October 2015 2 Mailbag and Prison) to ‘Mailbag’, Inside Time, Botley Mills, Botley, Southampton, Hampshire SO30 2GB
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the National Newspaper for Prisoners & Detainees THE 2015 KOESTLER AWARDS a voice for prisoners 1990 - 2015 RE:FORM is the UK’s annual national showcase of arts A ‘not for profit’ publication / ISSN 1743-7342 / Issue No. 196 / October 2015 / www.insidetime.org by prisoners, offenders on community sentences, secure An average of 60,000 copies distributed monthly Independently verified by the Audit Bureau of Circulations psychiatric patients and immigration detainees. SHRINK PRISON NUMBERS AND SAVE BILLIONS OF POUNDS Eric McGraw people are sentenced to serve them each year. They destroy lives and are too short to begin he number of men, women and chil- to tackle the causes of offending. Ministry of dren in prison’s in England and Wales Justice research has concluded that suspend- has almost doubled in 25 years - from ed or community sentences are cheaper and result in less offending. fewer than 45,000 in 1990 to more than 85,000 today. Reducing the l Limit the use of remand. prisonT population to its level when Margaret More than 8,000 people in prison have not Thatcher was Prime Minister would allow been found guilty of an offence. While re- governors to improve prison conditions, mand is needed, it’s used far too often. Sev- which were described in July by the Chief In- enty percent of people remanded in custody spector of Prison’s as their worst in a decade. do not go on to receive a custodial sentence. In a submission to the Government’s Spend- l Reduce recalls to custody and use women’s ing Review 2015 the Howard League for Pe- centres in the community, not prisons. nal Reform set out a list of policies that would lead to a reduction in the prison population And the Prison Governors’ Association have and save the taxpayer billions of pounds. also set out their top priorities for Michael Gove, the Justice Secretary. They write: MONEY-SAVING PROPOSALS INCLUDE: ‘We cannot go on thinking we can imprison our way to a safer society, not only is it poor l Abolish the use of short-term sentences value for money for the taxpayer, it also fails (less than 12 months). to recognise the evidence already available Short-term sentences are expensive and that there are better and more effective ways Warrior, Guernsey Prison, Ed King Silver Award for Portraits counter-productive yet more than 57,000 to protect the public and reduce reoffending.’ More artwork pages 26-27 Appeals Crime Prison Law The country’s leading experts in Unhappy with your solicitor? Transfer New Head of Prison Law - Jo Davidson ‹ cm ‹ serious, complex and high your case now. NJGD>D OJMN profile appeals. 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Sentence Calculation closed conditions Robbery POCA Serious assaults, torture HDC Years of experience in Proceeds of Crime Applications Registered with Gang crime including firearms offences, extortion, kidnap Transfers › › Dedicated prisoner hotline: 0161 833 9253 Manchester Office: 13 St John Street, Manchester, M3 4DQ Website: www.cmsolicitors.co.uk where lients atter Freephone: 0800 1 444 111 London Office: 15 Old Bailey, London, EC4M 7EF Video link: Nationwide service If you would like to contribute to Mailbag, please send your letters (including your name, number Insidetime October 2015 2 Mailbag and prison) to ‘Mailbag’, Inside Time, Botley Mills, Botley, Southampton, Hampshire SO30 2GB. www.insidetime.org ‘Prisons seem to be human farms’ Star Letter ........................................................................................................ insidetime ADY ADAMS - HMP WYMOTT a voice for prisoners 1990 - 2015 the national newspaper for prisoners published by of the Month I am currently a prisoner at HMP Wymott, arrived here December 9th 2014, and I have to say the Inside Time Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of The New Bridge Foundation, founded in 1956 to Congratulations and a £25 cash prize double standards, lack of communication skills and general laziness of the majority of staff is create links between the offender and the community. for this month’s Star Letter. quite disturbing. Over the years I have watched the change in the calibre of both inmates and staff. The old school staff were mainly ex-servicemen so they had a bit of life experience, unlike Inside Time is wholly responsible for its editorial content. Comments or complaints should be directed to the some of the child-like staff these days. Some of the old staff were calculated, disciplined and by Managing Editor and not to New Bridge. Prison