Special report: Prisoners and staff explain how North Sea Camp open prison prepares long-term inmates for release
By Erwin James, Guardian, Thursday 13 January 2011 18.37 GMT
Graham Batchford, North Sea Camp open prison governor, tells of long-term inmates who have never seen a pound coin. Photograph: David Sillitoe for the Guardian"You can tell who the men are who have served the longest time in the closed prison system prior to their arrival here," says Rob Webb, the deputy governor of North Sea Camp open prison, near Boston, Lincolnshire. "You see them standing over there at the end of the car park watching the sun go down over the fields. They stand there for ages. They've been locked up for so long that they've forgotten what a sunset looks like."
It is an image that immediately brings to mind my own experience of transferring to what the Prison Service describes as "open conditions" after serving almost 18 years behind high walls, steel bars and razor wire.
I remember standing on the edge of the grounds at Blantyre House resettlement prison in Kent a couple of days after I had landed and gazing out across a nearby meadow. Powerful emotions swelled inside me. I had forgotten what it was like to look into the distance.
I was released from Blantyre House more than six years ago after serving 20 years of a life sentence and on the whole have reintegrated successfully back into the real world. This week I visited North Sea Camp, which holds a prisoner population of 380, to talk to prisoners and staff about life in an open prison.
Open prisons hold a mixture of prisoners serving a few weeks or months and long-termers on anything from four years to life. Gradually introducing long-term prisoners into the outside world again is one of their most important functions. They work by helping to undermine the grip of institutionalisation, offering measures of freedom and personal responsibility that are denied in closed prisons.
The great strength of an open prison is that it operates mainly on trust. Distorted media reporting of open prison life often gives the impression that such places offer little punishment. Lurid stories of parties with smuggled-in booze and other headline-grabbing regulation breaches feed images of open prisons as holiday camps and call into question their relevance or necessity. Though without precedent, the riot at Ford open prison in Arundel on New Year's Day, which caused about £3m damage, was indeed directly linked to smuggled-in alcohol.
Described by the Prison Officers Association as a "Benny Hill" prison, Ford appeared to represent all that is wrong with liberal regimes which place huge amounts of trust and responsibility on prisoners. For me, Ford was an aberration. No doubt the two inquiries into the riot ordered by prisons minister Crispin Blunt will identify the causes. But is North Sea a holiday camp?
Paul, a quietly-spoken, personable man in his 40s in his 12th year inside for drug offences, doesn't think so. He has been in most of the country's high security jails, including Belmarsh, Frankland, Woodhill and Full Sutton. "I've been in them all," he says, "but for me, this is the hardest jail I have ever had to do. There is so much at stake."
Paul works on the prison farm and manages the fleet of 13 prison vehicles. "There is so much freedom to lose. I waited all that time to get to a place like this so I can go on home visits to see my son, yet it can be taken away so easily."
Clearly there are big incentives to behave well and use the time constructively. I asked Paul for his thoughts on the Ford riot. "I'm not going to lie to you. Open jails have a mixed clientele, if you like. You've got long-term prisoners who have a serious perspective of jail because they know what is at stake. And you've got a lot of young kids, short-termers doing six months, nine months, and they just don't care. They haven't had a taste of serious prison; they don't care if they get caught with drink and stuff. For me, open jails should just be for people who need to be resettled and need help to get used to the idea of getting out. The people who started the riot at Ford probably just had a few weeks or months to do and just didn't care."
Ali, serving four-and-a-half years, was transferred from Ford to North Sea Camp a few weeks before the riot. I asked him what life was like at Ford. Was it really awash with alcohol? "To be honest there were lots of drugs and lots of alcohol there – excessive amounts," he said. "But I think it was that, coupled with staff attitudes, that probably what caused the riot. [That] their attitude was despicable is the nicest way I can put it. Hardly any prisoners were allowed out to do community work and only a very small number were actively being resettled. The system wasn't geared to getting people back out and functioning in the community. I wasn't surprised about the riot."
As I walk around the prison I am reminded of how much there is to care about in an open regime. The prisoners I pass appear relaxed and are unafraid to make friendly eye contact. The body language is so different to that on the landing of a closed prison. People nod and smile. From almost any angle the prison looks out over open fields.
