Dads learn parenting skills
Dads jailed at Altcourse explored their emotions and learned how to be good parents – both inside prison and after release – on a four-week course called ‘Fathers Inside’ run by the charity SIG Safe Ground.
At their final session they invited guests, including the Lord Mayor of Liverpool, Councillor Barbara Murray, who participated in the warm-up exercises used to get these strangers to work together. They talked through life experiences that had led them to prison and discussed how to build family relationships.
The class performed a play they scripted, showing an ex-serviceman suffering from PTSD following a horrific experience in Afghanistan, and the failures of everyone to help. He ended up addicted, struggling, then in jail. It was based on the experience of a friend of one of the performers.
The men performed poems expressing suppressed feelings, which have now been published. Around the walls were sheets describing their discussions. The scheme was coordinated by Ailsa and Lynne, along with Dan, Emma, and Linda, plus visiting poet Toria Garbutt and Linda, a family counsellor and facilitator. The men were Carl, Peter, Darren, Daz, Michael A, Kyle, Lee, Michael D, Craig, Imran, Ste, and Nathan – and whilst Daz was unable to attend on the day, he was a key part of the team.
Clink, Clink! Brixton restaurant toasts survival
A groundbreaking restaurant which welcomes members of the public inside a jail for gourmet meals prepared by prisoners has escaped the threat of closure. After a bidding process ordered by the Ministry of Justice, The Clink Charity won a new five-year contract to operate its eatery in the old Governor’s house at HMP Brixton.
The announcement last month came as a relief for the charity, after it had been forced to close three of its four prison restaurants – at High Down, Styal, and Cardiff – in recent years. The Clink trains prisoners to work in catering and hospitality after release.
I swear it wasn’t me, it was the otters
A high-value theft from inside a prison is under investigation – but it seems prisoners are not to blame. Eleven koi carp, a famously expensive ornamental fish, went missing over two occasions from a pond at Hydebank Wood in Northern Ireland, which holds women and young men.
Jon Burrows, an Ulster Unionist Party politician, asked whether inmates might have been involved, saying: “For 11 carp to simply vanish over two occasions is simply strange. Also, were prisoners responsible for feeding these fish? … I would be concerned that these fish may have been stolen, given their potential value.”
But Naomi Long, Northern Ireland’s Justice Minister, dismissed the idea, saying: “After discussion with relevant agencies, it is believed that a predator such as a mink, heron or otters may have taken them, as they have been seen in the area.”
She admitted the pond lacked CCTV or netting. The most expensive-ever koi carp was sold at auction in Japan for £1.4 million in 2018.
texts threatening her children so she could claim in her defence that she was forced to commit the crime. The 40-year-old, who worked in the prison’s education department, was jailed for five years and two months at Sheffield Crown Court for possessing cocaine and ketamine with intent to supply.
• At HMP Hewell, a female officer used her access to prison computers to check on the wellbeing of her boyfriend who was serving a sentence in HMP Birmingham. She then convinced two women to visit him, smuggle cannabis in with them, and get him to swallow it. When they tried it for the third month running, he could not swallow the drugs and they were caught. All three women are awaiting sentencing.
• A 45-year-old former officer was cleared of misconduct in a public office, having taken a former inmate to a pub where other officers were gathering after they had begun a two-month relationship. She met the man whilst he was detained at HMP Humber, where she worked. She told the others in the group having lunch that he was a contractor. Letters between the two were submitted in evidence, as well as a request for a transfer that the man had submitted to the prison. She told the jury in her trial that their relationship did not begin until she had resigned from the Prison Service, and the jury unanimously found her not guilty.
A Prison Service spokesperson said: “The overwhelming majority of Prison Service staff are hardworking and honest, but as these cases show, we will always take robust action when officers fall below our high standards.”
Serco remains in charge
Serco Group PLC has been awarded a new £500 million, 12-year contract by the Ministry of Justice to manage HMP Dovegate in Staffordshire. The company has operated the category B men’s prison since 2001, but the renewed contract was issued following ‘a competitive procurement process’. The contract included new delivery centers for education and additional job opportunities.
Stabbed by the son he never knew
A man serving a prison sentence in HMP Perth was attacked by a man he had never met before, only to find out later it was his own son committing the assault.
The 25-year-old attacker was serving a sentence in Perth when he found out that his father, who he had never met, was on the same wing. He had been told by his mother that the man had inflicted violence on her, and so resolved to take revenge. In July this year, he attacked him and slashed him with a knife.
The High Court in Edinburgh heard that whilst the older man knew he had a son from the woman, he had never met him and had no idea that he might be in prison. When the father walked into the son’s cell to ask to borrow a cup to have a drink, the son attacked him without hesitation.
The attacker pleaded guilty to attempted murder. Gordon Martin KC, defence solicitor advocate, told Judge Lord Renucci that his client’s motivation was the account his mother gave him of the alleged abuse carried out when his client was a baby. The attacker is due to be sentenced on 9 January, after the judge asked for further reports.
Big Hoose gets listing as closure looms
Barlinnie prison in Glasgow, known locally as the Big Hoose, has been granted Category A listed status, meaning its structure is likely to be preserved after it ceases to be used as a jail.
The prison, which opened in 1882, has recently been condemned by inspectors for its “wretchedly poor state”. Its 1,300 residents are set to be moved to a new purpose-built jail, HMP Glasgow, which is under construction and due to open in 2028 at a cost of around £1 billion.
Historic Environment Scotland, the agency which awarded the listing following a public consultation, said its decision “will ensure that what makes this building special can be considered in any decisions about its future”.
The Category A listing means that Barlinnie has been recognised as one of Scotland’s most significant structures. The listing covers the oldest surviving parts of the establishment including five accommodation halls, the chapel, the former infirmary and store building, the gatehouse, work sheds, and surviving parts of the early boundary wall.
Woman choked on underwear
A coroner last month criticised the detention of people in prison when they should be in secure mental health units, after a woman died from choking on a piece of underwear at HMP Bronzefield.
Diana Grant, 42, was on medication for paranoid schizophrenia when, in November 2021, she stabbed her mother three times at home. She was arrested for attempted murder and remanded in custody. Despite an urgent referral being made by the courts, alerting the prison to be aware of her risk of self-harm or suicide, she was allocated to a standard wing and cell at Bronzefield where she was found dead the following day.
Her mother, Annette Trotman, said: “It was a shocking catalogue of failings by state services that failed her completely when she needed their help at a point of crisis.”
Staff rang off because NHS took too long
The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) has been ordered to apologise after its staff hung up on an NHS helpline because it took too long to be answered – leaving a prisoner without medical attention.
The inmate stopped taking a prescribed medication after experiencing side effects, and asked to see a nurse. They were not seen for two weeks. Prison staff then told the inmate that since the nurse was no longer available, a call had been placed instead to NHS 24 – a Scottish service, accessed by dialing 111 – but it had been ended “due to the expected wait time”.
The Scottish Public Services Ombudsman told the SPS to apologise.
