Strangeways

Monday 9th May saw the first of a three part fly-on-the-wall documentary on ITV 1 about HMP Manchester, but better known as 'Strangeways'. You will recall that this monster Victorian jail was almost completely destroyed in 1990 during the longest prison riot in British history. It's now one of only eight maximum security Cat A prisons in England and as the film shows only too clearly, can be a very scary place indeed. 

I understand that the viewing figures for this first episode were quite high which I guess proves that the general public have a fascination with what goes on behind prison walls. This can only be a good thing, especially if it helps to dispel the myths about life being cushy. Yes I know this is a Cat A prison, but it also acts as a 'local' and therefore takes all sorts, including low risk remand prisoners. The graphic scenes of slashing and extreme self harming are the worst I've ever seen and serve to illustrate just how many prisoners have significant mental health issues and should by rights be in secure psychiatric units instead. The trouble is that there are so many seriously disturbed prisoners, it's quite difficult to arrange section 47,48 or 53 transfers to hospital under the Mental Health Act. Hopefully this situation will improve as part of Ken Clarke's plan for reducing prison numbers expected to be published next month. 

The 'wedding' has to be one of the saddest parts of this episode and I take my hat off to the Deputy Superintending Registrar for trying to inject a bit of dignity and normality into what looked a pretty dire situation to me. But the main participants seemed happy enough, which is the main thing. Goodness knows what the children make of it all and seeing them being searched and scanned I really find unsettling, but has to be done. Actually on the topic of contraband such as mobile phones and drugs being smuggled into prisons, it's sobering to reflect that a good deal of it is carried out by prison officers themselves. A recently revealed internal Prison Service memo stated that a considerable number of staff were suspected of corruption of one sort or another (possibly in the region of 1,600) and in fact there is a dedicated Scotland Yard unit tasked with finding them. 

It was interesting to follow the fortunes of the Cat A prisoner in yellow who was waiting to be sentenced for driving a lorry found to be carrying a huge quantity of drugs. I thought his protestations as to innocence were somewhat feeble and "I only drove it for 300 quid and hope the judge will give me a walk out" appeared remarkably unconvincing to me. The judge was clearly unimpressed also as he handed down 15 years, reduced from 17. Even his reaction to the sentence seemed somewhat trite and the urgent request for a 'listener' smacked just a little of a seasoned inmate 'going through the motions'. By the way, you don't get put into 'yellow' as an escape risk without very good reason.