In my experience, during this journey of a reformed man, I have come to realise, that, to some in society, it matters not how much an individual, being released from prison, has turned their life around and rehabilitated. Ready for life in the free world into the supporting arms of an accepting society! Surely that should be the case, should it not? Isn’t that why we have a prison system. Read more…
Prison can raise many images in our minds. While you might not have given prisons a great deal of thought, I can assure you that when you hear about them on the news, or read about them in your newspaper an image or two appears in you mind. It might be that you see Ronnie Barker in Porridge, or you might have the media presented images of holiday centres, or places of continued rioting going through your mind. Read more…
As I am an avid prison reform campaigner it should not be difficult to imagine there are many aspects of the criminal justice system of which I am unhappy or disappointed with. One such aspect which leaves me utterly frustrated, is the constant search from some quarters for the utopia of blame! WHY? Read more…
Four years ago, I was invited to take part in a Ministry of Justice (MOJ) review designed to reform the long-discredited system of Independent Monitoring in our prisons.
I genuinely expected this vital review would finally bring the crucial ‘root and branch’ reform to prison monitoring that so many, myself included, had spent years calling for – looking back four years now, and at the new system of governance that as a result of the review that comes into effect today [1st Nov], I really should have known better. Read more…
What follows is the writing up of my lived experience of struggling with the over bureaucratisation of my life. It became a project when several years ago I realised that I was going between several agencies all tasked with supporting me trying to rehabilitate from a life where I had been homeless. I fell into what is categorised as ‘multiple needs’. Read more…
It can be slightly annoying to hear people’s feedback about a film. It seems not to matter what you do, audiences will tend to take what they want from it. Sometimes it’s best to ignore them and let the film do the talking, other times you try to disabuse them of their mistakes. Read more…
“Prisoner (22) dies at Northern Ireland Jail” – This is a minor line in The Belfast Telegraph today: https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/prisoner-22-dies-at-northern-ireland-jail-37266751.html
My first reaction is choking back the tears, sadness, revulsion and anger. Who’s my anger directed it and why should I care. The word ‘care’ is highly relevant here. The sanitised bog standard reply by the Northern Ireland Prison Service (NIPS) is almost predictable as I’ve heard it so many times. Read more…