February 2014
The scam To my Koestler they weren’t Valentine... Awards 2014 interested in Your messages Guidance and by Danny Cash of love entry form inside the National Newspaper for Prisoners & Detainees 23 46-47 A ‘not for profi t’ publication / ISSN 1743-7342 / Issue No. 176 / February 2014 / www.insidetime.org Over 61,000 copies distributed monthly - Independently verifi ed by the Audit Bureau of Circulations SCOTTISH FOCUS 28-29 plus over 400,000 monthly online readership - Independently verifi ed using SMARTER STATS Government cuts bring the Parole Board ‘close to crisis’ Eric McGraw she forecasts will lead to the number of oral their tariff expiry date. hearings increasing from about 4,500 a year to 12,000 or even 14,000. Writing in Inside Time in January 2013, the ollowing a Supreme Court ruling in Parole Board Chairman, Sir David Cal- October that prisoners were entitled to vert-Smith acknowledged that Parole Board face-to-face hearings means the Parole decisions have life-changing consequences for Board must now conduct thousands prisoners and recognised the importance of more oral rather than paper-based reducing the backlog for oral hearings. Fhearings, exposing its lack of manpower after staff numbers have been reduced by nearly He added, ‘The Board is developing Parole one in fi ve. hearings by video link in order to increase the number of hearings the Board is able to hold’. To cope with the surge of oral hearings, many Sir David Giving evidence to the House of Commons’ are taking place by video link from the Board’s Calvert-Smith Justice Select Committee in December 2013, London headquarters to prisons around the Sir David said, ‘All bets are off now until we country. “All bets are off now until we sort out the consequences of the Supreme Court ruling.’ He added, ‘what have been tra- Criminal Defence solicitor Simon Rollason sort out the consequences of ditionally three people on any one hearing reported to The Independent on Sunday that panel might have to be reduced to two or two of his clients had their hearings postponed the Supreme Court ruling” even one.’ by up to four months because the video tech- nology broke down on the day, adding that This comes at a time when the House of the Parole Board was now ‘inundated’. He The Supreme Court ruling will require a signif- Commons Justice Select Committee published said the system was ‘close to crisis’ and that icant increase in resources for the Parole Board its Interim Report (14th January 2014) on the the Ministry of Justice must increase the who are already facing a backlog of cases as a Government’s Transforming Rehabilitation board’s £12.5m funding to hire additional result of the growth in the number of indeter- Programme. It concluded, ‘We have been 40 million Parole Board members. minate sentenced prisoners. England and unable to determine whether suffi cient overweight children worldwide under the Wales have the highest number of indetermi- funding is in place on the limited information age of fi ve in 2011. Are toy companies Claire Bassett, the Parole Board’s Chief nate sentenced prisoners in Europe - more that the Government has provided.’ helping by making fat Barbie dolls? Executive, told the Justice Select Committee than France, Germany and Italy put together Fat facts page 16 that the ruling has ‘huge’ implications which - a growing number of whom are held beyond Understanding the Parole Process page 40
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Why a limit on books Mr Grayling? Chemical castration insidetime ...... a voice for prisoners since 1990 ADAM THOMAS - HMP LONG LARTIN AARON COLLIS - HMP PARKHURST the national newspaper for prisoners published by I am very angry about some of the aspects of the new In Possession list that came into effect Why is it so hard to convince people what is Inside Time Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of along with changes to the IEP scheme on November 1st 2013. We have been told that it is no use The New Bridge Foundation, founded in 1956 to best for my own rehabilitation? The so-called create links between the offender and the community. complaining to governors as the list is imposed from above as policy. Firstly, the book limit - we are now allowed only 12 books in possession subject to Volumetric Control limits. What sort of experts are obsessed with these silly courses Inside Time is wholly responsible for its editorial content. which cannot possibly work on someone like Comments or complaints should be directed to the message does that send? Managing Editor and not to New Bridge. me. I am a 28 year-old sex offender who has I am doing an Open University degree and have many subject related books - no extra allowance always openly admitted his crimes from the © a is to be made for this. Yet people who worship imaginary beings will be allowed extra books to word go. I hate what I have done and for 4½ not profit Board of Directors facilitate their delusion! Why should religion be accommodated when the pursuit of real years now I’ve been in the prison system publication4 knowledge is not? We are also to be limited to 12 (yes, twelve!) sheets of music. That’s about trying to fi nd a ‘cure’ for the incurable. the length of a single classical piece, or maybe two. I’m trying to learn a musical instrument and Trevor Grove - Former Editor Sunday Telegraph, get a degree while I’m inside, but it seems the MoJ disapproves. That, at least, is the impression Journalist, Writer and serving Magistrate. given by these arbitrary, obstructive limits. I understand and accept the need to limit prisoner’s I found a solution a while back and have been John Carter - Former international healthcare kit, but these numbers make no sense. Rehabilitation revolution? They just want prisoners exploring it ever since, but for some reason I company Vice-President. pliant and stupid, doped-up on prescription meds and drooling in front of a TV screen. am fi nding it nearly impossible to convince Geoff Hughes - Former Governor, Belmarsh prison. Eric McGraw - Former Director, New Bridge people that chemical castration is the best (1986-2002) and founder of Inside Time in 1990. thing for me and it’s my best hope of an John D Roberts - Former Company Chairman and ‘Politicians play Free Sky Sports for MPs! offence-free future. I am only speaking for Managing Director employing ex-offenders...... myself because I know my own mind, I know Louise Shorter - Former producer, BBC Rough politics like a game’ Justice programme. JON WALDRON - HMP DOVEGATE my triggers and I know that the SOTP alone is © © ...... Alistair aH. E. Smith B.Sc F.C.A.a - Chartered simply not going to lower my risk. I’ve spoken not not Accountant,profit Trustee and Treasurer,profit New Bridge CARL JACQUES - HMP MOORLAND As everyone knows, in July last year the to doctors, nurses, psychologists, OMU and Foundation.4 publication4 service Minister of Justice, Chris Grayling, authorised various medical ‘experts’ about the possibili- I saw three words the other day that got me the removal of all subscription channels from ty of being chemically castrated, but to no thinking! These words were ‘Strategy of prisons in England & Wales as he said the Rehabilitation’. In all the years I’ve been taxpayer should not be paying for prisoners avail. I thought they would jump at the chance The Editorial Teama © to take away my sex drive, but I was very not coming to jail (19 years) not once have I heard to watch Sky TV. profit any government Justice Minister utter those wrong. They all seem to be trying to talk me organisation4 words or tell us exactly what their strategy is/ Before Christmas I was browsing through the out of it, telling me I’m young and it’s not or was. The strategy by the current Justice Mirror and an article caught my eye, the necessary. Well, I’m sorry, but it’s my body Minister appears to be making new receptions headline was ‘MPs GET SKY SPORTS FREE!’ It and my messed up brain which is dangerous to prison wear a uniform for a few weeks and appears that free Sky Sports channels are and this is my decision. I’ve thought a lot confi scating 18 rated DVDs - that’s certainly piped into all Westminster’s offi ces. This about it and I really want to give it a try, but going to cut reoffending, isn’t it! story only came to light when Labour MP for Kingston upon Hull North (shadow minister it’s so diffi cult even to get assessed for it Eric McGraw Rachel Billington OBE Every day on TV and radio we hear politicians for crime and security Diana Johnson) - WHY? Novelist and Author and Managing Journalist Editor talking about this and that policy, but has the complained that she could not get free government really got a policy for prisons and regional news channels piped into her offi ce! These crappy courses won’t make a bit of rehabilitation? I think not. Unless you count difference to me. I have family and friends cramming as many humans as you can into an Isn’t it great that the very people who never who have stuck by me, they and my children ever shrinking prison estate for the least stop whinging about prisoners getting deserve better and this I feel is defi nitely amount ofBlavo money. Nov Then 2012_Blavo selling Dectheir 2008 prisoners red border anything SHADOW.qxd at taxpayer’s 13/11/2012 expense 09:42 are Page still 1 worth trying. I’m still doing the prison courses labour to line the pockets of private corpora- keeping their snouts fi rmly in the trough? MPs tions, also known as the ‘prison industrial expect the taxpayer to foot the bill for every but I just wish that people would respect the complex’. Prisoners have become commodi- little thing they desire but then have the fact that I am an adult and it’s my body. I’m John Roberts Noel Smith ties and Chris Grayling, the (in)Justice audacity to point the fi nger at anyone else, not going to let this go, even if I have to go to Operations Director and Writer and former Minister, must now have realised something sickening hypocrisy. Their £70,000 per year the European Court of Human Rights. I will be prisoner Company Secretary which we already know, that he simply cannot wage, not including expenses, is not enough a free man in a few years and this is a huge come up with a policy to help serving and ex for them as we have seen recently when a Editorial Assistants factor in deciding how bright my future will be. prisoners to get the reoffending rates down. number of MPs have been caught out fi ddling Lucy Forde - Former prisoner education mentor Not because of what his boss, Cameron, will their expenses and taking bribes from private Paul Sullivan - Former prisoner say, but because of what the tabloid media companies to infl uence government policy. Administration Assistant Sonia Miah would say. You see, politicians are more Scumbags! When MPs get all these free perks Layout & Design Colin Matthews interested in how they are portrayed in the and still fi ddle expenses (it hasn’t stopped media. Justice has not got to be done, but it - they’ve just got sneakier at hiding it) it is a 19 John Street Correspondence has to be seen to be done. crime against everyone in this country. LONDON Inside Time, Botley Mills, Botley, WC1N 2DL Southampton, Hampshire SO30 2GB. Accounts & Admin: Inside Time, P.O.Box 251, Hedge End, Hampshire SO30 4XJ. QualitySolicitors Jordans - Making a Stand for You 0844 335 6483 / 01489 795945 0844 335 6484 Miscarriage of Justice and False Prison Law [email protected] Allegations Specialists - Parole Reviews www.insidetime.org - Crown Court Representation and - IPP and Lifer Cases If you wish to reproduce or publish any of the content from in Advocacy - Re Categorisations 0207 025 2020 Inside Time, you should fi rst contact us for written permission. (24hrs) Full terms & conditions can be found on the website. - Court of Appeal and CCRC - Adjudications Members of the Association of Prison Lawyers Subscribe Applications - HDC/ROTL Refusals Prison Law experts in: - Supreme Court and ECHR - Sentence Progression • Adjudications • IPP • Parole Inside Time is distributed free of charge throughout the - Miscarriage Justice Compensation - Recalls UK prison estate. It is available to other readers via a • Recall • Lifer Reviews postal subscription service. - Judical Review • HDC • Categorisation Lawyers with a relentless record of ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION CHARGES £35 We also have specialists in: for single copies to UK addresses plus £10 p.a. for each quashing convictions and standing up Nationwide Service • Crime • Serious Fraud • Extradition additional copy to the same address. for those in Prison . 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with each other, but this is clearly not going to No equal rights! be the case. Instead of just focusing on one Contents Star Letter ...... section of the prison population just because JON WALDRON - HMP DOVEGATE they happen to be born women, perhaps the whole system needs to be overhauled and Mailbag ...... pages 2-9 of the Month This morning I was sent into a fit of rage by nobody should be treated differently because ...... Congratulations and a £25 cash prize the news that the Ministry of Justice have of gender, race, religion or age. Maybe that Newsround ...... pages 10-16 for this month’s Star Letter. decided that the 4 to 5% of women who are in would be a good start...... prison need more help in resettlement and ...... Website Comments ...... page 17 jobs along with after-care in the community M FLYNN - HMP HIGHPOINT ...... and that some of them shouldn’t even be in Diary ...... pages 18-19 prison for the offences they have committed. n Women are always banging on about equal ...... rights, which is fair enough but it seems they Comment ...... pages 20-26 But what about the other 95% of prisoners only want equality when it benefits them, (men) who have the same needs? Then you whether it is equal pay or women in the have the Women’s Prisons Minister, Lord boardroom. But women are still historically McNally, on Daybreak bleating on about how favoured in the Family Courts and now they mothers should not be jailed away from their want fewer women to go to jail and to spend children, when you can easily say the same © prisonimage.org their sentences closer to home! If someone about fathers being jailed and taken away commits a crime they should get the same from their children. Apparently Grayling has sentence regardless of gender, that’s equal ‘A conspiracy brought in the new regimes from the 1st of rights. November in order to bring all prisons in line When is a coat not a coat? of obfuscation’ ...... page 22 ...... MARK BANNER - HMP STAFFORD Don’t call me ‘offender’ Education ...... page 27 ...... After reading the first few lines of Andre JOHN PALMER - HMP CHANNINGS WOOD Scottish Focus ...... pages 28-29 Pollitt’s letter ‘Conspiracy of silence’ (January issue) I genuinely thought he had ...... The government admit that 17.8% of prisoners have been wrongly convicted. These miscarriag- copied a letter that I had started to write Drink and Drugs ...... page30 about the prison complaint system! es of justice mean that 15,000 people are being wrongly imprisoned at a cost to the public of Claire Brown Obviously, after reading on I saw that this £42,000 each per annum - a total of £630 million annually. Prisoners who protest their innocence ...... was not the case and that he was describ- are told that they are ‘in denial’ and are expected to show remorse for crimes they did not commit. Maintaining Innocence ...... page 31 Is it not time for the government and Probation Service to stop using ad hominem in calling ing some pretty despicable treatment. I’m Bob Woffinden glad that the PPO (Prisons Probation inmates by the incorrect and grossly offensive title of ‘Offender’ and start calling them by the Ombudsman) is now taking his complaint honest title of ‘Prisoner’? ...... seriously and I hope he gets the outcome Short Story ...... page32 he deserves. It was seeing the word ‘obfuscate’ Editorial note: We understand from Mr Palmer that he is quoting from Malcolm Ford’s letter ...... that raised my eyebrows as it is the word I featured in the December issue of Inside Time. Malcolm says the figure of 17.8% came from the Thought for the Day ...... page 33 use most to describe the complaints Office of National Statistics. Terry Waite’s monthly column system. Let’s face it, after the new Legal ...... Aid rulings which means that prisoners can Family Welfare ...... pages 34-35 only get proper redress for grievances if they can afford to pay for it, the internal GGAANNSS && CCOO Bruce Kent complaints system is all we have got. SOLICITORS LLP ...... SOLICITORS LLP News from the House .... pages 36-37 A typical Tory ruling, justice only for the SPECIALISTS IN: - PRISON LAW / CRIMINAL DEFENCE ...... wealthy, thanks again for that Mr Grayling MENTAL HEALTH LAW - FAMILY LAW - HOUSING LAW Legal ...... pages 38-42 and your Ministry of Injustice. From my own Has the justice system let you down? ...... experience and the experience of hundreds Why not contact our friendly team for free and friendly advice? of prisoners I have spoken to over the last 7 Why not contact our friendly team for free and friendly advice? Legal Q&A ...... page 43 years, the point of most written complaint PRISON LAW / CRIMINAL DEFENCE ...... replies is obfuscation and delay until the • Parole Board Representation (Oral & Paper Hearings) Reading Groups ...... page 44 prisoner says ‘sod it!’ and gives up. Try • Adjudication Representation ...... asking for the reasoning behind a prison • Re-Categorisation Book Review ...... page 45 rule and you will get the rule quoted back • Human Right/Judicial Review Issues ...... at you. Ask for information and you usually • Appeals Against Conviction get the official version of an answer that • Appeals Against Sentence Valentines Messages .... pages 46-47 often borders on the surreal. My favourite • Appeals Against IPP Sentence ...... example is when I asked WHY prisoners • Appeals Against Life Sentence Poetry ...... pages 48-49 could have books sent in but not magazines? • Magistrate/Crown Court Representation ...... The reply that came back was that we are MENTAL HEALTH LAW Wellbeing ...... pages 50-51 not allowed to have magazines sent in! So I • Mental Health Tribunal Representation ...... tried again with Complaint Form 1a and Sec. 2, 3, 37, 37/41,47/49,48/49 & C.T.O. Appeals etc Jailbreak ...... pages 52-55 stressed, in plain English, that I understood FAMILY LAW what the rule was but I wanted the reason • Contacts, Children, ...... behind the rule. Can you guess what the • Divorce Cases etc. National Prison Radio ...... page 56 answer was? It was - ‘Which part of this HOUSING LAW don’t you understand; you cannot have • Homelessness magazines sent in!’ After discussing this • Illegal Eviction, > LOOKING AHEAD with my cell wall I decided to give up. • Possession Proceedings etc • March Inside Entertainment In fairness, not all complaint forms are • April Poetry Supplement answered badly, but far too many are and N a t i o n w i d e S e r v i c e the attitude is often one of ‘This is the only For an immediate visit, advice & representation please contact Angela or George on: • May Short Stories answer you’re getting now shut up or risk 020 7469 7010 or 0793 053 2183 (24 hrs) being tagged as a serial complainer’. We or write to are surrounded by punitive and pointless Gans & Co Solicitors LLP Views expressed in Inside Time are those rules and we are never given any reason for 214 - 216 Rye Lane, Peckham, London SE15 4NL of the authors and not necessarily repre- them. We live under a genuine conspiracy of Office also in Deptford sentative of those held by Inside Time or silence, misinformation and, yes, obfuscation. the New Bridge Foundation. ›› Registered with EMAP ‹‹ If you would like to contribute to Mailbag, please send your letters (including your name, number Insidetime February 2014 4 Mailbag and prison) to ‘Mailbag’, Inside Time, Botley Mills, Botley, Southampton, Hampshire SO30 2GB. www.insidetime.org
One rule for us... Questions for the Data Protection Act ...... NAME WITHHELD - HMP RYE HILL Justice Secretary and BEN BARNES - HMP LONG LARTIN
Marine Sgt Alexander Blackman was sentenced to 10 years minimum for brutally and NOMS I would like to draw the attention of your cold-bloodedly shooting a suspected terrorist in the head in a premeditated act. For murder with ...... readers to the Data Protection Act 1998 a fi rearm the starting point is 30 years, and then the judge must add years for any aggravating JASON BIDDULPH - HMP PARC (DPA), which is a piece of legislation that features. This murder would have aggravating features such as - 1) it was premeditated 2) the gives prisoners the right to access data that is killer is a trained soldier 3) he instigated a conspiracy to avoid justice 4) he pleaded not guilty I am writing about the recent changes to the held about them. One may use the DPA when when the murder was captured on fi lm - so how is he given a 10 year tariff when a civilian in the IEP scheme in prisons in England and Wales. they wish to see the contents of fi les kept same situation would be looking at a 40 year plus tariff? And how come his two pals did not get Until recently prisoners at HMP Parc were about them by any Data Controller, including done for joint enterprise? The hypocrisy of so-called justice in this country is a disgrace in the allowed to use Private Cash to purchase the Prison Service, Probation and Prison eyes of the rest of the world. When is a cold-blooded killer not a cold-blooded killer? When he’s telephone credits. In addition Private Cash Healthcare Department. The DPA should not working for the government. Shame on all of us. could be used to purchase clothing. Due to be confused with the Freedom of Information national changes this practise has now Act 2000, which gives prisoners, their I see the stick, but ceased. Prisoners can no longer afford to representatives and other organisations the purchase clothing on the meagre wages they right to access non personal information, are paid in prison. The Prison Service cannot such as policy documents, that are held by where’s the carrot ? public authorities in England, Wales and ...... even supply prison-issue clothing as they do not have any or the funds to supply them. This Northern Ireland. The DPA obliges Data JAMES FARNFIELD - HMP PARKHURST is yet another example of no forward planning Controllers to keep all personal data accurate by Grayling and his offi ce; they have no and up to date, no matter how seemingly As inmates move through the prison system knowledge of the systems they change or the insignifi cant. For Probation or Prison fi les one they are given a goal to achieve, to reach direct consequences of their actions. may send any request directly to - Enhanced status. To get this you must be a Ministry of Justice, Data Access and Compli- model prisoner, be polite to staff and other It is also worth mentioning that prisoners’ ance Unit, Branston Registry, Building 16, inmates, take care of your personal hygiene, rates of pay and Private Cash allowances have Supply and Transport Store, Burton Rd, Cockroach kebabs keep your surroundings clean and generally remained unchanged for almost a decade. Branston, Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire ...... steer clear of trouble. In return you would The Justice Department have failed to take DE14 3EG. NEIL HARRISON-SCOTT - HMP receive a higher set of privileges than those into account the rise in prices of goods and on Standard. telephone calls over the past decade. Some Any prison or probation fi le will cost you £10 LIVERPOOL unless you are legally represented then your canteen items have risen by as much as 40% That has all now changed. Now only a select solicitor may pay this. Following on from one of your previous letters whilst our wages have stayed the same. few will ever reach Enhanced status. By about boil in the bag pigeon, we here in HMP Unfortunately we have no choice but to making the bar impossibly high for most, If any Data Controller refuses to change any Walton fi nd it hard to catch pigeons as our purchase goods from the huge profi t-making Grayling has effectively broken a system that inaccurate information, or note objections on windows only open 2 inches or so. So my private companies that supply our goods. worked quite well. One of his new rules is that the record, then fi rstly you should make a favourite snack, to supplement the poor and complaint about the contents of a particular meagre prison diet, is cockroaches. There are to gain Enhanced, prisoners must now ‘put I would be interested to know whether fi le (e.g. OASys) in writing on a Comp 1 form, many cockroaches here and the best way to back into the prison community’, e.g. become companies like DHL and Aramark make or by letter to the reluctant controller. If you catch them is by placing empty crisp packets a peer mentor, Listener, violence reduction fi nancial contributions to political parties in do not get an adequate response to your on the fl oor and turning the lights out. The rep, etc - and whilst I agree in principle to this order to secure their contracts. Because complaint, you can refer the matter to the cockroach will be attracted to the smell of the idea, the practicalities are that there have surely this lack of competition should be Information Commissioners Offi ce (ICO), or crisp bag and you will hear them rustling the always only been a small number of these looked at by the Monopolies Commission? A the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman for packet as they go in. You then snatch the bag, type of vacancies in prison. large percentage of the 84,000 prisoners investigation. Complaints to the ICO must be sealing the cockroach inside. You can boil across the UK are held many miles from their made within a year of becoming aware of the them in the kettle or fry them in an empty Most prisoners will never have the chance to home towns, sometimes in excess of 100 data problem. Alternatively you can bring a tuna tin, but my favourite is cockroach kebabs! take on these roles. So now the carrot has miles away from families. The cost of these claim in the County Court. The Court can order Simply fashion a skewer from a sliver of wood been removed for most people all that prisoners phoning their families, as visits are the Data Controller to (1) rectify, block, erase and impale 2 or 3, then melt a chocolate bar remains is the stick. I believe these changes almost impossible, is astronomical. Again will do a lot of harm, and for what? Sly tactics or destroy inaccurate information, or (2) to use as a dip. Cockroaches have a nutty there is only one supplier of this service, so like this can only be the result of cost cutting amend the record to include a note of the true taste so when you dip them in chocolate they rates can be set by BT without any alternative taste like a fruit and nut bar. If celebrities eat combined with a general disregard for the facts or the fact that a statement of opinion is or competitive rates offered by other them in the jungle then why shouldn’t hungry prison population and a desire to appear based on inaccurate or disputed information. companies. The question I would like to ask prisoners get a bit of protein too? tough to the party faithful. The address for the ICO is: ICO, Casework & Mr Grayling and NOMS is simple - will you Advice Section, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, ever consider increasing the allowance of Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK5 5AF. Tel - 0303 123 ARE YOU APPROACHING PAROLE? Private Cash and wages of prisoners? Surely it 1113 (helpline). is time for a review of the current rates whilst DO YOU WANT TO BE REPRESENTED BY AN EXPERT all these changes are taking place within the This information supplied by the Prisoners IN THE FIELD? prison system. Advice Service (PAS). Our parole team boast an unusually high success rate of over 90%. The team is led by Lisa Burton, former offender supervisor with many years MichaelChambersbarrister.co.uk of experience, who knows how to get the best possible outcome for you. Your public access barrister at Email a Prisoner Our specialist lawyers will help you with: 1MCB (Chambers of Lord Gifford QC) Sponsors of the Do You think you received too long a sentence - making written representations to the Parole Board and/or were wrongly convicted? Mailbag section Need help with confiscation proceedings? - represent you at oral hearings To fi nd out more about the EMAP I will: - challenge unlawful Parole Board decisions by judicial review. • Fight your corner service see page 56 for details and • Work with you and or friends/family look for the orange Contact Kesar & Co for assistance with your parole matter and either Lisa or • Thoroughly review your case and give honest fl ash under the one of her team will be happy to help. objective and clear advice adverts of fi rms KESAR & CO SOLICITORS • Fight for you at the Crown Court, Court of Appeal and organisations and in applying to CCRC. using the service. 1st Floor, Committed to justice For help contact me directly 07956 315586 27 London Road, [email protected] Bromley, BR1 1DG or at my chambers: www.kesarandco.com 020 8181 3100 1 Mitre Court Buildings Temple London EC4Y 7BS 020 7452 8900 ›› Registered with EMAP ‹‹ or click on michaelchambersbarrister.co.uk/insidetime EMAP›› Registered with EMAP ‹‹ Insidetime February 2014 If you would like to contribute to Mailbag, please send your letters (including your name, number www.insidetime.org and prison) to ‘Mailbag’, Inside Time, Botley Mills, Botley, Southampton, Hampshire SO30 2GB. Mailbag 5
Punished further for ‘Drug-seeking A really big sarcastic My own personal prison ...... maintaining innocence behaviour’ ‘THANK YOU’ JOHN HANSON - HMP WOODHILL ...... YO YO - HMP PARKHURST SCOTT MILLARD - HMP RYE HILL ROSS PARSONS - HMP LONG LARTIN In the 21 months I have been in prison I have gone from being a perfectly fit man to a I have been warned that I am on the list of How much longer are these prison doctors In response to the mailbag ‘Days out of your double amputee confined to a wheelchair prisoners to be downgraded to Basic this and nurses going to be allowed to keep head!’ from Matthew Bramshall of HMP who, 6 months ago, was as close to death as I could get. I am in my forties. There are many month as a result of the new IEP scheme. I am getting away with palming people off with the Preston (November issue), along with every reasons for me being in the state I am now in, on the list because I maintain my innocence. old chestnut of drug-seeking behaviour? I other prisoner in this country I’m sure, I would Here at HMP Parkhurst the list is very long. In including illness, infection, neglect from the have recently been knocked back yet again like to give him a really big sarcastic ‘THANK 12 years I’ve done nothing wrong only fight to powers-that-be and plenty of wrong decisions for asking for proper pain relief for my YOU’ for being yet another prisoner to help prove my innocence, though I have been from the so-called experts. It is frightening genuine back problem and have been accused out the system with an excuse to make it nigh punished constantly by the prison system of on impossible for those of us with long-term just how quickly the human body can suddenly of ‘drug-seeking behaviour’ due to my history ‘denial’. By denying me Enhanced status they pain and illness to get the medication we decide to go into meltdown and leave you a of drug abuse. Forget about my history, just deny me the chance to cook my own food, need. shadow of the man you used to be. they deny me a kettle and I must go without a because I’ve used drugs in the past does that My bang-up now consists of sitting in my hot drink for up to 16 hours a day, I can’t have mean I never get any pain like any other human? I don’t know about the way in which his wheelchair reading, writing or watching Sky a DVD or an extra visit because I’m never Of course I have drug-seeking behaviour and healthcare staff give out all those medica- Sports...oh, no, hang on, Mr Grayling took my going to be Enhanced, and this is the life I’ve want painkillers - because I’ve got pain! What tions he mentions, but here, and in most other non-existent satellite dish away, but I digress. coped with up to now. part of that do they not understand? My main prisons, it is not so easy for the genuinely ill Using the toilet, having a wash or simply concern is that I am now in my 40s and to get medication (partly to do with people getting into bed is like a military operation Now they want to punish me openly by taking suffering from severe back pain which like Matthew Bramshall). Prisoners here are that takes careful planning. I could easily sit the life that’s become manageable day by happens to have nothing to do with my past being taken off pain medication and not here and lose my sanity (incidentally, I have day, by downgrading me to Basic. They will drug abuse, so where will this leave me when everyone in prison wants medication for the been offered no counselling or professional remove my television, the TV that Strange- I’m in my 60s and suffering with arthritis and reasons he has pointed out. I do have a help whatsoever from the caring prison ways prisoners fought and died for. A TV, by other age-related illnesses? How long am I suggestion for Mr Bramshall, get yourself to system) but why should I? But if nobody here the way, that I should own as I’ve paid for it going to have to suffer whilst they keep using healthcare and see if they can give you is willing to help me I’ll just have to do it 50 times over. If they have a mind to they can this cheap excuse? How strange that they anything for that nasty brown stain on your myself wont I? I have my girlfriend to support also take my radio, my bedding, and probably give out methadone like it’s going out of nose, or to make you think before you put pen me and she is my rock, but in here I am very the shirt off my back to be replaced with a fashion and deny painkillers to those who to paper concerning things you obviously much on my own. We all know the tough uniform. They will reduce my money to a genuinely need them. know little about. challenges we face in prison, the misery, the pittance which will make it more difficult to ever-increasing lock-up, and the fight to get phone my family, I won’t be able to afford anything done no matter how small. The long canteen and I can’t now have stamps and hours where we can only sit and reflect and, envelopes sent in - all thanks to Chris Come to prison, it’s great! for me, being a VP and all the prejudice that Grayling. But I can still work! £1 per week for ...... entails (note to the main prison population 30 hours! However, I wonder if they have ROB F - HMP WHATTON - being a VP does not automatically mean sex considered this, if you take away the tiny offender, so please stop shouting at me). So if carrot and only leave the big stick, will I have a suggestion to help out all those open-minded, insightful tabloid reporters and their you are sitting in a cell with an illness or prisons descend into anarchy? readers during this financial crisis. Wages not rising in line with inflation? Cost of living getting a disability, try to find the strength to medically bit too much? Fancy a bit of a holiday? Well there is a place you can go. Remember all those rehabilitate yourself otherwise you’ll be stuck Enhancement is a controlling device, if that is times you said British prisons were holiday camps? How we are all living a life of luxury in here, in your own personal prison. removed or made unattainable then what is getting fed on the finest food and with no bills to pay out of our £7 a WEEK wages? Well why not the point of good behaviour? Will the man come to prison and join the fun? You may particularly enjoy this repetitive, boring, pointless ‘A disabled person who fights back is not who instigated these changes be held existence if you are not too bothered about having little or no contact with family and friends handicapped ... he is inspired’ accountable when the prison system goes up and are happy being belittled and losing your dignity along with your freedom, then prison is Sir Douglas Bader (WW2 fighter pilot and in flames? Probably not. the place for you. double amputee)
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sure how it will benefit prisoners or aid their Beard shave for charity The human cost of rehabilitation and help cut reoffending...... Hundreds of prisoners and staff have had saving money their lives brutally and callously disrupted RAJI DHARIWAL - HMP STAFFORD ...... simply to, allegedly, save a few bucks. The ALISON REYNOLDS - HMP HOLLOWAY emotional trauma caused to everyone at HMP I am currently serving a 5 year sentence Downview when the MoJ announced the and have been resident at HMP Stafford In September 2013 the MoJ announced that re-role was incredible. Calls to Listeners went for over 12 months. Whilst here I have four male prisons were being axed and HMP up drastically; self-harm incidents up, people grown my beard and have not shaved Downview was being re-rolled after 10 years worried about being sent back to high and my beard reached over 13cm long. in the female estate. Then in October it was security prisons where all of their progress I decided to publicly shave off my beard announced that the only two open prisons in will be wiped out at a stroke, people only to raise money for Children in Need. the female estate, East Sutton Park and weeks from release having to worry whether I raised over £200 with donations from my Askham Grange, were to close. Apparently all their new prison will be able to sort out their fellow inmates and staff and shaved off my of this will save the taxpayer a whole bundle critical resettlement issues on time or if they beard on Christmas Day. A fellow inmate done of money because of falling prison numbers? will be homeless on release. Were there any the shaving on the landing in front of an All well and good. But hang on a minute, isn’t contingency plans made by the MoJ so that audience of prisoners and we all had a good the government interested in cutting reof- the remaining prisons have enough resources laugh. The charity Children in Need is very fending and rehabilitation for us good-for- to cope with a sudden influx of prisoners? close to my heart and I hope this donation nothing - Sky TV-watching layabout cons HMP Holloway certainly did not have such a will help in some way. I would like to which it claims is going to save a whole bunch plan and has been making it up as they go thank all the inmates and staff who of dosh as well? Yet anyone with any experi- along, which has caused tremendous strain on donated and sponsored me. ence of how the Prison Service operate will the 150 or so prisoners shipped in from HMP © Deposit Photos tell you that a) the cost savings are likely to Downview. You cannot lock up the long-term be minimal in the long term, especially if the sentenced prisoners for months while you get government insists on building this mega-jail stuff sorted out (although Holloway is having ‘Bring on the smoking ban’ in Wales, and b)the short term savings will be a damn good try) without incurring a huge ...... far outweighed by the long term costs in both increase in depression, self-harm, acting out LIAM RYAN - HMP PARC money and human beings. and so on. The long term psychological fallout is likely to be huge in mental health terms. In response to various letters in the November issue about the smoking ban in prisons, I am a But did Chris Grayling and his cohorts at the lifelong non-smoker and for several months in the last 2 years I have been made to share a cell MoJ give any thought as to how much will I guess it all comes down to someone in their with a smoker. The fact is that the Treasury doesn’t make much profit from smoking in prisons. actually be saved in monetary terms, or the nice cosy office at the MoJ who has probably To quote NOMS ‘the volume of sales are similar to only one large supermarket’. Also many total havoc he is causing by shutting down 7 rarely, if ever, been anywhere near a real non-smokers (not me) have successfully been awarded compensation for having to share a cell prisons? Or is this another back-of-a-napkin prison let alone spoken to any prisoners with a smoker, so overall the government probably makes a loss. budgeting decision as per the Olympics? We about these plans. Decisions are being made all know that bill ended up significantly higher that completely fail to consider the human Sharing a cell with a smoker with little ventilation is nothing more than living in an ashtray than originally anticipated. Not only are the cost. It is all about a short term financial fix. - disgusting. I enjoy alcohol socially but that is a privilege that I am not allowed in jail, so why lives, sentence plans, education and training But then, as the MoJ apparently doesn’t should smoking be any different? Stopping smoking will greatly improve people’s health. It of hundreds of prisoners thrown into total consider prisoners to be human beings this is should have been banned years ago. I don’t want the increased risk of lung cancer and health chaos with no one having a clue where they will what we can expect, we are just commodities problems from your second-hand smoke. Smokers should have to have a special insurance to end up; but the resettlement plans, activities with price tags on our heads to be shipped cover the costs of treating smoking related diseases. and work placements for those on resettlement around the system as they wish, like wings and in the open estate are chucked into unwanted parcels. I really do wonder exactly If two people who share a cell smoke then it makes no difference but when a non-smoker is the air and staff also have little clue if they how much cash, in real terms, these closures made to share a cell with a smoker with disregard for their health then the person should not be still have a job. Parole dates will have to be will save the taxpayer. I’m also betting that it allowed to smoke in that cell. I don’t have a choice in what cell I’m held in so - BRING ON THE set back as no one now knows where courses will cause a rise in the re-conviction rates and SMOKING BAN! Smoking is a massive and unnecessary burden on society and a huge cost to the are going to be available. This will affect a lot I very much doubt that the trauma caused will health service. The sooner it is banned the better. of people in a negative way and I am really not be worth it in the long run.
