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 CM Solicitors are one We are experts in all Following funding changes we We continue to offer the following CM Solicitors are one of the Extradition carter moore solicitors of the country’s areas of crime includ- continue to offer the following services for a small fixed fee; country’s leading experts in leading experts in ing: - services under legal aid; Legal advice and assistance at any appeals against conviction and stage serious, complex and Sentence Planning sentence before the Court of ‹ high profile cases. Rape IPP Parole Review has now become European Arrest Warrant (EAW) ‹ Challenging Licence Conditions Appeal and the Criminal Cases experience We have represented Robbery Lifer Parole Review Review Commission. clients on some of the Re-categorisation reviews International extradition proceedings most complex and high Murder Independent Adjudications We have represented many high Category A reviews profile cases in recent profile clients who have been EMAP years including: - Fraud Sentence Calculations Access to Offending Behavioural Work successful in their appeals Other Services R v Barry George (Jill Proceeds of Crime Recall (Parole Board Only) against conviction namely R v cm HDC appeals Dando case), Barry George (Jill Dando case) Medical Negligence Drug Matters Early Release on Conditional Licence and R v Banfield. NJGD>D OJMN Burglary Personal Injury ROTL We take on appeals R v Levi Bellfield (Milly Assault on legal aid in Family Dowler case) Pre tariff Lifer and IPP reviews. cm cm cm some circum- >MDH @ KMDN JIN stances. <KK@ <GN Wills Registered with › › Dedicated prison law hotline: 0161 833 9253 Manchester Office: 13 St John Street, Manchester, M3 4DQ Website: www.cmsolicitors.co.uk lients atter All other enquiries: 0800 1 444 111 London Office: 15 Old Bailey, London, EC4M 7EF Video link available c m If you would like to contribute to Mailbag, please send your letters (including your name, number Insidetime February 2014 2 Mailbag and prison) to ‘Mailbag’, Inside Time, Botley Mills, Botley, Southampton, Hampshire SO30 2GB. www.insidetime.org 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.