By: Ben Gunn
Lifer Ben Gunn is surprised and angered by criticism hurled at him, some from unexpected quarters, following his attempt to introduce solidarity amongst prisoners and to stop them adopting a defeatist attitude
I tend to have fairly strong and certain opinions that frequently provoke beefy responses; but rarely have I had as much criticism thrown at me as that I’ve received since ‘outing’ myself as head of the Association of Prisoners (AoP). To add to my woes, another lifer has beaten me to the courts on the ‘votes’ case!
Some of this stick has come from the usual - and expected - quarters. Written in lurid tabloid language, I was accused of being a publicity-seeking waste of space and of hobnobbing with a racist. So far, pretty normal stuff, and I leave the petty author of that particular tripe for history to judge.
Some criticism has come from rather unexpected quarters; from those I’d thought would welcome any genuine effort to further the cause of prisoners’ rights. High falutin' accusations of being ‘reformist’ are in the air. Apparently, fighting to get us a voice through voting rights is just playing the system’s game.
In less public discussions, cynicism has ruled supreme. Being an all-lifer nick, Shepton Mallet contains decades of collective memories and the most common view has been that cons … "just don't stick together like we used to". There is a little truth in this but, not unusually, memory is faulty - prisoner solidarity always was sporadic and temporary. In truth, there never was a ‘Golden Age’ of resistance.
Perhaps some people have the hump because they are embarrassed at being challenged to stop bitching and start acting? If every person who collars me to moan actually did something positive to change their lot then the prison system would be revolutionised within months. As it is, I'm calling their bluff … stop whining and start organizing!
Many people think that even trying is a waste of time and effort. These people are the very reason the system screws us over in so many different ways; defeatism is a nasty, self-¬fulfilling attitude. It is a cancer that rots away at individual dignity and self-respect. As soon as we begin to buy into the crap staff feed us then we become lost souls.
Until the Association wins the legal right to organise nationally, all that is possible is devious political manoeuvrings and playing a cheer-leader role. And I am persistently playing footsie with lots of helpful forces behind the scenes. Progress is slow, but I also feel that progress is inevitable.
Over the past few months I have formed a tentative conclusion - that mass action means asking people to support each other, and that so many cons have no interest outside of heir own concerns. Instead of bemoaning the lack of solidarity, we could harness it and use that selfish focus to move matters along.
If each con just looked to his own concerns and fought his own corner then that would be a vast improvement on the present situation. Because whilst many of us do selfishly only worry about our own problems, the hard truth is that this only occasionally translates into any sort of action. Individuals just aren't fighting their own corner; let alone standing shoulder to shoulder with their neighbours.
What can be done? What should people do, as individuals? The first thing is to look into themselves and find some dignity. Without some belief in their own value as human beings, then nothing can happen. Don't be defined solely by your crime; we are all more than the sum of our criminal records.
With dignity comes the realisation. that you deserve not to be treated like a muppet and find the strength to say so to the next screw who speaks to you like a piece of crap. Opening your mouth is such a small, seemingly irrelevant, thing to do - and yet so many of us can't even do that. We defeat ourselves with our silence; we allow ourselves to be screwed over and then complain about it.
I even meet people who are proud that they have never put in a complaint, even after 20 years. Unbelievable! That this doesn't stop them moaning in private just gets my goat. If we refuse to do even the smallest thing to resist being messed about, then we can hardly complain in the future.
Refuse to be spoken to like an idiot. Stock up with complaint forms and chuck in one a week - it's not as if there's a shortage of problems. Refuse to be fobbed off with crap work, put it on their toes; will packing hairnets or breaking CD's help your resettlement? Dig your heels in over psychology courses; get the BPS Code of Ethics and make them prove the courses work.
Don't think that these things will revolutionise anything, because they won't. In themselves, they are small things. They have their significance in how they will make individual cons feel, in the way that they will teach us that we don't just have to sit back and accept whatever is dished out. They will show people that they don't have to act like mindless toys.
Only when individuals grow a sense of self-belief that they can act, through these small ways, will they begin to band together and organise in big ways. Be selfish today and fight your own corner, and tomorrow we will stand together. Only when we develop the will to resist as individuals can we then resist as a generation.
* Ben Gunn is currently resident at HMP Shepton Mallet
2 comments:
Got to be a top Novel and film in the making here.
I just hope that a home secretary is not afraid of this and releases Ben.
How come a politician subject to all that a politician is subject too in order to keep his job can overrule a politically impartial judge?
Well argued case.
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