the National Newspaper for Prisoners & Detainees A ‘not for profit’ publication / ISSN 1743-7342 / Issue No. 177 / March 2014 / www.insidetime.org An average of 61,000 copies distributed monthly - Independently verified by the Audit Bureau of Circulations plus over 400,000 monthly online readership - Independently verified using SMARTER STATS

The price of injustice Government plans to change the law for compensation payments to miscarriage of justice victims have come under renewed fire in the House of Lords

quashed in 2012, set out the history to compensation payments which have been under attack since 2006 when the then Home Secretary for the Labour Government, Charles Clark abolished the discretionary payment scheme.

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ritics say Clause 151 in the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Bill currently going through Parliament would make it “virtually impossible” for anyone wrongly convicted of a crime to claim compensation. The Government’s initial proposal that new evidence must “show beyond reasonable doubt that the person was innocent of the offence” led to widespread criticism that it would, in effect, stop all compensation. The House of Lords subsequently proposed changes to the Bill and sent it back to the House of Commons, which responded by offering a compromise to replace the word “innocent” with “did not commit.” Writing in this issue of Inside Time Matt Foot, criminal defence solicitor at Birnberg Peirce and Inside Justice Advisory Panel member Paul May, who were together instrumental in Sam Hallam’s wrongful conviction for murder being CM Solicitors are one carter moore solicitors of the country’s

has now become

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Paul May, who chaired the London-based campaign for the Birmingham Six from 1985 until their release in 1991 told Inside Time “The Birmingham Six are forever associated in the public mind with innocence. By the time the men were cleared, every single aspect of the prosecution case against them had been completely discredited. During their imprisonment they were savagely beaten, their families stigmatised and homes firebombed. Under the Government’s plans, they’d have received nothing for their ordeal.” Debating the fine wording of the Clause is set to continue as the issue passes between the two Houses of Parliament, before agreement is finally reached. The widely held belief that miscarriage of justice victims are quickly compensated for their lost years could not be further from the truth. The price of injustice by Paul May and Matt Foot page 34

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Mailbag

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insidetime

‘We are all subject to moral failure...’

the national newspaper for prisoners published by Inside Time Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of The New Bridge Foundation, founded in 1956 to create links between the offender and the community.

I am still furious at Prime Minister David Cameron telling the world that the thought of prisoners having a vote makes him feel physically sick. Does his opinion change when we leave prison or does the thought of us having voting rights make his stomach uneasy even then? If the man who is supposedly running this country holds such prejudice towards us, a section of the population, it says a lot about the world we are released back into. Shouldn’t he be setting an example? Considering how much the tabloids love to write about how wonderful UK prisons are we don’t half get the rough end of the stick, not to mention the economic ‘prison’ a lot of us get released into. Some people might say ‘Well, you chose to go to prison’ but this is a simplistic and stupid statement, nobody ‘chooses’ to go to prison. It would seem that quite a lot of people want to see prisoners suffer and I think that says more about them than it does about us. Even so-called ‘Christians’, who seem to be the most vindictive. Vindictive people equals a vindictive system. They are all for harsh and draconian laws until it is their children standing in the dock, because we are all of us subject to moral failure, it is what makes us human. So, Mr Cameron, put your bigoted views back in the closet where they belong. Despite the inequality in our system and the bad examples set by some politicians we must take responsibility for our actions, and having a vote would help with this.

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Inside Time is wholly responsible for its editorial content. Comments or complaints should be directed to the Managing Editor and not to New Bridge.

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a not profit

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Trevor Grove - Former Editor Sunday Telegraph, Journalist, Writer and serving Magistrate. John Carter - Former international healthcare company Vice-President. Geoff Hughes - Former Governor, Belmarsh prison. Eric McGraw - Former Director, New Bridge (1986-2002) and founder of Inside Time in 1990. John D Roberts - Former Company Chairman and Managing Director employing ex-offenders. Louise Shorter - Former producer, BBC Rough Justice programme. © © a Alistair a H. E. Smith B.Sc F.C.A. - Chartered not Trustee and Treasurer, not Accountant, New Bridge profit profit Foundation. publication service

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Correspondence Inside Time, Botley Mills, Botley, Southampton, Hampshire SO30 2GB. Accounts & Admin: Inside Time, P.O.Box 251, Hedge End, Hampshire SO30 4XJ. 0844 335 6483 / 01489 795945 0844 335 6484 [email protected] www.insidetime.org If you wish to reproduce or publish any of the content from in Inside Time, you should first contact us for written permission. Full terms & conditions can be found on the website.

Subscribe Inside Time is distributed free of charge throughout the UK prison estate. It is available to other readers via a postal subscription service. ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION CHARGES £35 for single copies to UK addresses plus £10 p.a. for each additional copy to the same address. Charities and Volunteers (UK only) £25 p.a. for a single copy Overseas Subscriptions rates will be £48 p.a. for Europe and £58 for the Rest of the World both plus £20 p.a. for each additional copy going to the same overseas address.

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If you would like to contribute to Mailbag, please send your letters (including your name, number and prison) to ‘Mailbag’, Inside Time, Botley Mills, Botley, Southampton, Hampshire SO30 2GB.

........................................................................................................ DAVID HITCHIN - HMP LIVERPOOL

Appeal for victims

..................................................... ERIC ALLISON - THE GUARDIAN I would like to inform your readers that a prominent child abuse law firm are appealing for people who were abused as children from the 1950’s to the 1990’s in Manchester City Council run homes, to speak out about the abuse they suffered. The appeal comes as a cut off date has been set in which claims for compensation can be made as part of the largest ever group action for alleged child abuse. The decision was made at a hearing brought by Manchester City Council before the High Court in Manchester on 7th February. A cut off date has been set for Wednesday 7th May this year, by which time any new victim must have started court proceedings.

‘Trucker Trev’

..................................................... RICHARD MERRITT, IMB - HMP HOLME HOUSE I have recently read the November 2013 issue of Inside Time and noted the article written by a man using the nom de plume ‘Trucker Trev’ on prisons in the North East. The contents of this article were discussed by the Board at our last meeting. The Board noted with concern the allegations made by Trucker Trev that he wished to make applications to the Independent Monitoring Board and, if I read the letter correctly, he was discouraged from making such applications by members of the prison staff. The Board at HMP Holme House, like all IMBs, is anxious to ensure that nobody interferes with the statutory right of all prisoners to see a member of the Board if he so wishes.

In May 2009 Solicitors Abney Garsden, from Stockport, were given High Court clearance to In view of these allegations, would the author set up a second group of alleged victims who of this article be prepared to waive his claimed they while in the Blavowere Nov abused 2012_Blavo Dec 2008care red of borderanonymity SHADOW.qxd 09:42 to a 13/11/2012 limited extent andPage give 1further the children’s homes run by the City Council’s details of the obstructive attitude by giving Social Services. The action centred on three approximate dates when it occurred and main homes run by the City Council - Rosehill whereabouts in the prison it took place? I am in Northenden, Broomehouse in Didsbury and not asking him to give his name since Mobberley Boys in Knutsford. Other homes presumably he has his reasons for writing the included Glendene, Seymour Road, Ellerslie, letter under an assumed name, although the Buglawton Hall, Taxal Edge and Lynwood. more information he is prepared to give, the It is likely there are many more Manchester greater the force of the complaint. Unless the children’s home victims who have not yet come alleged actions on the part of staff are forward. Rosehill alone took 3,000 cases a investigated, they cannot be prevented in year from the 1950s to the late 1980s. Anybody future. The Board feels that Trucker Trev owes who was abused at a care home run by Manchesit to his fellow prisoners to assist the Board in ter City Council should contact Peter Garsden rooting out all attempts to prevent prisoners at Quality Solicitors Abney Garsden. enjoying the rights given to them by ParliaContact details on page 24 ment, and hopes that he will feel the same.

Postage paid

..................................................... HOWARD WOODIN - HMP ERLESTOKE In the past few months many mailbags and articles have appeared in Inside Time from disgruntled prisoners complaining about the strict new IEP policy issued in November 2013. In order to keep Enhanced status prisoners must now show to prison staff that they are helping other prisoners. So, in order to help other prisoners I hope you will publish this. In most prisons across the prison estate our free letter per week is not given out weekly to every prisoner despite it being a Statutory Requirement within PSI 49/2011. So, if all 90,000 prisoners were to request their free letter and postage every week (to which we are entitled) it would cost the taxpayer £45,000 per week. Of course, this cost to the public could be avoided if our families, as they were before Grayling stuck his oar in, were allowed to send us stamps and stationery. I urge all prisoners to collect their free letter and postage every single week until Grayling and his think-tank bods realise what an expensive mistake they have made.

‘Abused by Healthcare’

..................................................... A CONCERNED PRISONER - HMP PETERBOROUGH I am in absolute shock and disgusted at the way my friend is being abused by Healthcare in this prison. She was using heroin prior to custody and on reception discovered she was pregnant. She is withdrawing badly so I imagine that her baby is too. Healthcare are not bothered and she’s had no methadone or anything. She’s bled and informed them but the poor woman and her unborn child have had no help. The doctor came to her room and his exact words were ‘You’ll be alright kid’. This would not occur in the world outside of prison so why is it allowed in here? The reason the authorities no longer care is because owing to Legal Aid cuts, justice for us is no longer available.

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If you would like to contribute to Mailbag, please send your letters (including your name, number and prison) to ‘Mailbag’, Inside Time, Botley Mills, Botley, Southampton, Hampshire SO30 2GB.

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Congratulations and a £25 cash prize for this month’s Star Letter.

A Prisons Charter?

..................................................... MARK BANNER - HMP STAFFORD In 1837 the London Working Men’s Association submitted the Peoples Charter to Parliament in an attempt to improve the lot of the working population of Britain after the Poor Law and Reform Bill had added to their misery. The 6 demands were rejected by the veiled interests of Parliament. All but one of these demands are in place today and whilst society is far from perfect it is definitely a fairer place. This got me thinking about what I would ask for in a Prisons Charter. Many of the requirements are so obvious that they shouldn’t require mentioning, but, sadly, they do. So here is my Prisons Charter.

3. A full acceptance, no matter how unpopular, that prisoners are human beings and are deserving of their rights. 4. A fully functional and fully accountable complaints system. 5. Meaningful employment with a real link between employers and prisoners. A minimum £20 per week for prisoners which should increase if a prisoner genuinely works towards a real job with a linked employer that they have actually met. 6. Meaningful education rather than the current tendency toward a conveyor belt, box ticking mentality. Also provision for education at higher levels than just basic literacy and numeracy that are currently in place due to financial restrictions. 7. Fully trained and well paid committed and properly pensioned staff. Officers who can see the Prison Service as a career and not one where they are competing with under-trained, cut-price security guards.

1. A meaningful and fair IEP system where prisoners are rewarded for good behaviour and penalised for poor behaviour and an end to this ridiculous situation where prisoners face double punishment for maintaining their innocence.

8. Prisoners treated as individuals rather than numbers and where prisoners are given trust if they show responsibility and not needlessly restricted because some prisoners cannot be trusted.

2. The press to get their information from a well-informed and unbiased body to avoid the scaremongering, inaccurate and biased drivel that they currently print, which is used

9. Separate wings or prisons where prisoners with drug problems can get proper treatment or counselling and not just be left on wings with spiralling drug debts and the inevitable violence that follows.

What are we eating?

..................................................... DAVID WORRELL - HMP WYMOTT I am writing on the subject of the meals we receive in prison and our right to know what we are eating and what is in our food. This includes what fat, saturates, sugar and salt that is in each meal. I think this is very important and we have a natural right to know exactly what we are being fed. This sort of information is now clearly stated on food products packaging that we buy outside. The prison claim to offer ‘healthy options’ but who’s to say how healthy they actually are? Let us know what you are feeding us please.

Email a Prisoner

You might say these points are obvious but, amazingly, these basic requirements are not happening in the British prison system. Government and press propaganda mean that the public are totally oblivious to the present crisis facing the prison system. Incidents like the recent riot at HMP Oakwood have a temporary shock effect on the public but are soon forgotten when they hear the soothing words of the propaganda machines as they click effortlessly into overdrive. Prisoners are angry and frustrated; staff are angry and frustrated and feel undervalued. Many private prisons might as well be run by the Russian mafia and a government who try to kid the population that savage cost-cutting and pointless, petty restrictions and rulings are the keys to a functional prison system and a reduction in reoffending. The prison system is not fit for purpose. What we really need is a reality check and an acceptance of how things really are in need of immediate change. The Prisons Charter is a fantasy which should be a reality, something which I’m sure that sane, right-minded people would agree on.

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Contents Mailbag ......................... pages 2-9 .................................... Newsround ................. pages 10-16 .................................... Website Comments ............. page 17 .................................... Diary .......................... pages 18-19 .................................... The Big Issues Exhibition ... page 20 .................................... Ombudsman ..................... page 21 .................................... Parole ........................ pages 22-23 .................................... Historical Allegations .... pages 24-25 .................................... Comment ................... pages 26-30 .................................... Short Story ....................... page 31 .................................... Education ........................ page 33 .................................... Inside Justice .................... page 34 .................................... Maintaining Innocence ....... page 35 .................................... Thought for the Day ............ page 36 Terry Waite’s monthly column

.................................... Family Welfare .................. page 37 ................................... Legal ......................... pages 38-42 .................................... Legal Q&A ....................... page 43 .................................... Reading Groups ................. page 44 .................................... Book Review .................... page 45 .................................... Mothers Day Messages .. pages 46-47

Has the justice system let you down? Why not contact our friendly team for free and friendly advice? PRISON LAW / CRIMINAL DEFENCE

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.................................... Poetry ........................ pages 48-49 .................................... Wellbeing ................... pages 50-51 .................................... Jailbreak ..................... pages 52-55 .................................... National Prison Radio ......... page 56

MENTAL HEALTH LAW

• Mental Health Tribunal Representation Sec. 2, 3, 37, 37/41,47/49,48/49 & C.T.O. Appeals etc

FAMILY LAW

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11. Correct, safe and appropriate staffing levels with a working personal officer scheme to break down the barriers of mistrust and suspicion.

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10. Parole Boards who do not detain IPPs or lifers way past their tariffs when they have completed sentence plans and have recommendations for release. Knockbacks should only occur if the Board has genuine and probable cause to believe the prisoner will reoffend on release.

Mailbag

• Contacts, Children, • Divorce Cases etc.

HOUSING LAW

> LOOKING AHEAD • April Poetry Supplement

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Views expressed in Inside Time are those of the authors and not necessarily representative of those held by Inside Time or the New Bridge Foundation.

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Mailbag

If you would like to contribute to Mailbag, please send your letters (including your name, number and prison) to ‘Mailbag’, Inside Time, Botley Mills, Botley, Southampton, Hampshire SO30 2GB.

‘Conspicuous silence...’

..................................................... JOHN BOWDEN - HMP SHOTTS

Recipe for mouse

........................................................................................................ MR FISHER - HMP PRESTON I am writing in with another recipe for the ‘prison bush tucker trials’. This recipe has come about as a direct result of the cut-backs and food budget restraints placed on the prison system by the present government. It is no wonder the Tories are so keen not to grant us the vote. Here at HMP Preston prisoners get one hot meal per day which leaves a lot of us very hungry and needing extra protein. For the last year we have had an infestation of mice of almost Biblical proportions. They slip under the gaps in cell doors and raid the bins, not that there’s anything to eat in them, so I block off their exit, squirt washing-up liquid in their eyes and then despatch them with a quick bite to the neck. Once they are skinned, gutted and quartered the cooking can commence. My recipe involves saving the measly bit of grated cheese from the evening sandwich, a tablespoon of pesto, a tablespoon of chilli sauce and half a bar of Happy Shopper dark chocolate. Boil the quartered mice in the plastic brew-pack bag with the chilli sauce, in your kettle, for 30-40 minutes. Once boiled, peel the meat from the bones and stir in melted chocolate and pesto. Then spread them onto cream crackers. C’est ca tres parfait, et bon appetite. Don’t forget to sprinkle your grated cheese on the finished treat. I don’t really like eating mice but we do what we can to stay fed. I’d love to serve some to those who implemented such drastic cuts on the prison food budgets.

Scousers don’t eat cockroaches

........................................................................................................ WES BROWN - HMP FRANKLAND I would like to respond to the mailbag by Neil Harrison Scott (February issue) regarding the consumption of cockroaches. I think this guy has watched Papillion too many times! I’ve never heard of any right-minded prisoner eating bugs in the modern British penal system. I am a Liverpool lad and HMP Walton is my local jail and I am in shock that anyone would resort to eating cockroaches. If that is the case, I would like to distance myself from Neil Harrison Scott’s bad habits and defend my scouse honour. In my humble opinion scouse folk are proud people and don’t tend to eat bugs. Please don’t think that all scousers are running round catching bugs to eat, you can’t tar us all with the same brush.

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Before Christmas the Chief Inspector of Prisons and the Prisons & Probation Ombudsman publicly criticised the prison system for failing to reform and rehabilitate repeat offenders. The role of both these government-sponsored bodies is fairly questionable these days when, for example, the existence of the barbaric ‘Close Supervision Centre’ system raises nothing but a conspicuous silence from them. Are they so out of touch with the reality of how the prison system is being re-shaped by Chris Grayling and his neo-liberal agenda that they actually believe that ‘rehabilitation’ exists in the prison system other than as a vague concept? Even in its heyday, first during the Victorian era when the concept of prisons as places of penance (penitentiaries) and redemption fashioned regimes (often brutal), to the 1970s when a more politically fashionable idea of rehabilitation sort of influenced long-term regimes. The idea that ‘offenders’ could be transformed into model citizens by the experience of incarceration was a decidedly dubious one. And at a time when prison and prisoners are increasingly seen as a source of financial profit, and a sort of popularised retribution is characterising

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prison regimes, the ‘rehabilitation revolution’ has surely been put to bed permanently. The truth is, of course, that as institutions, prisons have always inevitably been places of straightforward incarceration and punishment. Damaging both to the prisoners and wider society is the way they perpetuate an alienated and marginalised criminal underclass. It was always the liberal and supposedly enlightened middle classes who held the strange belief that the hate factories that are prison could also be places where positive social values could be inculcated and the criminalised outsider somehow transformed into an obedient citizen. The total fallacy of that idea and belief is surely obvious by now, and yet it apparently prevails amongst ‘experts’ like the Prison Inspectorate and Prisons Ombudsman who, incidentally, have yet to report on a prison regime remotely rehabilitative in nature. Both of these bodies complain that the prison system is not positively improving its inmates or doing anything to prevent re-offending and yet in terms of its own supposed agenda in monitoring and improving the treatment of prisoners both bodies have become as discredited as the Police Complaints Commission. Maybe a true test of their commitment to rehabilitate prison regimes would be their readiness to publicly criticise Chris Grayling, although we all know this is never going to happen.

Discrimination against UK prisoners

...................................................................................................... MARTIN WINTER - HMP HIGHPOINT (SOUTH) I wonder why it is that if a foreign person is sentenced by our law courts they get to serve less time than those of us who reside in the UK? For example, a Polish prisoner that I knew was given the same sentence as me - four and a half years - but because he is being deported he will only serve 18 months of that sentence compared to the 27 months I have to serve. Also, my Polish friend will have no license to serve and no license restrictions. He told me that when he gets out he will leave it for a little while and then return here to carry on. Clearly this is blatant discrimination against UK prisoners? The ludicrous system tells us that if you are a foreigner who comes to the UK and commits an unlawful offence for which you are imprisoned, don’t worry about it as our Ministry of Justice will release you a lot earlier than UK prisoners serving exactly the same sentence. What kind of message is this sending out? I’d like to see Grayling justifying this.

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Insidetime March 2014 www.insidetime.org

marked the marked price would be charged. NOMS firmly believes using RRP is the fairest way of pricing and the prices charged to prisoners are reviewed every week in line with the issue of the National Prisoner Product List.

‘Exorbitant prices’

..................................................... TARIQ IHSAN - HMP STOKE HEATH Why is it that the items on our canteen sheet are more to pay for than in shops, supermarkets etc. A tin of sardines is £1.05 when I know for a fact that they’re 37p in supermarkets. That means we’re paying triple the price. Why are we paying these exorbitant prices? We’re being punished by being in prison, do we also get punished for paying too much for items from the canteen sheet as well? By the time we buy toiletries and phone credit, we have hardly anything left to spend. Can NOMS give me a reason why we are paying well over the odds for many things on our canteen sheet?

Writes MICHELLE THOMAS - NOMS NOMS has a National Product List (NPL) which lists all the products prisoners can buy. Selling prices for items on the National Product List used for prison canteen reflect prices on the high street and are normally set at the manufacturer’s recommended retail price (RRP). Under certain circumstances some items may be set below RRP but never above. For example, where the item is price

To measure the effectiveness of our pricing strategy NOMS benchmark a representative shopping basket of goods against comparable convenience stores such as Spar, Co-op Budgens and Tesco Express. These surveys continually demonstrate the competitiveness of NOMS pricing with the high street and in many instances NOMS comes out as one of the cheapest. Additionally the prisoners are effectively receiving a free ‘home delivery service’ for which other providers levy a charge per order. The margin (prisoner selling price minus VAT and cost for NOMS to buy item) NOMS achieves through the sale of goods to prisoners has to cover the overheads in running the retail canteen service. These include but are not limited to the production and administration of completed prisoner order forms, payment of prisoner labour involved in picking and packing orders, Booker/ DHL labour, management and distribution costs. The aim of the service is to break even and while we are now close to achieving this, currently NOMS continues to subsidise the contract.

Questions should be asked

..................................................... DJ - HMP BURE I write in reference to the double standards approach of the MoJ to cost savings in the eastern region of the prison estate. As most of your readers who have had the misfortune to reside in one of Her Majesty’s ‘hotels’ will realise, most savings come at a cost to us, the prisoners. Yes, Mr Grayling is shutting expensive to run/ repair prisons, but why is he not laying off the staff from these now defunct prisons? Here in the East, since the closure of HMP Blundeston the MoJ has been funding petrol costs for Blundeston staff to travel to work here at HMP Bure. So the question is: if you want to save money why are you wasting it on travel and hotel accommodation for unneeded staff who are being kept in jobs at public expense. You have to wonder why the Public Accounts Committee in the House of Commons is not raising questions and putting Mr Grayling under the spotlight over this. Let’s hope one of Mr Miliband’s crew reads this and that questions are asked.

‘The legal definition of torture...’

....................................................................................................... JOHN PALMER - HMP CHANNINGS WOOD With reference to the reply from Colin Speedie of NOMS (January issue) concerning overcrowded prison cells built for one prisoner but usually holding two or three, perhaps he would like to consider the word ‘cell’, which is taken from a Latin word meaning ‘solitary’. The legal definition of ‘torture’ is causing the prisoner anxiety, which is exactly what happens when two or more total strangers are forced to live, eat and defecate in each other’s presence in a tiny cell designed for one person. A prison officer told me that he would not be able to cope with such conditions. So why are we expected to?

5

Request for information

..................................................... ROGER SEVERS - HMP FORD In your January issue there was an article concerning ‘Representing yourself at your Parole Review’. I do not have access here to any applicable ‘website’ facilities so could I please ask if you could kindly supply a copy of the factsheet referred to. Could I also ask you to supply the full style postal contact address for the ‘Free Representation Unit’ both in London and Nottingham. Thank you.

Writes 1. The Parole Board has produced a factsheet to assist Lifer and IPP prisoners with their parole reviews. The factsheet is called ‘A Guide for Indeterminate Sentence Prisoners who do not have a legal representative’ and should now be available in prison libraries and is on the justice.gov.uk website. Whilst it is aimed at prisoners who do not have a legal representative, it does provide general information on the parole process. We are also sending a copy of the factsheet to prisoners when we send the letter to inform them that their parole review has begun. This is the first version of the factsheet and we will work to make improvements to it over the coming months. We are also working with an organisation called “Keyring” to produce a version that will assist all prisoners and take into account different levels of understanding and those who do not speak English as a first language. 2. The postal addresses for the Free Representation Unit are: London Office- Free Representation Unit, Ground Floor, 60 Gray’s Inn Road, London, WC1X 8LU (Tel 020 7611 9555) Nottingham Office - Nottingham Law School Legal Advice Clinic, Chaucer Building, Chaucer St, Nottingham, NG1 5LP (Tel 01158 484 262)

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Mailbag

‘Anti-government letter...’

....................................................................................................... M COOPER - HMP WHITEMOOR In November last year, after almost 15 months, the Prisons Ombudsman finally ruled that my complaints about a dishonest security report were valid. In 2012 and 2013, security personnel claimed that I had sent an ‘anti-government letter’ to my family. In reality, it was clearly a pre-trial legal statement. They had lied about its nature and contents. These lies were repeatedly used to deny me progression. The evidence that I submitted to the Ombudsman was identical to that which I supplied in my Complaints, Category A and parole representations. The Ombudsman concluded that the security report was misleading and should be amended. However nobody was held accountable for either lying or knowingly using lies to undermine my sentence progress. In total I will be held over tariff for a minimum of 3 years because of this behaviour. Such actions involve, at the very least, subverting the course of justice and defrauding the taxpayer of funds. Last year I was labelled ‘anti- authority’. It’s worth noting that although authoritarians may use laws to get what they want, they do not respect them beyond that function. The only thing they really respect is power.

Reply to Liam Ryan

Sick of the blackmail

In reply to Mr Liam Ryan, mailbags February issue - you moan about sharing a cell with a smoker but what you need to take into account is that you have been put into prison for committing a crime and you are not in prison for any red carpet treatment. If you don’t like how you are treated in prison then don’t break the law. I am not a smoker but it doesn’t bother me if people smoke. You also talk about the ‘huge’ cost burden on society (you don’t mention what your offending has probably cost the country) but government money comes from a thing called ‘tax’ which is more than paid for by smokers as they have the highest taxed habit in the country. If you done the crime, then please just do your time.

As IPP prisoners we have always been forced to do courses. We get told ‘If you don’t do this or that course you won’t get out or you won’t be recategorised’, or ‘You’ll be downgraded to Standard or Basic’. Then when we do go on the courses they have the brass neck to ask us why we want to do them? When I say ‘I’m here for the same reason as you - that is to tick boxes and meet targets’ - the programmers get upset! They ask us to be honest and when we are, we’re still in the wrong! The courses are on my sentence plan, what am I supposed to say? I don’t want to be there but you’ve forced me via blackmail to attend. If you force someone to do something then don’t expect to get 100% out of them. You can only get out of courses what you put in.

..................................................... TERRY KNIGHT HMP WANDSWORTH

Insidetime March 2014 www.insidetime.org

If you would like to contribute to Mailbag, please send your letters (including your name, number and prison) to ‘Mailbag’, Inside Time, Botley Mills, Botley, Southampton, Hampshire SO30 2GB.

..................................................... KEV KYBERD EDWARDS BOSWELL - HMP ISLE OF WIGHT

Turning back time: coming full circle

..................................................... TERRY LEGGATT - HMP LITTLEHEY After 36 years in prison I have seen both sides of the coin, the bad and the good. It appears to me that when the new IEP Scheme was introduced in November of last year it was to be the start of something far more sinister. The thin end of the wedge. Turning back the clocks in the autumn of 2013 has now taken a turn for the worse whereby Chris Grayling wants to turn our Prison System back, not by an hour but by three decades or more, making it far worse for both prisoners and prison officers alike. I seem to recall my anxieties from the 1980’s when Maggie Thatcher and her ministers were telling everybody to get back to basics - I dreaded the thought of people like Leon Britton turning our prisons back into places of hopelessness and despair, back to more riots, violence and misery - thankfully this did not happen and the prison system started to improve for the better. I started to see the benefits of smaller prisons; of larger prisons being designated into smaller units; wings for certain types of rehabilitation programmes, education and vocational training. We weren’t just a number anymore taking up a valuable bed space. Nor were we treated like scum who deserved what we got, attitudes from prison staff were changing - they were making the effort to step outside of their Victorian militant attitudes, to see prisoners as human beings in need of

help and support and, as they changed, so did the attitude of us older prisoners. Towards the end of the 1980’s and early 1990’s, attitudes all round had changed. Smaller units were better, smaller prisons were better, and as barriers between prisoners and officers were torn down, prisons saw less violence, less riots and the old mentality of the ‘us and them’ syndrome seemed to vanish into thin air. Conditions and attitudes in our prisons had changed dramatically for the better - big prisons had not worked in the past - but now, in the 1990’s and Naughties, smaller prisons, smaller wings and units, proved to be more successful than at any other time in recorded history. As a prisoner of the 1970’s and 1980’s, I have to say that a part of me misses the ‘old days’ where a prisoner could give vent to anger and frustrations. Today I have to think more, control myself more and, yes, if the truth were to be known, this modern day prison system with its ‘divide and rule’, saddens me. As good as it may be, I miss the old days. Yet, in truth, given a choice, I’d rather live in the modern prison system than turn back the clock to the 1970’s and early 1980’s - have our ‘Sinister Ministers’ learned nothing from history and past mistakes? Taking away privileges, locking people up in their cells for longer, cutting back on association times, whilst cutting back on staffing levels, is a disaster in the making. The less staff there are, the more prisoners remain locked up, unable to attend work, education or rehabilitation programmes and training courses. To kill the boredom, prisoners will smoke more, yet in April of this year, ministers want a ban on all smoking in prisons.

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Insidetime March 2014 www.insidetime.org

‘Painting a more positive picture’

..................................................... KARL READ - HMP WOLDS

IMOGEN JOHNSON & JACKIE FLYNN - ST JOHN’S APPROVED PREMISES, LEEDS This is an informal response to two letters and comments about the low opinion of life in Probation hostels, otherwise known as Approved Premises that have been shared in the October 2013 issue. This comes from the Manager, Trustees and staff group from St John’s Approved Premises, Leeds, West Yorkshire to provide more of a balanced picture. We have many residents who are continuing to work hard to make the most of their time with us. We feel those reading the comments in the October issue may well believe and be put off by others, and so our message is to keep more of an open mind and not to prejudge hostel living. Equally for some Lifers and some long termers, a hostel based release plan can be the right route out of prison, but it is accepted this should be seen as part of a stepping stone to preferred independent living when the time is right. Our Mission Statement at St John’s ‘From release through to resettlement’ is to provide rehabilitation and to reduce reoffending. We aim to look at the journey following release, and this starts with the person being fully informed and aware of what is going to be expected of him. We send out a ‘Welcome Pack’ and we encourage open communication

so we can plan for a better start for those who may be with us for between three to six months. We wanted to put the record straight and try to reassure those whose release plans are to come through an Approved Premises that not all hostels are the same and therefore cannot be compared. Some hostels are funded differently, have different staffing levels and run different regimes for different purposes. It seems to us that this information needs to be clear from the start. Certainly we respect those who are resolving to be abstinent from illegal substances so we aim to run a clean environment, we aim for independent living and more importantly we aim to put the service user at the centre of our service provision to seek a successful outcome with a planned move on. With this in mind we have the services of an Outreach Worker who will extend the support and contact on a voluntary basis if need be to ensure the longer term support is in place. We thank you for taking the time to read this, and we hope we have been able to reassure and paint a more positive picture for those whose future plans may involve living in an Approved Premises.

....................................................................................................... LIAM B - EX PRISONER I am an ex prisoner now serving the last half of my sentence in the community. The mind splitting headache of residing in a hostel (which is blatantly designed to accommodate sex offenders) miles away from my hometown, with the threat of recall for so much as standing in another residents room is apparently their insane idea of a manageable release back into society. The hostel takes half my benefits and not coughing up the money results in delays by your probation officer to move you on. What a joke. This is a con... If you’re gonna rob me (how you are supposed to live is a mystery) at least be upfront about it. Its blackmail, extortion and abuse (3 - 4 room checks a night where they wake you up by opening your bedroom door!!)...wow it works because I will never want to go through this again. No wonder the recall rate is so high, and I’m the criminal?

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..................................................... TOM - EX PRISONER I am an ex prisoner and only just released. I was also a member of the armed forces for 15 years. During my time in prison I took part in creative writing and wrote stories of all the conflicts and battles I took part in. Through Inside Time could I ask for any budding writers from the forces community who would like to put pen to paper and write in their own words of the conflicts and battles they took part in. I’m hoping if I get enough that I could put them into a book and all proceeds would go to the Help For Heroes fund. Editorial note: Interested? Write to Tom c/o Inside Time.

..................................................... ADRIAN BROADS - EX PRISONER I thought healthcare in prisons was a bit contrary but, as an ex-prisoner, I was surprised recently when I had to make an appointment at my doctor’s surgery for a prostate check. They gave me an appointment with a doctor and when I turned up the female doctor said that she didn’t do such examinations and I would have to make another appointment specifying a male doctor. On complaining I was told that the doctor refused because she is a Muslim and will not observe or touch a man’s body. I should say that at no time did anyone ask me if I minded a female doctor. I was given another appointment which, to my surprise, was another female doctor, who carried out the procedure with no hesitation. I experienced some callous behaviour by some prison doctors but since when have Muslim doctors been allowed to decide what examinations and treatments they should give? I would have thought that if they are doctors they should do everything doctors do.

Barry Akilo or Christine Ayanbadejo

01582 424234 or write to:

Rodman Pearce Solicitors Ltd 54 Wellington Street Luton Bedfordshire LU1 2QH

It seems the whole prison system is now unsettled due to the recent unnecessary changes imposed by Chris Grayling. We are definitely feeling it here at HMP Wolds or HMP Humber or whatever they are calling it this week, and the staff are also feeling it. It seems that saving money is a lot more important than rehabilitation these days. But the funny thing is that the government seem happy to merge these prisons (Wolds, Everthorpe) in order to make bigger prisons and all this is costing millions of pounds in taxpayer’s money. Their excuse is that it will ‘save money in the long term’. I am sure there are more important things they could be spending the prison budget on and one of them is resettlement, but somehow I don’t think that will be on the list of MoJ priorities. If they were really interested in trying to cut reoffending by rehabilitating prisoners then they would be looking at smaller prisons specifically set up for resettlement up and down the country, like Kirklevington Grange (for example). If smaller prisons are proven to be more effective then why would you deliberately make prisons bigger? Merging prisons together to make bigger prisons, or even building bigger prisons, is not going to improve anything. HMP Wolds, formerly run by G4S, is a fairly quiet prison, mainly because it is a small prison and the wings are built in such a way that staff can observe the prisoners at all times. Which allows for more time out of cells, which encourages social integration, making life better for both prisoners and staff. We also have good access to the services available like the resettlement department, healthcare, reception, chapel, library and exercise. Unlike many other category C prisons there is a focus here on addressing the prisoner’s needs. Both staff and prisoners are going to be worse off when the two prisons merge, especially with the new IEP system and proposed changes. I have spoken to many of the staff here who until recently were employed by G4S, and the majority resent the fact that governors and senior managers at HMP Everthorpe now have keys to HMP Wolds and have set plans in place to unsettle and change everything - one wing for induction, one wing for Basic(!). 90 members of staff are to lose their jobs, most of them from HMP Wolds. Bigger is not always better.

