First Days in Prison – D.H

I got in the sweat box and it took about two hours to get to lovely Lancaster farms. When I got here I got out of the sweat box and walked into the reception area. Where I sat in a room until they were ready to take my details and they called me out and asked for my details and then they checked my property and asked what I wanted to keep and if I wanted to throw anything away and asked if there was anything that was worth a lot of money. After they had done that they told me to stand behind a curtain where they strip searched me and gave me some other clothes. After I had that all done a nurse from the hospital wing came and saw me. He just wanted to know how I felt about being in prison for the first time. When I was finally finished they took me to the induction wing.

When I got to the induction wing the nurse left me with one of the screws and he told me to take a seat until he got some leaflets for me. When he came to me with the leaflets I had to sign some of them and the rest he said I had to read but I didn’t listen to him and I threw them into the bin when he sent me to my pad. I was hardly in my pad and he came back and said I was getting moved to the hospital wing. He told me it was to keep an eye on me in case I tried to harm myself.

Well when I got to the hospital wing another nurse took me into the office and asked the same questions and then locked me in my pad until morning. I got let out in the morning for my breakfast and after breakfast I got banged up for about half an hour and the nurse came again asking more fucking questions.

After three days on the hospital wing they moved me again back onto the induction wing and while I was there there was about twenty other people who came to see me asking what I wanted to do when I got out, or where I wanted to live, all that kind of shit, pretty boring and annoying considering that I am getting lifed off – know what I am saying?

Well when ya want to sue the phone they only give you ten minutes sometimes or if the two landings are out you mightn’t even get to use the phone which is pretty shit I think but not much I can do about it apart from get used to it. The visits are shit as well because you only get one hour and they should allow you more time on a visit I think especially if your family come to visit because if you’re sentenced you’re only allowed two visits a month – shit really but that’s jail life for ya. The routine is shit because they wake you up at half seven and ya don’t get breakfast till nearly half eight and when ya do get out they only give about ten minutes to eat it and then ya get banged up until 8.50 and then if ya put down for work they let you out. And ya finish work about 11.40 and ya walk back to your pad and ya get bang up until lunch and ya get out about 12.05 and they give ya about 25 minutes to eat it and after that ya get bang up until 1.40 and they let you out to go to work and ya finish about 4.30, ya walk back to your pad and your locked up until tea and ya get out about 5.30 and ya get about half an hour to eat it and ya get banged up again until about 6.30 and they let you out for assoc.

Well what I think of Lancaster Farms is its shit full stop.

Prison Life – J.Q

When I got sentenced to nineteen years my whole world collapsed. It didn’t feel real at first. I remember standing there motionless waiting for someone to turn to me and say “ha ha, jokes over, you can go now!” But in reality I couldn’t go and it was no joke.

I remember the judges’ final words as if it was only yesterday “for this terrible crime in which you have shown no mercy whatsoever you shall re-live your life span imprisoned. The sentence which I must pass upon you shall be nineteen years before being eligible for parole”.

So now here I am serving time in Lancaster Farms, whilst the rest of the world is totally oblivious to what happens inside Her Majesty’s residence. Well until now that is…this is my story so far!

My First Time in Prison – L.M

My first time in prison and let me tell you what it is all like.

People say it’s like a holiday camp. Well when you get into reception you are stripped and made to have men look at you twice. Then you are given horrible food, for example veggie burger and rock hard spuds.

You go straight from reception to the wing and made to go on bang-up; this is where you are behind your door in a cell 4 by 2 metres with a thin mattress, a sheet as a blanket and a TV.

All night you get window warriors who are at there windows all night shouting.

After a few days you get letters. Now these are most private things between you and a loved one. You get your letters after they have been opened and read. Then comes the visits where you are watched every second but you and your partner can’t touch each other or it will be terminated. But the last bit of your dignity has been took of you because your family and loved ones have to be searched and then depending on how they are feeling you get another strip search when you go back to the wing. By this point you’re bound to be upset but the screws on the wing don’t give a fuck, they just tell you to get behind your door and that’s more bang up.