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all the women who used the gym although in No showers for female actual fact it only concerned the individual Is Scientology who wrote the letter. It was only the writer gym users who was briefly allowed to shower in the gym really a religion? ...... and then stopped from doing so following an ...... HMP &YOI LOW NEWTON abuse of being allowed to do this. STEVEN RELF - HMP WHATTON From Mailbags May 2013 issue... To respond to the other points in the letter all Every once in a while a news story heaves women using the gym are given adequate ...the most disgusting fact about the gym is itself above the mundane dross of our daily time to shower after gym exercise in their that we women are no longer allowed to use media and all you can do is shake your head living accommodation. Showering arrange- the gym’s shower facilities. They were in disbelief. In December the UK Supreme ments have been discussed with the gym stopped when I made a complaint about my Court decreed that Scientology - thought by users through prisoner consultation and the prison-issue gym t-shirt going missing. We most people to be a weird cult created in the women themselves prefer this arrangement feel we are being punished collectively for 1950s by science fiction writer L Ron Hubbard as this also gives them access to their own being assertive. Women who attend gym - is now to be recognised as a religion in the bathing/showering soap and shampoo and courses from 08.45 - 11.30 am are expected eyes of the law. At a stroke, the previous access to hairdryers and hair straightners. to train and then go to afternoon jobs and ruling on this matter by Lord Denning is now activities feeling filthy. It is totally degrading. null and void. ‘I did not find any reverence or There is widespread consultation on access to Do we have a right to a shower after taking veneration of a god or supreme being in the showers and baths and access to all parts of part in physical gym activity? It is hard to Church of Scientology’, is what Lord Denning the regime - for example returning those access PSIs in here. Is this the only jail that said, and unless Scientology has found a new women who work in the kitchen and gardens fails to promote and provide good health and god or supreme being of late then I do not see to their living accommodation so that they hygiene? And can anyone tell us whether we what the Supreme Court is getting at. For can have access to showers before meal times are entitled to the provision of clean gym kit clarity, I believe the Supreme Court created a and association. on a daily or otherwise basis when on gym dangerous precedent when they issued their courses? following recent pronouncement: ‘Religion The writer mentions access to PSI’s but these should not be confined to beliefs that are available in the library and on request. recognise a supreme deity; such a position The Governor would otherwise exclude Buddhism, Jainism, from HMP Low Newton Writes The writer mentions clean gym kit. The prison Taoism, Theosophy and parts of Hinduism.’ would provide kit for anyone who needs it. Most women have their own. All women have To place the above letter in context the writer The dangerous precedent I speak of stems access to laundry facilities to keep all their was the gym orderly. As gym orderly and an from following the Supreme Court ruling to its clothes (including gym kit) clean. avid gym user she and another orderly were inevitable conclusion: if you have a strong given permission to shower in the gymnasium enough belief system, even though it has no I hope this reply will reassure you that Low and use the small laundry provision in the focal point (a supreme being or deity), and if Newton’s approach to working with women in gymnasium. This facility was withdrawn from you pursue your cause through the courts, our case is one that involves consultation and both orderlies after they abused this privilege. then it is entirely possible to have your beliefs is underpinned by a desire to maintain and acknowledged in law as religion, regardless of improve decent living conditions. The letter was written as though it concerned how mad or interesting they may be. Consider for a moment how this ruling could potentially deal with those of us who may adhere to Mother’s Day 30th March Nazism, Communism or Fascism, is the law Send your message (20 words max.) to Inside Time and we will publish as many going to make religions of them too? Is it as possible in a special Mother’s Day section in the March issue. All messages possible that strongly held beliefs on both Is there a case for football being recate- received will appear on our website. Include the name and address of your mum sides of the climate change debate could be gorised as a religion? and she will receive a copy of the newspaper. Entries must be sent to Inside Time interpreted as being religious? And what ‘Mother’s Day’ Botley Mills, Botley, Hampshire SO30 2GB. Closing date 25th about UKIP and their stance on immigration, if Undoubtedly fans of Chelsea and Arsenal will February and don’t forget to include your full details too! enough people believe does that make it a make similar claims about their clubs (as for religion? What about Jedi Knights, Satanists, Manchester, let’s just keep it civil). So is there the BNP? a case for football being recategorised as a RODMAN PEARCE religion? I believe there is if you consider the SOLICITORS No doubt some will say that as an atheist I following: if you compare all those who FIGHTING FOR YOU !!! have an axe to grind here, but I am about to attended a place of worship this week against • Criminal Defence and Appeals declare my gross hypocrisy for I really do all those who attended a football match then Experienced representation in believe in god. Not Osiris, Zeus, Allah, Yahweh, football would win, hands down. Worldwide Specialising in all areas of criminal law, from minor Thor, Santa or David Icke, no I’m talking about offences to serious crimes - Murder, Fraud, Criminal Defence, Prison Law there are more people watching football than and Immigration Matters a real living scouse-talking, goal-scoring, there are going to a church, synagogue, Conspiracy to Defraud, Confiscation Proceedings red-shirt wearing god called Robbie Fowler! 4 mosque or any other place of worship. Appeals, Variation and Discharge of Restraint Order All Criminal Courts Proceedings & Appeals To millions of Liverpool FC fans, Robbie is still 4 Parole Hearings 4 Contested Recall Inspirational, educational, utterly mesmeris- and Money Laundering called god, similarly Liverpool FC is our ing flesh and bone playing in a stadium near 4 4 • Immigration and Nationality Law Judicial Reviews Sentence Calculation religion and Anfield is our church. you now - that’s what a god should be. 4Lifer Panel and Adjudication Representation Comprehensive solutions to immigration and British nationality issues. 4 Appeals Against Deportation 4Inadequate Medication for your Illness • Family Law 4Inadequate Mobility Equipment for a Disability beesleyandcompanysolicitors
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‘Confused’ Prison education Feed the workers ...... LOU NAPOLITANO - HMP/YOI MOORLAND ANNE - AN EDUCATION WORKER DANIEL MADDEN - HMP HOLME I have worked in prison education for HOUSE I am never more confused than when I read the constant complaints by prisoners concerning the approximately 18 years. During this time I have conditions of prisons and especially the treatment they receive. I would like to take this opportunity witnessed a variety of incidents from both Here at HMP Holme House we get one hot to point some things out. Most prisoners (not all) I come across are tabloid-reading, right-wing- sides of the fence. In general prison officers meal a day, some cornflakes in the morning thinking thugs. They make inappropriate racist remarks, are homophobic, sexist and generally are dedicated and professional and deal with and a cold sandwich for lunch. This is for nationalistic. Most officers I come across (not all) know someone who has been the victim of some extremely difficult situations with humanity everyone whether employed or not. I keep on crime. So what on earth do inmates expect? I agree that it is highly unprofessional for prison and respect, while often on the receiving end hearing that adult males should be having an staff to be influenced by factors outside the establishment. I also concur that if on the one hand of brutal verbal and sometimes physical attacks. average of 2500 calories per day and the you are a supporter of inequality and subscribe to publications that peddle lies, that hack prison says that that is what we are getting, people’s phones and are extremely fascist in nature, then you hardly have any room to complain More recently as the Government cutbacks though we obviously are not. I’m 6 foot 2 and when you are treated in exactly the same way that you inadvertently support. There is a notion have started to take effect, the impact is weigh 14½ stone so how can someone who is that all the staff in prison want to ‘stitch you up’ - nonsense! Do these people really think for one much wider than that of the direct operational 5 foot 5 and weighs 9 stone need the same second that prison staff go home and instead of enjoying the company of their family and friends staff and partner agencies such as Healthcare calories as me? Anyway, my question is this they take time to conjure up ways of being mean to prisoners? I am not saying that all staff are and education etc are now in the front line as - why do we not have extra food for those who lovely and sweet, some of them are gruff and it is quite evident that they would rather be fewer officers are able to respond to incidents work and expend their energy as opposed to anywhere else than where they are. Can the people complaining constantly not really understand directly, their presence is no longer tangible just laying on the bed all day? I’m spending that it is not the behaviour of someone doing a rather difficult job in order to feed their family and untrained staff are more frequently 90% of my wage on food from the privatised and pay their mortgage? So before we moan about anybody else, before we start to list the having to deal with extremely difficult situations. canteen just in order to maintain my weight. things we think are wrong with others - let’s look at what is wrong with ourselves. What might It is my opinion that it’s only a matter of time There should be a breakfast work pack for others find offensive about us? Jean Paul Sartre said - ‘Hell is other people’. I fear he was right. before there is an incident that could have those who are lucky enough to get a job in been avoided without staff cutbacks and it will prison. result in serious injury or worse, loss of life. It No moral compass is only down to the professionalism of the ...... remaining serving staff that this has not No more newspapers already taken place. I have noticed an increase ...... JON WALDRON - HMP DOVEGATE in the reporting of incidents in the press, but PETER - HMP WAKEFIELD it is difficult to assess whether these were as Recently the Ministry of Justice announced a direct result of cutbacks. Either way it gives Here at Wakefield we can no longer have that it has been overcharged by tens of a flavour of the daily difficulties that all staff newspapers from the local newsagent paid for millions of pounds for tagging offenders who face in each establishment. by our families. Instead we have to pay for were either back in custody, off tag or even them from our spends. A lot of inmates are on dead. G4S & Serco admitted this serious I urge the government to reassess the cutbacks a low wage and as a pensioner myself and all fraud as a mistake so when prison budgets and place some value on the working life and safety of not only prison officers, but the I get is £5 per week, less £1 for my television. are being cut, by which inmates suffer, Serco’s If an inmate had committed these crimes they many supporting civilian staff working in this I would have to spend £3.50 just for my top boss gets a £4 million bonus! G4S refuse would be charged with fraud-related offences. difficult climate. Ultimately the safety of those weekend papers. There seems to be no logical to open their accounts to the MoJ, the whole So who is responsible at G4S and Serco and in custody will eventually be questioned and reason for these changes except to make our moral compass of these companies is wrong. who will be punished? Apart from us. safeguarding of all will not be met. lives harder. INJURED IN PRISON? 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Dear Mr Grayling... © prisonimage.org What about prison ...... JAMIE STARBUCK - HMP LONG LARTIN slavery? ...... I saw you on Newsnight and you said that ‘the rehabilitation of offenders is your highest priority’. ANGRY - HMP STAFFORD I and most of my fellow prisoners I feel would agree that to be rehabilitated and to work towards reducing our risk of reoffending, to gain educational and work prospects, is a worthwhile goal. It I have recently noticed how much media is a shame that our every day is spent in pointless activities under your watch. coverage is being aimed at slavery following the discovery that it is happening in London in There is nothing that I do at the behest of the Prison Service that works towards any of these the 21st century. However, the idea of modern goals; every way I improve myself is entirely through self-motivation but even then there is only slavery is not a shock to anyone who is in prison, so far that I can go with the lack of resources available. I sit in meetings where I am talked about Empty box and product or has been. It happens all over the country in and a lot of forms are filled in but very rarely am I actually asked a question. The motives for my every prison, every day! A slave is a person crimes are assumed - I’ve lost count of the times it has been implied that I am a drug-user or displayers who is forced to work for someone or some alcoholic, despite the fact that I use neither. One report recommended I be urged to use the ...... organisation for little or no wage. As convicted education facilities to keep myself active - which ‘education facilities’ would that be, Mr prisoners we are forced to work, usually for Grayling? There are none here that I qualify for. K MULANDA - HMYOI DEERBOLT outside profit-making companies, and a refusal results in further punishment. This is enforced Every government policy screams doors and horses bolting. Might I humbly suggest that you A fellow prisoner recently dissed my pad by a PSI (Prison Service Instructions) and Prison look more at the causes of crime and offer support not castigation to the poor and those in saying that it was ‘dead, with no display’. Fair Rules provided by national government. Our need, because my experience of prison is entirely different to what you say it is. enough, but it did make me wonder at other situation would not be so bad if we actually prisoners cells and the things they seem to gained any meaningful qualifications or, in feel the need to ‘display’. What is the point of fact, any qualifications at all. Here at HMP ‘Judiciary on a mission’ putting on display empty boxes, shower gel Stafford the workshops have no obtainable ...... bottles, etc? Are they looking for some sort of qualifications for prisoners and a pay rate of feedback - like ‘Nice pad, mate’ or are they MJ BANKS - HMP PARKHURST 45p per session, or £4.05 per week, which is a hoping people will think they are really rich? pittance considering the prices in the canteen. Even if the packages and bottles are actually Ultimately the aim of prison is supposedly to The judiciary have inverted justice beyond all recognition and appear to be on a mission to full of product what is the idea of showing it incarcerate whole swathes of the population, invariably on the flimsiest of pretexts, particularly in reform and rehabilitate to reduce reoffending, off, are they trying to hint that they are however, by not offering meaningful, recognised respect of alleged historical sex crimes, mostly devoid of any concrete evidence, where the cleaner than other people? Or that they can contrived in-house compensation culture has distorted any notion of probity. The judiciary and qualifications prison reduces the already afford canteen? A clean and tidy cell is better difficult opportunities of employment for ex its agencies need to rediscover the meaning of the phrases - ‘innocent until proven guilty’ and than one cluttered with display items. ‘beyond all reasonable doubt’ - and not accept as ‘evidence’ anything other than objective fact. prisoners. Also, by paying such a meagre ‘wage’ The approximate, conjecture, malicious and scurrilous gossip, uncorroborated hearsay, balance they are deliberately making family contact of probabilities, belief and circumstantial constructs do not constitute proof of anything other Are we really difficult. So while people are talking about than the existence of a crude populist blanket catch-all that satisfies the box-tickers invariably slavery and professing ‘shock’ that this could to the detriment of the very many wrongly accused and convicted. ‘all in it together’? be happening in this country at this time, spare ...... a thought for the thousands of prison slaves...... The approximate is no longer good enough. Fiction is still fiction no matter how compelling it DAVID CROSSIN - HMP COLDINGLEY may appear - ‘belief’ is conviction without objective proof. ALAN WOOLDRIDGE - HMP For many years there has been a divide in this MOORLAND country between rich and poor. If there is such austerity which, if we are all being n It is said that when the new regime comes “ARC LAW” ASSET RECOVERY, RESTRAINT & CONFISCATION LAWYERS honest, has been created by bankers, into force this month (February) prisoners politicians and the higher echelons of society, will have to work a 40 hour week but our As the asset recovery and confiscation arm of Rahman Ravelli Solicitors, a why do we stand for it? If we all come together wages will stay the same. If that is the case maybe we could force a change. then prisoners will be paid at a rate of 30p per leading nationwide niche practice, ARC offers expertise, proactive and forceful hour, and if this is not slavery then I don’t representation together with a track record of success. Make politicians accountable for their actions. know what is. So we’ll work 40 hours a week Just an idea but how about in these times of doing the work that private companies are too CONFISCATION austerity we ask every one of the 600 plus greedy and tight-fisted to pay a reasonable As an example, we sucessfully challanged one of the UK’s MPs to take a 50% pay cut in order to help wage for and get £11 a week in ‘wages’, minus largest ever confiscation orders following years of fighting; out? The average annual wage for an MP is our £1 TV money which is taken at source. reducing the relevant amounts by over £10 million. In recent How is this supposed to instil a work ethic in years, our unique approach has helped our clients retain £66k; this does not include staffing costs, assets worth tens of millions of pounds. housing costs and the all-important people who, in some cases, have never expenses. The country could save over £20 worked? What is this supposed to teach us, Responding tactically to a Prosecutor’s ‘Statement of Information’ is the way to strike back in the assets battle. In million per year and it is not like MPs could Mr Grayling? It will teach prisoners that work our experience, these documents are vital in setting the scene not live on £33k a year as most of their truly is a mug’s game and not worth bothering and letting the other side know that that a battle can be expected constituents live on a lot less than that. And with. I would hope there will be a lot more Hidden assets, tainted gifts, rights of spouses, third parties, aren’t we ‘all in it together’? prisoners writing in about this. business interests, reciever’s costs; these are among the multitude of issues that can arise in modern confiscation litigation. In fact, each one of these areas requires specialist We can offer you expertise, skil and knowledge. trapped? • An ‘in house’ advocacy team for all prison law In our experience, the Crown will often assert that their trapp Hearings-Adjudication and Parole demands are harsh but will then say that it is because POCA • Links to specialist barristers and is ‘draconian’. Too often this is accepted. The truth is that QCs for Appeals Against Sentence, these issues can be fought, either with good case law, solid Wrongful Conviction & Judicial Review factual argument, good negotiation skills or a combination of all three. That approach though requires work, dedication Need Help? • An excellent track record in relation to expertise and belief. Contact Mich ael Robinson POCA/Forfeiture matters Whther it is under POCA 2002, the CJA 1988 or the DTA 1994, and whether it involves restraint or confiscation orders, emmersons soli citors • A well respected criminal department, applications to vary or certificates of inadequacy, our POCA 52 John Street, Sunderland, SR1 1QN solicitor with Crown Court Rights of Department can assist. Freephone 0800 193 0146 or 0191 567 6667 Audience and a team of police station emmersons-solicitors.co.uk representatives.
ARC Law, Rahman Ravelli Solicitors, Please contact us for a no obligation assesment. • Parole Hearin gs • Adjudications • Recalls Roma House, 59 Pellon Lane, Offices in Halifax & London with nationwide coverage • Criminal A pp e als • SOPO Variations Halifax HX1 5BE www.rahmanravelli.co.uk Members of the Association of Prison Lawyers Telephone: 01422 346666 >> Registered with EMAP<< Insidetime February 2014 10 Newsround www.insidetime.org
described by Inspectors as unacceptable for any prison but even more so in a resettle- ment prison. This was compounded by poor Offender Management and delayed Risk As- THE INSPECTOR CALLS ... sessments.
Security restrictions were described as more Nick Hardwick - HM Chief Inspector of Prisons appropriate for a Category C prison and this frustrated prisoners. Prisoner/staff relation- Inside Time highlights areas of good and bad practice, along with a ships were poor. summary of prisoner survey responses at IRC Harmondsworth and Prisoners basic needs, such as clean clothing HMP Brixton. Extracts are taken from the most recent reports pub- HMP Brixton were not being met and prisoners arriving at lished by HM Inspectorate of Prisons. Category C & D resettlement prison Reception were left for up to two hours in the Announced Full Inspection: 1-12 July 2013 middle of the ‘hottest days in the summer’. Inspectors said; ‘A major concern is an inad- Report: Oct 2013 Published: Dec2013 equate focus on the needs of the most vul- Inspectors did, however praise the Bakery, nerable detainees, including elderly and sick Prison Radio and external placements for men, those at risk of self harm through food ‘Too much on hold’ Category D prisoners. refusal, and other people whose physical or mental health conditions made them poten- 10% Number of foreign nationals 22% Nick Hardwick, Chief Inspector of Prisons, tially unfi t for detention ... the way detainees Number with disabilities 16% Lost commented; ‘ ... the prison was not yet ready were received into the centre was in many property on arrival 64% Treated well in for the category C and D prisoners it now held and too many lacked the opportunities for respects poor. Detainees were kept in Reception 27% Had legal letters opened vehicles waiting to disembark, sometimes purposeful activity and rehabilitation they needed. 40% Food is bad or very bad 67% for hours, and reception procedures were Too much was on hold waiting for the new fa- completely inadequate. Disturbingly, a lack Treated with respect by staff 35% Don’t cilities to be ready and some elements of of intelligent individual risk assessment had know who IMB are 31% Victimised by prisoners’ treatment and conditions were un- IRC Harmondsworth meant that most detainees were handcuffed staff 39% Number who have felt unsafe acceptable - and had remained so for too long’. Immigration Removal Centre on escort and on at least two occasions, elderly, 30% Easy to get drugs 48% Diffi cult to accommodating adult men vulnerable and incapacitated detainees, one see dentist 36% Not engaged in any pur- Un-announced Full Inspection: 5-16 Aug of whom was terminally ill, were needlessly Recently published HMCIP reports 2013 Report: Jan 2014 Published: Jan 2014 handcuffed in an excessive and unacceptable poseful activities 41% Less than 4 hours Blundeston - Sept 2013, Brixton - Dec 2013, manner. These men were so ill that one died out of cell 48% Have a Sentence Plan Bure - Sept 2013, Cookham Wood - Sept ‘Not making progress and some shortly after his handcuffs were removed and 2013, Downview - Nov 2013, Exeter - Dec aspects poorly managed’ the other, an 84 year-old-man, died while 12 months after re-roling from a Cat B prison 2013, Grendon - January 2014, Holloway still in restraints. These are shocking cases the Inspectors found a prison with advanced - Oct 2013, Holme House - January 2014. 100% Number of foreign nationals 12% where a sense of humanity was lost.’ plans but major improvements to its facilities Kennet - Nov 2013, New Hall’s Rivendell required for its new role had not been Unit - Sept 2013, Oakwood - Oct 2013, Number with disabilities 7% Lost property In concluding his introduction Nick Hardwick delivered. Parc - January 2014, Usk - April 2013, on arrival 51% Treated well in Reception said; ‘A more careful and thoughtful analysis Wandsworth - Nov 2013, Wayland - January 82% Religious beliefs respected 38% of need, identifying new priorities and new Inspectors found that the prison was 2014, Harmondsworth IRC - Jan 2014 Food is bad or very bad 65% Treated with ideas, was required. Also needed was greater operating at 60% over its Certifi ed Accom- Copies of the most recent report for your respect by staff 27% Information available management energy and thought in imple- modation and with too little activities prison are available in the library. available prisoners were locked up for more in your own language 14% Victimised by menting change and driving improvement. than 20 hours a day in shared, small, New address for HMCIP staff 30% Number who have felt unsafe Most importantly, there needed to be a refo- cusing on individual needs of the most vul- cramped cells. Victory House, 6th fl oor, 30-34 Kingsway Attending education 5% nerable people in detention, some of whom London WC2B 6EX had been utterly failed by the system.’ The quality of learning and skills was
Criminal appeals specialists If you feel that you have been the victim of a miscarriage of justice or that your sentence is too long then contact our specialist appeals team For all cases • Conduct a thorough undertaken review of your case, we will: • Discuss your concerns with you in detail and; • Instruct experienced counsel to provide an in- depth advice on possible grounds of appeal Legal aid work undertaken
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£70,000 study of prisoners’ phone use Met Chief admits The things people say… attacked as ‘waste’ some crime figures
A £70,000 Prison Survey to find out why prisoners use mobile phones has been dismissed by were fiddled the Prison Officers Association as a waste of taxpayers’ money. The Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Almost 7,000 illegal mobile phones and SIM cards were found in prisons in England and Wales Bernard Hogan-Howe (pictured), has in 2012, with some being used to order violent attacks, maintain contacts with criminal gangs, admitted claims that his force fiddled crime harass victims and order drugs, according to a Ministry of Justice document. figures to meet targets were partially true.
Prison staff are to be asked to approach prisoners to see if they are willing to co-operate with the research. Inside Time understands that prisoners will be guaranteed anonymity, although researchers will be obliged to disclose any information concerning illegal acts. ‘Mission accomplished’ Noel Smith writes page 22 David Cameron, speaking to the British Troops in Afghanistan before Christmas declared that when British forces with- Mobile phone detector draw in December 2014, they will have ‘accomplished’ their ‘mission’. launched by Cellsense US and British forces arrived in 2001, The FG1 Search Unit scans prisoners from seeking to crush al-Qaeda and the Talib- He also appeared to accept that PC James head to toe when they walk by, detecting con- an. That soon changed into a plan to in- Patrick, who had made the allegations, could stall a viable democracy, with public ser- traband cell phones and other dangerous be described as a Whistleblower, even vices and womens’ rights and to destroy metal objects that pose a threat. “Its sensi- though he is facing disciplinary proceedings. the opium industry. Not one of those goals tivity finds all mobile phones, on or off, He told the House of Commons Public Ad- have been kept. Today, al-Qaeda has concealed on or inside the body, as well as ministration Committee: “On the whole there ‘mushroomed’ throughout the Muslim other contraband such as blades, shanks or is a truth there that we need to hear. Some of world. The Taliban mounted 6,000 attacks the allegations are worthy of further investi- lighters” according to Pat Smith, company between May and October last year alone gation. Some of them are incomplete and oc- spokesperson. and is now negotiating a ‘return to power’. casionally there may be some inaccuracy”. Elections have been rigged, to keep ‘a cor- The technology used by Cellsense was founded rupt regime of warlords and torturers’ in by military scientists inventing landmine and power. Afghan opium production is at a submarine detectors. Cellsense products are Murders in prison hit record high. currently deployed in correctional and police new high Lord Ashdown, the former Liberal Demo- facilities in over 20 US States. crat leader and former Royal Marine, The number of murders in prisons in England went so far as to describe the 12 year con- The system is currently installed at Police and Wales has risen to a 15 year high. flict which has so far cost 447 British lives Headquarters for Gloucestershire. Self-inflicted deaths also rose to 70 last year, and billions of pounds as a ‘textbook’ ex- the highest in six years according to Ministry ample of how to lose a war. of Justice figures. Among the 199 reported deaths behind bars in 2013, there were four alleged homicides. Former prison governor Professor David Wilson said that the high “This was always going to mean fewer staff K B S numbers indicated ‘deep structural problems in overcrowded prisons and fewer useful ac- about control and order inside our jails.’ He tivities for prisoners, leaving them cooped S O L I C I T O R S said ‘the Prison Service has a duty of care up in cells all day with nothing to do. towards prisoners that this murder rate suggests it cannot deliver.’ “The shameful rise in assaults on staff and SPECIALISTS IN CRIMINAL APPEALS prisoners, as well as the increase in Responding to the Ministry of Justice’s safety self-harm and prisoners taking their lives, is At KBS we specialise in in custody statistics, published 30 January, a direct consequence of this policy. Andrew Neilson, Director of Campaigns at the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: “To avoid our prisons spiralling dangerously • Applications to the Court of Appeal out of control, the Ministry of Justice must • Applications to the Criminal Cases Review “In recent years, the government has taken a now show bold leadership to reform sen- Commission big gamble with public safety: cutting prison tencing and reduce the number of people budgets without cutting prison numbers. held needlessly behind bars.” • Appeals against Sentence • Appeals against Conviction • Appeals against Court Orders • Judicial Reviews fisher • Criminal Law meredith Members of the Association of Prison Lawyers For advice on any of the above or for general Award winning firm offering specialist advice on prisoners’ rights enquiries please contact: • Lifer panels • Re-categorisation • Adjudications • Inquest Guy White or Simon Hustler • Claims for compensation • Judicial review for a professional and friendly service. • Parole review and early • Human rights release • Compassionate release Contact solicitor Andrew Arthur Fisher Meredith LLP, Blue Sky House, 405 Kennington Road, London SE11 4PT CONTACT US ON 01274 725655 Telephone: 020 7091 2700 KBS SOLICITORS 29 TYRREL STREET BRADFORD WEST YORKSHIRE BD1 1RU Fax: 020 7091 2800 Or visit our website www.fishermeredith.co.uk Insidetime February 2014 12 Newsround www.insidetime.org
The things people say…
A misleading front page headline in The Daily Telegraph announcing the US style jail terms (2nd January 2014). 100 year sentences ‘The average criminal bar The government is considering introducing barrister working full-time US-style jail sentences of 100 year terms, in a bid to circumvent a ban on whole-life is earning some £84,000 ...’ sentences for the most dangerous criminals. Shailesh Vara (pictured), a Minister for There are currently 49 prisoners serving the Courts and Legal Aid telling television whole-life terms in England and Wales, but viewers that it was a ‘fact’ that the aver- last year the European Court of Human age barrister’s income was £84,000. A scene from an existing YOI © prisonimage.org Rights (ECHR) ruled that they were unlawful because they could not be reviewed. Nigel Lithman QC, Chairman, Criminal Bar Association, writes: “That figure is Young offenders to be taught in fortified complete nonsense. Mr Vara referred to a Under the new proposals, 100-year terms recent Ministry of Justice “ad hoc statisti- prison boarding schools would be subject to sentence reviews, which cal release” as the source. The report would in theory satisfy the ECHR’s demands. clearly states that the average fee income A string of fortified prison boarding schools will be built to educate young offenders, Ministers David Cameron has insisted that in some is £60,000, excluding VAT. This figure does have announced. The first “secure college” will open in 2017 under the plans set out by Deputy cases “life should mean life”. not equate to real income, because out of Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Justice Secretary Chris Grayling. It will house up to 320 young it business costs have to be paid, ie, staff offenders aged between 12 and 17 and will be built in the East Midlands. costs, premises, travel, books, courses, IT Bolster power of and phones, professional insurance, Bar The new schools - dubbed “caged colleges” - will double the number of hours young offenders Council fees, etc which will account for spend in the classroom from 12 to 24 hours a week in a bid to slash sky-high re-offending about 30 per cent of fee income. rates. Mr Clegg said the radical proposals would give young offenders better education and Supreme Court, training to pull them away from a life of crime. “The same report states that half of all Grayling urges criminal barristers earn less than £47,000 Almost three quarters of young offenders return to crime when they are released from youth in gross fee income. So taxable incomes prisons - compared to 46% of adults leaving custody. There were 1,323 young people in youth Former TV Executive and now Justice for half of the profession are no more than custody in England and Wales at the end of November 2013. Secretary and Lord Chancellor Chris Grayling £31,000 to £34,000. The analysis done by has said that the Conservative Party would the Bar Council shows that the earnings of find a way to ensure that Britain’s Supreme the average barrister are £27,000 before tax Politicians to hear evidence from sexually Court was not undermined by rulings from and for many significantly less. Mr Vara the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) should understand this. Our fees have exploited children as part of Inquiry in Strasbourg and the Human Rights Act. been cut relentlessly over the past few years: £200 million has been cut in the Victims of child sexual exploitation and trafficking are to give evidence to a panel of politicians past two years alone. The Lord Chancellor as part of a wide-reaching Inquiry into the issue. The Inquiry, which is being led by Barnardo’s Responding to the urges of Chris Grayling, Chris Grayling historically has been there in partnership with MP for Rotherham Sarah Champion aims to explore the response of au- Jonathan Playford QC said, ‘The Human to defend the judicial system, and that in- thorities to the crimes. The children from Barnardo’s services across the country will tell the Rights Act does not require us to bend the cludes those who help to implement it. We cross-party panel about their experiences and how they were treated by the police and other knee to Europe. Our judges only have to take acknowledge the times in which we live agencies. This session is the first of four that will test the effectiveness of the Sexual Offences the judgements of the ECHR into account’. and are not asking for wage increases, Act 2003. This was clearly explained by Lord Irvine, the merely no more cuts. All we ask is that the architect of the Act, in 2011, when he could Government engages constructively with Sarah Champion MP said: “This Inquiry will shine a light on how effectively agencies in the UK see our courts were wrongly deferring to us rather than peddling inaccurate fig- are currently working to fight sexual exploitation and trafficking. In order to do this, it is vital ures, otherwise our protest is bound to Europe. He added, ‘What the law actually that we hear the testimony of young people who are the victims of these terrible crimes. It continue. We are about to lose something needs is an old-fashioned Lord Chancellor of takes great bravery for these young people to come forward and speak about their experienc- very precious and we owe it to the public es. Their evidence is essential if we are to create legislation that is fit for purpose.” standing, properly qualified in law and by ex- to prevent that happening.” Barnardo’s fostering campaign page 15 perience, who is above party politics.’ ZZMMSS SSOOLLIICCIITTOORRSS Prison Law specialists serving prisons throughout the Midlands. • IPP/LIFER ISSUES • Feeling trapped? • PAROLE APPLICATIONS • • CATEGORISATION • • ADJUDICATIONS • • JUDICIAL REVIEWS • LICENCE CONDITIONS • • RECALLS • Wherever you are, we are only a phone call away Contact Simon Mears - Prison Law Specialist Serving the Midlands and North West ZMS Solicitors 11 Bowling Green St, Leicester LE1 6AS including Dovegate - Stafford - Featherstone - Liverpool - Birmingham - Manchester 0116 247 0790 Free advice & representation under legal aid Insidetime February 2014 www.insidetime.org Newsround 13
Coercion defence used by Pryce to be scrapped NEWS IN BRIEF The legal defence to which Vicky Pryce un- successfully turned after she took speeding points for ex minister Chris Huhne, when he was her husband, is to be scrapped. Ministers will remove the defence of marital coercion which lawyers have described as ‘an outdated technicality.’ Although it is only 88 years old, its roots date back to the Middle Ages. Facts from Vicky Pryce’s book Bobbies beaten ‘Prisonomics’ Despite the show ending - booing by ex prisoners in continues outside Channel 5’s l Only one in 20 children are able to stay in Celebrity Big Brother House when it their own home while their mother is in are a useful way of blocking window draughts a football match was discovered that the majority of prison. at Holloway prison. housemates were ‘celebrities’ no l 37% women in prison report having l Women have to work 1 1/2 hours at East Kick-off was at 2.45pm at Golden Grove, St one had ever heard of. attempted suicide at some point in their lives. Sutton Park to earn enough to buy one stamp. Marys, Southampton. The ex prisoners were l l 54% female remand prisoners were All 228 women’s open prison places are playing for team ‘Mentoring Solutions’ and scheduled for closure. Despite addicted to drugs in the year prior to being in playing for the police were officers from both l Probation at East Sutton Park is in “really assurances prison. Southampton Police Community Support sweet offices” up a spiral staircase with from l 24% women in prison have no previous and Southampton Central Main Police. lovely views of the Kent countryside. President convictions. Mentoring Solutions won the football match l Approximately 2,200 children of impris- l East Sutton Park is haunted by the ghost of Putin that 15-13. oned mothers are taken into care every year a little girl called Arabella. Russian Gay l Tampons are available inside for free - and Source: www.russellwebster.com Laws will Mentoring Solutions co-ordinator Sean not be a Gregory said: “It was a really good game. threat to There was no animosity and the game was those at the ‘Honesty’ training for MPs played in a great spirit. Lots of people turned Winter MPs are often accused of having questiona- up to watch.” Olympics, ble ethics. But Parliament’s standards the two man watchdog is hoping to change that - by giving A small organisation in Southampton, it’s USA them compulsory “honesty” training. After aim is to support and mentor people when bobsleigh the next election, MPs will have to attend they are released from prison, helping them team take no seminars on how to behave in public office, to sort out their benefits, accommodation, chances. with advice on everything from dealing with education, training or employment as well as lobbyists to accepting gifts. to offer support around dealing with any un- derlying substance misuse issues. l Seminars will address accepting gifts and lobbying for outside interests; l Watchdog chairman Lord Bew says gut instinct is no longer acceptable; l The courses will be modelled on those taken by bankers and lawyers
Sham marriages are a ‘golden pass’ to Britain
Up to 10,000 applications to remain in Britain states of the European Economic Area, who each year are based on sham marriages, are known as “away day brides” because many of which involve “away day” brides they often make day-return trips to the UK to from eastern Europe. This may be the tip of take part in the ceremony. an iceberg, however, because register offices are failing to report suspicions to the Home Sir Andrew Green, chairman of Migration- Office. Watch UK, which campaigns for lower immi- Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and gration, said: “This is a scandal that has gone Nigerians are the most common people from on too long. Registrars must have the outside the EU to be involved in suspected courage to report their suspicions.” bogus marriages, a report by John Vine, Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, Inside Time has been told by a Registrar that said. Eight out of ten non-EU people involved long and complicated forms on a suspected in sham marriages are men. They are fre- sham marriage are often sent to the UK quently marrying women from new member Border Agency but ignored. Insidetime February 2014 14 Newsround www.insidetime.org
been reduced by £200 under new rules. Iain ›››› British heart attack patients are a third NEWS IN BRIEF Newsbites Duncan Smith MP, the Work and Pensions more likely to die than those in Sweden, Secretary, stated that the savings figures according to a study by the National Institute You’re showed ‘he had fixed a broken system.’ ›››› The Independent Police Complaints for Cardiovascular Outcome Research. The not here to sponge Commission revealed that the number of study found that more than 11,000 lives off taxpayers are suicides within two days of release from ›››› Ministers have confirmed plans to build a could have been saved during the past you? custody has reached the highest level in “secure college” for young offenders to seven years if survival rates in the UK had nine years. Figures showed that 64 people double the time they spend in the classroom. matched those of Sweden. took their own lives within two days of According to the Deputy Prime Minister Nick release from police custody in 2012-13. This Clegg MP, “By increasing the amount of time ›››› The Bank of England has said that the was up from 39 in the previous year. young offenders spend learning, we can help Government’s welfare reforms may have (Samaritan News Autumn 2013). them to move away from crime, take respon- contributed to the fall in unemployment. No sibility for their actions, and rebuild their lives.” The Bank of England said, ‘tightening in the I don’t want ›››› Thousands of potential blood donors eligibility requirements for some state your job ›››› are being turned away owing to growing George Osborne MP, Chancellor of the benefits might have led to an intensification Exchequer has announced plans to increase Keith Vaz MP meets the first wave of delays, staff shortages and administrative of job search’. the minimum wage to seven pounds an hour. Romanian and Bulgarian immigrants at problems. 1 in 80 people who tries to Luton Airport. Mr Osborne said that in light of the recover- donate blood is sent home due to ineffi- ›››› Research and Development spending in ing economy, employers could afford to pay ciencies, up by 40 per cent compared with Government departments is at its lowest in more. The final decision will be made by the two years ago. ten years. A study by the Campaign for Low Wage Commission. Science and Engineering shows that R & D ›››› Data obtained by Labour show that the at the Department of Education has been ›››› Ambulances were called to England’s struggle to find qualified staff has led the hardest hit, experiencing a 59 per cent hospitals to spend millions on stand-in largest prison, the privately run Oakwood, more than twice as often as any similar jail real-terms decrease over two years. doctors for A&E units. Spending on locum Oh no, staff has increased by 60 per cent in three last year. Staff at the category C establish- ment, run by G4S, requested an ambulance ›››› Ministers have announced plans to set you didn’t years, up to £83.3 million pounds in 2012-3, up a dedicated further education college to as many doctors realise they can earn 358 times in 2013. A G4S spokesperson said train engineers for the construction of the more elsewhere. the figures did not accurately present the full HS2 rail project. This will be England’s first picture. President Hollande of France tells His new further education college for 20 years ›››› Leaked MoD documents state that the Holiness the Pope that he is changing and is hoped to address the problem of a Army has spent £15.5 million on a flawed IT ›››› The Crime Survey for England and Wales his mistress for another. lack of engineers staying in the UK, says Sir system at the heart of a new recruiting revealed that crime fell by 10 per cent in the David Higgins, Chairman of HS2. process. The Defence Select Committee 12 months to September 2013. Yet Sir Andrew has voiced concerns over the drop in the Dilnot of the UK Statistics Authority said that I am number of intelligence staff being recruited, recorded crime will probably show a rise Late News suggesting that extra pay be considered to when the official statistics are properly appealing audited. retain those with key skills. Figures from ›››› MPs have criticised the Home Office the Ministry of Defence show that 8,800 for being ‘irresponsible’ after it paid out a decided to leave the Forces in the year to ›››› The National Audit Office has found that total of £6.5million in bonuses to it’s No October 2013. hospitals are failing to correctly record data staff. The Chairman of the Home Affairs you’re on patient waiting times. The inconsistencies Select Committee, Keith Vaz MP, said it not ›››› The Department of Work and Pensions have raised suspicions that hospitals are was irresponsible that the Home Office has stated that its cap on benefits on the tampering with data to avoid missing the had continued to pay big bonuses despite top claiming households is saving £1 target that 95 per cent of patients must be presiding over many failures... we should million per month. 1300 households in the treated within 18 weeks of referral. end the culture of awarding failure. Lord Rennard is found guilty, by Lib UK were claiming £700 per week. This has Dems, of being accused.
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Twiggy Last month in science...
Fay Amande Holden Ripley Helen Mirren Top celebrities take trip down memory lane
to launch Barnardo’s fostering campaign ›››› A new species of River Dolphin was ›››› The oldest known cancer genome was Dame Helen Mirren, Joanna Lumley and discovered. sequenced and found to be 11,000 years old. Amanda Holden are among a host of stars who have shared their most cherished childhood snaps to front a new campaign called ‘Create my memories,’ in a bid to recruit more foster carers in the UK.
