John Ramwell

FROM ESTATE HAND TO HOSPITAL PRISON OFFICER TO GOVERNOR - 1960 TO 1997 MY TIME ON THIS SIDE OF THE BARS.

HMP PARKHURST

Dr. Geoffrey Pollitt was my Principal Medical Officer at Wakefield and he had some advisory input into the concept and eventual introduction of a Special Unit for particularly difficult inmates (as briefly mentioned above) which was due to be installed at HMP Parkhurst on the Isle of Wight. 'Sort of role that would suit you,' he told me and so with his support (he was likely wanting to get rid of me!) I got the job. It suited me fine and, with my family, we moved to the Isle of Wight and took up Island Life which suited us admirably. But I had asked that this posting contained a caveat that, after four years, I would have an expenses paid transfer back to the mainland. We did not want to retire on the Island and moving off at one's own expense would not be cheap. This was agreed upon and, in the event, I completed six years, the last two as Hospital Chief Officer Class 1 in the Parkhurst Prison Hospital where Dr. David Cooper was my Principal Medical Officer. He was a well respected psychiatrist and he, like the rest of the hospital staff, had their time cut out caring for the range of medical and psychiatric cases that presented.

The Special Unit was to be a prison within a prison. We took over one of the complete wings, C Wing and became known as the 'C Wing Special Unit.' The relationship between the Prison and the Unit was crucial and was not always an easy one. We were blamed for foisting our prisoners on to the main prison which was very true as the Unit Doctor and I visited the prisoner who had been submitted as a possible candidate in his home establishment to ensure he fitted our criteria. It was said that it was easier to get into Eton College. The problem came when occasionally we had to make use of the main prisons' Segregation Unit. One of our more notorious inmates was Charles Bronson - not his real name. Bronson was a real handful though initially he behaved himself and it was some weeks before we had to move him out to the main prisons' Segregation Unit. Here he continued to play up and he even managed to climb on to an adjacent roof. The Governor at the time was John Marriott. 'You brought him into this prison, you can go and sort him out.' Not one of my easiest assignments! Fortunately - or maybe unfortunately - I had known Bronson since my time at Oxford. As a young man he was in the throes of robbing Burtons, The Tailors when he set off the alarm. Police arrived in quicktime but found no trace of him until they brought in the dogs who sniffed him out. He was stood in the window posing as a mannequin. He had even come prepared by being dressed in his suit; part of his escape strategy. I knew him under his original name. I haven't read his book but have it in my library and scanning through it I see no reference to his name change. He was certainly a 'colourful' character.

C Wing Special Unit came from the recommendations of the Control Review Committee which considered the management of the long-term prison population.One of their considerations was that of long-term prisoners who present serious control problems. It was clear that these inmates took up a large amount of management and staff time that could be better employed looking after the majority of their population and so the strategy of placing 'all bad eggs in the one basket' took hold. As I mentioned earlier,this concept was being successfully applied in the Dutch Prison Service and Chris Gibbard, the designated Governor, Sue Evershed, our psychologist and I made a visit to Holland as part of our preparation prior to opening. It was forward thinking and educational and we came away determined to use many of their ideas.

Our first 'client' was from Parkhurst Prison itself, Eddie Wilkinson or 'Unsteady Eddie.' He was crippled from polio as a child. We were excited about actually opening the Special Unit to its' first 'customer' when I got the message he was refusing to budge. He had no intention of being transferred to a 'nutters unit.' After some bribery and cajoling he agreed to give us a try. Not a very auspicious beginning. Eddie had a very depressing history as did most of our inmates. My office was located in the inner sanctum of the unit and out of bounds to prisoners. One time I looked up from my desk and there stood Eddie. I could have pushed the panic button but instead I invited him to sit down and have a chat. Of course boredom is the ever present condition in prisons and I was doubtless bored myself and welcomed a chat. What followed was a most distressing story told in a very matter of fact way. I knew Eddie's story. It was part of my job to know the story of every prisoner we had in the Unit but to hear the sad and horrendous tale of child abuse endured during his young life as described to me by Eddie was memorable to say the least, made more so by his story being totally believable and without any attempt to gain sympathy or understanding.

The success of this Special Unit was important to the Home Office and we had frequent visits from their officials. One such was Tony Butler, a man for whom I had the greatest regard and who became one of our major advocates. We also had to attend frequent meetings in London and so we remained under the spotlight being fairly tightly scrutinised. Several formal reports were produced, the first major one being submitted covering the the first two years of our existence which consisted of three papers focusing on different aspects of the Parkhurst Unit's work: a detailed descriptive account by the prison psychologist who was part of the unit's management team; a psychiatric study of inmates which was commissioned from the Institute of Psychiatry; and an evaluation of the unit by a leading criminologist.

Writing this Memoir prompted me to look up the C Wing Special Unit on the internet. Here you will find the Home Office Study, all 150 pages of it is Research Study No. 122 entitled, 'Managing Difficult Prisoners: The Parkhurst Special Unit.' I found it interesting but I give you a health warning; it is hardly bedtime reading unless you're an insomniac. It will have you nodding off in minutes. To help I will cut to the chase. From the 150 pages of the Study I quote one small paragraph that caught my eye...

"These men are all on the verge of mental illness or have histories of psychological disturbances or failure to develop normally. They have all been subjected to the normal prison routines of punishments for dealing with their misbehaviour and these haven't worked. They therefore need to be treated differently, and it is probably best to regard them as rather like over-grown children who need to be taught to grow up. It follows crucially from this that in tolerating conventionally unacceptable behaviour the officer it NOT sacrificing his authority, but is exercising it in a higher form. He still has his formal powers, but he can be more effective acting as an educator than as a disciplinarian."

It occurred to me that this paragraph sums up the need for adequate staff training leading to a professionalism of staff at all grades who have to deal directly with prison inmates. My information - which is public knowledge - is that recruitment and allocation of staff to our penal institutions, both public and private, does not include sufficient training in such as the sensitive and meaningful handling of difficult prisoners. Training for security of prisons and their inmates is one thing. The evidence is that they are getting this right. Security is now pretty effective and technology, of course, has played its part. We all know that how staff handle and relate to prisoners is also fundamental to security 'in the round' as it relates to the control and management of them. Good and fair treatment provides for a settled regime as it also provides for good intelligence leading to the prevention of incidences.

Which all begs the questions: is there sufficient staff training in the area of managing difficult and damaged prison inmates in todays prison service and are there sufficient staff to even take up this training? I admit to being rather dilatory in maintaining any interest in the Unit once I had left to take up the post of Deputy Governor at a northern young offenders institute in 1992. At this time Fresh Start was bedding in and several high profile escapes occurred leading to a three line whip to Governors to make security their first, second and third priority. This mandate did not prevent a successful escape bid from Parkhurst with the escapees’ making it as far as a local airfield. The Governor (for whom I had enormous respect) left under a cloud; in truth, more of a raging thunder storm. The then Home Secretary, Michael Howard, had had a distinct sense of humour failure!

Parkhurst Prison was downgraded to a Cat.B establishment. This downgrading was, in the view of many, long overdue. I recall tourists pouring from coaches to peer, often with binoculars, from the adjoining hillside which provided an aerial view of the whole prison. I was tempted to 'do a moonie' but thought this could be seen as being a rather undignified thing to do whilst in HCO's uniform in the middle of a prison exercise yard!! I resisted the temptation and probably saved my job and pension.