I speak to Ian, a gate officer for seven years. His views on the "clientele" echo those of prisoner Paul. "Without sounding awful there is little here for a short-term prisoner, they are not here long enough to be able to do much with them. Whereas a long-termer, you can work with and help to prepare for the outside."
Like all open prisons, at North Sea Camp there are no walls or fences to keep people in. Prisoners have keys to their rooms and everybody works or is involved in some form of education or training.
As well as producing much of the prison's food, the multi-award winning prison farm runs courses in animal care, horticulture and tractor driving. Other workshops teach vehicle repair and bricklaying and in the kitchens qualifications are available in catering. At any one time about 100 prisoners are working outside the prison in either voluntary work in the community or paid work with local companies. Groups of special needs adults and young people regularly come to the prison to use the gym, activities to which prisoners contribute. On the edge of the grounds are two semi-detached houses specifically accommodating long-term prisoners, the running of which is their responsibility. After a visit, the director general of the Prison Service described the houses as "the best example of resettlement work" he had seen.
Evidently North Sea Camp is a good example of an open prison operating as a valuable community resource.
In his office I meet the governor, Graham Batchford, who began his career as a prison officer and over 26 years worked his way through the Prison Service ranks. He is candid about his objectives and priorities. "The best use of an open prison is what we are trying to do here which is to significantly increase our indeterminate population, life sentence prisoners and IPPs [Indeterminate sentences for the Protection of the Public]. We have about 130 indeterminate sentenced prisoners here at present.
"I've got guys here who have never actually seen pound coins. One prisoner was sentenced to life in 1959. We have to help them to deal with the massive changes in society since they have been in prison.
"If you think how much the world changes in 10, 15 or 20 years, we've got many people who have been inside longer than that. Those are the prisoners that open prisons serve best. It's about reintegrating them back into the community, breaking them back into society gently."
So it is better for long-term prisoners to be released from open rather than closed prisons? "I think it is better so long as the community understands what it is we are trying to do. You have to have an open and honest approach with the local community. We have about 70 prisoners going out every day on voluntary work placements. This is about preparing people properly.
"There are very few prisoners in custody today that will never be released. Ultimately nearly everybody will be released, that is a fact, and we have to do it as safely as we can, taking into account everybody's opinions, feelings, fears and aspirations. I think it would be very dangerous and damaging to release prisoners who have served 10, 15, 20 years from a closed establishment."
Batchford smiles a lot and I sense that he is an eternal optimist. After Ford the future of open prisons may be uncertain. North Sea Camp was rumoured to be on the Ministry of Justice's list for closure. How does Batchford see the future? "I've always enjoyed my job," he says. "Nothing is certain. But my glass is always half full, not half empty."
Related content...
Guardian, Tuesday 18 January 2011
Open prisons are a key part of resettlement
The problems identified in the Independent Monitoring Board's report on HM Prison Ford are longstanding (Ministers were warned over security at riot prison, 14 January). In 2008 the chief inspector of prisons found: "The prison's extensive perimeter made night supervision extremely difficult. This contributed to the smuggling in of alcohol, especially at night, which had become a significant problem." However, that report also pointed to the need for improved management and a minority of staff who were negative. It concluded that Ford has a great deal of potential and many good and committed staff.
Open prisons have a vital role in a prison estate coping with a huge increase in numbers. They are an essential stage in resettlement, requiring careful selection, preparation and supervision, together with a range of effective links to community resources. Instead of rushing to judgment, the current review provides an opportunity to take stock of the development of category D prisons and to further enhance their contribution to public safety.
Geoff Dobson
Deputy director, Prison Reform Trust
Your report concerning the function of an open prison will have caused much dismay among students in the closed prison system (The truth about life in an open prison, 14 January).
You quote Graham Batchford, the governor of North Sea Camp, as saying: "I think it would be dangerous and damaging to release prisoners who have served 10, 15, 20 years from a closed establishment." This is political claptrap. I was released in the 1990s from HMP Frankland to the English department at Nottingham University. On behalf of all those prisoners hoping to study one day, I write to say that Governor Batchford would do well to remember WB Yeats: "I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you tread on my dreams."
Thomas Ryder
Nottingham
No comments:
Post a Comment