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Mailbag

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Oakwood riot

such constitutes a breach of my human rights therefore I am commencing legal action.

..................................................... JONATHAN HUMPAGE - HMP OAKWOOD

..................................................... P WILKINSON - HMP OAKWOOD

I would like to give my thoughts on the recent riot here at HMP Oakwood. The riot, on Sunday 6th of January, was, in my view, a long time coming and was exacerbated by vastly inexperienced staff members and the highly confrontational attitude of one woman officer in particular. It was also not helped by the extremely poor work ethic displayed by staff who try to do as little as possible, and also by the very poor complaints procedure in which prisoners have little or no confidence. This riot was the third high profile incident in this jail in recent months and all were avoidable. There is a complete lack of experience and training amongst the staff and they do not know how to talk to prisoners and most of the ‘managers’ to whom these young and inexperienced staff should be turning to for advice and instruction had never stepped foot inside a prison until 18 months ago. The staff and managers are completely out of their depth and I don’t think any of them would have been considered for a job as an auxiliary in the public prison service, let alone managerial positions in charge of large houseblocks full of prisoners. One of the big problems is too many prisoners are being put on report for petty reasons and then being put on Basic regime even before being found guilty. I would estimate that 1 in 10 of this prison’s population are on Basic. One thing that did make me laugh though was that they told the media that the situation (riot) was contained and under control as the rioters destroyed a whole wing in 7 hours! I wonder how much longer this jail can get away with playing all these incidents down as though there isn’t a problem. I fear someone is going to get seriously hurt or even killed before the management and their boss,

Insidetime March 2014 www.insidetime.org

Grayling, admit there are terrible problems here. They should shut this farce of a jail down with immediate effect.

..................................................... GRAHAM LEITH - HMP OAKWOOD n I would like to inform you of the treatment I was subjected to following the riot here at HMP Oakwood, which occurred on Cedar Houseblock where I was resident. On the night of the 5/1/14, following the incident I was moved onto Ash Houseblock (the VPs houseblock). I was put into segregation under Prison Rule 53 (4) as was every resident of the wing, although I, and as far as I’m aware no other inmate, did not receive an ‘initial segregation health screen’ in line with PSI 47/2011 page 20, 1.98. I was put in a bare cell with no bedding at all. On the morning of 6/1/14 I rang my cell bell and asked a member of the wing staff for breakfast. I was told that they did not keep breakfast packs on the houseblock and that I should have brought my breakfast pack with me from Cedar (bearing in mind I was removed to Ash escorted by 2 members of the Tornado team in handcuffs!). Therefore I was refused a meal to which I was entitled. That night I was again refused any

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bedding and was again forced to sleep in my clothes. It was not until the night of the 7th that I was given a duvet only. I was not provided with any personal cleaning equipment or towel until the night of the 7th, so therefore could not wash or shower. On the 8th I was taken off Prison Rule 53 (4) as it was stated that the prison was aware that I was not involved in the riot. The following day I was relocated onto Beech Houseblock (mainstream) following interventions from my solicitor. I was still not provided with a change of clothing until the evening of the 11th, almost a week. I was provided with prison-issue clothing but no underwear, so I was forced to wear the same clothes I had slept in for 6 days. Since the riot I have been singled out and punished by not being returned to Cedars along with the rest of the prisoners who were not involved. This is stated in PSI 47/2011 as a punishment following a proven adjudication, Page 46, 2.143 (removed from wing or living unit). The vast majority of my personal property has ‘gone missing’ and though I have reported this I am still waiting for a response. This treatment is inhumane and degrading and as

CONTACT US ON

n Since the 29th of December 2013 I have been on Basic Regime. The reason for this is because I broke the rules, and I accept this, but what I find hard to accept is the further restrictions placed on me by HMP Oakwood over which I have no control. I am not allowed to visit the prison library, the gym or the multi-faith room. The reason given for this is because of a recent incident where 6 prisoners climbed onto a workshop roof in order to protest. But what has that got to do with me? Am I to be punished and disadvantaged because of the actions of others? Isn’t that called a ‘blanket punishment’? Should I be prevented from being able to read, pray or do physical exercise because of something somebody else did? How is that in any way fair? I am already restricted by being on Basic and this is just adding to the misery. I have had no response (surprise, surprise!) to my written complaint form and it has now been several weeks. So can someone inform me if library, gym and religious worship are a privilege or a right. Inside Time writes: PSI2011-051 states that ‘Provision must be made to enable all prisoners who choose to do so to attend the main religious observance of the week for the faith in which they are registered.’ There are very few exceptions and these are listed in section 4 of the PSI which the prisoner should read. Likewise; prisoners should be able to attend the prison library each week (this is necessary to access prison rules and PSIs). Prison Rule 29(1) states; ‘If circumstances reasonably permit, a prisoner aged 21 years or over shall be given the opportunity to participate in physical education for at least one hour a week.’ The prisoner should place a formal complaint for each activity he is being refused. If he has been unreasonably denied access to worship, and is registered with a religion, he may be able to claim compensation from G4S.

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Insidetime March 2014 www.insidetime.org

‘What about poor copers?’

Licence variation

I think NOMS are going off the rails with this new IEP system where you get one warning and go straight on Basic. Do they honestly think this is going to make things better in prison? All they are doing is creating more work for themselves. What about poor copers, people who do not cope well with stress (which I’d say was a good 40% of people in prison), take away their TV and the stress will kick in, followed by depression and in some cases self harm. I think it’s totally insane! Those pen-pushers who think up this crap have obviously never done a minute behind the door, they want to get off their fat arses and look up the word ‘rehabilitation’ because what they are supplying is not it. Put these people on Basic for an hour and we’ll see how they cope!

I have been on licence for some time and need to vary my licence conditions under compassionate grounds. My probation officer is happy to support this variance but the prison that issued my licence is now closed. Who can I contact to deal with this?

....................................................................................................... G BACKHOUSE - HMP MANCHESTER

‘Scandalous shortage of kit’

‘Crumbling before our eyes’

I would like to draw your attention to the scandalous shortage of prison kit here at HMP Guys Marsh. I have been here for 18 months now and kit shortages have been an ongoing problem for the whole of that time. I have made several complaints to the laundry about the lack of clean towels, sheets and other bedding. Now Chris Grayling has implemented a crazy system that stops families sending in socks and boxer shorts and the prison are not supplying any as an alternative. We all know about the budget cuts but clean towels and bedding is basic and not supplying them goes against health & hygiene and I’m sure it is a breach of the PSI on prisoner’s clothing. I would very much like to question NOMS about this situation but I cannot access an address for them from in here! How convenient that the people causing this crisis are incommunicado.

I have been unfortunate enough to serve many prison sentences and I currently reside here at HMP Hull. Since this coalition government took over, things have been crumbling before our eyes at Hull; we now get kit change once a week on a rotation basis, so whoever gets out first gets the clean kit. If you are second or third you get no clean towels or sheets. We now get 1 toilet roll per week, one razor change and there are no pillow cases at all. Surely the minimum we can ask is for clean sheets and towels - is it really that expensive to keep us supplied with these essentials? I would think that the prison system is obligated to provide basic hygiene provisions. The prison system now seems to be a crazy place run by crazy people and I am surprised there have not been more outbreaks of disease in these dirty jails. I suppose that’s something to be thankful for!

..................................................... CHRIS BAKER - HMP GUYS MARSH

..................................................... D WOODWORTH - HMP HULL

Editorial note: These two letters have been sent to NOMS for a response.

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Writes In the event of an establishment closing, variation to licence is dealt with by Public Protection Case Work Section at NOMS. Your Offender Manager - normally probation - can contact them, explain the situation, produce supporting documentation and request the variation to your licence. Personal applications will not be accepted, it has to be done via your Offender Manager.

An open prison?

..................................................... NAME WITHHELD - HMP LEYHILL I write regarding the inability of HMP Leyhill to supply any real chance of resettlement in any form to its constituent prisoners. Between two-thirds and three-quarters of these prisoners are ISPs. As you can see from the figures below the percentage of prisoners ‘through the gate’ is pitifully small. Only 20 out of 500 prisoners work for a business and earn a real wage. Work Out: 39 (7.4%) / Work In: 488 (92.6%) There are currently no prisoners allowed to attend college for academic or vocational training, driving lessons, essentially anything that requires the prisoner going out of the prison. It is both shameful and disgusting that so many prisoners are being failed by the regime here that actually prevents reintegration. This is supposed to be an ‘open’ prison.

Recall: ‘Money making machine’

..................................................... AS EX-PRISONER WAKEFIELD I have just read the letter from Manbags - HMP Ashfield, and I can’t help but shake my head at the comment he makes about ‘bring on private probation’. I assume the man is bitter that his probation officer has put him back on recall, and like all of us, current or ex-prisoners, he didn’t do it! But the thing he really needs to think about is the fact that private prisons have to have bodies to keep in business, and their main concern is to make money and lots of it. Now just think of a world where they also run the probation service. Recall figures will go off the scale - the slightest thing and you’re back in jail. I will be the first to put my hand in the air and say that most probation officers are a waste of space, but I also have to say that there are some in the job that actually do try to help their clients, and I can really understand them going on strike to keep their jobs. But they didn’t do it just for that purpose, they know that we who are under their care will become a commodity for a business that will have a ready made client list for their lovely hotels/prisons. And you won’t ever have a chance of getting a probation officer like the one I have at the moment, who is fighting to get lie detectors in jail for one of his clients and anyone else who is adamant they are innocent. And yes before anyone replies and says there aren’t many like that, I know, but there will be even less if the private sector takes over. As a closing note just let me say, never forget that the private sector is only in the game to make as much money as they can, getting you to lead a decent crime free life is very low on their agenda. In prison or getting recalled, you are their money making machine.

No books at HMP Oakwood

........................................................................................................ NICHOLAS JORDAN - HMP OAKWOOD After reading a lot of complaints in your pages about the new IEP system it struck me that some prisoners are saying they can only have 12 books in possession - lucky sods! Here at HMP Oakwood we do not have that luxury. There is no system in place here to purchase books from an approved supplier. We can buy games consoles or DVD players but cannot get books for love nor money. And neither can we have them sent in. The prison library is poorly stocked and trying to order an unstocked title can lead to a 3 month wait, though you usually get a slip back saying the title is ‘unavailable’. I find all this ridiculous, especially if you want to use your time to educate yourself. So much for a ‘forward thinking prison’.

Responding tactically to a Prosecutor’s ‘Statement of Information’ is the way to strike back in the assets battle. In our experience, these documents are vital in setting the scene and letting the other side know that that a battle can be expected Hidden assets, tainted gifts, rights of spouses, third parties, business interests, reciever’s costs; these are among the multitude of issues that can arise in modern confiscation litigation. In fact, each one of these areas requires specialist expertise, skil and knowledge.

trapped? trapp

In our experience, the Crown will often assert that their demands are harsh but will then say that it is because POCA is ‘draconian’. Too often this is accepted. The truth is that these issues can be fought, either with good case law, solid factual argument, good negotiation skills or a combination of all three. That approach though requires work, dedication expertise and belief.

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Whther it is under POCA 2002, the CJA 1988 or the DTA 1994, and whether it involves restraint or confiscation orders, applications to vary or certificates of inadequacy, our POCA Department can assist.

ARC Law, Rahman Ravelli Solicitors, Roma House, 59 Pellon Lane, Halifax HX1 5BE Telephone: 01422 346666

..................................................... JOHN EX-PRISONER

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Newsround

Insidetime March 2014 www.insidetime.org improved. Support for those in danger of self-harm was also much improved, with evidence of better outcomes and fewer incidents. Security was applied proportionately, use of force was reducing and disciplinary arrangements were generally well managed.’

THE INSPECTOR CALLS ... Nick Hardwick - HM Chief Inspector of Prisons Inside Time highlights areas of good and bad practice, along with a summary of prisoner survey responses at HMP Pentonville and HMP Wandsworth. Extracts are taken from the most recent reports published by HM Inspectorate of Prisons.

HMP Pentonville

Local male prison Unannounced Full Inspection: 27 Aug-6 Sept 2013 Report Published: Feb 2014

‘A number of serious consequences’.

27% Number of foreign nationals 21% Number with disabilities 18% Lost property on arrival 52% Treated well in Reception 46% Had legal letters opened 50% Food is bad or very bad 61% Treated with respect by staff 36% Don’t know who IMB are 40% Victimised by staff 48% Number who have felt unsafe 31% Easy to get drugs 74% Difficult to see dentist 44% Not engaged in any purposeful activities 59% Less than 4 hours out of cell 16%*Have a Sentence Plan *46% of prisoners aren’t sentenced

Inspectors said; ‘At the time of the inspection, Pentonville was seriously overcrowded and held 1,236 men, 35% above its certified normal accommodation. More than half the population were held on remand or for short sentences of less than six months. All local prisons hold needy and challenging populations but at Pentonville this was especially so. Eleven per cent of men had been assessed as malnourished when they were admitted to the prison. About half of all the men held were on the caseload of the prison’s drug and alcohol service. The mental health service received about 100 referrals a month. The prison was shortly to start taking remanded young adults who would no longer be held at HMP YOI Feltham. ‘The staffing reductions the prison was required to make were having a number of serious consequences. A number of staff accepted for voluntary redundancy were still working at the prison; some were disengaged and their attitudes were having a detrimental effect on the prison as a whole. Prison service procedures, which did not take into account the London recruitment market, were making it difficult to fill some critical posts. The prison was operating at well below its agreed staffing levels and the governor was due to move. In the face of all this, inspectors were impressed that in some areas there had been improvements.’

WRONGLY CONVICTED? SENTENCE TOO LONG? Opposite the Court of Appeal – FOR A REASON! • CRIMINAL DEFENCE SOLICITORS we are

located opposite the Court of Appeal and take on Legal Aid work • Contact our dedicated Criminal Appeal team who will review your case with senior counsel. • Nationwide service available • Write to us at our freepost address today or alternatively call us on our 0800 051 1069

Inspectors found the culture in the prison had markedly improved. Staff-prisoner relationships were much better - however the 43% of prisoners who were foreign nationals fared less well and although there were a range of services for these prisoners, Discrimination Complaints were ‘dealt with poorly’.

HMP Wandsworth

Category B local male prison Announced Full Inspection: 13-17 May & 10-14 Jun 2013. Report: Oct 2013 Published: Dec2013

‘A good report that records significant improvement.’

43% Number of foreign nationals 16% Number with disabilities 14% Lost property on arrival 58% Treated well in Reception 41% Had legal letters opened 31% Food is bad or very bad 74% Treated with respect by staff 45% Don’t know who IMB are 25% Victimised by staff 39% Number who have felt unsafe 21% Easy to get drugs 65% Difficult to see dentist 36%

Inspectors reported: ‘Time out of cell had improved but remained limited, as did prisoner access to association. We found just over a quarter of prisoners locked up during the working day, which was too high, but a significant improvement since our last visit.’ In conclusion Nick Hardwick said; ‘At our previous inspection Wandsworth was being run in the interests of the staff; at this inspection we found a prison that was working toward becoming an accountable public service.’ Recently published HMCIP reports Blundeston - Sept 2013, Brixton - Dec 2013, Bure - Sept 2013, Cookham Wood - Sept 2013, Downview - Nov 2013, Exeter - Dec 2013, Grendon - January 2014, Holloway - Oct 2013, Holme House - January 2014. Kennet - Nov 2013, New Hall’s Rivendell Unit - Sept 2013, Norwich - Jan 2014, Oakwood - Oct 2013, Parc January 2014, Pentonville - February 2014, Usk - April 2013, Wandsworth Nov 2013, Wayland - January 2014, Harmondsworth IRC - Jan 2014

Not engaged in any purposeful activities 51% Less than 4 hours out of cell 26%* Have a Sentence Plan * 41% of prisoners aren’t sentenced Because their last report on Wandsworth was so bad, Prison Inspectors decided to re-inspect Wandsworth sooner rather than later and to give the governor prior warning of the inspection. Inspectors said; ’Safety at Wandsworth had improved significantly. Arrangements to receive and induct new prisoners were satisfactory. Violence reduction protocols were better than we often see, levels of violence had reduced and staff supervision was

Copies of the most recent report for your prison are available in the library. New address for HMCIP Victory House, 6th floor, 30-34 Kingsway London WC2B 6EX

The Independent Criminal & Prison Law Specialist

Criminal appeals specialists

• Appeals of Conviction/Sentence If you feel that you have been the • Judicial Review victim of a miscarriage of justice or • Parole Board Representation that your sentence is too long then contact our specialist appeals team • Re-Categorisation For all cases • Conduct a thorough • Adjudications review of your case, undertaken we will: • Licence Recall • Discuss your concerns with you in detail and; • Lifer Panels • Instruct experienced counsel to provide an in• HDC/ROTL depth advice on possible grounds of appeal

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Please contact John Molleskog or Ola Yusuf CRIMINAL DEFENCE SOLICITORS FREEPOST: RSJS - SHTS - HHGB 227/228 STRAND, LONDON, WC2R 1BE

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CRIMINAL DEFENCE SOLICITORS FREEPOST: RSJS - SHTS - HHGB McMillan Williams Solicitors, 9 Beddington Gardens, 227/228 STRAND, LONDON, WC2R 1BE Wallington, Surrey SM6 0HU

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Members of the Association of Prison Lawyers

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Prf2_MW Criminal Appeals Specialists 12cmx8cm.indd 1

04/05/2012 18:45

Newsround

Insidetime March 2014 www.insidetime.org

Finally, after 40 years, the laws on disclosing Historical sex cases: criminal records are changing for the better sloppy and ill-prepared Unlock, who provide trusted information, advice and advocacy for people with criminal convictions, are delighted that, having campaigned for many years, the 10th March 2014 will finally see reforms to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 come into force. This means that many people will find that their conviction becomes ‘spent’ a lot sooner than it did previously. It only applies in England and Wales, but the changes are ‘retrospective’, which means it applies to people convicted before the March changes (Christopher Stacey writes). So, if you were sentenced in June 2013 to 1 year in prison, this would previously have taken 10 years to become ‘spent’. Under the changes, this will reduce to 4 years from the end of the full sentence (so June 2018). Unlock continue to campaign for a system for people sentenced to over 4 years, but for many people it’s much better than what it was. What happens once it’s spent? Basically, it means people have to disclose for most jobs,

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The things people say…

and insurance, and won’t be disclosed on a basic check. It doesn’t get deleted, and for jobs that involve standard or enhanced criminal record checks, it will continue to get disclosed in most cases. Unlock has published a simple guide on the changes and can provide individual copies on request. The guide available to download from their website. They also know that staff and practitioners that provide employment support and careers advice will want to know more detail about the changes, so we’re holding ‘masterclasses’ on the changes. Details of these can be found on the website, or contact them for further information. Helpline: 01634 247350, Email: advice@unlock. org.uk, Write: Helpline, Unlock, MCSC, 39-48 Marsham Street, Maidstone, Kent, ME14 1HH, Website: www.unlock.org.uk (self-help information at hub.unlock.org.uk) Calculator: www.disclosurecalculator.org.uk

Sentence

Adult (18+) at conviction/disposal

Young person (U18) at conviction/disposal

Over 4 years or a public protection sentence

Never spent

Never spent

30+ months and less than (or equal to) 4 years

Sentence + 7 years

Sentence + 3 ½ years

6+ months and less than (or equal to) 30 months

Sentence + 4 years

Sentence + 2 years

Less than (or equal to) 6 months

Sentence + 2 years

Sentence + 18 months

KBS

Daily Mail Feb 14

‘i’ Feb 7

Another week, another celebrity cleared of historic sex crimes. The DJ Dave Lee Travis had his innocence affirmed on 12 of the 14 charges of indecent assault. The week before, Coronation Street actor Bill Roache was likewise acquitted. In the meantime as part of Operation Yewtree’s ‘conveyor belt’, 16 ageing alleged offenders - including Rolf Harris, Max Clifford and Paul Gambaccini await trial over incidents that may or may not have taken place decades ago. What quickly became clear as the evidence unfolded in both cases (and the one before) was that the prosecution cases were hopelessly unsure, sloppy and ill-prepared. One woman speaking on national radio explained how simple compensation worked. She said: “The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority pays fixed damages to victims of violent crime. On its website, the first page supplies a PDF link; on page 66 of that is a tariff that anyone can understand of what you may claim for various sexual transgressions. For example: under 18, one incident, non-penetrative - £3,300. Two incidents £4,400. But if you say it was penetrative, it leaps to £13,500; find a doctor to swear you are very psychologically disturbed by it and you net £27,000. And so forth. She added: ‘With no obligation for proof, compensation will be paid on a presumption of guilt over innocence; a complete reversal of the principle of our judicial system.’

‘I think the British Museum should return the Elgin Marbles to the Pantheon in Greece’ Hollywood actor and film director George Clooney promoting his new film: The Monument Men, which is based loosely on the exploits of museum curators who were attached to army units in the Second World War. It is not entirely clear where exactly the ‘Pantheon’ is, perhaps he meant the ‘Parthenon’. Mr Clooney seemed unaware that the sculptures were rescued in the 19th Century by Lord Elgin from destruction at the hands of the marauding Ottoman Turks. American celebrities talking about stuff beyond their shores is often entertaining. Two recent favourites - one from the model Tila Tequila: ‘I never said I hated anyone, but just because I feel sympathy, compassion and forgiveness for others such as Hitler means I am now a monster’. Then there is this: ‘I’ve never really wanted to go to Japan. Simply because I don’t like eating fish. And I know that it is very popular out there in Africa’. You just know that was from Britney!

SOLICITORS SPECIALISTS IN CRIMINAL APPEALS

Prison education potential is being squandered

At KBS we specialise in

being ‘squandered’ owing to constant retendering for teaching contracts.

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Prison Educators: Professionalism Against the Odds paints a picture of a highly motivated, well-educated and experienced prison education workforce who report that their working environment is being made less and less conducive to their core purpose of helping prisoners to turn their lives around.

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Applications to the Court of Appeal Applications to the Criminal Cases Review Commission Appeals against Sentence Appeals against Conviction Appeals against Court Orders Judicial Reviews Criminal Law

For advice on any of the above or for general enquiries please contact: Guy White or Simon Hustler for a professional and friendly service.

CONTACT US ON 01274 725655 KBS SOLICITORS 29 TYRREL STREET BRADFORD WEST YORKSHIRE BD1 1RU

© prisonimage.org

Prisoners are not getting the help they need to turn their lives around because of a failing prison education system with no continuity, warns a report released in February. The report, from UCU and Institute of Education (IoE), says the power of prison educators to help offenders turn their lives around is

Respondents heavily criticised the practice of competitive tendering for prison education contracts which means staff find themselves with new bosses and working systems every three to five years, along with a system of payment by results introduced in 2011. They also flagged up high workloads, limited opportunity for progression, lack of professional autonomy, lack of teaching resources and training opportunities, and the low status of prison education as major concerns. There has been documented evidence that prison education cuts the likelihood of reoffending. A Social Exclusion Unit report from 2002 showed that prisoners who do not take part in education are three times more likely to be reconvicted than those that do. 

12

Newsround

Insidetime March 2014 www.insidetime.org

Youth Justice statistics The latest Annual Youth Justice Statistics 2012/13, show that overall the number of young people in the youth justice system has continued to fall year on year, reflecting a continuing reduction in crime. Lord Thomas

Whole life tariffs The Court of Appeal has ruled that judges can continue to impose whole life orders in accordance with Schedule 21 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003. The European Court of Human Rights had said, a number of times, that a ‘non-reducible’ whole life sentence was not compatible with Article 3; however, this new Court of Appeal judgement states that judges can continue to impose whole life orders. In announcing the judgement Lord Thomas (pictured) said; ‘Although there may be debate in a democratic society as to whether a judge should have the power to make a whole life order, in our view, it is evident ... that there are some crimes that are so heinous that Parliament was entitled to proscribe, compatibly with the Convention, that the requirements of just punishment encompass passing a sentence which includes a whole life order.’ In its conclusion the Court said; ‘The making of a whole life order requires detailed consideration of the individual circumstances of each case. It is likely to be rare that the circumstances will be such that a whole life order is required. Our decision on each case turns on its specific facts and cannot be seen as a guide to any similar case. ‘

Compared with 2009/10 there have been: l 57 per cent fewer reprimands, final warnings or conditional cautions. l 55 per cent fewer young people coming into the youth justice system. l 50 per cent fewer proven offences.

© prisonimage.org

Youth Offending Teams reported working with 49,222 children and young people last year which shows a 54 per cent reduction since 2009/10. The numbers for those held in custody has fallen to its lowest level -last year there were 1,544, under-18s in custody, down by 21 per cent with a fall of 3,029 since 2002/03. The number of young people re-offending has also dropped every year since 2007/08, with particular reductions among those with no previous offences and those receiving pre-court disposals.

The figure is higher than the one in four average for the rest of Scotland’s prison population and campaigners said it showed there was a “desperate situation” at the Stirling jail. Cornton Vale, Scotland’s only women’s jail, was at the centre of a scandal in the mid-1990s after eight women committed suicide in three years, six of whom had not been convicted. The most recent suicide was in 2012. Last year there were 281 inmates at the prison, with 179 on long-term suicide watch programmes. Documents released by the Scottish Government confirm 64% of those in Cornton Vale were subject to the ACT2Care Suicide Risk Management Strategy.

However, as the total number of young people in the system continues to fall a greater proportion 35.5 per cent up 1.8 percentage points from 2000, go on to re-offend.

Commenting on the publication of the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill (5 February), and the proposals to allow children to be restrained for ‘good order and discipline’, Frances Crook, Chief Executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: “The scandalous proposal to allow prison officers to restrain children violently, simply if they don’t follow orders, turns back the clock to a deadly time for children in prison. Court rulings have made clear that restraining a child for ‘good order and discipline’ is illegal and inquests into the deaths of children have shown that such violent practices contributed to their deaths. We trust that such a dangerous proposal will be challenged in parliament and, if need be, in the courts.”

The things people say…

Serco was meant to run London’s Community Payback scheme until 2016. The Government now says the contract will finish at the end of the year. Serco and the London Probation Trust were awarded the four-year £37 million contract in 2012. Under the project, the firm supervised offenders on probation doing unpaid work in the community. But concerns were raised when the BBC broadcast allegations - denied by Serco - that offenders were not properly supervised.

Two in three women in a Scottish prison are on suicide watch

Children restrained for ‘good order & discipline’

fisher meredith

Serco’s ‘disastrous’ £37m probation deal cut short

Scotland’s largest jail, Barlinnie, in Glasgow, had the highest number of offenders on suicide watch, with 40% of their 1207 inmates on a care plan. But at Glenochil only 3.8% of the 650 inmates were on ACT2Care, while at HMP Shotts 4.3% of the 534 prisoners were considered at risk. At Addiewell Prison, West Lothian, 23.2% of the 767 inmates were considered a threat to themselves, and at Kilmarnock 33% of the 577 were on ACT2Care.

‘We will carry on pursuing old sex offenders’ Alison Saunders, the new Director of the Crown Prosecution Service writing in the Times on 20 February made an easy assumption of unqualified public support for the policy on prosecuting cases of alleged child sex abuse introduced by her predecessor one year ago. In the past nine months the Crown has lost four high profile cases – three of them against Coronation Street actors, all of whom were speedily and unanimously acquitted. The decision a year ago to prosecute actor Michael Le Vell was particularly disturbing as the North West senior regional prosecutor had declared at the end of 2011 that the evidence against Mr Le Vell could not support a conviction. This was reversed in London, without any new evidence, after a delay of more than a year. Some complaints – particularly where celebrities are involved – may well be malicious or opportunistic but they act with no hazard to themselves. Their identities are protected, and they face no financial costs. On the other hand, those they accuse are soon named, face months of misery while awaiting trial, and have to bear all the expense of defending themselves. Roger McCarthy QC says the Director of Public Prosecutions needs ‘to learn lessons from the outcomes of historic prosecutions’.

Women in prison: Commission finds evidence of coercive and consensual sex Members of the Association of Prison Lawyers

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Women prisoners have been coerced into sex with staff in return for favours such as cigarettes or alcohol, the Commission on Sex in Prison has heard. Assaults known as ‘decrotching’, where women prisoners forcibly retrieve drugs from another inmate’s vagina, are also thought to have occurred in jails. The findings are published in the Commission’s second briefing paper, Women in prison: Coercive and consensual sex, which was released 25 February. The Commission, which comprises eminent academics, former prison governors and health experts, was established by the Howard League for Penal Reform. It is the

first-ever independent review of sex behind bars in England and Wales. The Commission found that some women form relationships in prison as a source of comfort and support. However, some relationships can become coercive or abusive. Although prison staff reported that women were more overt than men about their friendships with other prisoners, the Commission heard evidence that they might keep sexual relationships secret for fear of being separated. The report concludes that staff need training and guidance on how to support women, recognise bullying and identify relationships between prisoners.

Newsround

Insidetime March 2014 www.insidetime.org

Sex offenders released from prison without treatment

ITVs This Morning featured a Crime Week special. They looked at the vital part forensic science plays in solving a crime. Former MET Crime Scene Officer Tracy Alexander (pictured left) demonstrated Phillip Schofield and co-host Holly Willoughby how forensic advances can help solve cold cases, by taking them through evidence found at a crime scene. From presumptive blood testing to fibre taping, Tracy demonstrated how to piece together the forensic jigsaw that can make or break a criminal case. Tracy Alexander plays a vital role at Inside Time’s Inside Justice Unit. The price of injustice page 34.

Poor management of prisoners’ property is wasting public money, says Ombudsman While the PPO investigates some very serious complaints, including assaults and racism as well as all deaths in custody - the most common subject of complaint is lost or damaged property. These complaints also have the highest uphold rates where the PPO finds in favour of the prisoner.

Prisons need to manage prisoners’ property better to avoid claims for compensation and the cost of investigating complaints, said Nigel Newcomen, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO). A recently published report ‘Learning from PPO Investigations: Property complaints’ details the lessons that can be learned about complaints received from prisoners about property.

MichaelChambersbarrister.co.uk Your public access barrister at 1MCB (Chambers of Lord Gifford QC) Do You think you received too long a sentence and/or were wrongly convicted? Need help with confiscation proceedings?

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NEWS IN BRIEF

Charities are warning that a shortage of places on treatment programmes for sex offenders will result in some prisoners reoffending. In 2012-13 there were around 11,000 sex February 3 offenders in prison in England and Wales but only 1,092 treatment programmes were completed.

Crime scene - do not cross!

© prisonimage.org

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Nigel Newcomen said: “Most property complaints concern small value items, but these can still mean a lot to prisoners with little. Unfortunately, too many of the issues involved could and should have been dealt with more quickly and efficiently by the prisons concerned. Instead, despite perfectly sound national policies and instructions, prisons too often refuse to accept their responsibilities when property has been lost or damaged. This leaves prisoners in limbo, creates unnecessary frustration and tension and leads to complaints, too many of which require independent adjudication. Using up scarce staff resources in this way, both in prison and then in my office, is not a good use of public money.” Prisons Ombudsman writes page 21

Anthony Stokoe Joel Binns Independent Legal Representation • Lifer Specialist ٠ IPP٠DLP٠ALP٠MLP • Parole/Recall/Adjudication • General Advice and Representation • Judicial Review • Inquests/Death in Custody

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A report from the National Audit Office found that fewer sex offender treatment programmes are being provided in prisons. Last year’s figure of 1,092 programmes delivered was above the target of 1,010. The target for 2013-14 is 886. However, for more than a decade serious doubts about the Sex Offender Treatment Programme (SOTP) have been voiced. One study in 2012 concluded that treated men did no better than untreated men or even slightly worse. It also noted that most of the evaluations of Offending Behaviour Programmes (OBPs) for sex offenders were of very poor quality. And a study of prisoners who had done best in the SOTP posed the worst risk of reconviction. Inhuman treatment for sex offenders: Scotland goes back to the future page 26

In the grounds of the Presidential Palace in Ukraine there is much jubilation at the news that the Ukrainian Parliament has called for ousted President Viktor Yanukovych to face trial in the International Criminal Court.

President Putin says goodbye to gays at the close of the Winter Olympics in Sochi.

14

Newsround

Newsbites

Insidetime March 2014 www.insidetime.org

cent empty homes premium on properties standing empty for two years has been available to councils since last April, Labour would introduce a 100 per cent council tax levy on empty homes.

›››› The Health Secretary, Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP, claimed that the NHS in England has “changed for the better” since the Francis Inquiry. Mr Hunt highlighted changes to the NHS including a new inspection regime and tougher measures for failing hospitals. ›››› Coventry City Council, in partnership

with Coventry Probation, has teamed up with Pertemps People Development Group (PPDG) to help 35 ex-prisoners back into work. They benefit from an updated CV, links into employment opportunities, improved confidence and motivation support as well as courses such as forklift truck driving. Additional support is provided through a local job club specifically for prisoners’, interview travel costs and help with childcare. Pictured above from left to right: Kobina Hall, head of Coventry Probation, Simon Parker, supply chain manager at Pertemps and Odette Chittem, principle employment officer at Coventry City Council

›››› The Education Secretary, Michael Gove

MP, has said he plans to introduce formal assessments for four and five-year-olds when they enter school in England. Mr Gove claims that testing pupils when entering and leaving school is the best way to monitor their progress. He has also launched a new list of approved punishments for children. These punishments include, writing an essay, picking up litter and other school based community services.

›››› The National House Building Council has said that new-home building hit its highest level since the start of the financial crisis. New-home registrations in the UK rose by 28 per cent in 2013, however the Council warns that there is still a “chronic” shortage. ›››› Labour calls for a dramatically increased council tax on the estimated 50,000 homes that lie empty in London. Whilst a 50 per

›››› The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rt Hon

George Osborne MP, has stated that housing demand will still fall short of supply in ten years, despite planning reform. Mr Osborne said: “Construction data showed strong growth in residential housing construction. But I don’t pretend this problem is going to be solved in a few months or a couple of years”.

