Prison Visit

posted by Bunnery on Tue 19th Sep, 06 at 21:59:45

"I be happy t' show me Ahoy!port for pirates everywhere and invite them all t' a tankard o' grog"

erm......... Happy Talk like a Pirate Day :) 

Well - it has been quite an interesting day. Well at least it has been one that doesn't consist of watching   "To Buy or not to Buy" or City Hospital or Bargain Hunt or Cash in the Attic.(Don't even get me started on Countdown - Des Lynham is enough to send the most hardened insomniac into narcolepsy )

 Today I went to prison!!

 Yeah - they finally caught up with me for that incident with the..... ahem actually no - it was just a visit. As I have an interview next week for a job in prison libraries - the nice lady in Stafford prison thought it would be a good idea to visit one beforehand to see if I liked it. So off I went to the local Young Offenders Institution to see what it was like.

I had noticed that the name of the place had been changed to "College" and it seems that they now refer to their inmates as "trainees" - but it was still surrounded by barbed wire, high walls and CCTV cameras.

I ventured inside the gatehouse - with the photo ID that I'd been asked to bring along. That formality over I was shown a sign that warned me that if I was bringing any drugs inside - I could end up inside myself. I wondered if the Strepsills in my handbag counted as drugs...but kept quiet about them. 

They then asked me to hand over my moblie phone and any chewing gum I may have. I did happen to have a pack - so they were taken away and locked up. I didn't really know why the chewing gum was taken - until the librarian in there told me that it wasn't allowed for the same reason that blue tack wasn't - they could be used to take impressions of keys with! ingenious - I hadn't thought of that. I'm obviously not a criminal mastermind!!

I was then escorted though various corridors - each one had huge metal gates that had to be unlocked and then locked again behind us as we progressed to the library. 

It was a small glass-fronted room and I was quite surprised by the books - they seemed to be aimed at a very much younger age group than were actually in there - but it was explained to me that the average reading age is  5-11.  There was a pretty good selection of fiction though - and lots of sci-fi. many graphic novels too, which are becoming popular in  mainstream school libraries as well. They are allowed to order books too - if they are not in stock - although the True Crime books are restricted - and the requests for books on the Cray Twins are always turned down!

They had magazines and audio cds too. Seems that trainees can earn privileges for good behaviour - like cd players and tvs in their cells. If they are very good they are allowed to wear their own clothes instead of the blue sweatshirts and grey tracksuit bottoms they all sport. I only saw one wearing anything different though.

The group in the library seemed good humoured and well-behaved enough. One had music on a little loud - but it didn't seem much different from the students we used to get in the-library. The Librarian said that if a fight broke out there was a panic button on the wall and six guards would come almost immediately. Seems she's only had 4 fights since she's been there!! She hasn't done a year yet though! 

I got taken through the workshops and saw others building brick walls and learning tiling and vehicle maintenance. Seems there is a lot of emphasis on education - as many trainees are still of compulsory school age.

Seems you get training in security when you start - and how to react if you are confronted or grabbed by the inmates. The librarian didn't seemed phased by any of this though - and she seemed to like most of "the lads" as she called them. Many are in for crimes such as graffitti or shoplifting. Although she did warn me that they did have 2 murderers and a rapist (whom she claimed was charming) - but you do get warned about them - no-one ever comes in without a guard.

I think I could cope with that. I am not sure how I would feel in an adult prison though and the thought of the female one scares me even more :-)- we'll have to see how the interview goes next Friday.

In the meantime I have a trip to the South Coast to look forward to this weekend - for a family wedding.  

The pirate speaks,"Goodnight and may your ship never sprin' a leak"