hanging book the book; and some were just outright bastards but you knew exactly where you stood with them. Unlike these new, younger, more manipulative, underpaid, uncouth, career driven children. a © morally offensive not profit Board of Directors ................................................... I have put in a few apps and rarely do they even bother to reply unless I put in a COMP1. I’ve publication4 PETER OATES - HMP HULL noticed that most staff will white-lie or just tell you anything to stall you or put you off, espe- cially if they are sat there with a brew and it looks as though you might actually want them to do something. They have recently changed the Application system here and they now have a Trevor Grove - Former Editor Sunday Telegraph, I’ve worked on the pris- Journalist and Writer prisoner doing all their skivvying (a PID worker) which allows them more time for sitting around oner Listener/Supporters Geoff Hughes - Former Governor, Belmarsh prison. drinking tea. They justify it by saying they are giving a prisoner ‘more responsibility’, but seem Scheme at HMP Hull for Eric McGraw - Former Director, New Bridge to forget about our right to confidentiality when making official applications. (1986-2002) and founder of Inside Time in 1990. over 5 years. As volun- John D Roberts - Former Company Chairman and teers we work extremely Prisons seem to be human farms and I feel for all the lifers and IPPs because things are only going Managing Director employing ex-offenders. hard in teams helping to get worse. There are already hundreds of prisoners over tariff, sat in noddy shops doing Louise Shorter - Former producer, BBC Rough other prisoners who are Justice programme. monotonous work that could only be classed as slave labour to anyone with a shred of sense and in crisis. Recently I was Alistair H. E. Smith B.Sc F.C.A. - Chartered embarrassment. They pay a few pennies yet hand us canteen sheets from privatised money-grabbing made aware that there Accountant, Trustee and Treasurer, New Bridge companies who earn a profit from us by tempting us with thousands of pounds worth of goods. Foundation.a © a © is a book that can be borrowed from the not not profit profit prison library that shows people how 4 publication4 to hang themselves. The book is titled service Sex offenders making ‘Pierrepoint A Family of Executioners’ by Some things Steve Fielding. children’s toys don’t change The Editorial Teama © This book actually exists and is available ..................................................... ..................................................... not profit for prisoners to borrow. I was shocked NAME WITHHELD - HMP STAFFORD DJM - HMP FEATHERSTONE organisation4 that not only does the book show pho- tographs of the tools needed to make a I write with a query about sex offenders being When serving a short prison sentence in the noose but also sets out in detail how far allowed to manufacture toys for children. early 90s, I found prison life to be very you need to drop by your body weight. It Here at HMP Stafford sex offenders are miserable. The thought of sharing a cell with a also goes on to explain how many prison- making a toy that was featured on the BBC stranger was very challenging. I can recall ers were hanged by the Pierrepoint family, programme Dragon’s Den a few months ago. having to urinate in a plastic pot and, the next including many here at HMP Hull. The toy is called ‘U Kick’ and basically it is a morning, walking 30 yards along the landing Eric McGraw Rachel Billington OBE This prison has already suffered two sui- shuttlecock toy - ‘A kick-it, whack-it, hack-it with it, brimming full, to empty it in the Novelist and Author and Managing toy’. communal sluice in the recess during ‘slop-out’. Journalist Editor cides by hanging and numerous attempts over theBlavo past Nov 6 months. 2012_Blavo Whilst Dec I fully 2008 sup red- border SHADOW.qxd 13/11/2012 09:42 Page 1 port the right of freedom of expression, I Now we know that not all sex offenders are Now, 24 years later, I find myself in a single also believe that in a prison environment paedophiles but in the real world sex cell that has been made into a double with a these books are morally wrong and deeply offenders cannot write/publish children’s toilet, but no curtain or partition. I find it very offensive. What sort of message are we books or make any profit from doing so, yet embarrassing and undignified that I have to sending out? What would families, rela- the prison authorities seem to be turning a use the toilet in this way! Plus, there are no tives or even a Coroner say about an insti- blind eye to them making toys for children.