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Authors: Jeffrey Archer
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release papers burned in front of him.
There’s a
lookout posted at the end of the spur, and the nearest officer is in the unit
office at the far end of the corridor, reading a paper, so you can be sure the
humiliation will continue until he begins his right rounds.
When I return
to the hospital, I tell Doug the name of the prisoner involved. He expresses no
surprise, and simply adds, ‘That boy won’t see the other side of forty.’
10.30 pm
Returning to my
room, I pass Alan (selling stolen goods) in the corridor. He asks if he can
leave a small wooden rocking horse in my room, as his is a little overcrowded
with two inmates. He paid £20 for the toy (a postal order sent by someone on
the outside to the wife of the prisoner who made it). It’s a gift for his
fourteen month old grandson.
As I write this
diary, in front of me are several cards from well-wishers, a pottery model of
the Old Vicarage, a photo of Mary and the boys and now a rocking horse.
Alan is due to
be released in two weeks’ time, and when he leaves, no excrement will be poured
over his head. The prisoners will line up to shake hands with this thoroughly
decent man.
DAY 107 - FRIDAY 2 NOVEMBER 2001
6.19 am
Absconding is a
D-cat phenomenon. It’s almost impossible to escape from an A- or B... cat
prison, and extremely difficult to do so even from a C-cat (Wayland, for
example). In order for a prisoner to become eligible for D... cat status, he or
she must be judged likely to complete their sentence without attempting to
abscond. In practice, prisons are so overcrowded that C-cat establishments,
which are desperate to empty their cells, often clear out prisoners who quite
simply should not be sent to an open prison.
One intake of
eleven such prisoners arrived from Lincoln last year and was down to seven
before the final roll-call that night. I discovered today that because of the
chronic shortage of staff, there are only five officers on duty at night, and
two of them are on overtime, so absconding isn’t too difficult.
Prisoners
abscond for a hundred and one different reasons, but mainly because of outside
family pressures: a wife who is having an affair, a partner who takes the
children away or a death in the family that doesn’t fulfil the criteria for
compassionate leave. The true irony is that these prisoners are the ones mostly
likely to be apprehended, because the first place they turn up at is the family
abode and there waiting for them on the doorstep are a couple of local bobbies
who then return them to closed conditions and a longer sentence.
Before I was
sent to prison I would have said, ‘Quite right, too, it’s no more than they
deserve.’ However, after 106 days of an intense learning curve I now realize
that each individual has to be judged on his own merits. I accept that they
have to be punished, but it rarely falls neatly into black or white territory.
Then there’s a
completely different category of absconders – foreigners. They simply wish to
get back to their country, aware that the British police have neither the time
nor the resources to go looking for them.
For every
Ronnie Biggs there are a hundred Ronnie Smalls.
Mr New tells me
about two absconders who are part of North Sea Camp folklore.
Some years ago
Boston held a marathon in aid of a local cancer charity, and the selected route
took the competitors across a public footpath running along the east side of
the prison. One prisoner slipped out of the gym in his running kit, joined the
passing athletes and has never been seen since.
The second
story concerns a prisoner who had to make a court appearance on a second
charge, while serving a six-year sentence for a previous conviction. When the
jury returned to deliver their verdict, his guards were waiting for him
downstairs in the cells.
The jury
delivered a verdict of not guilty on the second charge. The judge pronounced,
‘You are free to leave the court.’ And that’s exactly what he did.
The reason
There’s a
lookout posted at the end of the spur, and the nearest officer is in the unit
office at the far end of the corridor, reading a paper, so you can be sure the
humiliation will continue until he begins his right rounds.
When I return
to the hospital, I tell Doug the name of the prisoner involved. He expresses no
surprise, and simply adds, ‘That boy won’t see the other side of forty.’
10.30 pm
Returning to my
room, I pass Alan (selling stolen goods) in the corridor. He asks if he can
leave a small wooden rocking horse in my room, as his is a little overcrowded
with two inmates. He paid £20 for the toy (a postal order sent by someone on
the outside to the wife of the prisoner who made it). It’s a gift for his
fourteen month old grandson.
As I write this
diary, in front of me are several cards from well-wishers, a pottery model of
the Old Vicarage, a photo of Mary and the boys and now a rocking horse.
Alan is due to
be released in two weeks’ time, and when he leaves, no excrement will be poured
over his head. The prisoners will line up to shake hands with this thoroughly
decent man.
DAY 107 - FRIDAY 2 NOVEMBER 2001
6.19 am
Absconding is a
D-cat phenomenon. It’s almost impossible to escape from an A- or B... cat
prison, and extremely difficult to do so even from a C-cat (Wayland, for
example). In order for a prisoner to become eligible for D... cat status, he or
she must be judged likely to complete their sentence without attempting to
abscond. In practice, prisons are so overcrowded that C-cat establishments,
which are desperate to empty their cells, often clear out prisoners who quite
simply should not be sent to an open prison.
One intake of
eleven such prisoners arrived from Lincoln last year and was down to seven
before the final roll-call that night. I discovered today that because of the
chronic shortage of staff, there are only five officers on duty at night, and
two of them are on overtime, so absconding isn’t too difficult.
Prisoners
abscond for a hundred and one different reasons, but mainly because of outside
family pressures: a wife who is having an affair, a partner who takes the
children away or a death in the family that doesn’t fulfil the criteria for
compassionate leave. The true irony is that these prisoners are the ones mostly
likely to be apprehended, because the first place they turn up at is the family
abode and there waiting for them on the doorstep are a couple of local bobbies
who then return them to closed conditions and a longer sentence.
Before I was
sent to prison I would have said, ‘Quite right, too, it’s no more than they
deserve.’ However, after 106 days of an intense learning curve I now realize
that each individual has to be judged on his own merits. I accept that they
have to be punished, but it rarely falls neatly into black or white territory.
Then there’s a
completely different category of absconders – foreigners. They simply wish to
get back to their country, aware that the British police have neither the time
nor the resources to go looking for them.
For every
Ronnie Biggs there are a hundred Ronnie Smalls.
Mr New tells me
about two absconders who are part of North Sea Camp folklore.
Some years ago
Boston held a marathon in aid of a local cancer charity, and the selected route
took the competitors across a public footpath running along the east side of
the prison. One prisoner slipped out of the gym in his running kit, joined the
passing athletes and has never been seen since.
The second
story concerns a prisoner who had to make a court appearance on a second
charge, while serving a six-year sentence for a previous conviction. When the
jury returned to deliver their verdict, his guards were waiting for him
downstairs in the cells.
The jury
delivered a verdict of not guilty on the second charge. The judge pronounced,
‘You are free to leave the court.’ And that’s exactly what he did.
The reason
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