Part 7 (1/2)
MONDAY 20 AUGUST 2001
554 a it will take the police to close their file on the Kurds and allow me to be transferred to an open prison I heard a story yesterday about a prisoner anted to do it the other way round He put in an application to be transferred from a D-cat open prison to a C-cat - a ie but, I' a twenty-two-year sentence for murder
After five years, they moved him from an A-cat to a B-cat, which is a little more relaxed After a further twelve years they transferred him to Wayland At Wayland he becaes that affords He was also chief gardener, which allowed hiave him an income of , and the governor considered hiranted D-cat status as part ofhis preparation for returning to the outside world He was transferred to Ford Open Prison in Sussex to begin his rehabilitation
He lasted at Ford for less than a month One Saturday afternoon he absconded and turned himself in at the local police station a few hours later He was arrested, charged with atte to abscond and sent back to Wayland, where he reovernor at the ti him why he'd absconded He replied that he couldn't handle the responsibility ofa proper job and the ordered discipline of the Wayland regih walls that surrounded the prison because they made him feel safe from all those people on the outside
With less than six o before the end of his sentence, he was found in his cell with a piece of silver paper frohted ency button inside his cell to overnor wasn't sure what to do, because he knew only too well that the prisoner had never taken heroin in twenty years Only six weeks were added to his sentence and he was released a fewprison, he committed suicide
815 am Breakfast I have a Shredded Wheat and think of Ian Bothao this week that he scored 149 at Headingley and, with the assistance of Willis and Dilly, defeated Australia, despite England having to follow on In today's match, Australia lead by 314, and I assume Adam Gilchrist will soon declare, as they've already won the series and England have only scored ainst Australia once in the last hundred years
911 ae from Michael Adie, who until recently was the Bishop of Guild-ford Michael and I first met in 1969 when he was Vicar of Louth and I was the Member of Parliament for that beautiful constituency He was a ained a first-class honours degree in e Michael wants to visit me and hasdiscovered that a bishop can see a prisoner without it affecting his quota of fortnightly visits
I suggest to Margaret, the prison chaplain, that for Michael to enerous spirit, but it ht be wiser to wait and find out which D-cat prison they are going to transfer me to I feel sure it will be nearer London and he could then visit e back to him
12 noon Lunch When I reach the hotplate, Dale looks anxious and whispers that he has to see ently
I return to land are 12 for 2 and an Australian victory now looks certain All we can hope for now is a draw The untutored Jules thinks England can still win Bless hi cricket because he's stuck in the saramme and feel I' sentenced I leave the exercise roo in the ress
Soone teaaer hope to play at this level, and appoint iven a penalty point because a prisoner swears following one of my decisions A near riot breaks out and it's several ain What then follows is a close, well-fought match without another sord uttered When I blow the final whistle, the players on both sides all turn to face me, and swear as one
3-20 pht their way back to 107 for 2 Jules is still convinced England can win Dale visits me in my cell soon after Jules has disappeared off to education Dale warns h they have no proof, they are fairly sure that the five 20 postal orders he received last week came from me, and they've warned him that if any further monies materialize that cannot be accounted for, they'll set up a full enquiry We both agree that payments will have to cease, and with it my weekly supplies Help!350 p he has reason to believe I have been sending money in to another prisoner The officer could not have been reatly har D-cat status It is then that he asksso The officer obviously feels that Dale, at six foot three and twenty-seven stone, isme, and I don't require any protection, but if I do he will be the first person to hear about it The last thing I need is to jeopardize my D-cat, or be beaten up
I return to land are 207 for 3 at tea and Butcher is playing out of his skin Even McGrath is being regularly dispatched to all parts of the ground Could Jules be right?
430 po out into the yard every day now, not just because I need the exercise but to pick up stories fros Many of them are professional crierous and frighten- ing are a coht; but for the circuht well have held down responsible positions
Darren agrees withto an inmate a few paces ahead of us, adds, 'But not in his case'
”Why?” I ask ”Who's he?'
That's Dumbo,' he says, but offers no further explanation until we have passed him and he is well out of earshot
'In December last year,' Darren continues, 'Du the prospect of a distinctly un-h, and told hiet some money and she didn't care how Duest toy store, where he shoplifted a replica gun He then walked across the road, held up the local chemist and departed with fourteen hundred pounds in cash He returned home, handed over the ood day's work But after counting the notes, she told hiet soain leaves his hoh street, walks back into the sa the hold-up, only to find two police officers inter-viewing the proprietor Dumbo was arrested on the spot, accoed and later sentenced to eight years for robbery while in the possession of a firearm'
No novelist would dare to consider such a plot
515 plued to the television Butcher is still at the crease We both watch as Jules's prediction coland sweep to a fa run, is 173 not out This is an innings he will not be the only person to remember for the rest of his life
I feel I should point out that Jules is every bit as excited as I ao he couldn't understand a draw, let alone what a folloas, now he can't wait for next Thursday to watch the fifth and final test I do hope he doesn't expect the into my beans and chips when Mr Meanwell unlocks the cell door and asks to have a private ith ain until we are in his office and the door is closed
'You were lucky to have got aith it this tiain,' he warns me 'If you do, it could hold up your D-cat for io, wait until he's completed his sentence' I'm impressed by hoell-informed Mr Meanwell is
DAY 34
TUESDAY 21 AUGUST 2001
611am
Slept well, write for two hours
815aain It's taken me until the middle of the second week to work out that it's Shredded Wheat on Monday, Rice Crispies on Tuesday, cornflakes on Wednesday Nothing changes Everything is by rote
1000 am My induction seems to have run its course However, I rele cell tobecoun again: a new group of prisoners is being seen by a h the little meshin the door; it's not Mr Flintcroft this time, but a lookalike
1015 aulation heavy brown boots as I prepare for my first pottery lesson
Once I've left the spur I have to ask several officers and inmates the way to the Art Centre, which turns out to be on the other side of the prison
When I finally locate it, the first person I see on entering the rooe square workshop working on an abstract pastel He greets me with a smile The next person I spot is a lady who I assume must be our tutor She's around five foot six, dark-haired and dark-eyed with a warm smile She introduces herself as Anne
The first task Anne sets me is to read a pottery book and see if I come across any object I'd like to recreate I try to tell her about in to read the book as she er, a jolly West Indian (bank robber), who is doing a sculpture of the Virgin Mary She then goes across to Terry (burglar), who is rossed in e lump of clay She also has a thin wooden stick that looks like a knife without a handle, which is nue I've reached to see a head and shoulders figure of a man With the help of the wooden knife, she carves chunks off the square putty to start forin urative sculpture
As I turn et into conversation with Shaun who is rubbing his fingers into the pastel to try and give his picture a blurred 'Turneresque'
look While he chats away about which artists influence him, I subtly try to steer the conversation off art and find out why he is in prison, quite expecting his
”No, no, no,' he says 'Forgery' My ears prick up