Isn't that called solitary confinement bar the hard labour
Britain’s longest serving prisoner
- Thread starter Hobbit
- Start date
D
Deleted member 21784
Guest
I've thought long and hard about this post ..hell maybe I'll regret it . Not a time I like reliving but October 2008-jan 2009 I spent 3 months inside a cat a prison (pentonville to be precise) I had been on bail for a crime (which I was acquitted of in court eventually) since the summer and then rearrested October 2008, deemed to of broken my bail conditions. Held on remand at her maj pleasure.
My first cell mate was a complete nutter. I was moved for My safety in with a lifer. We never spoke of each others "crimes" (you never want to know who your around tbh) his night antics shall we just say will live in my memory forever. Horrible.
22 hours a day locked in a room not much bigger than the box room of my house now. 1 hour in morning and 1 in afternoon for " association" time to shower. Use the phones (to numbers that were approved) meals in your cell (tbh how I got into curries, easy to batch cook so just lived off them as only thing that was semi tasty)
Letters from friends and family kept me going. I kept them for years after until I moved out my house to put that time behind me once and for all. Work where brilliant, they stood by me but if convicted I would be sacked. I was just on zero pay.
My parents visited twice a week, my dad turned to the church to get him through the time.
I eventually managed to be cleared to get a job. A cleaner..it got me out the cell for about an extra hour a day. Mopping the floors of the wing.
Christmas 2008 was awful. Simply terrible. Not enough guards on to let us out so we were locked in our cells all day. Saddest Xmas I've ever had for sure.
My day in court came. I was told by my lawyer the CPS are offering no evidence so you will be acquitted.. I walked into the dock. Shaking. Was asked my plea. I said nothing because I was in shock. I then was asked again and my lawyer said say not guilty (didn't realise I had to say) the no evidence came. The judge attacked the police officer in charge of the case for his poor handling of the case and meaning an innocent man was Inside wrongly for 3 months.
Now this still haunts me to this day. Sometimes I have dreams about it. Sometimes it just comes up in my mind for no reason. The drs reckon it could have triggered my bipolar in the first place as that came in 2011.
Anyways back to the point. It was hell. The lack of freedom, the lack of basic human contact with my loved ones. Having to take a dump in my cell in front of someone. Wake up to find some old guy "pleasing himself" in the bed just a metre to my left.
People claim prison is a doddle, too easy. It's really not. And considering mistakes can be made by the legal system id rather people be wrongly sent down and then let go rather than wrongly put down and then oh dear we got it wrong.
Pin-seeker
Well-known member
I’m not disagreeing with this,but if you do that to someone then they need to be locked up for life.
If someone is mentally unstable before that,they wouldn’t be fit to be around people after.
PhilTheFragger
Provider of Entertainment for the Golfing Gods 🙄
Voyager EMH
Slipper Wearing Plucker of Pheasants
This was abolished a long time ago.
A prisoner can refuse to work.
All prisoners refusing to do the hard labour makes that policy pointless.
In my experience most prisoners are very keen to do meaningful and useful work or take some educational study.
Wow. Just wow. One of the beravest posts on here ever and full credit for you for getting to where you are now in life.
D
Deleted member 21784
Guest
To be fair it's a lot easier to get where you are when you have employment to go back to, people who go in find it hard to get work so the spiral continues. I was lucky . Job held open. Came back, had a few panic attacks from being out in the open but went back to work after a month and just worked my way up to where I am now.
Looking back life was so different, I never had met my wife. (9 years this year) Didn't have the kids .. so it feels a lifetime ago.
I consider myself lucky rather than unlucky, having a good support network and employment means it's just a bad mess rather than a lifetime of punishment
Arthur Wedge
Well-known member
I know it was abolished
That doesn’t mean people can’t want to see it return
There are some in this world that have committed horrific crimes that don’t deserve anything more than the very basic in a concrete box - no “educational study” etc
These are guys where life should mean life and they never see outside a prison , they never speak to anyone outside a prison
However you cut it, we all know that society has never been overly helpful to "ex cons" and so you were very lucky to have the job to go back to but even then you had to do it and probably to prove yourself again (whether you or the employer admit to it). Also to build the family as well. You should be proud of where you got to.
