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[Poem]All for the show?
I cannot sleep for the wounds are too deep.The metaphorical bleeding from my heart, so weak.It’s been ripped and torn and now it’s time to mourn.I’m changed forever now I’ve been attacked by thorns. You know this isn’t right, this is purely spite.Now it’s round my neck it’s a chain so tight.I hope you know…
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[Poem] A virus
There’s a virus in here which spreads like a madnessof uncontrollable voyeuristic joy at other peoples’ sadness.You can see in their eyes a furnace-like fire.I suppose it makes them feel better about their desire. It seems to me that their underdeveloped brainsgenuinely rejoice in other human’s pains.The fervour by which they devour the newsfurther perverts…
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My reaction to “Disclosure: Prisoners on the Brink”
Last Monday on BBC1 (in Scotland) I watched “Disclosure: Prisoners on the Brink”. I’m sure it’s available on iPlayer if you’d like to see it. Today, I’d like to write about how it made me feel. Firstly, it’s worth noting that it was billed as a serious piece of journalism and, indeed, it covered topics…
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Prisons – the ultimate working class places?
It seems to me that a prison is really working class. Like seriously working class. ‘d like to pick through that, today. Firstly, I’d like to make it clear that I am generally uncomfortable with class-based labels. They’ve always seemed to me to be fairly subjective categories and actually pretty meaningless. Measures such as SIMD…
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The impact of parasuicide in prison.
I wanted to write today about a very important subject, encouraged by recent events in here. Parasuicide is a term I use to describe behaviours and actions which, though falling short of death, are physically and emotionally injurious. The two main harmful activities would be self harm and attempted suicide. I appreciate the gravity of…
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Life stands still.
Have you ever seen those adverts on TV where an actor is standing still but all around them, life is speeding on as if the rest of the world is on fast forward? That is what life in prison can feel like and I’d like to explore that a little today. When I first came…
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[Poem] Why did I not?
Why did I not swim across a lock?Or climb a mountain and sing from the top? Why did I not sit in the front rowof a laugh-ut-loud comedy show? Why did not try eating blue cheese?Or go kite surfing on a strong coastal breeze? Why did I not cycle up a big hill?Or do a…
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Do prisoners do enough to help themselves?
In my articles I am conscious that I can be fairly critical of the prison system and with some good reason. However, today I’d like to consider if prisoners actually do enough to help themselves. Prisons offer many opportunities such as education, physical fitness and spiritual development. They also offer possibilities like drug taking, violence…
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Education for rehabilitation.
I was listening to the Today programme a wee while ago and Andrew Malkinson was the guest editor. If you don’t know who he is, I’d encourage you to do some research into his case. Basically, he is a totally innocent man who served 17 years following a miscarriage of justice. During the programme, he…
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All the best for 2024.
Tomorrow is Hogmanay, traditionally a time for celebration of the ending year and hope for the following one. I have spent a few Hogmanays in prison and they have now become the most significant of all of the different anniversaries inside. There are many anniversaries for prisoners – conviction date, sentencing date, date of arrest,…
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30 years behind.
Perhaps the biggest thing that happened to public sector organisations in the past 30 years is what I will call the Professionalism Revolution, referring to the modernisation of working practices and the implementation of things like service standards and performance indicators. Unfortunately, it is my experience that these modernisations have not yet reached the coal…
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What do prisoners worry about?
What an odd title for this week’s article. After all, don’t we all worry about the same things? On initial thinking, it may be assumed that most people have similar worries but, naturally, it is all dependent on context. For example, a 17-year-old, keen to go to university may worry most about the debt implications…