A Thousand Years Prison
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“I see these people with no Rachel way out and make the con- nection. It was a special and beautiful experience.” MIRI “He was my hero” From boys to men in jail Rounding up the year Former prisoner John Crilly 36 years in prison for a Rachel Billington revisits talks about the day he helped murder the authorities knew the highs and lows of her the National Newspaper for Prisoners & Detainees thwart the Fishmongers Hall terror attack - and calls for they did not commit. 2019 diary. a voice for prisoners since prisoners to take action on Comment // page 30 Comment // page 18 Joint Enterprise. January 2020 / Issue No. 247 / www.insidetime.org / A ‘not for profit’ publication/ ISSN 1743-7342 A VERY HAPPY NEW DECADE TO ALL OUR READERS An average of 60,000 copies distributed monthly Independently verified by the Audit Bureau of Circulations Comment // pages 20-23 A THOUSAND YEARS PRISON More than 1,000 years of added days are handed out annually to prisoners found to have broken the rules, and use of the punishment by prisons has doubled in four years Inside Time report have passed their release date but must serve out their added time. The bill to taxpayers is “Thank you chaps” 16 an estimated £40 million a year for the extra The findings, based on figures from the Min- prison places, plus an unknown sum in Legal istry of Justice, will emerge in a report to be Aid costs because prisoners facing possible Virgin Trains and prisoners work together published early this year. The report will high- added days are entitled to solicitors at their light wide differences between prisons in their adjudication hearings. The leap in the use of to help homeless people – and their dogs use of added days as punishment. It will also added days as punishment has coincided with reveal a race gap with Black, Asian and ethnic a rise in violence inside prisons. Official fig- minority prisoners more likely to have days ures have shown a sharp increase in prison- NEWS FLASH! CHALLENGE TO PAROLE ‘RECONSIDERATION ‘PROCEDURE! 13 added on to their sentences than white er-on-prisoner and prisoner-on-staff assaults prisoners. over recent years. It means that at any time, around 1,000 prison CRIMINAL Mark Carter places are being taken up by prisoners who Continued on page 14 Head of LAW Criminal Law Leading defence solicitors in: Tory win means more prisoners Legal Conspiracies Robbery Murder Gang offences Prisoner numbers are set to rise after the landslide Manslaughter Fraud Conservative victory in the general election services Drug offences POCA Jeremy Moore l Recruit 20,000 you can APPEALS Head of Appeals extra police officers; We have dealt with some of the most high profile l Extend stop and trust. leading cases in the Court of Appeal and CCRC search powers; and Experts in including R v Barry George (Jill Dando case). l Lengthen the serious and PRISON Jo Davidson amount of time complex cases Head of Prison Law served by violent LAW and sexual offenders. Fixed Re-cat Apps/Appeals Transfers fees: HDC Apps/Appeals Guittard Applications Boris Johnson keeps his job as Justice Secre- Legal Parole Sentence Calculation UK Parliament/Jessica Taylor tary, Priti Patel MP remains Aid: Pre-tariff review Cat A Review Home Secretary and Lucy create space, the Conserva- Recall Lifer/IPP removal Inside Time report Frazer MP is still the prisons from open conditions tives also pledged to build Independent minister. All three were first Adjudications 10,000 extra prison places at appointed in 2019. In the elec- The Tory manifesto, which a cost of £2.5 billion. Oversee- tion, on December 12, the PRISONER HOTLINE will now form a blueprint for ing the initiatives will be an Conservatives won an overall Boris Johnson’s time as Prime unchanged line-up of Govern- majority of 80 seats, giving 0161 833 9253 Minister, included pledges to ment ministers, after a them the opportunity to im- FREEPHONE bolster criminal justice. post-election reshuffle left plement their policies over those responsible for prisons the next five years. 