Contrary to Danny McAllister’s disgracefully manufactured image of F Wing at Wakefield, it is indeed as Barbara Davis describes, a severely austere and oppressive place, purpose-built in physicality and regime to dispirit, subdue and intimidate even the most resilient and defiant of “troublemakers”. Physically removed and separate from the main prison complex, F Wing exists and operates very much as a prison within a prison where clinical isolation and absolute powerlessness is deliberately inflicted in an attempt to break psychological resistance to the authority of the prison system and those who enforce it. Barbara’s description of the psychological damage and trauma caused by such treatment is obviously considered by those responsible to be an acceptable by-product of the process of moulding minds and personalities more amenable to the requirements of prison “good order and discipline”. In 1974 the segregation unit at Wakefield was chosen by the prison department as a location eminently suitable for the setting-up of what became an infamous “Special Control Unit” experiment following a wave of nationwide

MACKESYS

prison protests co-ordinated by the national prisoners’ movement Preservation of the Rights of Prisoners (PROP). Prisoners transferred to the control unit at Wakefield were subjected to a regime of sensory deprivation and psychological cruelty, although without the official McAllister-esque smokescreen; those administering the control-unit regime were more explicit about its purpose – to convey the message to prison malcontents that it didn’t pay to cause trouble. The control-unit at Wakefield would eventually be the subject of a high profile legal action instigated by the then National Council for Civil Liberties on behalf of prisoner Michael Williams. Public opinion and the political climate at the time were far less favourable to the blatant abuse of prisoners’ human rights and the control unit experiment was officially

There have been outbreaks of collective prisoner resistance to the regime in Wakefield’s F Wing; in October of 1984 prisoners in “The Nutcrackers Suite” and segregation unit smashed cell fittings and staged a collective non-co-operation protest that resulted in a complete emptying of the unit and the transfer of its inhabitants elsewhere. A police investigation would subsequently

take place into claims made by some prisoners that they were seriously assaulted by staff at Wakefield before being transferred. The protest would seriously undermine the confidence of both staff at Wakefield and prison service headquarters in their ability to again manage sizeable groups of “difficult” prisoners at Wakefield and for the next 20 years the accumulation of such prisoners in the prisons’ segregation unit would not be allowed to happen. The setting up of the current “Exceptional Risk Unit” at Wakefield would suggest that it’s now pretty much business as usual.

discontinued, although within the re-named “F Wing” at Wakefield vestiges of it remained and prison staff there would continue to see their role in terms of breaking the spirit of defiance of those consigned to their personal care. During the late 1970s and early 80s the segregation unit at Wakefield was used increasingly to house those prisoners considered too disruptive to be managed elsewhere in the prison system, and as their numbers increased at Wakefield the attitude of staff towards them became correspondingly more

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Historically there have been two polaropposite approaches to the management of “difficult” prisoners within specialised units, both informed by radically different philosophies. The liberal model represented by the Barlinnie Special Unit in Scotland before its abandonment in the early 1990s took as its starting point a recognition of the basic humanity of the prisoner and his capacity for positive change in the right circumstances and conditions. Prisoners considered the most dangerous and resistant to reform, previously locked-down in the cage cells of Inverness jail and controlled by brute force, were now encouraged within the “Democratic Community” of the Barlinnie Unit to explore and develop their capacity for non-violent and creative expression and thereby contribute to a seismic change in penal culture within the unit. Although considered largely a success, the Barlinnie Unit eventually expired under pressure from a hostile right-wing press and reactionary elements in the Scottish Prison Service and Scottish Prison Officers association.

unyielding and hostile. In 1982 two “high security cells” were constructed on a subterranean level in the segregation unit for the long-term containment of prisoners considered the most dangerous and unmanageable in the system; they would become known as “The Cages” and “The Nutcrackers Suite”. I personally experienced life in this facility in the winter of 1984.

Inside Time June 2010

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arbara Davis’ powerful and very disturbing description of the illtreatment of prisoners held in the Close Supervision Centre (CSC) at HMP Wakefield (June issue) will have undoubtedly been recognised by prisoners unfortunate enough to have directly experienced life in the segregation unit, or F Wing, at Wakefield, the physical location of the CSC. On the other hand, the response/ defence of Danny McAllister, Director of High Security Prisons, to Barbara’s claim will be seen by those same prisoners (including myself) for what it is; prison service disinformation and rhetoric employed to disguise and camouflage what is in reality a deliberate abuse of human rights.

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The “Exceptional Risk Unit” at Wakefield occupies the opposite end of the spectrum and is the total antithesis of everything the Barlinnie Special Unit came to represent. Whereas prisoners at Barlinnie were empowered to make positive choices about their lives, those confined at Wakefield are treated as “problems” to be straightened out on the anvil of discipline and punishment; trust, responsibility and empowerment have absolutely no place in the lexicon of those overseeing the treatment of prisoners at Wakefield. In such an environment, positive change in the prisoner is impossible, and as Barbara Davis says produces only learned helplessness, psychological regression and de-personalization. As far as Danny McAllister is concerned, however, the “CSC system is achieving its aims and proving to be an asset”, which as a claim is depressingly indicative of an official mindset that considers the collateral damage of fractured minds a price worth paying in the interest of achieving total obedience and conformity. John Bowden is currently resident at HMP Glenochil

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Comment


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 our tricky relationship with alcohol

the cannon fodder. I doubt they mind if my liver gets pickled and my kidneys turn to mush. ‘I feel penned in and surrounded by drink advertising. It’s everywhere – in newspapers, magazines and on the internet, on primetime and daytime TV, even on the radio. When I am out shopping, buses drive by and remind me that I may need a drink. My mobile has images of famous brands secreted in little windows. Sports events like football, rugby, cricket and even athletics advertise alcohol. The Welsh rugby union team advertises Brains beer on its shirts. In the street, giant billboards tell me where I can buy alcohol and sometimes for how much. And in the bottom right corner of the billboard is a little sign saying “Drinkaware”. Does that mean that I should drink sensibly, or that I should be aware that there is plenty of drink out there if I want it? Drink is waiting for me with open arms. “Come and get me,” it says.’ Julian will be well into his rehab programme by now, but I wonder what he would make of Drinkaware’s latest campaign. This information charity, funded by the drinks industry, has just donated 10,000 footballs with alcohol information on them to remind people to take it steady while watching the world cup.

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ur love-hate relationship with alcohol makes for strange reading sometimes. In June, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) announced its latest guidance on alcohol. It called for alcohol to be ‘less affordable and less easy to buy’ and said that we should consider banning alcohol advertising to protect high risk groups. Our readers could have told them that for nothing. Here’s Julian, watching telly just before he goes into detox and rehab after six years on the bottle: ‘Before the film starts, I am reminded that this film was brought to me by Russian Standard vodka – and suggests I would like to

try some of that too. Blimey! Russian Standard vodka is a nice drop. I’ve had it. It’s 40 per cent and 28 units per 70cl bottle – lethal by anyone’s standards. It retails at around £14, which is out of my price range, but when Tesco were selling it in January for £10 a bottle I was hooked like a donkey on a carrot. That is a fair price for a “superbly smooth and pure tasting classic” – their words not mine. But “alkies” do not care about the taste. It’s the kick we are looking for. ‘Tesco are not alone in this act of generosity to all pissheads searching for that peach schnapps of a bargain. The other three of the “big four” are also at it. Sainsbury’s, Morrison’s and Asda are all locked in a battle to get us to buy booze from them. Their weapon of mass destruction - advertising. It’s a war and I am

The alcohol may be highly visible but the treatment for its effects certainly isn’t. Is support for alcohol addiction readily accessible in your prison? I’ve lost count of the times I’ve been told by prisoners that they had to play up an insignificant drug problem to get onto an addiction treatment programme for their alcohol disorder. It’s not just in prisons - the alcohol treatment system inside and out is woefully undernourished. A commissioner in Birmingham told us how he is trying to get to grips with alcohol commissioning. He said: ‘The challenge to the nation and, more specifically, Birmingham regarding reducing alcohol-related harms is enormous – I remember someone commenting that the reason central government had not fully faced the alcohol agenda was it was “just too big”.’ But he is determined to get brief

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interventions – the term used for basic screening for alcohol problems – introduced to hospitals (especially A&E) and GP surgeries in his area. He also wants a full range of treatment services to be developed for offenders, including an alcohol arrest referral scheme, prison inreach services and national probation service alcohol treatment requirements. If such services had been in place for Gary, who wrote his story for us last year, he might not have wasted years of his life as ‘Gary the drinker’. As the adopted son of a professional darts player, the pub became his home from an early age, and he soon overcame the smell of the booze that made him feel sick. By the age of 14 he was a hardened drinker, getting expelled for a drunken attack on his boarding school housemaster. By the time he moved to the Derbyshire area in 2001 he’d been in lots of trouble. ‘I had numerous failed relationships and had even been refused custody of my son, partly because of my drinking,’ he said. But he realised he needed help: ‘I didn’t know what I wanted, but I knew for sure I didn’t want to give myself that label, alcoholic.’ The pattern continued – drinking, fighting and failed relationships, until in 2008 he was sent to prison for an alcohol-related offence. As his pregnant girlfriend left, crying, from a visit he walked back to his cell and resolved to seek help. Gary’s now completely drink-free, in a stable relationship and has a baby daughter. Prison might have seemed like the lowest point of his life – but he made it his turning point.

To order copies of Drink and Drugs News contact t: 020 7463 2085 e: [email protected] www.drinkanddrugsnews.com

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Comment


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here are over four million CCTV cameras in Britain - about one for every 14 people: many of these are linked to face or number plate recognition systems. All buses and trains in London have multiple cameras and they have even spread to the famous black cabs. In a 36-nation survey of public surveillance, Britain came in the bottom five with Malaysia and China. . Automatic car number plate reading is carried out by CCTV cameras and also by specially fixed police cameras and reads the number plate and cross checks it with a database. Every police force and half a dozen other government agencies use this system to capture 50 million cars, covering 10 million drivers every day; (often the same driver can be captured several times) and data can be kept for 5 years. The London ‘Congestion’ tax uses this system and stores details of every car entering and leaving London. Transport for London, an organisation which oversees transport in the capital, has over 700 cameras watching 1 in 3 cars on the road: they are watching for a driver to stop or drive where he shouldn’t; they then send out a £120 fixed penalty ticket. More money is raised by CCTV than parking wardens; netting over £80 million since November 2004. To raise more money, the scheme is being extended to cover roads 24 hours a day instead of daytime only. Facial recognition software has now been developed which will be deployed with CCTV: The National Police Improvement Agency is planning another database to ‘use’ the technology. The police have a database of 26 million full sets of fingerprints and issues officers with mobile phone sized devices which can be used to read any person’s fingerprints at the roadside and compare them to the database. Biometric fingerprinting is even used in schools for school dinners and library

Our use of credit cards, mobile phones and loyalty cards allow all aspects of our lives to be recorded. Banks and other financial institutions now have a legal obligation to hand over details of our bank and other accounts to the police. A mobile phone can be tracked to within a hundred yards or so - your mobile phone details must also be disclosed - all of these without a Court Order.

John Cleese in the film Clockwise

“They know who you are, where you are, what you are doing and who you are doing it with!” Inside Time’s Paul Sullivan highlights the British obsession with public surveillance checking. The new Biometric ID cards/ passports will require your fingerprint to ‘connect’ you to the card. In a Freedom of Information Act response it was admitted that these fingerprints will be accessible by

Need Inside Advice? David Phillips and Partners can help out. We offer legal advice and representation on:·

Everybody ‘arrested’ now has fingerprints, oral swabs, saliva, footwear impressions and photos taken. Anyone convicted of an offence has their DNA kept indefinitely. People not charged or acquitted will still have their DNA kept, in most cases forever. This DNA is immediately compared to a database of unknown DNA from crime scenes to see if it can be used to convict you, or one of your relatives, of an unsolved crime. VISOR is a UK-wide system used to store and share information and intelligence on people the police think pose a risk to the public. This is available to 12 agencies, including the armed forces, and not only stores factual data but also ‘intelligence’ gathered from who knows where. The ‘sources of information’ are also stored.

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The Police National Computer stores most of this information, and more, and is fully searchable. One of the bits of software they are very proud of is called ‘CrimeLink’ which the police say can solve serious serial type crimes by searching for similarities and identifying the suspect. In the name of security, all British airports are going to have microwave body scanners which can see through your clothes and give operators a picture of you completely naked; if you refuse you don’t fly. The problem is they can’t see liquids or thin plastic; and nobody is certain what will happen to the images. Stop and Search powers have been stepped up so that anyone can be stopped and searched in the street, in full view of everybody. Police can even search your car whilst it is parked without telling you - as long as they leave a note to tell you what they have done. Sending an email? The law says these can be monitored and read. According to a BBC report, a new system will track all e-mails, phone calls and internet use, including visits to social network sites. Phone-tapping needs only a senior police officer’s nod. So they know who you are talking to, what you are saying and where you are saying it from. Watch TV and the BBC could have a detector van outside able to tell you how many televisions you have, where they are, and what you are watching. The BBC won’t say how many vans there are. A new database is also being created which will hold everybody’s medical history and it is likely that too will be accessible to the police in the new British Surveillance Society. In London, users of the Oyster travel card have all their travelling monitored including which specific bus they got on, where and when. The question is; does all this surveillance make us safer? Does it help solve crimes? Does it help prevent wrongful convictions? If you have nothing to hide do you really have nothing to worry about? What is the next step?

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Short Story

Insidetime July 2010 www.insidetime.org give up,” I repeated, this time lifting my bowed head. “Laura you have to give up now, you have done all you can,” my mum and sister told me. “This is not good for you or the baby, I know it’s hard but you have to try and move on,” I was told. But I couldn’t give up ... I rang Mark but he didn’t answer. I texted him but he ignored me. I knew it was his day off and that he’d be at home so I decided to go around.

‘My Summer Bump’ When Laura Pauley discovered she was pregnant she quickly found herself single, homeless and jobless. ‘My Summer Bump’ is her diary. An honest and personal account of everything Laura went through from the moment she discovered she was pregnant, to being dumped and having to move halfway across the country.

I

t was the day before I was due to travel home. Sat alongside my family, I blocked out everyone’s conversations around me. I couldn’t stop thinking about Mark. My life. His life. Summer’s life. I could feel the emotion building up in the pit of my stomach, like a volcano that was about to erupt. As I sat, like a ticking time bomb, the world carried layup2:Layout 1 12/04/2010 21:14 Page on around me, not realising what1 was

happening to the sister, the daughter, and now the aunt, sat on the sofa opposite. I walked out of the room without saying a word, leaving the new baby celebration to continue. I stood in the bathroom staring at the tiles. Then ran to the toilet, I was sick. I returned to the sofa like nothing had happened. “I can’t give up,” I said in a soft voice, not daring to look at anyone. “I can’t

Throughout the time I was there he constantly looked at the clock and reminded me of my remaining minutes. He spoke to me in an unpleasant tone and said some of the cruellest things I’ve ever heard come out of his mouth. “I look at you and feel nothing,” was one. “Just leave me alone, I want to forget you and move on,” was another. Not to mention, “Every day that we’ve been apart you have become more of a distant memory to me.” He even accused me of being bulimic! Saying a few people had asked him if I was bulimic because my teeth were slightly stained. And if I was to drag the ‘situation’ through the courts then he would bring it up. Now just to set the record straight, I have never put my fingers down my throat. And funnily enough, he couldn’t name these people who’d said that, so whether it was true or not, I guess I will never know. It really bothered me though because once again I felt like people were talking about me. If he hadn’t yet shocked me enough with his cruel words, then the next sentence was to top off everything he had ever said to me. “If you go through the CSA, I will fight for custody rights and bring her up here a few days a week.” Was he blackmailing me? Would he actually stoop that low just to spite me? I looked him in the eye in the hope that I could connect with the old Mark, but he was gone. “Can you go now - I don’t want you here anymore.” How could he be so spiteful? I sat there and started to cry... then sob, and before I knew it I was crying so hard I couldn’t breathe. I had to get out. I jumped out of the seat and towards the door as quickly as I could. As I unlocked the door he screamed, “I told you not to come Laura.” I ran straight into the lift, unbuttoning my cardigan as I travelled to the ground. I was instantly covered in sweat. As I reached the outside cold air I had a panic attack. I couldn’t live like this anymore.