›››› A study by the Edge Education Foundation has found that many young people have been discouraged from choosing a vocational route over an academic one. The study found that many schools and parents still recommend that young people go to university rather than take vocational options. ›››› The Liberal Democrats have announced

proposals to create overseas constituencies for expat Britons. Other proposals for reform include introducing devolution to Cornwall and allowing two candidates to run for Parliament as “job-share” MPs, and are to be part of their manifesto for the next election.

›››› One year after the Mid Staffordshire

scandal, the NHS is recruiting more nurses to improve hospital care and patient safety. Hospital managers warn that the move is unsustainable at a time when health services face a major funding crisis.

›››› David Laws MP, Schools Minister, has called for legislation to extend Ofsted’s powers so it can inspect groups of academies. Currently, Ofsted can only inspect individual academies, yet 48 per cent of academies are in groups of two or more. ›››› Dame Julie Mellor DBE, the Health Service Commissioner for England, says that a culture

change needs to occur in the NHS and that patients need to be more willing to complain about the quality of care. Dame Julie said: “It is a toxic cocktail of the reluctance of individuals to complain … and then the defensive response”.

›››› Ofsted has announced plans to overhaul

inspections of teacher training to place a greater focus on classroom control and conduct. Sean Harford, Ofsted’s National Director for initial teacher training, said: “Our more rigorous way of inspecting will help make sure that teachers are better prepared when they enter the teaching profession”.

›››› The first prosecution for female genital mutilation (FGM) – 28 years after the practice was made illegal – is expected to happen in the next few weeks. The latest figures suggest that as many as 66,000 women in England and Wales have undergone FGM. Detective Superintendent Jason Ashwood, head of Scotland Yard’s FGM team, said doctors and nurses had to take an active role in reporting the crime. “People in the public sector,” he said, need “to fulfil their safeguarding responsibilities. It is child abuse.”

• Re-categorisation • Category A Reviews • Adjudications • Home Detention Curfew • Judicial Review

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After a possible Yes vote in the Scottish Referendum they may not have the Pound. They may not be able to join the Euro. But they will have two very good Curling teams.

Late News ›››› The Government has confirmed its final package of reforms to the legal aid system following extensive consultation. Alongside the steps being taken to make legal aid more cost-effective for taxpayers, Justice Secretary Chris Grayling has also announced a range of measures specifically designed to support lawyers through a period of transition and modernisation. He said: “Legal aid is a vital part of our justice system but we must ensure it is sustainable for those who need it, for those who provide legal services as part of it and for the taxpayer, who ultimately pays for it. I have genuine respect for the quality services provided by the independent criminal Bar and solicitors. I have spoken at length with solicitors and barristers about these reforms and listened closely to their views.” The Government is planning to cut the budget by £200 million. Barristers and solicitors are planning a walk out in March in protest.

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With severe flooding at Wraybury, Staines, Datchet, and Colnbrook, Heathrow Ltd’s plans to concrete over a vast area in these places in order to build a third runway is now surely ‘dead in the water’.

And the full shock of an earthquake hits the South West.

Newsround

Insidetime March 2014 www.insidetime.org

15

Poor sleepers suffer back pain If you suffer from back pain, it may be because you’re not sleeping enough. A study has found that people who sleep badly are up to 66% more likely to suffer from back, neck or shoulder conditions, probably because poor sleep quality increases levels of protein in the blood which trigger inflammatory reactions in the body. The research, carried out at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, involved 27,000 people over ten years. It found that women who occasionally slept badly were 32% more likely to suffer chronic lower back pain than those who slept soundly, rising to 66% among the worst insomniacs. For men, the figures were 30% and 51%.

A crash diet to cure diabetes

Older people keep running Older people can defy the aging process by undertaking the kind of strength and endurance training usually reserved for elite athletes, according to new research. Age has already proven no barrier to some elderly Britons: in last year’s London marathon, there were 237 runners over 70, and a dozen in their 80s. Now, a study in Spain involving 24 nonagenarians has found that those who did exercises designed to improve strength and balance twice a week for two weeks showed significant improvement in walking speed, hip and knee flexibility, and hand strength. They also performed better in verbal and numeracy tasks. There is little research, but anecdotal evidence suggests that older athletes can actually defy the aging process by improving their performance year on year, report The Sunday Times. For instance, the British Triathlon Federation, which has almost 100 members over 70, recently gave a special award to Brian Forster 82, who won a world title in his age group last year by taking 90 seconds off his 2012 duathlon (running and cycling) time. The retired chemist became serious about athletics after suffering a stroke five years ago. “I feel I have been given a second chance,” he said.

Crash dieting may offer a cure for type 2 diabetes. In a study, putting overweight patients onto a diet of 800 calories a day cleared them of the disease in just two months, returning insulin levels to normal and reducing fat levels around the liver and pancreas. That study involved only 11 people, but the technique is now to be tested on 280 people with obesity-related diabetes. Professor Roy Taylor, who led the research at Newcastle University, described his findings as “enormously exciting”. The larger trial will look into how easy people find it to stick to the diet, and how they remain healthy after eating normally again. The evidence is that the effects can prove permanent, Professor Taylor told the Sunday times, “but we need a large-scale trial to prove that it works”. Around 2.6 million Britons suffer from type 2 diabetes; tackling the disease costs the NHS about 10% of its budget.

Delaying the ravages of dementia It may be possible to delay the worst effects of dementia by taking vitamin E tablets. A study in the US has found that people with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s who take high daily doses of vitamin E have a slower rate of decline than those given a placebo. After two years, those given vitamin E were found to be better able to perform daily cognitive tasks, and also required fewer hours of care, than those given a placebo. Overall, the researchers estimate that the rate of cognitive decline was reduced by 19%. However, the UK Alzheimer’s Society warned that the doses taken by the patients in the study were very high - 1,300mg - and could be harmful to some; they urged people to seek advice from their doctor before taking supplements.

Eat apples to avoid strokes

Cancer death rates falling Death rates from cancer have fallen by more than a fifth since 1990. According to cancer research UK, 200 in every 100,000 people died of cancer in 1990, falling to 170 in 100,000 in 2011. For women, death rates fell 20% over the period; among men they fell by 26%. This is despite more people being diagnosed with cancer, largely because people are living longer. “Today cancer is not the death sentence people once believed it to be,” said Harpal Kumar, CEO of cancer research UK. “Mortality rates are dropping significantly as the fruits of research are producing more effective treatments.”

Eating an apple a day could help keep heart attacks at bay. In fact, new research suggests that if everyone over 50 ate an apple every day it would prevent or delay 8,500 fatal heart attacks and strokes every year in the UK only slightly fewer than if everyone over 50 was prescribed statins, but with none of the associated side effects. Around 5.2 million people in this country are currently prescribed statins; if everyone over 50 was prescribed them, it would mean an extra 17.6 million people would take them - and 9,400 more deaths would be prevented. But this would also lead to 1,000 extra cases of muscle disease, and 10,000 more diagnoses of diabetes. Assuming a compliance rate of 70% the researchers calculate that prescribing a daily apple would save 8,500 lives - but unlike statins, apples have no side effects. “While no one currently prescribed medicine should replace them with apples, we could all benefit from eating more fruit,” said Dr Adam Briggs of the University of Oxford.

REVIEWING THE PAROLE BOARD Every three years, the Government examines the Parole Board to make sure that it’s still needed and being run properly. Government-run bodies, like the Parole Board, are regularly reviewed to make sure they’re working as they should. If changes are needed, the reviews find out what those changes should be. The Parole Board Review is being carried out by the Ministry of Justice and will be finished by the summer.

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If you would like to express your views then you can fill out a questionnaire that is available in prison libraries throughout England & Wales.

Pa Par role ole omplete

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Ask the library staff to print you out a copy. Make sure you send it in by the end of March.

16

Newsround

m Do you know...? l Almost a third of young British men live with their parents. According to the Office for National Statistics, more than 3.3 million men and women aged between 20 and 34 haven’t left home - a rise of 29% since 1996.

Insidetime March 2014 www.insidetime.org

stolen items while using supermarket self-service tills. Those who do steal an average of £15-worth of goods a month. When asked why they stole, 57% claimed they’d given up trying to get the item to scan, and 41% said the machines just made it too

easy to get away with it. l 17%of the public think the Government is to blame for the flooding in Somerset. 28% blame the Environment Agency, 47% freak weather.

l 40% of voters say they feel so alienated from Britain’s political parties that they will not consider voting for any of them in the next election. Among under-30s, that figure rises to 46%.

l 56% of French men and 32% of French women admit that they cheat on their partners.

l When asked what made them most angry about Britain today, 22% of those surveyed cited immigration and race relations ahead of the cost of living (15%), benefit cheats (12%), the state of the economy (7%) and public service cuts (6%).

l 16% of parents admit that they do all their children’s homework. Overall, 66% say they help in some way. l The 85 richest people in the world are worth as much combined as the poorest 3.5 billion people. l 20% of under-35s in the UK have never been to the British seaside, according to a survey of 2,000 adults. l 29% of the public are optimistic about the British economy, up from 9% two years ago. Middle-class people are the most hopeful, with 39% optimistic, while the unemployed and non-skilled workers are the least positive, with only 24% feeling the same. l After 12 years of international intervention, 60% of children in Afghanistan are malnourished; only 27% of Afghans have access to safe drinking water. l In the UK, one in ten children under five are Muslim, compared with one in 200 people over 85. l One in five shoppers admit to having

Emergency Thames Flood Barrier installed by the Environment Agency

Whose fault is the weather? This year’s floods in the UK are at least partly driven by the rising tide of humanity. They have affected the lives of thousands through disturbance, disruption and the loss, albeit temporary, of homes and livelihoods. Britain’s weather is never predictable. However, the Met Office’s Chief Scientist has linked this year’s exceptional rainfall to climate change, which is linked to carbon emissions from human activity stemming from increasing per capita consumption and rising population levels. The rising UK population has another effect. Development pressure affects the green belt and results in much building taking place on unsuitable land where the risk of flooding is high. Simon Ross, Chief Executive of Population Matters, commented: “The UK population has risen by 4.5 million [equivalent to 18 cities the size of Southampton] since 2001 and is forecast to grow further by around the same amount by 2020. Household numbers will grow at an even faster rate. This growth in population and households will increase carbon emissions, and rising housing costs will push housing development into areas of increased flood risk or exposure to rising sea levels. A sensible response to this year’s floods is to seek to stabilise our population and then return it to a sustainable level.”

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l 45% of parents worry that their children may be bullied online. 33% think that their child might be the one doing the bullying. l According to the latest National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal) published in The Lancet, the average Briton now has sex just four times a month (down from six times a month in 1991) l Last year 40,000 people emigrated to the UK from China - more than from any other nation. l 1,158 UK care home residents died of thirst or while suffering severe dehydration between 2003 and 2012. l 32% of Britons watch more than three hours of television a day, much more than in Germany (13%) and the European average (21%). Only Bulgarians (43%) watch more in Europe.

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l 58% of university applicants this year were female, up from 55% last year. There were 87,000 more women applying than men. l One in four households pays for some form of domestic help; in 1870, the proportion was one in six.

We’re in a right pickle

l Only 16% of Britons say they are “very happy” with life, down from 19% in 2008. 63% say they are “rather happy”, 18% “not very happy”, and 2% “not happy at all”.

l 49% of under 25s and 34% of under 35s say they have never written or cashed a cheque.

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Website Comments

Insidetime March 2014 www.insidetime.org

C - Yup... that about sums it up... nicely worded.

Website comments via www.insidetime.org most important to a prisoners rehabilitation but yet being told ‘sorry you’re only entitled to 2 hours a month’ and can only send a ‘reasonable amount of letters to one prisoner’ and don’t get me started on how much everything costs. C - I must thank the staff at HMP Leeds Jigsaw Centre and the officers themselves for their sensitivity towards myself ... they made a very potentially stressful situation for me so much better than I thought possible.

Government cuts bring the Parole Board ‘close to crisis’

The prison visit

Eric McGraw wrote; ‘Following a Supreme Court ruling in October that prisoners were entitled to face-to-face hearings means the Parole Board must now conduct thousands more oral rather than paperbased hearings.’

Bruce Kent wrote about the sadness of prison visits

S - In my experience the Parole Board is a total waste of money, and gives jobs to favoured civil servants. It would be simpler to allow all prisoners parole, unless their behaviour expresses otherwise.

J - A very good article. Though quite a few things missed. Yes, It is the family that suffer. It has been me that has had to move out of the area for peace and quiet, Me that has been assaulted on my way to the shop, Me that has had the phone calls at three in the morning off his family, Me that has had to move away from my family, need I go on ....

K - These people are not independent as they falsely proclaim. They consist of ex Judges, QC’s, Probation Officers, and others employed by the State. They receive an annual fortune for their services to act as Judges when deciding whether or not to grant a prisoner their freedom.

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S - Heartbreaking and true in every word said! It is such a shame the prison system in this country is horrible. The visits halls are always so nasty and daunting.

.....................................................

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T - Just shows the stupid nonsensical way the minds of government work. If I didn’t have a good laugh at this, I would be spitting fire! L - Another accurate portrayal of our prison system - hopefully someone will place Ms Carroll’s observations on Chris Grayling’s desk.

2014 Inside Time website by numbers Unique visitors last month

328,837

So far in 2014... Number of visits to site

1,058,672 Number of ‘hits’

13,607,627

S - Prison visits are deliberately designed to be as repressive and family unfriendly as possible with the aim of destroying family ties.

D - The ongoing frustration of being told your man is ‘in denial’ when you know he is not, of reading articles and being advised by solicitors/barristers that contact with family is

17

Website comments posted

469 Number of Factsheet downloads

42,729 Facebook ‘Likes’

1,420 Twitter Followers

When is a coat not a coat?

Prisoner Anne Carroll highlighted the nonsensical side of the new National Facilities List

4,016 Congratulations to Stephen Murch of 42 Bedford Row Chambers for being our 4,000th follower on Twitter. Stephen receives a copy of Inside Information Guidebook 2014/15 in appreciation of his interest.

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Diary

18

Insidetime March 2014 www.insidetime.org

Month by Month by Rachel Billington

Rachel looks at a programme to help dyslexic prisoners in Doncaster and estimates the availability of conjugal visits round the world.

as many as forty times. Once they were out of prison the group of men that she taught had a re-offending rate of 5.9% against ten times that for most prisoners. Last year she documented this in a book called Transforming Prisoners’ Lives published by Mainspring Publishing. In it she tells the stories of twenty three men who took part in the programme successfully. One of them, Carl in the book, Colin in reality, is now working with Jackie in Doncaster Prison; he is a good example of her aim to train tutors to follow her methods.

Dale being presented with a certificate by Rosie Winterton MP (left) and Rebecca Harris MP

© Si Barber

Jackie Hewitt-Main and students at HMP Chelmsford

‘I

’ve been waiting for someone like this over my twenty years in prison.’ Dale said this to me as we stood in a small theatre inside Doncaster Prison. Like many of the men inside, his height suggested Viking ancestry. At least their ships certainly raided the area. I had gone to the North East for an event organised by the Cascade Foundation, a new charity dedicated to helping prisoners with dyslexia or other serious learning problems. It was founded by Jackie Hewitt-Main and Jackie is ‘the someone like this’ to whom Dale referred. Until Jackie came along, as Dale told me, ‘I always ended up down the

block in seg.’ His problem was that he could neither read nor write and the frustration of being shut out from normal forms of communication constantly got him into trouble. Jackie is herself severely dyslexic and also has a son who suffered head injuries after a car accident and needed special help. It was her own difficult experiences that encouraged her to help people like Dale. Between 2006 and 2008 she piloted a programme in HMP Chelmsford and discovered that over 53% of the men had some degree of dyslexia and that some of them had been in and out of prisons

The event I am attending is to publicise this new pilot which began in September 2013, and to give a recognition and a voice to the men who have taken part in it. Before the official event started I talked to some of them, including Dale. The story was often the same: non-attendance at school from a young age followed by a complete lack of belief in their ability to ever catch up with literacy. One group of men, including James and William, described themselves as from ‘a gypsy background’. They had moved from school to school when young and left school finally to start work at about ten. Both of them were spotted by Jackie and drawn into her system. I asked them to explain Jackie’s success as a teacher. William said ‘She has a lot of patience’ and James told me that ‘I just felt comfortable with her.’

Jackie herself describes a method of teaching which uses all kinds of non-traditional approaches, including making letters in sand or in the air. She says it’s important to recognise that men may have overlapping problems that need different methods of teaching with an emphasis on the visual and tactile. Everyone I met was touchingly proud to have reached some level of achievement and determined to carry on. One man, Steven, told me that he had left school at thirteen years old when he became a father, ‘Someone had to look after the kid,’ he explained. Nine years later, he’s hopeful that his newly learnt reading and writing skills will help him get into work. Another, James, said ‘We had to go back to school but we took a liking to Jackie.’ Doncaster Prison is run by Serco with 1,100 beds. Its Director, John Biggin OBE told us that once Jackie ‘had given her pitch’ he immediately decided to allow the programme to go ahead. It seems Jackie’s charming exterior conceals a force of nature. The programme is partnered by Manchester College and the event was attended by two MPs: Rosie Winterton, the local MP as well as being shadow Chief Whip, and Rebecca Harris who is a patron of Cascade and herself dyslexic. All the men I talked to bore witness to Jackie’s persuasive skills. Henry said, ‘People are queuing up to see her.’ But Jackie herself is very clear that her methods can be passed on quite easily. At Chelmsford she trained mentors to teach within the prison or in other prisons if they moved on. Colin is one of those. In Doncaster I talked with a couple of her mentors who are already helping others. Jackie points out that literacy not only helps the men when they leave prison but also alters their behaviour inside prison so that they are less likely to cause trouble. As Dale said ‘For the first time I can order a meal and know what I’m going to get.’ He added, ‘Without Jackie we’d be sitting in our cells for twenty-four hours.’ Dyslexia and learning difficulties are so widespread through the prison estate that it is

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www.royallondonsociety.org.uk

Diary

Insidetime March 2014 www.insidetime.org impossible for one woman to make much of a dent in the problem. There are other programmes running like the excellent Toe by Toe scheme. But maybe Jackie Hewitt-Main’s huge energy and commitment can lead to the prison service taking the issue far more seriously than they do at the moment. It is, after all, a very practical way of bringing about the promised rehabilitation revolution for a great many prisoners.

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Staying in touch with the family

n And now for something completely different: ‘In the early 1900 Mississippi’s prisons allowed private female visitors - but only for African-American convicts. This was in the racist belief that it would calm their supposedly fiery passions.’ So the Economist magazine informed me recently. Thinking on conjugal visits has moved on since then. But what surprises me is how many countries do allow some form of private meeting as a useful part of the rehabilitation process. There are none in Great Britain unless you include the resettlement home visits allowed towards the end of a sentence. In September 2013, Qatar’s Central Prison opened villas for spouses and children to meet married inmates. In Saudi Arabia married

prisoners are allowed one visit a month if monogamous and two if bigamous. Turkish prisons allowed conjugal visits early in 1913. Authorities in Costa Rica, Israel and Mexico widened legislation to include homosexual prisoners. Iran allows visits for married prisoners while many Latin American prisons allow private visits for unmarried prisoners too, although in Brazil conjugal visits for women prisoners are seldom permitted. Spain, Germany and Denmark have some form of conjugal visits. Visits are permitted in two states of Australia and throughout New Zealand. US federal prisons forbid conjugal visits entirely but there are six states which allow them in state prisons. Canada, being a sensible sort of place, has a system where prisoners are allowed to spend up to seventy two hours in a flat with their families once every two months. The aim is to preserve family ties rather than some orgiastic love fest. However this point of view is not likely to convince elements of the British media who like to excite the popular imagination in anti-prisoner hyperbole. The arguments against circle round disease, pregnancy and condoms - all divisive issues. This makes me suspect that nothing will happen here soon, although Pentonville Prison, criticised recently by the Chief Inspector of Prisons, was opened in 1843 just a year after the closure of the Marshalsea Prison, made famous by Dickens’s novel, Little Dorrit, and where his own father was imprisoned. The Marshalsea, a debtors’ prison, was also filled with their wives, mistresses and children. There was even a place for prostitutes. Unfortunately, any joy in this situation was undermined by the generally miserable and dangerous conditions.

CG LAW SOLICITORS

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• Murder • Serious Drug Cases • Cannabis Cultivation • Fraud Charges • Money Laundering • Confiscation Matters Clients can be represented at the Magistrates or the Crown Courts and a team of lawyers are available to undertake representation on all types of criminal cases. They can also advise on matters of :

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Kendi dilinizde davanizin hazirlanmasini istiyoursaniz bizi arayin veya bize mektup gonderin gelip sizi gorelim, sizi dinleyelim, size yardim edelim cunku bizimle yalniz oldugunuzu unutacaksiniz. Turk vatandaslari cezanizi Turkiyede tamamlamak istiyorsaniz bizi arayin size yardimci olalim. Nese ju duhet ndihma yne ne gjuhen tuaj na kontaktoni.

National Prison Radio celebrates listener increase The latest audience figures are in at National Prison Radio, and they confirm more prisoners than ever were tuning into National Prison Radio in 2013

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he station reports 84% of prisoners asked said they listened to National Prison Radio, up 2% from 2012, and 85% of listeners said they were more aware of support services available to them in prison after listening to the station. Now available in more than 100 prisons in England and Wales, National Prison Radio broadcasts a range of music and speech programming, including a full calendar of social action campaigns supporting prisoners wanting to make positive changes to their lives. In May last year National Prison Radio worked with Addaction, one of UK’s largest alcohol and drug treatment charities, to support listeners struggling with issues related to alcohol use. The on-air campaign also encouraged the audience to complete Addaction’s Alcohol Survey in Inside Time. One third of prisoners surveyed had heard the Addaction campaign, of which 32% said they had acted upon it. The station, with help from Employment and Benefits Adviser ‘Job Centre Don’, also introduced more prisoners to employment services in 2013. Between June and August last year, National Prison Radio worked with the Department for Work and Pensions to make more listeners aware of the Work Programme in prisons. Fewer than 30% of prisoners surveyed were aware of the Work Programme before the campaign, rising to 80% by the end of the campaign. And those listeners saying they were likely to sign up to the Work Programme rose from 40% to 70%. 2013 also saw an increase in audience interaction. Last year National Prison Radio received

5,288 letters from prisoners, up from 4,363 in 2012. In addition during 2013, the station received 1,337 requests and messages of support from prisoners’ friends and loved ones. There was more good news for the station as National Prison Radio was honoured by the Longford Trust in November. The Longford Prize recognises the contribution of an individual, group or organisation working in the area of penal or social reform in showing outstanding qualities of humanity, courage, persistence, originality and commitment to diversity. The prize is awarded annually on behalf of the trustees and patrons of the Longford Trust. It is sponsored by the Daily Telegraph newspaper and organised in association with the Prison Reform Trust. The award judges said of National Prison Radio, “Working in the high-tech world of digital broadcasting, it provides training for inmates, up-to-the-minute skills that will serve them well in the workplace, and inspiration. A model of transforming rehabilitation, it is its very own rehabilitation revolution.”

National Prison Radio broadcasts 24 hours a day, 7 days a week via the TV in cells. If your prison has National Prison Radio, you can listen through your TV by using the tuning buttons on your remote control. You can write to National Prison Radio, HMP Brixton, London SW2 5XF

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The Big Issues Art Exhibition

I got to know the Watts Gallery in 1961 when I was in a car going along the A3 and I looked out of the window and there was the sign for Watts Gallery. I proceeded down the A3 in the company of two police officers and I went to a place called Park House not very far from here which was a reformatory for ‘London Scum’ that’s how I was described by the two police officers who dropped me there. I was a fifteen and a half year old piece of scum; by the time I was fifteen and a half I had got into all sorts of trouble - shoplifting, housebreaking, stealing cars, smashing up cars, daubing swastikas on churches. Watts Gallery didn’t mean an awful lot to me until I decided I would leave my institution without their permission and I walked across country to Godalming and I got the train. There was a public school nearby called Charterhouse and what was so wonderful about Charterhouse, they all talked ‘like thet’ and I found that if I stood around and put my hands in my pockets and talked ‘like thet’ and said ‘hello’, everyone in the station, instead of asking me for a ticket, said, ‘Oh, this way, young sir’ and all that. Surrey was like that in the early sixties. So I got on the train without a ticket and I scarpered up to London and stole a car. Eventually I ended up at Ashford Boys Prison which is now called Feltham Young Offenders, so I am part of the alumni of the Park House Young Offenders. We meet regularly, we have our own tie and we even import our own port. Anyway, the long and the short of it is I was there awhile, I learned to read and write at the age of sixteen - absolutely marvellous age to learn to read and write. I recommend to every one of your children not to learn to read and write until they are sixteen because when you learn to read and write at sixteen you really want to read and you want to do all sorts of wonderful things. I came out just short of my eighteenth birthday - and I was phenomenally good at drawing and painting. I’d won all sorts of awards from the National Association of Boys Clubs, I’d won Grade D or something like that - and then I went to Chelsea School of Art and I was absolutely marvellous. I was so good that I’m still one of Britain’s best undiscovered artists. Art absolutely changed my life. I probably would have ended up as a

Insidetime March 2014 www.insidetime.org

I used art to get out of the sticky stuff Founder of the Big Issue, John Bird, guest speaker at Big Issues Art Exhibition 2014, says he would have ended up a professional criminal if art hadn’t “got in the way”.

John Bird, MBE, pictured left, Founder of The Big Issue Magazine (1991) with Eric McGraw, Founder of Inside Time (1990) at the launch of the Big Issues Art Exhibition 2014, Watts Gallery in Surrey

professional criminal. Art ‘got in the way.’ The system that used to exist, when you went into prison, they used to reform you. Unfortunately now you go in bad and you come out worse, often, because they warehouse you; they don’t invest in turning you around and then

they let you out into the community after a few years and you continue to cost the community an enormous amount of grief. And unfortunately that is the way that the prison system has moved from reform to warehousing.

I eventually got out of crime; largely because I was drawing again and I went to great exhibitions and I started to look at art again. It was a wonderful moment in 1991when Gordon Roddick and Anita Roddick, who made their money from the Bodyshop and gave me money to start the Big Issue. And, lo and behold, we started the Big Issue in 1991 with a very simple message with 501 homeless organisations in London alone. Not one of them gave the homeless the chance of making their own money and getting work. They supplied everything, from somewhere to sleep, somewhere to wash, sandwiches and all that. That’s one of the problems with giving to the poor. You give to the poor, you have to give them an opportunity of getting out of poverty, you have to give them social mobility, because all this system, it’s a terrible system, and it’s often well-intentioned. Give to the poor and you yourself will feel fantastic. You’ll be able to walk around and say, ‘Oh, I gave to the poor ..’ Great for you, but not for them. Give them opportunities. Give them the chance of working. Give them social mobility. Those wonderful people whose art is hanging here at the Watts Gallery - I would like them all to come out of the prison system and not given a job working in Poundland. I would like them to be able to express their art and to move dare I say - into the middle classes. That’s the best place to be. I joined the middle classes as soon as I could and I’ve stuck there. I know it sounds a very class-ist thing to say but the best place, the best cure for poverty, is social mobility. So with the Big Issue we gave the homeless the chance of embracing work and embracing opportunity and moving out of poverty. I’ve spent an enormous amount of time and effort writing and thinking. But what I’m really interested in is, how can we get our people, who are in the sticky stuff, how can we get them out? Art is one of the best ways. Art is a great leveller. Art is an opportunity of turning your life around. I used art to get out of the sticky stuff and that’s why I’m John Bird MBE. An extract from the speech given by John Bird on 3 February 2014 at the launch of The Big Issues Art Exhibition 2014, Watts Gallery in Surrey. The exhibition runs until 30 March 2014.

The Big Issues Art Exhibition 2014 ‘Celebrating Art for All’

Faith, HMP Send “This painting represents the psychology and losses of women behind bars. Some of them lose their children to adoption. They will never meet them again. These women live with hope under angels’ wings. The rainbow represents the seeking of a better future and hope.”

Within the walls flowers will bloom, HMP Send “I wanted to show that no matter where you are or what walls are behind you, you still have a chance to bloom and become the person you always should have been.”

Untitled, HMP/YOI Feltham “It’s about Daniel and his brother visiting his mother’s grave. It’s about how they have coped with their losses, handled them together and came out strong. Daniel and his brother were living on the streets for a while.”

Pained beauty, HMP Send “My inspiration for this painting of ‘pained beauty’ is of the women in prison who do not see their beauty because their demons do not allow them too! If only they could break through that pain and see their true beauty.”

Lost in the present - hope for the future, HMP Bronzefield “The face represents me and all the tears I have cried. The words swirling around my head show not only how I am feeling now but that I have great hope for the future. Sometimes bad things happen to good people! The three roses represent what keeps me going: my wonderful children.”

Ombudsman

Insidetime March 2014 www.insidetime.org

Homicides in prison PRISONS AND PROBATION

OMBUDSMAN for England and Wales

Nigel Newcomen CBE Prisons & Probation Ombudsman

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he Prisons and Probation Ombudsman independently investigates all deaths in custody around 200 a year - and my intention is to identify lessons that need to be learned by the authorities to minimise these tragic events. Around two thirds of the deaths that I look into concern deaths from natural causes, which is not surprising with an ageing and not always healthy prisoner population. Sadly, around a third of the deaths I investigate are self-inflicted, reflecting the worrying level of mental ill health and desperation among some prisoners. Of the remainder, a mercifully small, but still troubling, number occur at the hands of other prisoners. In 2013, I completed investigations into three homicides, two of these took place in the high security estate and all three victims had been convicted of sexual offences. This, coupled with two new homicides also being notified to my office, prompted the publication in December of one of my new series of a

Learning Lessons Bulletins which seeks to identify what could be done to help prevent similar deaths in the future. Homicides in prison are still very rare, but if the Prison Service learns the lessons from this bulletin, this could make them rarer still. Assessing risk Prisons must manage some violent and dangerous prisoners. It is therefore a basic requirement that the Prison Service should identify those at risk of seriously assaulting or killing other prisoners. One essential tool in achieving this is the Cell Sharing Risk Assessment. This assessment applies not just to sharing cells, but also to shared spaces, so although two of the homicides were in high security prisons where the victims had single cells, the assessment was still important in managing risk. In these, and some earlier cases investigated by my office, it was found that while Cell Sharing Risk Assessments were completed staff did not always have access to, or place enough emphasis on, relevant information. In particular, I was concerned that a history of violence in custody was not always recorded or communicated well to the relevant staff and it needs to be. Mr A’s case illustrates what

The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman has MOVED OFFICES

needs to change: Mr A was transferred to a different prison after he had seriously assaulted another prisoner. The staff at the new prison were not aware of the assault, even after he was charged with attempted murder at the previous prison. He was assessed as low risk on his Cell Sharing Risk Assessment. Mr A went on to take another prisoner hostage in the new prison and killed him. Managing vulnerabilities In prison, it is an unpalatable fact that some prisoners are at more risk than others and need to at least be offered protection and separation. All three of the victims of the cases investigated in 2013 were convicted sex offenders. Two of the homicides occurred on vulnerable prisoner wings of high security prisons. In the third case, the victim had asked not to be located as a vulnerable prisoner. The investigations highlighted the serious vulnerability of sex offenders - even from others classed as vulnerable themselves - all three victims were sex offenders killed by non-sex offenders. Some prisoners who need to be held separately from the general prison population can still

How to complain to the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman

© prisonimage.org

l The PPO investigates complaints from prisoners and probation supervisees in England and Wales, and from immigration detainees anywhere in the UK. l We are not part of the Prison Service, the Probation Service, NOMS or UKBA. We are independent, impartial and unbiased.

Please note the new contact details:

l We can investigate complaints about most aspects of your management, supervision, care, and treatment. We can’t investigate complaints about medical treatment or about decisions by a court or the Parole Board.

Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, PO Box 70769, London SE1P 4XY. Tel: 0845 010 7938 (Lo-call) or 0207 633 4149

l Before you complain to us you must complete all the stages of the internal complaints process first.

Please make sure that these contact numbers are registered on your pin phone list. For more information about the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman please see our leaflets and posters.

PRISONS AND PROBATION

OMBUDSMAN

for England and Wales

If you are still unhappy: l write to us within three months of receiving the final response l send us a short note telling us why you are not happy with the response to your complaint l send us your completed complaint forms - we will copy and return them to you. (If you don’t have the complaint forms you can still complain to us but it will take us a bit longer to respond). Write to us at our NEW ADDRESS: Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, PO Box 70769, London SE1P 4XY

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pose a significant risk to other vulnerable prisoners. The requirement on the Prison Service is to manage the risks and conflicts that this throws up robustly and proactively. It is a hopeful sign that, as a result of this Learning Lessons Bulletin, the High Security Estate has accepted the need to develop a strategy to ensure that vulnerable prisoners are kept safe from other vulnerable prisoners. Cell doors In some prisons, prisoners have a degree of control over closing cell doors. This aids privacy, but also poses risks. Two of the victims of homicide investigated in 2013 were trapped in cells because their killers were able to push the door closed behind them, which engaged the lock. This can be prevented by ‘shooting the bolt’ when the cell is opened, this means that staff put the bolt in a locked position with the door already open so stopping the door being able to be fully closed. This makes it harder to take a hostage and allows staff quicker access in an emergency. However, as prisoners who complain to my office about missing property sometimes argue, shooting the bolt can place prisoners or their property at risk if they are unable to close their cell door. Guidance for most high security prisons is that staff should shoot the bolt. The Learning Lessons Bulletin recommends that other prisons must decide which approach is safest in their particular environment. This needs to be written into a clear local policy which Governors make sure is put into practice consistently. Again, I am pleased that the High Security Estate has accepted the need for issue to be addressed. Looking forward Learning lessons from my investigations can be slow and this is particularly the case with homicides which are mercifully rare events and where my investigations must await the conclusion of police investigations and criminal trials. Nevertheless, where safety is at stake, this learning must be pursued with vigour and I am pleased that the Prison Service has committed itself to exactly this learning. In the ten years since my office took responsibility for independently investigating deaths in custody, we have investigated some 1800 deaths, only eighteen of which were homicides. This, however, is eighteen too many. Prisons need to learn the lessons from the recent cases which triggered this Bulletin and ensure that these can be regarded as tragic anomalies, rather than infrequent but repeated failures in providing safe custody.