The campaign, led by Barnardo’s, the UK’s leading children’s charity, is calling on members of the public to consider becoming foster carers and help create happy childhood Twiggy memories for some of the most vulnerable children in the UK. “Another cherished memory was being ›››› A study found ¼ of shark species will ›››› The universe was measured to an cuddled by my Dad before going to bed and become extinct in the next few decades. incredibly precise 1% accuracy. Current figures show that 8,600 more foster him reading me a story. I felt so safe and carers are urgently needed to look after loved”. children across the UK. Further support for Barnardo’s campaign In an attempt to broadcast its plea for more has come from Nicola Roberts, Peter Capaldi foster carers to the public, Barnardo’s has and Samantha Womack, in the form of a 60 persuaded some of Britain’s most famous second film featuring their favourite faces including Twiggy, Peter Capaldi, Nicola childhood memories. Roberts and Russell Howard to step back in time and reveal some candid images and Brenda Farrell, head of fostering and stories from school days, summer holidays adoption at Barnardo’s, said: “Without the and family life. right foster family to care for them, many vulnerable children may never experience ›››› Great white sharks were found to live ›››› Fossilized pigments revealed the Using the collection of pictures, Barnardo’s the love and stability they so desperately three times longer than previously believed. colours of ancient sea monsters. staged projection stunts throughout the need and happy memories will remain a charity’s 6th Annual Fostering and Adoption distant dream. We are truly grateful that so Week, on the busiest high streets in London, many household names are helping us to Manchester and Glasgow. broadcast our plea for people to consider becoming foster parents. Barnardo’s was targeting commuters, January sales shoppers and theatre-goers in all three “Currently a third of all children in foster cities, giving a glimpse into the early years of care are moved between different families some of the nation’s favourite celebrities. more than twice every year due to the lack of suitable foster carers. The number of Model, actress and singer Twiggy spoke children in the care system in the UK has about her picture and early childhood: “One risen for the seventh year in a row to more ›››› Some of the deepest images of space of my favourite childhood memories was than 90,000 and at least 8,600 new foster ›››› Action shots of sexual reproduction of ever taken were released showing when we went on holiday to holiday camps by carers are needed in the UK”. a 100 million year-old flower was the sea every summer. I loved the little thousands of new galaxies. preserved in Amber. chalets we slept in and there was always so To find out more about fostering visit www. Source: Science blog ‘I f**king love science’ much to do and so many children to play with. barnardos.org.uk/fostering or call 08000 277 280
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associate four-poster beds with ghosts. to be reduced - 56% want it cut by “a lot”, l Middle-aged women in Britain today are m Do you know...? while 21% by a little. However, only 47% now twice as likely to be childless as the l An energy firm has addressed concerns believe that immigration is bad for the previous generation. One fifth of women over rising prices by advising customers to economy, down from 56% last year. born in 1967 (making them 46 last year) l In a poll of 16,000 people across 20 drink less tea, take showers together, play have no children. Of women born in 1940, countries, just 16% of Britons said they Monopoly instead of watching TV, and go to l 9% of people aged between 16 and 25 say one in ten were childless at the same age. measured their success by the things they bed early. First Utility claimed its “5:2 energy they have “nothing to live for” - among those own, compared with 34% of the French, diet” - inspired by the popular intermittent who have been unemployed for six months l Nottinghamshire Police has been forced 58% of Indians and 71% of the Chinese. weight-loss regime - “could be lots of fun”. or more, that figure rises to 21%. One in to rename its “Badvent Calendar” following three of the long-term unemployed have complaints from its own officers. Every day l 60% of parents admit they regularly read l 77% of the public want immigration levels contemplated suicide. until Christmas a window on the online their children’s emails, texts and Facebook calendar - a picture of a snowman - is being messages. Only 33% say they feel guilty for opened to reveal a mugshot of a suspect doing so. wanted for questioning. But police and Whose members of the public objected to the l Nearly 12,000 people visited the same A eaten the mince appropriation of “Advent” for its name. The & E department more than ten times last scheme is now called the “Festive Crime year, a survey of 106 hospital trusts and pies? Calendar”. boards has revealed; 150 people visited A & E more than 50 times. One patient attended l The baby boomers are getting old, but Luton and Dunstable Hospital 234 times, they’re seemingly sticking with the vices while another attended Sheffield’s Northern they picked up in the Swinging Sixties. Last General Hospital’s A & E 223 times. year 450 people aged 75 or over needed hospital treatment as a result of taking l A builder explained to HM Revenue and illegal drugs including cocaine and cannabis, Customs that he had filed his tax return three times more than a decade ago. late because his goldfish had died; another late-filer told officials she had been too l In the wake of Nigella Lawson’s stunned by a news report about a volcanic courtroom admission that she had taken eruption to do her paperwork. The excuses drugs, 30% of the public still had greater featured on a list of the most “flimsy” sympathy for her than for her ex-husband, received in the past year. Others included a Charles Saatchi. Just 2% had more sympathy trader whose wife apparently refused to for Saatchi, 47% for neither and 4% both. hand over his mail, and a taxi driver who said he had a bad back and couldn’t get l 69% of motorists refuse to have even one upstairs to get his form. drink before getting behind the wheel - up from less than 50% ten years ago. However, 10% l Austrians are rude, Indians can’t make admit they drive when they’re over the limit. up their minds, and the Japanese hate l FAT FACTS 65% of the world’s population live in l The top 1% of taxpayers (those earning being told “no”. That, at least, is what countries where overweight and obesity tourism chiefs have been telling Britain’s more than £160,00) now pay almost 30% of l Nearly one billion people in less kills more people than underweight. all income tax. In 1979, they contributed hotel and guesthouse owners. In official l More than 40 million children under the guidance on dealing with foreign guests, developed countries were overweight or just 11% of the total. obese in 2008 - up nearly 400% since 1980. age of five were overweight in 2011. the quango VisitBritain also warns that l l In 2008, more than 1.4 billion adults Overweight and obesity are the fifth l North Americans account for less than a Russians shouldn’t be put up in low- leading risk for global deaths. ceilinged rooms - because they’re a “tall were overweight and 11% were obese. 16th of the world’s people, but more than a l l Obesity is preventable. nation” - and that people from Hong Kong 35% of adults were overweight in 2008 third of their weight. and 11% were obese. Source: World Health Organisation (WHO) 2014
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Help at last for ex-service personnel Number of Factsheet downloads Terry Lock looks at why so many 17,784 The cost of ruining the prison ex-servicemen seem to slip through Facebook ‘Likes’ the cracks Questions on rehabilitation system 1,375 A R Mears found the answers for which Prisoner R Mehtab gave the case for the prison system is still searching prison offi cers J - What a relief to fi nally see the plight of Twitter Followers these ex service men & women being recog- 3,937 T - Nothing has really changed and Mr T - Not sure, but working with a bare minimum nised and handled in a professional way by APPLEBY HOPE & MATTHEWS You’re inside. SOLICITORS Get us onside. Criminal Defence & ABR Solicitors are experts at We can take on proceedings after Prison Law Specialists helping with: conviction or after a confiscation Parole • Cash seizure and forfeiture order has been made. Recall proceedings ABR Solicitors Independent Adjudications Governor Adjudications • Restraint orders “A talented, determined and intelligent team.” Category Reviews • Confiscation proceedings Sentence Planning “ Exceptionally approachable Transfers • POCA civil recovery and easy to work with.” proceedings HDC “ This is a very ambitious firm ROTL • Third party interests with a bright future ahead of it.” Lifer Issues • Enforcement proceedings Chambers UK Police Interviews • Certificates of inadequacy Magistrates Representation Crown Court Representation Seeking justice throughout • Appeals against Family Law the North of England confiscation orders Call Kate Clark or Carroll Slaney Offices across the North of England Appleby Hope & Matthews Email us at [email protected] or write to us at 35 High Street, Normanby, Middlesbrough Teesside TS 6 0LE the address detailed below. 01642 440444 ABR Solicitors [email protected] Britannia Chambers ABR Free immediate advice available 24/7 4 Oxford Place Leeds LS1 3AX Solicitors For emergencies call 07659100901 Members of the Association of Prison Lawyers Insidetime February 2014 18 Diary www.insidetime.org
a past trainee had come to visit simply to gave him the opportunity to sort himself out celebrate his year out of prison. without all the pressures of the outside world. ‘I’ve got a lot more to learn,’ he said, clearly Month by Month ‘Doing a job like this is extraordinary because thinking of more than cooking. you can see remarkable changes in people by Rachel Billington who have had a very poor start in life,’ Adham told me. The whole process is very carefully Rachel investigates Switchback in London’s East End and tailored for each trainee. There are criteria - the men must come from London, they can’t follows John Podmore’s travels in India be sex-offenders or have immigration issues, but most important, they must be looking for long-term change. Once the men have been picked or rather pick themselves, the mentors start working with them inside prison.
There is another aspect: trainees are expected to volunteer as part of their training in the Skylight Café run by Crisis, the charity for the single homeless. It is just across the road from Switchback’s offices. Alice explained that learning about catering both in the kitchen and front of house is a vehicle for the changes that she hopes to find in her trainees. It teaches them not only the skills for a job in a café but also basic essentials, such as time-keeping, reliability and working with Shukur with his fruit sponge! others. So, although many of their men continue in the catering trade, others find jobs in areas as different as charity work or con- Alice explained that Switchback is not just struction. about giving good advice or even arranging jobs and accommodation, although they do all Nevertheless Switchback will always have a that. They also give pocket money and pay special interest for those interested in preparing expenses. The fundamental aim is to shake up or managing food. Before I went across the and challenge their trainees’ view of the world. The trainees from Switchback at the Skylight Café including Steven (with arms round his friends) road to see the café for myself, I met Steven, a To encourage this, they arrange trips of all young trainee who had called in for a meeting sorts, including to Hugh Fearnley-Witting- with Adham. Steven was on a Food Prepara- stall’s River Cottage restaurant in Devon or to ommercial Street is in the middle Switchback was founded by Alice and Slaney tion course in HMP Littlehey when he spotted other restaurants, perhaps employing ex-train- of London’s East End, five minutes Wright in 2007. Their aim is to help male information about Switchback on a notice ees, in the London area. ‘It’s all about helping from Liverpool Street Station and prisoners aged from eighteen to twenty-four board. He came out of prison in March 2013 people to get involved in life in a different two from the Spitalfields Market. into a new life. Easy enough to say, so first of and worked with Switchback until September way,’ said Alice firmly. It’s a wide street, noisy with all, I talked to two of the mentors. Richard and when he returned briefly to prison for Cconstant traffic. Last week I walked down it Adham have been employed full-time by breaching his licence. He was back with We then risked our lives crossing the road to looking for Norvin House where the Switch- Switchback for about a year and a half. Each Switchback in October where he’s been ever the Skylight Café - before opting for the traffic back charity has their offices. On the third of them looks after twelve trainees a year, since. He told me, ‘If it wasn’t for Switchback, lights. The national charity, Crisis, owns an floor I was welcomed by Alice Dawnay and although the number fluctuates. Suitable can- I’d probably be back in prison.’ He was par- enormous building housing all sorts of oppor- her team of mentors and office staff who were didates are located inside prison, three months ticularly grateful that he’d been allowed a tunities for people without other resources. just finishing a meeting. The atmosphere was before they leave. The mentoring outside second chance. He said that getting to the The large busy café which is open to the public both friendly and professional. continues for as long as is necessary. Yesterday café at 7.45 am and working in the kitchen is at the bottom of the building. Straightaway
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Poetry ...... Prisons WINNER: Heather Stevens, Such A Journey - HMP Bronzefield RUNNERS UP: Robert Beck, The Best Re- Got Talent: membered Journey - HMP Grendon. Anon, My First Love - HMP Bure. Keith Pendleton, Winter’s Lament - HMP Kennet. H Kay The Results! Brewer, My First Love - HMP Styal. Maria ...... Chandler, My First Love - HMP Low Newton. This is the third year of English Prose PEN’s writing competition; They ...... had over 400 entries from 55 prisons. WINNER: Ralph Anderson, In my The winning pamphlet is called imagination - HMP Winchester RUNNERS UP: Anonymous, A Taste of ‘Running To Stand Still’ and will be Metal - HMP Glenochil. Ian, First Light - launched by English PEN on HMP Parc. Nigel MacKenzie, I am Going February 24th. The judge, Scottish Out - HMP Glenochil. Anonymous, Running poet and novelist, Jackie Kay to Stand Still - HMP Wakefield. Ricky Crossleg, (pictured) chose the themes and Fences and Walls - HMP Frankland. Emma John Podmore outside Vellore prison in India observed ‘There are pieces that Louise Sharkey, The Magic of the World - will make you think, take you back, HMP Styal. and make you pause for thought. I met Shukur who’d only been out of prison of which 65% are awaiting trial. The other Book review since December and in a few days would be problems are overcrowding, torture, disease, Writing whose honesty and bravery ...... moving on to a job in an Italian pizza restau- poor conditions of detention and poor you might recognize and applaud’. WINNER: Jeanne Wilding, The Chamber rant. He’d been working in the prison kitchen treatment of prisoners. John and his fellows, - HMP Low Newton at HMP North Sea Camp so he already had both European and Indian, run workshops, RUNNERS UP: David Tattum, The Ragged some experience. He said, ‘I love Switchback. followed by regional seminars, in an attempt Trousered Philanthropist - HMP Usk. Brian That’s why I got the job.’ At which Alice to change attitudes. The subjects covered Hannah, Jekyll and Hyde - HMP Low Moss. insisted that it was his own determination that range from international human rights, princi- Craig Roy, The Road by Cormac - HMP Shotts. had made it happen. Shukur’s ambition, he told ples of good prison management, health care, Chinonyerem Otuonye, Americanah - HMP me, is ‘to be a top chef in a posh restaurant.’ vulnerable groups and reintegration. They are East Sutton Park also training trainers so that the educational I liked everything about Switchback: the airy program can continue. Flash fiction office, the set-up, the enthusiastic men and ...... women working there. They take no govern- All this sounds excellent but, in view of the WINNER: Anon, The Old Creepy House ment money because they want to do things inadequacies of the English jail system, do we - HMYOI Warren Hill RUNNER UP: Anon, Merlin - HMYOI their own way, with no number crunching. really have so much to teach them? John Alice puts it quite simply, ‘We look for an ad- Warren Hill. obviously feels he and his team do. He cites venturous spirit both in our trainees and in the the openness among the management of mentors who help them.’ Indian prisons. He told me, ‘They aspire to human rights because they believe in the Alice says: If you are 18-24, returning to concept.’ He continued, ‘There is a real desire London, and ready to make a change, please Have you ever served in the Armed Forces? ring 020 7650 8989 or contact www. Switch- to debate and discuss, coupled with a desire to back.org.uk Address: 45-55 Commercial change. Human Rights has not become a pe- Do you or your partner need help? Street, London E1 6BD. jorative word, as it has here.’ It seems that ...... they might have something to teach us...... If the answer is yes, you may be eligible for advice and support from The Royal British Legion and SSAFA Forces Help - two n The dashing photograph of John Podmore n garlanded with flowers was taken outside English PEN announces the winners of their charities assisting the Service and ex-Service community, Vellore prison in India. After a career in annual competition on this page. PEN was working together to reach all those eligible for assistance. English prisons, followed by writing a book founded in 1926 as a club for writers, so it’s a about his experiences, John is now working great accolade to be picked out for a prize. for Penal Reform International on a 15 month PEN has always fought for freedom of expres- Whether you are still serving your sentence or are project. Their work is described as ‘Protecting sion among political prisoners. Around fifteeen and promoting human rights of prisoners in years ago, they extended their work to due for release, we may be able to provide India through new developments in prison encourage reading and writing among all support to you and your family. management and the administration of prisoners in the UK. I much look forward to justice.’ India has a 372,296 prison population reading the entries. Congratulations! R e g r e t f u l l y w e c a n n o t m a k e c a s h g r a n t s . N o r c a n w e o f f e r l e g a l o r a p p e a l s a d v i c e . The entries so far are fantastic so we are extending it for one more month to give as many prisons as possible the opportunity to enter! If you would like further information, or a visit from Entries can be in any format from prose and poetry to paint and sculpture; entries will be one of our caseworkers to talk about the support judged on their creative and honest content and that is available please write to: can be in any artistic medium. TRBL / SSAFA Forces Help This is your chance to express the truth about (Ref Inside Time) the affect drugs and alcohol have had on your Freepost SW1345, lives and the lives of those you love. 199 Borough High Street The closing date for entries to reach us is London SE1 1AA 28th February 2014. DrugFAM has extended the Or tell your partner to telephone All winning entries will displayed (anonymously) at The Royal British Legion Contact Centre on deadline for entries for our Creative a Gallery Exhibition in London in Spring 2104 0808 802 8080 (Mon - Sun 8am - 8 pm) Arts National Prison Competition DrugFAM is a charitable company limited by guarantee. or SSAFA Forces Help on 020 7403 8773 or they can log on to to 28th Feb 2014. Registered Company No: 06414684 www.drugfam.co.uk www.britishlegion.org.uk or www.ssafa.org.uk Insidetime February 2014 20 Comment www.insidetime.org
41% of time was spent engaged in computer activity and 35% in non-computer activity for example drafting correspondence and reports, meetings and other administration. One A short history of the probation officer said it was their impression that for every 15 minutes spent in face-to-face contact, 15-30 minutes was spent recording it. The survey also found that, increasingly, the main issue of bureaucracy and red tape refers to the OASys risk assessment and the amount Probation Service of time spent on non-computer work. Matthew Lay of trade union UNISON, which represents probation staff, emphasised that, In the second of a two-part series, the late Charles Hanson “if staff are going to engage more effectively with offenders in terms of face-to-face en- traces the origins of Probation gagement, they have to have the time to do that.”
and effective offender management. The gov- What we have seen however is an increase in By November 2013, there was a crisis within ernment also introduced commissioning and the number of those who reoffend so that the Probation Service when the Government contestability into the provision of probation such an approach is riddled with inconsisten- announced that it intended to put probation services, which it says would drive up standards cies, flawed research and data and along the work tenders out to private companies to among existing providers and enable new way the abolition of many of these pro- supervise offenders although it is not clear providers to deliver probation services. grammes. whether this would include all groups of offenders or merely low risk offenders. It was the 1991 Criminal Justice Act which With the social work culture of probation brought a shift in the way that probation work officers having been largely set aside, in 1998 On 5 November 2013 around 8,000 members should be carried out, where the probationer new probation officer arrangements were in- of the National Association of Probation went from being a client to offender and that troduced through the Diploma in Probation Officers held a 24-hour strike in protest at the probation officers went from being viewed as Studies which replaced the old Diploma in Government’s privatisation plans. Ian social workers to offender managers. Social Work entry requirement for the Lawrence, Napo’s General Secretary, said: Probation Service. The new training qualifica- “These are unprecedented times for our This was reinforced by the change of the tion ensured that not even probation officer members as they fight to save the 106-year- Charles William Hanson Probation Service which went from being a training could escape the new managerial old probation service.” However, Justice 13th June 1946 - 24th December 2013 social work agency to a law enforcement or- culture. Minister Jeremy Wright said: “This is a strike in ganisation. favour of the status quo, which is high re-of- Sadly we have to report that on Christmas With flexibility and discretion having largely fending rates and no support for 50,000 short- Eve Charles Hanson passed away in his At the same time, the Home Office was been removed from probation officer the shift term offenders each year who are currently sleep. Charles had for many years been a looking across the Atlantic to Canada where was more towards the bureaucratic manage- released without any supervision and go on to regular contributor to Inside Time providing initial research tended to show that a different ment of offenders which was reinforced by commit so much crime.” us with well researched and interesting approach in the reduction of offending the national standards. articles. He had become part of the team behaviour was having some success. With the move away from the old ethos of and will be sadly missed by us all. This has created a culture of record keeping ‘advise’, ‘assist’ probation officers developed Based on the cognitive skills model, NOMS and administration, systems, targets, proce- an approach that has become more punitive Charles’ family asked for no flowers at the under New Labour introduced the ‘Think First’ dures, key performance indicators, processes and has had more to do with the survival of funeral but donations to Help for Heroes model under the aegis of ‘What Works’ ac- and measurement scales for measuring risk the Probation Service than it had to do with was suggested. Inside Time will be making credited programmes which gave rise to such rather than spending time with people in a reducing offending and rehabilitation, and a donation and any readers wishing to do courses as Reasoning and Rehabilitation and process of understanding and positive change. whilst we have a system of managerial bu- so can do this directly: Help for Heroes, Enhanced Thinking Skills. reaucracy which is highly influenced by outside Donations, 14 Parkers Close, Downton, This has also tended to increase the number of politics, where people count for less than Salisbury, SP5 3RB or via Inside Time. The emphasis in Think First was to resolve the recalls to prison of those subject to licence targets, a system that is geared towards more Cheque should be payable to “Help for offender’s cognitive apparatus because it is conditions, often where a probation officer in rigorous enforcement procedures and bearing Heroes”. assumed that he or she doesn’t think properly, the past might have otherwise taken a in mind that the present prison system is with a view to making the offender more cog- different approach. already at a 85,000 high and by that very n 2004, the Government published nitively responsible, as manifested in the system which is more designed to manage, Reducing Crime - Changing Lives, which ability to make the right decisions. The main The probation officers professional body the control and contain offenders, we are likely to proposed to improve the effectiveness of reason for crime is framed in terms of a lack of National Association of Probation Officers see a rise in those who are destined to increase the criminal justice system and the cor- ‘thinking, social and problem-solving skills’. once cited a leaked ‘restricted’ MoJ report the prison population. rectional services in particular. The Consequently the offender needs to be which outlined the results of a 2008 survey of equipped with a repertoire of these skills to direct contact with offenders which found that INational Offender Management Service Charles Hanson was a former resident make better decisions in social circumstances probation staff spent only 24% of their time in (NOMS) was established with the aim of at HMP Blantyre House reducing reoffending through more consistent that remain unchanged. contact with offenders. Of the remainder, HENRY CLARKE KIERNAN HYAMS SOLICITORS S O L I C I T O R S 7 South Parade, Leeds LS1 5QE FIGHTING FOR THE RIGHTS OF INDIVIDUALS IN THE SOUTH EAST 0113 2432288 WE ARE A RESPECTED ‘LEGAL 500’ FIRM FRANCHISED BY THE LEGAL SERVICES LEGAL REPRESENTATION Categorisation COMMISSION AND OUR DEDICATED AND EXPERIENCED TEAM IS AVAILABLE Parole/Recall TO HELP YOU IN ANY AREA OF LITIGATION ALL PRISON ISSUES HDC SOUTH WEST BASED PRISON LAW DEPARTMENT CIVIL DEPARTMENT FAMILY DEPARTMENT Progression Catherine McCarthy Tafadzwa Chigudu Jennifer Mundy CALL FREE ON Adjudications All aspects of criminal law, including Legal aid available for Housing problems, All aspects of matrimonial and children Appeals/CCRC Appeals/CCRC/Confiscation Orders. due to your remand or looking forwards disputes, including proceedings involving 0808 178 9060 towards release. Including threat of the Local authority. Lifer/IPP issues All aspects of prison law, including possession of your home and advice on Divorce, domestic violence, cohabitation OR Judicial Review adjudications, parole, DLP, eligibility for local authority housing and Civil partnerships. categorisation, Judicial Review following release. 01803 299131 Contact our Prison Law Team All aspects of financial disputes. Katy Cowans - Rebecca Seal NIALL BROOKS / KIRSTY NEILL Rachel Jamieson Almy & Thomas Solicitors & Advocates Members of the Association of Prison Lawyers 2-4 Bradford Street Tonbridge Kent TN9 1DU Tel: 01732 360999 71 Abbey Rd Torquay, TQ2 5NL ›› Registered with EMAP ‹‹ Insidetime February 2014 www.insidetime.org Comment 21
is now hindered. Without a solicitor, justice for many will be hard to obtain. As for self-rep- resentation, it is a possibility, but not having ready access to adequate legal reference material and computer access to prepare grounds means the chances of succeeding are Lift the facade very slim. 5) Prison certainly works for those whose live- Stephen Jackley gets to the roots of what’s wrong with the lihoods depend on it. It excels at one thing; self-preservation. Prisoners CAN be educated, British prison system trained, given a proper sense of identity, self- worth and responsibility, but this is not happening. Cynics might say that the system or many years the Prison Service has To label prisoners as ‘dangerous’ is to further In many ways the severity of one’s sentence wants them to be bad, and to return to prison, erected and refined an elaborate distance them from society. ‘Threat’, ‘risk’, no longer depends upon one’s crime but on after all, they are customers. And every facade, which has been left widely ‘security’, etc are evocative terms which are one’s location (not to mention one’s security troubled society needs a group to condemn unchallenged. Like all government too often applied with little or no objective category). And the IEP (Incentive & Earned and blame, and if that group are also disen- franchised then all the better. whitewashes, it bears little resem- basis. Privilege) scheme which was originally Fblance to the truth. It can be divided into 5 intended to reward good behaviour, is now For this situation to change, reform needs to parts:- 2) It is true that the majority of prisoners have used to divide prisoners and as an informal come from outside. The public need to know prior convictions, but at least one third of the method of punishment. You could describe it the reality of Britain’s prisons. The media need 1) That most prisoners are violent, sexually prison population have never been to prison as adjudication without representation. Con- to be actively involved in revealing the truth. deviant and dangerous to the general public; before, and imprisonment is not always a sistency, the right to a fair hearing and recourse 2) That nearly all prisoners are repeat to due process are no more than illusions. Only by lifting the Prison Service’s ‘respecta- direct reflection of the gravity of their offence. ble’ facade will the rising tide of injustice and offenders, with many prior convictions (and As for making prisons ‘tougher’ that may well therefore if they keep coming back to prison The so-called Complaints Procedure is also prevalent failure be turned. It is perhaps worth serve the misguided calls for more punish- then it needs to be made tougher); replete with flaws, being very easily abused by concluding with the Prison Service’s own ment, but it certainly won’t help prisoners to 3) That all prisoners are treated with humanity, staff. A prisoner’s ability to request investiga- ‘statement of purpose’ - live law-abiding lives on release. decency, respect and equality; tion of a complaint by a governing governor 4) That the Prison Service has rules, policies and from Prison Service HQ has been ‘Her Majesty’s Prison Service serves the public and safeguards which prevent any corruption 3) Is being locked up for up to 23 hours per withdrawn. The IMB (Independent Monitor- by keeping in custody those committed by the or abuse of power; day (as in most ‘local’ prisons) in a cell the size ing Board) can only make observations and courts. Its duty is to look after them with 5) That prison works. of an average family bathroom really occasional recommendations. So too with the humanity and help them lead law-abiding and ‘humane’? Is being made to defecate in a Prisons Ombudsman, who now takes an useful lives in custody and after release’. These are the building blocks of the Prison plastic bag (because you have no access to average of 7 months to conclude a complaint Service propaganda. They are upheld as un- sanitation) ‘decent’? Is rewarding those who (Freedom of Information request 2013). In ...If only. disputed facts, as principles that universally are able to manipulate the system really short, the policies and safeguards to prevent apply. This is fabrication of the highest order - ‘equality’? And in a system where most of the any corruption or abuse of power have been where some people do not even realise that employees regard their charges as little more drastically eroded. A prisoner’s only realistic Stephen Jackley is currently resident at what they are being told is not the unadulter- than ‘scumbag crims’, where is the ‘respect’? avenue of remedy is the courts, but even that HMP Dorchester ated truth. It is worth taking a moment to consider each of the previous 5 points in turn. 4) As for the rules and policies of the Prison Service, they are haphazardly and selectively 1) The largest proportions of offences are fi- followed. Most prison staff do not even know + nancially oriented. When you scrutinise the them. PSOs (Prison Service Orders) have been POWELL + CO SOLICITORS c details of most prisoner’s offences, substantive replaced with PSIs (Prison Service Instructions) P violence is relatively rare. Moreover, when you which are mere instructions that are constantly consider the number of prisoners and the en- being amended. Even the Prison Rules are not Quality legal advice with personal service vironment in which they are held, incidents of binding: if a prison breaks them it does not violence in custody are surprisingly low. Very mean a court will intervene (Becker v Home few prisoners can be genuinely said to be Office [1972] Z QB 407; R (Hague) v Home violent or dangerous. Even those who are Secretary [1992] (AC G8.). convicted of violent crimes like robbery and GBH (Grievous Bodily Harm) have mitigation In 1999 the then Chief Inspector of Prisons that is easily overlooked. However, this line of noted how inconsistency and inequality thought has become unpopular: attempts to between prisons presented the greatest source understand the causes of crime - the reason of overall concern (HMCIP Annual Report behind an offence - have been superseded by 1999). Today that situation is even worse. a quest to punish the offender. There is a tendency to place all blame with the individu- There are huge gulfs between conditions in Our friendly manner will ensure that you get the very best legal service. al, rather than their situation or environment. different prisons. We specialise in Family and Children Services: • Care Proceedings/Social Services • Children’s Law Specialist Appeals Department • Divorce • Public Law An established London based firm with an experienced and dedicated appeals • Matrimonial Finances department able to provide advice on grounds to appeal conviction and/or sentence. • Domestic Abuse We offer you: Other areas of law covered by us: • An honest assessment of your case. • Clinical Negligence and Personal Injury • A named solicitor who will review your case, visit you and advise on grounds of appeal. • Debt • Housing • A named paralegal who will assist your solicitor & provide a second point of contact for you. • A set timetable of work with regular updates to ensure you know what stage your matter has For further information contact Naomi Smith or Dexter Bonner reached and what work is still to be undertaken. Verbruggens House, No 1 Street, Royal Arsenal Riverside, London SE18 6GH Our experienced Prison Law team can assist you, both in writing and orally, with: Telephone: 020 8854 9131 E Mail: [email protected] Adjudications, Parole Applications,Recategorisation Representations and Lifer Hearings. For help please contact Richard Brown or Dawn Burrows at: Baxter Brown McArthur 150a Falcon Road London SW11 2LW 020 7924 8130 Insidetime February 2014 22 Comment www.insidetime.org When is a coat not a coat? Anne Carroll highlights the nonsensical side of the new National Facilities List
Well, we can’t be seen to be encouraging dangerous and unhealthy pastimes like reading, much better to encourage you to watch telly all day. Plus we get money for the tellies. Out of your wages. Hanging on the line I have been studying ancient history and pure mathematics in my free time, will I still be able to have my specialist journals on Inside Time’s Noel Smith looks at some of the these subjects sent in? No. But you can order Celebrity Gossip and reasons prisoners use illegal mobile phones Word Search for Beginners. How many pillows and pillow cases can I have? emotional calls were being recorded and I would love to have a five minute interview listened to just added to me and my family’s with the person who actually devised and 2 pillows, as long as they are mega-expensive grief. Has anyone in officialdom ever consid- compiled the new National Facilities List. I fire-retardant level 7 type. And 1 pillow case. Noel Smith ered what that must be like? Just ask Angela imagine it would go something like this; Why 2 pillows but only 1 pillow case? Merkel or anyone else who has been hacked. For a lot of prisoners a mobile phone is a way n 2011-2012 (the last year for which Me - Am I still allowed to have a coat? Pass. of communicating without the cold finger of figures are available) prison staff seized prison poking into your private life and con- Yes, of course. As long as it’s not padded or Can I keep my fleece? 7000 mobile phone handsets and SIM sciousness. Personally I always found it hard to quilted or lined, and doesn’t have a hood. cards - more than 19 per day - and Well actually we’ve decided that fleeces talk to anyone on a prison phone knowing believe this is only the tip of the iceberg. You mean as long as it doesn’t keep me have suddenly become coats. So, no. that several uniforms were listening, analysing warm or dry? IThere is no doubt that the possession and use and marking my personal prison file. We are always being told that keeping in of mobile phones in prison has become a That’s right. In fact, anything that is tradi- touch with family and friends is the best problem, so much so that a new criminal Then there’s the fact that most prisons only tionally termed a ‘coat’ probably doesn’t way to prevent us reoffending when we are charge for possessing a mobile or SIM card in have a couple of pin phones per wing, qualify. Something like a cardigan would be released, so can we get cheaper phone calls prison has been introduced. There is always a sometimes as many as 70 prisoners have to ideal as a coat for the purposes of the facili- by using services like fonesavvy? lot of talk about exactly what prisoners would queue for one phone and this can lead to ties list. use mobile phones for - the official line is that No. We can’t understand the technology. arguments and sometimes violence or bullying. Can I have a hat? they are all using them to arrange drug deals, You’ll have to write letters instead. intimidate witnesses and for running criminal Prison staff rarely police phone queues, it is left up to the prisoners themselves to sort out No problem. Provided it doesn’t have a So can our families send us stamps and sta- empires from behind their cell doors - all very who is where in the queue and how long an peak. And doesn’t resemble an officer’s hat. tionary for this purpose? terrible sounding and guaranteed to get the Oh, and make sure it doesn’t have side flaps. public on board because, as everyone knows individual can spend on the phone - not an In fact, it shouldn’t cover any part of your Er...no. by now, all prisoners are criminal masterminds! ideal situation when you are dealing with a face. And, obviously, not black. Or lined. Or But they seem to miss the point that it is quite group who are, by definition of being in It all sounds a bit harsh, isn’t there any good prison, rule-breakers. In some prisons whether padded. Or quilted. Otherwise it’s fine. news? easy to run a criminal empire or intimidate witnesses by talking face-to-face with your you get on the pin phone and for how long is So what exactly does that leave? Oh yes. Take shower caps for example, well ‘henchmen’ on a prison visit. In fact, that governed by how big and how ready to fight Perhaps a bright yellow and red beret would we know one is never enough so we have would be preferable to talking on a mobile as you are. Cut down on the amount of associa- be ok. But I’d have to check. decided to let you have two! at least you know that nobody is taping your tion time available, and therefore the access to pin phones, as all prisons have been doing in Perhaps I could wear one as a hat on rainy days? conversation - pretty essential when you are Ok. What about sandals for the summer? ordering up criminal acts. The real truth of the past few years, and you just make the Are they allowed? No. Then it would be a hat. why prisoners use illegal mobile phones is a lot problem worse. In some local prisons, getting to use the pin phone can be a struggle of Yes. So long as you do not wear them outside less sexy than the official line. Any other generous gestures? Darwinian proportions. your cell. We have decided to allow you three In my own experience, over 30 years of incar- What about gloves? tea-towels in possession. ceration, though the prison system pay lip The cost of using prison pin phones is also a huge factor in why some prisoners prefer to Sorry, no gloves. But you are allowed 10 service to their public claim about wanting to But I’m only allowed one plate, one bowl and use an illegal mobile phone. We are living in pairs of socks, so perhaps you could put a keep families together, etc, in reality they one cup, so why would I need three tea-towels? an age where landlines are almost obsolete pair over your hands. make it so awkward and expensive that people Don’t you ever throw dinner parties? have to look for an alternative. Before we get and even young children own mobile phones. Scarf? to the expense of using prison pin phones just Prisoners’ families are no different. The trouble ???? think about another implication - privacy. is that phoning a mobile from a prison pin No. You could knit yourself one. But you phone can quickly eat into your credit. If you won’t be allowed to wear it. OK, finally, could you briefly clarify the rules How would you like knowing that every time are on the average weekly prison wage of £7 about stereo systems, Play stations, DVD you talk to your family and loved ones you are you suffer with some mobile networks How about a hot water bottle? players, USB ports, MP3 chips and the like? being tape recorded and listened to by police liaison officers and prison staff? Every time gobbling up more than £1 per minute! No, that would not be allowed because it is you tell your wife or children you love them, classed as a ‘luxury’. As we all know, prison Oh, is that the time, sorry, must dash. If you every time you speak to your parents or have So using a prison pin phone is dangerous (in cells never get cold in winter, and we don’t have any more questions just send me an a chat with an old friend - in the back of your some cases), very expensive and also an want to encourage thrifty habits when we email. Oh, sorry, you can’t, can you? mind, and sometimes theirs, is the inhibiting emotional inhibitor. And this is why prisoners can just turn the heat up instead. knowledge that big brother is taping you and use illegal mobile phones. I have no doubt that listening to you. I well remember having to a small minority of prisoners use them for I’m told we are only allowed 12 books, why Anne Carroll is currently resident at HMP use the pin phone in HMP Whitemoor when nefarious purposes, that’s a given, but do not is that? Send my son died and to know that such terribly tar everybody with the same brush. Insidetime February 2014 www.insidetime.org Comment 23
he reason given for the controver- full of confidence that I had finally found a sial changes to the legal aid competent and successful prison law firm. system is to apparently reduce costs and restore the public’s con- My confidence soon started to wane, though, fidence in the criminal justice as once again days turned into weeks and Tsystem. The tabloid press have been making it weeks into months with no communication out like we prisoners have been using and from the firm whatsoever and, once again, abusing the legal aid system for years to make nothing discernibly happening with regard to flimsy and often spurious claims against the my still outstanding legal issues. I’m not the conditions of our incarceration. To be fair to most street smart guy in the world, but it our fascist ruling elite, the legal aid bill has slowly started to dawn on me that I might been spiralling for some time now. However, have been the unwitting accomplice in a legal are those costs really due to prisoners making aid scam. tenuous legal challenges or has someone been at the honey pot? To my utter amazement, however, a few months later someone else from the same Let me tell you about a little scam I stumbled firm, which had by now apparently been across a few years ago...... rebranded, turned up on yet another unan- nounced legal visit. It was a different repre- Back in 2008 I wrote to a legal firm requesting sentative this time. He told me that the assistance with several prison law related previous advocate, the ex-prison officer, sent issues. The firm, who I won’t name here, his apologies. The paperwork had apparently promptly replied, ensuring to enclose the been lost once again, and it had again taken relevant legal aid application forms with their them a while to realise this. response, which I duly signed and returned. I patiently allowed him to go into his far- Days went by and I heard nothing further fetched explanations after which I calmly said from them. I wondered if they might be busily to him: ‘I know exactly what you guys are up working away on my legal issues behind the to.’ scenes, so to speak. I tried calling their office The scam ‘What do you mean?’ he immediately but it was always a secretary who answered protested. and nobody in charge was ever there and ‘You’re scamming the legal aid agency, aren’t available to speak to. Days turned into weeks, you?’ I said. and weeks into months with nothing discerni- bly happening, until I eventually forgot all He tried to deny it but the colour quickly about the legal firm, if not my legal issues. they weren’t leaving his face betrayed him. Literally, within three minutes he was making his excuses to Lo and behold, a couple of months later, I had leave. I came away from the visit certain that an unannounced legal visit. Much to my I’d rumbled a legal aid scam. surprise, it was them, the firm that I’d sent the legal aid forms to. The well dressed chap That very night, I wrote to the Legal Aid standing before me was profusely apologetic, Agency and told them about my concerns claiming the firm had, until now, lost all my interested in with this particular firm. I asked them if I could paperwork including, allegedly, the legal aid have a breakdown of any costs the firm had forms I’d previously signed. It all sounded submitted for legal work supposedly done on plausible enough. He asked if I was still en- Notes from the other side of the wall my behalf. countering any legal issues and I confirmed that indeed I was. by Danny Cash It was a couple of weeks before I got a response but it wasn’t the response I was Then began his sales spiel. He told me that his expecting. Instead of sending me through a firm could definitely help. He explained that high ranking prison officer. This, he assured forms across the table to me, different forms breakdown of the submitted costs they sent he wasn’t actually a solicitor but, rather, a me, meant that he completely understood any for each of the issues I’d raised with him, I me a terse letter saying that they couldn’t give mere legal advocate. It was his job, apparently, prison law issues I might have and knew the happily signed them all. As I handed him his out that sort of information and that, in effect, to gather the necessary information about any best way to resolve them as quickly as possible. fancy pen back he said with a wry smile: ‘I’d they really weren’t interested in my allega- legal issues and report back to the qualified let you keep it, but being an ex-prison officer, tions. and experienced solicitors at his firm. His By the time he’d finished speaking I was prac- I know you’re not allowed to take anything unique selling point was that before becoming tically convinced that this guy was sent by back with you from the visiting hall.’ I couldn’t believe what I was reading. Someone a legal advocate he had apparently spent God Himself to help me out in my hour of was potentially scamming the Legal Aid twenty-some years in the prison service as a need. Hence, when he pushed more legal aid I chuckled as I stood up and shook his hand, Agency and they weren’t even slightly inter- ested. Disappointed but undeterred, I wrote off to the police. A scam was taking place, I J D Solicitors Ullah Law Associates was sure of it. Surely the police would be inter- Malthouse Chambers Solicitors ested, I thought to myself. How wrong could I 30 Walsall Street, have been? Despite writing to them on several Willenhall WV13 2ER occasions they never once replied. Prison Law Specialists Does your money matter? Serving the East and West Midlands Legal Aid was always going to be a sitting Defending Proceeds of Crime applications (POCA) is a serious business. duck from the moment cuts within the criminal • Parole Applications and Reviews justice system were announced but before • Licence Conditions and Recalls Get it wrong and you can be cleaned out. making these controversial cuts perhaps the • Categorisation and Transfers Fail to comply and you could face time in prison. Government should have asked the Legal Aid • Cat A Reviews and Lifer Panels Agency to be more stringent in their checks on • Sentence Planning and H.D.C. We are specialists in Fraud, Serious Crime, Proceeds of Crime firms submitting costs for legal work (assuming For free professional expert advice. Contact Mohammed Ullah they actually do any checks that is!) How You can ring, write or e mail us with all your founder and Principal Solicitor “A solicitor who really fights for his clients” Michel Massih QC prison law issues. many millions, I wonder, have potentially been Please call our Prison Law Team: at: Ullah Law Associates lost to fraudsters like those I came across? 01902 632123 220 Church Road London NW10 9NP 24hr Emergency No: 07971 194 042 0208 830 4800 [email protected] [email protected] www.ulasolicitors.com Danny Cash is a life sentenced prisoner Insidetime February 2014 24 Comment www.insidetime.org You are what you hear
To put your question forward write to National Prison Radio, HMP Brixton, LONDON SW2 5XF.
