Today, in a fit of decluttering, I went through all my paperwork from my time in the gated retreats. It was quite therapeutic, slightly upsetting, and also very interesting when I came across articles I had written in those mindless hours of boredom.
The following is something I wrote from my prison cell, in response to the IEP changes in PSI 30/2013 about to be instigated in November 2013, thanks to Mr Grayling. I touched on this in my earlier blog on The Grayling Book Ban. I found this hand written "blog" amongst the poems, song lyrics and book reviews I wrote to try to keep my brain running, and to remind myself of my intelligence and analytical abilities, abilities that do not go down well in HMP! I posted this article out to Inside Times and to prison reform charities..... like much of my other post I think it possibly got "lost" on the way!
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I recently read a book written by a man who, like me, was convicted of a white collar crime and who, also like me, was given a harsh sentence in comparison to his peers convicted of violent, drug-related or repeat offences.
In it he wrote: "Imagine yourself locked up somewhere luxurious. You are able to enjoy all the creature comforts...... and can go anywhere inside that building, order and eat whatever you want, use any and all of the equipment and facilities available.... BUT - you can't leave this place. Worse, you are there with others whom you would not want to be with, anytime or anywhere. Your family can only visit for an hour or so, once a week, and you can phone them only for about five minutes a day."
He then goes on to say, how long would it take the "hang 'em and flog 'em" brigade to start reconsidering their position on the "holiday camp" issue..
As this intelligent ex-prisoner states in his book, the real punishment in being sent to prison is your withdrawal from society, and specifically your friends and family.
Being held inside the prison is the punishment. The conditions in which prisoners are held should, in a humane society, reflect the conditions of the society which has imprisoned them, The main aim of prison should be rehabilitation, with a forward-thinking approach designed to reduce re-offending.
From November 1st 2013, here at HMP Send (a resettlement prison which encourages offenders back into work in the community ) ladies can no longer have ANY items brought or sent into the prison. Why the draconian move back to the dark ages? Nobody knows, as, officially nobody has even been told about the new regime (due to be implemented in less than a week)
(*NB don't forget I wrote this in October 2013)
The prison service does like to keep its cards close to its chest!
Prisoners are not 'spoilt' with the current, pre PSI 30/2013, personal property allowed into prison. There are very strict limits and guidelines: a few of their own clothes, some books, board games, a few CDs, duvet cover, towel, a china mug (*NB this was removed later, except in open prisons), not much really. And items are only allowed to come in four times a year.
So, what happens in the future when clothes wear out, become too big or too small ( a common occurrence on a prison diet)? Simple!! Ladies can wear prison issue: an incredibly uncomfortable, hot and heavy prison tracksuit. Apart from being degrading, and also discriminating against those without enough money to buy from the prison's second-hand shop or extortionate catalogues (the only other option), this could cost the government a fortune! Just here in Send, 280 ladies will need six or seven sets of clothes, as laundry facilities are only available once a week. Even with the cheapest sweat-shop machined goods (and believe me the quality of prison issue is poor) it will cost over £100 per prisoner. Thats over £28,000 just as an initial outlay!
Let me explain why the prison service's idea of ladies buying all their own clothes, books, paper, envelopes, toiletries and stamps etc won't work. At HMP Send the prison pay is incredibly low. For a working week of four and a half days, a prisoner earns just £11.05. Out of that comes £1 a week for television: not much of a prisoner treat when you consider it costs almost half a day's pay and HMP makes a big profit from prisoner tv. So, with £10 left each week there is phone credit to buy and any goods from the canteen, which is run by DHL and expensively priced. A call from the prison phone to a landline costs about £1 for ten minutes off-peak. However, in prison you are banged up early in the evening, so calls often have to be made in peak times, especially to legal teams or other officials such as Children's Services or Probation. Calls to mobiles are very expensive. Most prisoners smoke, and tobacco costs use up most of the £10 left each week.
So, where does the Governor of HMP Send think each prisoner will find the money to buy all their own goods? Especially those items which facilitate communication with family (phone credit, envelopes, stamps), proven to reduce re-offending and improve mental health.
Despite classing itself as a 'working prison' Send does not reward hard workers with a bonus system or a sliding pay scale as other HMP establishments do. Wing cleaners, who work for about an hour or so a day, earn the same as kitchen workers who put in a seven hour day on pot wash! No such thing as an Enhanced or 'red-band' job at Send
Prisoners do not, despite public opinion, have a good or easy life. Being able to wear your own clothes and have a few of your own home comforts can be the difference between a coping prisoner and one with mental health needs, a massive and costly issue in prison.
Being in prison is degrading enough. Do we really, in 2013, need to make prisoners' lives even more miserable?
If you don't believe me, come and walk in my shoes for a while. Anyone could end up where I am. Don't turn prison into purgatory. Send offenders back into the world with raised self-esteem and the ability to be productive members of society. Not in a gray tracksuit with HMP printed across the front!
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If I were to write this article again today there would be few changes. Conditions in prison continue to deteriorate and re-offending will remain as one of the biggest judicial problems society faces. With Brexit and our collapsing government and opposition, I am scared for the future of our judicial system and our prison service. I still write to and visit girls who are incarcerated and it worries me to think about the conditions they face in the future, sat in their prison issue tracksuits watching £1 a week television, with very little rehabilitation or work opportunities. Change will only happen when the general public stops and thinks, and understands the reality, instead of the Daily Mail fiction.