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Quote of the Month

After Shannon, what about the other 304,000? We expect social workers to do the impossible: they alone cannot keep bad parents on the straight and narrow The most important aspect of this unsettling case is not the freaky kidnap plot but the statement by Dr Carole Smith, the report’s author, that 304,000 other children are in similar situations of low-level neglect. That is almost ten times the number on the at-risk register ... We have created a liberal society that celebrates the individual’s right to make choices. But we don’t know what to do, in our permissive society, when people make choices we dislike. Matthews was found guilty under criminal law when she eventually did something illegal. But up to then she existed in an amoral limbo. How should we judge her hygiene, her taste in men, her love for her children? When there is no physical abuse, no cigarette burns, no bruises, it is hard to know how far the State should legitimately intervene.

My Summer Bump by Laura Pauley price £6.50 from AuthorHouse UK Limited, 500 Avebury Boulevard, Central Milton Keynes MK9 2BE. Email: [email protected] Tel: 01908 309250 ext 5907

Camilla Cavendish The Times Friday June 18 2010

Can you read this? Toe by Toe enables learners to learn to read from the beginning with one to one support. It is for anyone who wants to learn how to read whilst in prison. Toe by Toe Mentors help others learn to read. Train to be a Toe by Toe mentor and develop skills in supporting others. It is a positive and highly rewarding way to spend your time in prison. For more information write to: Shannon Trust Freepost RSCE-ZSAR-GYAX 2nd Floor, Royal London House 22-25 Finsbury Square, London, EC2A 3DX

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Interview

Insidetime July 2010 www.insidetime.org officers – the first prison I ever visited, the SMO wasn’t actually allowed to practice on patients because he’d run out of registration and those awful prison in-patient units which felt like hospitals must have felt like in the nineteenth century. I think there’s also been improvements in the quality of education and training in prisons because it’s now delivered by people whose job it is to do education and training to a good standard but again there’s not enough of it. There are improvements in individual prisons. The culture in many prisons has improved; it is now a rarity to find prisons with a profoundly dismissively negative culture. But the big, obvious downside of all of that is the rise in the prison population, which has risen by 27% since I became Chief Inspector and you’ve got more people serving life sentences and indeterminate sentences. You’ve already expressed a few disappointments, but apart from the alarming rise in the prison population, what is your biggest disappointment, the one that really does hit home? Well, I think that’s the biggest one because it means that all the good stuff that’s poured into prisons is just spread too thinly. It’s also a disappointment that in spite of ministerial attention we still haven’t tackled women in prison; the number of women hasn’t risen really, it’s about the same. Around 4,000?

Quality not quantity In 2001, Inside Time’s Rachel Billington (left) and John Bowers interviewed Dame Anne Owers at the beginning of her appointment as Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons. Nine years on, with Dame Anne announcing that she will be retiring from the post on 14 July, they return to the same office

Y

ou followed Stephen Tumim, a judge, and Lord Ramsbotham, a general, as Chief Inspector of Prisons. Firstly, what was your background? And, secondly, after nine years in office, with your contract renewed twice, what do you think you’ve been able to achieve? My background was obviously very different from Steven’s and David’s. I’d worked all my life in the voluntary sector, most recently running ‘Justice’, the all-party law reform human rights group, and before that, running the joint council for the welfare of immigrants. So I came to it from outside government where it had always been very important that what you said you could back up with evidence. If you work in the voluntary sector and you are trying to do policy work there is no reason for anyone to take any notice of you unless what you say is accurate and to the point. What I’ve been able to achieve? Although I head the inspectorate, thank goodness it doesn’t just consist of me. I inherited an organisation with a very strong moral and ethical base, a strong commitment to looking at outcomes for prisoners, to looking at what was really happening, to looking at quality not

quantity, to looking at outcome not process and to looking at the detail of what was going on. My deputy who was here when I started, Colin Allen, left only one message for his successor, my current deputy, and that was a single word on a piece of paper above his desk which said “underpants”; in other words, never forget about the importance of the small detail in prison which can be crucial to the dignity and humanity of those being imprisoned. Also, anything that changes as a result of what we say happens because prisons make it happen. We don’t go in and make the segregation unit cleaner or check how staff are behaving; it’s managers and staff who do that and the willingness of all those within the system. Things that have improved within the nine years? You’d have to say that prison healthcare has improved since the NHS took over. It’s still not good enough and particularly the amount of mental health provision for the amount of mental ill health in prison, there’s a big gap but it’s undoubtedly better than it was. I remember walking around prisons with some of the medical

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4,300. In contrast to the number of children in prison which is going down dramatically. That’s the one bit of the prison population that is really dropping. So that would be on your list of things that are better? Under 18s. There are only, well I say, only, 1,600 - but there were over 3,000 a few years back. Which is good news because now we’ve stopped putting children in prison, or as many children in prison - the children of today are the recidivists of tomorrow. I’ll tell you my other big disappointment, which is harder than the women’s issue, and that’s that we never did what the government’s manifesto in 2001 indicated. 18-21 year-olds are the big forgotten group in prison; they are a group that needs a lot of attention and resources. They can be influenced at that age – influenced one way or the other at 18 to 21. They will be influenced and if they are not influenced for good, the chances are they will be by bad. Over and over again we go to institutions holding 18-21 year-olds and we say this isn’t good enough, there is not enough for them, enough activity, enough face to face time with staff, enough opportunities to develop appropriate relationships with each other and with staff; not inappropriate ones, but particularly activity, training, things that will make them employable. I probably can guess the answer to this: the Liberal Democrats, in their manifesto, had proposals to cut the amount of people being sent to prison on short sentences; do you agree with that? I think there’s no disagreement from anybody that short prison sentences don’t achieve anything except temporary incarceration. It’s too short a time to do anything positive, but it’s long enough for people sometimes to be able to lose those important links with the community they’ve got; their home, perhaps their relationship, their job, their friends. I talked to somebody not very long ago, a young man with mental illness and he had

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Insidetime July 2010 www.insidetime.org just, after a long struggle, managed to get into supported housing. And because he had a very minor offence and was sent to prison for three months, he’d lost his supported housing. So, having climbed that considerable mountain he said, ‘Oh, I’m going to go out to my mum but she can’t really look after me.’ And why do you think this can’t be altered? The problem is that we’ve got to put something in its place. Magistrates that I talk to aren’t really gung ho for sending people to prison. What they very often say is we don’t know what else to do, we’ve tried community sentences, we’ve tried the whole range of stuff or else we’re actually worried about this person, there isn’t anywhere else for them to go. If we want to use prison less, we have to invest in ‘not prison’; we have to invest in proper alternatives for people who do have chaotic lives, who may not be able to comply with community sentences, who are going to need a lot of support to get their lives into gear.

they were last week. And I’m in a prison for a whole week … It’s a long time … It’s actually hard to hide … you can hide for a few hours … and then you get a prison officer in with a form and you say …’what’s that form?’ and he says ‘I haven’t got a bloody clue, they brought this in last week when I was on leave’. Bear in mind though that we produced 106 reports in 2009 and last year we established that over 2,800 inspection recommendations had been achieved, wholly or partially, in prisons and places of immigration detention. We’ve read your recent thematic report on Muslim prisoners. You seem to suggest that some of the prison officers are not really managing to deal in a proper way with Muslim prisoners. Some non-Muslim prisoners seem to think that people are becoming Muslims simply to get a better deal, single cells, things like that, better food, holidays or whatever it might be.

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It’s a mystery. I don’t think people are deliberately inflating the amount of time out of cell in the way that they used to, but however it is happening, the prison produces some figures which go up to some central body that then churns it out – the stuff that’s coming out the other end still bears no relation whatsoever to what prisoners can expect. Very typically what is said to be the average time out of cell will be the time out of cell of a fully employed prisoner who has had exercise that day, had association that day and been out on a visit and there may be very few prisoners who fit that particular profile in any prison so it’s not an average and sometimes it’s more than the core day even allows for. What we do is work out what the experience of a fully employed prisoner might be, what the experience of an unemployed prisoner might be and work out what might be typical and it’s always less than that. I struggle to see what the point of that is because if the prison service is trying to signal to those with money, to ministers, to everyone, that it’s not able to provide the kind of activities needed, what’s the point of pretending that you can?

So you’re talking about some form of protected housing, hostel-type? I’ve always thought we need some sort of halfway house provision, as an alternative to prison, but also to people coming out of prison who need that kind of help. I’ve seen it work quite well in Canada, for example, where these are places where people are genuinely helped and mentored to deal with the issues that would get them into prison. We frequently get letters from prisoners who say they are going to refuse the terms of their licence conditions because they do not want to go to a probation hostel which is chaos, it’s drugs, it’s music, it’s worse than prison. What is your view on prisoners literally being forced to reside in such hostels? © prisonimage.org

Absolutely. I’ve been talking to women at Holloway desperate not to go to one hostel round the corner from King’s Cross, you can imagine. It’s absolutely right - they need to be small places where intensive work is done. What we lack is the staffing and resources to deal properly in a situation that’s more like a house than an institution. A young man I saw just last week said, ‘I’m going to breach my conditions again when I go out – I’m not going to that probation hostel’. Announced inspections. Should they not all be un-announced, because if you announce an inspection, surely it gives the prison ample time to put everybody on their best behaviour … ‘Good morning ma’am’. One of the things that we’ve just changed for this year on our programme, 75% of our visits are going to be un-announced. It was always 50% because all our follow-up inspections were un-announced and we always did fully un-announced visits to places that we really did want to see without warning - but it’s now 75%. I would say about the other 25% firstly, that inspections shouldn’t just be about shock and awe - we’re turning up to show you how awful you are - there should be a chance for good managers to have a look at their own prison and think, we need to get to grips with this. What we want is for good practice to become embedded in a prison and that is more likely to happen if managers do it themselves than if we suddenly arrive and start telling them to do it. Secondly, we spend an awful lot of time speaking to prisoners on our own, we all have keys, we all wander round prisons; I wander around every unit and I just open prisoners’ cells and talk to them and, believe me, prisoners tell us if things are different this week than

Just the day before we did our report, the UGov survey of people in general, there were 50% of British people who associated ‘Muslim’ with extremism and the two words tend to go together now and it’s unsurprising prison staff do the same. The real risk is that if you start approaching people from that perspective, it will alienate people and you get a self-fulfilling prophecy where they are more likely to attach themselves to extremist and radical views. Some of the people who converted in prison quite honestly told us that the initial reason for doing so was that they saw special food being cooked during Ramadan or if you get out for Friday prayers or you could get protected within a group and, as you well know, in prison being part of a group is very protective. But what they also said was that either people had dropped out immediately or else, having come through that route, actually found that Islam was something that, first of all made their prison experience easier and secondly led them to reflect on why they got there in the first place. I see far more prisoners who go to Christian services in prison than who would go to services if they were outside; it gets you out of your cell during a very boring weekend, for example, and you might even get to make tea and biscuits for the chaplain and have some yourself, so the reasons why people may attach themselves to religions in prison may initially be rather selfserving ones but that doesn’t mean that it’s a bad thing and that it doesn’t also have some good consequences. In your latest annual report, you were scathing about how the prison service was recording out of cell statistics.

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You have obviously enjoyed your role? It’s a great job. I very early on developed this theory of something I called the ‘virtual prison’ which is something run in the governor’s office, and very often the one that finds its way to the Minister’s desk, but it’s a privilege to be able to go out and look at the actual prison and have that ability to talk to people in the system and work out what’s going on – it’s fantastic. And do you feel reasonably optimistic or not? I think we are at a very difficult turning point. We’ve got a prison population that is continuing to rise, and where the number of long sentence prisoners is rising quite dramatically, and we’ve got the absolute certainty of considerable cuts in public expenditure. Prisons have never been the most popular place to spend public money. Also, prisons have managed to draw in money from the Department of Health, the Department of Education, through the NHS, through Learning and Skills Council and those budgets themselves are going to be under pressure. So I think we’re coming into a time where it will be even more difficult than usual to sustain the progress, the genuine progress, that’s been made in the prison system.

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Sentencing Policy Tony Baldry: Does my hon. Friend agree that the punishment, in being sent to prison, is the loss of freedom? Does he also agree that what is important is trying to reduce reoffending rates, and ensuring that when people are in prison, they undertake activities that mean they are less likely to reoffend when they are released? Alternatively, we might have not so many people going to prison, but if they are to be punished in the community, that punishment should involve activities that help to reduce the chances of reoffending. It is reducing the reoffending rate that is so important. Crispin Blunt: I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. We have inherited a disaster, in terms of the reoffending rate among shortsentence prisoners. I do not think that anyone would want to defend the reoffending rate in that category, which is somewhere between 60% and 70%. Prisoners in that category do not receive probation supervision, and if we do not engage them with the great army of auxiliaries in the third sector who want to help us with offender management, we will not be able to address offender behaviour in the way that my hon. Friend suggests.

Prisoners: Legal Aid Scheme Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what regulations govern unsolicited communications from law firms advertising their services to prison inmates. Crispin Blunt: Solicitors are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, the regulatory arm of the Law Society. The use of advertisements and other forms of publicity by solicitors is regulated by its Solicitors’ Code of Conduct 2007. The Code provides that firms are generally free to advertise their services, subject to the requirements of rule 7. Rule 7 of the Code permits solicitors to publicise their firms in a number of waysensuring that clients and the public have appropriate information about the firm and the way it is regulated; but prohibiting misleading publicity and inappropriate approaches for business. Prisoners’ incoming mail is examined for illicit enclosures but is not routinely read. There are no specific rules relating to unsolicited correspondence to named prisoners from law firms advertising their services. Prisons do not distribute unsolicited mail that is not addressed to a named prisoner. Advertisements from law firms are commonly carried in specialist prisoner newspapers which are made available for prisoners to pick up in communal areas. Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will review his policy on access to legal aid for prisoners seeking a


News from the House The highlights of the more important Parliamentary Questions from the House of Commons reduction in the length of their sentences. Mr Djanogly: Under the existing arrangements, prisoners who wish to appeal against their sentence, to ask the Criminal Cases Review Commission to refer their sentence to the Court of Appeal, or to seek a review of their minimum term of imprisonment, are eligible for legal aid, subject to passing the relevant merits and means tests. The Government set out in ‘The Coalition: our programme for government’ that it will undertake a fundamental review of legal aid to make it work more efficiently. We are considering how best to take this work forward and will make a statement in due course.

Rape Defendants (Anonymity) Caroline Flint: What evidence he took into account in deciding to bring forward proposals to extend anonymity to defendants in rape trials. The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice (Mr Kenneth Clarke): The proposal to grant anonymity to defendants in rape trials was included in the coalition agreement following negotiations between the two coalition partners. All the policy commitments made by the coalition Government were derived from the existing policy of one or both of the governing parties. The issue of anonymity for defendants in

rape trials was adopted as party policy by the Liberal Democrat party while in opposition. It was also the subject of an extensive inquiry by the Home Affairs Committee, in its fifth report published on 24 June 2003. Caroline Flint: I thank the right hon. and learned Gentleman for his answer. His Minister has indicated that he believes the stigma associated with those accused of rape is so damaging that, uniquely, they need further protection through anonymity, but evidence shows that the public are far more hostile to paedophiles and murderers, so why, on the evidence, does he choose to extend anonymity to those accused of rape? Mr Clarke: There are arguments on both sides of the question, and they have frequently come before the House over the years. The Government think it is right to have a reasonable debate on them. That is one of the arguments in favour of anonymity. The argument that I have always thought is the strongest for anonymity is in cases in which the victim has anonymity-when there are allegations by children against teachers and others, or allegations made by women or men in rape cases. Where the victim is allowed anonymity all the way through, there is a case, which the House has accepted on occasions in the past, for giving anonymity to the person who is accused. There are other arguments on both sides of the case. We are

not likely to have early legislation on the matter. This was the principal subject of debate in 2003 when there was a Bill before the House, and it divided all three parties. It is not a matter for party political ideology. It is a question that the House as a whole should consider with care.