As well as help dealing with life on the inside, Prime Time also looks forward to release. Monday’s edition is called The Future, produced in association with the National Careers Service. It’s all about fixing up your future, giving advice on getting jobs, building careers, dealing with interviews, CV writing, first steps in retraining and every other aspect ccording to a study by the Radio of starting back at work. Advertising Bureau in 2011, listening to the radio doubles We also want to hear your stories from the your levels of happiness. And if world of work - what has been your best job that’s not enough, it also boosts and what was the worst? Ayour energy levels by 300 per cent. National Prison Radio (NPR) is made for And if you’re in one of the prisons across the prisoners by prisoners and is in over 100 Work It Out! country which receive National Prison Radio, prisons across England and Wales. If your you’ll have access to an exclusive radio station, prison has NPR, you can listen through your How prisoners can find work and rebuild on your TV set, which broadcasts programmes TV by using the tuning buttons on your remote control. their future before they are released made by prisoners, for prisoners. Every day of the year, National Prison Radio is NPR brings you informative and entertaining there to provide you with information to help content 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Get ne of the biggest challenges we Part two details the implementation of the you make the most of your time in prison. It’s your day off to a positive start, as Porridge face is to ensure that those who approach and the setting up of Prison Work- only available in prison cells, so it’s designed brings you up beat music, quizzes, the TV are leaving prison do not re- Centres and their role in sentence and especially for you. guide and Prison News from 7am and again at offend. Currently 47.3% of community re-integration planning. 12pm. adults are re-convicted within If you are ready to take control and make the Oone year of being released. For the significant This practical hands on workshop also includes most of your life inside, you should tune in to Other NPR highlights majority of prisoners serving less than twelve case studies and examples to illustrate how Prime Time, every Monday-Thursday at 11am HYPE - broadcast every Tuesday at 8am months, re-conviction rates rise to 56.8% Local Authorities, Charities, Faith Groups and and again at 5pm. and 8pm, a programme made by the (men) and 62% (women). There is a clear Government Agencies are already working young people at HMYOI Hindley which is need for some fresh input. together using Work It Out! to create new Prime Time brings you inspirational stories of aimed squarely at YOs. partnerships and delivery frameworks to help change, discussions about the subjects that Research has shown that people are signifi- those most at risk and vulnerable in local com- are important to you, and practical ways to The Request Show - your chance to hear cantly less likely to re-offend if they have a munities. build a positive life. your favourite songs or get one played for job, education, training or other opportunity a friend inside. To hear your message and at the time of leaving prison. When asked in Individuals no longer need to leave prison The show features regular sessions on request played, write to National Prison 2012 which factors would be most important hopelessly reliant on an outdated and largely improving self confidence from a public Radio, HMP Brixton, London SW2 5XF. in stopping them from re-offending in the ineffective work model. Work It Out! can offer speaking champion, role plays of common future, 68% of prisoners said “having a job.” prisoners a completely new and effective way scenarios in prison to help manage anger NPR Urban, The Love Bug, The Rock However, the changing employment market, to rebuild their lives. What’s more, Work It issues and panic attacks. Show and many more music shows every huge competition for each available job and a Out! can deliver a new support framework to evening from 8pm. For a full list of shows criminal record make that virtually impossible. help ensure that individuals do not put them- If you’re finding prison difficult to understand and times, just turn to the back of Inside A survey by the Chartered Institute of selves in a position where repeat offending is a or cope with, National Prison Radio’s resident Time for the NPR schedule. Personnel and Development showed that viable option. It might just begin to provide prisons expert, Francesca Cooney from the people with a criminal record are part of the the sought after long-term solution to re-of- Prison Reform Trust, makes regular appear- “core jobless group” that 60% of employers fending in the process. ances throughout the month to answer your deliberately exclude when recruiting. questions about your rights in prison. Who is this Workshop for? Work It Out! can offer genuine hope for those The 2 half days are open to all those with a soon to be released. It is the UK’s most keen interest in reducing reoffending and effective ‘back to work’ programme and has helping ex-prisoners to build successful We are local to: HMYOI AYLESBURY & HMPs BULLINGDON, already helped thousands of people (particu- futures. It is especially important for all key GRENDON, WOODHILL, READING and SPRINGHILL but larly those in difficult circumstances) to find personnel involved in running and maintaining work, earn income and rebuild their career. prisons (e.g. Governors, Resettlement Teams Pickup & Scott Solicitors also cover many other prisons. and Sentence Planners) as well as those These special half day workshops on the dates working in the areas of justice and probation. We cover all aspects of Prison Law listed during February 2014 will explain why • Life Sentences • IPPs • Cat A + Re-Cat Work It Out! is so successful and will explore • Parole Hearings • Recalls/Licences • Adjudications how the approach can help those soon to be released from prison. Based on the acclaimed HMYOI Doncaster • VPs • Immigration issues best-selling book ‘Work It Out!’ the day will 10am-1pm, 18th February Please contact: Contact: Anna De La Mare, Harleena Johal-Basi, be divided into two key parts. Alexander Brown or Christopher Holten at: HMP Addiewell Maria Villarico or 1pm - 4pm, 19th February Part one takes delegates through the Work It PICKUPPICKUP & &SCOTT SCOTT SOLICITORSSOLICITORS Out! approach ‘step by step’ to show how 6 Bourbon Street ~ Aylesbury ~ Bucks ~ HP20 2RR prisoners can take important steps towards To book your place call 02841 754777 6 Bourbon Street ~ Aylesbury ~ Bucks ~ HP20 2RR finding sustainable work before they leave or visit www.workitout.info/workcen- 0129601296 397 794794 prison. tres-in-prisons Members of the Association of Prison Lawyers Insidetime February 2014 www.insidetime.org Comment 25
Quote of the Month regardless of whether the Incentives and earned patients have self-infl icted injuries or damaging lifestyles; everyone is entitled to the best privileges update the NHS can deliver. In education, the brightest teachers are health aids, items needed for religious obser- rewarded for going into failing vance, stamped addressed envelopes or schools and taking on the replacement clothes where there is limited or PRISON challenge of the most unruly restricted access to the laundry. children. We value those who Spare a copper for a REFORM We are also very concerned about how the work in the public sector in health new rules impact on people working outside poor legal aid barrister and education but not in law. in the community on release on temporary licence. We are concerned that they may not Alice Thomson TRUST We seem to think that the get hold of enough clothes to keep them The Times January 29 2014 warm during the cold winter weather and poorest and most vulnerable Francesca Cooney have enough appropriate clothes for work After the Second World don’t deserve the best, that they environments. Advice & Information Manager War there was a belief have brought their woes upon Prison Reform Trust themselves and that only those We are encouraging people to let their that there should be free who can pay handsomely merit a e are getting a lot of governors know if they are having diffi culties. access to health, education and queries from people law for everyone. Legal aid was professional hearing. Yet as having diffi culties There is a process for governors to ask head- introduced in 1949 to help those Aristotle says: “The only stable quarters about amending the list. Paragraph because of the new unable to afford representation. state is the one in which all men IEP scheme. The 10.3 in the PSI explains that governors can are equal before the ask the Deputy Director of Custody in their In healthcare we still want NHS PrisonW Service Instruction for the new Incen- law.” tives and Earned Privileges Scheme (PSI area to take this forward. Any requests for consultants to be paid £100,000, 30/2013) was introduced in November amendments can go to NOMS headquarters, 2013 and makes various changes. One to be looked at by the Equality, Rights and important change is that there is a standard- Decency Group. The facilities list will be ised facilities list which applies to all prisons. reviewed annually but if there is a need for This is a list of items that governors can immediate action, they can ask NOMS head- choose from to make a facilities list for their quarters to review it sooner. Instead of fighting the law, prison. Any items that are not on the list are no longer allowed in any prison. Since the introduction of the scheme in why not use the law to help you. November the Prison Reform Trust’s advice We are experts in a range of abuse cases. The rule we are most concerned about at the and information service has responded to moment is that people in prison cannot have many prisoners concerned about its impact You don’t have to feel ashamed and alone. items sent in from families and friends unless on them and their families. We are interested Contact us to get the compensation and in hearing about your experiences of the new there are exceptional circumstances. Previ- treatment you deserve. ously, families were able to send in certain scheme. In particular, please do contact us if allowed items such as paper or pens to help you are fi nding it more diffi cult to stay in people in prison keep in touch with their friends contact with family and friends, to work outside and families. They are also now prevented from on temporary licence or if you have diffi cul- sending books and magazines or additional ties obtaining materials for in cell activities. Abused warm clothes and underwear to the prison. If you have any questions to concerns about The advice team here has also been the IEP scheme or need advice please contact contacted by elderly prisoners and people us. You can contact us at Prison Reform Trust, FREEPOST ND6125 London EC1B 1PN. Angry with disabilities who are unable to work and cannot earn enough money to pay for items Our free information line is open Mondays such as stationery or things to keep them 3.30-7.30 and Tuesday and Thursday 3.30- occupied during the long periods of time 5.30. The number is 0808 802 0060 and they are locked in their cells. Previously the does not need to be put on your pin. families of these prisoners could have sent Ashamed them a pack of cards, board games, books or magazines to give them something to do. Prisoners are now forced to pay for these Aggrieved items or try to obtain them from under-re- sourced prison libraries. Specialists in Under the new rules the prison governor’s Confiscation, Restraint and discretion is limited but it is still up to individ- Enforcement Proceedings 01633 26 10 16 ual governors to decide what counts as 13 Clytha Park Road, Newport, South Wales, NP20 4PB exceptional. This means that it is worth Please contact Ryan Downes Prison visits - Free Legal Advice - Confidentially agreed asking the governor to review what is allowed, if this is causing diffi culties. Items 0115 959 9550 Hornby Baker Jones & Wood Solicitors, SRB Legal and Victorious claims are trading names of Hornby Baker Jones & Wood Law LLP. Registration number OC353053. Authorised and Regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. that could be allowed include disability or 111 Carrington Street Nottingham NG1 7FE Registration number 534302. Insidetime February 2014 26 Comment www.insidetime.org
don’t think I should be in a hostel like that where I’m supervised where I’ve got curfews because, I have done my punishment. I wanted to work and I wasn’t allowed to, you know? And the consequence of it out of my six and a half year sentence is that I’ve done just over No fixed abode five years of my sentence in jail. (Callum, 32) New research published by the Howard League for Penal Reform In contrast, the study found that women had mostly positive views about their hostel expe- explores the key problems faced by homeless people in contact with riences. All were involved in group work activity that focused on women-centred of- the criminal justice system fending-related needs. They have been brilliant. They have helped me get a doctor because I am a drug user, I’ve Jenny Marsden only been clean now two days so they helped me get a script with the doctors and they are Publishing Assistant Editor at the going to help me go on the house search next Howard League for Penal Reform week to get a flat. Yeah, they’ve been great with me. They’ve helped me sort all my benefits out but I know I’m safe and no one can touch he research was undertaken by Dr me here, it’s just nice to feel safe and have Vickie Cooper of Liverpool John somewhere to live for a change. (Belinda, 45) Moores University, who inter- viewed people who were homeless …loads of support like drug councillor and a and had been or were currently key worker and when you sign up to come to Timprisoned. All names of research participants here you do groups every day and it’s like have been changed. stress awareness, anger management, drug awareness … women empowerment, you Participants felt they were discriminated against know about domestic violence and stuff. by the criminal justice system because they Yeah, it’s really, really good. (Natalie, 38) were homeless. Some participants suggested that they were unfairly remanded to custody However, the study also found that women because they did not have accommodation: were moved away from their home areas to be accommodated due to the scarce availabil- I did a four month remand that if I’d have had ity of hostels for women. There are currently an address I wouldn’t have had to have done, six hostels for women, and 94 for men. Moving because I had nowhere to live, there was women to new communities can exacerbate nowhere to bail me too. They always say at feelings of social exclusion and isolation, court … because I don’t have a stable address, trigger emotional distress, and deprive them they say, ‘due to fear of flight, Miss [x] must of feeling that they belong - all of which can be remanded into custody’ for things that I intensify problems associated with offending. wouldn’t be remanded for. I get sentences for things that I wouldn’t get sentences for Then I would have missed summer out again. the Probation Service to allow recall with less The study found that homeless people are because I’m not deemed appropriate for any I would have come out at the same time in bureaucracy, resulted in men being recalled to regarded as ‘risky’ because they have no fixed probation or community sentence orders because winter again in December and what am I prison and becoming ‘stuck’ in the release-re- abode, increasing the likelihood that they will of the fact that I’m homeless. (Shirelle, 36) going to find then? ... It’s been going on for call web of punishment. be remanded in custody pre-trial and under- years and years this now and it’s wearing me mining attempts to resettle and rehouse them Another participant described how he felt down. (Kenny, 45) I got recalled in last January and I was in for post release from prison. Experiences of hostel compelled to lie in court about having an address: five months. I got out, went back to a hostel accommodation were found to be highly The study found that men had negative expe- and this is basically non-residing that I’m gendered. The full report includes a set of rec- I said I was living in the Salvation Army ... I riences of hostel accommodation. Unrealistic coming in for because I don’t want to stay in ommendations for improving the experiences lied to save my own neck basically, so I could expectations placed on residents, restrictions a probation hostel… they are not helping me. of homeless people in the criminal justice stay outside rather than be inside. I would meaning residents were sometimes unable to When people say to me ‘sum it up what it’s system, and is available to download at www. have got six months on the spot otherwise. work, and an increase in the powers given to like there’ I say it’s like a strict open prison. I howardleague.org/publications-resettlement
At Tates we never use unqualified caseworkers. All prison law work is undertaken by a We take pride in providing a full range of criminal and prison law services. qualified solicitor who specialises Prison Law services include: in Prison Law. • Parole Reviews • Re-categorisation • Life Sentence Reviews • Category A Reviews • IPP Reviews • Adjudications • Recall • Home Detention Curfew Tates • Judicial Review 2 Park Square East • Sentence Planning Leeds West Yorkshire If you require assistance with any Prison Law issues, LS1 2NE whether or not listed above, please contact our specialist 0113 242 2290 Prison Law Solicitor - Hannah Rumgay Insidetime February 2014 www.insidetime.org Education 27 Education reduces Free university education, upon release reoffending FutureLearn.com offers free online courses covering a wide range of subjects from some of the leading UK Rod Clark, PET’s Chief Executive, said: “The and international universities Susannah Henty Government has repeatedly said that it will PET Media and Public back what works to reduce reoffending and utureLearn is a new website hosting step at a time so students can fi t learning Affairs Manager this research makes a strong case for more short courses from some of the top around their lives, rather than their lives effort to support prison education. universities worldwide. This new, around learning. The website’s features allow open style of learning could provide social interaction with other learners and lead ver the past 25 years since “A reduction of fi ve to eight percentage points prisoners across the world with a free educators providing learners with plenty of Prisoners Education Trust was es- may not sound like much but with the cost of Fopportunity to learn something new, enhance opportunities to discuss what they have tablished our staff, trustees and crime committed by repeat offenders their CVs or step back into higher education studied, in order to make fresh discoveries and funders have discovered that estimated at up to £13bn it makes a huge dif- upon their release. form new ideas. learning can change a person’s ference both to society and victims. Courses Olife. Now, thanks to new research published on we fund typically cost approximately £250 a The courses, which are mostly six to eight This type of social interaction is central to the 9 January from the Government’s own statisti- piece, which is a minor amount when set weeks long, are available on a wide range of FutureLearn experience, enabling people to cians, we have the evidence to prove that against nearly £37,000 in the annual average topics including literature, history, social learn actively by engaging in conversations people who studied a wide range of distance costs of a prison place. sciences, computing & IT, environment & sus- around the learning material, or vicariously, by learning courses in prison are less likely to tainability, marketing, psychology and physical following discussions. FutureLearn has also reoffend when they are released. “Giving prisoners opportunities to use their science, to name just a few. There are now been designed to work on smart phones, time constructively in prison to develop their over 40 courses on the FutureLearn website to tablets and desktop computers, so that The Ministry of Justice’s Data Lab compared thinking and employment skills through choose from with more being added in the learners can enjoy the same high-quality user the reoffending rates of more than 3,000 self-directed learning is vital if we want to stop coming months and beyond. experience, regardless of the screen size. people supported by PET to study with similar people falling back into a life of crime when prisoners who had not received any help from they leave. With the right support from the FutureLearn is wholly owned by The Open The website went live as an open beta in the charity, using data from the Police National prison system and with a bit of extra money University which has long been working to September 2013, offering free higher Computer. Overall the results found that the we could do a whole lot more.” provide prisoners across the UK with higher education level study to anyone interested in one-year reoffending rate for people who education. In 2012/13 there were nearly learning, including current and prospective received PET’s support was over a quarter The report’s sample included people funded 1,700 people taking Open University courses university students, working professionals and lower at 19% compared to 26% for the by PET to study different courses ranging from while in prison and now prisoners can continue leisure learners and has already attracted matched group and the report said: “This vocational to Open University degrees and their education upon their release for free. visitors from virtually every country in the analysis shows that participating in an inter- also recipients of art and hobby materials. world. vention provided by Prisoners Education Trust Specifi c analysis for some of these course On top of this all courses are delivered one led to a reduction in re-offending of between groups demonstrates conclusively that Open 5 and 8 percentage points.” University courses, creative learning and some further education all had a positive effect in The Ministry of Justice has also studied the reducing reoffending. work of over 40 other projects by different or- ganisations. Of those held exclusively in custody, Contact us if you have any questions about PET is the fi rst organisation to have statistically this or anything else at: FREEPOST PRISONERS signifi cant reduction on reoffending rates. EDUCATION TRUST or tel: 020 8648 7760. Looking For money To heLP you move Repairing accident damage Forward? Anthony writes:
“I came to prison with very few formal qual- As the course progressed, my confi dence ifi cations; like many others in prison I have and competence increased. Every day, I was The Prisoner Funder negative experiences of school which left me learning new things and felt I was making feeling that formal study was not for me, and progress. The instructor was very qualifi ed always thought vocational training would be and experienced, and tried as much as possible much better suited to my interests and to run the workshop as an outside body shop Directory learning style. would. This created an environment where it was easy to forget I was in prison, and time 2014 After arriving at a category C prison, I had an really fl ew past. I found myself disappointed appointment with a career advisor to discuss when Friday came, and spent the weekend what I intended to do in prison and upon my looking forward to Monday when I could get release. I was told the prison was starting a back and learn more. Light Vehicle Body Repair Course, which would involve learning to repair and re-paint The physical skills I learned were invaluable: cars that had accident damage. I had never welding, metal fabrication, applying and tried anything like this before, but it sounded shaping various repair materials, removing useful and challenging, so I applied and was and refi tting components, masking, and lucky enough to receive a place on the 6 spray painting. However, the course gave month long course. me so much more than these. It improved my patience, focus, determination, problem The Prisoner Funder Directory 2014 should Before long I started to learn about the solving, and reasoning skills, among many be in your library. Ask to see a copy today! various tools and equipment. The instructor other things. After completing the course, I always found time to explain things fully and received two separate diplomas, one for If it’s not, please ask the librarian to email: demonstrate until I understood, which was repair work and the other for refi nishing already completely different from my (spray painting), accredited by the Institute [email protected] for 2 free copies. previous experiences of learning. of the Motor Industry. Insidetime February 2014 28 SCOTTISH FOCUS www.insidetime.org
Award, the Platinum Award from Koestler for Magazine Journalism and a Gold Award for NEWSROUND EDUCATION Graphic Design. In December, The Glasgow Herald Society awarded Stir with the Life inside is better Prison magazine ‘Education Initiative of the year 2013’. The publication is improving as we go along. It than out causes a stir is good to give other prisoners the opportunity to express themselves. Whatever form of art The study by Glasgow University academics by Jok you try: painting, writing, crafts, they all help found men serving more than four years you pass the time constructively. accept their sentences as part of a wider coping strategy and “keep their head” in jail, I first went to jail in the early nineties. We only but once released struggle to find work and Rat infestation had £4.50 wages and £2.50 PPC per week tend to be isolated in their homes. and the phone rates were high, so in order to communicate with my family and friends More than £300k is to be spent in a bid to get outside I had to learn how to write letters. I Author of the report Dr Marguerite Schinkel, rat infestation under control in Scottish could read and write, but hadn’t done much at of Glasgow University, said: “One of the main prisons. The cash will be spent trying to kill off school. recommendations of the research is that the pests as well as subjecting prison buildings to a Rehabilitation of Offenders Act is reviewed, so deep clean. Many of the Scottish Prison There were no TV’s in jail back then and the full disclosure is not necessary for all jobs, and Service’s 17 jails date from the Victorian era only escape was reading books. I used books even long-term sentences are spent after a and are difficult to keep in good repair, to learn how to write better, by picking apart period of time. providing an ideal home for rats. every sentence and paragraph and chapter.
“The main problem for those on licence was In 2008, Barlinnie jail in Glasgow was revealed I decided to start writing short stories to finding work. Most wanted to achieve normal as the most infested jail, needing 224 visits entertain my pals. Many years later I learned life as quickly as possible, with a family, house from pest controllers at a cost of £20,000 in that writing down my painful experiences was and job. But finding employment with a one year. In the past the SPS revealed the a very good way to heal the pain and get rid criminal record in an economic downturn was most common pests were ants, silverfish, of negativity. difficult. This left them without anything to do mice, bluebottles, wasps, pigeons, cockroach- during the day, meaning they spent more time es and rats. In 2002 I was sentenced to life with a minimum on their own in their flat.” twenty years. Since that time, I’ve never been given any constructive activity or encourage- A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: Concern over prison ment from the Prison Service. “It is vitally important that we continue to In 2012 New College Lanarkshire started a Most of us inside only speak to a small number support offenders beyond the prison gates, ‘suicides’ of friends, often about the same things year help them reintegrate into the community and project in the education department here in Shotts Prison. They encouraged the creation after year and our communication skills are prevent reoffending. We have already been The prison service has been urged to do more harmed as a result. Working on the magazine working to identify the best ways to do this. of an art magazine, made by prisoners for to detect early warning signs of mental ill prisoners. A college lecturer asked me to get allows us the opportunity to interact with a health among prisoners after it was revealed number of people from outside and that helps “The rules governing how prisoners should tell involved and I said no. there have been 28 apparent suicides in Scot- us maintain our ability to express ourselves people about their convictions is important as land’s jails over the past three years. The lecturer would not take no for an answer and communicate. The skills we learn from they seek to reintegrate into communities and she eventually persuaded me to help out producing a magazine: graphic design, upon release. That is why we issued a discus- with some work on the magazine. In all my desktop publishing, Photoshop, other IT skills, sion paper on how the Rehabilitation of Official Scottish Prison Service (SPS) figures years locked up, I had never been asked to do literacy, admin and other jobs such as working Offenders Act 1974 might be modernised collated by the Scottish Liberal Democrats anything constructive or rewarding. That all to a deadline, and making a constructive con- over the summer.” showed there were 13 apparent suicides in changed when I joined the Stir editorial team. tribution in a group, can all become transfera- 2010/11, eight in 2011/12, and seven in ble to our lives when outside. 2012/13. All but one of these were male Stir publishes artwork from inmates in seven prisoners, and only two of the total of 28 were Scottish prisons: Barlinnie, Cornton Vale, The most rewarding aspect of the magazine is placed on the SPS’s suicide prevention strategy, Dumfries, Glenochil, Greenock, Low Moss, that publishing people’s work lets their voices ACT 2 care. and Shotts. In Shotts we have an editorial be heard from the depths of their imprison- team who choose the content and work on ment and that is empowering. Figures also showed there had been 61 the magazine design and each of the other We can only hope that more projects like Stir attempted suicide incidents over the same prisons has their own local editorial team. are started in many other establishments. If three-year period. Since 2012, we have published six issues. Stir you would like to see copies of Stir magazine has won the Scottish Magazine’s Chairman’s please ask someone to visit, stirmagazine.org Prisoners offered Fonesavvy - telesales jobs the brainchild Craiginches prison of a former Prisoners at HMP Grampian, due to open in prisoner. closes doors March, are to be offered the opportunity to A perfect solution for mobile phone users work in an employability, recruitment and wishing to reduce costs for callers ABERDEEN’S Craiginches Prison - where the telemarketing contact centre, operated by the Upon his release, what started last man to be hanged for murder in Scotland n-ergy group, a vocational training and em- as a business plan created in lies buried - has closed its doors for the last ployment company which specialises in All our packages are Pay-As-You-Go. a prison cell became a reality helping prisoners to develop their skills prior to - the only service of its kind. time. No minimum term or hidden charges! being released. Now Fonesavvy customers No mystifying bundles! The prison, once one of the most overcrowd- throughout the UK receive The telemarketing contact centre is to be es- ed jails in Scotland, is being closed as part of No catches or gimmicks! calls from people in prisons tablished within a specially created enterprise and many other situations plans for the new £140 million “super jail” wing behind the prison walls. It is the first time A simple solution tailored to individual requirements. where keeping the callers’ call HMP Grampian which will open in March in such an enterprise partnership has been estab- charge to a minimum is vital. Peterhead. lished by the Scottish Prison Service. No restrictions for prisoners in Scotland The prison was originally designed to hold 154 Up to twelve prisoners are expected to initially www.fonesavvy.co.uk for more info..... or Northern Ireland inmates but, at its peak, was being used to in- be offered work at the centre but the total carcerate more than 250 prisoners. could increase to 36 in the future. Insidetime February 2014 www.insidetime.org SCOTTISH FOCUS 29 Appealing a long prison sentence There are a number of issues specific to those unfortunate enough to find themselves serving a sentence of four years or more and here I will cover some of the most important ones as space allows matters to arm yourself with the necessary advice/information. ADVICE Supreme Court of the UK by Susan Rhodes If your efforts to Appeal have failed, it may - dependent on your case - be possible to take Rhodes and Co your case to this ‘The Highest’ Court in the UK (based in London) to try and get a ruling in your favour. You need to seek leave of the High Court Trial High Court within 28 days of your Appeal Firstly, I will take you back one step to the being refused. Even if leave is not granted you process which saw you sentenced. I cannot can proceed to make a direct written Applica- stress enough how important it is to get ‘the tion to the Supreme Court as in our case of right man/woman for the job’. As someone who specifically deals not only with these ‘Robert Duncan’, once more you should matters but also subsequent Appeals where ensure that you seek expert advice to give others have dealt with the Trial, I can tell you yourself the best opportunity of success. that just about every Appellant I deal with feels that they have not had adequate rep- Parole Application/Tribunal resentation and produce a list as to what Once you have exhausted all other areas - if, “went wrong”. It is extremely important to of course, you dispute either your conviction get it right the first time around as once you or sentence - your final option of securing are stuck with that conviction it is inordinately your freedom sooner rather than later is difficult to overturn it - frustrating but true. through the Parole process. It is important you present as someone who has addressed the The Criminal Court of Appeal is not another issues which led you to offend - if indeed you Trial and to successfully succeed on the basis admit your offences... On this note there is a of “defective representation” - colloquially common misconception that if you deny your referred to as “Anderson” grounds (following offence/s you cannot progress nor attain open on from the case of Anderson which laid the conditions. Lack of acceptance as to your ground rules - Anderson v HM Advocate 1996 offence/s is only one factor and if you are JC 29) - is excessively difficult. In short you advised that that in itself means you cannot must have given direct and clear instructions progress/obtain release then you are being which your legal team ignored/failed to follow wrongly advised. The Parole Board considera- and which resulted in your defence not UK Supreme Court tions centre around ‘can your risk be managed reaching the jury. There must also be objective in the Community’ from a ‘public protection’ support as to this. lawyer... I went with what they said”, they B. In a number of cases an OLR is an overly perspective. I have Applicants in open condi- may not be able to do much more given how restrictive and excessive sentence which offers tions and indeed have secured release for indi- Following on from the Anderson case there high the threshold is to succeed. no chance of progress/release; however for viduals who are still trying to clear their name have been a number of other cases which the first time a prisoner was released in through the legal process. have narrowed further the possibility of suc- Order for Lifelong Restriction (OLR) December, 2013. We would stress however ceeding on such a ground and so it is important I could have written the entire article - and that there were very specific circumstances that you think extremely carefully as to who indeed filled the newspaper - on this specific particular to this case and as such it is unlikely In closing, the best advice I can offer you is to deals with your Trial and if a first offender you topic! Suffice to say that these are changing to have far reaching implications for others. make sure that those that you instruct - do not have to simply stick with the assigned and indeed exciting times for such prisoners whatever it is you seek to achieve - have the ‘duty’ Solicitor - whilst they maybe have the for a number of reasons including:- C. Another first for OLR prisoners - we i.e. necessary knowledge and expertise in that experience and knowledge you require, myself and experienced Junior and Senior specific area in order to increase your chances equally they may have little previous expertise A. The case of “Balfour and Others” - put Counsel appealed Mohammed Akram’s con- of a positive outcome and limit future regrets. as to the specific issues in a case such as yours shortly this is a group of cases heard in the viction successfully in December, 2013 making - it is always worth checking. As stated above, Appeal Court at the end of November 2013 him the first OLR prisoner to have his convic- once convicted it is an uphill struggle to which is due to have a decision issued shortly tion quashed (06/12/13). Clearly this is an The views expressed in this article are my own overcome it and whilst your Appeal Solicitor and which has potential implications for all area of law in a state of flux and it is important and you should seek advice specific to your can empathise when you say “they are the OLR prisoners. you contact a Solicitor experienced in such particular circumstances. J C HUGHES Scottish Solicitors WRONGLY SENTENCE All Criminal Cases CONVICTED EXCESSIVE • Serious and Complex Crime • Parole Board Hearings ? ? ? ? • Recalls and Appeals Susan Rhodes Write to: J C H u g h e s ‘ F r e e p o s t ’ G l a s g o w Rhodes & Co (no stamp required) Office 14, 17 Union Street, Dundee DD1 4BG or Call us FREE on 01382 646 145 0 8 0 0 2 7 9 3 0 9 0 20 years experience specialising in High Court Trials, Parole Prisoners in Scotland Only and Tribunal Matters in prisons throughout Scotland CONTACT ME NOW FOR AN IMMEDIATE RESPONSE….IT’S NEVER TOO LATE FOR JUSTICE TIP THE SCALES OF JUSTICE IN YOUR FAVOUR
WRONGLY SENTENCE CONVICTED EXCESSIVE ? ? ? ?
Susan Rhodes Rhodes & Co Office 14, 17 Union Street, Dundee DD1 4BG 01382 646 145 20 years experience Specialising in Appeals (including ‘Late’ Appeals) Parole and Tribunal Matters in prisons throughout Scotland
CONTACT ME NOW FOR AN IMMEDIATE RESPONSE….
