Inside Time: A review of February 2009 issue

Inside Time: A review of February 2009 issue

Front page: Headline article "Whatever happened to the idea of a 'through the gate' service?" by John Roberts (editorofsorts). Fair play to John for asking some rather forward and embarrassing questions for Phil Wheatley, Director General of NOMS, to answer. "Harold!" old Albert Steptoe used to shout. If this old "Harold" is not a victim, I don't know who is? Perhaps, Phil should be phoning Serco and asking for answers for the readers of Inside Time?

Prison education failing to meet prisoners needs

"According to a report from the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted) prisoners serving four years or more are missing out as training is geared towards those serving shorter sentences; with prison education failing to meet their needs". Why am I not surprised? In spite of my being asked which route I wished to take through the lifer system, and replying "the education route", the Prison Service spent 10 years denying me access to education. It was claimed that I would use it for "subversive purposes". You mean like an eduterrorist? Given that information is power, and my being very bright, I can see why Security can be frightened. It's the old unknown quantity you see?

Diversity … bring it on! argues Lifer Ben Gunn

"I once had a Marxist neighbour and no sooner had the doors been unlocked for slop-out than we were hammering away at each other, arguing the toss with huge heat until the moment we were banged up at night. The others on the landing must have thought we were barking, but I wouldn't have missed it; that people exist who hold views that I feel are utterly repellant is a very good thing, and not only for my personal entertainment". I know Ben very well and we used to have some right old ding dong battles in HMP Rye Hill, and harmony when we found ourselves in agreement. The Mind Games we played on the staff provided humour particularly the Director who was divorced from her husband and he was the Governor of Garth Prison (whom I had previously sued).

Pensions for prisoners

The denial of prisoners’ pension rights is an issue about which we are increasingly out of step with the rest of Europe. Former prisoner Paul Sullivan reports on the support of the National Pensioners Convention. Paul phoned me up the other day to ask if he could use material from my blog. Apparently, Mark Leech is being sued by a prisoner and Leech has applied to have the case struck out on the grounds of the claimant's previous bad character. The phrase, pot kettle black, springs to mind. Mark Leech's present character is nothing to write home about. As I've already said Mark Leech:Once a conman always a conman

Prison Councils

Enver Solomon says prison councils should be promoted in order for prisoners to be viewed as informed participants.

"There is a world behind the high walls and barbed wire of our prisons where staff do not simply tell inmates what to do. Prisoners are actually given the opportunity to have their say in consultative forums. These forums, known as Prisoner Councils, have been in existence under different guises for a number of years. They have been quietly going about the business of consulting and gaining feedback so that prisoners have a role, albeit a limited one, influencing life inside".

I am not sure whether Enver Soloman is aware that the Prison Service developed this policy to negate the Association of Prisoners set up in opposition to the Prison Officer's Association? If the government does not speedily take a proactive position on prisoners votes then perhaps it should be revived?

Update on the Association of Prison Lawyers

Inside Time caught up with Rikki Garg, a prison lawyer himself, to find out the latest developments with The Association of Prison Lawyers (APL), the group he helped to form.

It maybe that because the APL excludes serving and ex-prisoners that an association of jailhouselawyers might need to be set up to readdress the imbalance? The main elephant in the room with the APL is that obviously prisoners are the group most affected. Whilst lawyers from outside prison have made strives in recent years, I am doubtful that they adequately bridge the gap because they have not been schooled in Prison Law Inside Out.

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