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Parole

Insidetime March 2014 www.insidetime.org

The Parole Board takes action to ensure fair and timely reviews Claire Bassett - Parole Board CEO

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quicker process is needed. Everyone involved is agreed that six months for the majority of indeterminate sentence prisoner parole reviews is too long.

here has been some reporting on the impact to the work of the Parole Board following the Osborn, Booth & Reilly Supreme Court judgment handed down in October 2013. The Board submitted short articles for both the December and January issues of Inside Time setting out some of the initial thoughts on the impact it would have to Parole Reviews.

If the Parole Board is to conclude more cases more quickly then the use of video and sometimes telephone will be necessary

On the front page of the February issue there was further comment from the Editor following an article which appeared in the Independent on Sunday suggesting that the Parole Board is close to crisis. Is this really true? We have now had time to look more closely at the judgment and understand how the Parole Board needs to adapt to ensure that prisoners receive a Parole Review that is fair and just. Without doubt, a comprehensive overhaul is needed and whilst this is a huge challenge it does give us an opportunity to design a new system from scratch. We have always been aware that the existing system was far from perfect and that delays are both unwelcome and stressful to prisoners, and that a much

FMW Law Solicitors and Advocates

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We now need to look at how members consider offender Parole Reviews and how we can ensure all offenders who want to meet a Parole Board panel at a face to face oral hearing can get one. We are urgently working with the Ministry of Justice and colleagues across the National Offender Management Services to look at how we can hear more cases and put in place a whole new approach later this year.

As previously reported the judgment may result in the number of cases heard at oral hearing increasing from 4,500 a year to approaching 14,000 a year. It will be impossible to continue to work in the way we do at the moment. Just adding more staff and members to work in the same way as before is just not going to succeed.

Formerly Farrell Matthews & Weir

out that we need more staff at the Board to prepare cases and undertake all the administration. The Ministry of Justice has recently authorised additional funding for this and we are in the process of recruiting 15 new staff to support the casework.

We know that until the new system is up and running, there will be delays to Parole Reviews for some prisoners. We have already written to those people affected by this and will continue to keep them informed about how their case is progressing. The longer it takes to sort out, the longer the delays will be and so getting the new process in place as quickly as possible is our key priority. There have been a number of references to the use of video equipment at oral hearings and whether this is a good or bad thing. If the Parole Board is to conclude more cases more quickly then the use of video and sometimes telephone will be necessary. But making sure the equipment works properly will be crucial to

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a fair and effective hearing. Many other systems within the Criminal Justice System already use such technology successfully and we are working with them to share good ideas and learn how to make it work better for us. This is not the first time the Parole Board has been faced with a growing caseload of oral hearings but it is the first time we have been in a position to completely change the way we do things. The original question - is the Parole Board in crisis? The whole parole process is undergoing unprecedented change involving prisons and the probation service, the access to Legal Aid as well as how the Parole Board operates. It would be foolish to think that there will not be problems along the way but this is not a crisis, rather a time for improvement and reorganisation. We are putting information regularly onto our web pages so that we keep everyone informed of developments. If you think that you have been affected by the judgment and that you may be eligible for an oral hearing you should seek legal advice or contact the Free Representation Unit (0207 611 9555) or Prisoners Advice Service (0207 253 3323). Reviewing the Parole Board advert page 15 Will your voice now be heard? page 40 The future of the Parole Board page 42

Thomas Horton LLP

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CRIMINAL DEFENCE AND PRISON LAW SPECIALISTS FOR THE MIDLANDS AND WORCESTERSHIRE AREA We represent prisoners in all aspects of prison law including:

4 Recall Hearings 4 Challenging Recall Proceedings 4 Parole & Licence Reviews 4 IPP Hearings 4 Adjudications & MDTs 4 Recategorisation 4 Transfers 4 HDC and ROTL 4 Proceeds of Crime Act Proceedings Thomas Horton LLP is a recognised firm of leading criminal defence solicitors, committed to quality with a friendly, personalised service and high standard of client care. For immediate assistance please contact:

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Parole

Insidetime March 2014 www.insidetime.org

23

Parole in the brave new world

“They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.” Andy Warhol by Andrew Sperling and Kristen Bender

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overnment cuts bring the Parole Board ‘close to crisis’ was the headline article of last month’s Inside Time. It was entirely accurate, as many prisoners awaiting long overdue Parole Hearings will confirm. Within the last couple of weeks, the Parole Board have issued letters to hundreds of prisoners telling them their hearing are likely to be delayed owing to the fall-out of the Supreme Court ruling in Osborne and Booth. Inside Time has also reported extensively on the cuts to legal aid for prisoners which came into effect on December 2, 2013 and the impact that these are likely to have on Parole Reviews. This piece will offer some practical advice for prisoners to manage these changes so they can improve their chances of being treated fairly. The Supreme Court is the highest Court in the UK. In October, they issued a judgment which concluded that the Parole Board should hold an oral hearing before deciding an application for release, or for a transfer to open conditions, whenever fairness to the prisoner requires such a hearing in the light of the facts of the case and the importance of what is at stake. This was an important decision for prisoners who need a Parole Review of any kind , as it allows many a better chance of making progress or being released. It recognises that a hearing at which a prisoner can speak and can challenge things which have been written about them is often much fairer than a decision on paper reports alone. The challenge for prisoners is to make the best of their oral hearing and chance for progression or release. Cuts to Legal Aid mean that there will be fewer qualified prison lawyers available and certainly fewer with experience as an advocate before the Parole Board. Legal Aid is still

available for all parole proceedings (subject to financial eligibility) except for pre-tariff indeterminate sentenced prisoners. If you are facing a Parole Review, you need to do all you can to prepare for it. This is especially true if you cannot find a good experienced lawyer or do not qualify for legal aid. Your freedom depends on you doing all you reasonably can to get yourself a fair Parole Board Review. Below are ten things you can do to help yourself: 1. Know your dates within the 26 week ‘Generic Parole Process’. Know when your reports are due, when Intensive Case Management Representations are due and when Addendum reports before the hearing are due. Chase up overdue reports via your Offender Supervisor (OS). 2. Instruct a solicitor early, and tell them what you can about your case in a detailed letter and provide your previous Parole Board decision or dossier in the post. They can then come to see you having read those documents in advance. Your time with the lawyer can then focus on planning for your future rather than rehashing the past. 3. Read your dossier carefully and early make clear legible notes and send them to your lawyer. Highlight any errors and consider what additional documents would help such as such as homework from courses and diary work. You can ask to add any documents you want to the dossier. You should know your dossier inside out. 4. Consider who you want to attend your hearing. You are entitled to have observers such as a family member, mentor or tutor. You can ask for additional witnesses who know you well and who can comment on issues related to your risk areas. 5. Think about if you have any disabilities needing special assistance at the hearing. If you know that you have a disability it is important that this is made clear to the Parole Board. If you take medication which makes you drowsy or you struggle to concentrate, this needs to be pointed out. You can request

that accommodations are made for your disability at the oral hearing. 6. Make Representations to the Parole Board at the Intensive Case Management (ICM) Stage. This will occur at approximately 14 weeks into the Generic Parole Process. Tell the Parole Board in the Representations what witnesses you want, if there are any relevant reports missing and if you are happy to be on videolink. You do not need to have decided what your application to the Parole Board is at this stage. This is primarily an opportunity to address whether you want an oral hearing and to advise what witnesses and evidence you want at the hearing. 7. When ICM Directions are issued, READ THEM CAREFULLY. You can often get a flavour of the Parole Board’s concerns about the risk issues in your case. This will allow you to prepare for your oral hearing with those issues in the forefront of your mind. 8. Re-read the Sentencing Judge’s remarks which are in the Dossier. This is often where the Parole Board turn first. Think about what has changed in you since the Judge made those comments at your sentencing hearing. What have you learned on courses, what do you understand about your ‘risk factors’, what are the challenges for you in the future and how will you deal with them? Think of specific

examples of how you have dealt successfully with stressful or difficult situations during your sentence. Write examples down and discuss them with your OS and Offender Manager (OM). 9. Decide what application you are making to the Parole Board. If the application is for open conditions, then write to various open prisons, learn what the regimes are, and anticipate what might be risky situations for you in open conditions. If your application is for release then think carefully about your release plans and what you need to do to improve them. 10. Stay in touch with your OM as much as you can. It can make a huge difference if you can establish a good relationship with them. NEXT month…”How to Prepare for the Hearing...” Andrew Sperling and Kristen Bender are highly experienced Parole Board Advocates who work as Consultants at Scott-Moncrieff and Associates Ltd and Kirwans Solicitors. Scott-Moncrieff acted for Mr Booth in the Supreme Court and Kristen Bender was his advocate before the Parole Board. Andrew Sperling was Chair of the Association of Prison Lawyers between 2011 and 2013.

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Historical Allegations

24

Insidetime March 2014 www.insidetime.org

The problem with memory In part one of this series Dr David Hockey examines the role of memory in historical allegations

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ince the Jimmy Savile ‘Yewtree’ inquiry, there has been an increasing number of alleged historical sexual cases brought to court and there appears no end in sight. Previously the problem was that too few victims could get their story taken seriously enough to be pursued as a case where a jury could make a decision. Now it is the other extreme, whereby cases are brought on no more than the testimony of the alleged victim. According to the London based barrister Barbara Hewson, this is because it creates a climate in which those that have not been abused can claim they have been and it ignores the ease with which false memories of abuse can be created. There is a promise that an accuser will be believed. In all but the trial judge’s highly questionable caution to the jury, the notion of guilt beyond reasonable doubt has been replaced with whose version is believed more. The onus rests on the suspect to explain why an allegation would be made if it is false. The process involves two distinct but overlapping themes, memory and credibility. Memory does not work like a video recording where one can simply rewind to the relevant moment and simply be replayed as if it were an actual recording. One does not always have a choice about what information is taken

because I was afraid’ or ‘I thought it was my fault’ or ‘I didn’t think I would be believed’ as a genuinely innocent victim might. This is because extracts like these from live trials are regularly reported through the media and together with a great number of self-help books on repressed memories becomes equally problematic for both accusers and the accused. As the Psychologist Professor Elizabeth Loftus, regarded by many as the world’s leading expert on memory, says “Just because memory is expressed with confidence, detail and emotion, doesn’t mean it is true”.

in and remembered. For example, when making an effort to memorise information for an exam, not everything needed at the time of that exam is remembered. Similarly, one can recall unimportant information about random events. Furthermore, memory often works like a stereotype of an event. For example,

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someone tells you they are going to visit a restaurant. You envisage that they are going for a meal (the stereotypical reason for such a visit). Later you remember them telling you they were going there for a meal. Memories are also very susceptible to suggestion and this is a big problem not only in therapy but in general. Once a suggestion is made or new information from whatever source is incorporated into an existing memory, it affects and changes the way an event is remembered. Psychologists Amina Memon, Albert Vrij and Ray Bull, experts in this area, state that it is not possible to distinguish between genuine and false memories by themselves and that independent corroborative evidence is needed. In addition, a new victim culture has been created with its own language of recovery and cult like jargon (e.g., grooming, trafficking, controlling). It seeks new recruits and greater influence in areas such as the criminal justice system. Unfortunately, it becomes just as easy for someone who is knowingly not telling the truth or who wrongly believes that they are telling the truth to make emotionally loaded statements such as, ‘I didn’t report it before

Memory difficulties for a suspect can lead to problems of credibility, which begins with the ‘interview under caution’. The caution reminds the suspect that anything they say will be taken down and may be used as evidence in court. The suspect is asked if they understand this. People usually give little thought to answering this and typically say that they do. However, consider the implications in light of how memory for distant events actually works. To attempt to answer questions in such an interview is to risk furthering the potential case for the prosecution, given the infallible nature of memory. Mistakes that derive from memory problems can provide additional ammunition for a prosecutor as it enables them to allege that the defendant is lying. Indeed, the same problems for distant memories applies to allegations of all offence types. Although there will be a chance for the defendant to explain, it is still another problem that has to be countered and is a problem that is by no means guaranteed to be settled in the defendant’s favour. A jury can and perhaps often does decide to believe the prosecution version rather than the defendant’s on this. Whilst these articles do not constitute legal advice, the second part to the article will explore the implications of these issues in greater detail. Dr David Hockey BSc (Hons), PG. Dip, MSc, MA (Distinction), PhD, C. Psychol (Forensic). Applied Investigative Criminologist and Private Investigator.

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Historical Allegations

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‘You will be believed’ is the Police and CPS mantra for claims of sex offences

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hey don’t tend to believe people claiming innocence of murder accusations or drug dealing or terrorism or fraud or burglary, but claims of sex assault, sometimes from 45 years ago? “You will be believed even if you are lying and trying to get compensation”, says Inspector Plod, “as we do like to get our conviction rates up”. In a frankly disgusting Guardian editorial on Friday 14th February, the Editor commented on the Dave Lee Travis acquittal of the day before, in a piece headlined “Slow Ahead”, that the late Jimmy Savile was a “serial rapist”. He wasn’t. He was an innocent man unless, of course, the Guardian agrees with the current legal premise that an accused person is guilty until or unless he or she can prove themselves innocent. That applies dead or alive, doesn’t it, unless we must believe the media always carries the truth. The editorial goes on to spout figures - 85,000 women are raped every year, only 15,000 complain, only a few hundred come to court, even fewer are convicted. And they then carry that old final proof; of 161 rape prosecutions, only one was “related to” a false allegation. Can it really not strike the editor - or all the journalists on the paper, that the vast majority of claimed “rapes” and other sex claims are misunderstandings caused by drink, drugs, confusion, uncertainty, revenge, changed positions, failed attempts - and the muddle around a finite, four letter word with a vague, indefinite meaning? Can it really be the case that nobody on the paper is aware of all the appeals granted some after years in prison? Can everyone on the paper be so committed to the agenda that they refuse to see the truth?

All this has been provoked by the recent acquittal of falsely accused innocent celebrities like Andrew Lancel, Michael Le Vell, William Roache and DLT. Jurors, the public, saying “sorry, we don’t believe these claims; at worst they are fiction, at best exaggeration, we acquit”. As they would and should have done in my case, 14 years ago. I gasped as it dawned on me that I could be convicted of crimes that I didn’t do and that never actually took place. Yes, you’ve got that right; only one person’s word against another’s - backed up by similar stories from others, ably assisted by police who routinely leave the interview room to have a pee whilst “maps” of homes lie on tables, ready to be roughly copied during the officer’s absence, to illustrate that the claimant visited a house, along with other titbits of useful “similar evidence”. The crimes never happened. News to you Keir? Oh, come on! At least miscarriages of justice in cases of murder have bodies to show that crimes did take place. But you know what most disturbs me? The fact that people like me never get their opinions printed in national newspapers. Or heard on radio (or their music played, but that’s another story). We are convicted criminals. Shut up and go away. Such faith in the judicial system is sweet, if naive, though seemingly not reflected in views when the “perpetrator” gets away with it… oops, sorry, is acquitted.

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And on the very same page, Keir Starmer writes a more cunningly structured argument on the same agenda (there is no other in the paper) talking about Savile’s “victims” (they weren’t, they were accusers) and avoiding any admission that, as a former Director of Public Prosecutions, he knows all about innocent defendants pleading guilty in order to get smaller sentences instead of facing the near certainty of conviction without any evidence, proof or forensic detail?

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It’s not generally known (ruins a good story) that I was also acquitted in a second trial. My legal team proved something they failed to do in my first trial - that the “victims” were lying. One man, who had claimed to be 15, admitted he must have been 18, when we showed that a record I had played when he first saw me on stage had not been made until 3 years later. Incidentally, I also proved I’d never met the man; something very hard to do. If I’d been tried now, instead of 14 years ago, when the ages of consent had only just been equalised thanks to the EU and to the fury of homophobes, I would certainly have been found innocent. DLT had many BBC character witnesses. I was banned from presenting many of mine as it would “only irritate the Judge - the prosecution would say - just because you were honest and honourable with 99% of people didn’t mean you didn’t abuse these men”. Some of my character witnesses like Simon Bates and Sir Tim Rice were lambasted by the prosecutor - “didn’t you know he was a vile pervert?”. But no; keep criminals out of the media. Don’t let them put the other side of the story. And very few other commentators are allowed to express doubt about the appalling state of the law regarding sex offences. Writers like Bob Woffinden and Carol Sarler are like hen’s teeth. Our strange British obsession with sex being wrong and dirty totally dictates agendas. I’m 100% supportive of the Guardian campaign to stop rape and to lock up real rapists. Not just violent rape. My personal morality dictates that it’s wrong to get a woman into bed by telling her you love her when you don’t (yes, for avoidance of doubt, I am bi-sexual). But it is absurd and damaging to fail to be honest about the situation. What is the situation? Most rapes and sex assaults and claims are in the grey area in the middle. Neither extreme. They are NOT simple. They are a combination of smaller factors. We all know this is the era of instant gratification, of simple solutions to complex problems,

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of political policies based on slogans and tabloid headlines. The poor, brain dead public is unable to grasp detail. Give them black and white. They only have five minutes to think about things. Except the courts are now starting to show they are seeing through the facade. I thought the fascinating thing about the DLT trial was the question from the jury to the Judge - “If we believe the witness, should we convict, given lack of corroboration and passage of time?” It seems (from printed reports) that the Judge unfairly only repeated the prosecution position - yes, they should convict. And not the defence position - that many witnesses and “victims” have convinced themselves that they are telling the absolute truth, whereas the effect of time (and media coverage) on the memory can be very dangerous. If true, that doesn’t surprise me. Judges are pretty incompetent. The jury chose to ignore the unhelpful advice and found DLT innocent - at least of the 12 charges. The CPS has decided to pursue the remaining two charges with an expensive second trial; I suppose the judge in the next trial will tell jurors to ‘forget everything you have heard or read about the previous acquittal’ - another strange legal assumption which normal people might consider impossible. I don’t ask the Guardian to stop its crusade against rape. I don’t suggest all rapes are invented. I certainly would not claim percentages on either side (ignoring, for example, those wrongly convicted of rape and languishing in prison, victims of false allegations not included in the statistics). All I ask is that there is some balance provided. Because it damages the case irreparably by only printing an extreme position. And some of their readers, like some of today’s jurors, are more intelligent than they give them credit for.

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Inhuman treatment for sex offenders: Scotland goes back to the future Neil Robertson MA (Psychol), MSc

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hen Bletchley Park code breaker and computer pioneer Alan Turing was granted a posthumous pardon for homosexual offences recently, numerous politicians and other worthies commented that it was great that such ‘inhuman practices’ as chemical castration, which Turing was forced to undergo, could no longer happen in Britain. How wrong they are: Approved by former Scottish Prison Service Director of Health and Care, Dr Andrew Fraser, and administered under the direction of Dr Rajan Darjee - known as ‘Scotland’s Josef Mengele’ for his experimentation on prisoners - by forensic psychiatrists - a programme using anti-depressants, together with anti-androgen hormonal injections and implants to decrease libido in selected sex offenders has been underway for some five years. Despite numerous international studies demonstrating significant side effects, including increased risk of various types of cancer; damage to heart tissue; high blood pressure,

leading to risk of strokes and aneurisms; osteoporosis; development of female sexual characteristics - specifically growth of breast tissue and reduced facial hair; depression and psychosis being associated with these treatments, prisoner participants are not fully informed about these risks. Without full disclosure there can be no informed consent and this clearly breaches Royal College of Psychiatrists, General Medical Council and SPS regulations and Code of Conduct. Instead they are told their participation in these experiments will lead to ‘a better chance of progression and parole’. As most of the selected prisoners are serving either Order for Lifelong Restriction (OLR) or Life sentences, this is a powerful inducement. Despite this, several participants have been unable to continue with the programme as a direct result of the pain and trauma of the side effects experienced. Because they refused to rejoin, no medical or psychological support was provided, leaving SPS wide open to claims for compensation. What about those who continue with the programme? Do they really have a lower risk of re-offending as a result of being chemically castrated? The research says it’s unlikely and the Parole Board have not released anyone on

the anti-libidinal cohort yet. Whilst a large segment of the public (and mainstream prisoners) are enthusiastic about castration of sex offenders - preferably with a couple of house bricks - the reality is that many sexual offences are motivated by domination, humiliation and control of the victim rather than sex. In any event, testosterone and other aids such as Viagra can be taken to counteract the effect of anti-libidinal medication.

excessive risks of side effects and to the likely clinical failure of chemical castration programmes, why would responsible medical professionals put their careers at risk? Two possible reasons are that, to them, the end justifies the means, as reducing sexual offending is a commendable goal. Alternatively, like doctors in Nazi concentration camps, they view prisoners - and in particular sex offenders - as less than human.

Even for participants with a high sex drive, the positive effects, including reduction of sexual thoughts and arousal will wear off over time as they build up natural resistance to the medication. For the psychiatrists running the programme, the options are to increase dosage, (with increased risk of serious side effects); to try alternative medication or a combination of both.

It is not widely known that Nazi medical experimentation led to groundbreaking work in a number of important areas, inducing, for example, genetics and the effects of exposure on sailors and aircrew that remains relevant today: but there can be no argument that the methodology used was utterly inhuman.

With studies evidencing such treatments have little or no long term beneficial effect, it is unsurprising few countries outside the USA (and even there, only a few states) use this treatment on sex offenders. Those that do tend to be the same ones that execute mentally impaired people; those who committed their crimes when under age and homosexuals such as Iran and Pakistan.

Some have wondered, given the enthusiasm of Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill to abolish such irritating legal factors as the need for corroboration, how long it would take for an independent Scotland to adopt some of the worst practices of criminal justice systems in authoritarian states. The answer appears to be: not very long at all. Neil Robertson is resident at HMP Glenochil

Since the evidence so clearly points to

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citing the relevant legislation and case law. I went through the internal complaints procedure and then on to the Ombudsman. I felt reasonably confident at first. Some UK prisoners, it turned out, had even won the right to watch pornography in the cells using Article Ten. All I wanted was BBC3 and BBC4 and, perhaps ITV2!

ecently, as the Government try their best to undermine the European Court of Human Rights, I seem to be forever hearing about prisoners winning contentious human rights challenges. If the reports are to be believed, all us prisoners have to do is wave a piece of paper at the authorities and tell them we have ‘human rights’. Our every demand will then be met for fear of infringing on those ‘rights’.

I waited for weeks for the Ombudsman to reply. The longer I waited, the more confident I got. They must be really checking this out, I remember thinking to myself. Then one day a letter arrived from the Ombudsman. It was a page and a half long and basically said that the Governor of the prison was free to interpret the legislation as he saw fit and that he was not acting unlawfully in censoring our television. I couldn’t believe it. The legislation and case law was categoric yet, according to the Ombudsman the Governor was free to completely ignore it.

I wonder, does anyone actually believe that crap? Seriously! As it happens, I don’t think most of the human rights legislation is worth the paper it’s written on. I really don’t. Article Six of the Human Rights Act, for example, supposedly guarantees you the right to a fair trial but this ‘guarantee’ is more ideological than objectively real. Any impartial observer with a sufficient grasp of law and equality would have to conclude that the trial process in this country is far from fair. How can it be when, for example, the prosecution have an essentially unlimited pot of cash with which to secure their conviction while the defendant’s legal aid pot, on the other hand, is strictly limited and seemingly ever-decreasing. Then there’s the now-notorious Article Eight; the piece of legislation that supposedly protects the right to a family life. Again, we are led to believe that the country is full of criminals who have used this particular piece of legal framework to ensconce themselves here in the UK. Whenever I read a story about a criminal winning the right to stay here by invoking Article Eight, it is usually implied that the criminal has somehow blagged it. I find it interesting and revealing that there’s never usually a mention of his family, no empathy for them, just antipathy toward the criminal himself.

The right to rights Notes from the other side of the wall

Then there’s Article Ten; which supposedly guarantees the freedom to send and receive information. I actually tried to use this particular piece of law myself a few years ago. That’s when I first realised just how ineffectual human rights legislation really is.

the existing five terrestrial channels.

Freeview had just gone nationwide. They were calling it, ‘The big digital turn on’. I remember, we all got terribly excited at the prospect of having so many more television channels to choose from. Our excitement, however, was short lived. We were told that our access to publicly available Freeview channels would be limited to just four beyond

Most of the lads were disappointed but didn’t make a fuss. To me, it didn’t sound quite right. How could the prison effectively censor publicly available television? It reeked of political populism. Somewhere in the back of my mind I remembered reading about a legal case involving a prisoner’s access to television that was once brought before the European

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I drafted a very professional looking skeleton argument, outlining the legal position and

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Court. Sure enough, I did some research and I found a European prisoner who had successfully used Article Ten to argue for his right to have access to a television. I then went on to find various other bits of case law that made it clear that the Prison Service could not lawfully censor publicly available television channels.

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At first, I considered taking the case forward to the courts but I wasn’t really sure about the legal procedures involved and I certainly couldn’t afford a lawyer. It was frustrating. I had it there in black and white and yet the Ombudsman and the Prison Service were effectively saying they didn’t care what the law was. I’ve since learned that it seems to be Prison Service policy to use this unlawful censorship as some kind of control mechanism. For example, in all the prisons I’ve been in since the big digital turn on, you are allowed a greater number of channels on enhanced wings than you are on non enhanced wings. This is blatantly unlawful. As is the Justice Secretary’s recent decision to ban prisoners from having 18 rated films. Article Ten should prevent this sort of censorship from happening. The law is clear and binding. The Justice Secretary’s decision is not compatible with Article Ten. He knows this but he also knows that, as far as us prisoners are concerned, Article Ten isn’t worth the paper it’s written on. It’s all well and good having rights but perhaps the right we prisoners need most is the right to exercise our rights. Until then human rights legislation is nothing but a political ornament, propaganda designed to convince the world how very civilised we are.

Danny Cash is a life sentenced prisoner

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Criminal Justice Thinking about and Courts Bill legal action? The new Criminal Justice and Courts Bill is making its way through Parliament with many announcements and sound bites being given by Secretary of State Chris Grayling about its contents. Inside Time’s Paul Sullivan has run a non-legal eye through the Bill and produced a selection of changes which he thinks might be relevant to prisoners private companies.

Paul Sullivan

l A Magistrate will be able to try a defendant on a ‘papers only’ basis and not in an open court. It appears that more cases will be tried by single magistrates.

l For certain offences including terrorism, explosives, murder and the offences of ‘aiding and abetting’ such crimes the bill increases sentences to Life Imprisonment, except in Scotland where it will be 14 years maximum.

l A person aged over 18, convicted of an offence, will be made to pay a charge in respect of court costs (this doesn’t include prosecution costs). Interest will be charged on the amount until it is paid.

l Changes to the rules about Electronic Monitoring, both in the selection for, and the administration of, the monitoring.

l It appears that a person’s ability to appeal to the Supreme Court (from the High Court) is to be curtailed with just a few exceptions.

l Recall of determinate sentenced prisoners and their automatic release after recall. Release may not be given if the person is thought likely to commit another breach. The test for release after recall could now be changed after that recall.

l The age limits for Juries are being changed so jurors must be over 18 and under 75. Judges will be able to order jurors to surrender any electronic communications devices whilst involved in trial business. Jurors will be searched for such devices. Jurors will be banned from conducting research (such as using the Internet) during a trial.

l Restrictions will be introduced on the use of police cautions and cautions of indictable offences will only be given with the permission of the DPP. A person will not be given a caution for a similar offence within two years of the original caution. l The possession of pornographic images depicting rape will now be illegal. The test will be if the image is realistic or explicit and shows any non-consensual penetration by any body part or other object. l The Bill introduces the idea of Secure Training Centres and Colleges for under 18s which will be run along the lines of the Prison Rules. These Centres may be contracted out to

l On Judicial review the Bill states, confusingly, that a judge must ‘refuse to grant relief’ and ‘not make an award’ if: ‘it appears to the court to be highly likely that the outcome for the applicant would not have been substantially different if the conduct complained of had not occurred.’ The right to Judicial Review appears to be being made severely limited. The bulleted points above are for information only and should not be taken as being legal advice or opinion. If you think any of the points above might be relevant to you we would advise that you seek the assistance of your legal representative.

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PRISON REFORM TRUST Francesca Cooney Advice & Information Manager Prison Reform Trust

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OMS receives around 2000 claims from individuals a year. Most of these are about personal injury, property and unlawful detention. It is important to think very carefully before taking court action. Something may be unfair but this does not always mean it is illegal. Going to court can be very complicated and it is important to know what the risks are. The person who starts a case has to prove their case and to do this there needs to be evidence. If you do go to court, you are expected to have tried to sort the matter out beforehand. This means that it is important to go through any complaint process first and to keep a record of everything you have done. There may be a more effective way of resolving the complaint. Sometimes going to another body, such as the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman or Parliamentary Ombudsman might be more straightforward. If you are going to court you may want to use a computer for your paperwork. However, access to computers is not automatic. You can ask the prison to allow this but you have to show that without access to a computer you will be at a disadvantage that would be unjust. The prison staff will consider security and safety when deciding who can be granted computer facilities for legal work. It is also up to the governor to decide whether you can have access to IT in cell or somewhere else in the prison. They can also decide how many hours you are allowed computer access for and whether for part of your case or all of it. The prison service does have a duty to make sure that all prisoners who require legal services understand what is available and how services may be accessed. Prisons do not have to have an officer with special responsibility (legal officer) to help prisoners with legal matters any more. However, that does not mean there is nowhere in the prison to get help. Wing staff should assist you with

providing a list of solicitors, if you need this. They may be able to provide the court forms that you need. If you have any difficulty with reading or writing they should assist you with the form. If this would be difficult, because you are taking action against the prison, there may be a prisoner representative or buddy that can help. You might need to photocopy documents for court cases. The prison does not have to cover the costs of photocopying and this can be expensive. Wing staff should be able to tell you what the arrangements for photocopying are in your prison. You are allowed to make arrangements for papers to be posted out, to relatives or friends or handed over at visits, as long as this doesn’t breach security. The prison should make sure that legally privileged material is not read. There are organisations that may be able to give you legal advice such as your local Citizens Advice Bureau or law centre. It is important to try and get advice in good time, especially as these organisations can be very busy. The Citizens Advice Bureau has produced a leaflet that explains what to think about before you go to court. It includes information on time limits, evidence, witnesses, assessing the risks and explains legal jargon. The Prison Reform Trust can’t provide legal advice but we can send you information about going to court and advise you on what help you should get from the prison. We may also be able to find other organisations that can help you. You can contact us at Prison Reform Trust, FREEPOST ND6125 London EC1B 1PN. Our free information line is open Mondays 3.30-7.30 and Tuesday and Thursday 3.30-5.30. The number is 0808 802 0060 and does not need to be put on your pin.

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ad character and similar fact evidence are ploys often used by prosecutors to convict in criminal trials. Often the evidence is flimsy and not relevant to the case. ‘Members of the jury, this man has shown a callous disregard for the law and has more than a dozen parking tickets, which shows his contempt for the law, contempt which typifies this murder’.

as in 8 years, with 827 deaths following police contact, there has never been a successful prosecution for any of these deaths. Maybe the Duggan family can pray for a prosecution under Health & Safety laws, yet Duggan’s killer will soon be back on the streets, perhaps killing another, but the next Inquest jury will not be permitted to learn of the previous Bad Character of the killer. Murder seems to be permitted in England provided it is carried out under state sponsorship.

However, bad character and similar fact evidence works both ways, so consider for a moment the result of examining the Metropolitan Police by the same methodology. The day following the verdict in the Mark Duggan Inquest verdict, the Met resorted to their well practised ploy of smearing Mark Duggan and his family. ‘Violence erupted yesterday. Force in riot alert. Scuffle and abuse’, screamed the Mirror. ‘Inquest jury members to be offered police protection and anonymity following threats by the Duggan family’, claimed other media during subsequent days. Duggan’s aunt was baffled by the claims of jury threats, ‘They delivered the verdict and were gone’, she said. Follow up stories claimed Duggan was linked to a contract killer, was a major gangster and drug dealer, a leading well known criminal, in other words standard Metropolitan Police practice and similar fact evidence, reminiscent of their implausible claims made following the shootings of Azelle Rodney or the fictitious claimed events justifying their killing of Jean Charles de Mendes. However, the Metropolitan Police do not like being challenged on their version of events. When a journalist questioned Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley about the position of the gun, and the inquest jury deciding that Duggan was unarmed when he was shot dead, Rowley sneered, ‘Do you think the police lie, do you think the police plant evidence?’ Well, actually Mr Rowley, I do and on an industrial scale. The Duggan inquest verdict was perverse for a number of reasons. In deciding that Duggan was unarmed when he was shot dead, it is difficult to see how the conclusion was made that it could be a lawful killing. The Met’s armed police are only supposed to shoot when a clear and immediate threat is identified. Clearly, Duggan’s killing did not meet that basic requirement. The jury’s conclusion that Duggan had thrown a gun from his taxi as it was being stopped is

Moving on to the Plebgate affair, a subject I am heartily sick of, do the police lie, Assistant Commissioner Rowley? Certainly they do, even when a member of an elite armed police squad, the Diplomatic Protection Squad charged with guarding Downing Street, foreign embassies and Buckingham Palace. Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley confronted as he speaks to reporters after the Duggan Inquest verdict.