IT’S NEVER TOO LATE FOR JUSTICE Insidetime February 2014 30 Drink and Drug www.insidetime.org
low’ figures for young people needing help Inside Drink and Drugs News In the news… for heroin or cocaine - 175 and 245 respec- tively - were offset by increasing numbers having problems with amphetamines, mephedrone Drink and Drugs News (DDN) is the monthly magazine and other new psychoactive substances. for those working with drug and alcohol clients, ...... including in prisons. In a regular bi-monthly column, l Upgrade ketamine, says ACMD editor Claire Brown looks at what’s been happening Ketamine should be upgraded from a class C lately in the substance misuse field to class B drug, the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) has recommended. The recommendation follows increasing he world’s rapidly changing drug fatalities that are picked up by the media. evidence of bladder damage caused by market is proving hard to keep up Many stimulants cause heart problems and frequent use of the drug, says ACMD, as well with. According to investigative substances like ketamine are becoming as the growing numbers of people seeking journalist Mike Powers, it’s easy infamous for their link to bladder damage. treatment for ketamine-related problems - with the slightest bit of online l up from just over 100 to more than 800 in Government reviews ‘legal highs’ the five years to 2010/11. know-how to order any drug you want on the Ramsey’s work with TICTAC Communications, The government is to review the laws relating T ...... internet and get it delivered right to your door. a commercial company that’s part of St to new psychoactive substances, the Home George’s, University of London, involved col- Office has announced, in a bid to ‘clamp down In an article in the latest issue of DDN, author lecting samples from different sources. As well on the trade in potentially fatally drugs’. The Max Daly explained that drug manufacturers as those given to them by police and border review will have input from ‘law enforce- are finding it easy to stay ahead of the law by forces, they analyse the contents of amnesty ment, science, health and academia’ and tweaking the chemical make-up of substances bins at nightclubs and festivals such as Glas- study international and other evidence, with and branding them ‘not for human consump- tonbury - where it’s usually ‘MDMA, cannabis, findings to be presented in the spring. ‘The tion’, so they are not classed as medicines and cocaine - the usual suspects’. They also test coalition government is determined to clamp not tested as such. This has opened the door drugs from online shops, buying them with a down on the reckless trade in so-called “legal for widespread use of various synthetic can- credit card like any other customer. highs”, which has tragically already claimed nabinoids, hallucinogens and stimulants, with the lives of far too many young people in our country,’ said crime prevention minister one of the most popular ‘legal highs’ at the Recently they have been carrying out waste Norman Baker. l Opium production up moment being nitrous oxide, or laughing gas. water analysis to detect drugs in the sewage ...... Opium production in the ‘Golden Triangle’ of treatment works and have been finding me- l Fewer young people in treatment Myanmar, Thailand and Laos rose by 22 per Researcher Dr Newcombe says that the phedrone and most other drugs in the samples, cent in 2013, according to the United Nations Just over 20,000 under-18s received help for number of Google search results for the with sharp peaks in MDMA (ecstasy) use at Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Pro- drug and alcohol problems in 2012-13, phrase ‘buy legal highs’ is now seven million, weekends. TICTAC also installs public urinals duction has now been increasing for seven according to figures from Public Health with new drugs being created as fast as in places like Liverpool Street Station, so they consecutive years, says Southeast Asia opium England (PHE), down more than 600 from existing ones are banned. The real downside can carry out anonymous, non-attributable survey 2013, and rose by more than 25 per the previous year. More than 13,500 sought to this is that the online drug buyer has no analysis to see what’s being used when. cent in Myanmar, the world’s second largest help for cannabis as their main problem drug, idea what they are buying and no clue as to grower of opium poppies after Afghanistan. and more than 4,700 for alcohol, while ‘historic how dangerous it could be. Analysis of one ‘The new drugs are present in all the urine ‘Rockstar’ ecstasy pill showed that it contained samples we’ve tested,’ says Ramsey. ‘We’ve 11 different drugs. never tested a public urinal that doesn’t have one of the new compounds in. The next move, Newcombe suggested, was to Straightforward advice use the knowledge of those who use legal Most of these new compounds are coming from professional solicitors highs - the very people whose bodies are from China, he believes, a theory backed up being used as human guinea pigs - to inform by TICTAC’s work with the UK Border Agency policy-making and drug services. looking at importations from Shanghai into Heathrow. Having said that, people get their In the same issue of DDN, our reporter David drugs from wherever they can, he adds. ‘It’s a Inside & Out Gilliver interviewed analytical chemist Dr John free market, so people will just buy the stuff Ramsey and asked him about his work where they can get it cheapest.’ compiling information about drugs - including We’re on your side new psychoactive substances - into a huge drinkanddrugsnews.com database that’s used by both the health and criminal justice sectors. To order copies of Drink and Drugs News t: 020 7463 2085 Canter Levin & Berg are specialists in Criminal Defence Analysing the compounds reveals their scope e: [email protected] & Prison Law, we’re here to help you while you are in prison. for long-term harm, he said, aside from the • Adjudication • Confiscations and • Licence Recall Proceeds of Crime GET OUT OF JAIL FREE!!! 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Judicial Review Criminal Law/Appeals (Nationwide) Complaints Police Interviews Appeals Court Advocacy Parole Appeals Against Sentence Or write to us: Criminal Case Review Commission Even as a serving prisoner you Call Us On Darren Jones Please Contact: still have rights and we will do our best to protect and advance Canter Levin & Berg, Caroline Downs - Solicitor Advocate (All Higher Courts) 08000 223 133 3 Rosehill Business Centre, those rights. 1 Temple Square, 24 Dale Street, Normanton Road, Derby DE23 6RH 11 The Pavement, Popes Lane, www.canter-law.co.uk Liverpool, L2 5RL PIN 01332 916003 Gaza & Gully Ealing, London W5 4NG Insidetime February 2014 Maintaining Innocence www.insidetime.org 31
In July 2011, Newby filed an official complaint about the CCRC’s inaction, pointing out (among other things) that its apparent view Bob Woffinden writes... that a lump on the forehead could miraculous- ly appear and disappear was ‘absurd’. Leading investigative journalist Bob Woffinden looks at two cases of sustained failure in the criminal justice system Finally, in 2012, the case was referred. In December 2013, after this astonishing seven- teen-year saga of gross professional failings, justice was achieved. t is axiomatic that if there had been a On 15 September, police arrested Victor no DNA evidence found’. seventeen-year history of professional Nealon, a postman to whom none of those The CCRC might now like to take the lessons incompetence in, say, a National Health identifying features applied. This was untrue. It was a grievous mistake that it has, we hope, learned from this case, and or social services matter, then there was to cost Nealon another fourteen years of apply them to the Andrew Malkinson case, would have been a media hue and cry, He immediately agreed to give samples for his life. which is another conviction for sexual assault Iand interventions by politicians, and official DNA elimination and to stand on an identifica- and has also been previously highlighted in inquiries, and dire consequences for those tion parade. Blame for all that he has suffered also lies, of Inside Time. deemed to have failed in their responsibilities. course, with the intrinsically irrational policy Heads would certainly roll. The victim’s friend did not identify Nealon, administered by the prison service that those It is another in which the CCRC has so far and the victim herself did not bother to attend who continue to protest their innocence - failed to act. There are two astonishing In other professional spheres - retailing, for the parade. There was no scientific evidence even in cases as clearly flawed as this one - parallels in these cases: first of all, the readiness example - it is inconceivable that there could of any kind. Nevertheless, the Crown Prosecu- must constitute a danger to the public and of both Nealon and Malkinson to volunteer be such a history of incompetence, merely tion Service somehow imagined that it was in should not be released. DNA samples was used against them at trial by because the retailer would have failed and the public interest to send the case to trial. the prosecution as “evidence” that the gone out of business. In time, Nealon found a highly competent defendant, being the attacker, knew that he Nealon was convicted. One of the factors that solicitor, Mark Newby. I wrote an article for had left no incriminating scientific deposits. (In Everything is very different in the criminal undoubtedly led to the conviction was the use Inside Time, explaining why the case was a fact, it is contrary to any notion of a fair trial justice system where, it seems, sustained of ambush evidence by the prosecution. This miscarriage of justice. As a result, Inside Time that prosecutors are allowed to get away with failure is unlikely to attract any sanction cast doubt on Nealon’s alibi that, at the time was contacted and we were given the probable such rhetorical nonsense). whatever. As yet, there have been no calls for of the attack, he was at home watching videos name of the attacker, someone who had both inquiries into the case of Victor Nealon, whose with his partner and her daughter. (The a Scottish accent and a prominent lump on his Secondly, in both cases a conviction that 1997 conviction for sexual assault was evidence concerned a dispute over which films forehead and who was at the time in a Scottish should have been based on scientific evidence quashed in December last year, despite the they were watching; the prosecution had not prison. That was six years ago. was instead based on identification evidence. egregious shortcomings of almost all of those disclosed a statement from the Blockbuster This evidence itself was, however, obtained in professionally involved: West Mercia police, store manager and, by only tendering it at the Newby quickly established from the police the most dubious circumstances. In Nealon’s the Crown Prosecution Service, the defence last moment, gave the defence no opportunity that clothing in the case was never sent for case, one of the witnesses was “beckoned (at trial), the prison service and especially - to deal with the evidence). testing; and the Forensic Science Service over” by a police officer and subsequently since it’s supposed to be their job to clear up confirmed to him that no clothes had been changed his evidence; in the Malkinson case, the mess left behind by everyone else - the Nealon’s appeal was dismissed in January submitted for examination. similarly, one key witness spoke to an officer Criminal Cases Review Commission. 1998, but by then the CCRC had been set up after the parade and changed her identifica- and he was one of the early applicants. It was If only the CCRC had done its job eleven years tion. The case began on 9 August 1996 with an al- hardly a taxing case; obviously, the twin pillars earlier… legation of sexual assault by a woman who of concern were seriously questionable identi- There are two final points about the Nealon had just left Rackets night-club in Redditch, fication evidence and the complete absence of So Newby now got the clothes tested. The case. Firstly, the CPS could have graciously Worcestershire, with a friend. The woman forensic science evidence. forensic science report, dated 28 May 2010, conceded the appeal. It did not. Instead, it was resisted her attacker and, as her friend ran for confirmed that there was no scientific evidence contested. The CPS suggested that the DNA assistance, he broke off and ran away. The CCRC dismissed Nealon’s applications in that Nealon was involved. It also revealed, on could have been deposited by a shop assistant. 1999-2001 and again in 2002. The Commis- parts of the clothing where one would have Presumably, it will not be advancing this However, a number of people had already sion told his lawyers, somewhat patronisingly, expected the attacker’s DNA to be found, the argument in other cases of sexual assault that observed him, either in the night-club or the that, ‘As is usual in cases of physical assault, presence of DNA from an unknown male. it is prosecuting. immediate area. He was wearing a garish shirt, [the victim’s] clothing was submitted for spoke with a Scottish accent and, in what forensic examination’, and then concluded its One would have thought that this was the Secondly, when Nealon’s appeal was heard, he should have been a gift to investigators, he analysis by flatly stating that, ‘Forensic tests time for real urgency. Unfortunately, carpe was 185 miles away in Wakefield prison. He had a prominent lump on his forehead. were carried out on all the clothes seized, but diem is not a hallowed phrase at CCRC towers. was deprived of his moment in the spotlight Newby’s striking achievement in establishing on the steps of the Royal Courts of Justice. the innocence of his client beyond reasonable This may be a very minor scandal at the end of doubt met only with further resistance. a litany of scandals, but it is a scandal never- theless. In their continued procrastination, the CCRC rundlewalker set about trying to establish whose DNA the The appeal court judges, who made a point of unknown male’s could be, and consulted the saying that they had read the case papers very victim. It should be pointed out at this stage thoroughly beforehand, must have known • Confiscation Orders that the victim had not previously been highly that there was a good chance that he would thought of. The Court of Appeal judges were be freed. Yet he was allowed to appear only by • Personal Injury certainly unimpressed with her, given that videolink. Everything that for years he had • Sexual Abuse Claims some of her testimony had been influenced by dreamed of saying on the steps of the Royal “dreams”. Courts would remain unsaid.
Free Initial Advice ‘We accept’, Lord Justice Rose had said, ‘that It seems to me that one’s natural rights include Legal Aid - No Win No Fee Contact us today: the complainant’s account grew somewhat not just having an appeal but also being able to attend it. Call Freephone: Rundlewalker Solicitors, more graphic as time went on.’ The Gallery, The Quay, 0800 0152568 Kings Wharf, Exeter, So another year passed. The CCRC asserted Publicly, the Ministry of Justice would no Devon, EX2 4AN that it was ‘carrying out its statutory function doubt maintain that they were saving costs. As 01392 209209 of determining whether the statutory test is we all know, there is an ulterior motive. The www.rundlewalker.com [email protected] met’. Everyone involved with the defence, government’s real objective is to inhibit em- however, believed that the test already had barrassing publicity - an objective that, sad to been met. report, was effectively achieved. Insidetime February 2014 32 Short Story www.insidetime.org
he’d have to do better than that if he wanted rid of her this time. When it came to stubbornly pursuing futility, she knew she had him beat.
A brief glance up at the impenetrable, unhurried clouds was enough to blink away her uncharacteristic slip. Coolly, steadily, she talked him through her day. The mundane; she’d tried that caramel coffee he’d suggested. The one he said was Rinn-coloured. The ex- traordinary; her fingers didn’t hurt today. First time since the surgery. The same old; hypo- chondriac mother was on another guilt inducing tirade this morning. The news; she was speaking to her daughter’s father again.
By the time she’d finished talking, her cross-legged shadow stretched out in front of her like some freakish yogi. She tried to © Deposit Photos remember the name of that stupid game he liked, with the elastic Indian man. For a split Inside Time is publishing a second she felt that if she could recall that one selection of award winners of little detail, she could draw him out of his awful, enraging quiet. She sighed, mostly dis- the Prison Reform Trust’s 2013 appointed in herself for daring to hope. writing competition. Keeping in Today we publish one of the Not that she really had to hear what he thought. She knew that already - didn’t even joint 2nd prize winners of the need to see his face to read the expression short story category, Keeping there. ‘I told you it was better than your usual By CZ shit’ to the coffee. A vulgar joke about her in Touch, by CZ. The judges Touch newly healed hand. Pithy, easier-said-than- Michael Morpurgo and Rachel done ‘advice’ on her mother. Disgusted, snarled vitriol for her former beau. Fifty/fifty Billington said it was “well inn could never look directly at him Before, she could barely get him to shut up. chance on whether he’d make the effort and these days. It was too hard to ignore He’d yammer away like another kid, vying attempt to spare her feelings with that last constructed, the surprise was how much had changed when she desperately for her undivided attention. Now one. It was an eternal enigma to her how did. So she sat down on the grass well kept to the end.” it was the opposite. She’d give anything for somebody so predictable could be simultane- beside where he was laying. him to be the one to open a conversation. ously so surprising. R Even if it was just another one of his exagger- ated, borderline-fabricated interpretations of The marble headstone poured the day’s stored his experiences. He’d tell them with such ridic- heat into her hand as she used it to get to her ulous sincerity that she sometimes fancied he feet. Her legs had fallen asleep and now they actually believed them. Her daughter (whom tingled as the blood rushed its way back solicitors he insisted on nicknaming, as the name Rinn through them. had chosen for her was not to his liking) certainly did. Pia, as he called her, would never “I wanted to bring Pia today but she’s still sleep for fear of monsters. But then he’d convinced you’re off fighting cyclopses, you assured her, in his irresistibly persuasive stupid asshole.” manner, that all the evil beasts of her imagina- Legal aid tion were much too afraid of him to bother As she brushed her fingertips over the carved her. Since then, nothing would rouse her once letters that spelled out his name, she realised she’d nodded off. she was smirking. Even while she traced the date he’d betrayed all their teenage promises has changed... Some of his stories he’d repeated often of invincibility and immortality, her smile enough that she found her own memories remained. Uncanny how he always effaced muddled. His outrageous interpretations over- sadness and distracted from depression. Espe- ...but we haven’t. writing the past, colouring her perceptions cially now. even when she had been present for the actual events he pretended to recount. Maybe she The feeling returned to her legs, she leant over secretly preferred the garish dressings he and kissed the corner of his gravestone, saying Give our experienced draped over the bleached bones of the truth, goodbye. She’d never kissed him while he was preferred his childish outlook to cold, unsym- alive but he’d joked about her lips before and Prison Law Team a call pathetic reality. Boy, could she use some of now it seemed like a fitting gesture. In any that now. That conversation wasn’t going to case, it had become an integral part of the on 0151 200 4071 to start itself, was it? regular ritual now. Twisting a brittle strand of dried grass in her “I’ll keep in touch”, she promised. find out how the changes fingers, she lamented aloud. “You better”, he’d have replied. Or “Take care”. affect you. “I love you so much I hate you, y’know that?” “You can’t keep away”, maybe. The sound of her voice surprised her. Thick, That puzzle always occupied her mind during Email: [email protected] Web: www.rmnj.co.uk laden with emotion. The fat tears falling the walk back down the hill. She still hadn’t around her fingers surprised her still more. 63 Hamilton Square, Birkenhead, Wirral CH41 5JF quite decided on today’s response by the time Rinn was never one for crying. His reply didn’t she’d turned the key in the ignition and shock her. Silence. Goddamned silence. Well, brought her dormant car to life. Insidetime February 2014 www.insidetime.org Thought for the day 33
on forgiveness and is by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and his daughter. I strongly recommend this book. Both Desmond and his daughter have suffered terrible wrongs in From over the wall their time but have been able to forgive. In a later column I will speak more about what Terry Waite writes his monthly column for Inside Time they say. They do make the very strong point that forgiveness is not a soft option and is never easy but it is healing. Well, on the I turned to the service sheet and there were a moving address. Jim is a remarkable man night of the Service in the Abbey Jim had the printed the names of the 270 men women and who fi rmly believes, as do many others, that courage and common sense to speak about children who had died on that terrible night. the Libyan National, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi The man sitting next to me had travelled, forgiveness and not only speak but demon- Terry Waite CBE along with many others, from the United was wrongly convicted for this crime. You strate it in his own life. It takes a big man to States with his wife who had lost her sister in may remember that he was sentenced and did do that. At the end of the evening we ust a few days before Christmas I stood the disaster. There were others who were the time before being released on compassionate lingered awhile in the ancient Abbey, all of in the wind and the rain waiting for the relatives of whole families who had been grounds. He returned to Libya where two us in one way or another touched by gates to to be opened and admit a wiped out - mother, father and children. The years and nine months later he died of cancer. suffering. I came away determined to do group of several hundred people. We service began and for me the most poignant Jim has campaigned vigorously for a re-exam- what little I could to make this world a better had all gathered on this particular moment was when the names of each person ination of the whole case. place realising that my contribution is but a eveningJ to remember a tragic event. All of us who had died was read out. What sadness. drop in the ocean. So, we left the Church to standing in the cold remembered the 21st I have just written a foreword to a new book face another year. I hope it will be good for December 1988 when the small town of by Dr Morag Kerr in which she takes to pieces you and that in 2014 we might meet on one Lockerbie in Scotland became a scene of the evidence presented at the trial. Of course of my visits to prisons in the UK. Even carnage and bodies rained from the sky as there are many conspiratorial theories sur- better,on your release! If you need forgive- Pan Am 103 exploded. An old man in a ness I hope you receive it and if you need to wheelchair sat patiently waiting to gain entry rounding Lockerbie and frankly I don’t know to the Church and the guardian of the gates what to believe. However, I really have my forgive others remember that in so doing responded to my request and let him into the doubts about the safety of Megrahi’s convic- you are also helping yourself. Abbey early. I suppose the Church was not tion. After the service Jim told me that he had quite ready for people to enter but I must received letters in the past saying that the May the coming year be as happy as possible admit that I felt it somewhat hard that those writers hoped that Megrahi should be denied for you. who had come to pay their respects were left pain relievers and hoping that he might die in standing on such a cold evening. Finally, the agony. Jim commented that he could under- Terry Waite was a successful hostage gates swung open and we entered. The stand the bitterness shown in the letters but it negotiator before he himself was held Church was decorated in preparation for the captive in Beirut between 1987 and 1991 was destroying those who held it. Christmas celebrations and was bright and (more than 20 years ago). He was held warm. Seats had been arranged so that captive for 1763 days; the fi rst four years people could sit on either side of the aisle Dr Jim Swire (pictured), a friend of mine and As he spoke I remembered another book for of which were spent in solitary confi ne- facing each other. one who lost his daughter in the disaster gave which I have just written an endorsement. Its ment. FIGHTING FOR YOU and for your family FIRSTDEFENCE • Parole Applications • Recall Appeals • Lifer/Cat ‘A’ Reviews • Sentence Planning/Progression • Adjudications • Home Detention Curfew • Recategorisation • Sentence Calculations • Appeals against Sentence and Conviction FIRSTFAMILY • Divorce • Care Proceedings • Contact with Children • Custody • Ancillary Relief FIRSTIMMIGRATION • Asylum • Representation at Tribunal • Overstayer • Judicial Reviews LAW The First Law Partnership 30-32 Bromham Road Bedford MK40 2QD 01234 263 263 Insidetime February 2013 34 Family Welfare www.insidetime.org
it was a voluntary scheme, we didn’t need to This should really have been in the Christmas report it or have him breached. Our volunteers issue of Inside Time, but I missed the just told him that they’d missed him and told deadline. That’s the trouble with real life him he needed to keep his side of the bargain stories. They don’t always fit deadlines. We or they’d go and support someone else who don’t always get it right first time. wanted it. They’re caring people, but they treated him like the adult he is. They respected So I’m just sharing Terry’s story. It is his story. him, and so he respected them back. After a Everyone has their own story and this might Alive or might not seem relevant to you. I suppose bumpy couple of weeks, he met with the vol- unteers as a group every week, and was in I just want to share it with you because I contact almost every day. Things started hope it might be good to know that there looking up. He got on a course, got somewhere are ‘ordinary’ people who thought, and still to live. Then he got breached for something think, Terry was basically a great guy who he did. He didn’t contact us, so we wrote to was worth spending some time with. Even him, and offered to link up with him again though he didn’t think so himself, and even when he came out. He told us that he hadn’t though he’d done a lot of stuff he wished he contacted the volunteers because he had felt hadn’t. And I know you probably see all the ‘embarrassed’, and that he’d let them down. miserable statistics about re-offending, and Next time he came out of prison, there were maybe you think that you are a statistic too? two of his support volunteers there at the Terry used to think that too. But he’s not. gate. ‘It was like seeing old friends’ he said. And neither are you. I hope Terry’s story They went for a cup of tea and a fry up and gives you a bit more hope today. Terry is talked about what he hoped might happen alive and kicking and life is good. this time. ‘I got a bike now, cycling everywhere, discov- Anyway, a year down the line, things are good ering all these interesting places I never knew Pact is a national for Terry. He had just enjoyed a birthday party Andy Keen-Downs existed’, he says. charity which supports Chief Executive of Pact and was on his way to a Christmas party. ‘It is people affected by the first one I can remember for a long long When I first met Terry, he had just come out of imprisonment. We time’ he said. ‘I used to think life without Brixton. He was on a methadone prescription, provide practical and drugs was too hard, or just too boring, or erry popped in to see me just homeless, jobless, and had no contact with his emotional support to whatever. Now I am enjoying the most simple prisoners’ children and families, and to before Christmas. He was cele- family. He had been in prison over 20 times, basic things in life like I never thought was prisoners themselves. brating being out and being and told me that he was often surprised that possible. Like having a nice dinner with some clean and crime free for a year. I he was still alive. Pact volunteers supported friends, or a bike ride along the sea coast. I feel Telephone: 020 7735 9535 almost didn’t recognize him. him for his first couple of months outside. He alive, like I’ve been born again.’ Park Place, 12 Lawn Lane, Vauxhall, THe’s looking good. I tell him so. didn’t always make his meetings at first, but as London SW8 1UD.
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Prisoners Families Voices prisonersfamiliesvoices.blogspot.com
Keeping Prison Visits Under Prison Relationships Manners By anonymous reader By Jennifer My long term partner has been in prison for 4 Me and my children are treated reasonably months and has written to me to say that she well when we visit but the atmosphere is has met someone else (another woman dreadful. My children age 9 and 13 don’t like prisoner) in jail. I am gutted and dumbstruck going and the noise and hustle of small at the same time. The prison visit children running around all over the room is I visit her every 2 weeks and she has told me chaos. Our visits are a headache and they are this week that she doesn’t want to see me Bruce Kent writes about the sadness of prison visits not constructive in the slightest bit. again because she has strong feelings for her cell mate. I feel a bit embarrassed writing this Last week, we had a little boy hanging around he is innocent. Had he admitted guilt he would but wanted to know if this sort of thing our table asking for sweets whilst his young have done the ‘dealing with violence courses’ happens a lot? She has never been in prison Mum was looking in to the eyes of her prisoner and been out of prison ten years ago at least. before and we have been together for nearly Bruce Kent partner. I don’t begrudge that because But he is ‘in denial’ as the prison reports used 10 years. I have searched online and cannot Political activist obviously she is missing him etc etc, but what to say. I do mind is prison officers not getting a grip find anything about this type of thing and it looks like it is a taboo subject but obviously it with the situation and keeping certain families risons don’t do Christmas visits, so it The respectable parents are greeting their must happen. I have heard of people in the under manners whilst the rest of us have a was three week before Christmas. public school-looking boy at the next table. free world leaving their partners in prison but decent visit. I travel a long way to spend little Not that it is too easy at any time to The two Asians I met on the train are looking never the other way round. Please don’t time with my husband to be and the whole book a visit. The prisoner has to send pleased. Their boy will be out in a month and publish my name and any support in the right thing is becoming too stressful for me and the you a Visiting Order and then you a long tedious trip from the edges of Kent will direction would be a big help. Thank you. children. Does anyone else have this problem? Phave to book the day and time. But three be over. times out of four the booking phone line is engaged. My man, having waited over two years for his parole hearing was told the day before it was Patience and try again. You can make email due that the judge had decided that he did not Lack of Dental Care? applications these days but what of those who have enough documentation and postponed have no IT skills? They have to manage it. Till when? Who knows? But my prisoner somehow. does explain to me how to ‘cook’ food in a No Dental Treatment Available? kettle. Sounds highly dangerous and not to be The Visitors’ room is full, as it always is; of tried at home. those Pope Francis would call the ‘bruised’ of our society. Babies crawling around on tours of The tea bar is well used but they run out of You may be entitled to exploration. Young mothers all dolled and change, so we buy as much as we can for a £5 painted up to please ‘their’ men. Two elderly note and it all gets gobbled down. No taking compensation.... middle class parents looking uncomfortable of spare food back into the prison cells. Then and wondering how they got into this world. it’s all over and for me the saddest moment on All have travelled from God knows where to this visit. An elderly much-tattooed prisoner get to a remote prison in the West Country. and his wife (I assume) stand up and hold each Attwood Solicitors We’ve all come on a Saturday because that’s other closely - they are not kissing but the only day there’s a bus from the railway hugging. They don’t move and it goes on for can help you claim station ten miles away. One elderly mother a long few minutes. One is crying. Then they makes a monthly visit from the outskirts of get parted by an Officer and the man goes off the Compensation Liverpool with a start at 5 am and a return through the exit door. It breaks my heart. home well after midnight. All this to see a son you deserve! who gets moved from prison to prison around ‘I was a prisoner and you visited me’. That’s the country. When a Judge sentences someone the message from Matthew chapter 25. Attwood’s also deal with to prison the punishment goes out to many more than just the convicted person. Prison is But so few have this opportunity, or try to claims for Medical Negligence a family punishment. make one. So few questions are asked. Why and General Personal Injury have prison numbers doubled to 90,000 in the The Officers are friendly but firm. Plenty of last 25 years? Why do we now have prisons Call us now for free expert advice notices warning about the penalties for run for profit? Why do we keep so many in bringing in drugs. Searches are thorough. prison who have never been violent to Shoes off, belt off, hold onto your trousers. Do anyone? What is really done for rehabilitation No win No fee! 0800 145 5105 not make the mistake of patting the drugs dog and reform? How do parted families manage? or 01782 416 016 when it gives you a rather personal sniff. Not long ago I met a man recently released. Eventually we move into a large crowded He left the prison with a ticket to London, a room and are given a table number. Three grant of £47, an extra £3 which he had saved 5-7 Hartshill Road seats for visitors on one side. The prisoner in a while inside and the address of the local em- Stoke ST4 1QH red tabard on the other. The noise is deafening. ployment office. [email protected] www.attwoodsolicitors.co.uk There is ‘my’ man already at our table, number Attwood Solicitors, Authorised and regulated by the Solicitor’s Regulatory Authority, SRA number 420723 32 down at the end. He has been inside, This article first appeared in the Catholic newspaper convicted of murder since 1981 - but he claims The Universe on Sunday 5th January 2014. Insidetime February 2014 36 News from the House www.insidetime.org
Parliamentary Questions Highlights from the House of Commons
Prisoners: Clothing Dr Huppert: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) what steps he is taking to ensure that female prisoners have suffi cient cloth- ing; (2) what steps he is taking to make sure that the restrictions imposed on parcels being sent to prisons do not prevent (a) male and (b) female prisoners from having suffi - cient clothing.
Jeremy Wright: There is a statutory require- ment, under the prison rules, for convicted prisoners to be provided with clothing ade- quate for their warmth and health. On 1 November 2013, the revised incentives Sir John Major Betty Boothroyd Kenneth Clarke Diane Abbot and earned privileges (IEP) policy framework came into effect in all prisons in England and MPs have spent nearly£250,000 of taxpayers’ money on portraits and sculptures of themselves since 1995, it has emerged. Betty Boothroyd, Wales. Prisoners who comply with the re- the fi rst female Speaker, has been painted twice and sculpted once, while the former prime minister Sir John Major has been honoured quirements of the framework can gain in- with a bronze bust costing £6,000. Jonathan Isaby, Chief executive of the Taxpayers’ Alliance, said it had “the whiff of an expensive vanity creased access to privileges, including greater project, for which unwitting taxpayers are footing the bill”. access to their private cash and eligibility to obtain better paid work; such prisoners are also permitted to have a greater range of However, it is generally presumed that items criminals received custodial sentences of Tariff Expired Removal Scheme (TERS). items in possession. Prisoners who do not for convicted prisoners should not be handed two years or less between April 2013 and comply have reduced access to private cash in or sent in by their friends or families December 2013. Oakwood Prison and are allowed fewer items in possession. unless there are exceptional circumstances. Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for To allow families and friends to bring or send Governors have discretion to determine what Jeremy Wright: There were 2,358 foreign Justice what assessment he has made of the in property, including clothing, would under- constitutes exceptional circumstances; this national receptions sentenced to two years disturbances at HM Prison Oakwood on 5 mine our efforts to ensure that prisoners are could include, for example, where there is a or less between April-June 2013 in England January 2014; and if he will make a state- rewarded for positive behaviour and engag- need to replace clothing where laundry facil- and Wales1. ment. ing with efforts to rehabilitate them. Gover- ities are temporarily restricted. We are working hard to reduce the fl ow of nors do have discretion to allow a one-off FNOs into our prison system and increase Jeremy Wright: An incident at HMP Oakwood parcel of clothing to be handed in or sent in Sentencing: Foreign Nationals the number of FNOs removed from the UK was resolved successfully in the early hours to prisoners (both male and female) follow- Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of through Prisoner Transfer Agreements of 6 January. Police and internal investiga- ing conviction. State for Justice how many foreign national (PTAs); the Early Removal Scheme (ERS) and tions will now take place: it would not be ap-
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Please remove the bottom line that says that we are members of Association of Prison Lawyers Insidetime February 2014 www.insidetime.org News from the House 37 propriate to comment further at this stage. Prisons the new prison but no decisions have been of emergency care for prisoners is that an Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for made on whether the establishment will be ambulance is called in all cases where there Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps he is taking to improve operated by the public or private sector. We are grave concerns about the immediate Justice what steps he is taking in response performance at new prisons and implement will identify a provider(s) for the prison who health of a prisoner”. to the recent assessment of HM Prison lessons learnt from HM Prison Oakwood is able to deliver the best value for the public A copy of this guidance has been placed in Oakwood by HM Inspector of Prisons. since that establishment’s opening. as well as providing a safe, secure and decent the Library. environment. Final decisions on the staffing profile are Jeremy Wright: HMP Oakwood has produced Jeremy Wright: We are constantly seeking to Editorial note: Question 1: How many occa- dependent on the operator but we estimate sions have ambulances been called out to an action plan to implement the recommen- learn lessons to improve the running of the that between 800 and 1,100 jobs will be HMP Oakwood? Answer: 358 in 2013 (see dations contained in the inspection report prison estate, both to improve security and to promote the rehabilitation of offenders. created directly at the prison. newsbites page 14). published on 8 October 2013. Progress on the It is estimated that approximately one implementation of the recommendations, Opening a new prison is a hugely complex operational and logistical task and the first hundred jobs will come from those staff which is now 80% complete, is regularly re- Prisoners: Repatriation two years of operation for any new prison are working in the new prison and visitors to the viewed by the National Offender Management Mr Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for invariably challenging. The majority of prison spending on local goods and services. Justice how many prisoners were repatriat- Service. prisons that have opened in the past 15 years In addition, (and based on previous experi- ed in 2013 to (a) China, (b) Vietnam, (c) Paki- have mobilisation phase with performance ence), the new prison will provide significant stan, (d) India, (e) Nigeria and (f) Jamaica. Prisons: Private Sector improving over time. job opportunities during the construction Mr Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for The Ministry of Justice is working closely phase, many of which will be filled by local Jeremy Wright: The United Kingdom has in Justice what assessment her Department with the contractors managing the new small to medium enterprises. place prisoner transfer arrangements with has made of the effectiveness of private- prisons, to ensure that good practice is Vietnam, India, Pakistan and Nigeria. These ly-run prisons in light of the recent distur- shared and that the contractors deliver to Prisons: Ambulance Service arrangements provide for the voluntary bance in HMP Oakwood; and if she will make their contractual requirements, so that new Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for transfer of a prisoner only. Between 1 a statement. prisons mature into well-run establishments Justice (1) on how many occasions ambu- January and 31 December 2013, three pris- that reduce the risk of future reoffending by lances have been called out to HM Prison oners were transferred to Vietnam and one Jeremy Wright: I am replying as Minister those detained in them. Oakwood by (a) month and (b) nature of inci- prisoner was transferred to India. No prison- responsible for Prisons in England and Wales. dent since the opening of that prison; ers were transferred to Pakistan or Nigeria Privately-run prisons have been a key feature Prisons: Wrexham (2) on how many occasions ambulances were in 2013. of the prison estate for over 20 years and will Mr Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for called out to each prison in England and On 9 January 2014 the United Kingdom and continue to play a crucial role in rehabilitat- Justice (1) what effect the recent disturbance Wales in each month of 2012. Nigeria signed a prisoner transfer agree- ing offenders. in HMP Oakwood will have on his Depart- ment which no longer requires the consent The Ministry of Justice works closely with the ment’s decision on whether the planned Norman Lamb: I have been asked to reply on of the prisoner. Once implemented this behalf of the Department of Health. This in- management of privately-run prisons to prison in Wrexham will be privately-run in should lead to an increase in the number of formation is not collected centrally by the prisoners transferred to Nigeria. ensure that the contractors deliver to their part or in full; and if he will make a state- Department or NHS England. The United Kingdom does not have in place contractual requirements. ment; (2) how many jobs will be created In 2011, the Department and National Of- prisoner transfer arrangements with The incident at HMP Oakwood was resolved when the new planned prison in Wrexham opens; (3) whether the proposed prison in fender Management Service reissued guid- Jamaica or China. As a consequence no successfully in the early hours of 6 January. Wrexham will be run by the public sector. ance on emergency access for ambulance prisoners were transferred to these coun- Police and internal investigations will now services to prisons, National Health Service tries to continue serving their sentences take place: it would not be appropriate to Jeremy Wright: We are considering a full commissioners and NHS ambulance trusts. there. comment further at this stage. range of options relating to the operation of This states that “the most important aspect
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s forensic accountants we are In this case there were enough assets for t is commonly accepted that entering a Judges should be very careful in not giving the seeing an unprecedented number everyone to get something but that may not guilty plea attracts a more lenient credit that a defendant deserves and the Judge of confiscation order cases and a always hold true. It will then be imperative to sentence. The earlier the plea, the greater should give reasons why credit is not being significant proportion now involve determine to what extent a spouse should be the discount should be. The relatively given or reduced. The issue of a guilty plea and bankrupts and divorcing spouses. penalised for the criminal acts of which s/he recent case of R v Caley and others [2012] insufficient credit being given very often However the interaction between confiscation was innocent or, conversely, to what extent s/ helped clarify the position on discounts and features in letters received by Wells Burcombe, A I legislation, ancillary relief legislation and insol- he should be allowed to benefit from the reductions in sentence where a guilty plea is, or and often it is evident that insufficient credit vency legislation is far from straightforward. proceeds of crime. a series of guilty pleas are, entered. Prior to the was actually given. Those cases result in appeals case, the approach by the Courts was that being lodged, even when the original team say Ancillary relief implications Clearly the usual rules as to the lottery of the defendants in criminal cases would automati- that no grounds to appeal exist. Sometimes Last month I set out how confiscation legisla- outcome of any litigation apply and simply become cally receive a one third discount on sentence Judges just get it wrong. tion interacts with insolvency legislation. Similarly, magnified as the number of parties with once a plea of guilty was entered at the Crown there are an increasing number of spouses who competing interests increases. However good, Court following committal or election of Crown Calculating credit for guilty pleas is not an exact find themselves competing for assets against timely, forensic accountancy evidence can and Court trial. The case of Caley confirms that this science. It is, however, something which in my confiscation order claims from the Crown. should help, if not to reduce the risks of litiga- approach is not entirely the right approach, view the Court should take very seriously tion, at least to identify and to quantify them. although some of the principles remain. indeed. The question of advising a client on the In some cases they find there is also a trustee Although the one third discount over the years credit given for a guilty plea is something which in bankruptcy with claims of his own. has been the reduction to be expected by Courts now regularly ask Lawyers to confirm Raymond Davidson is Head of Forensic defendants who pleads guilty, the legislation has been discussed with clients. Credit may be Under Section 6(6) of POCA, “the Court must Accounting at Bartfields (0113 2449051) has always stated that what is to be the right lost if Lawyers simply in future advise ‘let’s wait treat the duty [to make a confiscation order] as specialising in criminal defence, particu- reduction will depend on taking into account to see the evidence, then plead guilty’ if ulti- a power if it believes that any victim of the larly fraud investigations, money launder- the ‘stage’ at which guilty pleas have been mately that advice is not considered reasona- conduct has at any time started or intends to ing and confiscation proceedings. entered. This obviously means that the sentenc- ble. Real care must be taken to consider indicat- start proceedings against the defendant in ing Judge looks at when the guilty was actually ing guilt early on if you anticipate pleading respect of loss, injury or damage sustained in entered and reduces the sentence accordingly. guilty and you want to receive the greatest connection with the conduct”. That does not Following the decision in Caley, it may well discount. It would, however, be wrong for any appear to encompass claims for ancillary relief now be important for lawyers advising in cases sentencing Court not to give credit to a but the family courts have a wide discretion to think very carefully about expressing an ‘indi- defendant not answering questions at the when it comes to being able to weigh up the cation’ of guilt rather the right time to enter it. Police station which often happens In addition, competing interests of: Forensic Accountants An indication of guilt can be given sooner than Caley confirmed that Courts should be very the opportunity arises to enter a plea of guilty. cautious before withholding credit in cases 1. The husband CONFISCATION PROCEEDINGS For example, in an indictable only case, no where the evidence is overwhelming and where 2. The wife UNDER POCA! opportunity is given in the Magistrates Court to a defendant could well be said to have no 3. The creditors and Bartfields have considerable UK wide experience of enter a plea, but if a defendant has every choice other than to plead guilty. Courts in the analysing and revising prosecution benefit calculations 4. The Crown intention of entering a plea of guilty, then it may past have not given any credit at all even after within tight deadlines. (Legal aid available) now be more sensible to give that indication in guilty pleas have been entered because the Free prison visit for all pre-confsication hearing cases There are limited authorities but it seems that Recent Cases: the lower Court. Judges have said that the case was so strong that the defendant had no choice. In cases now even “Innocent” spouses can be significantly Prosecution Benefit Bartfields Benefit disadvantaged. For example, in the case of Mr M £69,000 £8,000 This does mean that the sentencing exercise is a where there is overwhelming evidence, credit CPS v MN [2005] EWHC 2622 (Admin) a wife Mr C £3,684,000 £47,000 little more complex and that Lawyers need to of 20% is appropriate. This is quite significant. petitioned for divorce some time after a confis- Mrs D £271,000 £45,000 be very conscious about arguing for maximum Mr O £378,000 £16,000 If you feel that insufficient credit was given for cation order had been made against her credit for clients when pleas of guilty are Mr L £1,015,000 £111,000 husband for £571,000. entered and when an indication of guilt could your plea or pleas of guilty then you may be Mrs N £785,000 £103,000 have been indicated sooner. Of course, the entitled to an appeal. It may be that by virtue of In that case the Court ordered that the £571,000 Contact Raymond Davidson on 0113 2449051 more offences a defendant faces the more the admissions you made in interview that be paid to the Crown in full and that the rea- Bartfields, Burley House, 12 Clarendon Road, difficult the exercise becomes in establishing what might have been a significant investiga- sonable needs of the wife should be provided Leeds, LS2 9NF. how much credit to give. tion was prevented. It may just be that you were advised to get one sentence but received for on a pre-White v White basis. The surplus [email protected] was then split 75:25 in favour of the husband! www.bartfield.co.uk/services/forensic The case of Caley has not meant that Judges now something entirely different, or a longer have to forensically scrutinise each case to see sentence. If you would like advice as to whether you have received enough credit for your guilty when the earliest occasion was that a defendant SOLICITOR NOTICE BOARD could and should have indicated guilty, but it is pleas, write to me at Wells Burcombe Solicitors. WRONGLY CONVICTED? SENTENCE TOO LONG? Female Wheelchair Users We are currently acting for a female wheelchair Maybe an experienced, user in an ongoing legal claim against the direct access barrister can help. Ministry of Justice with regard to the difficulties Vells 0 1 7 2 7 8 4 0 9 0 0 she faced accessing facilities and services Burcombe 24 hr Emergency Number - 07592 034170 For a free initial assessment within the female estate. LLP Solicitors please telephone/write or email As part of our investigations into her legal claim, Specialists in (you will be sent a form to complete) it would be helpful to hear from other female wheelchair users who have also been in this Appeals against Conviction & Sentence, CCRC, James Bloomer (Direct Access) situation, including what difficulties they have IPP Appeals and Parole, Prison Adjudications & Discipline, One Pump Court Chambers faced and how these difficulties have affected Criminal Investigations, Confiscation & POCA proceedings. their ability to participate in the prison regime Elm Court, Temple, and to progress through their prison sentences. For advice and assistance anywhere in England & Wales, London EC4Y 7AH Please contact: Benjamin Burrows at either in person or via video link, please call or head office: Leigh Day Solicitors Priory House 020 7842 7070 25 St John’s Lane London EC1M 4LB 5 Holywell Hill, St Albans, Hertfordshire, AL1 1EU [email protected] 020 7650 1200 Insidetime February 2014 www.insidetime.org Legal 39 A case of ‘wrong place, wrong time’? As part of his series on strategy in murder cases, solicitor Joseph Kotrie-Monson explains the law and strategy in Joint Enterprise Murder cases