It takes a week for your first canteen sheet because you have been swapping from wing to wing but when you do get it your canteen sheet is all crap shit for high prices – talk about being ripped off!

After a few weeks you get into the role of things and you start going to education and it is the only thing that you have going for you, the only thing that takes you away from your troubles.

Being inside you loose everything and the only thing you really have to keep in contact with loved ones is the pin phone and the screws give you five minutes to speak to loved ones.

All in all jail is a horrible place and you don’t ever want to end up here. It takes every thing and everyone you love and it chews them up and spits them out and just hurts you more than you have ever been hurt.

My Past Story – K.H

My earliest memory of childhood is when I got adopted. I was two and a half years of age at the time. I can still remember leaving my brother and sister behind with the social workers. It was really upsetting for me and my sister to leave our mother behind.

We arrived at our new house. I don’t remember much about the house except that it was in Lockerbie. I remember seeing my new brother and sister for the first time. We didn’t really get on at first but we had to get sued to each other.

I think that I suffered the most between me and my sister. I can remember hitting her, but she got her revenge when she pushed me down the stairs.

It wasn’t long before our social worker came to see if we had settled down. I can remember them playing games with all of us. They were really nice to us; it was because of them that my brothers and sisters became close friends. We learned to play and love each other.

It wasn’t long after we settled in that we moved to a village just outside of Lockerbie; that was where we met our new grandparents. They were really nice people and they made us feel really welcome.

Since my adoption I have asked myself, who are my parents, what do they look like, do they still live in Stranrear?

I have many questions that need answered, only I can find the answers. I already know that I have a brother and two sisters, one of which was adopted with me. I would really like to find both my parents, it will be hard because they are no longer together. I would really like to find my brother and sister. It would be great if I found them because they mean the world to me. I really miss my mother even though I don’t remember much about her. I don’t remember anything about my father, but from what I have heard he left my mother before I was born. I would really like to find them all because they are my family and they are all I have got.

Summer 1996 – K.H

It was the summer of 1996, my brother and I were outside playing football when our mother came outside and called us indoors. When we were inside she told us to go upstairs and pack some clothes, none of us knew what was going on, but we knew that it wasn’t very good so we got on and did as we were told.

Once we were ready we were told we were going down to London to see our Great Grandmother who wasn’t very well. I was really worried about her because we had such a good relationship and I loved her to bits.

We set off to London at two thirty in the afternoon. It would take us roughly ten hours to get there because of the busy motorways. My brothers and sisters slept mot of the way to London, but I couldn’t because I can’t sleep whilst travelling in a car and I was really worried about my Great Grandmother.

When we arrived in London I couldn’t believe how big it was. I had never been there before so I didn’t realise how big it really was. It had been a long time since our mother had been to London so she couldn’t quite remember the way to her house. We eventually got there to find that our Grandparents and our Aunty Beth and Heather were already there. When we went inside we saw our great grandmother sitting in her usual chair under the window. She didn’t seem any different to me but I didn’t yet know how badly ill she really was.

Later in the day my sister Charlie and I were told that we would be going to stay with Aunty Beth and heather in Aylesbury. We were quite pleased because it would have been crowded if we were all to stay there.

We had only been there a few days when Aunty Beth received a phone call to say our Greta Grandmother had been rushed into hospital because her breast cancer had worsened. This was the first time that I had heard what was wrong with her, even though I knew I never knew how bad breast cancer really was.

We rushed back up to London and went straight to the hospital. When we arrived we saw that the rest of te family were already there waiting in the waiting room. My Grandfather and brother were watching the world cup on television, so I went to join them whilst my two aunts went to see how our Great Grandmother was doing.

It wasn’t long after the football match had finished that the rest of the family came out of the ward and told us that our Great Grandmother had passed away. In a way they seemed relieved that’s he died peacefully and not in pain, but my brothers and I were all really upset because we all loved her and we would miss her lots.