Reoffending Simon Hughes: What steps the Government plan to take to reduce reoffending by prisoners after release; and if he will make a statement. Nick Herbert: The Government believe that more can be done to cut reoffending by overhauling the system of rehabilitation. We are exploring how sentencing and treatment for drug use can help offenders to come off drugs once and for all. We are also exploring how we can do more with independent providers, including the voluntary sector, to reduce reoffending. Simon Hughes: I welcome the Minister and all his colleagues to the Front Bench to consider such an important subject. May I encourage them, as they work out the plans to deal with reoffending-as has been said, it is a serious issue, which the previous Government did not address adequately-to take the advice of people such as the previous governor of Brixton prison, who were clear that, if secure housing and continuing support to deal with addictions are provided when people are released, the chance of immediate reoffending, which often starts in days, is hugely reduced. Nick Herbert: I could not agree more with my hon. Friend. We must improve the multiagency approach to tackling reoffending. That means bringing together the police, probation, prisons and local authorities, and ensuring that they work together more effectively. The key is to get offenders off drugs and into work, and, in particular, as he says, into housing. If we can do that, we have a chance of reducing the unacceptably high reoffending rates that we currently experience.

Prison Building (Costs) Sir Alan Beith: What assessment he has made of the balance of expenditure between (a) prison building and (b) community sentences and restorative justice schemes.

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£42 000: Housing and other benefits wrongly claimed by a Stoke-on-Trent shop worker who failed to declare she had married in 2003, for which she has been jailed for 18 months.

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Insidetime July 2010 www.insidetime.org will the work of the Justice Committee in its first report of 2009-10 on the case for justice reinvestment. Sir Alan Beith: I thank the Under-Secretary for his kind words and congratulate him on taking office. Did he notice when he arrived at the Department that he was committed to a prison building programme, inherited from the previous Government, that cost more than £4 billion? It produced the highest incarceration rate in western Europe and pre-empted resources, which, if they were used to prevent crime, would save victims from suffering from crime in the first place. Mr Blunt: My right hon. Friend will be glad to know that it did not entirely escape my attention. However, I draw his attention to the evidence that the then Justice Secretary gave to the Justice Committee in 2008. He pointed out that there was an opportunity to deliver the new prison places more cheaply on a revenue basis than the existing prison estate, and for them to be more fit for purpose in enabling the prison estate to address reoffending behaviour. The prison building programme per se is not, therefore, the problem but the number of offenders whom we have to sustain in custody. We need to examine the policies that drive those numbers. Sir Alan Beith: Does the Under-Secretary acknowledge that there has been a sustained fall in crime from 1995 to date, and that the increase in prison places and the fact that more serious and violent offenders are now incarcerated has contributed to that fall? Crispin Blunt: Evidence on the effects of incarceration is mixed at best. We must take the political temperature out of the debate. Outbidding each other on how robust we will be in dealing with offenders probably does potential future victims no good. We must have policies that address future offending behaviour and consider the life cycle of potential and actual offenders so that we can support them effectively. Mr Straw: The whole House would agree that the fundamental test of an anti-crime policy is whether crime has fallen. With that in mind, will the Minister now acknowledge that crime fell consistently from 1995 and throughout the 1997 to 2010 Administration? Crispin Blunt: No, because the change in trend on crime was achieved by Michael Howard, the then Home Secretary, who delivered a robust policy that effected changes. He was the author of the change in policy, but there is a limit to continuing that process, as there must be to the rate of growth of incarceration. In the end, we cannot lock up everybody who might be a threat to someone, because in that way, the entire population would end up in prison.

There is a logical end to that process, and we will do our level best to deliver more effective policies to ensure that there are fewer victims in future.

Prison Capacity Mrs Helen Grant: In the context of capacity and overcrowding, what are the Minister’s views on short sentences, especially for women? Mr Blunt: The evidence is that short custodial sentences are not working. They produce terrible reoffending rates. We do not have the capacity in the probation service to address people on licence, which is one reason why they do not have any supervision when they leave prison, and we are on the most dreadful merry-go-round. It is one of the glaring gaps in the way that we deal with offenders and reoffending behaviour, and the current Administration will do their level best to address the issue.

Topical Questions Miss Anne McIntosh: May I congratulate the Justice Secretary on his new position? Can he explain what the coalition Government’s position is on self-defence in the event of burglaries in one’s own home and the level to which we can defend our properties? I understand that we have undertaken a review of the position, and people would like clarification, following a number of BackBench Bills from Government Members. Nick Herbert: I can tell my hon. Friend that we are reviewing the law and its interpretation carefully, and we will explore all the options before bringing forward proposals. We must ensure that the responsible citizen acting in self-defence or for the prevention of crime has the appropriate level of legal protection. Ian Lucas: Will the Lib Dem-Tory Government be legislating to give prisoners the vote? Mr Kenneth Clarke: The previous Government were considering the question carefully, and we are still carefully considering our policy on the issue. Mr Dominic Raab: What plans does the Justice Secretary have to reform drug rehabilitation in our prisons, so that we see fewer offenders languishing on methadone prescriptions than under the previous Government, and more going clean on abstinence-based programmes? Crispin Blunt: Clinical guidance for the treatment of heroin addicts in prison has been updated to reinforce the expectation that prisoners jailed for more than six

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Barbara Keeley: In a recent case, a Salford man had committed a rape and was bailed, but then committed a further rape, and the police believe that there are further victims of this man. Can the Secretary of State explain why the Government have committed in their coalition agreement to extending anonymity to such defendants before all the evidence is heard? Can he also say who will now be consulted for that evidence? Mr Kenneth Clarke: With great respect, I find it very surprising that so many questions are being raised about a proposition that has been before the House, on and off, for the past 20 years and is not easily resolved. We will, of course, look at all arguments, including the experience of the case to which the hon. Lady has referred, but that is only one of the considerations to be taken into account. There will undoubtedly sometimes be cases where the publication of the name of the accused person gives rise to other people coming forward with well-founded complaints against that person. We will have to see whether there is any evidence that such cases are a significant proportion of the total cases of rape. We shall also have to consider the arguments on the other side, where a woman can make an anonymous complaint, the man can eventually be convicted, after going through a long and probably rather destructive ordeal, and the woman retains her anonymity as she walks away, with her ex-boyfriend or ex-husband left to live with the consequences. Mr Gary Streeter: Given that it is a surprise to some of us that so many drugs enter our prisons every day through a variety of methods, what steps will this exciting new Government take to try to crack down on this abuse of Her Majesty’s prisons? Mr Blunt: Plainly, this issue is not new, and there have already been reviews of how drugs get into prisons. We are going to examine this matter and, as I have said, it will be a priority of mine. I am minded to try to ensure that prisoners have the opportunity to get on to abstinence-based programmes successfully and safely, within the prison estate, and to ensure that they do not get knocked off course by the availability of illegal drugs in our prisons.

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months should not be maintained on methadone unless there are exceptional circumstances. We recognise that continuity of management of drug users is a key challenge. The work of Lord Patel’s prison drug treatment strategy review and last year’s review of the drug interventions programme will help us to strengthen arrangements between prisons and the community. However, I absolutely acknowledge my hon. Friend’s great concern about the issue.

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Mr David Evennett: What is the legal aid funding allocation per head in England and Wales, and how does it compare with legal aid funding in other countries? Mr Djanogly: England and Wales have by far the most generous legal aid provision in the whole world. For example, Spain spends £2.55 a head, France spends £3.31, and Germany spends £4.69. Countries with a similar system, such as New Zealand, spend on average £8 a head, compared with £38 a head in England and Wales. Chris Bryant: In his capacity as the new anticorruption tsar, will the Justice Secretary have a word with Andy Coulson? Andy Coulson and Rebekah Wade both admitted that they had paid police officers for information when running newspapers. They paid police officers; that is suborning a police officer. Will the Justice Secretary institute a review of the process whereby newspapers sometimes pay for information from police officers, and put a stop to it? Mr Kenneth Clarke: Personally, I think that this Government are going to give a very high priority to restoring and, I trust, maintaining this company’s reputation - [Laughter] - this country’s reputation as one of the leading advocates of the elimination of corruption in trade and in Government contracts. We shall also ensure that the Bribery Act 2010, which we supported, is properly enforced, and that we are in the forefront of the people paying regard to this matter. With respect, I do not think that the hon. Gentleman’s question bears very closely on that. I would also say to him that making allegations against people who are not Members, under cover of parliamentary privilege, should be done with great caution. He should not accuse people of corruption in the course of putting a question to me on this subject.

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Knox & Co help many inmates through a wide range of problems including: • Parole Applications • Re-categorisation applications/appeals • Appeals sentence/conviction • Maltreatment • Recalls We are also immigration specialists: • Deportation • Immigration • Detention • Bail applications • Extradition proceedings We have substantial expertise in dealing with issues arising from unlawful detention, miscalculation of the length of sentence and civil claims for compensation for unlawful detention, injuries suffered in prison etc, often leading to sizeable payouts.

The high standards of integrity of our personnel are matched by our uncompromising approach to quality of service and professional ethics. For more information please contact Mladen Kesar at:

Knox & Co

2nd Floor, 85-87 Borough High Street LONDON SE1 1NH

020 7407 1010

[email protected] www.knoxand.co.co.uk

42

News from the House

Your local MP... C ......................................... F ......................................... CAMP HILL Constituency: Isle of Wight MP: Andrew Turner (Con)

FEATHERSTONE Constituency: Staffordshire South MP: Gavin Williamson (Con)

CANTERBURY Constituency: Canterbury MP: Julian Brazier (Con)

FELTHAM Constituency: Feltham and Heston MP: Alan Keen (Lab)

CARDIFF Constituency: Cardiff Central MP: Jenny Willott (Lib Dem)

FORD Constituency: Bognor Regis and Littlehampton MP: Nick Gibb (Con)

CASTINGTON Constituency: Berwick-upon-Tweed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MP: Alan Beith (Lib Dem) CASTLE HUNTLEY ABERDEEN Constituency: Perth and Perthshire North Constituency: Aberdeen South MP: Peter Wishart (SNP) MP: Anne Begg (Lab)

A

ACKLINGTON Constituency: Berwick-upon-Tweed MP: Alan Beith (Lib Dem)

CHANNINGS WOOD Constituency: Newton Abbott MP: Anne-Marie Morris (Con)

ADDIEWELL Constituency: Livingston MP: Graeme Morrice (Lab)

CHELMSFORD Constituency: Chelmsford MP: Simon Burns (Con)

ALBANY Constituency: Isle of Wight MP: Andrew Turner (Con)

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ASHFIELD Constituency: Thornbury and Yate MP: Steve Webb (Lib Dem)

CORNTON VALE Constituency: Stirling MP: Anne McGuire (Lab)

ASHWELL Constituency: Rutland and Melton MP: Alan Duncan (Con)

D .........................................

ASKHAM GRANGE Constituency: York Outer MP: Julian Sturdy (Con) AYLESBURY Constituency: Aylesbury MP: David Lidington (Con)

DARTMOOR Constituency: Devon West and Torridge MP: Geoffrey Cox (Con) DEERBOLT Constituency: Bishop Auckland MP: Helen Goodman (Lab)

DONCASTER Constituency: Doncaster Central . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MP: Rosie Winterton (Lab)

B

BARLINNIE Constituency: Glasgow North East MP: Willie Bain (Lab)

DORCHESTER Constituency: Dorset West MP: Oliver Letwin (Con)

BEDFORD Constituency: Bedford MP: Richard Fuller (Con)

DOVEGATE Constituency: Burton MP: Andrew Griffiths (Con)

BELMARSH Constituency: Erith and Thamesmead MP: Teresa Pearce (Lab)

DOVER Constituency: Dover MP: Charlie Elphicke (Con)

BIRMINGHAM Constituency: Birmingham Ladywood MP: Shabana Mahmood (Lab)

DOWNVIEW Constituency: Reigate MP: Crispin Blunt (Con)

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DRAKE HALL Constituency: Stone MP: Bill Cash (Con)

BLANTYRE HOUSE Constituency: Tunbridge Wells MP: Greg Clark (Con)

DUMFRIES Constituency: Dumfries and Galloway MP: Russell Brown (Lab)

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DURHAM Constituency: City of Durham MP: Roberta Blackman-Woods (Lab)

BRINSFORD Constituency: Staffordshire South MP: Gavin Williamson (Con)

E .........................................

BRISTOL Constituency: Bristol West MP: Stephen Williams (Lib Dem) BRIXTON Constituency: Streatham MP: Chuka Umunna (Lab)

EAST SUTTON PARK Constituency: Faversham and Mid Kent MP: Hugh Robertson (Con) EASTWOOD PARK Constituency: Thornbury and Yate MP: Steve Webb (Lib Dem)


I. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . INVERNESS Constituency: Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey MP: Danny Alexander (Lib Dem) IRC HASLAR Constituency: Gosport MP: Caroline Dinenage (Con) ISLE OF MAN PRISON Constituency: Does not apply ISLE OF WIGHT Constituency: Isle of Wight MP: Andrew Turner (Con)

K ......................................... KENNET Constituency: Sefton Central MP: Bill Esterson (Lab)

FOREST BANK Constituency: Salford and Eccles MP: Hazel Blears (Lab)

KILMARNOCK Constituency: Kilmarnock and Loudoun MP: Cathy Jamieson (Lab)

FOSTON HALL Constituency: Derbyshire South MP: Heather Wheeler (Con)

KINGSTON Constituency: Portsmouth North MP: Penny Mordaunt (Con)

FRANKLAND Constituency: City of Durham MP: Roberta Blackman-Woods (Lab)

KIRKHAM Constituency: Fylde MP: Mark Menzies (Con)

FULL SUTTON Constituency: Yorkshire East MP: Greg Knight (Con)

KIRKLEVINGTON GRANGE Constituency: Stockton South MP: James Wharton (Con)

G ......................................... L ......................................... GARTH Constituency: Ribble South MP: Lorraine Fullbrook (Con) GARTREE Constituency: Harborough MP: Edward Garnier (Con) GLEN PARVA Constituency: Leicestershire South MP: Andrew Robathan (Con) GLENOCHIL Constituency: Ochil and Perthshire South MP: Gordon Banks (Lab) GLOUCESTER Constituency: Gloucester MP: Richard Graham (Con) GREENOCK Constituency: Inverclyde MP: David Cairns (Lab) GRENDON Constituency: Buckingham MP: John Bercow (Con)

LA MOYE (Jersey) Constituency: Does not apply LANCASTER CASTLE Constituency: Lancaster and Fleetwood MP: Eric Ollerenshaw (Con) LANCASTER FARMS Constituency: Lancaster and Fleetwood MP: Eric Ollerenshaw (Con) LATCHMERE HOUSE Constituency: Richmond Park MP: Zac Goldsmith (Con) LEEDS Constituency: Leeds West MP: Rachel Reeves (Lab) LEICESTER Constituency: Leicester South MP: Peter Soulsby (Lab) LEWES Constituency: Lewes MP: Norman Baker (Lib Dem)

GUERNSEY Constituency: Does not apply

LEYHILL Constituency: Thornbury and Yate MP: Steve Webb (Lib Dem)

GUYS MARSH Constituency: Dorset North MP: Robert Walter (Con)

LINCOLN Constituency: Lincoln MP: Karl McCartney (Con)

H .........................................