Bad character? Keith Rose examinees the bad character and similar fact evidence methodology used by the Metropolitan Police irrational, given that no-one had seen a gun thrown from the vehicle, so the jury seem to have imagined or invented this event. Moreover, a gun is a solid lump of metal weighing several pounds. If thrown from a car, moving or not, the gun would have sufficient kinetic energy to leave a significant and distinct impact landing mark on grass, even in August. A thrown gun would also usually bounce, so there may be more than one forensically identifiable impact point. If such an impact point existed, the Met would have trumpeted it to the heavens, and used it to justify the killing. They didn’t, so it is difficult to see how the jury formed the theory of a thrown gun. Of course, a gun dropped from a police pocket would not leave a significant impact point, so no forensics and the words ‘alibi gun’ is common police parlance. Bad character is something the Met has enjoyed for decades. During Operation Countryman, an investigation into corruption in the Met in the 80s, Sir Robert Mark stated that ‘If

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an officer was found to be bent for the firm, that was acceptable, but if bent for themselves’ Mark would root them out. Some 300 serving officers resigned during the investigation. The act of being ‘bent for the firm’ even had a caption, ‘Noble Cause Corruption’. The Duggan family have repeatedly called for a full IPCC investigation, a plea that was echoed by Tottenham MP David Lammy who stated: ‘There are fundamental issues the Independent Police Complaints Commission must attempt to clarify - not just for the sake of the Duggan family, but to diffuse the confusion, conjecture and suspicion that continue to surround the events of that evening.’ An IPCC spokesman said: ‘Our investigation is ongoing and a full report will be published’. Based on the atrocious record of the IPCC in investigating deaths following police contact perhaps a whitewashed report is the best the Duggan family can hope for. Certainly they are not going to receive the justice they crave

On the 10th January 2014, Diplomatic Protection Squad member Police Constable Keith Wallis pleaded guilty to falsely claiming that he had witnessed events in the confrontation between former Chief Whip Andrew Mitchell and fellow Diplomatic Protection Squad member Toby Rowland. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe was forced to issue an apology to Andrew Mitchell stating that PC Wallis’s behaviour ‘fell way below the standards expected of his officers’. That’s a fairly low standard, Sir Bernard, as Wallis’s guilty plea prevents forthcoming explanation into how his detailed fictitious e-mail so closely resembled the Downing Street police log. Collusion, Sir Bernard, between members of your very elite squad? Surely not! The recently leaked Operation Tiberius report revealed the Metropolitan Police was, is, and probably evermore shall be riddled with corruption at every level. Low standards indeed, Sir Bernard. Two final items, do I believe Andrew Mitchell used the toxic word ‘pleb’? Almost certainly based on the reported arrogance of the man, and his expectation that the police would jump to open the Downing Street main gates for him as he approached on his bicycle. Also, I seem to recall that a certain Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe once stated, ‘I want people to be afraid of the police’. Well, you’ve certainly achieved that Sir Bernard. Armed gangs roaming the streets of London? Oh no, it’s not ‘de Mandem’, it’s ‘dose Bad Boys’ from the Met. Kieth Rose is currently resident at HMP Whitemoor

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Comment

Insidetime March 2014 www.insidetime.org

Jobs after jail

Quote of the Month

The world’s richest country pays a measly €300 a month to the wretched Asians building its new stadiums in inhuman working conditions. They can’t escape, thanks to the ‘barbaric’ law that lets employers hold their passports. Many die: at least 382 construction workers from Nepal alone died in accidents in the last two years.

Paralegal Rebecca Broadbent outlines a few options for ex prisoners

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any people leave prison with more skills than they entered prison with. Such skills include, but are not limited to, educational skills, practical skills and social skills. Some prisoners even complete formal qualifications whilst in custody. Indeed, the Prison Rules state that one of the purposes of imprisonment is to assist and encourage prisoners to lead “a good and useful life”. It is hoped that the acquisition of skills and qualifications in prison is evidence of time well spent. Upon leaving custody, the question of future employment invariably arises. Whilst the re-settlement regime and support from the Probation Service endeavour to assist ex-offenders in their new lives, this period can often be a time where ex-prisoners feel most disenfranchised with and detached from society. Many feel that whilst they want to re-integrate as a productive member of society, the odds are stacked against them and that many prospective employers are prejudiced about ex-offenders. Additionally, the tough economic times that we all are facing do not help. Despite this, there are things that ex-offenders can do in order that they may better their chances of employment, and perhaps even turn their job into a career. This article seeks to suggest a few ideas to prisoners and ex-offenders who find themselves in this situation. It should be borne in mind that before you contemplate any of the activities suggested in this article, you seek appropriate advice from your Probation Officer, and ensure that you are not in breach of your obligations to disclose criminal convictions, or licence obligations or sex offender registration, if applicable. Voluntary Work If you find it difficult to get paid employment in your desired job, you should think about doing voluntary work in the areas you are interested in. Some resettlement programmes make provision for prisoners preparing for release to work in the local community, raising funds for charities or taking part in other community projects. Upon release, you could think about volunteering for a cause you personally feel strongly about. This could include prison reform groups or working for organisations helping prisoners in other countries, including supporting inmates on Death Rows around the world. Voluntary work is an asset to any CV. It demonstrates to a prospective employer that you are willing to dedicate your time and yourself to an important cause for which you are not getting paid. Employers look for committed individuals and those willing to go the extra mile. Volunteering for organisations

which help the most vulnerable and outcast of our society is an excellent way of showing your ability to be both dedicated and compassionate. Set Up Your Own Business If you have learnt a particular trade or craft whilst inside, you might consider turning this into your own business. This could include practical trades such as carpentry, but also creative arts, such as jewellery making. Being self-employed demonstrates that you have initiative, creativity and a level of self-reliance. These are qualities which a future employer will look most favourably on. Free business advice is available to those thinking of starting up their own businesses, and this includes advice on how to register as self-employed with HMRC. Information on this can be obtained from your local Job Centre. If you can’t turn your trade into full time employment, you might wish to consider trading part time, or selling your products at local markets. It is also worth bearing in mind that if you earn under a certain amount each week, you may not have to pay tax. Journalism Many people feel that sharing their prison experiences could help other prisoners and their families. Writing articles, for newspapers or online is one way in which you could share your advice and thoughts. A less formal way you can reach audiences is through blogging. Motivational Speaking It is no secret that for most, prison is a challenging experience. However, many people report upon leaving custody that prison has truly been a reformative process. Becoming a motivational speaker is something that you could consider if you believe that prison has changed you for the better, or if you could help prevent others from committing crime.

This World Cup will cover Qatar in shame Detlef Esslinger - German Correspondent, 8 February 2014

When Qatar won its bid to stage the 2022 Football World Cup three years ago, it boasted the event would ‘open its society to the world’. So it has proved and it’s not a pretty sight. Forget the corruption surrounding the Winter Games at Sochi - the sheer ‘brutality’ shown by Qataris to their immigrant workers is a far greater scandal.

The Emir has a last chance to get his house in order: if not, the event supposed to cover Qatar in glory will bring it nothing but shame.

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‘Other countries, other customs’ report football officials, who insist Arab nations shouldn’t be held to European standards. But leaving aside the inherent racism of that argument, should we not at least hold Qatar to the standards it has set itself? Last year it produced a 51-page document detailing all the strict regulations employers were meant to observe.

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Short Story

Insidetime March 2014 www.insidetime.org

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MP Boris is the pinnacle of 22nd century prison technology. I have been a resident here for 137 years. The first 100 years was a walk in the park, but then I put in a transfer request to be somewhere that I could stretch my legs and breathe in fresh air. I’m currently 13,009 on the transfer waiting list. This prison was named after a fella named Boris Johnson who, in the 21st century, started off as some kind of mayor but was made king of England after a series of bizarre accidents killed off 1,963 heirs to the throne, leaving Boris next in line to be crowned king. The deaths raised a few eyebrows but were quickly forgotten when Boris gave birth to twins through the new IVF technique. The public love a royal birth.

Infinity...and beyond By PR

Inside Time is publishing a selection of award winners of the Prison Reform Trust’s 2013 writing competition. This month we publish one of the winners of the special prize for satire, selected by judges Michael Morpurgo and Rachel Billington, which uses humour to make a powerful point about the impact of indeterminate detention.

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I have the IIPP sentence (Infinity Imprisonment for Public Protection) due to once having a thought about no longer living in London. Boris had renamed the whole of England as London. Even though my thought about leaving had occurred in a dream while I was asleep I was bang-to-rights and rightly jailed for infinity. Infinity is a long time, which presents a problem because humans don’t live that long. The national newspapers were outraged when criminals were getting out of their sentences by dying and not serving the full sentence of infinity. Campaigns and petitions were started until the Prison Service came up with a solution, which was to use cryogenics so that living prisoners could be frozen before they died and their still living, still serving, bodies could be locked in cryogenic chambers and stacked in prisons. This worked for a while, and then prisons started running out of space. The public weren’t bothered about prisons being full but they were bothered by the fact that prisoners were being frozen and not awake to get their full punishment. Being frozen was seen as a ‘soft touch’. The ever-inventive Prison Service came up with an idea that pleased everyone, instead of being frozen, prisoners heads were amputated while they were alive and put into glass jars and attached to life support systems to keep their heads for infinity. This had the benefits of not only keeping prisoners alive and conscious for infinity and thus able to be punished but also the heads take up less room and can be crammed into prisons. Everyone’s a winner.

I had my head removed when I was 75 years old. It took a bit of getting used to but, I suppose, it’s a great way to lose weight and not have to worry about dieting. That’s what we prisoners call ‘head humour’. You need a sense of humour when you are crammed together on a shelf with other heads for infinity. In my early head days I spent a month next to a head called Jimmy. He was on remand so his head should still have been attached to his body but the Prison Service mistook Jimmy for another prisoner with the same surname and accidently removed his head. Jimmy was hopping mad (not literally, of course) but was looking forward to the large compensation payout. Just before Jimmy went off to his court hearing he said we should keep in touch. I never expected to see him again. Smokers can get jobs as ashtrays in the staff smoking areas. The cigarette ash makes their jars look like snow globes but I suppose it’s a change of scenery for them. For non-smokers, such as myself, the only yearly treat I have to look forward to is when a member of staff comes round with a big spoon and stirs the fluid in our jars - better known as exercise. Twenty years later I heard footsteps approaching and saw a member of staff place a new jar next to mine. Yippee! I thought. Someone new. Then I heard a familiar voice. It was Jimmy. I was so glad to see him again as conversation with my neighbours can get a bit dull after 20 years of eye-spy. For the next year Jimmy told me all his news and said he got his compensation money and had ordered a pair of handmade leather shoes which would be arriving soon. I didn’t have the heart to burst his bubble about him not having feet. Another year later and I was not so happy to be next to Jimmy as he is reciting the 99 bottles of beer on the wall song but using 99 million jars as his starting point. It took him years to work his way through the song until at year 11 he sneezed and forgot what number he was up to and had to start all over again. Living next to Jimmy was torture but not as bad as having an itchy nose for infinity and no fingers to scratch it with. If only infinity would come to an end.

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Education

Insidetime March 2014 www.insidetime.org

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Have you done distance learning in prison? Prisoners Education Trust wants to hear from you Susannah Henty PET Media and Public Affairs Manager

© prisonimage.org

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ext month Prisoner Education Trust (PET) turns 25 and to mark its birthday the charity wants to celebrate all of its current and former learners – PET’s alumni. The thousands of people we’ve funded to study distance learning courses in subjects ranging from journalism to plumbing theory have all achieved greatness in one form or another. A few have become famous. Some have set up their own enterprises. Many have gained good qualifications. A significant

number are now living crime-free lives. All learned something. Each month Inside Time publishes letters and stories to share the experiences of both currently serving and ex-prisoners. Some are members of our Prisoner Learner Voice panel who tell us about the challenges as well as the positives of learning in prison. Some are our alumni, who describe how they have used their learning to improve their own lives and those of their families or communities on the outside. Were you funded by PET? Are you leaving prison soon? If so, please get in touch and send us a forwarding address as we’d like to continue offering you advice and support once you’ve left. If you haven’t studied via distance learning but feel inspired to do so by reading these pages, you can contact your education department who will help you fill in the forms to apply for funding. If you have already sent forms, please be aware it can take time to process your application, but be assured, we will be in touch. We do try our hardest to fund as many prisoners as possible, if you are unsuccessful on this occasion please do apply again.

Looking For money To heLP you move Forward? The Prisoner Funder

Directory 2014 The Prisoner Funder Directory 2014 should be in your library. Ask to see a copy today! If it’s not, please ask the librarian to email: [email protected] for 2 free copies.

12 Years a Slave Two prisoners at HMP Pentonville write about the new movie 12 Years a Slave which prompts prisoner-led debate on black social mobility “...So we passed, handcuffed and in silence, through the streets of Washington, through the Capital of a nation, whose theory of government, we are told, rests on the foundation of man’s inalienable right to life, LIBERTY, and the pursuit of happiness! Hail! Columbia, happy land, indeed! Solomon Northup, Twelve Years a Slave The original and most profound social climber, whose life has recently been brought to the cinematic screen in the film “12 Years a Slave”, would have shuddered in his grave if he knew that almost 200 years later, this equal opportunity debate still strokes the furnaces. A paradigm that should have been the diamond of socio-cultural achievement is still the equivalent of brown coal polluting the essence of so-called “civilization” to which Solomon Northup was accepted into and has long since departed. He may be an Oscar winner sooner than the fruition of his dream. This issue was underlined by the debate which took place on the 27th of November at HMP Pentonville, planned and organised by a group of prisoners, and coordinated by Jose Aguiar, Prison Educator. Jose Aguiar said: “The project aims to provide a unique opportunity for prisoners to assume responsibility for the organisation and running of an event that involves issues that matter to them, and be active citizens while in prison”. A wide range of speakers were invited. When asked what the State’s responsibility should be in facilitating social mobility, Mark Blake, Development Officer at the Black Training and Enterprise Group (BTEG) chose to push the agenda towards improving education and skills in ethnic communities, whereas Andrew Ward (HKBFinn), a 20 year-old veteran of spoken word poetry and jazz, took a more holistic view. He suggested that apart from technical skills, there was a need to adjust the state of mind in BAME communities and the goal should be to generate a belief that success was within reach. Hugh Muir, The Guardian’s

diary Editor, weighed in with his own experiences and the distinct recollection that as he climbed the journalistic ladder there was a scarcity of colour in offices, which he felt created a feeling of daunting that had to be overcome in one’s self if one wanted to break through these barriers. In general the panel pushed an Obama-like “Change Gonna Come” mandate against a tide of fiendish questions, such as: “Why has the Windrush generation been overtaken by ensuing ethnic diasporas to this shore?” “Is social mobility viable despite statistics indicating a widening gap between rich and poor?” “Why aren’t there Bill Gates-like philanthropists amongst the successful entrepreneurs in the Black community?” With a predominantly black audience, the panel were going to have to earn their stripes in convincing the listeners that there was light at the end of what it seemed a long dark tunnel. Rioch Edwards-Brown, TV expert and social entrepreneur, shone an aspirational beacon that the packed attendees could reach for. With a regalia of anecdotes and experiences she had fought to overcome, Rioch drew consistent rounds of applause as she commented about overcoming sexual abuse, colour barriers, anti-female prejudices, and loss of a child, to start an organisation that was successfully giving back to the Black community. Indeed, community was the buzzword of all the panellists, who stressed that “raging against the machine” was a valid cause, however even more astute was “charity starts at home”. Peter, chair of the panel and a prisoner, closed with these words: “Just because these questions are being asked, does not mean there is an easy path to implementing the answers. To me, success is self-determination and an ability to define our lives and our future in-house, rather than to express ourselves on the political landscape.”

34 Insidejustice investigating alleged miscarriages of justice

Insidetime March 2014 www.insidetime.org

The price of injustice By Paul May and Matt Foot

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nnocent unless proven guilty? That’s not how the government sees it when deciding whether miscarriage of justice victims should be compensated for their ordeal. A clause in the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Bill would deny compensation for wrongful convictions unless a ‘new or newly discovered fact shows beyond reasonable doubt that the person was innocent of the offence’. Surely that’s fair enough? What’s wrong with ensuring only innocent people are compensated? At no stage of the criminal justice process is anyone required to prove their innocence. At trial, the burden is placed on the Crown to show beyond reasonable doubt that the accused is guilty. At appeal, the courts consider whether the prosecution case is sufficiently undermined that the conviction is no longer safe. It’s rarely feasible for wrongly convicted persons to uncover evidence which shows conclusively they couldn’t possibly have committed the offence. By the time the Birmingham Six were exonerated, every aspect of the Crown’s case against them had been comprehensively demolished but this would have cut no ice with the present government, who have set an impossible burden on such victims to prove categorically their innocence. The government doesn’t provide for compensation out of the goodness of its heart. The UN’s International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights requires such payment where new evidence ‘shows conclusively that there has been a miscarriage of justice’. In 1985, problems with the definition of ‘miscarriage of justice’ persuaded Home Secretary Douglas Hurd to introduce a discretionary scheme (in addition to statutory provision) under which payment was made where wrongful convictions ‘resulted from serious default on the part of the police or some other public authority’. In 2006, Home Secretary Charles Clarke peremptorily scrapped the discretionary scheme and arbitrarily cut £5 million from the budget. Since then, hardly any exonerated persons have obtained compensation. Rare exceptions include Barri White and Keith Hyatt whose

Top row: Birmingham Six. Bottom row left to right: Barri White, Keith Hyatt, Sam Hallam, Victor Nealon

convictions were quashed in 2007 after a BBC Rough Justice film produced by Louise Shorter (now of Inside Justice) refuted forensic evidence used to convict them. Their compensation application was flatly rejected. Inconveniently for the Ministry of Justice, the real murderer was later apprehended and convicted in September 2013. The government was forced to admit the two men were indeed innocent but the two men, damaged by their ordeal and out of work, continue their struggle for the amount of compensation to be agreed by the Government’s assessor. The courts have twice found that the government interprets its compensation duties too narrowly. Rather than comply with the courts’ judgments, the government now seeks to change the law. Why should the State compensate miscarriages of justice victims? When persons are wrongly convicted because of acts and omissions by police and other public agencies, their lives are engulfed in a nightmare. Family and other relationships are shattered, careers and livelihoods destroyed. Take Sam Hallam in whose case we were both heavily involved. Exonerated in 2012, Sam will have a compensation claim to be decided in due course. When arrested aged 17, he was working as a kitchen fitter with plans for an Army career once he was older. He spent a third of his life in prison due to the police’s failure properly to investigate and to disclose vital evidence.

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While Sam was incarcerated, his father killed himself. His family believe the suicide was prompted by the pressure of his son’s imprisonment. Should the State be allowed to wash its hands in such cases and provide no restitution? Following the police scandals over Hillsborough, Ian Tomlinson and Andrew Mitchell, is this really the time to make it easier for the police to walk away from miscarriages with impunity and for victims be left with no accountability? The House of Lords passed an amendment to the Bill under which compensation would be

paid where new facts show ‘conclusively that the evidence against the person at trial is so undermined that no conviction could possibly be based on it’. In an unconvincing ploy to placate the Lords, the government introduced a fresh amendment in the Commons. New facts need not show the person is ‘innocent’ but that they ‘did not commit the offence’. Home Office minister Damian Green argued strenuously during a 4 February Commons debate that there’s a world of difference between someone being innocent of a crime and not committing it. He was, of course, talking pure nonsense. At the time of writing, the clause is in ‘ping pong’ going back and forth between the Commons and Lords until agreement is reached. Experience indicates that it’s often their Lordships who blink first. Meanwhile, wrongly convicted persons, cleared after many years, struggle on release to find accommodation and the means to live. In December 2013, the conviction of former postman Victor Nealon was quashed by the Court of Appeal after 17 years’ wrongful imprisonment. He was given just £46 discharge money by Wakefield Prison. With nowhere to stay, he spent his first night of freedom on the streets. What a shameful country we sometimes are. Paul May is an Inside Justice advisory panel member. Matt Foot is a criminal defence solicitor at Birnberg Peirce Inside Justice, part of Inside Time, is funded by charitable donations from the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, Newsum Charitable Trust, Inside Time and the Roddick Foundation.

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Maintaining Innocence

Insidetime March 2014 www.insidetime.org

Bob Woffinden writes... Leading investigative journalist Bob Woffinden looks into yet another baffling miscarriage of justice...

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n a Sunday afternoon just over 22 years ago, Karl Watson was driving around the M25, taking his children to visit his mother, when the front offside tyre suffered a blow-out. The car was catapulted into the central reservation before ricocheting back across the lanes of traffic and coming to a shuddering rest on the hard shoulder. Through a combination of German engineering (the car was a Mercedes), prudent precautions (Karl had strapped the children in) and extraordinary providence, everyone escaped unharmed. But it had been a terrifying experience.

though not according to Cousins, whose narrative skills were rather threadbare. The pathology was undertaken by the highly respected Dr Iain West. Cousins could account neither for the individual injuries that West specified, nor the pattern of the blows. West suggested that three people could well have been involved, and this chimed exactly with the evidence of independent witnesses who happened to see the car just before it was set alight. West also noted the important absence of stomach contents, which suggested the murder occurred later than Cousins and the prosecution suggested.

Karl returned home and, a couple of hours later, murdered his mother’s partner, John Shippey. That may seem an improbable scenario but, according to the Crown Prosecution Service, that’s what happened. Unfortunately, the jury at Karl’s trial - deprived of much essential information - did accept the prosecution account, and he has been in prison ever since.

Of course, Cousins had reached a backstage deal and was giving evidence merely to save his own skin after being arrested on car-ringing charges. The upshot was that one guilty man was allowed to go home; the murderers of John Shippey escaped scot free; and an innocent man has been in prison for a very long time.

That central implausibility, though, is buttressed by a host of others. Shippey was in deep trouble at the time. He had three houses in England and another in Spain. He had a wife and three other girlfriends, including Karl’s mother; a Porsche that cost twice his annual salary; and a boat. But his colourful lifestyle was reaching flashpoint. He had defrauded his company by more than £800,000, was seemingly involved with other fraudsters and vanished just hours before the police turned up to arrest him.

As Watson’s imprisonment lengthened, I came to believe that the case represented one of those wholly rare examples of pure evil at work in English public life; but I had not expected the Criminal Cases Review Commission to condone that evil.

Few would imagine that this shady background could be unconnected to his disappearance and subsequent murder. Yet, when the case went to trial, all of that was indeed deemed irrelevant. The only motive that could be suggested for the murder was that Shippey owed Watson money - although, when Shippey offered to pay, Watson murdered him anyway.

Much of the legal dialogue in the case in recent years has revolved around two matters: the non-disclosure of psychiatric information on Cousins which had found that he was of ‘very low intelligence’, and ‘abnormally susceptible to leading questions’, and ‘would change nearly all his answers, regardless of his memory for the facts’; and the fact that Watson took a legal practice to court for negligence in not having submitted his case to the European Court of Human Rights.

Shippey disappeared in the early hours of 15 December 1991 and his body was recovered on the following Wednesday in the boot of his burnt-out Ford Sierra. The prosecution asserted that remains of buttons found on ashes from a fire in Watson’s garden came from a coat that Shippey kept in the boot of his car. This is an intrinsically illogical argument (why would anyone remove a coat before setting a car alight in order to burn it on a different fire?) and its deployment at trial spoke volumes for the paucity of evidence. Virtually the entire case depended on Bruce Cousins, who testified that he saw Watson committing the murder. However, Cousins’ account, which changed every time he was asked to provide it, contained no convincing detail. Most notably, the character of Shippey was conspicuously absent from his accounts. One supposes that, if he was being murdered, he’d have had something to say about it;

On 11 February 2014, the CCRC declined to refer the case to appeal and issued its quaintly-termed statement of reasons. It is a 199-page document. But it is not reason at all; this is the sleep of reason.

On that occasion, Watson won the day. Mr Justice Owen found that, if his case had been forwarded to the ECHR, it was likely that he would have won on the basis that he hadn’t had a fair trial. The judge thanked Mark Tempest, Watson’s barrister, for having appeared pro bono, adding that such work was ‘terribly important’. He asked that a transcript of his judgment should be provided ‘at public expense’ as Watson would no doubt wish to use it elsewhere. All of which seemed as deftly-signalled a judicial nod and wink as one could reasonably expect. But not to the CCRC. The CCRC now assert that unfair trials do not unsafe convictions make. (My own view is that if a trial has been unfair, that in itself is sufficiently serious to warrant sending the case

back to the Court of Appeal. It is for the appeal court judges then to resolve the position. The CCRC should not arrogate to itself decisions that should properly be made by senior judges.) Then, by speculating on the significance of what Mr Justice Owen didn’t say, the CCRC has been able to reject all the arguments in this area of the case. A bewildering situation has arisen with regard to the psychiatric report prepared on Cousins, because the CPS seem to have denied ever having seen it. This is despite what would in other circumstances be highly persuasive evidence; the psychiatrist has headed her report: This report is prepared for the Crown Prosecution Service. The report was clearly commissioned, and was presumably paid for; the CCRC should have found out who did pay for it. However, they have simply rejected all the points about Cousins’ suggestibility and low intelligence by determining that these would not have dovetailed with the defence case at trial in which Watson’s lawyers tried to portray Cousins as ‘an outright villain in his own standing’. However, the only point that matters here is that if the defence had had the psychiatric information, as they should have done, then they may well have pursued a different strategy. This also brings us to the fraught area of legal representation and three areas of particular difficulty. In preparing this document, the CCRC have communicated a great deal with case lawyers past and present in order to tease out various problem areas. It is apparent from the responses of some legal practices that their English language skills are not robust. Embedded at the core of the UK judicial system is the extraordinary presumption that all lawyers, notwithstanding the inability of some of them even to construct simple sentences or to use apostrophes correctly, are perfectly equipped to represent their clients at all times with scintillating brilliance. This presumption is palpably bogus. On the contrary it is likely that lawyers, just as they routinely make mistakes in their grammar, will be guilty of muddle and miscalculation in their representation. Secondly, there is the concept that lawyers are at all times acting in complete accordance with their client’s instructions. Obviously, if defence lawyers had tried to portray Cousins as an ‘outright villain’, then that was misconceived, but whose fault was that? As a family member in another prominent miscarriage of justice said to me only last week, ‘What we had really needed was a solicitor to protect us from our solicitors’. Family members in other cases will generally cite the old saying that ‘you don’t get a dog and bark yourself’. Defendants, especially those

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who have never previously faced prosecution in major cases, will always defer to their lawyers. Thirdly, there is the reality of what happens. Anyone who has been wrongly convicted may strive for many years to find a committed and tenacious solicitor. The journey of discovery will involve papers being sent around the country from practice to practice and surprise, surprise - documents will be lost. What then happens is that official bodies tell prisoners they can do nothing in their case because of the lack of documentation. It is as if people like Karl are being additionally punished for having been wrongly imprisoned all this time. Such matters need to be addressed not pushed under the carpet. The reality at present - as almost everyone in the system is perfectly well aware - is that many are serving long terms of imprisonment through no fault of their own but through errors of one kind or another in their legal representation. In rejecting this submission, the Commission did not feel it worthwhile to see Karl himself. By doing so, they deprived themselves of the opportunity to meet a man of enormous humanity, integrity and courage. I had not intended to return to matters concerning the CCRC’s competence so swiftly, and would not have done so, were it not that this statement in Watson represents a new nadir in its brief but troubled history. Using legal casuistry to cut down a few trees is more or less pointless. What is so remarkable here is the CCRC’s failure to see the wood.

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36

Thought for the day

Insidetime March 2014 www.insidetime.org

From over the wall Terry Waite writes his monthly column for Inside Time “Only today I watched on a video a woman admitting that she dare not leave her home, because of the fear of it being looted”

Terry Waite CBE

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orgive me that this is not a very cheery column this month, but quite frankly I feel upset and angry. Perhaps as I get older I become more sensitive to the plight of so many inhabitants of this planet, but the truth is that I can hardly bear to listen to the news these days. For the past decade, at least, we have been involved in stupid senseless wars to which we were committed by politicians, with as much understanding of foreign affairs as I have of advanced physics! Now we are reaping the predictable harvest of these engagements. Young men, and some women, crippled for life. Women left as widows, and children without fathers, not to mention the thousands of innocent people who have died in the countries where our troops were sent. War is supposed to be an absolute last resort, but has it been? I very much doubt it. I am not writing as a pacifist, which is a position I admire. I do think that as an absolute last option, force might have to be used, but no matter how hard I try to justify recent conflicts, I simply cannot. Then there have been the brutal massacres in various parts of the world, not least in Sudan, and of course by all sides in Syria. How is it possible, I ask myself, for people to stand by while another human being is torn to pieces by a frenzied mob? I have witnessed lynchings myself, and have been threatened

with death if I intervened to protect the victim. What do I make of this? Well, to state what I believe to be an obvious truth, there is an evil streak in all of us. Human nature is flawed, and when societies break down, or other events take place which threaten people, then that side of human nature thrives. In the past weeks, my heart has gone out to those who have had their lives wrecked because of flooding. Only today I watched on a video a woman admitting that she dare not leave her home, because of the fear of it being looted. My God, what are we coming to? How can anyone kick other people when they are down? The sad truth is that we can and we do. How low can the human race sink? Answer? Very low indeed. Thank God that there is another side to human nature which we all possess, and that is the side that has compassion and care for others, not simply for

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our own selfish pursuits. There is not one man jack of us, no matter what our station in life, who has not given way at some point to the negative within. The other day I was reading an old book by a famous author. He had written quite frankly about his life, and said that if he was truly honest and wrote down all the negative things he had done, he would appear as one of the most unlikeable people around. I guess the same is true for all of us, so let no one start to point fingers at individuals who have given way to the dark side, but for goodness sake let’s not foster it. A moment ago I mentioned looters, and how I despised their actions. Well let me suggest something that all those who find themselves in prison for one reason or another can do. Set up a fund in your prison, and each prisoner

D AV I E S & J O N E S

contribute a part of their allowance towards victims of flooding, or warfare, or whatever. Okay, it’s only a small gesture and the sums collected need not be vast! What will count is that those men and women who in the main have been rejected by society, and in particular by some politicians, will show that they DO have a heart and they DO care for their fellow men and women. It’s not easy when behind bars to do something positive for others on the outside in dire straights. My suggestion may not be the right one, and I know that many will pick holes in it. You probably have a better one, and if so write and tell Inside Time about it. What I really want is more and more people in our country to be able to give expression to the positive side of human nature. To recognise greed and stupidity when they see it within themselves, and in others, and to reject it. By the way, as a parting shot, I really do wonder if we will ever get joined up government. It seems to me to be totally ridiculous to propose further building on green belt land, and to propose the felling of ancient forests, when both these areas help us in some small measure manage climate change. I imagine the underlying motive is profit, as it is in most of these things. Really, humankind is the agent of its own destruction. That’s enough for a start. Until the next time when perhaps I won’t be so angry! Editorial note: We invite you to set up a Terry Waite Fund at your establishment and give a penny a week to a needy cause(s). You know it makes pence! Terry Waite was a successful hostage negotiator before he himself was held captive in Beirut between 1987 and 1991 (more than 20 years ago). He was held captive for 1763 days; the first four years of which were spent in solitary confinement.

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Family Welfare

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The Kids are alright Andy Keen-Downs Chief Executive of Pact

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few years ago, a group of men living in HMP Wolds spent time with Sandy Watson, a parenting tutor, and Sheron Rice, from Care for the Family, discussing whether it was possible to be a good dad from prison. Sandy and Sheron tackled the question of what they, and the mums or carers outside, tell the kids about where dad is? Sandy and Sheron started talking about honesty. Then one of the guys chipped in: ‘All that talk of honesty is fine, but my little uns think I’m working away.’ Someone else said: ‘My little lads only four so he doesn’t really understand what prison is. So basically, he doesn’t know I’m here either.’ Some of the guys in the group argued forcefully for absolute honesty. Others were worried about the children’s ability to cope. Was it being selfish to be honest? As a good parent, shouldn’t we protect our children from the harsher realities of life? Or was it being selfish to lie? Are we just protecting ourselves from the look in our children’s eyes when they realise the truth? Here’s what some of the guys said: ‘I’ve told him I’m working away. I’ll be home before long so he’ll never need know.’ ‘We’ve told her the truth. She’s old enough to understand the consequences of drugs.’ ‘I haven’t told my children that I’m in prison. Even my eldest (aged 6) thinks I’m at work. I don’t want to upset them…’ ‘We’ve told her that I’m in prison for being naughty. We thought it best to tell the truth before someone else told her’. It’s not easy. No one wants to be lectured to about how to be a parent. But I just want to share a couple of thoughts with readers of Inside Time. When I was a kid, one of my parents was

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taken away, and I was told a story about where they’d gone. I believed it, for years. Sort of. Actually, truth be told, I knew it was phony, but I knew that other adults wanted me to believe it, so to please them, a part of my brain agreed to believe it, whilst I knew it was a lie. Years later, I found out the truth. By this time, I was an adult. What I found out was devastating for me. Sometimes, adults take longer to bounce back than children. Let me share another thought with you. I have met so many children who have a parent in prison, who are told that their parent is in a special college or factory, or in a hospital. So they nod, and tell that story. But they know that their parent is in prison, but that they are not allowed to say. So they ‘collude’ in the lie. And they feel alone with the knowledge. And the fear of what that might mean. And that’s a lonely, difficult place for a child. So I’m going to take a position. Yes, it’s difficult. Yes, every family is different. Yes, parents need to use their own judgement. But you know what? You should tell the kids where you are. Tell them (if it’s true) that it’s because you did a bad thing. And tell them that that doesn’t mean you are a bad person, or that they are bad. And of course, tell them how much you love them. It may be a shock. It may be difficult. But it’s a start. You can be a good parent from prison. Pact and Care for the Family published ‘Daddy’s Working Away’, a book for dads in prison. Free copies were sent out to every prison library. Ask your library if they have a copy. More can be ordered from Pact (www. prisonadvice.org.uk) Pact is a national charity which supports people affected by imprisonment. We provide practical and emotional support to prisoners’ children and families, and to prisoners themselves. Telephone: 020 7735 9535 Park Place, 12 Lawn Lane, Vauxhall, London SW8 1UD.

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Prisoners Families Voices prisonersfamiliesvoices.blogspot.com Ex offenders trying to find work By Suzanne My man has been looking for work for over 9 months after his release from prison. A word of warning to those who think it is easier to apply for factory work. My man applied to one factory company who packs electrical goods. He got through his interview, was offered the job but on his induction day, he was told along with other new starters that they had to go through a CRB check. Straight away my man had to tell the bosses about his robbery offence and they thanked him for being honest. However, after that day they never rang him back with a start date and he has heard nothing from them since. So it just doesn’t have to be certain jobs that require CRB checks, even some factories are now carrying them out.

Son bullied in prison By Son Bullied In Prison I am a Mum and my son is in prison. He has no idea how much I am struggling both emotionally and financially. He is demanding money from me and demanding clothes and trainers. I think he is being bullied in prison because I visited him last week and he wasn’t wearing the trainers I bought him nearly 5 weeks ago. I asked him where they were and he said that the prison hasn’t given them him yet which I find hard to believe 5 weeks down the line. He got in with the wrong crowd but I am not making excuses because he has his own mind but even so, he was a good lad and a shy one that’s why I think he is being bullied because he isn’t a strong lad. The money I have been sending him obviously hasn’t been spent on phone credit because I haven’t heard from him for 4 days but did get a letter off him the other day. I just don’t know what to do

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because I know the prison won’t talk to me and give me any information. At my wits end!

