Monthly Archives: March 2020

2020 – 04 – safer custody Safer Custody: improved…? Hello friend, Whilst you will never eradicate violence – inside or outside prison – there seems to have been an improvement from earlier on last year. In fact, I wrote 3 blogs (2019-30, 31 & 32) which I’ve been waiting to post at the right time.
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2020 – 03 – why prison psychologists don’t work Why prison psychologists don’t work: don’t take my word… Hello friend, Part 2 of a very short 2-part series. This is from last month’s Inside Time: “Courses don’t work A former head of the prison service has claimed that offending behaviour courses are a waste of
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2020 – 02 – why prison doesn’t work Why prison doesn’t work: don’t take my word… Hello friend, Here’s an interesting quote ptinted in the latest SAFARI news letter – these are the words of American judge and justice reformer, Dennis Challeen (1936-2018): “Prisoners: We want them to have self-worth, so we destroy their self-worth.
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2020 – 01 – Christmas & New Year Christmas & New Year: bleurgh! Hello friend, Rubbish, rubbish, rubbish! Yeh, sure, I could make an effort but Christmas, for me, is all about being around the ones you love. I’m not looking for a surrogate family to share this special time of year. It probably doesn’t
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2019 – 81 – shakespeare Shakespeare: uuuh… Hello friend, I’ve just started a Shakespeare workshop. The intention is to put on a slightly abridged version of ‘The Tempest’ – 3 hours into 40 minutes! We’re deciding on a alterative setting for the island. My favourite suggestion is a post-apocalyptic world. It would be easy to
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2019 – 80 – servery Servery: please sir, can I have more… Hello friend, Actually, I’m not bothered about ‘more’, just ‘some’ would be a start. There’s been an issue brewing with all the library and gym workers for quite some time. We work evening shifts through our association. How this works; we get unlocked
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019 – 79 – ribbon & watch Ribbon & Watch: the simplest of things (part 2)… Hello friend, On the same theme… I use an electric typewriter – a Brother AX-435 – I’ve had it for around 10 years. Every so often I have to buy a new Brother 1032 nylon ribbon. This time, the
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2019 – 78 – cotton traders 2019 – 78 – cotton traders Cotton Traders: the simplest of things… Hello friend, Here’s an example of the prison making a mountain out of ‘no hill.’ As prisoners, we are allowed to have some items in possession. In order for us to buy these items the prison have
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2019 – 77 – safer custody Safer Custody: oh the desperation… Hello friend, Here’s the latest idea to reduce violence in this prison. Outside of each wing they have a board which tells you many days that wing has gone without a violent incident. If that wing reaches 30 days of no violence they are
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2019 – 76 – politics Politics: no, no Boris Hello friend, I had to throw my two pence worth – for what it’s worth. The knee-jerk reaction by politicians to the recent terrorist incident in London was predictable nonsense which stoked the misinformation about former prisoners and the danger they pose. Of course, they initially
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