LINDHOLME Constituency: Don Valley MP: Caroline Flint (Lab)

HAVERIGG Constituency: Copeland MP: Jamie Reed (Lab) HEWELL Constituency: Bromsgrove MP: Sajid Javid (Con) HIGH DOWN Constituency: Reigate MP: Crispin Blunt (Con) HIGHPOINT Constituency: Suffolk West MP: Matthew Hancock (Con) HINDLEY Constituency: Makerfield MP: Yvonne Fovargue (Lab)

LITTLEHEY Constituency: Huntingdon MP: Jonathan Djanogly (Con) LIVERPOOL Constituency: Liverpool Walton MP: Steve Rotheram (Lab) LONG LARTIN Constituency: Worcestershire Mid MP: Peter Luff (Con) LOW NEWTON Constituency: City of Durham MP: Roberta Blackman-Woods (Lab) LOWDHAM GRANGE Constituency: Newark MP: Patrick Mercer (Con)

EDINBURGH Constituency: Edinburgh South West MP: Alistair Darling (Lab)

HOLLESLEY BAY Constituency: Suffolk Coastal MP: Therese Coffey (Con)

EDMUNDS HILL Constituency: Suffolk West MP: Matthew Hancock (Con)

HOLLOWAY Constituency: Islington North MP: Jeremy Corbyn (Lab)

ELMLEY Constituency: Sittingbourne and Sheppey MP: Gordon Henderson (Con)

HOLME HOUSE Constituency: Stockton North MP: Alex Cunningham (Lab)

ERLESTOKE Constituency: Devizes MP: Claire Perry (Con)

HULL Constituency: Hull East MP: Karl Turner (Lab)

MAIDSTONE Constituency: Maidstone and the Weald MP: Helen Grant (Con)

BULLWOOD HALL Constituency: Rayleigh and Wickford MP: Mark Francois (Con)

EVERTHORPE Constituency: Haltemprice and Howden MP: David Davis (Con)

HUNTERCOMBE Constituency: Henley MP: John Howell (Con)

MANCHESTER Constituency: Blackley and Broughton MP: Graham Stringer (Lab)

BURE Constituency: Broadland MP: Keith Simpson (Con)

EXETER Constituency: Exeter MP: Ben Bradshaw (Lab)

HYDEBANK WOOD Constituency: Belfast South MP: Alasdair McDonnell (SDLP)

MOORLAND CLOSED Constituency: Don Valley MP: Caroline Flint (Lab)

BROCKHILL Constituency: Bromsgrove MP: Sajid Javid (Con) BRONZEFIELD Constituency: Spelthorne MP: Kwasi Kwarteng (Con) BUCKLEY HALL Constituency: Rochdale MP: Simon Danczuk (Lab) BULLINGDON Constituency: Banbury MP: Tony Baldry (Con)

M ......................................... MAGHABERRY Constituency: Lagan Valley MP: Jeffrey Donaldson (DUP) MAGILLIGAN Constituency: Londonderry East MP: Gregory Campbell (DUP)

MOORLAND OPEN Constituency: Don Valley MP: Caroline Flint (Lab)

SPRING HILL Constituency: Buckingham MP: John Bercow (Con)

MORTON HALL Constituency: Sleaford and North Hykenham MP: Stephen Phillips (Con)

STAFFORD Constituency: Stafford MP: Jeremy Lefroy (Con)

N .........................................

STANDFORD HILL Constituency: Sittingbourne and Sheppey MP: Gordon Henderson (Con)

NEW HALL Constituency: Wakefield MP: Mary Creagh (Lab) NORANSIDE Constituency: Angus MP: Mike Weir (SNP) NORTH SEA CAMP Constituency: Boston and Skegness MP: Mark Simmonds (Con) NORTHALLERTON Constituency: Richmond (Yorks) MP: William Hague (Con) NORWICH Constituency: Norwich North MP: Chloe Smith (Con) NOTTINGHAM Constituency: Nottingham East MP: Christopher Leslie (Lab)

O ......................................... ONLEY Constituency: Daventry MP: Chris Heaton-Harris (Con)

P ......................................... PARC Constituency: Bridgend MP: Madeleine Moon (Lab) PARKHURST Constituency: Isle of Wight MP: Andrew Turner (Con) PENTONVILLE Constituency: Islington South and Finsbury MP: Emily Thornberry (Lab) PERTH Constituency: Perth and Perthshire North MP: Peter Wishart (SNP) PETERBOROUGH Constituency: Peterborough MP: Stewart Jackson (Con) PETERHEAD Constituency: Banff and Buchan MP: Eilidh Whiteford (SNP) POLMONT Constituency: Linlithgow and Falkirk East MP: Michael Connarty (Lab) PORTLAND Constituency: Dorset South MP: Richard Drax (Con) PRESCOED Constituency: Monmouth MP: David Davies (Con) PRESTON Constituency: Preston MP: Mark Hendrick (Lab)

R ......................................... RANBY Constituency: Bassetlaw MP: John Mann (Lab) READING Constituency: Reading East MP: Rob Wilson (Con) RISLEY Constituency: Warrington North MP: Helen Jones (Lab) ROCHESTER Constituency: Rochester and Strood MP: Mark Reckless (Con) RYE HILL Constituency: Daventry MP: Chris Heaton-Harris (Con)

S ......................................... SEND Constituency: Mole Valley MP: Paul Beresford (Con) SHEPTON MALLET Constituency: Wells MP: Tessa Munt (Lib Dem)

STOCKEN Constituency: Rutland and Melton MP: Alan Duncan (Con) STOKE HEATH Constituency: Shropshire North MP: Owen Paterson (Con) STYAL Constituency: Tatton MP: George Osbourne (Con) SUDBURY Constituency: Derbyshire Dales MP: Paul McLoughlin (Con) SWALESIDE Constituency: Sittingbourne and Sheppey MP: Gordon Henderson (Con) SWANSEA Constituency: Swansea West MP: Geraint Davies (Lab) SWINFEN HALL Constituency: Tamworth MP: Chris Pincher (Con)

T ......................................... THE MOUNT Constituency: Hertfordshire South West MP: David Gauke (Con) THE VERNE Constituency: Dorset South MP: Richard Drax (Con) THORN CROSS Constituency: Warrington South MP: David Mowat (Con)

U ......................................... USK Constituency: Monmouth MP: David Davies (Con)

W ......................................... WAKEFIELD Constituency: Wakefield MP: Mary Creagh (Lab) WANDSWORTH Constituency: Tooting MP: Sadiq Khan (Lab) WARREN HILL Constituency: Suffolk Coastal MP: Therese Coffey (Con) WAYLAND Constituency: Norfolk Mid MP: George Freeman (Con) WEALSTUN Constituency: Elmet and Rothwell MP: Alec Shelbrooke (Con) WELLINGBOROUGH Constituency: Wellingborough MP: Peter Bone (Con) WERRINGTON Constituency: Staffordshire Moorlands MP: Karen Bradley (Con) WETHERBY Constituency: Elmet and Rothwell MP: Alec Shelbrooke (Con) WHATTON Constituency: Newark MP: Patrick Mercer (Con) WHITEMOOR Constituency: Cambridgeshire North East MP: Stephen Barclay (Con) WINCHESTER Constituency: Winchester MP: Steve Brine (Con) WOLDS Constituency: Haltemprice and Howden MP: David Davis (Con) WOODHILL Constituency: Milton Keynes South MP: Iain Stewart (Con)

SHOTTS Constituency: Airdrie and Shotts MP: Pamela Nash (Lab)

WORMWOOD SCRUBS Constituency: Hammersmith MP: Andy Slaughter (Lab)

SHREWSBURY Constituency: Shrewsbury and Atcham MP: David Kawczynski (Con)

WYMOTT Constituency: Ribble South MP: Lorraine Fullbrook (Con)

I

that case a factual issue over the status of the stairwell where the offender was caught, but the principle is applicable more widely (and in any event the stairwell was probably a part of a dwelling in fact). The result of this case is that the word “dwelling” must be included in the charge or indictment count.

n a recent decision, the Court of Appeal has quashed and reduced the sentence of a man convicted of burglary. It is likely others have been sentenced with the same flaw applied to their cases. The consequences of a burglary being either domestic or non-domestic are important. Firstly, domestic burglary carries a maximum sentence of fourteen years custody, whereas non-domestic burglary carries a maximum sentence of ten years. Secondly, a repeat burglar will be liable to a mandatory minimum sentence for a third domestic burglary (unless it is ‘unjust’), in accordance with the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000, section 111.

domestic burglary “carries a maximum

Barrister Philip Rule highlights domestic burglary and that some prisoners have been unlawfully sentenced or sent to the Crown Court Disorder Act 1988, and not follow the usual course of being committed to the Crown Court under section 6(2) of the Magistrates’ Court Act 1980.

”

That section applies where a person is convicted of a domestic burglary, committed at a time when he was 18 or over, and when he had been convicted in England and Wales of two other domestic burglaries. Where that applies to a defendant he should be sent to the Crown Court under section 51 of the Crime and

In a recent case considered by the Court of Appeal the judge sentenced the offender to two-and-a-half years’ imprisonment. The indictment particulars alleged that the offence took place at a care home. It did not specifically state that the offence occurred at a ‘dwelling’. Domestic burglary means, in the terms of section 9(3) of the Theft Act 1968, a burglary where the offence was committed in

respect of a building or part of a building which is a dwelling. The Court considered the lack of that word ‘dwelling’ in the particulars and said: “If the appellant had not admitted by his plea that the offence concerned a dwelling, then it does not seem to us that there is any basis for saying that he had admitted that it was ‘domestic’ for the purposes of section 111. We are thus forced to the conclusion that the judge sentenced this appellant on a wrong basis”. The offender’s sentence was reduced down to two years instead. There was in

KRISTINA HARRISON

SOLICITORS SPECIALISTS IN PRISON LAW

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



    

Those sentenced for burglary for the third time, or more, will only be liable for the minimum sentence of three years if the charge they are being sentenced for contains the word ‘dwelling’; and if at least two earlier convictions recorded against them (and a/the second offence was committed after conviction of the first offence) also had the word ‘dwelling’ in both the charges (if sentenced at the Magistrates’ Court, or at the Crown Court if committed for sentence after a guilty plea at the Magistrates’ Court) or indictment counts (if sentenced at the Crown Court after committal for trial, or after being sent there for plea or trial) upon which they were convicted.

Flawed sentences

sentence of fourteen years custody, whereas non-domestic burglary carries a maximum sentence of ten years



43

Legal Comment


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

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

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

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

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 

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It is possible some offenders will have been sentenced for domestic burglary, or on the basis the previous convictions were (as a matter of law) domestic burglary, when as a matter of law the Court of Appeal has now confirmed they are not. Those who consider that this may apply to them should seek legal advice, as it could mean they are liable to a shorter sentence than was imposed.

Philip Rule, Castle Chambers, Harrow on the Hill, is able to provide advice when instructed by your solicitor. If you do not already have a solicitor dealing with an appeal on your behalf you can write to: Matt Lambert at Mark Williams Associates, Chancery House, Leas Rd, Guildford, Surrey GU1 4QW. Tel: 01483 506 100.

WB

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We provide specialist legal advice, assistance and representation in relation to the following areas: • • • • • • • •

PRISON LAW APPEALS AGAINST CONVICTION & SENTENCE MISCARRIAGES OF JUSTICE & CCRC CASES JUDICIAL REVIEWS CROWN COURT CASES/VHCC's TERRORISM CONFISCATION PROCEEDINGS REPATRIATION

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Adjudications & Prison Discipline - Licence Recalls Parole Reviews (including Parole Refusal) Categorisation Reviews (including Cat A Reviews) Mandatory & Automatic Lifer Reviews IPP & Extended Sentences - HDC - Tariff Settings IEP Schemes - Medical Issues - Transfers Recovery of Property - Human Rights Issues We offer a service throughout England & Wales and visit clients in custody. For immediate help and assistance call

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Wells Burcombe Solicitors 5 Holywell Hill, St Albans Hertfordshire AL1 3LA Wells Burcombe work closely with MOJO, the Miscarriages of Justice Organisation

44

Legal Comment


Does prison fail inmates with mental illness? Solicitor David Wells argues that controlling mental illness by punishment is not the answer

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entally ill inmates now comprise a substantial portion of the prison population and pose administrative and therapeutic challenges to prison administrators and mental health professionals. Depending on what reports you read, anything up to 90% of prisoners are said to have mental health problems of some description. Mental illness can encompass anything from serious personality disorders, issues of self abuse up to drug and alcohol dependency. The prison service in the UK has under its care one of the most vulnerable and mentally unhealthy populations. There is no national blueprint for delivering mental health care in custody. Despite ongoing concerns about overcrowding, prison has become the default option for many who pose little public risk. Some would argue that the Criminal Justice System has taken over from the public health system as the destination for many with mental health problems. The aim of the prison service is to offer an equivalence of care to inmates as the NHS. The reality is that this is not achieved. Problems do not just stem from a Judiciary with little understanding of the true impacts of mental illness, and from a society starved of mental health resources

in communities. Of course there are many people in prison who it is felt should not be there. Imprisonment is an expensive and ineffectual way of dealing with inmates with mental health concerns and those deemed vulnerable. The fact is that we are seeing too many people sent to prison who ought to be diverted to better alternatives than being imprisoned. Without diversion, even a short spell in prison can seriously damage a person’s health, family ties and prospects of life, while doing nothing to tackle mental health, drug or alcohol problems. The problems extend well beyond the sentencing philosophy of the Courts and the obvious inability to divert where diversion is the right choice. That is not to say that a prison sentence should not follow for the most dangerous of offenders. It is a balancing act that poses difficult challenges for professionals involved, including the probation service on whom the Courts place so much reliance. That being said, research does tend to suggest that prisons are failing the mentally-ill with poor facilities and undertrained staff. Assuming that an offender is sentenced to a term of imprisonment, there are many problems that are encountered. One of the first problems faced for the inmate and the prison system is one of detection.

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. · · · · · · · · ·

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 Assistance for your partner and family

Regretfully we cannot make cash grants. Nor can we offer legal or appeals advice.

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

Even in those cases where mental illness/ health is identified, there are problems with definition, diagnosis and subsequent treatment. Of those inmates who manage to get assessed properly, they are often left untreated or not treated adequately; leading to problems on release and an increased risk of further offending. Inmates with short sentences often experience lengthy delays in waiting for transfers to hospital for specialist care. Such delays often exceed the length of the sentence and result in no treatment at all. Inmates with even a mild mental illness encompassing learning difficulties experience problems. They often find that they cannot progress with courses because of literacy and numeracy deficiencies. Health teams in prisons are often isolated from other departments and not enough activity is provided to inmates. Locked in cells for lengthy periods can do nothing other than exacerbate mental illness, including depression. Studies have consistently shown that the lack of resources within prison have an adverse impact on mental health. Jailbased treatment is often poor, but with some intervention can help. In the USA, research has shown that public health efforts in conjunction with the Criminal Justice System has taken advantage of incarceration in helping mental illness by extensive and continuous jail house treatment and has shown to reduce offending and relapses markedly. One very identifiable hurdle for those inmates with mental health issues is the fact that they are often seen as a discipline problem rather than someone who requires real help. Repeated outbursts and anti-social behaviour are often the hallmarks of a

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mental illness. Where instances of this type occur, the reaction of the prison is immediately to invoke some level of discipline and to place the inmate in segregation rather than be seen by a mental health team, discuss the causes of the behaviour and provide treatment where it is needed. Controlling mental illness by punishment is not the answer. Now that we have a new Government who have announced significant public spending cuts and reviews, will the most vulnerable, just because they are serving a prison sentence, continue to be ignored? Assuming this will not be the case, the mentally ill and vulnerable within our prison system deserve greater attention. A multi-agency approach is required with sufficient funding to help identify those who require the appropriate care. Those who need to be diverted should be, and in to hospital care. Those with lesser disabilities ought to be diagnosed and treated earlier. Prison healthcare staff require better training so that they can provide better care. Every attempt should be made to reverse the sentiment expressed in 2009 by Dr Peter Selby, president of the National Council for Independent Monitoring Boards, who said that ‘there is no more distressing a mismatch in our criminal justice system than mental illness and prison.’ Building more prisons is not the answer. This will just increase the problem. Plans to build new prisons should be scrapped and the funds instead put into providing appropriate accommodation and care for the mentally ill and vulnerable. David Wells is a senior partner at Wells Burcombe LLP

carringtons solicitors

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Legal Advice


45

Civil Recovery Orders … the latest way to lose everything When can the proceedings be started?

Aziz Rahman and Jonathan Lennon

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any readers will know all too well about the provisions of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA) – facing uphill struggles in confiscation proceedings. However, what many may not realise is there is an even more draconian tool available to prosecutors within POCA.

ARA/SOCA POCA created an agency called the Assets Recovery Agency (ARA), its main role was to issue proceedings in the High Court in civil proceedings seeking ‘recovery’ of property which was said to be or ‘represent’ the proceeds of crime – or as the Act puts it; property obtained through unlawful conduct (s304). The ARA’s function was to take the profitability out of crime. The defendants in such civil actions would not of course go to jail, but they stood to lose everything they had. However, the ARA was not a success and it was abolished in 2008 and its functions taken over by the Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA). Now, all the main prosecuting agencies have the ability to issue civil recovery proceedings, e.g. the Serious Fraud Office, Customs, CPS, etc. For the purposes of this article we will refer to SOCA, but what is said here applies equally to the other agencies.

