I’m actually excited to share how things are in here. 

Before I came into prison, I had all of those ideas about what prisons are like but very few of my preconceptions have proven to be accurate. For example, I had thought that a prison would be run on a military spec timetable and routine but that simply isn’t true. They manage to achieve something truly impressive – enough of a routine to make it inflexible and unresponsive, yet not enough to actually achieve a successful outcome. Sometimes it seems to me that the Chuckle Brothers’ slightly more sensible, older cousins are in charge here.

I had not time… no, that’s not true. I didn’t choose to make time to research what a prison would be like because I did not expect to come to prison. I expected to be found not guilty because that’s what the truthful verdict should have been. I believed (past tense) in the police and court system and I had (again, past tense) faith in Scotland’s justice system because it tells us how wonderful it is and spins a narrative of how it’s the envy of the world. I believed that miscarriages of justice were very rare indeed. In reality, I think they are far more common than many choose to accept.

After being here for some time and speaking to many prisoners, it’s my considered opinion that maybe only 20% of prisoners are accurately convicted. I think maybe 50% of prisoners are totally innocent of criminality.

Clearly an accuracy rating of 20% is very poor. Even if I am even vaguiely accurate with these figures, it is a damning indictment of the police, the courts and, indeed, the whole legal system in Scotland.

However, and this is the real issue, people outside seem intent n looking the other way, of choosing to be bline, of burying their heads in the sand, intoxicated on their fictional narrative.

There are many problems with incorrect convictions, the most obvious of which is simple fairness. I won’t need to dwell on this point because it should be comprehensible to all. I do wish, however, to draw you to something that I will flesh out next week: Offender Behaviour Programmes are based on convictions so if only 20% of convictions are accurate then how can Offender Behaviour Programmes be as effective as they should be?

Anyway, that’s all for now. Thank you for reading my first blog article. Take care!

TSP.