Was in Frank Sinatra who sang “My Way”? Whoever it was must have been talking about prisoners because, oh my word, prisoners like things to be done their way. Let me explain what I mean.

I have seen so many examples of people thinking that something should be done in a particular way and I do confess that I used to be one of them. Pretty soon, I realised that this place is a product of a liaison between a dinosaur and an oil tanker. It does things the way that it does. Nobody who cares has any power to change it and nobody who has the power cares. The result is an archaic, chaotic, inefficient and counter-productive organisation that is absurd and ludicrous. It has its ways of doing things, most of which are not open to challenge.

However the prisoners who are wedded to “My Way” find themselves butting heads with the system and they will lose out 95% of the time. One example is wearing hoods. If our jackets have hoods then we are not allowed to have them over our heads if we’re indoors so many guys want to have their hoods up – they want it their way. Of course, the staff challenge it and a confrontation ensues.

Let me be very clear about something at this point. I am not saying we should roll over and blindly comply with every whim of a figure of apparent authority. Quite the opposite is true – I think we should take the responsibility to learn the rule book, as well as other policies and processes, and when things don’t go correctly I would encourage everyone to engage with the system that the authority has put in place for us.

However, there is a middle path. An intelligent way to walk this journey. So “I should be given a job in the gardens…” Well, mate, newsflash: you haven’t been given a job in the gardens. Get over it; have a sense of abandonment. But “I’m not being given my correct visit allocation…” Ok, now it’s time to engage with the complaints system.

Of course, it may be that a person’s demand for “My Way” was a contributing factor to their offending. Maybe there’s a scientific test for “My Way”. It certainly seems to be to be particularly strong in many prisoners.

It may be about control – we get so much taken from us that prisoners want to control what we can. Well, maybe the need for control was also a contributing factor to offending.

Whatever it is, we need to be able to stand up on this ship on a stormy sea – we need to roll with many of the waves but we also need to know when to fight against the storm. We need to be thoughtful and have a calm view. Without this, we will spend every waking moment suffering.

NaN.