Issue of Proceedings Part 5 of POCA enables SOCA to issue proceedings in the High Court against any person who it ‘thinks’ holds property which is, or represents, property obtained through unlawful conduct, see ss242, 243. For SOCA, the advantage of going to the High Court is that it provides a civil procedure. SOCA need not bother with the cumbersome task of obtaining a criminal conviction from a jury who are convinced beyond reasonable doubt that the suspect is indeed guilty. In fact there is no need at all for there to be any criminal proceedings, and there is nothing preventing SOCA from seeking a civil order even if a defendant has been acquitted in the criminal courts! The civil standard of proof applies even though what is being alleged is straight criminal offending. The authors are presently involved in an appeal case where we challenged the universal application of the civil standard of proof (balance of probabilities) in civil recovery proceedings and especially the pursuit of defendants who had already been acquitted – in our case in criminal proceedings overseas. Judgment from the Court of Appeal in this case of SOCA v Gale and Others is imminent. In Gale we have been defending the two main defendants who were acquitted of offences of drug dealing and money laundering in criminal trials in Portugal years ago, only to be pursued in the English High Court by SOCA in a case relying on the very same allegations that were considered by the Portuguese. The challenge is based on the human rights law following helpful recent developments here and in Strasbourg on Article 6 of the European Convention – the right to be presumed innocent which, in this context, suggests that the criminal standard of proof should apply and not the civil standard. There is also a technical but important challenge to the approach of the authorities/Courts to timelimits and when the limitation clock starts to run – many of these cases are bordering on the historic and the case will hopefully establish how precisely the issue of limitation is to be approached.

In many cases SOCA will first of all apply for an Interim Receiving Order under s246 or, more likely now, a Property Freezing Order under s245A. The effect is the same – SOCA has been to Court without the Defendants and obtained an Order which prevented him or her with, potentially, any of their assets. We have already touched on time-limits above, until the Court of Appeal rule in the case of Gale it must be said that how the time limits are applied is far from clear. Originally POCA provided for a 12 year limitation period. In other words, SOCA could seek Recovery Orders for property which was obtained as long as 12 years before the proceedings were issued (s27A of the Limitation Act 1980). If, however, the Court finds that there has been deliberate ‘concealment’ of facts relevant to the issue of proceedings then it may extend the 12 year period (s32 of the Limitation Act 1980). However, not content with 12 years SOCA now, from January of this year, have a 20 year limitation period. It can be seen that we expect there will be more and more civil recovery proceedings cases - given the extended ambit of the jurisdiction. Further, the alleged criminality is not limited to offences committed here in the UK. They can have been committed overseas as long as the offences would have been offences here too (s241).

What property can be ‘recovered’? Anything! SOCA is enabled to seek a Recovery Order for any ‘recoverable property’ – that is any property obtained through unlawful conduct or property which represents property so obtained. This will include money in bank accounts, cars, houses, anything. It is also not limited to property in the defendant’s possession. In many cases third parties (especially family members) are roped into the litigation as the money is traced through to properties that have passed to others. In such cases there is a defence of innocent possession (s308) but it can be seen that the legislation is punitive and is aimed at the property rather than the person. Unlike criminal proceedings, civil recovery litigation concentrates on specific property - i.e. the house, car, boat, bank account etc, and the Court asks the question – is this ‘recoverable property’? If so, then the Court makes the Order affecting those items of property; the ownership is passed by the Order from the defendant to the State.

Funding When civil recovery was first instituted, many cases simply did not get off the ground as the Legal Services Commission either refused to grant legal aid or made it impossibly difficult to secure proper funding. Therefore Parliament acted to change the POCA provisions so as to allow any monies restrained under the proceedings to be released in order to pay for both reasonable living expenses and reasonable legal expenses – see s245C(5)(b). This creates a tension between the parties as the more money the defence lawyers charge, the less money will be left for SOCA if they are successful after trial - and thus the more pressure there is on them to settle. Of course if the defendants win they can expect to get their costs back. However, SOCA have reacted to this ‘problem’ by seeking Orders for a losing defendant to pay the costs of any Interim Receiver – i.e. over and above the impact of any actual Recovery Order made. Again, the Gale case will decide the law on this - SOCA are appealing against a refusal by the High Court to make such an Order and judgment is expected very shortly.

The litigation In essence once you have been served with an Order (Freezing or Interim Receivership) then the often lengthy litigation process begins. First

though, you have a right to apply to discharge or vary the Order that has been made – i.e. a challenge to the case right at the outset, or at least a challenge to part of it or the level of allowed living expenses. An Order can be challenged for instance where there has been material non-disclosure to the Court granting the Order – remembering of course that the defendant will not be present, there is therefore an enhanced duty on the applicant to ensure he pleads the case fully and fairly; see e.g. Re: Stanford International Bank (In Receivership) [2010] EWCA Civ 137 where a restraint order was set aside for misrepresentation and material non-disclosure – though the Court re-imposed the Order after hearing full argument.

The future

The arguments for the actual trial may simply be factual and rely on inferences about alleged criminal conduct and any lack of obvious legitimate income or tax returns which could support the purchase of the two houses and so on. However, the case of R (ARA & Ors) v Green & Ors, TLR, Feb 27th 2006 should be kept in mind. In that case, Sullivan J. said that though there is no requirement to allege any specific criminal offence, a claim for civil recovery cannot be sustained purely on the basis of there being no identifiable lawful income. But remember, everything is ‘in’ – from hearsay to raw intelligence, there is little in the way of evidence that will not be permitted by the High Court because there is no jury. However, in a case called SOCA v Pelekanos [2009] EWHC 2307 (QB), SOCA attempted to rely on ‘intelligence’ – i.e. un-sourced hearsay. Mr. Justice Hamblen said that the evidence amounted to un-attributable multiple hearsay accounts which could not be investigated and was effectively un-challengeable. The Court found it could attach “no real weight” to the evidence.

Civil recovery proceedings are often complex and involve difficult preliminary skirmishes over funding – it is an altogether different experience from criminal litigation. Just as in confiscation proceedings, the key is to set out your case as exhaustively as possible; but first and foremost to get immediate guidance on dealing with any freezing orders put in place by the Courts.

The fact that all the major prosecuting agencies now have the power to take civil recovery proceedings means we are likely to see more and more use of civil recovery as the various agencies get used to the idea of using the High Court rather than the Crown Court. A powerful example is the Serious Fraud Office who, after only 6 months of having the power to instigate civil recovery proceedings obtained, by consent, an order from the High Court for the payment of £2.25 million plus costs against the firm Balfour Beatty following an investigation into corruption allegations.

Aziz Rahman is a Solicitor-Advocate and Partner at the leading Criminal Defence firm Rahman Ravelli Solicitors, specialising in Human Rights, Financial Crime and Large Scale Conspiracies/Serious crime. Rahman Ravelli are members of the Specialist Fraud Panel. Jonathan Lennon is a Barrister specialising in serious and complex criminal defence case 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.

Services • Serious Crime • Serious Fraud • Covert/Human Rights • Health & Safety • Assets Forfeiture • Regulatory Crime

If you feel we can assist you please do not hesitate to contact our Serious Crime Department

Call:

01422 346666 (24 Hour)

Saracen House, 10 Pellon Lane, Halifax HX1 5SP. www.rahmanravelli.co.uk ›› Registered with EMAP ‹‹

SOLICITORS

Specialists in Defending Serious Crime Rahman Ravelli has built an enviable reputation as a leading criminal defence firm. Our Practice is nationwide and we have developed an expertise in handling substantial and complex cases particularly those involving difficult legal challenges, especially in the Human Rights area. We continue to successfully protect the rights of the individual in all areas of criminal law. We recognise that criminal cases today are not merely decided on eye witness testimony, but on other issues such as whether evidence can be successfully argued to be inadmissible or the prosecution made to disclose evidence helpful to the defence case. Our dedicated team of criminal lawyers are always up to date with the latest developments in the law to ensure that no stone is left unturned. The lawyers have wide ranging experience of defending cases of significant complexity and seriousness. Our reputation means that we are able to instruct the most able counsel to conduct trials. We appoint Counsel, Queen’s Counsel and Experts who have passed our vigorous vetting procedures. High Profile Cases Rahman Ravelli routinely deals with large, high profile cases and is experienced in dealing with criminal matters all the way to the House of Lords. RIPA Our speciality is defending cases involving large scale police operations where authorities have been granted under the Regulations of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA); i.e. The use of Informants / Covert Surveillance (including Covert Listening devices) / Undercover Offices; and Material which demands an expertise in disclosure & PII concerns

46

Legal Q&A


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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.

You should complain about the time it is taking to transfer you. You may also be able to get a solicitor to help you under legal aid. The prison service have to take account of where your family live when deciding which prison to keep you in but this is by no means near the top of the list of considerations. You could also ask about the possibility of accumulated visits, although we do not have enough information to say whether you would be entitled to this.

............................................... The police should be taking your report as seriously as they would anybody else’s and so you should consider complaining in writing to the chief constable of the police area you have reported the thefts to.

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DD - HMP Whatton Q I have some questions relating to how I am treated under MAPPA and the Sex Offenders Register. Can a representative visit my work place and do I have to give details of my vehicle registration to MAPPA agencies?

A As far as the Sex Offenders Register is concerned you must notify police within 3 days of conviction or caution of your name (and any other names you use), your home address (and any other addresses where you regularly stay), your date of birth, national insurance number, and details of any passports you hold. Further notification is required if any of those details change, or if you stay for a certain period at a previously undeclared address.

GH - HMP Birmingham Q I am serving a prison sentence after which, I have just been advised, I will be deported even though I came to live in this country legally and have belongings worth over thirty thousand pounds. After my arrest an acquaintance went to my home and cleared it, taking everything including my car. I have reported this to the police and informed DVLA that the car is stolen but have heard nothing back from either. Would a solicitor be able to deal with this theft on my behalf under legal aid funding?

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Unfortunately the current legal services commission criteria for funding does not extend to helping you get the police to act. Funding is limited to cases involving a prisoner’s sentence and treatment within the prison. Although this funding criteria is due to change soon it is anticipated it will become even more restrictive than it is now.

• • • • • • •

You do not have to give them your car registration (although the police will probably be able to get this from the DVLA if they wanted it) and they cannot come into your house or workplace unless they have good reason, for example they suspect you of an offence or that you are working with children etc. As far as MAPPA is concerned this is a panel of people who will discuss your case and how to manage your licence etc. It will consist of the prison, probation and sometimes the police. The MAPPA board would have no specific power to come to your workplace or home but they may consider that for public safety reasons, probation should be able to do this as a condition of your licence. Without knowing more about your offences it is difficult to give more specific advice.

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AH - HMP Preston Q I am currently serving four and a half years but am located in a prison up north. However, my family are based in Kent and because of the distance involved I have not had any visits. I have asked for a transfer and was allocated HMP Coldingley but they say they have no space for me. I am at my wits end, can you help?

Concerned about the length of your sentence? You believe that your detention is unlawful & you wish to be compensated? You have protested your innocence for years but nobody believes you? Your parole application has been repeatedly refused? Your application for re-categorisation has been ignored? Recalled to prison? Are you facing extradition for the crime you did not commit?

Maybe we can do better than your previous representatives? See if we can make a difference. Contact Kesar & Co Solicitors and you may receive a substantial amount of compensation KESAR & CO SOLICITORS Committed to justice

Burnhill Business Centre Provident House Burrell Row Beckenham Kent BR3 1AT

Tel: 020 8249 6459

Fax: 020 8249 6460

MG - HMP Hull Q I am in prison serving twelve months for two offences of possession of a knife; two of theft and two of criminal damage. Can you tell me please if I fit the criteria for the 18 day early release and do you think I stand a chance of getting it?

A Recently Jack Straw MP made the following announcement; “I should like to make a statement on the release of prisoners under the early release scheme, which is known as the end-of-custody licence. The scheme will be brought to an end on 12 March this year. All prisoners who are eligible for release on ECL on or before 12 March will be so released. Prisoners who have, as of today, been formally notified, under form ECL3, of release dates under the scheme up to and including 9 April, will also be released. No prisoners will be released on ECL from and including 10 April.”

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LS - HMP Albany Q Prior to my trial in 2005 my solicitor asked the judge for ‘Goodyear’; when the judge asked for the circumstances regarding my guilty plea my solicitor made up a story! Under no circumstances would I have made a guilty

plea and have just discovered that there is a piece of paper giving my solicitor permission to ask for the ‘Goodyear’ but it is unsigned! Are there grounds for appeal as the judge was very against me as he was under the belief that I was guilty.

A Your correspondent states that he pleaded not guilty to an offence in 2005. He must have been found guilty by the jury. He states that before the trial his solicitor asked for a “Goodyear” if he were to plead guilty. He states that the solicitor then made up a story. He seeks advice as to whether there are grounds for appeal as he believes this made the judge biased against him. He states there is a piece of paper in existence allegedly giving his permission to ask for a “Goodyear”, but it is unsigned and has been fabricated. The “Goodyear” referred to stems from the case of R v Goodyear (2005). This is where an agreement is made between the prosecution and defence by which the accused changes his plea from not guilty to guilty in return for an offer by the prosecution (e.g. to drop a more serious charge against the accused). In the Crown Court, the defendant may request the court to indicate the maximum sentence that would be imposed should he plead guilty. The case says that no indication should be sought by the defence advocate unless there is a written and signed authority from the defendant. No hypothetical situation should be given. It is possible that there are grounds of appeal, but that depends very much upon the information available on the criminal defence file of papers. I would suggest the writer seeks a prison law specialist that deals with appeals and that a copy of the transcript of the Goodyear indication application is sought.

APPEALS MISCARRIAGES OF JUSTICE contact the specialists

ASHLEY SMITH & CO For an immediate response, wherever you are, call

Ashley Smith or Stuart Young

0208 463 0099 (24 HOUR)

Our team are experienced, professional, dedicated & approachable Ashley Smith & Co Criminal Defence Specialists 4-6 Lee High Road LONDON SE13 5LQ

47

Legal Q&A

Insidetime July 2010 www.insidetime.org commercial if the two houses are put in evidence. However, someone with 100 plants did manage to be sentenced on the basis of ‘own use’.

Banks on Sentence 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

I stabbed a prison officer and he received puncture wounds to the back. I also bit another officer on the arm in the same incident. I have been charged with ABH not section 18. My previous include offensive weapons and bladed articles. I am in prison for section 18 (5 years). I am 20 and have a horrendous prison disciplinary record. What sort of sentence can I expect if I plead guilty? What sentence would I get if I was found guilty as I did it in self defence? Can the prosecution change the charge?

him which means running self defence on that count will be very difficult. You must discuss these matters with your legal team.

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Q I am awaiting my papers for cultiva-

I don’t know how deep the wounds were or what the weapon was but I consider both the prosecution or the judge will think a section 18 charge is the appropriate charge. The ability to add a count depends at what stage it is done and what prejudice the defence can say it causes them. I imagine you will find it difficult to argue the inclusion of the new count will cause you prejudice. If it stays at ABH and you plead not guilty and are convicted I would expect the fact it was a stabbing and with your previous and ‘horrendous prison record’ the judge will impose the maximum which is 5 years. I would also expect the judge to consider you were dangerous and want to pass an extended sentence on you. Luckily if he passes the maximum he can’t pass an extended sentence on you as the extended sentence cannot exceed the maximum. The judge cannot pass an IPP because the maximum for ABH is only 5 years. If you plead guilty I would expect the judge to want to limit the discount and he or she might do so by saying the case was overwhelming. The discount will depend at what stage you enter or indicate your plea. The discount runs from 1/3 off for a plea at the earliest opportunity to 10% off if you plea on the day of trial. If you plead not guilty I think it will only encourage the prosecution to add a section 18. In any event as the stab wound was in the back that implies that you were not facing

Anthony Stokoe Joel Binns

You may be interested to know that in 2008 a defendant who inflicted a deep stab wound on a prison officer was given 6 years IPP on a plea to section 18. This was upheld by the Court of Appeal. 6 years IPP is of course a more serious sentence than a straightforward 12 year sentence. You may find the last question and answer interesting. tion of cannabis. I had about 20 plants in the soil in a special grow tent not hydroponics. I deny any intent to supply. I am also on bail for another house with 45 plants; again without hydroponics. Those plants were about 10 cms tall. I am not expecting to be charged for the second lot. What is the criteria for determining the sentence for this?

