“I passed my mother in the corridor and she said to my gran, ‘Oh mam, look at that poor boy’, and I cried out ‘Mam, it’s me!’ As she recognised my voice her face turned to stone.” Simon Weston (left) speaks to Inside Time // PAGE 18 “Panic began to rise in my “I made sure that “I’ve got an allergy to drugs. the National Newspaper for Prisoners & Detainees chest as hand-sized spiders rather than me serve I don’t break out in lumps and appeared from nowhere and time, I made time bumps, I break out in hand- a voice for prisoners since 1990 dashed blindly over me.” serve me.” cuffs, misery, pain and loss.” September 2018 / Issue No. 231 / www.insidetime.org / A ‘not for profit’ publication / ISSN 1743-7342 Island of dreams Leroy Skeete Billy Moore An average of 60,000 copies distributed monthly Independently verified by the Audit Bureau of Circulations Comment // page 28 Comment // page 20 Comment // page 21 ‘THE WORST EVER PRISON’ HM Chief Inspector of Prisons l The most violent local prison l Drug use and dealing carried out openly in front of staff l ‘Poorly led’ staff locked 14 themselves in offices l Communal areas filthy with HMP Hull - best prison garden ‘cockroaches, vermin, blood “An outstanding performance” Royal Horticultural Society judge HMP BIRMINGHAM and vomit’ Inside Time report given a prison the lowest Describing conditions for NEWS FLASH! Governor of Berwyn and Governor of Styal suspended score of all four criteria of prisoners, the Board added: 14 Safety, Respect, Purposeful “… toilets in cells with no The Ministry of Justice has Activity and Rehabilitation. screen; a generally dirty, poor announced that it is taking environment; litter; objects in over control of HMP Birming- In May the Independent Mon- stairwells; broken windows; ham from G4S for an initial itoring Board chairman wrote heating broken or excessive; six-month period whilst it to the Justice Minister ex- broken showers; lack of ket- tries to sort out the problems pressing his concerns about tles and even, on occasions, which culminated in Chief what he described as ‘unac- lack of kit and bedding, with Inspector of Prisons Peter ceptable conditions’ at the cockroaches ever present”. Clarke invoking the Urgent prison. It said “… put simply, Notification Protocol. For the prison fails to provide a only the second time, the safe and decent environment Prisons Inspectorate has on an almost daily basis”. Continued page 10 Governors off © Inside Time to Boot Camp! l £10m earmarked to improve conditions in ten worst prisons l Minister pledges to quit if no 19 significant change in 12 months Doing my bird but not in prison Mark, above, is one of the beneficiaries of the Government’s new drug offence diver- sion programme. Instead of prison, Mark was sentenced to a term of ‘community re- habilitation’ which he serves at Landworks, the Devon charity teaching life-skills to prisoners from HMP Channings Wood and 12 © Paul Sullivan others sent by the probation service. “The people here are inspiring me and support- “Judge me on my results” ing me to live a better way,” he says. Prisons Minister Rory Stewart 2 Mailbag ‘Mailbag’, Inside Time, Botley Mills, Botley, Southampton SO30 2GB. Insidetime September 2018 Less than human The silver lining Mailbites insidetime Name withheld - a voice for prisoners since 1990 David Adams - HMP Guys Marsh HMP Isle of Wight All just talk the national newspaper for prisoners published by Adam Senior - HMP Leeds There’s so much negativity and suffering in jail and it doesn’t Inside Time Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Before prison, I had always need to be that way. Every event in our lives has a purpose, I’ve recently been transferred from hospital The New Bridge Foundation, founded in 1956 to considered myself mentally create links between the offender and the there is a powerful intention in every situation, so rather back here to Leeds prison as I have been strong; I had a family and a community. than sitting behind your door in a negative state, take a new diagnosed with a personality disorder. I was career to be proud of, I reassured that I would get extra support from A not for profit publication. worked hard to improve the approach and look for the silver lining. mental health and help to get on a PIPE unit, Inside Time is wholly responsible for its editorial lives of those I met and vol- Focus on solutions and you will be able to make the most out but since being back I’ve had no support