Tashyboy
Please don’t ask to see my tatts 👍
I thought your post was quite moving and very personal, and as good as I have read on here for a long time. But it highlighted a disagreement I had on here a few years ago.
I was saying that a lot of people had views because of where life had taken them. What they had experienced and what they had been through or what others close to them had been through. The person I was disagreeing with was adamant there opinion was based around facts.
Am sure your experiences have helped forged future views and opinions. All the best me man.
Voyager EMH
Slipper Wearing Plucker of Pheasants
What would be the point of bringing back "hard labour" when a prisoner can refuse to do it?
How would you make it impossible for a prisoner to refuse? - Legally.
A prisoner can refuse to eat, refuse to wear clothes and refuse to do work.
Anyone can want a prisoner to do hard labour.
Anyone can want a prisoner to spend his whole life in prison.
The first is not achievable. The second is.
Arthur Wedge
Well-known member
The hard labour is the only way they get outside to see any sort of light
And prisoners lost their right to “refuse” the minute they committed a crime
Voyager EMH
Slipper Wearing Plucker of Pheasants
Two untrue statements.
For those two statements to be true, it would require changes in laws/regulations.
Arthur Wedge
Well-known member
You are missing the point
Yes we know it requires a chance in law - and that’s what some want
Voyager EMH
Slipper Wearing Plucker of Pheasants
They will be wanting it for the rest of their lives.You are missing the point
Yes we know it requires a chance in law - and that’s what some want
Unless they decide to change their view.
I can not foresee any UK government taking huge backward steps.
Very difficult to implement those policies even if they were brought in.
Such steps would make life very much harder for prison officers and very much harder to recruit prison officers.
Unworkable.
Forget it.
Stay within the realms of reality and think of practical and workable alternatives.
And the chances are once the do gooders and human rights activists have gotten involved?You are missing the point
Yes we know it requires a chance in law - and that’s what some want
D
Deleted member 21784
Guest
I am proud of where I am today, I do have to tell the story from time to time due to work. IE new people come in. I feel I should tell them because I don't want them finding out on the grape vine . Id rather own my own story rather than some 3rd party rip off version
Voyager EMH
Slipper Wearing Plucker of Pheasants
From around the time you went through your ordeal.
I think this was 2007. This is an extract from Hansard. I believe the MP was addressing the Home Secretary.
This chap looked a lot older than 63 due to the ill-health that is mentioned. He was about 5ft 4in.
He had firearms licence in his younger days, but had sold or given away all his guns some time before. He no longer had a valid licence.
What was found in his house was a pair of decorative duelling pistols. Made in the late 1800s, but "retro" if you like, in order to hang on the wall as fake heirlooms or something like that.
He had been given them as a gift many years ago. They were in a case.
They were found to be capable of firing - if suitable ammunition could be made or found. No ammunition was found in his house.
5 years was the minimum for a firearms offence.
He was in my IT class for several weeks.
Chap was really likeable. Many other inmates felt quite protective and supportive.
He was eventually moved to an open prison, despite being categorised as a "dangerous" offender, due to the guns issue.
Your ordeal is an exceptional one as well.
But when issues like this thread come up, your views will be appreciated I'm sure.
And you have an insight into the difficulties prison officers face, with Pentonville being very hard work for the officers at times.
I can’t say I’m a believer in hard labour. I think a meaningless task like breaking rocks could lead to breaking the mind.
However, I also believe it would be possible to implement it. Let’s say a prisoner is sentenced to 10 years but a pre-requisite of early release was to, metaphorically, break rocks for a year. Equally, a refusal might see an increase by a year. Carrot and stick? Incentivise?
D
Deleted member 21784
Guest
Swear some of the jobs were things like sorting out the recycling in the borough. In some prisons sewing mail bags
Stuff like that. Jobs were people would be making minimum wage but they get paid very little to do such. Just enough to cover getting some things from the shop (shower gel and such rather than prison soap, or decent tea bags!)