A There are guidelines but they only apply to the Magistrates’ Court. Those deal with non-commercial supply. The two starting points are Band C fine and High level community order. I would expect the Magistrates’ Court to commit your case to the Crown Court for trial or sentence. In the last few years there has been a flurry of Court of Appeal cases on cultivation. The factors that are considered are usually the following: a) the plea and when was it entered, b) whether the operation was a commercial operation, c) what the role of the defendant was. Was he or she an organiser, a financier, a lieutenant or a gardener, d) how sophisticated was the operation, e) how many plants there were, f) what was the potential yield of the plants in cannabis and money likely to be gained, g) does the defendant have a significant record and h) are there any previous drug convictions. Without the details to these factors it is impossible to predict the sentence. I think you will find it difficult to say it wasn’t

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Q I am awaiting sentence for section 18, I bottled someone. I was originally charged with ABH but they added a section 18. The injuries were very minimal, just a scratch to the ear. The violence is linked to my alcohol abuse and I am getting help for this. Are there any guidelines for this offence? A You will need to check with your barrister whether the scratch can amount to section 18. This will depend whether you are indicted with wounding or GBH, whether the skin was broken and whether you are charged with attempt or not. There are guidelines for section 18. Firstly, there are some general guidelines. I include a small part of them. ‘The most common factors that are likely to aggravate an offence against the person are: planning of an offence; offenders operating in groups or gangs; deliberate targeting of vulnerable victim(s); offence is committed against those working in the

public sector or providing a service to the public; use of a weapon to frighten or injure victim; a sustained assault or repeated assaults on the same victim; and location of the offence (for example, in an isolated place). Where a number of aggravating factors are present together and form an integral part of the offence, for example in the phenomenon commonly referred to as ‘happy slapping’, the court will need to consider the combined aggravating effect of these factors. Particular weight will be attached to factors involving further degradation of a victim such as internet publication of the attack. Then there are the ranges and the starting points. If an offender was acting in self-defence originally but then went on to use an unreasonable degree of force this might mitigate sentence. However, because of the requirement to prove intention, the offence will still be at the higher end of the seriousness scale. Depending on the degree of harm caused, a lengthy custodial sentence would normally be justified.

For a plea of not guilty when the defendant is aged 18+ Type/nature of activity

Starting point

Sentencing range

Victim suffered life-threatening injury or particularly grave injury from a pre-meditated wounding or GBH involving the use of a weapon acquired prior to the offence and carried to the scene with specific intent to injure the victim

13 years custody

10-16 years custody

Victim suffered life-threatening injury or particularly grave injury (where the offence was not pre-meditated) or pre-meditated wounding or GBH involving the use of a weapon acquired prior to the offence and carried to the scene with specific intent to injure the victim (but not resulting in a life threatening injury or particularly grave injury)

8 years custody

7-10 years custody

Victim suffered a very serious injury or permanent disfigurement or pre-meditated wounding or GBH or other wounding or GBH involving the use of a weapon that came to hand at the scene

5 years custody

4-6 years custody

Other wounding or GBH

4 years custody

3-5 years custody

Additional mitigating factor: Provocation If prisoners leave out key matters like relevant and serious previous convictions or that the Court of Appeal has already rejected an appeal the answers given will be often incomplete or wrong. Please make sure questions relate to sentences and not conviction or release. Unless you say you don’t want your question and answer published it will be assumed you don’t have an objection to publication. No-one will have their identity revealed. Facts which indicate who you are will not be printed. 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 normally not an option. The column is designed for simple questions and answers. Please address your questions to Inside Time, Botley Mills, Botley, Southampton, SO30 2GB (and mark the letter for Robert Banks). Letters sent direct cannot be answered.

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48

Book Reviews


A Rusty Gun

We’re All Doing Time

Facing Up To a Life of Crime

by Bo Lozoff

by Noel ‘Razor’ Smith Former Cabinet Minister Jonathan Aitken predicts a successful life for the man he describes as having embarked on ‘one of the most extraordinary journeys of rehabilitation in the history of the British penal system’ The first time I met Noel ‘Razor’ Smith, when we were fellow inmates of HMP Belmarsh, I had an intuitive feeling that somewhere buried deep beneath his menacing exterior and appalling criminal record there was a good man struggling to get out. My hunch did not look a promising bet back in June 1999. Razor was then an A-Cat prisoner attending the final stages of his trial at the Old Bailey on multiple charges of armed bank robbery. He got a ‘guilty’ and was sentenced to eight life sentences plus 80 years concurrent. Who would ever have guessed that he was soon to begin one of the most extraordinary journeys of rehabilitation in the history of the British penal system? It’s a close call as to who deserves most credit in the saga of Razor’s rehabilitation as chronicled in his latest volume of autobiography A Rusty Gun – Facing Up to a Life of Crime (Viking) which is a worthy sequel to his earlier best seller A Few Kind Words and a Loaded Gun (Penguin 2004). Is it the author himself? Or the innovative staff at HMP Grendon Underwood, the therapeutic jewel in the battered crown of our prisons? Or the Shakespearean cast of psychopathic recidivists, nonces and other villains who are Razor’s companions and sometimes staunch friends on his often dark and fragile odyssey to freedom? Actually it’s none of the above; the hero of the saga is Joseph Stephen Smith, Razor’s 19 year-old son, who died in murky circumstances in 2001 when his father was incarcerated at HMP Whitemoor. The primacy of Joe’s influence emerges at a therapy session at Grendon when Razor unexpectedly opens up to his peer group. He tells them about his guilt feelings over Joe, about all the things he would have loved to have said to his son, and he breaks down in the first tears he has ever shed in male company. The group of eight inmates and a number of uniformed staff respond supportively. As the author tells it: “At that moment I felt closer to these men than I did to my family. That morning I managed to shed the first layer of the armour I had spent my whole life

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donning. I began to care less about presenting a tough and uncaring image to the world. My dried and shrivelled heart had taken its first drop of emotional moisture and a change began to grow in me”. A Rusty Gun is often moving but never mawkish. Razor’s mordant wit spices the narrative with astringent humour, particularly in his miniature profiles of the oddballs and outcasts with whom he shares the unsettling experience of Grendonian therapy. One of the book’s best chapters, Lights Out, tells the story of how the inmates and the screws reverted to their old worst stereotypes when the prison was blacked-out by a 48 hour power cut. Fear and rumour replaced the friendly cooperation, including first names with staff, that was supposed to be the essence of the therapy programme. As the atmosphere overheated like a rising pressure cooker, Razor’s vivid writing captures the fragility of the moment, and many other comparable moments, which sort out the plastics from the real men who sincerely seek and find the transformational change of ‘facing up to a life of crime’. Seen in the round this is a rehabilitation story with the bark off, recounted with the brutal frankness that only an ex-brute could authentically describe. Perhaps I should declare my interest before ending this review. Improbable though it sounds, Razor and I bonded when we were on B wing of Belmarsh in circumstances he colourfully described in A Loaded Gun. We kept in touch. I visited him in Grendon. I supported his parole application. It was granted last month, so Noel ‘Razor’ Smith is now a free and freelance man. In the latter role I predict a successful life for him equivalent to that enjoyed by another good friend, Erwin James. Their talents for understanding and writing about the human dramas of prison life make them the Samuel Pepys and Lytton Strachey of the con and ex-con world. May there be many more books from both these gifted and now fully rehabilitated authors. A Rusty Gun - Facing Up To a Life of Crime by Noel ‘Razor’ Smith is published by Viking price £12.99. ISBN 978 0670915491

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The Prison Phoenix Trust’s Luisa Golding introduces ‘a guide for getting free’ as Bo calls it, which has been inspiring countless prisoners internationally since 1985 We’re All Doing Time is a deeply practical, warm and inspiring book on how to be human more skillfully and happily. At The Prison Phoenix Trust, prisoners tell us that this book has been a lifeline to them (as do many prison staff too). The book is written by Bo Lozoff, director of the Human Kindness Foundation, with street-wise common sense and plenty of humour. In the preface, which reads like a mini adventure story, Bo talks about the life turns that led to him working with prisoners. From there, this richly packed manual is organised into three small books. The first book ‘The Big View’ looks at universal truth, showing how all of us, whether on the outside or inside, live in mind-made prisons of fear, anger, addiction and selfishness. As Bo writes here, ‘Changing our vision is what this book is about, and the change begins with a look at the two worlds we inhabit at the same time: The outer world of appearances, and the inner world of Spirit.’ But what can we do about this condition? Book Two tells us and holds out plenty of hope. Bo selects for us the most effective of ancient techniques to live wisely – to help us understand who we are and how to live happier, more fulfilling lives. From the calm, focused stretching of yoga to help relax our bodies, to ways to calm the mind in meditation, to deal with our guilt, to prayer and breathing techniques, Bo presents these unique tools for liberation in a way that we can all understand and follow. Even the mysterious ‘chakras’ or energy centres make sense and become useful.

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Who better to sum up than His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who writes in the introduction, ‘From my own experience I have found the greatest degree of inner tranquillity comes from the development of love and compassion. A close, warmhearted feeling for others automatically puts the mind at ease. This helps remove whatever fears or insecurities we may have and gives us the strength to cope with any obstacles we encounter.’

The Prison Phoenix Trust (PPT) is an organisation that encourages people in prison to release stress with yoga and meditation. There are classes in half the prisons in the UK and in Ireland – but in prisons without classes, inmates practice on their own, with the help of The PPT’s free books and CD. We’re All Doing Time is available for free to prisoners from the Prison Phoenix Trust, PO Box 328,Oxford, OX2 7HF. The PPT welcomes letters from prisoners wanting help with their yoga and meditation practice, and will always write back.

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aW L oN S i r P Prison Law Criminal Defence Family Child Care Contact Ffion Jones now at: ABM Solicitors 114 Chapel Walks Chapel Street Manchester M3 5DW

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The final book, ‘Dear Bo’ shares countless letters that Bo has exchanged with prisoners over 11 years. As he says, ‘Nearly every strength, weakness and insight of the human condition – our condition – from divine to demonic can be found here.’ We can all identify with the human dilemmas that appear in the letters. From The PPT’s experience, this section of the book is the most popular with prisoners. However dark the situation, Bo has a gift to express deep spiritual matters in a practical way that people can really benefit from.

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Book and DVD Review


Defending the Guilty Truth and Lies in the Criminal Courtroom by Alex McBride Noel ‘Razor’ Smith has many questions answered in a fascinating book by a barrister who has a good eye and ear for the often comedic details of the justice system Alex McBride is a criminal barrister – and I don’t mean he’s as bent as a hairpin, but that he specialises in criminal trials – who has a good eye, and ear, for the sometimes comedic details of the British justice system. As is the case with most barristers, he has worked both sides of the courtroom fence and seems equally at home prosecuting those accused of criminality as defending them. Although, it must be said, that Mr McBride does seem to retain a soft spot for some of the colourful criminal characters he has represented during his career. He seems to actually care about what happens to the clients he defends, from amateur burglars and GBH merchants to gold bullion robbers. And I think that’s what made this book stand out for me; it shows the human face behind the pomp and ceremony of criminal law. The premise of the book is to answer a question, asked of McBride by a young woman at a wedding dinner, which is – how can you defend someone who you know is guilty? As McBride reasonably points out, under British law the accused is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law (though for me this statement still begs the question of why so many thousands of these yet to be proven guilty people are remanded in some of the worst prison conditions) and that barristers can never be truly sure of their clients guilt because they were never there when the actual crime was committed. And as he quite rightly says, the advocate’s opinion is irrelevant; it’s what the jury thinks after hearing the evidence that really counts. I’ve often heard people in prison wonder at the degree of fraternisation between defence and prosecution, and how much that has affected the outcome of their own trials, so it’s interesting to read about the deals and conversations

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that do go on ‘behind the scenes’. In one case, a prosecutor is adamant that he will not let a defendant plead to a lesser charge despite some almost pitiful pleading by McBride himself, who is defending the case and thinks it a lost cause. When the case does go to trial, McBride wins the case for his client; much to the dismay of the prosecution, which I found quite heart-warming. Obviously a book written by a barrister is going to contain a lot of arcane detail about the law and the history of certain statutes and procedures, after all, this kind of thing is their bread and butter, but it’s not so much as to detract from the entertainment value of the book nor interfere too much with the narrative. Besides, some readers may find these details equally as interesting as the case studies, all of which make up the greater part of the book and make for a cracking read. Having dealt with my fair share of wigs and silks over the years, some fantastically good at their job and some absolutely atrocious, I will say that, having read his book, I would be quite happy to have Alex McBride defend me in a criminal trial were the need ever to arise again … although I’m quite sure it won’t. Buy it, borrow it, but read it! Defending the Guilty – Truth and Lies in the Criminal Courtroom by Alex McBride is published by Penguin price £12.99. ISBN: 978 0 670 918300

Noel ‘Razor’ Smith calls into the Inside Time office for a chat and a copy of the June issue whilst being filmed for a TV documentary.

49

Gomorrah Power, money and blood: these are the “values” that the residents of the province of Naples and Caserta confront every day. They have practically no choice, and are forced to obey the rules of the “System”, the Camorra. Only a lucky few can even think of leading a “normal” life.

Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, Gomorrah is a compelling re-invention of the Italian mafia movie. Adapted from Roberto Saviano’s book of the same name, which sold over 1.2 million copies in Italy alone, Matteo Garrone’s film is the very antithesis of Francis Ford Coppola’s Godfather trilogy. While the opening scene, a multiple hit in a tanning salon, may suggest otherwise, this is a film that does not set out to glamorise the lives of gangsters. The film oscillates between five separate stories all touched by the shadowy world of the Camorra, the mafia-like crime organisation which originated in the Naples region. Totò (Abruzzese) is a 13 year-old boy who delivers groceries and becomes enticed by the world of crime after he finds a gun and stash and returns the illicit contraband to the rightful owner. Likewise, Marco (Macor) and Ciro (Petrone) are two foolish young lads with ambitions to take on a boozy local Camorra boss. Meanwhile, a tailor named Pasquale (Cantalupo) in a mob-funded fashion business secretly goes to work for rival Chinese manufacturers, to give them “lessons” in his craft. A businessman, Franco (Servillo) arranges for toxic waste to be dumped on mob-owned land, while he offers university graduate Roberto (Paternoster) a chance to work for him. Finally ageing mob soldier Don Ciro (Imparato), who delivers money to the families of prisoners affiliated with his clan, finds himself in a wilderness as his bosses lose control.

Attempting to show how criminals live sideby-side with local law-abiding residents, Gomorrah does very little in attempting to mythologise the life of crime. The action takes place primarily in the decaying and decidedly unglamorous Naples suburb of Scampia where these criminals do their business in disused buildings, grim housing blocks and dingy bars. Garrone and his fellow writers have a knack of crafting memorable scenarios - such as when Totò and some other lads prove that they’re “men” by wearing a (very ragged) piece of body armour and taking a bullet from a gun at close range. There’s something very desperate about this, a feeling that pervades the film as a whole. Invariably some strands of the story, which don’t overlap greatly, are more compelling than the others - in particular the Marco/Ciro and Pasquale narratives - but there’s no doubt that Gomorrah knits together to create an impressive patchwork impression of the modern-day mafia. Rating 15 - running time 132 minutes HHHHH Verdict: If you want to see a gangster film that isn’t all about stylized violence, then Gomorrah is for you. More thoughtful than most gangland films, its attempt to show how organized crime has infiltrated every level of society is impressive.

Review by Andrew Cousins, Managing Director of Gema Records, the leading supplier of Music, Games and DVDs to UK prisons. See Jailbreak page 54 for how to order

Criminal Defence and Prison Law Experts We act for prisoners on matters of • Adjudication • Parole & HDC Applications • Recalls • Lifer Reviews • Categorisation and Transfer We deal with serious allegations including; Murder Fraud/Theft/Robbery Terrorism Allegations Drugs Importation/Production/Supply Serious Sexual Allegations Our team offers a reputable & excellent service for our clients from our East London Offices.