No support after release By Missus C My husband was released from prison approx 14 months ago. Since then, we have done nothing but argue. We have been together for 12 years and got on like an house on fire before he was sentenced to prison. I did have support whilst he was in prison but what I have found is that once someone is released, that support stops. It is evident that we have both changed. I got used to being miss independent and my husband has gone from being a bubbly individual to a withdrawn one. Speaking truthfully, our marriage is breaking down. How can people in general whistle on about maintaining family ties when a loved one is in prison? That’s all well and good, but the problems really begin when a loved one comes home because in all honesty, we really do not know what to expect do we?

Baby prison visits By Sarah I have recently had a baby boy and my boyfriend is in prison. He was in prison when I gave birth so has not seen our son yet. The thing is, I am scared of taking our baby to prison to see his dad because I have heard some horrible things like the screws checking babies nappies and all that. I don’t want to put my baby through all that so was wondering if any of your members can tell me if the screws search babies nappies because it’s stressing me out and I don’t know if I want to take him if they do. I’m a bit upset at the moment because I don’t know if should take him but then it is not fair on my boyfriend if I don’t.

Legal

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Insidetime March 2014 www.insidetime.org

Appealing against conviction David Wells Wells Burcombe Solicitors

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person who is convicted of an offence or series of offences at the Crown Court may Appeal against the conviction(s) to the Court of Appeal, Criminal Division. Ordinarily, appeals must be lodged within 28 days, although the reality is that a vast amount of people following conviction seek different representation for the appeal and so lodging the appeal within 28 days is not possible. There are many grounds of appeal against conviction that can be raised. Ultimately, the Court of Appeal will consider whether the conviction is ‘safe.’ This term ‘safe’ is not defined and there are no guidelines offering assistance to Court of Appeal Judges that can be looked at to help decide whether to overturn a conviction or not. Each case is very much determined on its own merits. There are numerous very common grounds of appeal that I receive on a regular basis from clients. The most common complaint is where the client states that he or she is innocent and that the Jury came to the wrong decision. Unfortunately, this complaint on its own does not give rise to a ground for appeal. There must be something else. For example, if it can be shown that the Jury heard something during the case which it is felt that they should not have heard then justified grounds can begin to be made. One very common example of this is where the trial Judge wrongly allows certain evidence to be heard by the Jury, such as the ‘bad’ character of the defendant. Judges do not always get things right and often make mistakes when it comes to making legal rulings which are adverse to the defence. If the trial Judge allows things to happen during the trial which are unfair to the defence and which prejudice the trial in such a way that cannot be corrected in any other way, then it would be arguable that a conviction is unsafe. The Judge allowing hearsay evidence to be admitted would be another example of this and where the defence have no real opportunity to test the evidence that is admitted. There will undoubtedly be many hundreds of people reading this article who feel very aggrieved about being convicted. A vast Majority will also have been told by the original trial Lawyers that no appeal exists. However, seeking a second opinion can often lead to positive news. My firm has an established appeals department who very often advise and

V ells Burcombe LLP Solicitors

assist clients who have been convicted and who have been told that no appeal exists. A very common ground raises relates to the quality of representation. Many clients say that there trial Lawyers didn’t follow instructions, failed to call relevant defence witnesses (or even contact them in the first place), failed to object to evidence which the Prosecution relied on, failed to cross examine in sufficient detail so on and so on. Whilst it is difficult to successfully appeal a conviction based on ‘incompetent’ representation, it is a perfectly proper appeal ground. Trial Lawyers, like Judges, make mistakes. Many other appeals focus on the way in which the Judge summed up the case. Judges can occasionally be biased in their summing up, or fail to mention certain very crucial aspects of the defence case, and even get the directions on law wrong! In addition, a very common ground relates to fresh evidence which has arisen since conviction. For example, a new witness may have materialised who was not contactable or available before or during trial. Maybe the original Lawyers didn’t make any attempts to contact vital witnesses. Either way, a fresh appeal can often be lodged after the witness(es) are spoken to and the evidence they give would or could have made a real difference to the outcome at trial. Perhaps even advances in technology or science have undermined the evidence relied upon by the Prosecution at trial to the extent that new statements need to be taken. There have been substantial developments in recent years with DNA evidence for example. The reality is that it can often take some time, months or even years, for fresh evidence to crop up, but when it does it is important to act quickly and get the evidence assessed by a competent appeal Lawyer. If anything is taken from this from this article, it is not to give up and to believe that there is always hope. Just because trial Lawyers advise that your conviction is unsafe, that does not mean that you have to agree. There is funding available, albeit limited, to seek second opinions regarding appeals against both conviction and sentence. If you feel that there are issues within your trial that you remain very unhappy about, whether it relates to evidence which the Judge allowed to be heard, the way the Judge summed up the case, the way in which your case was prepared and presented or anything that you a real sense of unease, then write to Wells Burcombe and we will do our best to assist.

Shaun Kellett at the Smith Partnership wants to help you ...

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haun Kellett is the Head of the Prison Law Department at Smith Partnership and has a 100% success rate in respect of Parole Board Oral Hearings. He has over 20 years experience in Criminal Law. He initially gained invaluable experience at the local Magistrates Court before joining Smith Partnership Solicitors in 1997. Smith Partnership Solicitors is one of the largest firms in the East Midlands with offices in Derby, Leicester, Stoke-on-Trent, Burton-on-Trent and Swadlincote.

serving for murder. 3. Release for numerous IPP prisoners serving for such offences as kidnapping, Section 18 Wounding, aggravated burglary, robbery and a large scale of arson. 4. Release for a recall prisoner following the Parole Board’s initial refusal to release on the papers because he was of no fixed abode. 5. Release for numerous recall prisoners where the Probation Service have not been supporting release due to their view that further offending based work was necessary.

Shaun rapidly progressed from an Accredited Police Station Representative with a formidable reputation to a respected Solicitor practicing at the local Magistrates Court before specialising in Youth Court Advocacy. This gained him an insight into the reasons and causes of youth crime. The way that he was able to understand and connect with individual clients and persuasively argue that rehabilitation and education rather than imprisonment was the only answer lead him into the realms of Prison Law and Oral Hearing before the Parole Board.

Preparation for the hearing is very much the key as far as Shaun is concerned and each client can expect at least 2 legal visits and at least 4 hours expert advice and guidance before the hearing as well as of course expert representation at the hearing.

He conducted his first Oral Hearing in 2006, representing a 21 year old IPP prisoner who was serving for robbery. He managed to persuade the panel (after a deferral) to order his clients release even when initially there was no risk management plan, uncompleted accredited work and a recommendation to stay in closed conditions by the Probation Service. He has a 100% success rate even in respect of applications for release or progressive moves to open conditions. He is now representing numerous clients with over 20 separate Parole Hearings from as far as HMP Haverigg to HMP Spring Hill and from HMP Kirkham to HMP Bullingdon. Shaun does not have any geographical limit and can represent any client from any Prison. Shaun is very much a people person and enjoys getting out and about and building a personal and trusted relationship with his clients. He has dealt with many difficult and high profile cases including: 1. Release for a lifer serving for murder that faced a return to closed conditions due to a damning report by the Prison Psychologist after having spent time in open conditions. 2. Release or open conditions for 4 other lifers

One of Shaun’s biggest frustrations is the long waiting lists and non availability of vital accredited courses which result in years of wasted time and money. He is proactive and forceful in securing Sentence Planning objectives for all of his clients at the very earliest opportunity. Additionally Shaun has an expert and in depth knowledge of the Re-Categorisation procedures and the relevant criteria to be taken into account and has secured numerous progressive moved on the basis of his skilful written representations. He has additionally represented successfully numerous recall prisoners and has secured their release on the basis of his persuasive and thorough written representations. Similarly he has secured Oral Hearings for numerous prisoners based on his knowledge of the up to date case law even when vital accredited work is still not being completed. Despite the recent Government cutbacks, Shaun is still happy to do a certain amount of “free” work to help out his existing clients realising the consequences of what is at stake for them. He can alternatively offer representation in respect of any Prison Law issue which has been removed from the scope of Legal Aid by the Government at a very competitive fixed cost starting from £300 including VAT. Shaun and his expert team of Prison Lawyers want to help you so please call either Shaun Kellett or Sally Sword on 01782 324453.

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Please contact Shaun or Sally on 01782 324454 www.smithpartnership.co.uk

Legal

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39

Conspiracy to Defraud – what’s the silver bullet? An alternative perspective on developments in Conspiracy to Defraud Joseph Kotrie-Monson Director of Mary Monson Solicitors

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erious fraud allegations often come under the category of ‘Conspiracy to Defraud’. The mention of the word conspiracy can cause real worry when a person faces prosecution or investigation. So what is conspiracy to defraud, and should it be considered any more serious than any normal fraud allegation? What type of approach should a client expect from his or her legal team? The Law In layman’s terms, a conspiracy is a plan between two or more people to commit an offence or offences. The offences don’t have to have actually been carried out for the conspiracy to take place. Conspiracy is a legal principle which can apply to any offence. It dates back to the pre-civil war era when fear of plans (or conspiracies) to overthrow the monarchy was high. Conspiracy to defraud has developed not as a result of statute (law created by parliament) but as a result of slow development through previously decided cases. The law has evolved so that two forms of conspiracy to defraud exist: Conspiracy to expose a person to loss or risk The first is an agreement between two or more people to dishonestly deprive someone of something that he or she is entitled to. This can also include just exposing the person to an economic risk or disadvantage. There does not have to be an intention to deceive the person. Conspiracy to deceive a person who is in a position of responsibility The second version of conspiracy to defraud requires two or more people to have a dishonest agreement to defraud someone by deceiving that person into acting against his or her duty. This often involves frauds where public officials are deceived and the fraud occurs as a result, or can perhaps even include people who owe a duty to, for example, their clients or even their employers. Either form of conspiracy to defraud is capable of overlapping with the offence of statutory conspiracy where the agreement would necessarily involve the commission of an offence and would also involve a fraud being practised on another person. In these circumstances, the prosecution has a choice as to which kind of charge to put.

Act offences might require a confusing number of different charges or separate trials. This would make the case both needlessly complicated and expensive.

aware, so that if these issues arise, the defence is ready to take advantage, or alter the approach it is taking if necessary.

Other types of agreements which could result in the prosecution choosing to use conspiracy to defraud include:

The Prosecution must prove dishonesty! Dishonesty is of course relevant in all fraud cases. Unless the defendants can be shown to have acted dishonestly, there can be no fraud. In a conspiracy, a participant in the fraud who didn’t know what the fraud was about, or that he or she was acting dishonestly, cannot be convicted. This may be particularly important in cases where the client is an employee or not the major organiser, and might not have known what was going on.

• An agreement to conceal a bank’s losses or liabilities from its shareholders, creditors and depositors • An agreement by company directors to conceal secret profits from the company • An agreement to falsify hire-purchase or credit applications, in order to get lenders to make loans they would otherwise not be willing to make • or an agreement to make pirate copies of films As stated above, the prosecution often use conspiracy to defraud as an alternative to Fraud Act offences because, as in (a) above, it is difficult for them to know who in the conspiracy did what. This should raise serious questions in the mind of the criminal defence team as to whether this means that there isn’t enough evidence to convict all defendants in the first place, and the prosecution is simply trying to lump all the defendants together. In short, are the prosecution simply throwing mud and seeing what sticks? These are questions that a lawyer should be looking at very closely in deciding the strategy his or her client might adopt. One issue is whether the client should answer any questions at all, either from the police or the prosecution barrister in court. The defence team may decide which path to take based on a sense that the prosecution have brought the conspiracy charge out of desperation, and not convenience. The defence’s jury speech may then be better if it focuses on the lack of evidence, instead of focusing on having a war with the evidence that there is. These issues are complex, and no answer is right or wrong every time. The important thing is to be strategically

b) Where splitting the case into the different Fraud

Which court, and how long if it all goes wrong? Conspiracy to defraud can be heard only at the Crown Court. It is an offence at Common Law which means it is an offence created by previous decided cases. It is punishable by up to ten years’ imprisonment or a fine or both, although sentences of the maximum length are quite rare, and are usually only given in the most serious cases. The Key is Evidence! In any conspiracy case there will be some defendants who are more easily shown to be involved at the sharp end of the offending than others. It can be a classic technique in well-run criminal operations to have a ‘fall guy’ who is the person in the conspiracy who is on the front line, risks being linked directly to the crime, but is actually the fraud’s least important player. The police will

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Why is Conspiracy to Defraud used instead of the Fraud Act offences? The Attorney General (a major government adviser on legal practice), has stated that the Fraud Act offences (designed to include specific types of modern fraud) should always be used in preference to Conspiracy unless: a) The Fraud Act offences don’t reflect the nature of the offence - this could include situations in which a fraud has definitely taken place, and the accused appear guilty, but it is difficult to say with certainty who did what, but that a plan certainly existed, and therefore a conspiracy. This can be particularly relevant in high-tech frauds where the data or equipment examined does not give much of a clue as to who actually committed the offence itself.

There is a two stage test for whether someone has been dishonest: the first stage of the test is that according to the standards of reasonable and honest people what was done must have been dishonest. The second stage of the test is that the defendant himself must have realised that what he was doing was (by the standards of reasonable and honest people) dishonest.

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often investigate on the basis that the major players in the fraud are hiding behind the scenes, and will focus on apparently innocent links with the more obviously guilty defendants. These links may include phone billing evidence, a money trail (including money transfers, unexplained assets such as property etc.), or surveillance. So what is the best strategy? There is no single answer to the question of good preparation in fraud cases. The set of different resources and skills required is closer to the workings of a combination lock than a single key. Some of the fundamentals that a client might expect of his or her solicitor include: • A knowledge of business and commerce if applicable • The ability to predict the prosecution’s motivation and strategy and outflank it • Knowing the evidence in the case properly • Really getting to know the client and the culture of the relationships in the case • Having access to an experienced barrister to present the case in court. So, all said and done, is there a silver bullet to win every conspiracy to defraud case. Sadly not. The above are pointers in the right direction. Recognising that fraud cases are not just run of the mill criminal cases is a good start. Preparing cases with that in mind is another step in the right direction. The rest is down to the the same old factors that sadly exist in all criminal cases – the quality of the evidence, the quality of the legal team, and a fair wind in unpredictable waters at trial. Joseph Kotrie-Monson is a director of Mary Monson Solicitors, a national firm specialising in Serious Crime, Fraud, and Proceeds of Crime.

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Will your voice now be heard? Emma Davies and Emily Streule from Hine Solicitors look at the recent decision of Osborn, Booth and Reilly and implications of that case in terms of the Parole Process

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risoners will be aware that in the main all Parole and Recall reviews will, in the first instance, be considered on the papers with no guarantee that a review will proceed to an oral hearing.

Parole Reviews would only progress a review forward to an oral hearing when certain criteria had been met. However, following the Supreme Court decision in the case of Osborn, Booth and Reilly there has been a significant change in when cases are progressed forward to an Oral Hearing. Many will be interested to note that this landmark case described the Parole Board’s previous guidance as to when to progress matters to an oral hearing as ‘thoroughly illogical... demonstrating an institutional reluctance to grant oral hearings.” What has changed and why? The case of Osborn, Booth and Reilly was concluded on 9 October 2013 and transformed the law surrounding a prisoner’s right to an oral hearing. The Supreme Court heard appeals of prisoners Osborn, Booth and Reilly and following which, provided clear guidance as to when a prisoner should have their case progressed to an oral hearing before a panel of the Parole Board. The three appellants in this case had all been refused oral hearings. Booth and Reilly were both post-tariff indeterminate sentence prisoners. Mr

Osborn was a recalled determinate sentenced prisoner. The Parole Board had decided in all of their cases to conclude their Parole and Recall reviews on the papers and not progress matters to an oral hearing on the basis that the they did not think an oral hearing would assist or affect their decision making process. However, such a reason is no longer enough for an oral hearing to be refused. Will I now have my case sent to an oral hearing? Lord Reed, in making his judgement, stated that the purpose of an oral hearing was not only to assist the decision maker, but to ‘reflect the prisoner’s legitimate interest in being able to participate in a decision with important implications for him, where he has something useful to contribute.’ This viewpoint will ring true with many prisoners who may feel frustrated at their inability to contribute personally to the decision making process in their parole or recall matter. The Supreme Court has recognised the importance of this and within the decision acknowledged that prisoners, whose lives are so significantly affected by the decisions of the Parole Board, should be allowed involvement in the decision making process. Lord Reed conceded that ‘feelings of resentment will be aroused if a party to legal proceedings is placed in a position where it is impossible for him to influence the result’, later noting the ‘frustration, anger and

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despair felt by prisoners who perceive the Board’s procedures as unfair’ and acknowledging ‘the impact of those feelings upon their motivation and respect for authority’. It will be of great relief to those subject to the Parole and Recall process to hear that the Parole Board is now required to follow the principles laid down in the case of Osborn Booth and Reilly and as such cases will now be more readily referred to be considered at an oral hearing. Why would I want my case to go to an oral hearing? It is so often the case that prisoners feel that having their case heard before the Board could have a real impact upon the decision and want to have the chance to give evidence in person. Previously the Parole Board had often not felt that this was of importance and used different criteria to determine whether a case should progress to a hearing. It is of real significance that Lord Reed in his judgment stated that he found “...oral hearings particularly rewarding in that the evidence on the day can sometimes illuminate a situation sufficiently to turn around my preliminary view of the case. There is no substitute for being able to hear from, and ask questions of the prisoner.’ From experience prisoners can often provide much greater insight into their risk factors by speaking to panel members of the Parole Board about the offending work they have undertaken and how they have changed since the index offence. Sometimes this evidence can sway the panel to make a decision in favour of the prisoner, particularly when there are contradictory recommendations by those supervising the prisoner or when there is a dispute in the assessment of the level of risk. It may also be the case that a much fairer and objective decision letter will be issued by the Parole Board which will undoubtedly be helpful for Parole cases when the Secretary of State is responsible for determining the time table for the next review and what work should be addressed in that time. So in what cases will an oral hearing now be listed? The decision in this case provided a helpful summary of when an oral hearing will be now required, with the following specifically being referred to:-

Licence Recall Adjudications Parole Hearings IPP Queries Judicial Review Sentence Planning Issues Applications for Early Release Lifer Issues Applications under the Guittard Criteria

1. When a substantial term of imprisonment may be at stake and characteristics pertaining to the personality and level of maturity of the prisoner are important in deciding on the prisoner’s level of risk, then the case should be heard at an oral hearing.

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2. It was made clear that an oral hearing is essential where the prisoners’ nature and characteristics are linked to an assessment of the level of risk.

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3. For indeterminate prisoners who are considerably past their tariff expiry date it has been said that they should have an opportunity to appear in person before the parole board in order to maintain the principle of fairness. More generally, it was concluded that a prisoner should be able to challenge any issues that they

may disagree with in the provisional decision of the Parole Board at an oral hearing. For example, if a prisoner wishes to dispute documented negative behavioural reports or offending behaviour work recommendations then an oral hearing should be allowed, ‘even if there is no doubt that the prisoner should remain in custody or in closed conditions.’ Similarly, the decision states that the board has a duty to proceed to an oral hearing where there is a dispute which may affect the outcome of the case, ‘where the facts which appear to the board to be important are in dispute, or where a significant explanation or mitigation is advanced which needs to be heard orally in order fairly to determine its credibility.’ These points can be raised in written representations to the Parole Board, which should advisably be drafted by a Prison Law Specialist. What will the consequence of this case be? The outcome of this case provides that most post-tariff parole prisoners should now have their cases progressed to an oral hearing. Furthermore, recalled prisoners are more likely to have their cases proceed to a hearing before the Parole Board, rather than simply being concluded on the papers. The result of this however will be the significant increase in the amount of hearings the Parole Board will have to deal with. Some of those already subject to the Parole process will have received a letter from the Parole Board setting out there may now be some delays in receiving a hearing date. The Parole Board rules have also been changed to allow Lifer Parole Boards to be chaired by non judicial members, to undoubtedly enable the increase in these cases being spread more evenly between the Parole Board members and elevate any further delays. Quite clearly the Parole Board are going to have to adapt further to insure that prisoner’s cases are dealt with fairly and swiftly. Now that this new criteria has been laid down, the Board is going to have to adapt in light of the significantly increased likelihood of prisoners being granted an oral hearing. The current resources and organisational structure of the Parole Board simply will not cope with this increase and immediate changes will have to be made. Whilst the implications of Osborn, Booth and Reilly are highly positive in terms of fairness for prisoners and increased access to oral hearings, the Parole Board are going to have to demonstrate proactivity and reorganisation in order to meet the new and increased demands imposed upon them. Those subject to the Parole or Recall process ought to consider contacting a Prison Law Specialist in order that they are able to advise on the implications of this case and what the process holds of them. We hope that from reading this article inmates will have a better understanding of the procedure and encourages them to speak to a solicitor at the earliest opportunity, and even before a Parole process has started.

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MONEY LAUNDERING Keeping it clean… Aziz Rahman, Solicitor and Jonathan Lennon, Barrister

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art 7 of Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA) contains the Act’s money laundering offences. The provisions have kept pro-active criminal lawyers (defence and prosecution) busy for years. Money laundering used to be a fairly well understood concept but, it has to be said, that as prosecutors got more and more used to the statutory framework so the multitude of scenarios which could lead to a money laundering charge appeared to grow and grow. Mercifully, the Court of Appeal has, in more recent times, begun to put a brake on some of these advances putting a little more common-sense back into the process of deciding whether a particular situation amounts to money-laundering or not. Laundering charges under POCA and ‘criminal property’ There are three main offences created by POCA which carry penalties of up to 14 years imprisonment. They are s327 - concealing, disguising, converting or transferring criminal property, or removing it from the jurisdiction. This is one offence which can be committed in the five different ways listed. It is perhaps the easiest way for the Crown to proceed on ‘self-laundering’ charges - i.e. laundering the proceeds of one’s own criminal activity. Section 328; is entering into, or becoming concerned in an arrangement to facilitate the acquisition, retention, use or control by, or on behalf of another person, of criminal property knowing or suspecting that the property is criminal property. That offence can cover a wide range of evils but it can be seen how it would be used in cases where the launderer is not said to be the principal offender in the criminal conduct. Section 329 is the offence of acquiring, using or having possession of criminal property. Again, this can cover a whole range of situations but will often be used to prosecute an ‘end user’; i.e. the person who buys a car, a house etc from a criminal. There are exceptions to all 3 charges where the person concerned makes an “authorised disclosure” to the relevant authorities but this is really to protect banks and other businesses from committing what would otherwise be an offence when dealing with a criminal’s money. The Act is clear that certain businesses are under a duty to inform the police of any customer they believe is laundering criminal cash through their business. Many professionals have fallen foul of the Act in one way or another. What is ‘criminal property’? It can be seen then that the lynchpin of the 3 offences is the notion of ‘criminal property’. The prosecution have to prove that the property, whether it is cash, a house, a car or whatever it is, is ‘criminal property’. This is defined at s340(3) as property which represents a benefit from criminal conduct, either directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, so long as the launderer ‘knows or suspects’ that the property represents such a benefit. The Crown has to show that the launderer committed the relevant act (i.e. transfer, concealing etc) knowing or suspecting that the property derived from criminal conduct. In R v IK [2007] EWCA Crim 491, 8/3/07 the question for the Court was whether the proceeds of cheating the revenue could be ‘criminal property’. In a nutshell a legitimate trader had earned legitimate money undertaking a legitimate business (a shop). However, the allegation was that not all the income was declared - thus cheating the revenue. The Crown prosecuted money laundering offence but the trial Judge ruled that there was no

‘criminal property’ - the money did not come from crime. Following a prosecution appeal the Court of Appeal found that the undeclared income could in part ‘represent’ the proceeds of crime, as that undeclared amount would be representative of the ‘benefit’. Thus applying the statute properly that undeclared income could at that point be criminal property. How do the prosecution prove the existence of ‘criminal property’? So to prove any of the above 3 offences the Crown have to prove that the property was derived from criminal conduct. How do they do that? Of course it all depends on the facts of the case; if the money laundering is a secondary count to the principal crime alleged in count 1, then the focus for all sides is to concentrate on count 1. If though the alleged money launderer is not included in count 1, or the original criminal activity was committed by someone else convicted in an earlier case; or even where there is no convicted principal the case for the Crown on money laundering becomes more problematic. The Crown will first of all want to prove a link between the principal criminal, the drug trafficker for example, and the launderer. Under the three offences the Crown have to show that not only that actual property derived from crime, but it must also be proven that the suspect ‘knew or suspected’ that the property represented benefit from crime. When the prosecution is unable to show the commission of the underlying criminal offence then that task becomes more difficult and the Crown will then usually have to rely on circumstantial evidence to try and prove that the money was criminal property. The same often applies were a particular crime can be proven to have been committed by someone else; then the only issue for the jury, in the money laundering trial, will be what was in the alleged launderer’s mind - did he/she ‘know or suspect’? In R v Anwoir [2008] 2 Cr. App. R 36 the court of Appeal found that the prosecution had two ways of proving that the property was ‘criminal property’. Firstly, by showing that it derived from a specific ‘kind or kinds’ of crime; e.g. fraud, drug-trafficking etc. Secondly, that from the circumstances the “irresistible inference” can be drawn by the jury that it can only be derived from crime. In R v Da Silva [2006] EWCA Crim 1654, 11/7/06 the Court of Appeal considered a trial Judge’s direction to the jury on the word ‘suspicion’. Generally there should be no jury direction on what it means but in law ‘suspecting’ means that “there is a possibility, which is more than fanciful that the relevant facts exist. A vague feeling of unease would not suffice.” Circumstantial evidence Of course the circumstantial evidence which the prosecution may bring to Court can be quite damming at first sight, e.g. large sums of cash, contaminated notes, lies in interview and a lack of commercial sense in some transactions linked possibly with connections to anyone accused or convicted of a principal offence. However, though the power of circumstantial evidence should never be underestimated the fact is that the defence may, either through cross-examination or through the Defendant’s evidence, show that there are other ‘co-existing circumstances’ which explain the issues and can go to weaken the prosecution’s inference. The Judge may be persuaded that the case is a suitable one for direction to the jury on circumstantial evidence. This simply means that the Judge will remind the jury that, as a matter of law, that it should distinguish between arriving at conclusions based on reliable circumstantial evidence, and mere speculation. Juries are often told that speculating in a case amounts to no more than guessing, or making up theories without good evidence to support them and that is an un-supportable

basis for a conviction. Expert evidence and dealing with the inferences Rebutting inferences therefore can be a very significant part of the job of defending and must get early attention. It may lead to the instruction of an expert, for example a forensic accountant. It may be that an accountant or auditor with a particular knowledge of some business area can help a Defendant show, for example, that it is not unusual for significant cash flow to come from a bar, or a mini-cab business - all cash only businesses or that certain losses appeared to fall outside the indictable period or the Defendant’s work shift. The expert may be able to help rebuttal by comparing with other like businesses in the area and/or show the existence of a reasonable audit trail. Of course there may be a lack of a proper audit trail etc; experts will not always be able to help but in the right circumstances such evidence can make the Crown’s case look like speculation. Conspiracies In R v Saik [2007] 1 A.C. 18 the House of Lords considered allegations of conspiracy to money launder under the old, pre-POCA, law. The Court found an in-built tension because a conspiracy allegation requires a knowing agreement to commit an offence, whereas the actual offence itself (i.e. not a conspiracy) could be committed by the defendant merely suspecting that the property he was dealing with derived from the proceeds of crime. The conviction in that case was quashed. The case seems to have been accepted as applying equally to POCA cases - you cannot after all agree to have a suspicion, you either know or you don’t know in a conspiracy case. Attempts This is another area where there has been some very recent return to common-sense. In R v Pace and Rogers [2014] EWCA Crim 186 (18/2/14) the principal issue before the Court of Appeal was the mental element required for an attempt to money launder. Thames Valley police sent undercover officers into scrap metal yards to sell power-cable, lead flashing, even a brass war memorial plaque, all purportedly stolen. None of the items were in fact stolen. The defendants were convicted of an attempt to convert criminal property - s327 (1) (c). The Crown’s case was that though there could be no knowledge that the goods were stolen - since they were not - there could be a ‘suspicion’ which is all the Act required. The Court of Appeal thought it odd that a man

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could not be guilty, under these circumstances, of actually laundering but could be guilty of attempting it (para 64) and, following the case of R v Montilla [2005] 1 Cr. App. R 26, found that for an offence of converting criminal property to be made out the property had actually got to be ‘criminal’. “Arrangements” Section 328 has produced some interesting case-law but again it is all really common-sense, or the checking of a prosecution tendency to depart from commonsense. In R v Geary [2011] 1 WLR 1634 the Court of Appeal considered that the natural and ordinary meaning of ‘arrangement’ - to which it referred must be one which related to property which was ‘criminal property’ at the time the arrangement began to operate upon it. It did not extend to property which was originally legitimate but became ‘criminal’ only as a result of the carrying out of the arrangement. In that case G was handling money which was going to be hidden from a spouse in a divorce case and could, at that point, have become criminal property. It was not when G took the money however, see also R v Dare [2013] Crim LR 413. It is especially important in money laundering cases to keep an eye on the basic ingredients of the offence and if it is a ‘suspicion’ case seek to get rebutting evidence, and in complex cases ensure that full disclosure has been given of all the accounts and audit trails etc and an expert for the defence considered. One thing is for sure; given the authorities emphasis on money laundering, an increasing amount of this publication’s readership are likely to fall into POCA’s net in the months and years to come.

Jonathan Lennon is a Barrister specialising in serious and complex criminal defence cases based at 23 Essex Street Chambers, London. He is a contributing author to Covert Human Intelligence Sources, (2008 Waterside Press) and is ranked by both Legal 500 Chambers & Ptnrs. Aziz Rahman is a Solicitor- Advocate and Partner at the leading Criminal Defence firm Rahman Ravelli Solicitors, specialising in Human Rights, Financial Crime and Large Scale Conspiracies/Serious crime. Rahman Ravelli are members of the Specialist Fraud Panel and have been ranked by Legal 500 as an ‘excellent’ firm with Aziz Rahman being described as ‘first class and very experienced’. The firm is also ranked in Chambers & Partners.

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Specialists in Defending Serious Crime Rahman Ravelli has built an enviable reputation as a leading criminal defence firm. Our Practice is nationwide and we have developed an expertise in handling substantial and complex cases particularly those involving difficult legal challenges, especially in the Human Rights area. We continue to successfully protect the rights of the individual in all areas of criminal law. We recognise that criminal cases today are not merely decided on eye witness testimony, but on other issues such as whether evidence can be successfully argued to be inadmissible or the prosecution made to disclose evidence helpful to the defence case. Our dedicated team of criminal lawyers are always up to date with the latest developments in the law to ensure that no stone is left unturned. The lawyers have wide ranging experience of defending cases of significant complexity and seriousness. Our reputation means that we are able to instruct the most able counsel to conduct trials. We appoint Counsel, Queen’s Counsel and Experts who have passed our vigorous vetting procedures. High Profile Cases Rahman Ravelli routinely deals with large, high profile cases and is experienced in dealing with criminal matters all the way to the House of Lords. RIPA Our speciality is defending cases involving large scale police operations where authorities have been granted under the Regulations of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA); i.e. The use of Informants / Covert Surveillance (including Covert Listening devices) / Undercover Offices; and Material which demands an expertise in disclosure & PII concerns

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The future of the Parole Board and IPP ... a downward slope? high a figure, an issue which has been raised by Frances Crook of The Howard League, as well as prisoners and their families.

Simon Rollason Solicitor Advocate

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n the last few weeks we have all been watching the Winter Olympics in Sochi. The fate of the current Parole Board system and IPP reminds me of one of those downhill skiers, plunging at frightning speed to the bottom, with only the minimum of control! Since the case of Osborn, late last year, the Parole Board have sometimes valiantly sought to deal with the colossal backlog which it currently faces. The mainstream media, most recently on the 26th of January in the Independent on Sunday, highlighted the acute difficulties which the Board face. However, little in practice has been seen to manifestly change. The introduction of video link hearings are of concern and one which I touched on in the Independent article; I am of the firm belief that that is a view shared by a number of the Independent Members of the Parole Board. I believe that Independent Members have the decency and integrity that, if they have to consider the future of a prisoner and the likelihood of a knock-back they should at least meet them face to face and not via a often failing video-link.

N E

W

I understand that more non Judicial members of Parole Boards are to be introduced from the beginning of March. Initially that may cause some concern that an “unqualified” person is deciding your case. I would disagree to a large

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Susan extent, the current non lawyers on Boards are of Rhodes In respect of Legal Aid for hearings as it stands for IPP it is currently still in place but, please do the highest standard. The danger as I see it, is the not be so complacent that it it will stay for long. training given to new members and how soon The Dundee current Government they can be introduced without compromise Office 14,a17 Union Street, DD1 4BG is determined to reduce even the most basic rights you hold, the in quality. easiest way of doing that is to reduce the lawyers 20 years experience Specialising intrying Appeals (including ‘Late’ Appeals) to advise. I have been in contact and assisting with a Day High Court Trials, Parole & Tribunal Matters in prisons throughout Scotland of Action in relation to IPP prisoners set for the The organisers of the Day of Action have House of Commons on the March, which CONTACT ME NOW FOR13th AN of IMMEDIATE RESPONSE….IT’S NEVER TOO LATE FOR JUSTICE submitted a list of concerns to be put forward has been taken up by MPs and Welsh Assembly on the 13th, not least the fact of the high members. I would urge all IPP prisoners to ask numbers of ISP prisoners. Between January your friends and family, wives and girlfriends to 2012 and December 2012, 444 ISP prisoners write to their MPs or AMs and ask what they were released of which 122 were recalled on intend to do and what they intend to say on the licence to prison and 19% of determinate 13th. Prisoners might not have a vote but your prisoners were recalled during the same period. loved ones do, make sure they are heard. Therefore, 31% of ISP prisoners is surely too

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Please Note the DAY Of ACTION at Westminster is a closed meeting. Your support can be demonstrated by writing to your family’s MPs/AMs. I am grateful to the POST TARIFF GROUP. Many thanks to Jenny Rathbone and Leanne. Simon Rollason - Solicitor Advocate specialising in Prison Law and Appeals

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Banks on Sentence Robert Banks, a barrister, writes Banks on Sentence. It is the second largest selling criminal practitioner’s text book and is used by judges for sentencing more than any other. The book is classified by the Ministry of Justice as a core judicial text book. The current edition is also available for tablets and computers. The print copy costs £96 on the web and there are regular updates on www.banksr.com If you have access to a computer, you can follow Robert on twitter: @BanksonSentence

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Q

There was a row in a pub over a pool game. It turned into a fight and my lot was definitely winning. Then police arrived and they looked at my Peaky Blinder hat and I had a proper one with a razor blade in the rim. I had shown it to people during the fight. They charged me with an offensive weapon which I think is ridiculous. What is it all about and what will I get if convicted of it? I do have a string of fighting offences on my record.