0800 1444 111 Experts believe the policies and policing in their posts. www.cmsolicitors.co.uk Write to: • St James’s House MANCHESTER M6 5FW will mean thousands more • 15 Old Bailey LONDON EC4M 7EF people being locked up. To Robert Buckland QC MP Continued on page 14 2 Mailbag ‘Mailbag’, Inside Time, Botley Mills, Botley, Southampton SO30 2GB. Insidetime January 2020 Whatever happened to… Prison is a killer insidetime Mailbites a voice for prisoners since 1990 J Smith - HMP Barlinnie L Gleeson - HMP Armley The government haven’t a Give everyone a chance the national newspaper for prisoners published What is justice? This is a question that I’ve found myself ask- clue how the prison system Louis Burdett - HMP Swaleside by Inside Time Limited, a wholly owned ing more times than I care to count during my incarceration. is failing. One of the reasons subsidiary of The New Bridge Foundation, Sadly, I’m not sure I know anymore. Sure, I can give you the I am writing to highlight the crazy distribution founded in 1956 to create links between the for so much reoffending is legal definition; ‘Justice is behaviour or treatment that is of jobs here. It should be one-job, one-prison- offender and the community PUBLISHED because there’s very little to right and fair. It is the administration of the law in a fair and er, but some guys here have 3 or 4 jobs each, WEEKLY ONLINE AND MONTHLY IN PRINT do here, so most prisoners reasonable way.’ and even though they only get paid for one turn to Spice to take the days job they are still depriving other prisoners of away. They banned smoking Board of Directors However, these are just words. Maybe justice truly is no more work. Perhaps the prison is doing this to save than a made-up word to win politicians votes and allow the and now, as a consequence, money by employing one prisoner to do every prison is flooded with Trevor Grove - Chairman Former Editor Sunday populace to sleep safe and sound in their beds at night. Our numerous jobs, or perhaps there is another Telegraph, Journalist, Writer and former Magistrate. prisons are full to bursting with people convicted of sex- Spice and one of the reasons reason? I don’t really give a toss which, but this Dr Peter Bennett Trustee, New Bridge crimes, more often than not the only evidence being hearsay so many people ‘go under’ needs to be sorted out by giving everyone an Foundation and former Governor of HMP Grendon from the accuser, who the jury will believe no matter how on this drug is because with- equal chance at work. John D Roberts Company Director employing often they change their minds or are found to be lying. I’d out tobacco to dilute it, it has former prisoners to be smoked pure. Louise Shorter CEO Inside Justice and former argue that the stigma around sex-crime leads to innumerable We don’t want a life of crime producer BBC Rough Justice unsafe convictions. The juries, being only human, will err on Compare how healthy peo- David Evans - HMP Holme House Alistair H E Smith BSc FCA Chartered Accountant, the side of caution. ple used to look coming out Trustee and Treasurer, New Bridge Foundation of prison in the old days, Out soon. Writing this to express my gratitude Phil Wheatley Former Director General of Prison Whatever happened to the idea of innocent until proven now people are coming out to those who have helped me through this Service. guilty? It used to be a cornerstone of our judicial system. looking much worse than dark time. You have to be given something Sadly, it no longer exists as the onus is now on the accused to when they went in. Spice is before you earn it. Give us homes, give us jobs, The insideteam prove his or her innocence. I used to see things in simple rampant, the food is dis- give us a bit of respect, give us what we need, black and white but since my own trial I have come to realise graceful, very little fresh-air and we will give back what we can. Some of us, it is all just subtle shades of grey. I don’t say that people are or exercise, it’s no wonder and I’d like to include myself in this, don’t want blatantly lying, though some obviously are, but that years, people are looking worse. a life of crime. We don’t want years of isolation maybe even decades later the memory isn’t so great. But, and loneliness. We want to live life to the full, what about ‘reasonable doubt’? Again, another cornerstone I have been in and out of but we need help. I’d like to thank all of those of our judicial system that, sadly, no longer matters. prison since I was 17, and who work in the prison system and reside John Roberts I’ve never learned a thing in here. Here’s to the givers and supporters. Publisher We live in a democracy, for which I am thankful, but our ver- here, only how to do more Thank you all. and Director sion of democracy is fundamentally flawed as people, by crime. They think that doing their very nature, make mistakes. Therefore, the odds of get- a few courses will change Praise for healthcare ting a fair trial are stacked against us.