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50 H

Inside Poetry

Scarecrow

H HStarHPoemHof theHmonth H

Norman Jarrett - HMP Swaleside

Congratulations to Kenneth Dowling - HMP Birmingham - who wins our £25 prize for ‘Star Poem of the Month’.

The crows are frightened by a giant man Who stands surrounded by a field of wheat His craggy weather-beaten face, deadpan With holes in shoes too big for twig-tied feet Raised on the farm, yet still he feels homesick Daybreak to dusk watching the barleycorn Black mountains, high springtime, cut stick by stick The hedgerow will be full of blossoms shorn With the full moon of autumn ploughing ends And rabbits lie down in their deep dug burrows Left all alone, no family or friends He’s ready to dance out from the shadows He buttons his coat and fixes his blow Then asks the birds, am I man or scarecrow?

Harlequin Mindscape Kenneth Dowling - HMP Birmingham The wind snatched my prayers, my wishes, my dreams, Spirals them skyward as translucent wraiths of steam Taunting without mercy, toying with hope Dangling counterfeit promise from gossamer rope Only to swirl away laughing, relentless in theme To carve another notch on the bedpost of scheme The world I know lies barren, a scorched battleground Whispered screams of dying memories echo as they drown In a maelstrom lake of self pity, a cauldron brimming with tears Wept by a million moments of regret for all the stolen years Instances of dark despair from a duet of harrowing sound Accompanied by the raucous choir of all the pain I’ve found Surrounded by man yet a castaway, lonely as a ghost A tortured spectre haunting myself with those who I love most Masochistic torment breaks my disenchanted heart Forcing my fragile spirit to its knees, tearing my faith apart I watch in helpless silent grief as my thoughts become remote From all that I hold sacred, angst a ligature round my throat Freedom the master illusionist such enticing webs it weaves Convincing as a lover, so tempting to believe Who could blame we nomad souls decaying behind these walls? For praying to the same cruel angel that orchestrated our falls From grace into oblivion, our minds prisons we’ll never leave Fate smirks as she walks away from us, so easily deceived.

These Days Matthew Coleman - HMP Leeds The years have run Their journey over me Too hard and far, too fast now I’m sorry our love wasn’t built stronger Time to forget my past and end my aimless wanderings I’m an uneducated man that dreamt my life away The nets closing in I can see the four corners now There are far too many lows these days Do not put your trust in me to save you I will only let you down again My promises will succumb to nothing Look at the horizon for that is your destiny Goodbye my promises

‘Ambition’ Toby Corden - HMP Exeter

The Litter Pick Malcolm Boyes - HMP Edinburgh Thick donkey jackets with a strong 2 year-old odour Bright orange vests enhancing each shoulder Mechanical pickers like galactic toys Constantly played with by middle aged boys Pot noodle promise, of far eastern taste Deflated tubes of the cheapest toothpaste Second-hand teabags that make second rate tea Chocolate bar wrappers entwining a tree Empty crisp packets dance high in the air Rotten fruit inners, apple, kiwi and pear A handwritten calendar on a brown cardboard box Crumpled milk bottles on discarded damp socks Half finished letters become confetti dreams Billowing packets of digestive creams Empty wee tubs of spread and jam portions A barb wired seagull with fatal contortions A plate, knife and fork, a wrapper from Tesco I think that some geyser preferred dinner al fresco Well handled lad’s mags with pages a sticking A good walk spoilt, that’s jail litter picking

Ambition the word, what does it mean to you? To me it’s my wishes, what I want to do A driving desire, where I want to be Ambitions a quality that others can see “I want to be famous”; “I want to be rich!” The ambitious hooker, she turns lots of tricks The ambitious waitress, she wishes for what? How about millionaires, with all that they’ve got? What about tramps, do you think they desire? Or maybe just gave up when life became dire And how about barbers, ambitious you’d think I guess they’d want more than my head in their sink! And then there are students they must be ambitious How about Mob Boss? Nah, he’s just suspicious! The pretty young princess still wishes I’m told Yet without mere ambition, she’ll still get her gold! The daring explorer, now he’s got a lot Of the driving ambition that many have not! It’s the people without it; it’s for them that I grieve A life with no goals, how can they achieve? To all you reading, I’d like to implore To use your ambition, so you can get more Without it we wither, inside we just die So I’ll keep on dreaming - till I reach the sky…

Monro Campbell

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If you would like to contribute to the Poetry section, please send your poems to ‘Poetry’, Inside Time, Botley Mills, Botley, Southampton, Hampshire SO30 2GB.

THE PRISON PHOENIX TRUST Head doing you in? Stressed out? Can’t sleep? Simple yoga and meditation practice, working with silence and the breath, might just transform your life in more ways than you think...

Interested?

Write to The Prison Phoenix Trust P.O.Box 328, Oxford, OX2 7HF We’d love to hear from you anytime and have several free books, which could help you build and maintain a daily practice.

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If you would like to contribute to the Poetry section, please send your poems to ‘Poetry’, Inside Time, Botley Mills, Botley, Southampton, Hampshire SO30 2GB.

Getting Past Broken Bridges

Ring of Smoke

Anthony Robinson Jr - Centinela State Prison A sister lost through a letter That interpreted our distance Clearly for the first time All the years knowing me Were lost in the realisation that I didn’t even know myself So I was compelled to find my sister But I was looking in the wrong place (My own expectations) I wanted you to feel my growth On a level so deep, that I can feel At home just by holding your letter I forgot that incarceration changes You in ways that can’t be translated From the outside You had your own portrait of life You were holding up, and I wanted To grow inside our correspondence But there was too much silence Between the paragraphs I thought I was doing All I could to repair our relationship But I was the one who threw stones

The Rats Kye Griffiths - HMP Castington Golden Virginia Not amber leaf Rich pickings for A notorious rat Won’t let up Won’t get a job Won’t pay his own way Some stuff is missing From peoples cells Back from work they’re on Their bells The officer comes And walks away Said, leave your door open And that’s the price you pay Lying in their cell Smoking other peoples burn I think they’re the ones that Will never learn

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The Last Fix Philip Smith - HMP Bure I am a tempest a storm in a rage A mocking bird locked in a silver cage Afloat in a sea of salted tears A screaming banshee in your ears I am the shadow hidden from sight The whispering voice you hear in the night Mine are the demons there in your head Mine are the horrors that you most dread I am the tiger with red burning eyes I am the lightning that screams from the skies I am the one that searches you out Plays tricks with your mind, leaves you in doubt I am the one who waits by your bed I hold the book of the living, the dead I am the reaper the bringer of death Waiting to steal your last laboured breath I scour the earth, my one aim, my role To cast wide my net to capture your soul I am the hand that tolls the last bell I am the beat and I am your hell

51

The Ship Out Laura Coghlin - HMP Send

John Smyth One day I swopped my three new socks For a roll up with worry of the docks Yesterday it was my little bag of cheese Again to give my lungs a tease Last week it was my pork One day it was my sugar To make me cough and smother And then it was my new jacket For less than half a packet To the man on the tobacco racket One day I swopped Saturday’s ginger nuts For skins and fag buts One day I swopped my chicken curry Before lock up and in a hurry One day I swopped my silver ring For second hand runners just to feel bling And then it was my silver chain For more tobacco to stop going insane For two months I saved up all my jam And traded with a tobacco man Now it’s gone and up in smoke Prison life is no joke Xmas came and went And I think of all I spent And never a penny to the rent Well there must be something wrong Yes my willpower is not too strong Today I got my little pack of amber leaf I turned my back and it was gone with a tobacco thief Now pen in hand I write with grief Now I have to wait till next week Gone my smoke I feel so weak

Back to the beginning Not playing their game I may have a number But I do have a name They assume I’m a liar And I’m up to no good They see the trees in the distance But they don’t see the wood I understand their assumptions After all I’m in jail Its seems my honesty loses So my respect seems to fail I’ve never had issues With authority as such But these constant assumptions Are just getting too much Making me want to be all dishonest And be sneaky sometimes It seems that’s just the norm here But assumptions no crime I’ve worked my way up To a position of trust Has it got lost in the post? Well I guess that it must So I am starting again Same old battles once more The mistrust on their faces And they are a little unsure

We will award a prize of £25 to the entry selected as our ‘Star Poem of the Month’. To qualify for a prize, poems should not have won a prize in any other competition or been published previously. Send entries to: Inside Time, Poetry, Botley Mills, Botley, Southampton, Hampshire, SO30 2GB. Please put your name, number and prison on the same sheet of paper as your poem. If you win we can’t send your money if we don’t know who or where you are! By submitting your poems to Inside Time you are agreeing that they can be published in any of our ‘not for profit links’, these include the newspaper, website and any forthcoming books. You are also giving permission for Inside Time to use their discretion in allowing other organisations to reproduce this work if considered appropriate, unless you have clearly stated that you do not want this to happen. Any work reproduced in other publications will be on a ‘not for profit’ basis. WHEN SUBMITTING YOUR WORK PLEASE INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING PERMISSION: THIS IS MY OWN WORK AND I AGREE TO INSIDE TIME PUBLISHING Page 1 of 1 IT IN ALL ASSOCIATE SITES AND OTHER PUBLICATIONS AS APPROPRIATE.

Nelson Guest & Partners

MR

Criminal and Prison Law Specialists

Martyns&Rose SOLICITORS

Adjudication Prison Rules MDT's & VDT's Parole Hearings Appeals Lifer Reviews Complaints & maltreatment

Our dedicated team of Solicitors will advise and represent you at all levels. • • • • • • • • • •

Inside Poetry

Re - categorisation Adjudications IPP & Extended Sentences CCRC Applications Lifer Panels Parole Reviews Judicial Reviews Human Rights Confiscation Orders HDC & Recalls

Advice & representation on all aspects of Prison Law throughout London and the south east, including: Belmarsh, Wandsworth, Brixton, Feltham, Canterbury, Maidstone, Elmley, Highdown, Coldingley and The Mount

Please contact Martyns G Martyns Martyns & Rose Solicitors 456 KIngsland Road London E8 4AE

Please contact: Stephen Nelson

0208 309 5010

0207 249 2044

80 High Street Sidcup Kent DA14 6DS

FA X 0 2 0 7 2 4 9 1 2 2 4 [email protected]

file://C:\Documents and Settings\User\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\OLKD... 29/07/2009

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South Africa in Numbers

If the World were 100 people

52 years

average life expectancy at birth for males and females

50 would be female 50 would be male

18%

percentage of adults (15-49) with HIV/AIDS Africa average: 4.3%

50.7 million

20 would be children 80 would be adults 14 of whom would be 65 and older There would be: 61 Asians 12 Europeans 13 Africans 14 people from the Western Hemisphere

1.2 million km2

population mid 2009 1976: 25 million

land area 5 times greater than UK

23

42

births per 1000 population

There would be: 31 Christians 21 Muslims 14 Hindus 6 Buddhists 12 people who practice other religions 16 people who practice no religion

people per square kilometre United kingdom: 255

15

deaths per 1000 population

4 million

population increase in the next 15 years

60%

17 would speak a Chinese dialect 8 would speak Hindustani 8 would speak English 7 would speak Spanish 4 would speak Arabic 4 would speak Russian 52 would speak other languages

percentage of married women (15-49) using modern methods of birth control Africa average: 23%

3%

percentage of national wealth spent on health UK: 7.2%

45

number of infant deaths for every 1000 births Africa average: 78

2.7

average number of children per woman (15 to 49) Africa average: 4.8

YOU NEED A FRIEND ON THE OUTSIDE... 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. We specialise in: OUTSIDE ADJUDICATIONS. Have you committed an offence whilst in custody? We can provide representation for you in front of the adjudicator. PAROLE BOARD HEARINGS. We can supply written representations and attending oral hearings. CATEGORISATION. If you want us to assist by way of written representations – we can help.

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. 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.

Call us on freephone: 0800 374388 (24 hours). Keith Park Solicitors Claughton House, 39 Barrow Street, St Helens WA 10 1RX E: [email protected] CRIMINAL DEFENCE LAWYERS

4.3%

Percentage living on less than US $2 a day Africa average: 65%

$ 3.5 billion

75 people would have some supply of food and a place to shelter them from the wind and the rain 25 would not

The money South Africa has spent on hosting the World Cup 2010. FIFA is set to make $3.3 billion Images from the opening game of the World Cup 2010 in South Africa

>> www.insidetime.org

INSIDE?

82 would be able to read and write; 18 would not 1 would have a college education 1 would own a computer

Exciting ‘new look’ website Now ‘interactive’ allowing readers to add their comments to published articles and letters. Let your family members and friends know about this new facility - Inside Time is now also a voice for them.

the immigration specialists Asylum Deportation Immigration Bail issues If you need advice contact Traci or Kay @ Dicksons Solicitors 32 – 36 Cheapside, Hanley, Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire ST1 1HQ

01782 262424

specialists in staffordshire

1 would be dying of starvation 17 would be undernourished 15 would be overweight 83 would have access to safe drinking water 17 people would have no clean, safe water to drink

PARLBYS Solicitors SPECIALISTS IN CRIMINAL DEFENCE & PRISONERS’ RIGHTS PRISON LAW Adjudications & Appeals against Adjudications Parole Applications - Recalls/Paper & Oral Hearings Categorisation - Lifer Reviews Licence/OASys/Probation Problems Transfers - HDC Applications & Appeals ROTL Applications & Appeals IEP Queries - Security Queries Healthcare Problems - Obtaining Prison Records Judicial Reviews - Prisoner’s Rights

Agency Work Undertaken For free advice contact one of our dedicated prison law team today (Rachael, Leanne & Carol)

Parlbys Solicitors First Floor, 7 Whimple Street Plymouth PL1 2DH 01752 200402 (T) 01752-600933 (F)

TWENTY QUESTIONS TO TEST YOUR GENERAL KNOWLEDGE 1. In popular parlance, a collection of useless and unwanted articles is often called ‘flotsam and…’ what?

11. In European history, in which revolution was a ten-day week proposed?

2. Which emperor of Ethiopia, who died in 1975, is revered by the Rastafarian religious sect?

12. Which English actor plays the role of Harry Potter in the film series of the same name?

IQ

5. In which form of dance was Sir Kenneth MacMillan a celebrated choreographer?

14. Which former country in Eastern Europe operated a secret police organization called the Stasi? 15. Which British prime minister was responsible for establishing the National Lottery in 1994?

6. Who directed the films Truly, Madly, Deeply and the English Patient?

7. Which legendary US singer had a number one hit in the 1950s with the song ‘Stranger In Paradise’?

17. In 2005, which European country elected a prime minister called Socrates?

8. In the 1978 Clint Eastwood film Every Which Way But Loose, what type of ape is Clyde?

18. In which city was the actress Elizabeth Taylor born?

9. Which slang-word for the British refers to the limes once issued by sailors to prevent scurvy?

19. Maria Curie was the first woman to be awarded which prestigious prize?

10. In which sport are the Scottish Rocks, Chester Jets and Sheffield Sharks leading British teams?

20. Which famed US military academy founded in 1802 is based on the Hudson River?

4. Following a logical sequence, can you complete this puzzle

75 324 9.45

MW - HMP Stocken

ATTRIDGE

Members of the Serious Fraud Panel

Criminal Defence and Prison Law Specialists We p r o v i d e l e g a l a s s i s ta n c e w i t h t h e following matters:

*

* * * * * * * *

* *

* * *

Adjudications Appeals Complaints Licence Recalls and Reviews Extended Licence Reviews Categorisation P r i s o n Tr a n s f e r s P a ro l e B o a r d H e a r i n g s Ta r i f f R e v i e w s Lifer Hearings Home Detention Curfew ROTL Sentence Calculation CCRC Assistance Human Rights

Contact Miriam Altaf at EBR Attridge Solicitors 23 Southampton Place London WC1A 2BP 0207 842 8600

Submitted by Malcolm Gaskell - HMP Gartree. 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 back page. 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

APPLEBY HOPE & M AT T H E W S SOLICITORS

We specialise in:-

+2 /3 / +145 / x3 / ÷5 / ½ / ÷9 / +2 /3 / +62 / ÷11 = ? √ / +218 / x4.5 / -38 / √ / x7 / ½ / x3 /

To the power of

To the power of

2=?

2 / x3 / +¾ / √ / x3 / -20.95 / x itself / ÷ 4 / ¾ = ?