cially cases involving groups of people. Because the attack up to the point that the knife was produced does not. If a lawyer does not know the circum- this is an area of law which excessively targets Joseph Kotrie-Monson and used are also guilty in a joint enterprise with stances, for example, in which a client can claim young people, experience of dealing with younger Director of Mary the armed attacker. But where one party to the that one other member of the group was acting defendants and the ability to put them at ease is Monson Solicitors joint enterprise acted in a manner which went outside the scope of any common plan, then this also an advantage. In joint enterprise murder cases, beyond the purpose of the others, the issue for the may be a cause for concern for the client. a QC (Queen’s Counsel – a barrister with a govern- jury to decide will be whether the knife or gun ment seal of approval for serious cases) will usually attack was still within the scope of the joint enter- In joint enterprise cases, it is very important to oint enterprise is a legal concept that has be available to the defendant. There are some QCs prise, or whether the fatal part of the attack was have a good idea of what was expected by each come into the spotlight in recent years. who have made their names by specialising in this foreseen by the other defendants as real possibility member of the group in the time leading up to the Offences of violence involving groups of type of case, and this should be apparent on when they started the initial joint enterprise attack incident. Was the intention of most members of young people (often with weapons) have looking up their internet profile. Clients and their the group to simply to confront or remonstrate? increased. The law on joint enterprise has families should be proactive and ask their solicitors In cases involving knives and guns, what other Was it to use violence, however minor? Was it fore- increasinglyJ been used by the police in the hope of for this information so that they are satisfied that defendants knew before the incident about the fact seeable that injury may take place? If one or more obtaining convictions of the group even though they have the right person for the job. only one person may have actually committed the that someone had a weapon may be very important members of a group had weapons, did others offence. This of course sounds very unfair. Senior information for the jury about what the others know? Did the presence of weapons make violence Joint Enterprise Murder present might have expected in the context of the more likely? All these questions can be important. judges and the Law Commission have already expressed In murder cases which involve an allegation of group’s action. The defence team must be well prepared. The concern about the way that joint enterprise is being joint enterprise, the prosecution must prove that defence solicitor and the client have to tackle these used in modern times. While this law may be the principle offender is guilty in law for the main The Defence Strategy difficult areas relating to what the client and co-de- reformed in the coming years, it has been in effect action of the murder. This means that even fringe So what practical steps can a defence team take to fendants actually knew about what was likely to for 300 years, and is not going to change any time members of the group may have an interest in prevent a client being held responsible in a prose- happen in the incident. If this is not done properly soon. An accused person and needs to understand standing side by side with the main defendant, at cution for an offence involving joint enterprise? before the trial, the prospect of a conviction may this potentially dangerous area of law as early as least in terms of whether self defence may have increase. This also means getting to know the possible. This can help to give them a better chance existed, for example. The fundamentals of good criminal legal work apply client, and making him or her feel at ease with the of fighting the prosecution successfully. in joint enterprise cases. There is no substitute for solicitor, barrister, and the ins and outs of the So there it is, Joint Enterprise murder is draconian knowing the law and the client’s case thoroughly. process, so the whole thing is less daunting. Many What is Joint Enterprise? and is not without areas of real danger for defend- Spending time with the client, making sure the joint enterprise clients are young people, and this It is a basic rule that people are only criminally ants. It is easy to be held jointly responsible for the client’s side of the story has been considered in real good communication as a foundation for good liable for their own wrongdoing, and not things that activities of another person in the group, and detail, and making sure the client feels comfortable preparation of the case is very important. other people do. On the other hand, if a number of despite the apparent public dissatisfaction with the with what he or she will say in court are all important. people act together to commit an offence they can law, it shows no sign of changing soon. each be responsible, although the parts they play Choosing the barrister when doing this may be different. For example, two Of course, it is also necessary that the defence Perhaps unlike some areas of criminal law, there is lawyers have a proper understanding of the law on such a thing as an expert advocate in serious joint burglars may enter a house together and together Joseph Kotrie-Monson is a director of Mary joint enterprise, and the law on conspiracy if this is enterprise cases. The right barrister must be chosen. remove a television set. They are both guilty of Monson Solicitors, a national firm burglary. Or, one burglar may enter the house part of the case. There are a number of decided The barrister must be a good communicator, and specialising in Serious Crime, Fraud, and while the other keeps watch for him outside. Again, cases in the higher courts which give legal guidance crucially have experience in cases involving Proceeds of Crime. they are both guilty of burglary. as to how the joint enterprise applies, and where it serious violence, public order offences, and espe-
The prosecution must prove participation with a common purpose. This effectively means agreement to act together (also known as a joint enterprise). The agreement can be made without being spoken and it does not need to be planned in advance. It FRAUD may be simply inferred from the participant’s actions. This means that if two people join in on an SERIOUS CRIME attack started by someone else, the common purpose A di cult may be proved even if they don’t use words like ‘OK, let’s do this’ or similar. Actual presence at the PROCEEDS OF CRIME scene of the crime is not necessary to be guilty of it. situation For it to be joint enterprise, the behaviour of the Call 0161 794 0088 or individuals must indicate that they are acting as a needs a group, and they must understand this. Where Freephone 0808 155 4870 someone in the group does something outside the Nationwide Service original plan, for example by killing someone lawyer during what was thought by the others to be simply an attack or robbery, the others in the group may still be guilty of joint enterprise murder if: who • They acted in a way that supported the killing will • They realised their behaviour could support the Mary Monson main offender Founder and Principal Solicitor • They realised that the act of killing the victim was a real possibility “Fearless and endlessly generous” • They meant for their actions to support the Michael Mans eld QC activity of the main offender Salford O ce O ces also in ght Violence and attacks involving knives and guns 87 Chorley Road London The situation can be more complicated in cases where the crime requires specific intent, such as Swinton Birmingham murder. The intention of the person who had a gun Manchester M27 4AA Manchester or knife which was used to kill may not be difficult to work out. But what about other people present? www.marymonson.co.uk For example where one person in a group attacks www.fraud-lawyer.co.uk Humanity, Expertise and a Fighting Mentality and kills someone with a knife or gun, a jury may decide that all the members who had supported Insidetime February 2014 40 Legal www.insidetime.org Understanding the Parole Process
further 28 days to confirm whether they agree Inmates will be aware if they will be subject to by Emma Davies should usually be submitted within 28 days of the date the Parole dossier was disclosed, but an with the decision, or that they wish to submit release by the Parole Board when they consider and Christopher Lewis extension to this deadline can usually be further legal representations requesting that the their sentence calculation slip on arrival into Hine Solicitors arranged. It is advisable that inmates seek the case proceed to be further considered at an oral custody after sentence. If you are subject to a assistance of a Prison Law specialist for help with hearing. DCR review the sentence calculation slip should drafting these representations. provide confirmation of a Parole Eligibility Date he Parole process is often a confusing WHEN WILL CASES BE REFERRED (PED), a Non Parole Date (NPD) which is at the and stressful time for inmates. It can A Prison Law specialist can advise you as to what TO AN ORAL HEARING? two thirds stage of the sentence and the date an seem a complicated and sometimes applications you should be making, whether any An ICM member will usually only refer a case to inmate is released automatically. daunting prospect for those facing a independent reports are needed or whether you an oral hearing where there is a general consensus Inmates who are subject to discretionary condi- review. Only inmates subject to should consider applying to defer the process for within the Parole dossier reports that the inmate tional release and who are released before their Tcertain sentences will have their release consid- a period of time to enable you to complete an should progress to open conditions or be released. NPD will only be subject to licence conditions ered by the Parole Board. This article seeks to offending behaviour course or undertake more They will also consider progressing the case to an until the three quarter stage of the sentence, at look in detail at those sentences subject to the home visits for example. oral hearing if any assessment of the inmate’s risk Parole process and what is involved in the process. is disputed to the extent that it will only be resolved the Licence Expiry Date (LED), subject to them not being recalled during that period. Representations are considered at an ICM (Intensive by the Parole Board considered oral evidence. It INDETERMINATE SENTENCES is again sensible to contact a Prison Law special- Case Management) review by one member of the DCR cases follow the same process as the inde- Inmates who are serving a life sentence or a ist who will be able to advise you about this Parole Board. This is known as the ICM review. terminate Parole review set out above. However, sentence of imprisonment for Public Protection This is a paper review and focuses on the content process and assist in preparing representations release can be directed on the papers in these (IPP) will only be released after they have served of the dossier and the representations submitted. that ask for your matter to be dealt with in the cases without the need for an oral hearing. the tariff imposed by the Court. Some indetermi- At this review the ICM member will consider appropriate way. See more on this below. nate sentence inmates will be subject to the making one of the following decisions:- AM I AUTOMATICALLY ENTITLED Parole process before this date, and this is known I HAVE AN ORAL HEARING... WHAT NOW? TO AN ORAL HEARING? as a pre-tariff review. If a pre-tariff review takes (i) Put the review forward to be listed for an oral If the matter proceeds to an oral hearing, the ICM Inmates subject to the Parole process are not place, the Parole Board can make a recommen- hearing; member will set a number of directions which automatically entitled to have their case reviewed dation for that inmate to progress to open condi- (ii) Conclude the Parole Review on the papers; must be met prior to the hearing taking place. The by way of oral hearing. However, following the tions, but they will not be able to direct release. (iii) Or make further directions for information to most common directions involve the Offender recent decision in the case of Osborn v The Parole be provided before making one of the two Manager and Offender Supervisor providing Board [2013] UKSC 61 in October 2013 by Lord The Parole process involves a number of initial decisions above. addendum reports which provide the Parole Reed, it has been argued that there could be an steps before a review will take place. A dossier Board with an update on a prisoners progress argument that the refusal to grant an Oral hearing will be compiled by the prison and disclosed to MY CASE IS CONCLUDED ON THE PAPERS... since their last report, and whether their recom- is an infringement on that individuals Article (5) both the inmate and his legal representative once WHAT NOW? mendation has changed. The ICM will usually and (6) rights (Human Rights Act 1998). Lord is has been completed. An inmate is then invited If the ICM review decides not to send the inmate’s direct that these reports be provided no less than Reed stated in the judgement that: “In order to to submit written representations in relation to case to be further considered at an oral hearing 4 weeks prior to the hearing taking place. Further, comply with common law standards of proce- the content of the dossier and set out any applica- they will issue a final detailed decision concluded the directions will set out what witnesses are to dural fairness, the board should hold an oral tion they wish to make. These representations the review on papers. The inmate then has a attend the hearing. hearing before determining an application for release, or for a transfer to open conditions, whenever The ICM member will then forward a timetable, fairness to the prisoner requires such a hearing in setting out the specific time and date of the the light of the facts of the case and the importance hearing and who will be in attendance. The of what is at stake. By doing so the board will also hearing will then take place on the date specified, fulfil its duty under section 6(1) of the Human before three Parole Board members. Live Rights Act 1998 to act compatibly with article 5(4) evidence will be heard from the witnesses in of the European Convention for the Protection of attendance. The inmate will also be invited to give Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, in evidence. The Parole review is designed to be an circumstances where that article is engaged.” informal risk assessment and the hearing should not be contentious. The Parole process can often be complicated, Talking sense with numerous factors to be considered by the www.hinesolicitors.com At the beginning of the hearing the Parole Board inmate in terms of what is to be achieved by the will set out the order of witnesses, after which review. It is advisable that those subject to the your legal representative will inform the Parole Parole process seek assistance from a qualified Board of what the application is, i.e. a direction and experience Prison Law specialist who can for release, or a recommendation for a progres- guide you through the process itself and tell you Specialising in Criminal Defence and sive move. Should you elect to have legal rep- what you can expect. Expert legal advice could resentation at this hearing, your representative mean the difference in you being granted an oral hearing following the submission of technically will be afforded the opportunity to cross examine all Prison Law - Nationwide Service drafted legal representations rather than your the witnesses present, and challenge any areas release being refused and the review concluded which are in dispute. He or she will then make on the papers. Licence Recall Adjudications Parole Hearings IPP Queries closing submissions, asking the Parole Board to Judicial Review Sentence Planning Issues Applications for either direct release, or make a recommendation The nature of work that can be undertaken under for a progressive move to open conditions. The Early Release Lifer Issues the cover of Legal Aid changed as of the 2nd Parole Board will not give their decision at the December 2013. You can, if you are eligible, Applications under the Guittard Criteria hearing itself, but will issue it in writing within 14 receive Legal Aid for advice for Parole matters days. when the Parole Board has the power to direct For immediate help and assistance contact our large team of specialists led by your release. At Hine Solicitors however we are DETERMINATE SENTENCE PRISONERS... more than happy to assist you if you have any Emma Davies on 01242 256686 For the majority of determinate sentence queries with any prison law issues that you may prisoners, the Parole process will not apply as have and we can seek to discuss alternative they will automatically be released at the half way means of funding in the event that you are not stage of their sentence. However, some determi- eligible for Legal Aid. nate sentence prisoners will only be released at the halfway stage of their sentence known as We hope that from reading this article inmates Or write to: FREEPOST RSTC-URCY-XYZA, 149-151 Fairview Road, their Parole Eligibility Date (PED). These inmates will have a better understanding of the procedure are therefore subject to Discretionary Condi- and encourages them to speak to a solicitor at the Cheltenham, Gloucestershire GL52 2EX tional Release (DCR) and these cases are earliest opportunity, and even before a Parole Members of the Association of Prison Lawyers commonly referred to as DCR cases. process has started. Insidetime February 2014 www.insidetime.org Legal 41
portionality can be argued as an inherent part of the con- fiscation process even where the Court is bound to make assumptions under the lifestyle provisions. This stands to Taking the profit out of crime, reason, the European Convention protects property rights - that is all property rights of all citizens, no matter what part of POCA applies and, in any event, s6(5) of POCA (which must now be applied proportionately) applies equally to lifestyle cases as it does to non-lifestyle cases; or just taking the Mickey? see e.g. R v Morgan [2013] EWCA Crim 1307. Next R v Ahmad and others [2012] 1 WLR 2335 (CofA, March Pro-active defending in confiscation proceedings 2012) was in fact a case concerning POCA’s predecessor but is still very relevant. This was a carousel fraud case where a number of companies were involved in circular trading. The defendants were convicted of conspiracy to unnecessary or improper acts and omissions. This is how income), thus the amount of the order was £1,110,000. defraud the public revenue. In the confiscation process Aziz Rahman, civil cases are fought all the time; i.e. the tactic of using The Supreme Court however found a different formula - the Judge held that the benefit to each of the defendants Solicitor and costs as a weapon that turns the litigation into a real 60% of the equity in the property at the time of the order, was not to be restricted to the £12.6m that the Revenue gamble. In that case the target was specifically the FI, minus the repayments. This was a very significant differ- Jonathan Lennon, lost but all of the monies which passed through the companies whose original claim was spectacularly unreasonable ence; the final order was for £392,400. But that is not concerned as the benefit includes the costs of commit- Barrister and thus bound to lead to litigation and Court time. why the case is so important. ting a crime. This led to a startling figure of over £92m The Supreme Court considered the effect of the Human benefit for each defendant (the total of the sums which Third parties Rights Act 1998, specifically Article 1 of the 1st Protocol had passed through the various bank accounts involved). Introduction Usually the prosecution have the upper hand here as to the European Convention on Human Rights; this is the The Court of Appeal reduced the amount to the profit - It’s impossible to do justice to the topic of confiscation in third parties affected by a potential confiscation order right to peaceful enjoyment of property. It should be the £12.6m. This was because the object of the legisla- a short article such as this. We’re not going to even may not have a good relationship with the defendant, or noted that the Court was specifically not considering tion was to deprive defendants of the product of their crimes attempt to explain the law on, for example, tainted gifts, may be largely in the dark about what is going. This ‘lifestyle’ cases where statutory assumptions apply and not to operate by way of fines. The Supreme Court is criminal lifestyle, hidden assets and so on. Instead we’re natural disconnect often prevents a solid joint defence about benefit. The Court found that applying Convention expected to hear the final appeal in February this year. going to try to rise above the black letter of the law, so far counter-attack in relation to the property in question. But principles a confiscation order had to be ‘proportionate’. as is possible, and look at strategy, tactics and the real in fact third party scenarios can work well for the defence. There have been examples of over-zealous prosecutors Conclusion mechanics of confiscation litigation in practice. A typical example will be the claim in the prosecutor’s being curbed before, e.g. where a single victim in a Despite the case of Waya the authors and many other statement that the value of the family home should be non-lifestyle cases had been repaid; in that example the criminal lawyers will be battling FI’s and their sometimes Why the unfairness? taken into account when assessing what is ‘available’ to Court of Appeal had quashed an order on the basis that it inflated claims. The moral of the story is that tactics and All criminal defence practitioners will tell you that the satisfy a confiscation order. But what about the wife and was an abuse of process; R v Morgan &Bygrave[2008] 4 strategy are just as vital in the confiscation stage as in confiscation process is capable of producing unfair and family who still live there? ALL ER 890. Waya though establishes that the rigours of the main proceedings. sometimes absurd results. After many years dealing with The standard response is that those caught up in the the abuse of process application are not necessary; - it’s asset forfeiture and POCA issues we are convinced that defendant’s mess have no right of participation in the a simple issue of proportionality as the Human Rights Act Jonathan Lennon is a Barrister specialising in serious the unfairness in the system is not just down to the Act confiscation litigation, but if there is any kind of later required s6(5) of POCA to be read as being subject to the and complex criminal defence cases at 23 Essex being deliberately ‘Draconian’, as it has been described. move to enforce the subsequent confiscation order then qualification that any order the Court ‘must’ make, ‘must’ Street Chambers( London). He is a contributing author There is also an inbuilt unfairness on the battleground third parties can make representations at that stage; see also be proportionate. to Covert Human Intelligence Sources, (2008 Waterside itself. Prosecution applications for confiscation are e.g. R v Ahmed & Qureshi [2005] 1 WLR 122. That Establishing a solid proportionality argument will of Press) and has extensive experience in all aspects of generally not in the hands of the prosecution Barrister, or however is very late in the day and causes real distress course depend on the facts of the case but, it is submitted the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and is ranked by both even the CPS lawyer, but the police Financial Investigator for the 3rd parties. that it should be possible to persuade a Judge that pro- Chambers &Ptnrs and the Legal 500. Aziz Rahman is a Solicitor- Advocate and Partner at the (“FI”). Straight away you have lost the impartiality that But this is just another area where, if the odds are portionality arguments are not limited to just cases leading Criminal Defence firm Rahman Ravelli Solici- should be present. stacked against you, some tactical strategising should be where a victim has been repaid. tors, specialising in Human Rights, Financial Crime The FI is the person that will normally produce the ‘pros- the order of the day. Just because there is no ‘right’ for a and Large Scale Conspiracies/Serious crime. Rahman ecution statement’ - the document that often will set out third party to be heard at the confiscation stage does not What about lifestyle cases? Ravelli are Specialist Fraud and Complex Crime hyper-inflated figures for both the ‘benefit’ and ‘realisa- mean he or she cannot be heard. Given there is no legal Waya gives hope here too. Though the Court considered Lawyers and have been ranked by Legal 500 as an ble assets’ amounts. Generally the case lawyer, the officer aid for third parties at the pre-confiscation order stage it only a non-lifestyle case it is clear that it is having an ‘excellent’ firm with Aziz Rahman being described as in the case, and even counsel will simply defer to the FI’s is often only those third parties with access to private impact in lifestyle cases where the cases is properly argued. ‘first class and very experienced’. The firm is also judgment when it comes to the confiscation process. funds that can put up a proper fight. For example, the The FI’s will still make the large inflated claims but pro- ranked in Chambers and Ptnrs. Why do the prosecution behave this way? Understanding Court could be asked to list the case for mention to argue their motivation helps in attacking their case. for third party participation in the main hearing where the Services There are a number of reasons. Firstly, there is the over- Judge will determine the ‘available amount’. The argument • Serious Crime reliance on the FIs. Confiscation work is time-consum- being that that confiscation raises issues of fact that ing, difficult and can be quite dull - thus the busy prose- need to be determined and, to make those findings, the • Serious Fraud cution lawyers are happy to leave matters to the FI. Secondly, fact finder needs to hear all the relevant facts. If a Judge • Covert/Human Rights SOLICITORS both prosecutors and investigators have a financial chooses to shut out a deserving third party at that stage • Health & Safety incentive in maximising confiscation applications. Half the then there may be routes of redress following from that • Assets Forfeiture proceeds of confiscation monies are split three ways decision. Further, at least that pro-active defending puts • Regulatory Crime Specialists in Defending Serious Crime between the Court Service, the prosecution and investi- before the Court arguments and/or evidence that it might If you feel we can assist Rahman Ravelli has built an enviable reputation as a leading criminal gators. We have always marinated that this is a nonsense not otherwise have had until after an Order was made. you please do not defence firm. Our Practice is nationwide and we have developed an and a time of swiping legal cuts we cannot understand Restraint Orders also present opportunities. There is an hesitate to contact our expertise in handling substantial and complex cases particularly those why the Legal Aid Agency is not included as one of the absolute right for the third party under a Restraint Order Serious Crime Department involving difficult legal challenges, especially in the Human Rights benefactors in this impartial gifting out of public funds. to be heard before the confiscation order is made. Arguments area. We continue to successfully protect the rights of the individual in Confiscation proceedings are notoriously badly paid in can then be put forward that, e.g. the 3rd party’s interest Call: all areas of criminal law. legal aid cases, certainly for counsel representing the in property can, and should be, severed from the We recognise that criminal cases today are not merely decided on eye defendant in Court; this is so even though the work can Restraint Order. Depending on the facts this may be an 01422 witness testimony, but on other issues such as whether evidence can often times be much more time-consuming and complex early argument for, in effect, a reduction of the benefit be successfully argued to be inadmissible or the prosecution made to than the main criminal litigation. The authors of this figure claim, as well as the available amount. Again, this disclose evidence helpful to the defence case. Our dedicated team of article are experienced practitioners recognised in, for process will have the effect of putting those issues in the 346666 criminal lawyers are always up to date with the latest developments example, the legal guide ‘Chambers & Partners’ section mind of the Judge making the final Order, even if the 3rd (24 Hour) in the law to ensure that no stone is left unturned. The lawyers have on ‘POCA and Asset Recovery’ and ‘Legal 500’. We do party Restraint Order is not varied, as well as flushing out wide ranging experience of defending cases of significant complexity not say that to grandstand but to highlight the fact that all the Crown’s arguments before the main battle. Roma House and seriousness. Our reputation means that we are able to instruct the this area often demands a commitment and an expertise 59 Pellon Lane most able counsel to conduct trials. Halifax not always matched by the limits of legal aid. Proportionality We appoint Counsel, Queen’s Counsel and Experts who have passed These background factors can serve to create a toxic mix The essential problem with the POCA regime is the HX1 5BE. our vigorous vetting procedures. for the un-witting defendant. But knowing the ingredi- apparent lack of judicial discretion it permits; s6 (5) of Offices now in London ents of the mix can at least give some hope of fighting POCA provides that the Court “must” make an order for www.rahmanravelli.co.uk High Profile Cases Rahman Ravelli routinely deals with large, high back. For example, the prosecution might make bold the ‘recoverable amount’. In 2012 the Supreme Court profile cases and is experienced in dealing with criminal matters all the way to the House of Lords. assertions in their prosecution statement because they ruled in an important case which addressed this apparent TOP RANKED see no down side - but what if there was a down-side? lack of judicial discretion; R v Waya [2012] UKSC51. The CHAMBERS RIPA Our speciality is defending cases involving large scale police oper- The authors were involved in a case where we success- case concerned a mortgage fraud where the fraudulently ations where authorities have been granted under the Regulations of fully reduced the size of one confiscation claim before it obtained loan had actually been repaid. The Court of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA); i.e. came to Court by reminding by reminding the prosecu- Appeal found that the appropriate confiscation order was Excellent firm UK2012 The use of Informants / Covert Surveillance (including Covert Listening tion about the very little used provisions on costs. Section 60% of the value of the house at the time of the order, as 2011 LEADING FIRM devices) / Undercover Offices; and Material which demands an expertise 19 of the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985 provides for the fraudulently obtained mortgage was for 60% of the in disclosure & PII concerns awards of costs between litigation parties, in respect of value at the time of purchase (the rest was from lawful ›› Registered with EMAP ‹‹ Insidetime February 2014 42 Legal www.insidetime.org Can assaults be a matter of discretion? Mladen Kesar wonders why so many prisoner assaults are left to governor’s discretion
with fewer officers and prisoners, being convicted felons, have to endure any misfor- Mladen Kesar tune that has befallen them. There could be Solicitor - Kesar & Co Solicitors many reasons why this must change. The most obvious, the rule of law and inherent duty of care towards inmates, does not require further iolence in prisons is common- explanation. The outcome of a s.47 offence place. Jails are full of people who should not be influenced by the location of an see use of force as the most incident. An assault in the street, in a park, effective way to make a point or café, shop, office or prison must be treated in earn respect. After all, this is the the same way. Vreason why so many of them are in custody. Various reports talk about alarming numbers Reduction of violence stratagems should be of incidents resulting in injury, mental illness, revisited. A risk of further punishment and a disability, disfigurement and death.“Trans- significantly longer time in prison for physical forming Management of Young Adults in aggression could be a serious deterrent for Custody”, a recent MoJ consultation paper, many, forcing them to abstain from using their identified this as one of the burning issues. fists. Adjudications involving another two Injuries caused by frequent fights are not a weeks of custody, loss of access to the canteen closely guarded secret and HM Chief Inspector and gym is not good enough. This may work of Prisons has repeatedly expressed concern better than the proposal to mix young because of the increase of violence in several, offenders with career criminals pioneered by mainly private prisons. the Ministry of Justice. is no immediate supervision. Unless there is a Whilst PSI 47/2011 clearly says that “…where a The law seems to have accepted this with a sigh known propensity to violence by the aggressor, serious criminal offence appears to have Rehabilitation? This could be another one. Is it of resignation. One of the well-known authori- known animosity to the victim, such attacks occurred the police should be contacted realistic to apply a parallel set of criteria, ignore ties, Hartshorn v. The Secretary of State for the cannot be prevented…” So, prisons are immediately…” practitioners and prisoners basic rights, withdraw protection of the law Home Department (1999) CA (Civ. Div.) dangerous places and the authorities can be know that serious incidents are left to the gov- and yet expect convicts to embrace a different 21/1/99 appears to have adopted an axiomatic responsible for incidents only if they have had ernor’s discretion and they too often choose set of values and come out of the prison system approach. “…In any prison there is some risk enough notice to prevent them. Very simple, not to have them investigated by the police. as reformed individuals? Of course, from 2nd that prisoners will be violent to each other. If eh? The Sun will always rise in the East, the sky Police officers will normally treat an assault as December it will be harder. Prisoners who they are determined to attack other inmates will always be blue and prisons will never be a serious offence and this could lead to a sub- have been injured by other inmates or officers they are usually cunning enough to do so at a anything but dangerous! stantial custodial sentence. So why are assaults overstepping their powers may resort to time when someone’s back is turned, or there on prisoners infrequently reported to the COMP1 complaints. If that fails… there will be police? Oh, I know…because they are lowly nothing else, unless they can pay lawyers’ fees prisoners? Punching a man will be followed by or represent themselves. prosecution, but punching a prisoner … err … won’t? Some suggest that the police are not too The government has given little importance to keen to investigate these incidents. Allegedly, this problem for far too long. If physical aggres- prison violence does not look bad only on the sion is not tolerated out of prison, why is it prison authorities: It does not look favourably accepted as a fact of life within the prison on the local constabulary either because it will walls? If prisoners are expected to stop re-of- push the statistics in the wrong direction and fending, should they not be shown the alterna- tives to abusive language and violence? Is this make it look that violent offences are on the increase on their turf. not one of the reasons why we spend so much on prisons? Or, perhaps, we should leave this Worried about what Social So why should this change? Police have problem to the private companies, currently enough work to do, prisons have to manage investigated for contempt of court, torture and Services are doing? fraud to fix it for us?
Has your medical or dental treatment been delayed? Denied access to your kids? Would you have been treated this way if you had not been in custody? CalWel ou spr experecialiste cinh iCareld ca Prero acended ifamings ly Perhaps you have been injured or assaulted? and Familyso Lliaw.citor Csall on us today on Have you been discriminated against because of your disability? If so, we could help to put things right and receive substantial 020 7263 7887 amount of COMPENSATION. For further information, contact Elias or Mladen. KESAR & CO SOLICITORS
Offices in Holloway, Catford and Stratford 1st Floor, Committed to justice
27 London Road, Bromley, BR1 1DG www.burke niazi.com www.kesarandco.com 020 8181 3100 ›› Registered with EMAP ‹‹ Insidetime February 2014 If you have a question you would like answered please send to: ‘Robert Banks’, Inside Time, Botley Mills, www.insidetime.org Botley, Southampton, Hampshire SO30 2GB. (including your name, number and prison) Legal Q&A 43
Letters and parcels fall into three groups. possession, volumetric (= size) control has to AThe first group is items which contain be considered, para 2.66. If volumetric control illegal material like drugs. These can be is cited as a justification for not allowing you Banks on forfeited and can lead to prosecution. The access to your property, you should be aware second group is material which is not illegal that convicted prisoners must be allowed to but the prison can stop prisoners having pos- ‘hand out’ property already in possession session of it. The third group is material that is through social visits, 2.68. This may enable you Sentence handed over to the prisoner. to solve that problem.
PSI 12/2011 para 2.1 says, ‘Prisoners are Prison staff may ask writers of letters to prison Robert Banks, a barrister, writes Banks on Sentence. It is the second largest selling allowed to have sufficient property in their to limit the letter to four sides of paper. If they criminal practitioner’s text book and is used by judges for sentencing more than possession to lead as normal and individual an don’t comply with this, subsequent letters can existence as possible within the constraints of be returned to them, PSI 49/2011 para 2.9. any other. The book is classified by the Ministry of Justice as a core judicial text book. the prison environment.’ para 2.7 ‘Prisoners The current edition is also available for tablets and computers. The print copy costs must be allowed to have in possession or have Recent media coverage has suggested that the £96 on the web and there are regular updates on www.banksr.com If you have access to such artefacts and texts as are new IEP policy contained in PSI 30/2013 alters access to a computer, you can follow Robert on twitter: @BanksonSentence required by their religion.’ para 2.8 ‘Disabled your entitlement in relation to possessions. prisoners must be allowed to have disability The relevant paragraphs are 10.4 and 10.5. www.banksr.com aids in possession, or have access to them They simply reiterate the content of previous subject to security checks.’ instructions. The rule was previously cited at One evening, I was driving my car and received serious injuries like broken teeth and PSI 12/2011 para 2.64. The PSI does, however, Q this t**t cut me up and I flashed him. a fractured jaw. Prison governors have a wide discretion over codify the manner in which certain goods have He then started braking to make me slow mail. Prison Rules 1999 Rule 34(1) enables the to be ordered in an effort to maximise profit for down. He then sped off and did the braking The judge will inevitably treat this as road rage. Secretary of State (in reality prison governors) the Government’s preferred retailers. Thus thing again. I flashed my lights again and That offence has no official guidelines. The to impose restrictions ‘either generally or in a goods available through the National Product overtook him. I then did the same to him Court of Appeal has said, “In dangerous driving particular case’ on ‘letters or other communi- List can’t be provided through a different until I stopped at some red lights. He was road rage cases, where no accident or injury cations’. Prison Rules 1999 Rule 35(2)(a) source. This echoes PSI 23/2013 para 2.3. behind me. I got out to give him some reality results and there is no consumption of alcohol allows prisoners to send and receive a letter on Similarly, goods available through the catalogue and he then shouted at me that it was all my but there is ample evidence to suggest furious their reception into a prison and once a week system cannot be provided through a different f**king fault. Well I was truly wound up by driving in temper with an intent to cause fear after that. Further personal letters can be sent source. This echoes PSI 23/2013, 7.1. The rules then and I whacked him with a baseball bat and possibly injury, the appropriate sentenc- at the discretion of the prison staff or as part of have been changed to alter the way in which which I had on me. I took it for my self-de- ing bracket is between 6 and 12 months.” In a privilege scheme. you have to order your possessions in order to fence. He only got some bruising on the jaw another case it said, “Custody is almost inevi- allow certain companies a monopoly. where I hit him and he deserved it. The pros- table even where the defendant is of good If cash is sent to you it may be paid into an ecution charged a section 18 and it went to character.” So you can see the starting point is account under the control of the governor, Interestingly, the Government’s own advice to Crown Court very quickly but now they say going to be well in excess of 12 months. returned to the sender, or, where the sender’s friends and relatives seeking to communicate they will accept a section 20. My solicitor says name and address are not known, paid to with prisoners was reviewed in January 2014 I am likely to go to prison. Well how can that You ask how can prison be appropriate when NACRO (a charity), Prison Rules 1999 Rule 44(2). but fails to mention these changes. be right when they give burglars community burglars are given community service. Each service? offence has its own sentencing framework. PSI 12/2011 para 2.64 creates a general pre- So back to your question. This is the legal Once that has been established neither a sumption that items which are sent in by answer and put in a nutshell prisons can The judge is likely to consider the defendant nor his or her advocate can suggest friends and family are not handed over unless withhold many items and prisoners will be Afollowing. First, there was no reason for it does not relate to sentences for other offences there are exceptional circumstances. The unaware of it. However, some people say that you to take the other person on by trying to because that is suggesting the first framework stated reason is to ensure that the IEP in most prisons staff carry out this difficult task overtake him. He should have been left alone. is wrong. The only time sentences for other (Incentive and Earned Privileges scheme) is with fairness. Perhaps readers can write in and Serious accidents and fatalities can occur offences can be used is when the offences have not undermined. The real reason is likely to let us know what the situation is in their prison, when people chase each other on the road. similarities, like murder and manslaughter, or relate to prisoner retail services. In determin- assuming they are allowed to write the letter in Second, you were unlikely to be going to a for very serious, very unusual offending where ing whether to allocate property to be held in the first place! baseball match on a December evening, so there is little or no case law to go on. why did you have a baseball bat in the car? The judge may conclude it was ready for use if you So the news is not good. I should concentrate Asking Robert and Jason questions: needed to hit someone. Third, self-defence on letting the court know you accept that your Please make sure your question concerns sentence, prison law or release and not conviction. does not arise as you could and should have actions were wrong and let them know of the Prison law and release are dealt with by Jason Elliott, PO Box 847, North Shields, NE29 1FJ. stayed in the car. The judge is also likely to steps you are taking to prevent that sort of Please send the letter to Inside Time, marked for Robert Banks or Jason Elliott. Unless you say conclude you left your car as the aggressor. offending happening again. That is likely to you don’t want your question and answer published, it will be assumed you have no objection Fourth, interestingly you only exacted your reduce your sentence. to publication. It is usually not possible to determine whether a particular defendant has punishment when you didn’t like what the grounds of appeal without seeing all the paperwork. Analysing all the paperwork is not other person was saying. The judge will think I don’t have a good relationship with possible. The column is designed for simple questions and answers. that shows in verbal situations you think Q this prison and I think some of my No-one will have their identity revealed. Letters which a) are without an address, b) cannot be nothing of having your way through violence. Christmas mail was not handed over. Before I read, or c) are sent direct, cannot be answered. Letters sent by readers to Inside Time are sent Fifth, there are his injuries. You hit him on the complain, can you tell me what letters and on to a solicitor, who forwards them to Robert and Jason. If your solicitor wants to see previous jaw, which is part of the body that could have parcels the prison can block and do they have questions and answers, they are at www.banksr.com. to tell you they have kept them from you?
