The crime of a shared cell

The crime of a shared cell

By Eric Allison

Overcrowding is one of the worst aspects of life in our prisons – it can be a death sentence

In 2003, when I applied to be this paper's prison correspondent, the selection process included writing a 500-word essay. For my subject, I chose enforced cell-sharing in prisons. I wrote that sharing a confined space with a stranger was the worst aspect of life inside our troubled jails. I asked the reader to imagine sharing a cell with an addict in the throes of withdrawal; being forced to watch diarrhoea and vomit fall from the stranger, hear his moans and the rattle of his bed, shaking from his trembling. On a lesser level, the stranger would fart, belch or snore; or insist on playing rap music throughout the long locked hours.