4781032652986473 3268781032652986 in Prison Law Shepherd Experts all over the UK Reynolds Solicitors

YOU’RE NOT JUST A NUMBER!

Here to help you throughout your sentence

• Recall • Parole Applications • Licence Conditions • Criminal Defence • Adjudications • Judicial Reviews • Lifer Panels ALP/DLP • Cat ‘A’ Reviews • Categorisation & Transfers • HDC • Tariff Reviews • Lifer Issues Contact Kate Clark or Carroll Slaney

Appleby Hope & Matthews

35 High Street Normanby Middlesbrough Teesside TS6 0LE

01642

Which letter completes the puzzle?

3.

ANSWERS CAN BE FOUND ON THE BACK PAGE

SOLICITORS

What is missing from this puzzle?

13. In medical abbreviation ENT refers to which three parts of the body?

16. Which prime minister said ‘I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat’ in a speech in May 1940?

EBR

2.

Answers 1 - 5 The value in each corner circle equals the sum of the values in the two adjacent circles. 2 - 2 Working in columns, the top number equals the sum of the lower two numbers. 3 - N Working in rows, add the numerical values of the left hand and central letters, to give the value of the right hand letter. 4 - J Starting with the letters on the top row, and moving in straight lines through the centre, add the numerical values of the top and central letters to give the value of the letters on the bottom row.

4. In 2006, which US pop singer divorced her husband Nick Lachey?

Challenge

1. What completes this triangle of numbers?

?

3. Which current affairs broadcaster was married to the writer Bel Mooney?

*

53

Jailbreak


440444

[email protected]

Service throughout the North of England

• Tariff Settings • Adjudications • Categorisation • Lifer Reviews

• • • •

Parole Refusal • IPP’s Cat A Reviews • Recalls k Judicial Reviews Lin eo s Vi d e i t ili Oral Hearings Fac

• LIFE SENTENCE APPEALS

• CROWN COURT CASES

From July 2010 Legal Aid Contracts in Prison Law will change. It is anticipated that a large number of legal firms will be unable to carry on this work. Contact your solicitor to ask if you need a new solicitor to deal with your prison law issues! If you need a new solicitor contact us NOW!

Solicitors firms unable to carry on this work can also contact us. Contact: David Reynolds

Shepherd Reynolds Solicitors 2nd Floor, 6 Broad Road Sale Cheshire M33 2AL

0161 969 6415

54

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CAPTION COMPETITION

Gema Quiz

David Cameron at the local count in Witney with Alan Hope of the Monster Raving Looney William Hill Party

The new Gema Records catalogue is out now! (Summer 2010 No 114)

1. 2. 3.

For the first time, we have a DVD section with over 20,000 Films, Documentaries, TV Series etc. In addition, we have 12,000 In which year did the first Eurovision Song New Releases and over 5,000 Special Offers Contest take place? included in the catalogue.

Prisoners votes may have caused a coalition between the Conservatives and the Monster Raving Looney party!

What was the first Carry On film?

PS2 Bundles now come with 2 free pre-owned By what name is Graham McPherson games. We are now also offering new better known in the music world? Xbox 360 consoles.

4. In which film did the character of Marion Thousands of price reductions across the board. Crane famously die? 5. 6.

Which comedy duo had a number one hit For your own personal copy, please send a cheque or PO (payable to Gema Records) for £2 to Gema in the UK with ‘The Stonk’ in 1991? Records, PO Box 54, Reading RG1 3SD and we will What is the name of the horse which was the immediately despatch a copy to you along with a £2 subject of a film starring Toby McGuire? voucher to use against your first order.

7.

The Beatles last live performance was at GEMA RECORDS - SUPPLIER OF THE UK’S Candlestick Park in San Francisco, what LARGEST BACK CATALOGUE OF MUSIC year was this?

8. In literature how are Peter, Phyllis and Roberta collectively known? 9.

Which female singer sang with the KLF on their hit ‘Justified and Ancient’?

Last month’s winners

10. Tom Cruise played Vietnam veteran Ron Kovic in which movie?

S Cayton - HMP Styal C Blackwell - HMP Ryehill T Greenwood - HMP Swinfen Hall

Answers to last months quiz: 1. Simon and Garfunkel, 2. Wimbledon, 3. Waterloo (Waterloo and Waterloo Sunset), 4. Good Morning Vietnam, 5. (Going) Underground, 6. Australia, 7. Clarksville, 8. Tibet, 9. London10. Out of Africa

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. In 2008, how many prisoners were under sentence of death in the US? 2. How many prisoners participated in the mock election featured in the May issue of Inside Time? 3. Who investigated over 2,000 eligible complaints last year? 4. Who feels the Parole Board might be in ‘such a shambles that they can’t even deal with complaints made about that shambles’? 5. Who is the MP for Wakefield? 6. How many prisoners use drugs at least once a week? 7. In 2008, Muslim prisoners made up what percentage of the prison population in England & Wales?

>> To enter any of the above prize competitions

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

Jordans Solicitors LLP Specialists in all aspects of Prison Law, Appeal Work and Judicial Review

We offer help UK Wide: • Serious and complex criminal cases • Lifers – sentence to release • IPPs – sentence to release • Appeals For a guaranteed prompt response please contact Rachel Baldwin at:

Jordans LLP

4 Priory Place Doncaster DN1 1BP 01302 365374 www.jordansllp.co.uk

• Adjudications • Parole Applications • Licence Recalls • CCRC applications ess , awl ppeal L n a y a I n d o nted b e s e a rele repres wby e s a kN w Mar

Angela Jones HMP Drake Hall

£25

prize is in the post

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 sponsors of Jailbreak

See below for details of how to enter. The first three names to be drawn with all correct answers (or nearest) will each receive a £15 Gema Record Voucher & free catalogue

Last month’s winner

Prince Harry and Prince William’s first joint official royal tour to Africa. William found himself out-performed by a tiny 11-year-old schoolboy who made such a loud noise on the vuvuzela ... Football competition winners: M Crossley - HMP Peterhead, J White - HMP Chelmsford, C Lauder - HMP Addiwell

8. Who first met Noel ‘Razor’ Smith when they were fellow inmates at Belmarsh? 9. There was a good turnout at which prison even though it was a cold, miserable Saturday in November? 10. At which prison did 56% of prisoners surveyed by HMCIP say they don’t know who the IMB are? 11. Who runs AA meetings at HMP Durham? 12. When a prisoner dies in custody, the death is reported to who? 13. Bridging the Gap’s pen-pal scheme facilitates and oversees how many prisoner pen-pals? 14. Who is being held in the segregation unit because he refused a direct order to ‘Bang Up’? 15. What is the strap-line for IMBs?

Answers to Last Month’s Inside Knowledge Prize Quiz 1. Michael Fielding, 2. Dr Jonathon Tomlinson, 3. 10 January 1989, 4. Billy Little, 5. PSO 2700, 6. Ben Gunn, 7. Jenny Richards, 8. 70%, 9. Craig Curran, 10. John Hirst, 11. Keith Rose, 12. David Ferguson, 13. Scarred, 14. Ian Hutchison, 15. David Johnston

Last month’s winners

Our three £25 Prize winners are: P Rees - HMP Parkhurst, A Maidment - HMP Grendon, M Watling - HMP Moorland Plus our £5 Consolation prizes go to: R Diblasio - HMP Holme House, S Cayton - HMP Styal

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 22/07/2010

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

Offering advice and assistance covering:• Appeals against Sentence & Conviction • Adjudications • Lifer panel Representation • Licence Recall & Parole Reviews • Request and Complaints For an immediate visit, advice and Representation call:-

Noble Solicitors

21 High Street Shefford Bedfordshire SG17 5DD 01462 814055

Braidwood Law Practice Solicitors We are Experts in the following : u Criminal Proceedings (incl: Defence & Appeals) u Licence Recall u Lifers/IPP Review & Extended Sentences u Parole Board Hearings & Adjudications u Recategorisation & Transfer u Complaints & Mistreatment u Foreign National Prisoners’ Rights u Family Law (incl:Child Care & Matrimonial Disputes) u Debt/Housing Problems u Immigration

Contact: Kwame, Olo or Christina Stafford House 19 Stafford Road Croydon CR0 4NG 0208 726 7926

Jailbreak


Comedy Corner

“Quotes”

Send in your jokes, you will receive £5 for every one we print! Ê A bloke is lying in bed with his girlfriend when her phone ‘beeps’. Grabbing it, he reads the message and then replies to the text with, “How the f**k should I know? Phone the coast guard”. “You Pillock” his lady says, “What was that all about?” “God knows” the bloke replies. “Some idiot just sent a text to your phone asking if the coast was clear!” Jarvis Bernard - HMP Chelmsford ......................................................... Ê Times have really changed since when I was young. You could go to the shops with 50p and come home back home with two pints of milk, six eggs, 12 sausages and even some sweets. You can’t do that now… bloody CCTV! Mark Watling - HMP Moorland ......................................................... Ê Have you ever seen these books?

55

7) An African Trek, by Dusty Rhodes 8) The Day we Bunked Off, by Marcus Absent 9) Give Him the Push, by Eve Ho 10) Long Walks Home, by Miss D Buss Jimmy Abrahams - HMP Wayland ......................................................... Ê Prince Charles arrives in Iran on an official visit. He says to the president “where is the SHAH?” “What do you mean?” says the President. “There isn’t one; we got rid of the Shah years ago.” “In that case” says Charles, “I’ll take a bath.” T D Wetherell - HMP Holme House

1) Fitting Carpets, by Walter Wall 2) Daylight Robbery, by Hans Zupp 3) Police Brutality, by Louren Order 4) Security Measures, by Barb Dwyer 5) Helping Others, By Linda Hand 6) Hymns of Our Time, by Allie Louyah

Match the following quotes to the pictures below, answers on the back page

(A)

“

(B)

“

(C)

“

I have a torn man boob. After watching [the film] Bronson, I thought I’d get into prison shape

”

It’s the surprise that I’ve got a bum and legs at all. Presenters are normally hidden behind a desk

”

I’ve been blessed with that show. I’ve gone off and presented a couple of turkeys and always come back to the golden goose. It has been my security blanket

”

“

(D) I remember the first year when we did this and it was like an adventure. I promised myself I would leave before I was forced (E)

”

“

Santa Claus is descended from St Nicholas, a Greek bishop, so he is presumably an EU citizen

”

“

(F)

I’m surprised women aren’t picking up guns and shooting people, like the Baader-Meinhof. I’m trying really hard not to be angry all the time

”

“ ” You just can’t maraud through life having sex with whoever “ you’d like – which is a shame ” (I) The occupational hazards are the three As: arrogance, alcoholism “ and adultery. If you suffer from only one, you’re doing quite well ” (J) I got sucked in by something I thought was real and I have realised “ it is not, and it is not necessarily something I want to be a part of ” (G)

Our marriage is not a business arrangement

(H)

1. Simon Cowell 2. Edwina Currie

3. Mariella

4. Russell Brand 5. Fiona Bruce

Frostrup

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.

6. Victoria Beckham

7. Davina McCall

judicial review categorisation sentence planning

appeals lifer hearings

8. Lily Allen

9. Lord Tebbit 10.

Scottish Prisoners Parole Tribunals Appeals Recalls

IPP Hearings/Progression

miscarriages of justice parole

transfers human rights issues

adjudication hearings medical issues 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


Contact Jim Litterick Higgins Morledge & Litterick 2 Candleriggs Alloa FK10 1EA

01259 725922

you call, we’ll be there

Frankie Boyle

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T E J S D L B K S U S U S H K O E I Z L

E X M E K A M X E D B T Q I H X G F V A

M B H Z R T G F I R J G A E F I Y J M P

P C H P U I J H B O H Z J E A N H C K A

L G N A I N G U H O D H S G L U Z Y W P

A J U E U I M N P T N U I F Q L A G H A

R Y J A R E S I C M A L T E S E O B F V

F M K B T G U A X Q Z V N X M V B R D K

A L O R R A I N E S V F A G P I Q J T A

K X I F O X B W O T H U L E G A W M I D

B A Q Z L Y B R N P G C T L P T F H G E

J L J H L Q T M I E I G A A K H X S I T

Y S O R B H J E R T F S L Y V A U G B R

Q M H A O B T B L E H M X Z J N A U F E

A Z B D P N K E U R A T L A N T I S D V

E P O Q E A C A X S J F B Q M J K E M N

M X A P Y G O L O T N E I C S I K C U I

T E A O H H F G B Y K H E H O X F G Z C

S W E R D N A T S X Z N M F B I T K L E

Down

Atlantis - Brighids - Celtic - Cross and Crow - Forked - Inverted CROSSES Latin - Leviathan - Lorraine - Maltese - Orthodox - Palm - Papal Atlantis - Rosy - Scientology - Serpent - St Andrews - St Johns - St Peters Sun - Tau - Templar - Troll Brighids Check forward, backward and diagonally, they are all there! Celtic Cross and Crow Thanks to Lee Meredith at HMP Belmarsh for compiling this wordsearch for us. Forked If you fancy compiling one for us please just send it in max 20x20 grid & complete with answers shown on a grid. If we use it we will send you £5 as a thank you! Inverted Latin >> Answers to the crossword and sudoku below Next Issue Week commencing 2nd August 2010 Orthodox Palm Nationwide Service Papal Offices in London, Manchester & Rosy Birmingham Scientology Specialists in Serious Crime with a track record of success Serpent StCriminal Andrews Law Serious crime including murder, robbery, conspiracy, drugs cases (supply, production, conspiracy), complex and financial crime, all Stother Johns Crown Court Offences and Appeals St Peters SunPersonal Injury Accidents in prison or on the outside We do the work to get the results. Tau We fight for our clients. No excuses. Just proper, professional service. Templar Troll New enquiries 87 Chorley Road, Manchester M27 4AA

0161 794 0088 or Freephone 0808 155 4870 www.marymonson.co.uk

LEE MEREDITH XC8610 HMP BELMARSH

http://www.dailysudoku.com/


Daily Sudoku: Tue 8-Jun-2010

General Knowledge Crossword

6 7 2

9 1 4

1 9

3 2 8 7 2 5

7 8 9 1 8 4 7 9 2

7

6

4 5 6

Daily Sudoku: Wed 9-Jun-2010

7 3 5 2 7 6 8 4 2 6 6 4 8 3 2 1 4 5 4 1 9 2 4 6 5 7

1

8

Daily Sudoku: Tue 8-Jun-2010

medium

hard

Don’t Rot On Recall!



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Adjudications Parole Reviews Licence Recall Categorisation Transfers Lifer Panels Criminal Defence and Appeals

Start the ball rolling now - call Sarah Grace on:

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87 Chorley Road Swinton Manchester M27 4AA 0161 794 0088 Quotes (A)10 (B)5 (C)7 (D)1 (E)9 (F)3 (G)6 (H) 4 (I)2 (J)8 Mind Gym 1. 7, 2. 112896, 3. 363

hard

1 2 6 8 5 7 3 4 9 9 5 3 1 8 6 4 7

4 2 1 7 3 5 8 9

7 9 4 5 6 1 3 2

3 6 2 8 7 9 1 4

1 8 5 3 4 2 9 6

5 4 9 6 2 8 7 1

8 3 6 9 1 7 2 5

2 1 7 4 5 3 6 8

Daily Sudoku: Wed 9-Jun-2010 (c) Daily Sudoku Ltd 2010. All rights reserved.

6 7 1 2 3 9 5 4 8

2 5 9 4 1 8 6 3 7

4 3 8 7 5 6 9 1 2

3 9 6 1 4 7 8 2 5

5 1 2 8 6 3 4 7 9

medium

7 8 4 5 9 2 3 6 1

8 6 7 3 2 5 1 9 4

9 4 5 6 7 1 2 8 3

1 2 3 9 8 4 7 5 6

(c) Daily Sudoku Ltd 2010. All rights reserved.

I T SUDOKU

Jailbreak Answers

General Knowledge

Across

General Knowledge Crossword

I T SUDOKU

Find the crosses

J K R D N W O R C D N A S S O R C V O H


Crosses


56

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LONDON OFFICE:Manchester, M15 4QF The 4040 City Road, Deansgate, TheBoatmans, Boatmans, City Road East, Manchester M15 4QF 646-648 High Road Leytonstone, London, E11 3AA

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

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