Need legal assistance dictated by your needs and not legal aid rates? Parole Board Hearing? IPP, Lifer, Standard, Licence Recalls. Independent Adjudication? Do you want Robert Banks or Jason Elliott to represent you Sentence Wrongly Calculated? or advise you in detail? Exceptional Case - Human Rights breached? Richard Brown and the team at BBM have the experience in trials, Appeal against Sentence or Conviction? sentencing, appeals, release and prison law. They access the best Second Appeal through the CCRC? barristers to provide the help you need. The above issues are still covered under Legal Aid! So if you need help get it from dedicated London based Prison Lawyers, helping prisoners fight for their rights throughout England and Wales. Large or small cases Will travel Reasonable fees Write to Manoj Sharda, Office 226, 4 Spring Road, Ealing, London W5 2AA Tel: 020 8123 3404 or Mob: 07407 243 749 www.bbmlaw.co.uk Email: [email protected] 020 7924 8130 [email protected] www.prisonlawsolicitors.org.uk BBM Prison Law Consultant at BAXTER BROWN MCARTHUR 150a Falcon Road, London, SW11 2LW Duncan Lewis Solicitors Pro Bono work taken on for ECHR Applications
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www.bbmlaw.co.uk BBM 020 7924 8130 [email protected] BAXTER BROWN MCARTHUR 150a Falcon Road, London, SW11 2LW Insidetime February 2014 44 Book Reviews www.insidetime.org Reading group Get Into Reading Amanda Brown and the Read and Relax Group (funded by the Offender Health Team, NHS Com- round-up missioning Board) in the Heathcare Centre, HMP Image courtesy of Matthew Meadows Liverpool, discuss The Send Off by Wilfred Owen This month our Round-Up goes global, with a report from Canada. PRG enjoys being part of an international conversa- read his poetry without knowing about it.” tion and network of prison reading groups. It’s a truly The Send Off “Makes me think about taking my granddad, worldwide community. This report comes from Carol Finlay by Wilfred Owen who’d been in the war, to see Saving Private in Toronto, the Founder and Director of Book Clubs for Inmates. Ryan. That opening sequence - he said it was Down the close, darkening lanes they sang just like that.” their way share citizenship. Hello from Canada to all of you who are To the siding-shed, “Secretly, like wrongs hushed-up, they went.” And lined the train with faces grimly gay. members of reading groups in the UK. I repeat. Then, all at once, everyone is speaking. This year, 2014, should be an interesting one Their breasts were stuck all white with “They don’t know where they’re going. too for us as we were given a substantial gift wreath and spray As a volunteer, I started our fi rst prison “book As men’s are, dead. They’re young. Leaving their homes, their club”, as we call them, in 2009 in a medium of money to establish book clubs in all the wives and girlfriends.” women’s prisons in Canada. There are fi ve of security federal institution (for those serving Dull porters watched them, and a casual tramp “That’s why the women gave them fl owers.” sentences of two years plus a day). The prison them, each multi-level, and they have limited Stood staring hard, “’Don’t forget me!’ - that’s what the fl owers is on the shores of Lake Ontario in Central programmes, so we’ve decided to get at least Sorry to miss them from the upland camp. mean. That’s like my missus. She sprayed my Canada. Our fi rst book was Angela’s Ashes by one book club into each one by the end of the Then, unmoved, signals nodded, and a lamp clothes with her perfume before I came here.” Frank McCourt, and the discussion was heated year. We have also initiated pairing up book Winked to the guard. “My ex-father-in-law was in the war. He was and terrifi c. It wasn’t long before we launched clubs inside with ones on the outside, sharing from Scotland. He was shipped out of Liver- comments about books through email links So secretly, like wrongs hushed-up, they went. pool and his sisters came all the way down to book clubs in other prisons. Usually about They were not ours: with volunteers. And we have at least one Liverpool to see him off. They brought him three volunteers from the communities near We never heard to which front these were sent. the prisons lead the discussions. Some of our author visit per prison each year: a highlight, fl owers - he told me that.” book clubs’ favourite books are Canadian: The with author signings and lots of great food. Nor there if they yet mock what women meant I reread the lines: Nor there if they yet mock Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill, Alias Grace Who gave them fl owers. what women meant/who gave them fl owers by Margaret Atwood, The Cellist of Sarajevo We see our book clubs as places where prison- Shall they return to beatings of great bells and suggest that maybe the women’s message by Steven Galloway, and of course, any and all ers can speak freely and openly, as well as In wild trainloads? was ‘Look after yourself. Come back to me.’ of the Malcolm Gladwell books. But we have being places where there is always lots of fun A few, a few, too few for drums and yells, “The wives won’t know where their men are also enjoyed books from around the world, and laughter. I’m grateful to Jenny Hartley May creep back, silent, to still village wells - no-one knew,” says Michael. including Andrea Levy’s Small Island. Perhaps from Roehampton University who started a Up half-known roads. “They don’t know where their letters are going. you might be interested in reading some of prison reading group in the UK. I found out what she was doing on the internet, talked to They write, but then they hear nothing,” says these books too. Tom. her long-distance, and got inspired to start Kieran, Tom, William Michael, Lee, Mark and one here. Peter discuss this with me. All listen while I We usually serve coffee and tea and meet for I wonder about the question in the poem: read, after which there is silence. one and a half hours (or two if we can get the Shall they return to beatings of great bells/ In We in the book clubs in Canada send you our time) once a month. One of the most terrifi c wild trainloads? very best wishes for a Happy New Year: a year “Troops going to war. Very poignant.” Kieran things we’ve discovered in our book clubs is “Because they won’t be coming back,” says which is also full of good books! sighs. “Old men make wars, young men fi ght that members keep in touch with us once they Peter. “Most of them won’t.” them.” get out. And we try to help with the diffi culties “Just a few, maybe,” adds Mark. “No parades. Michael, a young man, stabs at the page and of adjusting to life after prison. Of course we No cheering.” looks up. talk a lot about books! Prison Reading Groups (PRG) is sponsored We discuss the scenes in Wootton Bassett - by the University of Roehampton and gen- “I can see them - on the trains. Grimly gay - the silent respectful crowds. erously supported by Give A Book www. gay meant happy then. They had to go. Didn’t We have about 16 book clubs now, mostly in “Creep back, silent, to still village wells,” reads giveabook.org.uk, Random House Group want to go.” Lee. This is their spirits coming back!” Ontario, but also in Alberta and Manitoba, and Profi le Books. If your prison doesn’t “It’s the title that hits me - The Send Off - it’s “I don’t see that,” says Mark. “But I can un- two provinces in western Canada. Here we have a reading group, encourage your like a funeral,” says Peter. “all white with derstand where you get that from.” meet some real challenges, as half the prison librarian to fi nd us at www.roehampton. wreath and spray…” “Reading like this - it’s like splintered glass,” population in western Canada is Aboriginal (or ac.uk/prison-reading-groups. “As men’s are, dead,” adds Lee. He leans says Kieran. “It’s spread out in so many differ- Native Canadian to use another term). Canada forward, animated. “Why would they be getting ent directions.” has a blemished history of interactions with onto a train if a siding shed? They’re not alive!” “I think this poem is the easiest to understand our Native peoples, sending children away Others need to consider this. Mark frowns. Can you read this? of all the ones we’ve read,” says Mark. from their parents to residential schools where “That’s interesting, what you’re saying,” says “It means something to all of us,” says Keiran. they were often abused and forced to forget Kieran. “I hadn’t seen that.” Train to be a Toe by Toe mentor and “We feel it.” their native languages and culture. This has develop skills in supporting others. Toe There is lively debate here. Mark suggests led in the past century to great despair and by Toe Mentors help others learn to read. lines of the poem which seem to contradict The Reader Organisation is an award-win- dysfunction among our Aboriginal peoples, It is a positive and highly rewarding Lee. Lee remains adamant. most of whom live on reserves. Many are in “That’s the beauty of poetry,” he claims. “You ning charitable social enterprise working to way to spend your time in prison. connect people with great literature, and prison where they become further alienated see one thing, I see something else.” each other. Our groups meet weekly to from their culture and traditional ways. So, in For more information write to: listen to a short story or an extract from a When they pause, William speaks quietly. the book clubs in the west, we are trying to Shannon Trust. Freepost RSXC-RUVB-JGRJ novel and a poem being read aloud by a give the Aboriginal book club members a 89 Albert Embankment, “If I didn’t know Wilfred Owen was writing in trained practitioner. No one else has to sense of cultural pride by reading their own Vauxhall, London SE1 7TP WW1, I’d have said it’s about the Jews being read aloud, although some choose to do great writers: Richard Wagamese, Thompson sent to concentration camps. I can see that.” so. There are lots of pauses in which we Highway, Joseph Boyden, Drew Hayden We exclaim, then, about the possibilities of discuss how we feel about what we’ve Taylor to name just a few. These book clubs the poem, unknown by the writer, provided read. Through the literature we discover more about the world, each other and, also help white inmates understand the won- by history. “Owen knew nothing about WW2. We can’t sometimes, ourselves. derful culture of these people with whom we Insidetime February 2014 www.insidetime.org Book Review 45 Room by Emma Donoghue
Review by Anne Carroll HMP Send
Remember when you were very young, how challenged me to consider how many of my you assumed all other families were the same own beliefs or behaviours, developed in as yours? How surprised you were to meet a childhood, may actually be inappropriate or Former prisoner wins classmate who lived in a different type of harmful in my life as an adult. house, or who didn’t have a brother or a dog international book award or whatever was normal in your own little Although Jack is an extreme example, many world? Most of us were able to gradually of us reach adulthood carrying unhealthy adjust our understanding of the world with attitudes and character traits which we feel such strong competition is the icing on the each new experience. But can you imagine are an unchangeable part of our identity. We cake”, says Michael whose book Prisons what it would be like if you had never seen fail to realise these have been shaped by our Exposed is dedicated to the memory of his son beyond your own immediate environment? individual experiences. Sometimes we don’t Dylan Michael James O’Brien. Sadly, Dylan even realise it is possible to think or feel any passed away in June 2012 to a rare metabolic This is the situation for five year old Jack, the other way. Often it is only when our faulty disorder. Michael and his wife set up The narrator of ‘Room’. He had been born in a thinking lands us in trouble - or indeed in Dylan O’Brien Foundation to support other small converted shed where his mother was prison - that we start to question our outlook. families with children who suffer with kept imprisoned, and had grown up believing And, like Jack, we don’t realise how wrong or metabolic diseases and all the royalties from that their room constituted the whole of limited our life is, until we have made that the book go straight into the Foundation. existence. As far as Jack is concerned, the only transition. “The award is not for me it’s for Dylan to keep people who exist are Jack, his mother and their his memory alive”. captor who visits at night to fetch provisions In a very moving scene at the end of the and to rape the mother. Jack has no concept of novel, Jack revisits Room after several months The Book Awards are the only international ‘outside’ or ‘other’, no awareness of grass or of freedom, expecting to rediscover his earlier awards that are open to all titles distributed in trees or rain or seasons, no experience of sense of security and happiness. Instead he Kindle or Printed formats by Amazon.com houses, streets, shops or relationships. He has finds that he has moved on; that the confines sites around the world. Anyone can nominate never developed a separate identity from his of his former environment are repressive or vote for a title, provided it is available on mother, since he has never been apart from rather than fulfilling. When we see Jack bid a Amazon, without charge or registration. her. Even the book’s title ‘Room’, rather than final farewell to the objects in Room, we Dubbed The ‘People’s Book Awards’, this ‘The Room’, is significant - articles make no realise that change is possible for all of us, and openness attracts large numbers of visitors to sense when only one of anything exists. Yet that it is worthwhile despite all the pain and the awards site www.thebookawards.com. Jack has never known any other life, so he difficulties of the transition. feels secure and content. Michael O’Brien spent eleven years in prison It is a message of hope - if Jack can move on for a crime he didn’t commit - the so-called Donoghue’s account is skilful and subtle. It is from such a horrendous experience, then so Michael O’Brien (pictured), winner of the Cardiff Newsagent Murder. Since having his not until Jack and his mother escape, that we can we! This book will haunt me and challenge (Annual) 2013 (Printed) Book Awards. ‘Prisons conviction quashed in December 1999, realise how damaged he is. His world view for many years to come! Exposed’ competed against two hundred and Michael has worked tirelessly to ensure that may be perfectly adapted for life in Room, but sixty-two titles over the year and attracted those falsely convicted of crimes are exonerat- it is hopelessly inadequate for life in the outside 2842 votes. Previous winners include J K ed. In this book he gives an in-depth analysis ISBN 978-0-330-54611-9 world, and he finds it highly traumatic to Published by: Picador Rowling’s novel ‘The Casual Vacancy’ and E L of the prison system as he recounts the time adjust to his new freedom. The novel James’ Fifty Shades of Grey’. he spent in jail. He also discusses the experi- ences of other prisoners, interviews prison and The Book Awards have been run by ‘not for probation officers about good practice, and profit’ publisher Acclaimed Books Limited, shares the thoughts of politicians, academics since 2008 and during 2013, over 20,600 and interested parties in the way forward for rown voters around the world have shown their ap- our penal system. Michael concludes that solicitors SOLICITORS C preciation by voting for books in the competi- Expert advice is only a phone call away… there are very many weaknesses in the prison We are here to fight for your rights tion. system and that prison reform needs to be THE Experts in Prison and Detention Law perfectly throughout your time in custody based in the Midlands with a 24/7 Nationwide Service much higher on the current political agenda. “It has been a delight to take part in this truly • Adjudication hearings / appeals Immediate visit, proactive advice & assistance • Parole hearings – paper / oral democratic competition and experience first Inside Time’s Noel Smith reviewed ‘Prison’s and vigorous representation in all aspects of • Licence conditions / recall hand the loyalty of my readers. To win against Exposed’ in September 2012. prison law including: • Re-categorisation / transfers • IPP Sentence issues / accessing courses • Licence Revocation and Recall to Custody • HDC / ROTL / MDT (prompt intervention & effective review with the Parole Board) • Foreign National Prisoners • Lifer panels / reviews COMPENSATION • Adjudications:(MDTs, Unauthorised articles etc) • Terrorism / SIAC representation FOR VICTIMS OF CHILDHOOD ABUSE • Tariff Reviews & Minimum term Representation • All Judicial Review work • Parole Applications/Appeals ALSO • Criminal Defence - Magistrates, Crown, SIAC & Appeals We specialise in helping adults who were abused as children in • Parole Board Oral Hearings (entire process) • Immigration - Tribunals, Asylum, Deportation prevention, the care system. • Re-categorisation and Cat A Reviews Human Rights - “WE get Bail” If you suffered abuse in care and want our team to help you • Criminal, Magistrate & Crown Court cases & CCRC • Family and Child Care - Child contact/custody, Social achieve justice call Christine Sands We also provide specialist immigration Services care, divorce, separation, ancillary relief - “Know your rights” confidentially on or write to:- 01924 868911 services, legal aid & privately funded cases. * Legal Aid unavailable? Free initial assessment offered For immediate assistance please call Contact: Shiva Misra LLB (Hons) Tel: 0208 770 7143 Crown Solicitors, 36 Church Street, Emergency Mobile 07506 716 379 Bilston, Wolverhampton, WV14 0AH Fax: 0208 643 9245 01902 353 300 (24hr) Neil Jordan House, Wellington Road, Dewsbury WF13 1HL Or write to Vallee at: Sam Solicitors [email protected] 288 High Street Sutton Surrey SM1 1PQ Legal Aid work undertaken. [email protected] Members of the Association of Prison Lawyers Clients accepted throughout the country ›› Registered with EMAP ‹‹ ›› Registered with EMAP ‹‹ Insidetime February 2014 46 Valentines www.insidetime.org
Mary I love you my dear, every minute, every year. Please than words can say. Love you millions. Hayley xxxx remain all mine again be my Valentine. Doug xxxx Julie, my Valentine and fiancée to be, you’re the love of I love you to bits Gary, being apart is breaking my heart. my life. Happy engagement, all my love forever Roy xxx But not long now ‘til we’re both out. Love Craig xxxx My Babydoll ‘J’ love and miss you. Good luck with Happy Valentine’s day Louli, my future’s you and our your tag. Always your Shyboy !!! babies. Let’s make today our wedding date 2016. Love always Peter xxx Sheree xx I miss you so much my baby, can’t wait to spend time with you again babe. Love you loads Dean Roses are red, violets blue, my love for you will never xxxx subdue. Kayleigh King I’ll always love you baby girl xxx To the love of my life Amy, think of you every day, miss you, will you marry me? Love Jon xxxxx Daryl, this will be our last Valentine’s Day apart and I Harley-Jane, you are my life. You are always on my To Siobhan, happy Valentine’s day. I love you and our promise the next will be worth waiting for. I love you mind. Love Big Daddy Elvis xx princess always and forever. Love Davies. Xx sweetheart, now and always. Margaret xxx My little cute stuff Emma, you brighten up my days. To my darling Wendy, miss you loads. Love you lots. My darling secret squirrel, my love for you gets You’re loving, sexy, caring in every single way. Love Love to Shiloh as well, from Dave xxxx stronger each day we are apart, can’t wait to feel Mark xxx complete again. All my love forever, your Smidgen xxx Chunky, love you always and forever J xxxx You and me forever and ever as each day goes by our To my Sac, we don’t agree with 14th Feb as we both love grows stronger xxx Your Anth xxx Happy Valentine’s and happy birthday Vee, love you agree you should tell each other every day that you loads and hope you have a nice day. Lots of love your Leanne you’re my world, I love you more each day, love them, but being a pud I always make a fuss son Craig xxx Missy Cash, I’m so lucky to be your wife. I’ll love you love you always and forever. Happy Valentine’s. Your (remember the rose he he). This year I can not make a until the end of time. Love you Rachel xx Ryan xxx Paula, thank you for standing by me and forever fuss as you have well and truly outdone yourself as a looking sexy on our visits. You’ll always be in my Angela, happy Valentine’s day, I love and miss you sac, but wanted to say that we have a love that will Kayleigh, missing you lots and thinking of you always heart, my soul mate and best friend. Happy Valentine’s every day. I’ll be out soon. Love Steve xxxx (Budgie never end, our love is so strong even when we are Sweety - Pete xxxx day. Love n kisses Bold-i-locks xx Boo xxxx) apart and we are stronger SaPs than ever before. Dear Stacey I’m glad I’ve met you you’re a lovely lady Love always your future wife xxxxxxx Paula I love you with all my heart. Happy Valentine’s Emma. Been together thirteen years. Six months and I’m proud to be your partner for life. Lots of love day, all my love forever. Love you always Carl xxxxx apart. Miss you every day. Love you with all my heart. To my gorgeous Irish eejit, Paul. Looks like we made Tanya xxxxx Happy Valentine’s Lee xxxx it. Look how far we’ve come my baby. Big pressie next To my beautiful princess, fiancéJodie , my wife to be. year? All the way round Kym xx Happy Valentine’s day gorgeous. Just over seven months David, love you forever Nicola xxxx until I’m home baby. I love you so much, more than Dearest Jane, you have been so amazing - my To Badger Cox on Valentine’s Day. We love you anything. Lots of love your loving fiancé Robert xxxxx millions and think about you every day. Take care and bestest friend. I’m sorry. Thank you. I love you always. stay safe. With all our love and hugs, Mum, Dad and My wifey, Cam, JJ, Layla I love you all so much, keep Graeme xxxx smiling soon be home and happy Valentine’s day Diva xxxxx Chez, can’t wait to marry you. Missing you more and ♥x♥x♥x Buddy Sorry we couldn’t be together for this day, but I love more each day! Lots of love your Duck Egg! xx you as much as ever and always will baby. When we No love is stronger than your mother’s love and that’s Susan Darlin, I love you, never before have three finally get to spend it together, we’ll make it count why this Valentines I send you all my love. Thank you words been so true. Always your ever loving husband babe! Love you loads, chin up babe love Peroxide ;-) for standing by me. Love Darren xxx Jon xxx xxx Sian! You are the sunshine in my life! I love you more Jacqueline, your believing in me has kept me going. Gareth, you are my world and I love you will all of my than the stars in the sky xx Your Babygie. Xx My love for you has grown, not long now. Love Dave xxx heart. Happy Valentine’s day baby love from always My beautiful Mrs L, we’ll soon be back in each other’s Gemma xxx <3 To my loving wife Alex. Sweetheart. 2013 was not too arms. You’re my world, now and always. Your man Mr good for us both but 2015 will be as we are getting Right from the start, you were a thief, you stole my My soul mate, Wayne Jennings AKA Sonic, ‘I’ll love L xOxOx married! Happy Valentine’s xxxx Love Troy xx heart and I your willing victim. Happy Valentine’s Tiger. you always, your gal Kelz’ xx Dear Stelios since that day we got together I’ve My love, yours forever. ALWAYS your Baby, Chris xxx Gemma, you are the most amazing fiancée and mum Ku Limbu It’s like I was given just enough fuel for one always known we are forever, this message I send in the world. Please be my Valentine. Love you more For my 50 shades Dave. Happy Valentine’s day baby, girl and I used it all on you. Happy Valentine’s day love love you for my heart Michael xxx than anything, Mark xxxx missing you so much and love you more than anything from Sanjok Limbu Roses are red, violets are blue, my love for you is true. in the world. Love you baby. Love your baby girl Yasmin, I feel indescribable pure affection for you. So Megan Carson will you be my Valentine’s queen? Billi-Jo xxxx Real love is a blessing and baby, we are being smiled One look brings butterflies inside. This is for you to upon, lets enjoy it forever. Your ever loving Bear xxxx I promise to love you true, happy Valentine’s day baby devote my feelings for you. Masood. To my wonderful JM - miss you loads, but we’ll soon girl. Love you with all my heart and can’t wait to be be together again. All my love and hugs P xxxxxxxx Kitten, you are my life, love and reason for believing in back in your arms. Love ya bad boy Ryan C. Xxx Sarah, from deep in my heart I can tell you I love you. a better tomorrow. Happy Valentine’s your SMC x From your one true love Lee xx Wolfman I love you to the moon and back, your Laura, love you with all my heart and soul, always loveable Kitten xxxx My sexy baby. I love and miss you now and forever. will. Forever yours Stoney xxx Andrea, I love and miss you so much. Can’t wait to Thanks for being my Valentine. Your loving hubby become your wife. Love you long time Lisa xx I miss my Daddy he is the best. I love my Daddy he is John xxxxx My beautiful Beefyfod! All my love this Valentine’s better than the rest. I hope to see my Daddy soon. day and always. Boing xxxx My darling Andrew, there’s nobody’s body I’d rather Dieter, stronger is our love the longer we are kept hold than yours today. I love you and always will. Even if I have to go to the moon. Alexander Leyland apart. Love you always David xxx To my beautiful Riri, I love you more each day. Happy Tammy x x (age 6) xxxxxxxxxx ♥ Valentine’s day. All my love always, Graham xxxx Yasmin, I love you more each day. What I want to Alison (Ali-bum), roses are red, violets are blue, time Dear Norm, happy Valentine’s day my baby. Lilah and say is: Will you marry me? Love Luke xxxx My darling wife Karen and daughter Natasha. You’re goes so slow, when I’m without you. Love Lloyd I miss you so much. One day this will all be over and always in my heart and thoughts. Proud of you both. (Chump) xxxx you and I will always spend Valentine’s day together Andrew, this Valentine is filled with love, a place Love Warren xx for the rest of our lives. I am so proud of you, and within my heart, together, always and forever. My soul Lisa Jane, you bring sunshine to my rain, you brighten when Lilah is older she will learn how courageous you mate. Love Maxine xxx Beautiful baby Boo, you’re wonderful, kind and up my days. Be my Valentine always. Love James xxx are. Always think of our rainbow because it’s almost gorgeous. I love you so much. Thinking of you on this here. FFTR. I love you Anne xxxx To my wife Shezza, you’re my rock and I love and special day. Happy Valentines. Lots of love Mr Pea xxx Lindsey, can’t wait to be in your arms for everlasting miss you so much. Happy Valentine’s, your hubby Jay love my wifey. You mean the world to me. Lots of love Neady WTB. On the home run now baby, happy Val- xxxx Zak, my tree won’t be long now. Big hugs and kisses. Jay 8.3.1 xxx entine’s day. Always and forever, your man Ibrox xxxx Love you always. Your branch, Angie xxxx Julie, just to let you know that I love you so much, A4164CN, happy Valentine’s day, sending you big love Heather, my gorgeous wife. Happy Valentine’s day. happy Valentine’s day baby. Love Matty xxx To my little baby Nikki, cuz you’re only little. Happy and kisses, your boy K xx I’m missing you more than words can say!! Love Valentine’s day from your baby Boo and future hubby Sarah, I love you to the moon and back and will Sapphire, your love and support through all this has always hubby Andy xxxxxxxxx Paul xxx always do so. You made your mark on me when we been amazing. I couldn’t have done it without you. To my beautiful wife Samantha, I love you today, first met. From your hubby, I love you xxxxx To Johanna and Shannon, I love and miss you very Love Carl xxxx tomorrow, always and forever. Happy Valentine’s day, very much. Love Nigel xxx Roses are red, violet’s are blue. I can’t wait until I’m Aidan (CWH D5) ur still hot and I care ‘n’ love you so your loving husband Jordan xxx back home with you. Forever your hubby Baz xxxx Reo, I can’t wait to become your wife. I miss you more much. Ur best looker in CWH. Love Ray Insidetime February 2014 www.insidetime.org Valentines 47
My dearest Carly, happy Valentine’s day. I love you to make our relationship stronger. All my love Nicky x there baby from your Romeo Rod. 831 forever and Happy Valentine’s day, I love you with all my heart little the moon and back. Lots of love Roland TJ xx always. xxx Miss Amy. Lots of love from Alan xoxo Samantha, you’re all I want and more than I deserve. Love you Tash, from Ryry xxx You’re my baby Bosley, I’m yours forever, love Ben xx To my honey bunny Sarah, I love you more than Gary, roses are red, violets are blue, no better time words can say. Not long now, your true man Rob xxx Rachael, I’m thinking of you this Valentines, my Happy Valentines gorgeous, I love you Chloe and Lacie, than time spent with you. All my love JC xxx gorgeous Princess Pretty Eyes. Love you now and you both mean the world to me. I’m sorry. Love Daryl xxxx A haddock is a haddock, a hake is a hake, I love Julie To my gorgeous husband on our first Valentines as forever ya Roddaz Mark, the old one xxxx Ward more than cheesecake.xxx To my very precious darling, you are my world and I husband and wife! Even though we cannot be Small Fry, happy Valentine’s day. Love you Anton xx love you so very, very much. Xxxx To the most beautiful girl in the world Kerry Hallam together, know that my heart is yours forever. You can happy Valentine’s day. I’ll be thinking about you. Love spoil me when you are home ;-) I love you beyond Dave I can’t wait to marry you, I love you so much. I’ll Happy Valentines Hun, you are the best thing to words and no distance or time can change that! All my be home soon. All my love Dan xxx happen to me. Not only are you my lover but also my William R xxx love today and forever. Your Diddy Shmoo xxx ♥ xxx soul mate. Love forever Heathy xxx Dee, Squidgybot, God babe miss you like mad, lets To my loving caring missus on Valentine’s day I love this year out the way and I’m home (well D Cat) love you miss you loads and loads. You’ll always be mine Vince xx baby. Love you James xxx Ceylan, happy Valentine’s, missing you so much, not My baby girl I love you with all my heart. We will get long now! All my love your Daniel xxx through this Mmmmmwah. Stay strong xxxx Close together or far apart you’re always in my head Mitch, I love you lots like jelly tots, 2017 is our year. and heart. Love you Baby, us forever, happy anniver- Miss you millions xxxx sary. Codie xxx Hey gorgeous! Happy Valentine’s day! Thinking of you Nicolle! Happy Valentine’s day! Remember you are millions and trillions xo I can’t wait to be your wife Leo xx beautiful! Keep on smiling xx love ? Samantha my princess, you are my everything. I am Claire I just want you to know that you are loved and yours forever, happy Valentine’s day! Love you always Carolyn Ooo Carolyn your name says it all: Consider- missed more than you can imagine. Will you marry Pete xxxx ate and courageous in every way. Adorable as your me? Happy Valentines love always Jimmy xxx Scott, happy Valentine’s day baby. Be mine! I love you love’s applaudable and you’re rick with kindness and There’s only one woman I truly love, truly trust and long time. Your gal always. Nikki xx really look great. Optimistic at times and I hope you who’s never let me down, that person’s my mum. can wait, luxuriously sweet like food to eat. Young and Happy Valentine’s day! Good luck in Grampian. Xo Boo, I love you so much and our family. Will you be my Happy Valentine’s day Mum. Love Thomas xxx heavenly sent. Nice and intelligent inside my life Take care, love you as always. xo Leo xx wife for life please? Love Reece xox you’re so relevant. With love Clayton. Kelly, you have made this time bearable with your Sparkles (DJ). Missing you lots. Happy Valentine’s, all Tobes, I love my life because it gave me you, I love love and support. You are truly the best. Love Carl xxx Zoe, the best fiancé in the world for sticking by the my love Kev xxxx you because you are my life. Happy Valentines man she loves. Together forever. All my love David. Xxxx For Marv, baby you truly are my world, I love you with Lexi, need you to be strong now and I promise to be handsome! You’re always in my heart. Hugs and all my heart and more. Your girl Adele xx your strength for the rest of our life. Xx kisses XVickyX xxxxx To my husband and best friend Johnny. Happy Val- entine’s day. Lots of love your wife for life Nina xxx Dorothy, you’re my soul mate and my best friend. I To my beautiful girl Sambucca. I will love you forever Michelle, happy Valentine’s day Babe, can’t wait for love you with all my heart gorgeous. Will you marry and always love your man Kevin. Happy Valentine’s our special day to come to be together forever. Love Kelly, Babydoll, happy Valentine’s day sweetheart, I love me? Deyan xxx day xxxxxx and miss you. Loads of love Stephen xxxx you with all my heart. Love your man forever Dale xxxx MSL, my darling wife, you are my Valentine for the 15th My Princess Juliet our first and last apart. Not long My dear Jo, Liverpool are red, Everton are blue, the time, each one as special. All my love Steve xoxox now Babe for a fresh start. Love you forever, Ryan xxx grass is green, can’t wait to come home, you know Vern ... it’s Valentine’s day and even though we’re apart my heart is always with you. True love never Michelle my little cherub, thinking of you on Val- what I mean ♥ My love is forever. Your Jimmy, see ya Dean, happy Valentine’s day Babe, we will be together soon Babes xxx dies! Diamond D xxxx #:-) entine’s and always. Won’t be long now my chickadee. next Valentines but for now you have my heart. Yours Hubby Andrew xxx always Sarah xxxx Néady WTB, on the home run now my love. You and I Emily, you make me proud every day. You’re my best were for keeps. Your HTB Craig xx friend, lover, fiancé. I love you with all my heart, Justin xxxx Lydia, I miss you and love you. You’re the love of my My darling wife Michelle, I love you with all my heart life. All my love Dean xxx and soul. Thoughts are with you. Love always Ade xxx My sexy beautiful Queen Lauren happy birthday (14th Feb) Jackie G, God made you for me to love. Happy Val- love you all the stars in the skies. Your hubby Ben xxxx entine’s day. Lots of love Stuart xxxx Baby, 2014 is our year. I know it’s hard but this will To Torie my sweetest Valentine. Sorry for not being
• DETAILS OF THE REGIME AND VISITING ARRANGEMENTS AND FACILITIES IN ALL UK NEW ESTABLISHMENTS • HELP AND SUPPORT • THE 2014 HARDMAN TRUST T Çxã |ÇwxÑxÇwxÇà áÑxv|tÄ|áà áxÜä|vx wxá|zÇxw PRISONER FUNDER DIRECTORY yÉÜ à{Éáx ÉÇ à{x Á|Çá|wxË ã|à{ áÉÅxÉÇx äxÜç á • FACT SHEETS (INC SCOTTISH) ` áÑxv|tÄ ÉÇ à{x ÁÉâàá|wxËA ÉÇ Éà{ tà| xÜËá ç àâÄ • LEGAL DIRECTORY wtç Ëá wt zÜt tà{xÜ ÉÇ ]â Y V T • RULES AND REGULATIONS áà à ÇÇ É á çá |ä tç {wt i xÜá • USEFUL ADDRESSES Á\ |Üà t tÜ Ä U ÄxÇ |xá â Éäx Ä áÉÉÇ à|Ç • GLOSSARY OF TERMS tÇ~ çÉ çÉ xà ãxÄ xËá g{ âË Z wt Inside Time is AND ABBREVIATIONS ç Why not let your loved one know how much you care and proud to publish • INSIDE TIME ARTICLE ARCHIVE appreciate them? Select from our catalogue one of the the 2014 EDITION many tasteful gifts available to be sent directly to them.