A

As I understand it, these hats originate from the Small Heath area in Birmingham where members of a protection and betting racket sewed a razor blade into the peak of their hats. Those wearing the hat could draw the blade quicker than a knife and slash someone’s face very quickly. Recently these hats have featured in a TV programme. An offensive weapon is defined as ‘any article made or adapted for use for causing injury to a person’. I suspect you would have trouble in saying the razor blade was just intended as a fashion statement, but you must speak to your advocate about it. The relevant Magistrates’ Court guideline says: (see table below). The guideline then lists the aggravating and mitigating factors that ‘may be particularly relevant’.

Your case fits into the bottom category. The Crown Court guideline case is too long to reproduce here. However, the following may be relevant to you. ‘An offence may be aggravated if committed at a large public gathering, especially one where there may be a risk of disorder, or if committed on...licensed premises. As to the nature of the weapon, some weapons are inherently more dangerous than others. A defendant with previous convictions for violence or carrying weapons who is convicted of carrying a particularly dangerous weapon, in circumstances aggravated by any of the factors (not all listed here) and doing so with the clear intention of causing injury or fear, can expect to receive a sentence at or near the statutory maximum (4 years).’ Assuming you choose to go to the Crown Court or are sent there, I would expect the judge to consider this to be a particularly serious weapon as it is designed to slash someone’s face. That would cause permanent scarring and possible damage to the eyes. I wonder if that is why the hat is called a Peaky Blinder. So expect custody and for it to be measured in years.

I thought my barrister was useless. Now I know he was. In April of last year I went to the Crown Court and pleaded to handling some expensive cars. I received 2½ years and I expected my tag time would be deducted. When I saw my ERD the tag time wasn’t there. I rang up my solicitor, who was nearly as useless, and he told me that no order had been asked for. What should I do about it? Why should the time people like me serve depend on whether their barrister remembers the obvious?

A

The answer is not simple. It is not only tag time which barristers forget about. Barristers may forget (or even not know) the statutory criteria for an extended sentence and, as a result, their defendant may receive an extended sentence whereas if the barrister had been properly prepared, the judge is unlikely to have made such an order. However, it is not only the defence advocate who may forget things. Prosecutors who see a conviction for rape being quashed sometimes forget to ask for a retrial when the court is expecting such an application to be made. When they realise their mistake it’s often too late to ask. I have seen a prosecutor forget to ask for the confiscation procedure to be started and then months later try to start it up. The causes of this are low pay and poor training. Back to your question. On 3 December 2012, the absurd rule that the judge had to make an order for remand time to count towards a sentence was abolished. However, it remains the rule that in order for tag time to count, the judge has to make a specific order. If an order is not made because the judge was not asked to make an order, a defence can ask the court to make an order if the request is made within 56 days of the sentence hearing. In order to do that it is always best for the defence to reach agreement with the prosecution about the number of days that count. If, however, the 56-day time limit has expired it becomes more problematic. In R v Leacock and Others 2013 EWCA Crim 1994, the Court of Appeal, dealing with a case where counsel

Legal Q&A

43

accepted it was his error, said, ‘It is the duty of the advocate to check carefully [what the position was]. The Court will not correct errors unless an application is promptly made. The Court will apply the time limits strictly.’ This refers to the 28 days for a defendant to lodge his or her appeal at the Court of Appeal. However, the Court did agree exceptionally to direct 21 days to count. In R v Sinclair 2013 EWCA Crim 2567 in similar circumstances, the appeal was lodged 2 years and 11 months out of time. The Court said anxious consideration was required in determining whether to depart from the Lord Chief Justice’s clear direction in R v Leacock and Others 2013 (above) and said that as a matter of fairness to the defendant and bearing in mind the substantial difference (126 days) it would make, the days would be deducted. The Court also said the case was an exceptional one and would not detract from the guidance in Leacock. So you should tell your solicitors to appeal as you are out of time for applying to the Crown Court. Also, if any reader has tag time, they must tell their advocate.

Q

I shot someone with a gun and he died. It was all over very quickly. I pleaded to murder as there was no defence. The Judge said it was drugs related and she started at 32 years and said I was entitled to a full plea discount as it was understandable my brief asked for medical reports. She gave me 27 years minimum term with the plea. Yet the brief told me I would get a sixth off so surely I should have got more off. Have I been cheated of my full discount?

A

Criminal Justice Act 2003 Sch 22 para 5(2)(b) determines that normally a murder involving the use of a firearm has a starting point of 30 years. It is true the court gives one sixth off. However, the relevant guideline lays down that the maximum that can be deducted for the plea is 5 years. That is why you received 27 years and not the full sixth off.

Asking Robert and Jason questions: Examples of nature of activity

Starting point

Range

Weapon not used to threaten or cause fear

High level community order

Band C fine to 12 weeks’ custody

Weapon not used to threaten or cause fear but 6 weeks’ custody offence committed in dangerous circumstances

High level community order to Crown Court

Weapon used to threaten or cause fear and Crown Court offence committed in dangerous circumstances

Crown Court

Do you want Robert Banks or Jason Elliott to represent you? Robert is a specialist in obtaining reduced sentences for large-scale drug importers and suppliers. Jason is a specialist in challenging unlawful actions by HM Prison Service, the Parole Board and the police. BBM deal with trials, sentencing, appeals, release and prison law.

BBM

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Will travel Reasonable fees

Please make sure your question concerns sentence, prison law or release and not conviction. Prison law and release are dealt with by Jason Elliott, PO Box 847, North Shields, NE29 1FJ. Please send the letter to Inside Time, marked for Robert Banks or Jason Elliott. Unless you say you don’t want your question and answer published, it will be assumed you have no objection to publication. It is usually not possible to determine whether a particular defendant has grounds of appeal without seeing all the paperwork. Analysing all the paperwork is not possible. The column is designed for simple questions and answers. No-one will have their identity revealed. Letters which a) are without an address, b) cannot be read, or c) are sent direct, cannot be answered. Letters sent by readers to Inside Time are sent on to a solicitor, who forwards them to Robert and Jason. If your solicitor wants to see previous questions and answers, they are at www.banksr.com.

Parole Board Hearing? IPP, Lifer, Standard, Licence Recalls. Independent Adjudication? Sentence Wrongly Calculated? Exceptional Case - Human Rights breached? Appeal against Sentence or Conviction? Second Appeal through the CCRC? The above issues are still covered under Legal Aid! So if you need help get it from dedicated London based Prison Lawyers, helping prisoners fight for their rights throughout England and Wales.

Write to Manoj Sharda, Office 226, 4 Spring Road, Ealing, London W5 2AA

Tel: 020 8123 3404 or Mob: 07407 243 749

Email: [email protected] www.prisonlawsolicitors.org.uk Prison Law Consultant at Duncan Lewis Solicitors

Pro Bono work taken on for ECHR Applications

44

Reading Groups

Insidetime March 2014 www.insidetime.org

Reading group round-up Image courtesy of Matthew Meadows

Choosing a good read Prison Reading Groups (PRG) supports over forty groups in more than thirty prisons around the country. There’s great variety among them: from read-aloud groups for people just getting stuck in, to groups for experienced readers looking for books out of their comfort zone. PRG’s watchword is choice and all our groups choose what they read. It’s part of the pleasure of the group and part of becoming a reader. Money from funders means that members can also keep the chosen books or pass them on to family or friends. Methods of choosing vary: some groups take it in turns, others nominate and vote. Where this happens, the challenge is to persuade others to go with your choice. One popular approach is to read out the opening paragraphs to get a flavour of what’s to come. Have a look at the nominations of one group at a recent meeting. Which one would you vote for?* And if you haven’t already read it, why not see if there’s a copy in your library. Charles Portis, True Grit People do not give it credence that a fourteenyear-old girl could leave home and go off in the wintertime to avenge her father’s blood but it did not seem so strange then, although I will say it did not happen every day. I was fourteen years of age when a coward going by the name of Tom Chaney shot my father down in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and robbed him of his life and his horse and $150 in cash money plus two California gold pieces that he carried in his trouser band. Andrey Kurkov, Death and the Penguin First, a stone landed a metre from Viktor’s foot. He glanced back. Two louts stood grinning, one of whom stooped, picked up

another from a section of broken cobble, and bowled it at him skittler-fashion. Viktor made off at something approaching a racing walk and rounded the corner, telling himself the main thing was not to run. He paused outside his block, glancing up at the hanging clock: 9.00. Not a sound. No one about. Boris Johnson, The Dream of Rome No one knows the exact moment when Publius Quinctilius Varus realised what a colossal idiot he’d been, but when the barbarians on either side of him started uttering their war cry we must assume that the penny finally dropped. The Germanic tribesmen were in the habit of emitting a blood-curdling noise called the barites, made by putting the osier-work shield to the mouth. Then you moaned down the length of the shield until the whole line of soldiers was producing a roaring noise, like a chorus of Rolf Harris didgeridoos. The overall effect was meant to be pretty scary. *The group chose Death and the Penguin. If your prison doesn’t have a reading group, get your librarian to have a look at the PRG website www.roehampton.ac.uk/prison-reading-groups. Prison Reading Groups (PRG) is sponsored by the University of Roehampton and generously supported by Give a Book www. giveabook.org.uk, Random House Group and Profile Books. PRG has also worked with National Prison Radio to start and support their radio book club. If you have access to NPR, listen out for details and ways to take part.

Can you read this? Toe by Toe enables learners to learn to read from the beginning with one to one support. It is for anyone who wants to learn how to read whilst in prison. Toe by Toe Mentors help others learn to read. Train to be a Toe by Toe mentor and develop skills in supporting others. It is a positive and highly rewarding way to spend your time in prison. For more information write to: Shannon Trust Freepost RSXC-RUVB-JGRJ 89 Albert Embankment, Vauxhall, London SE1 7TP

Get Into Reading Nicola Bennison and the Bookchat Group (funded by the NHSE/NOMS Offender PD Team) in the PIPE, HMP Gartree, discuss a poem by Anne Stevenson.

The spirit is too blunt an instrument The spirit is too blunt an instrument to have made this baby. Nothing so unskilful as human passions could have managed the intricate exacting particulars: the tiny blind bones with their manipulating tendons, the knee and the knucklebones, the resilient fine meshings of ganglia and vertebrae in the chain of the difficult spine. Observe the distinct eyelashes and sharp crescent fingernails, the shell-like complexity of the ear with its firm involutions concentric in miniature to the minute ossicles Imagine the infinitesimal capillaries, the flawless connections of the lungs, the invisible neural filaments through which the completed body already answers to the brain. Then name any passion or sentiment possessed of the simplest accuracy. No. No desire or affection could have done with practice what habit has done perfectly, indifferently, through the body’s ignorant precision. It is left to the vagaries of the mind to invent love and despair and anxiety and their pain. Anne Stevenson, Poems 1955-2005

We are a group of eleven today. I read the poem through, slowly. “Gawd. I’ve no idea what that’s all about. There’s a lot of long words,” says K. “It makes no sense to me.” I agree about the words. We can talk about them. I read it again. Does it make you think of anything, even if you don’t understand it? K: “Is it, like, we’re looking at some ill person, there’s something wrong with him, like he’s disabled or something?” What does anyone else think? P: “Yeah that’s what I thought too.” What makes you think that? Everyone scrutinises the text. P points: “Here, I think it’s this, about difficult spine, sounds like it’s not right.” Yes! And why would a spine be difficult ? “It’s perhaps because it’s like, really complicated.” “And fragile.” Yes, I say, it makes you think of the way you have to hold a baby’s head up until it gets strong. “No,” says G, “I think it’s about the perfection of the human body, how whatever we do, it makes no difference, it generally comes out

perfect. It’s DNA!” Go on… “See here, where it says No desire or affection could have done / with practice what habit / has done perfectly. It’s, like, automatic nothing to do with what we do!” We mull over this. H: “To me, it’s like being given a guided tour of a high performance car, you can see how beautifully it’s made, what it can do…” Yes! And there are machine-like elements - the manipulating tendons, the chain… We unscramble some of the big words together - capillaries and ganglia, infinitesimal. We savour the sound of some of the words knucklebones, ossicles… And what about the spirit? We discuss it for a while and decide that it could be either divine or human. G is sticking to his guns: “Nah, it’s evolution, isn’t it! The miracle of evolution!” But there is something ambiguous here about what sort of control we have - the body is already doing what the brain tells it to yet… I read some of the lines again. Why would bones be blind? I wonder. H: “When babies are born not all their bones are connected yet…” G: “You know what I think, when the baby’s still in the womb, the bones aren’t all joined up but it’s like they join up as if by instinct, they find their way. Maybe that’s it, like they are swimming blindly.” It’s a lovely image! Someone reads out the lines about the lungs. K is still paying attention: “That’s the miracle, I think -when a baby first comes out of the womb and it automatically breathes, fills its lungs [he mimes this] because air, you can’t see it or taste it, it’s just… a miracle!” We return to the text. Those last lines still worry me, I say, and read them again. “Yeah, there’s only one positive thing in there, isn’t there, love…” But it’s time to go. The men are standing up, folding up their copies of the poem to read later, and ponder for themselves those last lines. The Reader Organisation is an award-winning charitable social enterprise working to connect people with great literature, and each other. Our groups meet weekly to listen to a short story or an extract from a novel and a poem being read aloud by a trained practitioner. No one else has to read aloud, although some choose to do so. There are lots of pauses in which we discuss how we feel about what we’ve read. Through the literature we discover more about the world, each other and, sometimes, ourselves.

Book Review

Insidetime March 2014 www.insidetime.org

45

He was also the most physically in shape who had a very strict workout regimen. The Bushes made sure their entire administrative and household staff understood they were to respect and be considerate of the Secret Service. She was one of the nicest First Ladies, if not the nicest; she never had any harsh word to say about anyone.

In the President’s Secret Service by Ronald Kessler (ex Secret Service)

Snippets from Ronald Kessler’s book about US presidents Bill and Hillary Clinton

everyone to like him, but to him life is just one big game and party. Everyone knows of his sexuality. She is another phony. Her personality would change the instant cameras were near. She hated with open disdain the military and Secret Service. She was another one who felt people were there to serve her. Ronald and Nancy Reagan

John and Jacqueline Kennedy A philanderer of the highest order. She ordered the kitchen help to save all the left-over wine during a State dinner, mixed it with fresh wine and served again during the next White House occasion.

Richard and Pat Nixon A moral man but very odd, weird, paranoid, etc. He had a horrible relationship with his family and in a way was almost a recluse. She was quiet most of the time.

everyone else with respect and honour. Thanked everyone all the time. He took the time to know everyone on a personal level. One favourite story that has circulated among the Secret Service personnel was an incident early in his Presidency, when he came out of his room with a pistol tucked on his hip. The agent in charge asked: “Why the pistol, Mr. President?” He replied, “In case you boys can’t get the job done, I can help”. It was common for him to carry a pistol. When he met with Gorbachev, he had a pistol in his briefcase. Upon learning that Gary Hart was caught with Donna Rice, Reagan said, “Boys will be boys, but boys will not be Presidents.“ [He obviously either did not know or forgot JFK’s and LBJ’s sexcapades!] She was very nice but very protective of the President; and the Secret Service was often caught in the middle. She tried hard to control what the President ate, and he would say to the agent, “Come on, you gotta help me out”.The Reagans drank wine during State dinners and special occasions only; otherwise, they shunned alcohol; the Secret Service could count on one hand the times they were served wine during their family dinner. For all the fake bluster of the Carters, the Reagans were the ones who lived life as genuinely moral people.

Barack and Michelle Obama Clinton all over again - hates the military and looks down on the Secret Service. He is egotistical and cunning; looks you in the eye and appears to agree with you, but turns around and does the opposite - untrustworthy. He has temper tantrums. She is a complete bitch, who basically hates anybody who is not black; hates the military; and looks at the Secret Service as servants.

George W and Laura Bush The Secret Service loved him and Laura Bush.

A must read on the Presidents and their wives!

Wrongly convicted of a crime?

Lost your appeal?

Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter A complete phony who would portray one picture of himself to the public and very different in private, eg, would be shown carrying his own luggage but the suitcases were always empty; he kept the empty ones just for photo ops. Wanted the people to see him as pious and a non-drinker, but he and his family drank alcohol a lot! He had disdain for the Secret Service, and was very irresponsible with the nuclear codes. He didn’t think it was a big deal and would keep military aides at a great distance. Often did not acknowledge the presence of Secret Service personnel assigned to serve him. She mostly did her own thing. Ronald and Nancy Reagan The real deal - moral, honest, respectful, and dignified. They treated Secret Service and

What next?

George H and Barbara Bush Extremely kind and considerate. Always respectful. Took great care in making sure the agents comforts were taken care of. They even brought them meals, etc. One time Barbara Bush brought warm clothes to agents standing outside at Kennebunkport; one agent was given a warm hat, and when he tried to nicely say no thanks even though he was obviously freezing, President Bush said “Son, don’t argue with the First Lady, put the hat on.” He was the most prompt of the Presidents. He ran the White House like a well-oiled machine. She ruled the house and spoke her mind. Bill and Hillary Clinton Presidency was one giant party. Not trustworthy - he was nice mainly because he wanted

The CCRC can look again If you think your conviction or sentence is wrong apply to the CCRC

• • •

It won’t cost anything Your sentence can’t be increased if you apply You don't need a lawyer to apply, but a good one can help You can get some more information and a copy of the CCRC's Easy Read application form by writing to us at 5 St Philip’s Place, Birmingham, B3 2PW. or calling 0121 233 1473

Mothers Day Messages

46

Insidetime March 2014 www.insidetime.org million. Happy Mother’s day, from Little Brittle xxx Mum, miss you loads, happy Mother’s day and I will see you when I get released. Love Josh xxx

I Love You Mum! Anon

Mum’s smiles can brighten any Moment, Mum’s hugs put joy in all our days, Mum’s love will stay with us forever and touch our lives in precious ways... The values you’ve taught, the care you’ve given, and the wonderful love you’ve shown, have enriched my life in more ways than I can count. I Love you Mum! Happy Mother’s day! Hope you have a good one, you’re the best Mum ever. Lots of love Edward Patrick O’Reilly. Dear Mum, you’re one in a million I can’t thank you enough for everything you’ve done, you’re brilliant Nan, Mum xxxx lots of love Nampie (Tanya) xxx Mummy ♥ So special are you, how much that you do, Can’t stand being apart, you’re the constant beat in my heart. Love CJ xxx Mum, your love and support through all of this has been amazing. I’ll be home with you next year. Love Carl xxx Happy Mother’s day, you are the best. With love and kisses Ella-Mae xxx You’re the best there is. You’re the best there can be. No-one can take your place. I love you Mummy xx Mum, however alone I feel in prison you let me know I’m not alone in life. You’re amazing Brian xxx Mum, thank you for being there for me through everything. Hopefully not long now! Love you always, Anthony xxxx

deserve it. Love Mark, Lee, Jodie and Baby Bentley xxxxxx Mary, to the best mum in the world, soon we will be reunited. Always thinking of you. All my love Dave xxx Mum, happy Mother’s day, love you and miss your cuddles. Keep smiling, love Maxine xxx To my mum Anita, thank you for the past and present help with Zak and Jarvis. Thanks Mum, love Debbie xxx To mother, Elizabeth Williamson, a wonderful supportive mother for 40 years that I could never repay, I love you so much. Roll on August love Ray x

Words cannot convey how blessed I am for having a mother like you. You are my hero. Love Sean xx

Mom, thank you for all the love and support you’ve given me whilst inside, you’re the best. Love Pete xxx

To the best mom in the world. Have a lovely day, you

Hello Momma, thanks for everything you’re one in a

Mum, happy Mother’s day, thanks for everything you’ve done for me over the past few years. Lots of love Scottie xxxx To the best Mum in the world, I’ll help with the chores soon. Love from David xxxxx To my beautiful wife and a brilliant mother, happy Mother’s day and birthday. All our love, your adoring family xoxoxox Mum, I just wanna say thanks for always being the amazing mum you are. Love you, your son Hayd xxxx ;) While every other woman has let me down in my life you have always been there for me. Thanks, love you Gareth xxx Michaela GM, mum, thank you for being our rock, we will always love you. Sam & Andrew xxx

Painting by Dean Stalham of the Koestler Trust.

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now r And n orde ca m 152 - 160 City Road, London EC1V 2NX you ds fro car s! u Greetings cards for any occasion now available!

State the type of card you require, send your details & £1 cheque (payable to ‘Thinkin of U’) and we will send you a tasteful blank card for to you to write out and post on to your loved one.

Happy Mother’s day Marie, have a wonderful time xxx Jimmy M Zoe Maher, the best mum in the world to our daughter Paige and me; how lucky are we to have you. Love you always, David and Paige xx Teresa Jones, to the best mum in the world. Thinking of you on your special day and every day, your loving son, David xxxx Glorious in all her ways Loving and caring with all her heart’s content Overwhelming with her love she gives Rarely does she ever stop caring Irresistibly the best a son can have Absolutely lucky to have the mother I’ve got! Lots of love always Darren xxxx Dear Mum, there’s only one woman I truly trust and truly love and who’s never let me down. Thanks Mum, happy Mother’s day. I love you and I always will. Love from your son Mark xxxx

Thank You Mum Anon

I know how often I took you for granted when I was growing up. I always assumed you’d be there when I needed you... and you always were. But I never really thought about what that meant till I got older and began to realize how often your time and energy were devoted to me. so now, for all the times I didn’t say it before, thank you, Mum...I love you so very much! Sorry I’m not there this year. Please remember the good times we shared. Hopefully I’ll be around next year, John xx To a special mummy x Happy Mother’s day, I love you all the world and back again! Love you millions. Love Corey ♥ mwah xxx Hi Elaine, thank you for everything you’ve done for me.

Mothers Day Messages

Insidetime March 2014 www.insidetime.org I am sending this special message just to show how much I care mum. Love Michael xxxx To mum, happy Mother’s day I wish I was there, have a nice day see you soon. Love from your son John xxx Mum, miss you loads mum. You thoroughly deserve your own day, enjoy it, your son Craig xxx For a mom in a million. Mother to daughters: Patsie, Liberty, Jodie; Granddaughter: Laicie and the best wife in the world! Keith and girls xxxxx To a wonderful mum xx Wishing you a happy Mother’s day, hope you have a great day. Will be thinking of you, miss you loads. All my love your son Phillip xxxx

Happy Mother’s day from William, Amanda and Alan xx To mum, happy Mother’s day, I love you so much! Thanks for being by my side. Love Ed Bear xxxx Mum, also my best friend, have a relaxing day, you deserve it. All our love Geg, Kirsty & Scott xxx

Your Mother Is Always With You... Anon

Your mother is always with you... She’s the whisper of the leaves as you walk down the street. She’s the smell of bleach in your freshly laundered socks. She’s the cool hand on your brow when you’re not well. Your mother lives inside your laughter. She’s crystallized in every tear drop. She’s the place you came from, your first home... She’s the map you follow with every step that you take. She’s your first love and your first heart break... and nothing on earth can separate you. Not time, Not space... Not even death... will ever separate you from your mother... You carry her inside of you...

Liz, the best mother in law in the world. Have a wonderful Mother’s day, thanks for everything. Always loved Stuart Xx

Gemma, happy Mother’s day to the most amazing mum in the world, we love you. From Mark, Lucas and Finley Mason xxx

To the best mum in the whole world, thank you for your support and love. Love you, Thomas xxx

Linda, sorry I’m not with you on Mother’s day, just remember, I love and miss you loads mum, love from Mark xx

Happy Mother’s day mummy, lots of love from your little man Caleb xx

Happy Mother’s day to the best fiancée and mother in

the world – Miss Gail Wilson McQueen, from Ryan, Josh and Megan, love you tons xxxxx

Mum, hope that you have a great Mother’s day over in the USA, you deserve it. Love Nick xxxx Mrs Doreen Davies, thank you for being a great mum, the best mum and a very special lady. No-one comes close to you, I couldn’t ask for more I love you dearly and appreciate everything about you. Have a nice day, all my love your son Peter xxxx Happy Mother’s day ‘Jeny Clarkson’, have a nice day ☺ lots of love Clint xxxx Kerry Hallam, the best mummy in the world just wishing you a great Mother’s day. You’re our number one mum. Love you lots and more. Love Cody and Courtney Hallam xxxxx Chantell Mitchell, the best mum in the world. Happy Mother’s day love you lots from Leon, Brooklyn, Brett, Lexi and bump Mitchell xx Pat, to the greatest Mum in the whole world, just wishing you a happy Mother’s day. Love you loads and more your loving son William xxx Mum, hope you have a great day. Happy Mother’s day. All our love Sam, Josh, Emily and Aidan xxxx Dear Mam you are truly amazing and one in a million; you are my rock. Love you always, love Karl xxx Happy Mother’s day mum, you’re the best, better than all the rest. All my love Ben xxxx

Michael Purdon Solicitor Advising prisoners nationwide since 1994

Our excellent former Tooks Chambers barristers continue to maintain a close relationship with Michael Purdon of Solicitor, supplementing Tooks,working the London based barristers chambers Michael Mansfield a wealth of experience our specialist teams across all criminalwith and and Patrick Roche has in developed a close working relationship prison law areas. We also work closely with Central Chambers, a Michael Purdon Solicitor, supplementing the wealth of experience in Manchester chambers. bring together our ‘in house’based specialist teams These acrossrelationships all criminal and prison law highly lawyers with a passion for human rights. regarded areas.

Criminial Appeals, CCRC, SOPO Judicial Review Challenges This relationship brings together two & highly regarded organisations with a passion for human rights. the imposition of IPP sentences, led We have successfully challenged the way in the review of mandatory tariffs as well as being central to

Criminal Appeals, CCRCchallengers and Judicial Review challenges... the development of prisoner to delays in progression and

the timing of parole reviews. We have an arsenal of experienced counsel who have worked with us for a number of years in High Court and Court of Appeal cases. Supreme Court To we have successfully the imposition of IPPCourt Wedate presently have permissionchallenged for challenges in the Supreme sentences, led hearings the way inforthe review of mandatory as awell as relating to oral Cat A reviews and also tariffs seeking being centraloftothe therestrictive development of prisoner challenges to delays reappraisal aspects of the case of ‘James’ relatingin progression and the timing ofcourses parole reviews. to whether failure to provide gives rise to compensation.

Mum, I would just like to say you are amazing and I am so glad to have you. Happy Mother’s day love you loads Paul xxxx

My mother, Mandy Martin, The IPP is so inhumane, love you lots your little pain, once again parole is here, let’s hope I get progression here. Happy Mother’s day, lots of love Jay 831 xxxx

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National Firm Strengthens Links with Barristers Chambers National firm strengthens links with Barristers Chambers...

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Hello Sue, happy Mother’s day. Don’t get to show you or let you know how much you mean to me. You’re always there for me and I appreciate you so much. One day I hope to make you proud of me. I wish I could do more for you, I love you so so much. Couldn’t have had a better mum. You have a fantastic day, love always and forever Mark xxxxxxx Mum just want to say how much you mean to me and how much I really appreciate all you do. Thanks a million, hope you have a lovely Mother’s day. Love, hugs and kisses Chrissy xxxx Mum, Vera, thank you for everything, you’re one in a million. Happy Mothering Sunday, love James, Lisa and family xxxx Lisa, happy Mother’s day! Great wife, mother, friend, take it you’re doing great. Love your husband James xxxx Dearest Jane, the most amazing, lovely, loving Mummy! Truly, simply wonderful, incredible - you are our world. Love your Amy, Katie and Graeme xxxx ♥ Thank you for yesterday, today and tomorrow and all past. Simply thank you, I miss and love you. Happy Mother’s day x Danny xxx

Ward’s Building 31-39, High Bridge Newcastle Upon Tyne NE1 1EW 0191 2321006

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We haveand a particular interest in clients facing further allegations where Crime Cold Case Reviews... new evidence has come to light due to forensic science advances as charges relating violence, sexual offences well as new We have a particular interestto in serious clients facing allegations relating and to fraud. Our expert knowledge of both crime and prison law puts us in a old unsolved offences especially those where new evidence has strong position to protect clients interests both at court and at the come to light due to forensic science advances. Parole Board. We have represented clients in criminal Crown Court matters as far afield as Chester, Liverpool, Preston, Chelmsford, Founding members, serving for first 3 years Birmingham, Guildford, Basildon, Cambridge and Ipswich.

as Chair and Deputy Chair of The Association of Prison Lawyers Nationwide Service - Video Link also available

We look forward to hearing from you.

Founding members, serving for first 3 years as Nationwide Service Chair and Deputy Chair of The Association Prison Lawyers Video Link alsoofavailable Members of the Association of Prison Lawyers

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Inside Poetry

If you would like to contribute to the Poetry section, please send your poems to ‘Poetry’, Inside Time, Botley Mills, Botley, Southampton, Hampshire SO30 2GB.

Star Poem of the Month

Insidetime March 2014 www.insidetime.org

Staying Out

Mel Carter - HMP Littlehey Will you bang me up tonight, Guv’nor dear? Lock me in snug an’ tight (dull and drear) I just thought you oughta know That it’s time for me to go An’ they’ll never ever get me back in ‘ere

And Poppies Grow... Christopher Alker - HMP Swaleside They call it the First World War I wonder if the children of Afghanistan Even know it happened I can close my eyes and see A body hanging on barbed wire A sea of mud - an old tin hat Trench walls built from bodies Germans singing silent night And from all this the films and poems flow Over wasted land where guns and cannons sound To the poppies which I am told - will only grow On broken ground To fight - for nation and for faith To fight - to prove myself a man To fight - with weapon spitting death To walk upon the homeland of the other To feel the glory of battle singing in my blood Warrior bold - honoured life - gilded death My father and my father’s father and his and his and... All leapt to attention when the officer spoke Service duty - a life I’ll never know Proud to take a foreign land and leave it bound And peppered - with new dug graves from which the poppies grow Through broken ground Congratulations to Christopher Alker - HMP Swaleside - who wins our £25 prize for ‘Star Poem of the Month’.

PLAGIARIST... In our January issue we published ‘I Think’ a poem submitted by LEO THEOBALD - HMP PARKHURST. He won a £25 prize claiming it to be his own work - this then technically became fraud. It was actually called the ‘Office Party’ and written by Alison Chisholm in 2008. We normally pick these up in time but this one has clearly slipped through the net. It is sad when this happens as the place of a genuine entry was taken and a person who deserved the £25 prize has lost out. We invite Mr Theobald to return the £25 to Inside Time and we will undertake to send the money to Help for Heroes. An interview with Inside Time’s Chloe Billington, who reads and helps select the poems for publication in the newspaper, will be aired on National Prison Radio’s Prime Time on the 19th of March.

Am I happy here in jail, Buddy dear? Makes me want to weep and wail! (shed a tear) An empty cell they’ll find ‘cos I’m leaving you behind An’ they’ll never ever get me back in ‘ere Does the meth go down a treat, Nursy dear? When you got the H well beat (no more gear) Now I don’t get off me face I’ll rejoin the human race An’ they’ll never ever get me back in ‘ere Is the old clock standing tall, Mother dear? In a corner of the hall (year on year) For such domestic bliss I am leavin’ all of this An’ they’ll never ever get me back in ‘ere Does the long grass wave and sway, Father dear? Round the hidden winding way (coast is clear) To a secret shady nook Where the boys in blue won’t look So they’ll never ever get me back in ‘ere

Silent as Winter

Heidi - Hope Scott Clinic My entire life has been filled with silence Nothing to be said about the rules in my life I couldn’t bear people to know how bad, disgusting, horrible I was Silent as winter RULE 1: close your eyes So as not to see anything RULE 2: cover your ears So as not to hear anything RULE 3: shut your mouth So as not to say anything Silent as winter And just the same as winter comes The silence comes too The snow falls and lies on the ground You look back at the tracks left in the snow The same as you look back at your life You see the marks left in the snow By the hurt, the fear and the silence It’s a silence you hear when you sit among the graves The birds in the sky The wind through the trees And the distant sound of children playing

Coffee and Tobacco Tellah Kinns - HMP Littlehey The first thing we mostly do when we awake Is grab our tobacco Roll a fat smoke to get the lungs working Then we flick the switch to boil the kettle For a nice strong mug of cheap coffee To clear the circuits to get the brain firing Then we splash our face to clear the sleep That collected in our eyes during the night And to shock the skin into life We also reach for the remote to watch the news And to find out what the weather’s going to be like today Then we slug down the bad coffee And then we roll another fat one and enjoy what’s to come For we are all just simply playing a waiting game That is life behind bars

You picture them running about Playing games, having fun You see her, in her dress Her shoes, her hair Then you recognise - it’s you Running about having fun But having no one to share her secret with So, staying silent as winter You grow up and the fear grows with you The fear of it carrying on The fear of someone finding out Would you be rejected for what you did or did not do You don’t know the answers So you just carry on Fearing the worst, hurting inside, being alone But most of all Being silent as winter when it comes

If you would like to contribute to the Poetry section, please send your poems to ‘Poetry’, Inside Time, Botley Mills, Botley, Southampton, Hampshire SO30 2GB.

