For the experimentalists who crave a taste of the prison experience, I can’t do better than suggest you get locked in your bathroom. And I mean a little council house one. Chuck a mattress in the tub, balance a TV on the loo, and settle yourself in. To get a flavour of being a Lifer, your keeper will let you free at some distant, undetermined time. Oh, and have a random passer by thrown in to share that space.
But physical confinement is only part of imprisonment. Its essence is being powerless. So have your keeper tell you that your mother or child has suddenly been taken to hospital. The next opportunity to use the phone is 16 hrs away and only then if you happen to have some money in your account. Put your self thru this and you can begin, just begin, to have an understanding of the prisoner’s experience. And that understanding can only increase the quality of the penological debate.
I would try it, if only my daughters actually left the bathroom long enough.
ReplyDeleteWell if you can't do the time....
ReplyDeleteAnonymong 9.04: As I understand it, Ben not only can do the time, but he has already served 3 times the time for the crime. It's this extra punishment which is difficult to understand from outside and I would like to see some kind of justification from inside the MoJ.
ReplyDeleteI think you are very brave. I am the same age as you - with a 2 year old and a 5 year old. I am fascinated by what you are doing here and hope that you keep it up. Of course the reaction of most will not be tolerant but I am sure that eventually what you are aiming to acheive by blogging will be separated from what you did when you were 14 and recognised for its legitimacy. I'll keep reading - even if it scares me sometimes.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
ReplyDeleteI'm a member of Prisoners Families Voices and I think your blog is great Ben... Keep up the good work xxx
ReplyDelete"The penological debate..." Hrm, so which bit of your description of prison life are you wishing to debate here? The small room? The lack of fixed relese date, or being powerless?
ReplyDelete