content. Comments or complaints should be unteered what spare-time I whatsoever. The only time mental health came directed to the publisher and not to New Bridge. had. I worked to build a fu- of your sentence. In life and in prison you will always find to see me was when I had my ACCT review as ture for myself and then…in what you are looking for, if you’re angry you will find anger, they were asked by staff to attend. When I Board of Directors an instant it was all gone. but if you are happy then you will find happiness. Prison is what you think it is, change you’re thinking and you can informed them of my situation I was told that Trevor Grove Former Editor Sunday Telegraph, My career was over, my change your sentence. there is a staff shortage. All I need is a bit of Journalist, Writer and former Magistrate. friends turned away and less help, so please get more staff. Dr Peter Bennett Trustee, New Bridge Foundation and former Governor of HMP Grendon than a year into my sentence “I see prison as a pool of opportunities, and I can’t Geoff Hughes Former Governor of HMP Belmarsh I have decided that the kind- make the most of this pool by sitting on the side, I I’m no lag John D Roberts Former Company Chairman and est thing I can do for my RH Bowman - HMP Lindholme Managing Director employing former prisoners family is to cease all contact. have to dive in to reap the benefits, which is what I note a constant referral to prisoners as ‘lags’, Louise Shorter Former producer, BBC Rough Justice This sentence should be we should all do.” Alistair H E Smith BSc FCA Chartered Accountant, mine alone to serve. which I find repulsive. I am not a ‘lag’ and nor Trustee and Treasurer, New Bridge Foundation are a lot of the prisoners I meet. Stop referring Prison will not rehabilitate you, you have to rehabilitate But, in this short time, I have to me as a lag as it is offensive and quite yourself. So, don’t sit around expecting to magically become realised that I am no longer probably libellous. The Editorial Team rehabilitated and then get upset when you are back in jail in human, I am a number, a 6-months’ time. Get up and find the opportunities that will statistic, treated with indif- help you. All power comes from within, no other person has No shame ference, I have been robbed power over your destiny, take control now. Stuart Parkinson - HMP Liverpool of all purpose. There is no life for me when I leave these I have met so many people in here who claim walls and those I have spoken Use this time to learn more about yourself, discover what they are innocent. I work in healthcare and I to in custody feel the same. your true values are and set goals according to those values. get many prisoners, old, frail and in wheel- Erwin James John Roberts Rachel Make your family proud and when your life is finally pris- chairs who have been convicted of historic sex Editor in Chief Publisher and Billington OBE I know that when I finally on-free, you can look back on your sentence, stick your fin- offences and who are in their 80s and 90s. Director Associate Editor leave, I will be alone, unem- gers up to it and say, ‘I beat you’. Most of these guys don’t even know what day ployed and despised by soci- it is, let alone what happened in the 1960s/70s. Commercial ety. An outcast, a monster, Somebody once said to me - ‘Sometimes we need to trust that This country seems to have no shame at all in Manager in my mind I am already our own disappointments may be opportunities in disguise’. jailing these people just on the word of an David Roberts dead. How will years in a My sentence is just that. If you neglect the opportunity to bet- accuser, this whole business has gone too far. Head of cage change the fact that I ter yourself now, then when can you ever hope to encounter Men are getting set up day after day, just for Administration have nothing else to lose. the opportunity again? spite or for the sake of a bit of compensation, Justine Best how is this justice? Noel Smith Paul Sullivan Layout & Design Commissioning Reporter Colin Matthews Editor D Cat misery Website Design and Advertising Lee Abus - HMP Wandsworth Gary Bultitude At the time of writing this letter there are currently Correspondence over 100 D cat prisoners in this B cat prison. The last transfer of D cats to a D cat prison was General: Inside Time Botley Mills, Botley, Southampton, Hampshire SO30 2GB. over a month ago, and that was just 5 prison- Accounts & Admin: Inside Time, PO Box 251, ers.