Insidetime March 2014 www.insidetime.org

Prison Life Lee Chapman - HMP Chelmsford The darkest nights Through the longest days Regretting my mistakes Heading myself astray

First Impressions

My Only True Friend

Lee Goldsworthy - HMP Durham

Gordon Burgess - HMP Isle of Wight

He gives me a fist punch And calls me his brother He’s got me confused Or he’s mixed up with some other

You didn’t listen to me I talk to you And you talk to me But you just don’t listen

Hurting inside Building up pain Losing everything With nothing to gain

But that’s how they talk This kids using slang Acting all big in this prison In front of his gang

First time locked up Its not what it seems Cheap sh***y razors No shaving cream

I walk off rubbing past him And up to my pad En suite loo, and a bunk bed A TV, not bad

Cuts on the surface Deeper inside Man gets wrapped up Loses his pride

This kid’s at my door He’s like “What’s up my brother” Oi you don’t know me Or even my mother...

Prison life is different Enough time to think Talking about their crimes Some on the brink The edge of insanity People here for life Some with kids And even a wife Second chances are golden Few man get this You should treasure them carefully Just like that very first kiss I wish I was free Not locked up in here To live my life Without any fear A promise I’ll make To myself and to you To make everything better For my daughter Amelia I LOVE YOU

So what’s with your lingo Calling me brother How can I help you Or what can I do Trying to act big With your bit so solid crew Calm down, calm down Take it easy my brother I’ve just come to ask For a lend of some sugar

Lies? Dan Ridgewell HMP Northumberland Lies You’re lying They squirm out of you Rancid snakes With poisonous intent Surrounding my heart

So why am I ignored Oh why don’t you listen Do you love me Do you really care I do everything for you I turn you on Turn you over Make sure you’re clean Oh I think I’ve worked it out I bet I know the answer Is it because you’re my TV

Simon Kay - HMP Full Sutton

I bought myself a quilt today It cost an arm and leg But it don’t half look better now When I make my bed I really like my quilt I bought the matching pillow too Both of them with covers In my favourite colour blue I know with my new quilt I can tuck it in real tight And with its matching pillow I’ll get a good sleep tonight Now I won’t be itching Like the blankets make me do Because I will be wrapped up nice and warm In a quilt that is brand new

I Was Just a Young Man George Banister - HMP Durham

The Lion and Me Tony Bushby - HMP Aylesbury Why does the lion pace his Cage like I do? Is he Like me looking for a way Out and never finding it Is it a deep seated Instinctive drive to stay Fit and active. Is He like me imagining He’s an open expanse Of grass with no restricting Walls chaining his animal Spirit. Is it simply because There is nothing else to do Other than walk until he sleeps Or is it him trying to avoid The maddening troubles Outside these crazied Walls. I wonder if The lion paces his cage And ponders why I pace Back and forwards continuously

I was just a young man Searching for some answers Looked up to Biggie, Dre and other gangsters 2Pac Shakur RIP it was your music that inspired me I seen no changes But then I had no reason As I heard a heart beat Then I seen you breathing You are daddy’s number one I think I’ve found my answer I’d rather be a perfect dad Rather than a gangster

insidepoetry W E

By submitting your poems to Inside Time you are agreeing that they can be published in any of our ‘not for profit links’, these include the newspaper, website and any forthcoming books. You are also giving permission for Inside Time to use their discretion in allowing other organisations to reproduce this work if considered appropriate, unless you have clearly stated that you do not want this to happen. Any work reproduced in other publications will be on a ‘not for profit’ basis. WHEN SUBMITTING YOUR WORK PLEASE INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING PERMISSION: THIS IS MY OWN WORK AND I AGREE TO INSIDE TIME PUBLISHING IT IN ALL ASSOCIATE SITES AND OTHER PUBLICATIONS AS APPROPRIATE.

I scream and shout I answer most of your questions I even get some right You are my love, my only true friend

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My New Quilt and Pillow

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We will award a prize of £25 to the entry selected as our ‘Star Poem of the Month’. To qualify for a prize, poems should not have won a prize in any other competition or been published previously. Send entries to: Inside Time, Poetry, Botley Mills, Botley, Southampton, Hampshire, SO30 2GB. Please put your name, number and prison on the same sheet of paper as your poem. If you win we can’t send your money if we don’t know who or where you are!

You show me things That have no real meaning You show me joy and wonder Laughter and fear

Inside Poetry

Volume 5 Copies are available at a special discount price of £7.50 + £1.50 p&p for Inside Time readers, family and friends.

Inside Time, Botley Mills, Botley, Hampshire SO30 2GB. Tel: 0844 335 6483

50

Wellbeing

Insidetime March 2014 www.insidetime.org

Leading you to a healthy lifestyle

ALTERNATE ARM DEADLIFT CURL

CHOPS LEFT FOOT CHOPS RIGHT FOOT GROUND TO OVERHEAD EXTENSION LIE DOWN/ STAND UP SIT UP AND BALL TO FEET

‘A LIFESTYLE WORTH LIVING’ Limited for time, only get access to the gym twice a week, bored of your current exercise routine or just fancy a change? Two months down, a few months until summer, achieving that summer physique is not far away. This month we will look at a circuit that can be set up in a gymnasium or sports hall. Matt Vanstone

PE Instructor - HMP Exeter 2013 British indoor rowing championships silver medallist men’s open heavyweight

DOUBLE ARM SWING

POWER BAGS CLEAN AND PRESS

do together. Some people go to chapel with their friends; others go out on exercise together, so why not come to the gym together?

Something for everyone You are not alone For many of us, the idea of training by ourselves can seem boring and often you find yourself not pushing yourself as hard as you could. Participating in group sessions not only provides a workout, but also a good social aspect to training. You will meet people with a range of fitness abilities. I am sure most of you that go to the prison PE department notice the difference in atmosphere compared to any other area of the prison. Most people are friendly, and want to be there. I can guarantee you will make friends and meet new people. I have seen ex offenders out in town, and even a group of four at a festival that had met up for a reunion after they got released. They had all met at HMP Erlestoke where I previously worked and went to the gym together. So if you are new to exercise and just fancy trying something new, other people can motivate you to attend, as it is something you

STATION 1 DYNA-BAND SIDE RAISE FRONT RAISE UPRIGHT ROW CURLS SQUAT AND SHOULDER PRESS

This circuit comprises of 6 stations. If you don’t have access to some of the equipment, change it to alternatives i.e. a kettle bell to a dumbbell. You will see there are 6 exercises at each station. You should complete ten reps of the first exercise on the card, then move on to the next station and complete ten reps of the first exercise there. Work your way around the 6 stations until you end of back to the station you stared on. Then start on the second exercise all the way around, then the third and so on. Once you have made your way around all the stations and completed the sixth exercise you should be back to the station you originally started on. Now start again, but perform 15 reps all the way through. If you finish this, do 20 reps all the way through. The circuit is designed to be difficult to finish in 45 minutes. If you do finish it, record your time, and next time increase the weight you use on the stations.

SIDE PLANK PRESS LEFT

HIGH PULL

SIDE PLANK PRESS RIGHT DOUBLE ARM LUNGE AND SWING

DEADLIFT CURL POWER SQUATS BENT OVER ROW BURPEE DEADLIFT

LEG RAISE CRUNCHES PRESS UPS

KETTLE BELL It is important with kettle bells that you choose a weight you can correctly use. There is a lot of swinging and functional movements. If you are new to kettle bells seek advice from PE staff.

BENCHES SKI JUMPS DECLINE PRESS UP ARM BLASTS SQUAT JUMPS ASTRIDE JUMPS DIPS

SINGLE ARM SWINGS

MEDICINE BALLS SIDE TWISTS

BENT OVER SIDE RAISE

STATION 2 MATS SIT UPS DORSAL RAISE

See if you can spot who brought something different instead of the dyna-band!

Wellbeing

Insidetime March 2014 www.insidetime.org

Yoga in bed

51

Head to Knee Dead Bug

The Prison Phoenix Trust There are many reasons why you may want to do yoga on your bed. You might not have room on the floor or maybe it’s dirty. You might want to do yoga as soon as you wake up, or just before you go to sleep. You may just like being in bed! These poses may help you to sleep if you do them last thing at night, and can calm you down and give you focus whenever you do them. Drop us a line and let us know how you get on.

Stretch your left leg out in front of you, the right foot against the left thigh. Bend forwards as far as you can - if that’s just a little, that’s fine. You may be able to get your head close to your knee. Relax into this bend for five breaths, then repeat on the other side.

Prop a cushion under your bum and hold your arms and legs up in the air. Try to get them balanced so they stay up as easily as possible. Feel the weight of your limbs pressing your shoulders and hips firmly into the bed.

Relaxation Lying twists

Bum on Pillow

Figure 4

Lie like this with your bum propped on a pillow and concentrate on your breathing. Count how long each breath takes - maybe your breaths take three seconds, or four, or six. For a few breaths, just notice how long each in-breath takes, and how long for each out-breath. Then, make the in-breath and the outbreath the same length. Finally, make your out-breaths longer than your in-breaths - so if it takes you four seconds to breathe in, make your breath out last for six counts.

Place your right ankle on the opposite knee. Thread your right hand through the triangle you’ve made with your legs and join hands around your knee. Pull your legs towards you. Hold for five slow breaths. Repeat on the other side.

Lie like you were in the first pose, but with no pillow. Let your knees go slowly over to the left, and turn your head to the right. Lie for ten slow breaths. Come up slowly and repeat on the other side.

Lie like this and breathe. Pay attention to the feeling of your breath flowing in and out. If your mind wanders, and particularly if you start worrying or going over things that have happened during the day, gently draw your attention back to your breathing. Stay like this for ten minutes, or until you fall asleep.

Pigeon

Bridge

Tuck your feet up close to your body. As you breathe in, push up through them and your arms, lifting the hip slowly, as high as you can. Hold yourself here and breathe five deep breaths.

THE PRISON THE PHOENIX PRISON TRUST Head doingTRUST you in? PHOENIX Stressed out? Have the left leg straight out behind Head doing you in? you and the right knee under the Can’t sleep? chest. Go down as far as comfortable Stressed out? Can’t Simple yoga andsleep? meditation

- either hold yourself up or see if you can place your head on the floor. Stay here for five long breaths. Repeat on the other side.

practice, working Simple yogawith and silence and the breath, meditationmight practice, working withyour silence and the just transform If you want a free book and CD to help you breath, might just transform life in more ways set up a regular yoga and meditation your life in more ways than practice write to: The Prison Phoenix Trust, than youyouthink... think ... Interested? PO Box 328, Oxford OX2 7HF. The Prison

Knees to Chest

Write to The Prison Phoenix Trust P.O.Box 328, Oxford, OX2 7HF.

Interested?

Sphinx

Hug your knees gently to your chest for five slow breaths.

Phoenix Trust supports prisoners and prison officers in their spiritual lives through meditation and yoga, working with silence and the breath. The Trust supports people of any religion or none. We also run weekly yoga classes for inmates and prison staff.

Write We’d to love The Prison Phoenix to hear from you anytime and have Trust several 328, free books,Oxford, which could help you 7HF P.O.Box OX2

Make sure your shoulders are relaxed and not up round your ears. Allow the front of the body to open. Take five deep breaths.

build and maintain a daily practice.

We’d love to hear from you anytime and

Jailbreak

52

Insidetime March 2014 www.insidetime.org

Crossword

TWENTY QUESTIONS TO TEST YOUR GENERAL KNOWLEDGE 11. Which French dish consists of an upside-down apple tart made with caramelised apples?

1. In the TV cartoon series Henry’s Cat, what colour was Henry’s cat? 2. In which city were the Olympics of ancient Greece held?

12. The people known as Inuits were once commonly known by what name?

3. In the Disney cartoons, what type of animals were Chip and Dale? 4. Which one-legged pirate is the main villain in Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic Treasure Island?

Across

Down

1. Walk unsteadily as though about to fall (7) 5. A sleeveless tunic, usually belted, worn by schoolgirls (7) 9. Large artery carrying blood from the heart (5) 10. One of the great tragic dramatists of ancient Greece (9) 11. A dish of ice cream and peaches with liqueur or sauce (5,5) 12. A light-coloured dry sherry (4) 14. Water bird, also known as dabchick (6,5) 18. Author of “Middlemarch”(6,5) 21. The villain in William Shakespeare’s “Othello” (4) 22. Chief port and second largest city of Chile (10) 25. Running away with a lover to get married (9) 26. An edict of a Russian czar having the force of law (5) 27. Courts sitting at intervals in each county of England and Wales (7) 28. Frances — Burnett, author of “The Secret Garden” (7)

1. Items of interest to a philatelist (6) 2. Overseas (6) 3. The study of handwriting as a supposed guide to character (10) 4. Christopher —, American actor renowned for his film portrayal of Superman (5) 5. A biscuit containing a layer of currants (9) 6. Be gloomy or apathetic (4) 7. 19th century machine-breakers (8) 8. Someone easily taken advantage of or defeated (8) 13. Song that was a hit for the Beach Boys in 1964 (1,3,6) 15. Young people (9) 16. Christina —, American pop singer (8) 17. Dazzlingly beautiful (8) 19. In Greek mythology, the sons and daughters of Uranus and Gaea (6) 20. Unlawfully distilled Irish whiskey (6) 23. Degree of deviation from a horizontal plane (5) 24. Capital of the French department of Moselle (4)

Mike Johns HMP Exet er ( A 4 7 1 9 CX)

BIRDS N W D F H N M N E L G A E N E D L O G R

E R O C K P I P I T B N N M K Y B Y F E

R O C D V G T W O L L A W S G A H S G V

W O V F B K A S R F V B N K A W T T H O

S K B G K I S G K Z T F N X S E U E K L

J C N H I N D H R Y D R H C D R R R K P

A U H J T G O J T S L Y O V F K N C U N

Y C E T T F Y C Y D X A P A G N S A I E

A G I U I I U O L F Z R R S H A T T L D

L W P I W S I A C A T Y B K K H O C L L

L I G O A H O L P U F F I N Y S N H I O

U G A S K E P T G M A E B D I N E E B G

G E M V E R P I H N B C N F M E D R R R

G O W B G R I T V V F B U I K E F X O O

N N E N H T T C V F R M U G R R T C Z O

I F R J N I R E S D E S U O R G G V A K

R G T O W R E K C E P D O O W N E E R G

Avocet

Herring Gull

Razorbill

Chough

Jay

Rock Pipit

R H R T E C Q Y M I N E L D N I L R E M

E E H G R V W U B V E R A F A V O C E T

H G U O H C E I Y O U E G D I R T R A P

ACTS Avocet COLOSSIANS Chough CORINTHIANS Coaltit DEUTERONOMY Cuckoo EPHESIANS Golden Eagle EXODUS GALATIANS Golden Plover HEBREWS Green ISAIAH Woodpecker JAMES Greenshank JEREMIAH Grouse JOB JOHN Heron JOSHUA Herring Gull LUKE Jay MALACHI Kingfi sher MARK Kittiwake Magpie

MATTHEW Merlin NAHUM Oystercatcher PETER Partridge PHILIPPIANS Peregrine Falcon PROVERBS Puffi n PSALM REVELATION Razorbill ROMANS SAMUEL Rock Pipit THESSALONIANS Rook TIMOTHY TITUS

Serin Shag Skylark Swallow Turnstone Wigeon Wren

Check forward, backward and diagonally, they are all there! Thanks to Mike Johns HMP Exeter for compiling this wordsearch. If you fancy compiling one for us please just send it in max 20 x 20 grid & complete with answers shown on a grid. If we use it we will send you £5 as a thank you!

13. Lois Maxwell and Samantha Bond have both played which role in James Bond films? 14. Founded in 1980, the trade union and opposition movement Solidarity was started in which country?

5. Which fashionable London department store was started in 1813, by Benjamin Harvey?

15. In which UK city is Marylebone Station located?

6. In global politics, what does the abbreviation WTO stand for?

16. In which sport is the Harry Vardon trophy awarded?

7. Of what type of plants is the prickly pear a variety?

17. Who was charged with the assassination of John F. Kennedy in November 1963?

8. Of what is conchology the study?

18. What type of mythical creature is Roald Dahl’s BFG?

9. In the 1958 film thriller Vertigo, which legendary US actor played Detective John Scottie Ferguson?

19. BALPA is an acronym for which professional association?

10. In The Flintstones, what was the name of Fred and Wilma’s daughter?

20. Released in 1962, what was the title of the Beatles first single?

Instead of fighting the law, why not use the law to help you. We are experts in a range of abuse cases. You don’t have to feel ashamed and alone. Contact us to get the compensation and treatment you deserve.

Abused

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Jailbreak

Insidetime March 2014 www.insidetime.org

“QUOTES”

Pathfinder

Start from highlighted square

Pathfinder Weddings

Weddings

I just love being an oldie. There’s no Botox, there are no implants, no tucks and wrinkle smoothing. I don’t have any beauty regime, not at all

YOUR mouth Protective mother Kourtney Kardashian was clearly fuming when a fellow passenger on a flight had words with her children.

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Mary Berry, she looks fabulous at 78!

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A fat little man asked me to marry him

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I find it relatively easy to keep my clothes on because I don’t really feel like taking them off. It’s not an urge I have

Julian Fellowes, creator of Downton Abbey, reveals what his wife wrote in her diary on first meeting him.

Taylor Swift is happy to keep her clothes on, and doesn’t need to strip off to enhance her career.

There really is no point dwelling on the past or worrying about the future neither of them exist!

People on airplanes are so wild these days... Telling other people’s children to cover their mouths. Cover

Cheryl Cole, singer tweets some amateur philosophy.

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(c) Daily Sudoku Ltd 2014. All rights reserved.

Daily Sudoku: Tue 11-Feb-2014

8 3 1 5 7 2 6 7 5 6 4 9 8 2 2 4 9 1 3 6 7 6 1 2 3 8 9 5 3 9 5 7 4 1 8 4 7 8 2 6 5 9 9 2 7 6 1 4 3 1 6 3 8 5 7 4 Indeterminate / Life Sentence issues 5 & IIP 8 Panels 4 9 2 3 1 Lifer, ESP

Cheryl Cole

Best Man Bouquet Bride Bridegroom Bridesmaids Buttonhole Carriage Champagne Church Confetti Corsage Dress First Dances Hats

RecallsDaily & Oral Hearings Sudoku: Tue 11-Feb-2014 medium Adjudications (North West region) Parole Representations Extensive Judicial Review experience Appeals / Criminal Cases Review Commission http://www.dailysudoku.com/

Accreditations include: • Members of Criminal Appeal Lawers Association • Association of Prison Lawyers • Manchester Prison Law Practitioner Group

S

Neil Speed is a former prisoner Limousine who came up with the concept of Time Honour of GEF BAD CHI whilst in prison.Maid Inside features a GEF BAD the Bride CHI puzzle on this page. GEF BADMother CHI byofNeil Speed is Pageboys published by Xlibris. RRP: £12.35 Photograph

Best Man Bouquet Bride Bridegroom Bridesmaids Buttonhole Carriage Champagne Church Confetti Corsage Dress First Dances Hats Limousine Maid of Honour Mother of the Bride Pageboys Photograph Presents Reception Registrar Rice Rose Petals Speeches Veil Wedding Cake

Presents Reception Registrar Rice Submitted by Allan SprattRose HMPPetals Dartmoor. Start on the left with the first number and work your way across following the Speeches instructions in each cell. See how quickly you can do each puzzle and Veil how your times improve month by month! Answers on page 56. If you would like to submit similar Wedding Cake

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Jailbreak

Insidetime March 2014 www.insidetime.org

CAPTION COMPETITION

Read all about it!

Thomas Smyth HMP Frankland

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6. Which foreign leader spoke in Parliament recently? 7. Who collected David Bowie’s Brit award? 8. Which BBC breakfast presenter is defecting to ITV’s morning slot?

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John Pearce - HMP Littlehey Alan McAlavey - HMP Blantyre House D Blunt - HMP Stafford

The winner will receive £25 and the two runner ups £5. See black box to the right for details of how to enter.

10. Which film took ‘Best Film’ in this year’s BAFTAs?

Answers to last months News quiz: 1. Zara and Mike Tindall, 2. Amanda Knox, 3. Francois Hollande, 4. England Ladies Cricket Team, 5. Jim Davidson, 6. The Jump, 7. Motley Crue, 8. New Zealand 9. Stan Collymore, 10. Flooding

The prize quiz where we give you the Questions and the Answers!

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So that’s, 6 Man Utd kits, 4 match balls, a load of medals and a signed photo of Ferguson, give ya a tenner for the lot David Beckham chats with Rodney and Del boy over a cuppa.

As a result of the Winter Olympics, suddenly everyone wants to try curling.

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9. Who have been told to repay customers money that has been sitting in closed accounts?

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LAST MONTH’S WINNER

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The first three names to be drawn with all-correct answers (or nearest) will receive a £25 cash prize. There will also be two £5 consolation prizes. The winners’ names will appear in next month’s issue. 1. What is the closing date for 2014 Koestler Award entries? 2. Who was born on 17th November 1954? 3. Whose new address is SE1P 4XY? 4. Which organisation can help if you need an address for bail or HDC? 5. What is the weekly cost if all prisoners receive their free weekly letter? 6. Who is the new director of the CPS? 7. Which Inside Justice expert staged a crime scene on This Morning? 8. What is the estimated number of empty homes in London?

Inside Time, Botley Mills, Botley, Southampton, Hampshire SO30 2GB. You can use one envelope to enter more than one competition just mark it ‘jailbreak’. A 1st or 2nd class stamp is required on your envelope. CLOSING DATE FOR ALL IS 25/03/14

Please do not cut out any of these panels. Just send your entry to one or all of these competitions on a separate sheet of paper. Make sure your name, number and prison is on all sheets. Post your entry to:

9. How many ninety year-olds took part in a survey about exercise? 10. Which nation had most emigrants to the UK in 2013? 11. Which prison is tackling dyslexia? 12. Whose interviews about the poetry section will be broadcast on National Prison Radio? 13. Who claims not to have a beauty routine? 14. What date is The Day of Action? 15. Who has been invited to send his prize money back to be donated to Help for Heroes?

Answers to Last Month’s Inside Knowledge Prize Quiz 1. Alice Dawnay & Slaney Wright, 2. HMP Exeter, 3. Smidgen, 4. Michael O’Brien, 5. Terry, 6. Lockerbie, 7. Craiginches, 8. 1700, 9. Prime Time, 10. 7000, 11. 5 November 2013, 12. 17784, 13. 8600, 14. 49, 15. Skylight Cafe

    

  Our three £25 Prize winners are: Colin Hathway HMP Stafford, Radomiras Agafonovas HMP Maidstone, Daniel Lewis HMP Preston Plus our £5 Consolation prizes go to: Carl Wright HMP Littlehey, Alan Thompson HMP   Littlehey  

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ROCK & POP QUIZ

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10 FACTS YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT REDHEADS

23 March 1839 // 175th Anniversary

1. What was the big song and part animated music video success in 1985 that brought international fame for the band A-Ha?

3. American Idiot was the 2004 multi-platinum album by which Californian band? 4. Spider Pig was a quirky number from the soundtrack of which 2007 animated movie? 5. To whom was Paul Simon married between 1983 and 1984? 6. The 1972 Academy Award for Best Original Song went to Isaac Hayes for which movie tune? 7. Who, from the age of 15, studied classical piano and also conducted the choir at Howard University before her singing career took off with the 1969 album First Take? 8. In 1992, a photograph of which personage was ripped up by Sinead O’Connor on the Saturday Night Live TV show? 9. Stay, a 1992 single from the album Hormonally Yours, was the biggest hit for which female duo? 10. And a Voice To Sing With is the autobiography of which folk music singer?

the immigration specialists Asylum Deportation and Immigration Bail issues Legal Aid has changed and from 01/04/2013 it may not be available to you. However, we offer very competitive rates and can travel throughout the country to meet your needs.

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The first recorded use of the word ‘OK’ in the ‘Boston Morning Post’, Massachusetts, USA.

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Prince Harry

1. Natural red hair is harder to dye than other shades Ginger hair holds its pigment much firmer than any other hair colour. If redheads desired to dye their hair to any other colour (why would you?), it would only have a noticeable difference after bleaching the hair beforehand. Otherwise, the colour won’t take. 2. Redheads have less hair on their heads On average, flame-haired beauties have 90,000 strands, compared to blondes with 110,000, and brunettes with 140,000. They’re not exactly going bald though, as each strand of natural ginger hair is much thicker, so the appearance is often that redheads have more hair in general. 3. Redheads don’t go grey Ginger hair retains its natural pigment a lot longer than other shades. It simply fades with age through a glorious spectrum of faded copper to rosy-blonde colours, then to silvery-white. 4. Red hair and blue eyes is the rarest combination in the world The majority of natural redheads have brown eyes, with others likely to have hazel or green shades. But like red hair, blue eye colour is a recessive trait, meaning that both parents must carry the gene for a child to be blessed with it. This makes those with red hair and blue eyes the rarest minority in the world, with only 1% having both. 5. They’re more sensitive to thermal pain Research shows that redheads are more sensitive to hot and cold pain, with their bodies able to change temperature much quicker. Also, in surgery, gingers might require approximately 20% more anaesthesia

Karen Gillan

5 March 1864 // 150th Anniversary The first recorded intercollegiate track and field competition in the UK. Teams from Oxford and Cambridge Universities competed at Oxford.

Rupert Grint

than other hair colours. The exact reason for this is unknown, but it is thought that a link to the mutated MC1R gene could be the culprit to its effectiveness.

31 March 1889 // 125th Anniversary The Eiffel Tower in Paris, France was officially opened.

6. The Romans kept redheaded slaves at a higher price Thought to be strong and determined, they were more expensive than other slaves, and prisoners would even have their hair dyed to be displayed as trophies.

26 March 1934 // 80th Anniversary Driving tests were introduced in Britain (voluntary until June 1935)

6 March 1974 // 40th Anniversary A 16-week strike by British coal miners ended when the new Labour government agreed to a 35% pay rise. The strike, which followed the 1973 oil crisis, had led to the introduction of the 3-day working week in order to conserve coal stocks

7. Russia means ‘Land of Reds’ Translating to mean ‘Land of Reds’, Russia boasts a high density of gingers located in its Kazan region, at over 10% redheads, a similar density to Scotland and Ireland. 8. 40% of Brits are ‘Secret Gingers’ Extensive research conducted by Britain’s DNA has found that more than 40% of the population carry the mutated MC1R gene that’s responsible for red hair. Both parents must carry the gene to be able to spawn a ginger baby, which lies at 25% if they’re not ginger themselves, but still carry the ‘secret gene’.

24 March 1989 // 25th Anniversary The supertanker ‘Exxon Valdez’ ran aground on a reef in Prince William Sound, Alaska, leaking 11 million gallons of crude oil.

12 March 1994 // 20th Anniversary The first women priests in the Church of England were ordained in London

9. Adolf Hitler reportedly banned ginger marriages For fear of ‘deviant offspring’. Of course. 10. Gingers generate their own Vitamin D Having pale skin may mean that redheads burn more easily when exposed to UV rays, but their paleness can serve as an advantage. Redheads can’t absorb sufficient Vitamin D due to low concentrations of eumelanin in their body. This may sound like bad news, but this lower melanin-concentration means that gingers can cleverly produce their own Vitamin D within their body when exposed to low light conditions.

Ireland became the first country in the world to ban smoking in all work places (including bars and restaurants)

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2. Not Ready to Make Nice took the 2007 Grammy Award for Best Song for which band?

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56 National Prison Radio

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Porridge

Insidetime March 2014 www.insidetime.org

March 2014

National Prison Radio is currently available in over 100 prisons across England and Wales.

What’s on National Prison Radio?

We broadcast 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, into your cell. If your prison has National Prison Radio, you can listen through your TV by using the tuning buttons on your remote control.

Wed

Thur

Fri

The first national breakfast show made by and for prisoners - big tracks, news, sport, and the information you need to start your day Listen out for... Friday – the famous Porridge Music Special

08:00

(or local shows made in your prison)

09:00

Monday Special See the red box below for more details on the shows

HYPE From HMYOI Hindley

Connoisseurs’ Corner Classic soul and rare groove

NPR Urban Hip-hop, RnB and dancehall

Hot 20 The UK top 20 chart

All Music Daytime

Music and information designed to help you make the most of your time inside

10:00

Radio?

11:00

Tue

Wed

hind Bars

Thur

Fri

12:00

Prime Time

NPR’s daily feature show. See 17:00 for details. Sat Sun

Igloo House Show The best in house

The Rock Show The best in loud guitar music

Sat

Sun

Eve

Mon

All Request Saturday The week’s Request Shows back to back through the day. Write to us at: National Prison Radio, HMP Brixton, London SW2 5XF

Bob and Beyond A solid hour of reggae classics

17:00

Prime Time

Plan B Your next steps...

13:00

Request Show

requests in to: l Prison Radio, HMP Brixton, London SW2 5XF

14:00

ge

Prime Time Repeat from Thursday

The Request Show

Plan B Your next steps...

Another chance to hear this morning’s show

Requests and shout-outs from prisons across England and Wales The Brixton Hour your favourite song on National Prison Radio? Want to hear For information, see edition at 07:00 To hear your song, message or poem on the radio, write to us at National 19:05 19:05 Prison Radio, HMP Brixton, London SW2 5XF Oldies Gospel Hour

r

The A List

w us xes

Running through the latest music to hit the National Prison Radio offices

ove Songs Hour

16:00

Prime Time Repeat from Tuesday

Porridge

of this morning’s show

15:00

Prime Time Repeat from Monday

Sounds from the 60s, 70s & 80s

Uplifting gospel music

20:05

20:05

This American Brit 40 The Life Stories from the US A repeat of Friday’s show Selector 21:05 The State We’re In Two hours of new music

All Music Daytime

Music and information designed to help you make the most of your time inside

Monday Special

Hot 20 The UK top 20 chart

National Prison Radio Book Club Omnibus

s of classic love songs, the perfect soundtrack for writing those letters home

Bull Music Academy Radio

Some prisons have radio production courses or workshops which produce local shows. The Brixton Hourat 08:00, 12:00 and 22:30 instead of the programmes listed above. Request Show These are broadcast For information, see edition at 07:00 rom 18:00 National and international news: every hour, on the hour from Sky News top Music and Information Prison news: Weekdays at 10:00, 14:00, 16:00, 19:00 and in Porridge TV Guide: 09:00, 11:00, 15:00, 17:00 and 20:00 rison Radio: from your prison: 8:00, 13:00, 18:00, 21:00 and through the night and News ational news from the studios of Sky News, every hour, information on the hour

Wed

Thur

NPR’s daily feature show. Entertainment and support, helping you to make the most of your time behind bars. Monday – The Future Start your week by getting clued up about your future, with information and advice from the National Careers Service. Tuesday - Thursday – direct from HMP Brixton

18:00

TM

Fri

Sat

Sun

Brixton Calling A weekly snapshot of life in HMP Brixton

HYPE

Information Centre All the facts you need if you’re new to prison

BPM Bouncing beats and bass

Hot 20 The UK top 20 chart

The Request Show

To hear your song, message or poem on the radio, write to us at National Prison Radio, HMP Brixton, London SW2 5XF

19:00

Wednesday – The Soundclash - two prisons go head to head Thursday – Family and Friends Requests, presented by the women at HMP Styal with shout-outs and dedications from your lovedones. Tell them to visit www.nationalprisonradio.com to join in Friday – NRG: The Friday Request Show

20:00

Monday Special See the red box below for more details on the shows

Plan B Great music. Real stories. Your next steps...

HYPE From HMYOI Hindley, for and by young people

NPR Urban Hip-hop, RnB and dancehall

21:00

The Love Bug Love songs and tips for writing home

Connoisseurs’ Corner Classic soul and rare groove

BPM Beats and bass

Igloo House Show The best in house

22:00

National Prison Radio Book Club Tune into this month’s book reading

22:30

The Selector The best in UK new music, plus interviews and mixes

Prime Time Repeat from Wednesday

Bars is your award-winning daily feature show focusing on a different side of prison evening. We bring you the best chat, music and information to keep you informed son life and give a voice to your thoughts about life behind bars s Induction Show - all the basics about how prison works s Women Inside - focusing on life for female prisoners days Your Life - looking at how to keep your body and mind healthy ys The Inside Story - your in-depth guide to staying out of jail The Album Show - we play an entire album in full from start to finish ys The Love Bug - helping you keep in touch with family and friends on the outside s The Magazine - featuring the best bits of National Prison Radio

(or local shows)

The Love Bug Love songs and tips for writing home

Tue

(or local shows)

00:00 Overnight

dings, interviews, mixes and documentary features, exclusive to NPR.

Ministry of Sound Keeping you in touch with the dancefloors on the outside

From HMYOI Hindley, made by and for young people

Igloo House Show The Rock Show The very best in loud guitar music

Brixton Calling A weekly snapshot of life in HMP Brixton Bob and Beyond A solid hour of reggae classics

Red Bull Music Academy Radio Live recordings, interviews, mixes and documentary features

NPR Urban Hip-hop and RnB

Connoisseurs’ Corner Classic soul

Late Night Love Bug Love songs, the soundtrack to write letters home to

BPM

The Love Bug

Dream Time Dreamy chill-out tunes and information on how to stay safe while you’re inside

Monday Special Music and talk from across England and Wales. 3 March - Outside In: former prisoners look at how you can prepare for life on the out. 10 March - Open Road: a new show for the Gypsy and Traveller community. 24 March - YO Takeover: direct from the lads at HMYOI Isis.

prisons across the country at 10:00, 12:00, 16:00, 18:00 and 22:00

No restrictions for prisoners in Scotland or Northern Ireland

Fonesavvy - the brainchild of a former prisoner.

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Upon his release, what started as a business plan created in a prison cell became a reality - the only service of its kind. Now Fonesavvy customers throughout the UK receive calls from people in prisons and many other situations where keeping the callers’ call charge to a minimum is vital.

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1. 100, 2. 37, 3.750 Veil Bride Bridegroom 8 3 1 5 7 2 6 9 4 Wedding 7 5 6 4 9 8 2 3 1 Cake 2 4 9 1 3 6 7 8 5 Bouquet 6 1 2 3 8 9 5 4 7 Limousine 3 9 5 7 4 1 8 6 2 Buttonhole 4 7 8 2 6 5 9 1 3 Corsage 9 2 7 6 1 4 3 5 8 Brides1 6 3 8 5 7 4 2 9 5 8 4 9 2 3 1 7 6 maids Pageboys Confetti http://www.dailysudoku.com/ Reception First Dances Best Man Maid of Honour Hats

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> NEXT ISSUE Week commencing 31st March 2014

> LOOKING AHEAD • April Poetry Supplement • May Short Stories • June Scottish section