BEN'S PRISON BLOG - Lifer On The Loose

The first blog by a British prisoner. Variously described as being "obviously extremely intelligent" (Michael Gove), "the most interesting interview I have ever done" (Michael Portillo), and a "fully paid up member of the awkward squad" (Parole Board), I try to generate debate around the moral and political nexus that is imprisonment. Imprisoned between ages 14 to 47, released on Licence in August 2012

Saturday, April 12, 2014

The Mandela Question

Ever since I read Nelson Mandela's autobiography some questions have been floating my mind. They have not resolved themselves with the p...

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

A Legal Persecution

My friend Farah There are few more tormenting calls to receive than one from a prison payphone; especially for people who have been on...

Thursday, January 9, 2014

The Bank Thing

Having spent the morning with the Editor burying Henley and mourning, I couldn't face the empty house. Walking to the shops I bunged my...

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

A Very Fine Cat

Each time I returned home I'd call the cat as I shut the door on the world. "Henley. Henley! Idiot..." And I did just that ag...

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Bright Young Minds

Talk at Reading University on behalf of the Howard League: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vpf-lT7pL34

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Life For A Life

I have never understood the proposition that if one commits a murder, one should then be killed. Note I don't call this an argument; it...

Monday, November 11, 2013

Relationships

A common response from everyone I have ever tried to explain the nature of prison friendships to is puzzlement. Outsiders, those fort...

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Sky News

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fHWhV8ewEI Brief interview to discuss prison privileges, with a few old cell pics thrown in!

Monday, October 21, 2013

Digital Presence

Rather foolishly, I expected to be able to continue near-daily postings after my release. It has never happened; life has a nasty habit of g...

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Prisoners Votes Judgement

The Supreme Court hands down a ruling tomorrow on the long-running prisoners votes case, following the victory by John Hirst in 2005 in the ...

Lifers Struggling Through the Process

The latest article by Ben in Inside Time, the UK prison newspaper: http://www.insidetime.org/articleview.asp?a=1581&c=lifers_strugglin...

Friday, September 27, 2013

Rape By Prison Staff - Call for Information

The blogpost on rape of women in detention has had interesting effects, mostly subterranean – as is the way with anything prison related. I...

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Rape of women prisoners

I had seen the story. It peeked through the gaps in my life, between furious bouts of work, depression, stress and general mayhem. The rape...

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Any Questions?

Every few months whilst I was blogging from the other side of the wall I would throw up the opportunity for readers to ask me questions. Usu...

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About Me

prisonerben: United Kingdom; Previously known as "one of Britain's best known prisoners...he constantly questions authority and exposes the futility of the system" The Times, Ben was finally released from prison after 32 years in August 2012. Pleading guilty to the murder of a friend when he was 14 years old, he renounced violence and fought for the recognition of the inherent dignity of all human beings. As a result of speaking truth to power, he served far longer than the recommended 10 years, leading Education Secretary Michael Gove to argue that he had "been punished excessively for a crime committed as a child". One of the more intellectual of prisoner-campaigners, Ben chose to educate himself from schoolboy level to having both undergraduate and post graduate degrees. He is currently one of very few prisoners in Britain ever to attempt a Doctorate. Ben's speciality is non-violent action and the Human Needs Theory. Now on Life Licence, He is forging a career as a CJ policy consultant, writer and - as ever - campaigner.

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