of the most com- To place an order ask your wing officer or librarian USP GROUP £35 from all good bookshops or for a the new ‘thinking of u’ catalogue and complete MEMBER prehensive guide to Online at www.insidetime.org an order form. prisons and prison for £25 +£7.50p&p To obtain your own personal catalogue please send your details, together with two 1st class stamps to: related services. To order your copy contact: Inside ‘Thinkin of U’, Suite 236, Kemp House, Time, PO Box 251, Hedge End, And now Supplied free of charge Hampshire SO30 4XJ. you can order 152 - 160 City Road, London EC1V 2NX cards from to every UK prison - it’s us! Greetings cards for any occasion now available! Tel: 0844 335 6483 State the type of card you require, send your details & £1 cheque (payable to ‘Thinkin of U’) and even bigger and better! www.insidetime.org we will send you a tasteful blank card for to you to write out and post on to your loved one. If you would like to contribute to the Poetry section, please send your poems to Insidetime February 2014 48 Valentines Poetry ‘Poetry’, Inside Time, Botley Mills, Botley, Southampton, Hampshire SO30 2GB. www.insidetime.org
Star Poem The Full Moon H of the Month Stephen Marsh - HMP Swaleside I have kissed your tears What I See is Green Felt your heart Tom Clark - HMP Wakefield And searched long and hard For your soul The city lights cause such awe But it was like trying to find Reflect in puddles on the floor A drop of rain in a river Do I stop or go? Do I stop or go? As you buried yourself Confusing worries that I can’t slow Deep beneath your scowl You fetched a rainbow from where you’d been Playa Maria Oliver - HMP Drake Hall Everything’s red, but what I see is green Our happier times invade my thoughts Playas: I just wanna be with you And push out the sad Through highs and lows of chemical moods Make sweet love to you Wishful thinking on my behalf The fads and trends and vegan foods Taste you, squeeze you Remembering the good and not the bad Are we normal yet? Are we normal yet? Love you, I can’t let you get away I just knew I’d win our formal bet My favourite times were Yeah, that’s what they say Our blissful afternoons A rush of adrenalin and you lost your spleen Baby; I’m so into you Everything’s red, but what I see is green When you made me feel Where have you been all my life? As if I’d been dipped in sunshine But hold on just a minute You woke and you changed and you launched You’re a playa Knowing that you have the same into space You’re all the same memories Screamed as my gravity pulls down your face I don’t have time for your mind games Our love was so real, our love was so good Cos the moment I give it up Makes me relieved Can’t forget about you while I’m covered in blood You’ll be gone We shared them at the time Your heart bled to grey so as not to be seen Running game... And we share them now Everything’s red, but what I see is green Even though we are apart Playas say: I really like you - appreciate you That sound in your head I wished and I hoped and I prayed and I raged Your lips like honey Is the fear echoing from your heart I e-mailed and texted, I phoned and I paged Could I kiss you - I’ve been longing to It will subside one day Can you hate me now? Can you hear me now? You’re one of a kind Reciprocate - to show me how! Can’t wait to make you mine When we meet again Look what you’ve done; done to my dreams My love won’t hurt you Under the full moon sky Everything’s red, but what I see is green I’ve been saving it For so many lonely days, nights and years The station lights that buzz with my pain Waiting to encounter you Portland Lad Of nervous hues refracting through rain Excuse me! Victoria Hall - HMP Downview Your time has come, your time has come Hold up! Wait a minute... Say the railway lines that whisper and hum I beg your pardon, Mister Level crossings of life and death are obscene You’re a playa I long to feel your touch Everything’s red, but what I see is green Not the marrying kind Your fingers on my skin I can see through the charade Your soft lips pressed on mine Congratulations to Tom Clark - HMP Wakefield- who wins our £25 prize for ‘Star Poem of the Month’. Cos I’m not blind... Playas ain’t for me... sorry And the butterflies within I yearn to feel your breath Girlfriends Final Fantasy Linger on my neck And send that shiver through me Richard Goss - HMP Stocken Zeb - HMP Bullingdon Kissing, just a gentle peck The women of the past keep phoning This time for us now in ruins because of what I’ve done The kind of pecks that tease me There was another yesterday arrived from out of state Wasted all the joy I found in you in my pursuit of fun How I wish for you to please me She wanted to see me Blind and selfish thoughts eclipsed all I had or would This feeling just won’t leave me I told her ‘no’ Now I’m missing all you brought: soul and body food I’m such a worked up mess I don’t want to see them, I won’t see them Days spent on the couch, I long for those so now I can’t help but dream about you It would be awkward, gruesome and useless In each other’s minds and out, love spilled all around Spend all bang up thinking of you I know some people who can watch the same movie I miss all we shared, our time in land la la Countless scenarios on replay more than once Do you know how much I cared behind my feeling-phobia? Mind in overload each day Not me Once I know the plot, once I know the ending Now I have the time, I think about our bond December won’t come quick enough Whether it’s happy or unhappy or just plain dumb About adventures yours and mine, swords and magic wands That visit won’t be long enough Then for me that movie is finished forever Are you also reminiscing, or is it only me And once over I’ll return And that’s why I refuse to let any of my old movies Dreaming and wishing for one more final fantasy? And replay them once again Play over and over again for years Insidetime February 2014 If you would like to contribute to the Poetry section, please send your poems to www.insidetime.org ‘Poetry’, Inside Time, Botley Mills, Botley, Southampton, Hampshire SO30 2GB. Inside Poetry 49
An Image So Faint Poppy Fields Ups and Downs Andrew Smith - HMP Northumberland Neil Yare - HMP North Sea Camp Skem - HMYOI Lancaster Farms Crying Poppy, why so sad? Recently, I was diagnosed No bell nor siren mark the morning rise All the blood loss, makes me mad! As having bi-polar See bodies clamber in similar disguise Fighting, killing, waste of life But that’s just how it goes To breakfast call with groans and sighs Weeping families, widowed wife It’s something that I live within everyday life My fellow man; not giving a damn Set to live a lonely life The ups and downs Orphaned children, broken bones The pain and the strife The shadows sauntering about my door Scattered through vast open fields A lifelong struggle with the battle of my mood swings Churned up wasteland, home to me Affecting what I say and how I act and how I do things Will return for nighttimes familiar score I’m a blood red poppy People say I’m different For now the daylight rays my floor Growing where life used to be Some people say I’m odd The simple things; this routine brings But none of them can judge me cause none of them are God Each and own, to tethered a date Ode to the Wall I’m in a very dark place All men their dreams, their satisfied fate Samuel Ellett - HMP Norwich A bottomless pit I’m always in denial and I never can admit To walk the paddocks of home, I wait Sounds start stirring at 7:30 That it scares me I feel like I’m alone A looking glass of hours to pass Medication is dished out through With nobody to talk to, no numbers I can phone A small hatch in a narrow corridor But then I have my good days when I’m feeling up To mend such a broken scene as this The cogs of the regime are set in motion I get a boost of confidence and people show me love The forgotten name tags, a mirrored list The world is underneath me, I’m laughing to myself Men young and old never truly been kissed The morning bird in amorous flight If ‘mania’ was money, you could probably call me ‘wealthy’ Glides by block C, cell six What ink to paint? An image so faint If you walk in my shoes, you will see that I am bruised A welcomed absence from the chill of the night People say ‘deluded’, but they mean confused 8ft by 4, a table, a TV, a door I went to the psychiatrist, but kept getting delayed Thoughts He put me on the wrong meds, I’m taking one a day Thick grey concrete decorated I still cry on a daily basis Gary K Dunn - HMP Guys Marsh In solid steel barbed wire When I’m going through changes Those trees sure seem greener recognising these faces The road is long and strewn with broken glass Flirting with the dancing wind, on the other side The problem with this world is no equality or fairness And just when I’m thinking I’ve cracked it I sing this song for you today and hope I raise awareness! I fall back on my ass Perched on the clock to we overlooking the green We will award a prize of £25 to the entry selected as our ‘Star However good things rarely come easy A bird whistles a song, other birds join in Poem of the Month’. To qualify for a prize, poems should not have won a prize in any other competition or been published And never not simply to please me They’re crooning straight at me, vibrations in the breeze previously. Send entries to: Inside Time, Poetry, Botley Mills, You reap what you sow Botley, Southampton, Hampshire, SO30 2GB. Please put your Winter on its knees, places kisses at my feet name, number and prison on the same sheet of paper as your Yeah right even you know poem. If you win we can’t send your money if we don’t know So don’t be silly like me and slow who or where you are! Brush the glass away, Bird By submitting your poems to Inside Time you are agreeing that they can be published in any of our ‘not for profit links’, And keep on walking Dan Ridgewell - HMP Northumberland these include the newspaper, website and any forthcoming Time and life is ticking away books. You are also giving permission for Inside Time to use their discretion in allowing other organisations to repro- No more talking Get a grip, deal with it, get over it duce this work if considered appropriate, unless you have Man up, shut up, bang up Tomorrow’s not just another day clearly stated that you do not want this to happen. Any work Find yourself reproduced in other publications will be on a ‘not for profit’ It’s the day you say, basis. WHEN SUBMITTING YOUR WORK PLEASE INCLUDE Lose yourself I’ve had enough of this stuff THE FOLLOWING PERMISSION: THIS IS MY OWN WORK AND Find yourself again I AGREE TO INSIDE TIME PUBLISHING IT IN ALL ASSOCIATE Even though I’ll be feeling rough It will give you something to do SITES AND OTHER PUBLICATIONS AS APPROPRIATE. And the daft thoughts of wanting to die You did the crime now do the time Two weeks down the line instead of craving the high NEW I’m going to have the fresh air and the sky Find the positives insidepoetry And realise silly bollocks here was never going to die Plan Volume 5 No more Scheme Devise Will I hide from the feeling inside Learn Copies are available at a Yes I’m in a cell Adapt special discount price of £7.50 + With me the emergency bell £1.50 p&p for Inside Time readers, Survive family and friends. But hey it don’t have to be the hell that you once felt Prepare Inside Time, Botley Mills, It’s all looking rosy and even quite cosy They said ‘you’re not alone’ Botley, Hampshire SO30 2GB. Don’t put things on the back burner But you are Tel: 0844 335 6483 ‘Cause it’s the being straight that’s the earner So be good company Insidetime February 2014 50 Wellbeing www.insidetime.org
A little bit about diet and Leading you to a nutrition It’s been a while since we covered diet and nutrition. In a previous article (a couple of years ago) we looked at how many calories we healthy lifestyle should be consuming. One of the most common questions I get asked is ‘how many calories should I be consuming every day?’ Calorie intake can be broken down very spe- cifically into how many carbohydrates, ‘A LIFESTYLE WORTH LIVING’ proteins and fat you should be eating. However, unless you are on a specific training Limited for time, only get access to the gym twice a week, program, you do not need to be this specific. A taste of summer Your body’s basic metabolic rate (BMR) is how bored of your current exercise routine or just fancy a many calories over 24 hours your body needs change? One month down, a few months until summer purely to breathe, keep your heart beating Burpees (crash mat or mat) and to survive when asleep. This can be calcu- 2014, achieving that summer physique is not far away. This Press ups (mat) lated by taking your body weight in kg’s and multiplying it by 25. month we will look at two circuit routines that you could do Planks (mat) by yourself or set up with a group. Squats (dumbell, barbell As an example, I weigh 92kgs, so 92kgs x 25 or power bag) is 2300 calories. So this is what I need to sleep, Star Jumps wake up, sit and watch TV all day then go Arm blasts (bench and mat) back to sleep. You now need to add on your daily activity levels. This can be estimated by: Leg Raises (mat) Lunges and lateral raises (dumbbells) 500 calories - inactive individual Slams (medicine ball) Shoulder press (barbell 50% of BMR - exercise 3-5 times per week or dumbbells) 100% of BMR - Exercise more than 5 Dorsal raise (mat) times a week and lives an active lifestyle Power squats (bench) Bicep curls (bands) So if I decide to do no exercise for a week, I Sit ups (mat) would consume 2800 calories a day to break Leg blasts (bench) even. On a normal working week, I would be consuming approximately 4600 calories per Shuttle runs day. This may seem a lot, but when you consider I potentially could be leading a circuit All you need is a stopwatch, allow yourself class, demonstrating exercises, my own one minute on each station and perform as personal training and refereeing sports all in a many reps as you can. There is no rest in day, the calories soon get used up. Also your between exercises, just move straight on to body uses more calories after exercise to assist the next one. Complete it through twice with recovery. For most people in prison that with a few minutes in between starting it use the gym, I would recommend adding 50% for a second time. If you can set this up in a of your BMR on to your daily calorie intake. As sportshall or a big enough fitness suite, you far as I am aware, most prisons offer rice or could have 16 people (one on each station) sandwiches every day on menu choices. or even 32 people if you put two people on Always pick a good source of carbohydrate. enough to be able to be a part of the local each station. If you pair yourself up with Matt Vanstone Also, if your aims are to improve fitness, get Volleyball league, and the teams are more someone of a similar fitness ability, you PE Instructor - HMP Exeter stronger or gain weight and you are training than happy to come in and play both home could compete against each other to see 2013 British indoor rowing 3-5 times per week, you can choose the championships silver medallist and away fixtures in our sports hall. Volleyball who can do the most reps or encourage pudding option as this is all calories that can men’s open heavyweight each other. For some people, pushing is popular throughout the prison system, as be used to help with your performance. When yourself is the best way to get the most anyone can come and have a go, and even if purchasing canteen, consider tuna or mackerel from exercise. However, for others, you you are not a good player, you can still have as this is a good source of protein to help A Time for sport may like to pace yourself so make sure you fun which means you have a good time. So recover. For quick energy before a workout, pair up with someone that also wants to consider a pack of Jaffa cakes or that sugary Some prisons have the opportunity to deliver next time you see volleyball on the program, achieve the same aim. drink you have in your cell. various sports. At HMP Exeter we are fortunate don’t be shy, give it a try!
Anthony Stokoe Joel Binns Independent Legal Representation IPP٠DLP٠ALP٠MLP ٠ Lifer Specialist • • Parole/Recall/Adjudication • General Advice and Representation BIRMINGHAM’S TOP PRISON LAW SPECIALISTS* • Judicial Review Licence Recalls / Prisoner Adjudications / IPP & Lifer Parole / • Inquests/Death in Custody HDC / Sentence Calculation / Re-categorisation 020 8549 4282 Siddley House 50 Canbury Park Road Kingston Surrey KT2 6LX Call now to speak with: Tiernan Davis, Sadie Daniels or Anthony Cartin Purcell Parker Solicitors, 204-206 Corporation Street, Birmingham, B4 6QB. GUILE NICHOLAS SOLICITORS Telephone: 0121 236 9781 Specialist in Prison Law - Mental Health Actions Against Police - Personal Injury *BASED ON LSC CLAIM VOLUMES JULY 2009-JUNE 2010 - Members of the Association of Prison Lawyers Welfare Benefits - Debt - Community Care Insidetime February 2014 www.insidetime.org Wellbeing 51 Neck & shoulder Cow face relaxer The Prison Phoenix Trust
Shoulder Circles Very often if we feel tense, our neck and shoulders start to hurt, because Put your left hand up behind your they’re tense too. Use these Forward Bend back. Get your elbow as close to the simple stretches any time middle of your back as you can. Then reach up and over with your right hand you feel stressed or you and try to touch the hands together. Hold each elbow with the opposite If they don’t reach, use a sock. Hold feel tight and uncomforta- hand. Nod your head a few times and for five deep breaths and repeat with let your head hang loose. Take ten ble. Breathe slowly and the hands the other way around. slow breaths. deeply as you practise these movements and focus on your breathing, If you want a free book and CD to help you set up a regular yoga and med- itation practice write to The Prison Phoenix Trust, PO Box 328, Oxford OX2 letting the things that have As you breathe in, circle your 7HF. The Prison Phoenix Trust supports prisoners and prison officers in their been bothering you drift shoulders forwards and up. Then spiritual lives through meditation and yoga, working with silence and the breathe out and circle them back and breath. The Trust supports people of any religion or none. We also run away. down. Repeat this, moving slowly weekly yoga classes for inmates and prison staff. with the breath, ten times, then do the same in the other direction.
Head Tilts Neck Clasp
Put your hands behind your Wrongly convicted head and look down. Tuck of a crime? your chin into your chest and let the weight of your arms gently pull your head down. Feel the Lost your appeal? stretch along Sit or stand up straight and tilt your your neck and head to the left. Keep your right back and stay shoulder down. Take five slow breaths like this for five and repeat on the right hand side. deep breaths. What next?
THETHE PRISON PRISON PHOENIXPHOENIX TRUST TRUST The CCRC can look again Head doing you in? / Stressed out? / Can’t sleep? If you think your conviction or sentence is wrong Head doing you in? apply to the CCRC Simple yoga and meditation practice, working with silence and the breath, might It won’t cost anything just transform your life in more ways than you think ... Interested? • Stressed out? • Your sentence can’t be increased if you apply WriteCan’t to The Prison sleep? Phoenix Trust • You don't need a lawyer to apply, but a good one P.O.Box 328, Oxford, OX2 7HF. can help Simple yoga and meditation We’d love to hear from you anytime and have several free books, You can get some more information and a copy of the practice, working with silence CCRC's Easy Read application form by writing to us at which could help you build and maintain a daily practice. and the breath, might 5 St Philip’s Place, Birmingham, B3 2PW. or calling 0121 233 1473 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. Insidetime February 2014 52 Jailbreak www.insidetime.org
Crossword TWENTY QUESTIONS TO TEST YOUR GENERAL KNOWLEDGE
1. Which of Henry VIII’s wives was the the patron saint of doctors? mother of Edward VI?
2. Who played Terry, Arthur Daley’s minder, in the hit TV series of the same name?
3. Which Crimean War battle has given its name to a woollen hat fi tted closely over the head and neck?
4. According to the New Testament of the Bible, Jesus miraculously turned water into what? 13. Which hit 1994 stage show was based on the Irish ‘stepdance’? 5. Benjamin Barker was the real name of which infamous Fleet Street barber? 14. Which broadcaster, son of the legend- ary Richard Dimbleby, took over as chairman 6. Meaning ‘Blues’, which country’s nation- of TV’s Question Time in 1994? al football team is nicknamed the ‘Azzurri’? 15. The Edge of Reason is the follow-up 7. What was the fi rst name of Henry VIII’s title to which Helen Feilding novel? father? 16. In the animated Disney fi lm The Little 8. What French name is given to the tall Mermaid, what is the name of the crab? white hat worn by chefs? 17. Who is the father of Nicole Appleton’s 9. Which Portuguese explorer sailed son, Gene Appleton Gallagher? around the Cape of Good Hope in 1497 and reached India the following year? 18. Which group had a hit in 1983 with the song ‘Red Red Wine’? 10. What substance has the chemical for- mula CO2? 19. In 1917, which organization, abbrevi- ated to WAAC, was formed to offer women Across Down 11. John Motson is a respected commenta- jobs during wartime? tor in which sport? 1 A novel by Laurence Sterne (8,6) 1 A dish of meat, fi sh, etc. cooked in a cup-shaped 20. On the throne from 1830 to 1837, 8 International fellowship organisation for people with mould or shell (7) 12. Which of the four Gospel authors is which monarch preceded Queen Victoria? high IQ(5) 2 An order of classical Greek architecture (5) 9 A set of bells sounded either from a keyboard or 3 A quadrilateral with only one pair of sides parallel (9) mechanically (8) 4 One who practises severe self-discipline and abstains 11 Belonging to times long past (7) from all forms of pleasure (7) 12 Ivy League university in Ithaca, New York (7) 5 A hot dry dusty wind that blows from North Africa to 13 A brief stanza concluding certain forms of poetry (5) the south of Europe (7) 61 Birkenhead Street, 15 A crescent-shaped roll made of rich yeast pastry (9) 6 Alfred —, eminent Austrian psychologist and London WC1H 8BB 17 Membrane covering the brain and spinal cord (4,5) psychiatrist (5) CG LAW 20 A size of printing paper, 20 by 25 inches (5) 22 A 7 An Arabian camel (9) SOLICITORS 020 7843 4344 container with a perforated lid used for sprinkling fl our, 10 “This blessed —, this earth, this realm, this sugar, etc. (7) England” (Shakespeare) (4) [email protected] www.cg-law.co.uk 24 State capital of New Jersey (7) 14 Segments of the backbone (9) 26 A native or inhabitant of the Orkneys (8) 16 “A — Named Desire”, a play by Tennessee Williams (9) CG Law Solicitors is a London based firm of criminal defence lawyers and can 27 A yellowish-white colour (5) 17 Queen of Carthage loved and abandoned by Aeneas (4) 28 One of the Beatles (6,8) 18 A destructive insect, also called white ant (7) assist in all defence cases regardless of where the court may be. We specialise 19 A domed building with a circular ground plan (7) 21 “Wichita —”, a popular Glen Campbell song (7) in the following types of offences: Lee Theobald HMP Parkhurst A2152AG 23 White of egg used as size, glaze, or adhesive (5) 25 Close-fi tting tartan trousers (5) • Murder • Serious Drug Cases • Cannabis Cultivation Famous Funny Men • Fraud Charges • Money Laundering • Confiscation Matters FAMOUS FUNNY MEN ACTS Al MurrayMATTHEW COLOSSIANS NAHUM A G H J U Y E A S E G D I R B N I V E K Ed Byrne CORINTHIANSFrankie BoylePETER Clients can be represented at the Magistrates or the Crown Courts and a team G L H N N E Q W E R R A C Y M M I J T Y DEUTERONOMY PHILIPPIANS EPHESIANSJack DeePROVERBS of lawyers are available to undertake representation on all types of criminal B A M Q W D G T Y U I O P O N H F S F F EXODUSJimmy Carr PSALM N H G U G B H S E J A C K D E E W W D R GALATIANSJon RichardsonREVELATION cases. They can also advise on matters of : HEBREWS ROMANS SAMUEL J R T T R Y R T L X C V B N M J Y N S A Kevin Bridges ISAIAH Lee EvansTHESSALONIANS N W D Y Y R T Y L D E S A A G B J B X N JAMES TIMOTHY TITUS Appeals against a Conviction and/or Sentence JEREMIAHLee Mack D F A T H N A N A F F E L L L I K S V K JOB Lee Nelson D Q E R H E T Y H R V M N Q E R N A N G JOHN Omid Djalili When representing you, you can be assured of the very best attention at all K D F E N W M J H E Q O C I M A P G A D JOSHUA Peter Kay LUKE Rhod Gilbert times and committment to achieve the desired outcome. C N H B V S N O C S S N U M V P O T H Y MALACHI MARK Rich Hall O H N L A D Y L I D N M L E U M O G S A Sean Lock Only the best barristers are employed to assist and represent you. L F M I B F U J R R X C E B I M I B F K Tim Vine We will not turn our back on you, you will not be alone. N D I G C T N A W E B E G D X C V T D R A Z T D D G H I P K L N D T Y P O N G E Check forward, backward and Please write to us at the above address. diagonally, they are all there! E G W O E C F G C H I J J K Y L S M I T Kendi dilinizde davanizin hazirlanmasini istiyoursaniz bizi arayin veya bize mektup gonderin S R E H I V B A F R A N J F S R T Y M E Thanks to Lee Theobald HMP gelip sizi gorelim, sizi dinleyelim, size yardim edelim cunku bizimle yalniz oldugunuzu unutacaksiniz. Parkhurst for compiling this word- Turk vatandaslari cezanizi Turkiyede tamamlamak istiyorsaniz bizi arayin size yardimci olalim. X C B R Q L M I O L J M F Q Q E R T O P search. If you fancy compiling one for N F N H Y E L O I M N O S L E N E E L N us please just send it in max 20 x 20 Nese ju duhet ndihma yne ne gjuhen tuaj na kontaktoni. grid & complete with answers shown J O N M E O L L U G N D H U D S H K L B on a grid. If we use it we will send you J K L L S D I E L Y O B E I K N A R F V £5 as a thank you!
Al Murray Ed Byrne Frankie Boyle Jack Dee Jimmy Carr Jon Richardson Kevin Bridges Lee Evans Lee Mack Lee Nelson Omid Djalili Peter Kay Rhod Gilbert Rich Hall Sean Lock Tim Vine Insidetime February 2014 www.insidetime.org Jailbreak 53
Start from “QUOTES” Pathfi nder highlighted square Winter Olympic Pathfinder Farage looks like somebody has at an official when told an adapted ski Winter Olympics put their finger up his bottom and he boot she hoped to use at the Winter S L A L O M A K S D E E P S K Alpine Skiing Paralympics was not approved. Biathlon really rather likes it. M U J I K S T G C H A M O I C Bobsleigh Defence minister Anna Soubry . I have worked my heart out for P P L A G N I N S S O R C X A Chamonix the taxpayer Oh, my little babykins! I hope you Cross Country Skiing are all right Lord Hanningfield, who was accused of I I N E S K I I C O U N T R R Curling claiming the £300-a-day House of Lords The nickname Prince William gave Kate N N O L H T A I B G N I I Y T Denver attendance allowance while often staying Middleton, then his girlfriend, in 2006, it Figure Skating for less than 40 minutes. G I N I B M O C C I D R K S T emerged last week. Freestyle Skiing Giant Slalom At school it was called messing S C E D E N V E R G N O I K R You bitch, you bitch. Don’t you Ice Dance about. Then I discovered this could be know who I am? I will make your life O E D O R O P P A S I N I S O Ice Hockey a career Lillehammer a misery. C H S N O W B O A R D G N E H Jack Dee on how he became a comedian. Luge What Heather Mills reportedly screamed H O C K E Y F R E E S T Y L S Nordic Combined Sapporo I E S K A T I L L E H A C U G Short Track Speed L R U G I I L E C N A M R R N Skating Skeleton Bob U L O M F N G I C E D M E L I Ski Jumping G A L S T N A I G H G I E L S Slalom Snowboarding E S K E L E T O N B O B B O B Sochi
Neil Speed is a former prisoner who came up with the concept Anna Soubry Prince Heather Mills Lord Jack Dee Alpine Skiingof GEF BAD CHI whilst in prison. Inside Time features a GEF BAD William Hanningfi eld Biathlon CHI puzzle on this page. GEF BAD CHI by Neil Speed is Bobsleigh published by Xlibris. RRP: £12.35 Chamonix Cross Country Skiing 9 5 6 Curling Denver Submitted by Thomas Smyth - HMP Frankland. Start on the left with the first number and work 9 8 Figure Skating your way across following the instructions in each cell. See how quickly you can do each puzzle and how your times improve month by month! Answers on page below. If you would like to submit 3 2 8 7 9 Freestyle Skiing similar puzzles we will pay £5 for any that are chosen for print. Please send in a minimum of three
GiantMIND GYM Slalom puzzles together with the answer! 4 2 1 3 Ice Dance Ice Hockey×8 / +37 / -16 / ×2 = ??? 8Lillehammer 9 3 1 7 Luge 1 5 6 4 2 Nordic Combined×3 / ×6 / ÷3 / -6 = ?? 10Sapporo 7 1 Short Track Speed Skating
SUDOKU & GEFBADCHI Skeleton Bob+36 / ×7 / ÷4 / ×4 = ???
3 1 8 (c) Daily Sudoku Ltd 2013. All rights reserved. 16Ski Jumping Daily Sudoku: Wed 1-Jan-2014 Slalom Snowboarding Sochi Miscarriages of Justice UUSSPP GGrroouupp 9 5 4 8 6 3 2 7 1 An independent group of providers of 6 1 7 2 5 9 4 8 3 Appeals/CCRC Useful Services for Prisoners and their Families. 3 2 8 4 1 7 5 6 9 Parole Inside Time provides free or subsidised advertising 4 8 2 7 9 1 3 5 6 for the USP Group. 7 3 1 6 2 5 8 9 4 All Aspects of Prison Law The money they save funds an exclusive range of 5 6 9 3 8 4 1 2 7 contact the specialists money saving offers for all who register online. 1 9 3 5 7 8 6 4 2 Prisoners’ family and friends, solicitors, barristers 8 7 6 1 4 2 9 3 5 ASHLEY SMITH & CO and others who are involved with prisons are • Indeterminate / Life Sentence issues invited to register and start saving money today. • Lifer, ES2P & I4IP P5anels9 3 6 7 1 8 (c) Daily Sudoku Ltd 2013. All rights reserved. For a prompt response, wherever you are, call Prisoners can benefit from money saving offers when families register. • RecallsDaily & OSudoku:ral H Wedear i1-Jan-2014ngs medium • Adjudications (North West region) Ashley Smith or Stuart Young Full details and registration form can be found at • Parole Representations • Extensive Judicial Review experience www.insidetime.org • Appeals / Criminal Cases Review Comhttp://www.dailysudoku.com/mission 0208 463 0099 (24 HOUR) Accreditations include: No catches, no strings - just savings from the • Members of Criminal Appeal Lawers Association Our team are experienced, USP Group • Association of Prison Lawyers • Manchester Prison Law Practitioner Group professional, dedicated & approachable E Mail A Prisoner, Fonesavvy, Gema Records, Ashley Smith & Co Inside Time, Jailmate Cards, Prison Chat UK, Criminal Defence Specialists Prison Images, SIS Insurance and Thinkin of U. Where you see the USP logo on an advert you will 4-6 Lee High Road know they share the Unique Selling Point of all USP members. They will not be motivated by profit and are USP LONDON SE13 5LQ committed to providing fair and honest services that Group are Useful Services for Prisoners and their families. GROUP MEMBERSHIP IS BY ‘INVITATION ONLY’ Member ›› Registered with EMAP ‹‹ Insidetime February 2014 54 Jailbreak www.insidetime.org
Read all about it! CAPTION COMPETITION
1. Which couple recently produced the Queen’s fourth Dennis Abrey great grandchild? £25 prize is in 2. Who, at the end of January, had her sentence of 28 the post years reinstated? Fonesavvy providers of ‘landline type numbers’ for mobile phones. 3. Which European leader has just split from his long term partner, possibly as a result of his indiscretions? Proud sponsors of Inside Time’s LAST We nicked the MONTH’S new PRIZE quiz ‘Read All About It!’ WINNER 4. Which England team were successful in their pursuit benefi ts, why not of The Ashes in January? If you don’t want callers to be nick the money disadvantaged or put off by the high cost of from the till! 5. Who won Celebrity Big Brother? calling your mobile - just get a landline number for it. 6. Darren Gough and Sinitta were two of the fi rst Another £25 prize Calls to mobiles don’t have to be expensive! is on offer for the contestants to leave which show? best caption to this month’s 7. Which group recently signed an agreement that Full details are available on our main advert in Inside Time and at picture. prevents them ever reforming? www.fonesavvy.co.uk 8. Which country wants to replace the Union Jack with a silver fern on their fl ag? Sponsors of Jailbreak What do you think is being 9. As a result of racist and threatening tweets which ex Sean Ellis - HMP Stafford thought LAST or said here? footballer closed his twitter account? MONTH’S C Owens - HMP Wakefi eld WINNERS Davie J Holland - HMP Northumberland 10. The Somerset Levels are in the news currently because of what natural problem? >> To enter Inside Time, Botley Mills, Botley, Please do not cut out any of these Southampton, Hampshire SO30 2GB. The winner will receive £25 and the panels. Just send your entry to one You can use one envelope to enter two runner ups £5. See black box to more than one competition just mark the right for details of how to enter. or all of these competitions on a separate sheet of paper. Make sure it ‘jailbreak’. A 1st or 2nd class stamp is your name, number and prison is required on your envelope. Answers to last months News quiz: 1. HMP Gartree, 2. The Apollo, 3. Abbie Clancy, 4. Brazil, 5. Slipper (will accept Nipper Reid), on all sheets. Post your entry to: CLOSING DATE FOR ALL IS 28/02/14 6. Prince Charles, 7. David Emmanuel, 8. Kian Egan, 9. Australia and New Zealand, 10. Iain Duncan-Smith
9. Which show should you tune into, if you are ready to make the most of your life inside? 10. How many mobile phones and SIM cards were seized by prison staff in 2011/12? 11. When did members of the National Association of Probation Offi cers hold a 24-hour strike? insideknowledge 12. How many factsheets have been downloaded from the Inside Time website? 13. How many more foster carers are urgently needed to look after children across the UK? 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 fi nd them!! 14. How many prisoners are currently serving whole-life terms in England and Wales? 15. Where are trainees at Switchback expected to volunteer? The fi rst 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. Answers to Last Month’s Inside Knowledge Prize Quiz 1. Who founded Switchback? 1. Princeton and Cambridge, 2. Noel Smith, 3. 2013, 4. 1(article removed after quiz was compiled, 2. At which prison are prisoners able to be a part of the local Volleyball league? apologies), 5. Desmond Tutu and Terry Waite, 6. Raymond Davidson - Head of Forensic Accounting 3. Who can’t wait to feel complete again? of Bartfi elds, 7. 15 years, 8. HMP Gartree, 9. (4th April) 2005, 10. National Sports Centre/ Wales, 11. 27½ years, 12. September 2010, 13. Missing People, 14. The Equality Act 2010, 15. 550 4. Who was the winner of the 2013 Book Awards? Who feels ‘alive and born again’? 5. Our three £25 Prize winners are: Tracey Southgate HMP Peterborough, Jamie Elmer 6. Which small town became a scene of carnage in December 1988? HMP Brixton, Leroy Allen HMP Manchester Plus our £5 Consolation prizes go to: 7. Which Scottish prison has now been closed? Frank Hird HMP Wayland, Patrick Bootland HMP Whatton 8. How many prisoners have taken Open University courses in 2012/13?
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ROCK & POP QUIZ ANTI-DEPRESSANTS ... IN CASE YOU NEED ANY ANNIVERSARIES 4 Feb 2004 // 10th Anniversary 1. Bing Crosby’s White Christmas had the The social networking site Facebook was reputation of being the biggest-selling launched single ever, until overtaken by which Elton John single? 5 Feb 1924 // 90th Anniversary BBC Radio broadcast the ‘six-pips’ Greenwich Time Signal for the fi rst time 2. Which Prince song led to the introduc- tion of the Parental Advisory warning 5 Feb 1989 // 25th Anniversary sticker being placed on certain (ie explic- Sky TV was launched in the UK it) record and video covers? 6 Feb 1964 // 50th Anniversary 3. Which alternative rock band’s second Britain and France announced their album was entitled Version 2.0? agreement to construct the Channel Tunnel. Construction began in 1974 after 4. Decksandrumsandrockandroll was the a detailed geological survey, but the 1998 debut album of which band? British cancelled the project in 1975. It was restarted in 1988 and the tunnel opened in 1994. 5. Who declined to record Son Of A Preacher Man in 1969, leaving a big 14 Feb 1984 // 30th Anniversary opportunity for Dusty Springfi eld, who British fi gure skaters Jayne Torvill and scored a big hit with the song? Christopher Dean won the gold medal at the Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, scoring 6. The singles Krafty and Jetstream are the fi rst perfect 6.0 in Olympic ice-danc- taken from Waiting For The Siren’s Call, ing history a 2005 album by which band? 18 Feb 1954 // 60th Anniversary 7. Which American female singer was the The Church of Scientology was estab- lished in California, USA youngest person ever to win a Grammy Award (aged 14) in 1996? 23 Feb 1954 // 60th Anniversary The fi rst fi eld test of the polio vaccine 8. Which album by Cher was the began in Pittsburgh, USA. The trial best-selling, worldwide of 1998? initially involved just two schools, but in April a year-long national trial 9. Which Seattle rock band’s excessively began, involving 1.8 million children long name is often reduced to PUSA? 24 Feb 1999 // 15th Anniversary 10. In 1993, Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam The Macpherson Report on the killing of black British teenager Stephen Lawrence appeared on the front of which magazine, was published. It said London’s Metropol- as part of its featured story on the popu- itan Police Force was ‘institutionally racist’ larity of grunge music? and its offi cers made ‘fundamental errors’
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National Prison Radio is currently available in over 100 February 2014 prisons across England and Wales. We broadcast 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, into your cell. If your prison has National Prison Radio, you can What’s on National Prison Radio? listen through your TV by using the tuning buttons on your remote control. Day Mon Tue Wed Thur Fri Sat Sun Eve Mon Tue Wed Thur Fri Sat Sun
All Bob and Brixton Information 07:00 Porridge 17:00 Prime Time HYPE Request Beyond NPR’s daily feature show. Entertainment Calling From Centre The first national breakfast show made by and for prisoners - big TM Saturday A solid hour A weekly All the facts tracks, news, sport, and the information you need to start your day and support, helping you to make the most HMYOI The of reggae snapshot Hindley, you need if of your time behind bars. week’s classics of life made by you’re new to Listen out for... Monday – The Future Start your week by in HMP prison Request and for Friday – the famous Porridge Music Special getting clued up about your future, with information Brixton young Shows and advice from the National Careers Service. back people 08:00 Monday HYPE Connoi- NPR Igloo The Love Tuesday - Thursday – direct from HMP Brixton Special From sseurs’ Urban House to back Bug (or local through shows See the red HMYOI Corner Hip-hop, Show Love songs 18:00 BPM Brit 40 box below Hindley Classic RnB and The best the day. and tips for The Request Show made To hear your song, message or poem on the radio, write to us at Bouncing The UK’s for more soul and dancehall in house Write to writing beats and number one in your details on rare groove us at: home National Prison Radio, HMP Brixton, London SW2 5XF bass chart show, prison) the shows National Wednesday – The Soundclash - two prisons go head to head direct from the National Prison Thursday – Family and Friends Requests, presented by the women Brit 40 The Rock Prime Time Prison Radio 09:00 All Music Daytime Radio, 19:00 at HMP Styal with shout-outs and dedications from your loved- Igloo The UK’s Show Repeat from House studios Music and information designed to help HMP ones. Tell them to visit www.nationalprisonradio.com to join in number one The best Monday Show you make the most of your time inside Brixton, Friday – NRG: The Friday Request Show chart show in loud London 10:00 guitar SW2 Prime Time music Repeat from 20:00 Monday Plan B HYPE NPR Ministry The Rock Brixton March 2011 5XF Special Great From Urban of Sound Show Calling Tuesday See the red music. HMYOI Hip-hop, Keeping The very A weekly box below Real Hindley, RnB and you in best in snapshot of 11:00 Prime Time Plan B Prime Time for more stories. for and dancehall touch with loud guitar life in HMP What’s on National Prison Radio? Your next Repeat from NPR’s daily feature show. See 17:00 for details. details on Your next by young the music Brixton Day Mon Tue Wed Thur Fri Sat Sun Eve Mon Tue Wed Thur Fri Sat Sun steps... Wednesday the shows steps... people dance-
17:00 floors on 07:00 The Brixton Hour Prime Time The Love Connoi- BPM Igloo the Bob and Special programme made for HMP Behind Bars 12:00 21:00 Porridge Brixton’s prisoners. Behind Bars is your award-winning daily feature show focusing on a different side of prison Information in this programme ON LY Porridge Repeat from Bug sseurs’ Beats House outside Beyond applies to HMP Brixton. life each evening. We bring you the best(or chat, musiclocal and information to keep you informed The first national breakfast show made by and for prisoners For information on services available Love songs Corner and bass Show A solid hour at your prison, speak to a member about prison life and give a voice to your thoughts about life behindAnother bars chance to hear this morning’s show Thursday Big tracks, news, sport, information and real stories of prison life of staff shows) Mondays Induction Show - all the basics about how prison works and tips for Classic The best in of reggae 08:00 Behind Bars Tuesdays Women Inside - focusing on life for female prisoners writing soul and house classics A repeat of last night’s show, broadcast at 17:00 Wednesdays Your Life - looking at how to keep your body and mind healthy Plan B Thursdays The Inside Story - your in-depth13:00 guide to staying out of jail home rare groove 09:00 The 9:05 9:05 Fridays The Album Show - we play an entire album in full fromThe start to finish Request Show Your next Brit 40 All Music Daytime NPR Request Behind Bars Selector Show Repeat from Saturdays The Love Bug - helping you keep in touch with family and friends on the outside The UK’s number Music and information designed to Repeat Tuesday Sundays The Magazine - featuring the best bits of National PrisonRequests Radio and shout-outs from prisons across England and Wales steps... one chart show, help you make the most of your time Two hours of 22:00 National Prison Radio Book Club 10:00 presented the best in new 10:05 10:05 by prisoners UK music, plus NPR Request Behind Bars 18:00 Want to hear your favourite song on National Prison Radio? inside interviews, mixes NPR Request Show The Brixton Hour Tune into this month’s book reading exclusively for Show Repeat from For information, see edition at 07:00 National Prsion and live sets Repeat Wednesday Get your requests in to: To hear your song, message or poem on the radio, write to us at Monday Radio National Prison Radio, HMP Brixton,14:00 London SW2 5XF 11:00 11:05 11:05 National Prison Radio, HMP Brixton, London SW2 5XF Special The Red Bull Music Academy Radio NPR Connoi- NPR Request Show NPR Request Behind Bars 19:00 19:05 19:05 22:30 Show Repeat from Porridge Oldies Gospel Hour Get your requests in to: Sounds from the Uplifting Selector Live recordings, interviews, Urban sseurs’ Repeat Thursday A repeat of this morning’s show (or local National Prison Radio, HMP Brixton, London SW2 5XF 60s, 70s & 80s gospel music The best mixes and documentary Hip-hop Corner 20:00 20:05 20:05 20:05 shows) 12:00 The Selector The A List TheThis American Brit 40 Brit 40 National Behind Bars Two hours of 15:00 Life Stories All Music Daytime in UK new features and RnB Classic soul the best in new from the US A repeat of last night’s show, broadcast at 17:00 UK music, plus Running through the latest music to hit the National A repeat of The UK’s Prison SelectorFriday’s show music, plus 21:00 interviews, mixes Prison Radio offices 21:05 Music and information designed to help 13:00 13:05 13:05 and live sets. TwoThe State hours of number Radio interviews Porridge NPR Request Behind Bars We’re In you make the most of your time inside 00:00 Late Night Love Bug BPM The Love Show Repeat from one chart Book Club A repeat of this morning’s show Repeat Friday new music and mixes Love songs, the soundtrack to write letters home to Bug 22:00 16:00 14:00 14:05 14:05 The Love Songs Hour show Omnibus All Music Daytime Brit 40 NPR Request Behind Bars The UK’s Show Repeat from 60 minutes of classic love songs, the perfect soundtrack for writing those letters home Music and information designed to help you make number one Repeat Saturdey Overnight Dream Time the most of your time inside chart show, 23:00 presented Red Bull Music Academy Radio Dreamy chill-out tunes and information on how to stay safe while you’re inside by prisoners Live recordings, interviews, mixes and documentarySome features, exclusive prisons to NPR. have radio production courses or workshops which produce local shows. 15:00 exclusively for 15:05 15:05 National Prsion The Selector This American Radio Life Stories from 00:00 These are broadcast at 08:00, 12:00 and 22:30 instead of the programmes listed above. Two hours of the US NPR Request Show The Brixton Hour the best in new Repeat from 18:00 For information, see edition at 07:00 Monday Special 16:00 All Music UK music, plus 16:05 National and international news: every hour, on the hour from Sky News Daytime interviews, mixes The State We’re Overnight Music and talk from across England and Wales. and live sets In Non-stop Music and Information Prison news: Weekdays at 10:00, 14:00, 16:00, 19:00 and inPorridge 3 February - Outside In: former prisoners look at how you can prepare for life on the out. TV Guide: 09:00, 11:00, 15:00, 17:00 and 20:00 10 February - Open Road: a new show for the Gypsy and Traveller community. Want to hear your favourite song on National Prison Radio? We want your requests! News on National Prison Radio: News and information from your prison: 8:00, 13:00, 18:00, 21:00 and through the night 24 February - YO Takeover: direct from the lads at HMYOI Isis. To hear your song, message or poem on the radio, write to us at: National and international news from the studios of Sky News, every hour, on the hour National Prison Radio, HMP Brixton, London SW2 5XF The latest news from prisons across the country at 10:00, 12:00, 16:00, 18:00 and 22:00 Then tune in to the Request Show, Monday to Friday at 18:00, repeated at midnight, the following morning at 11:00 and throughout Saturday. 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3 1 2 4
9 7 8 2 3
8 9
6 5 9