HMYOI HINDLEY

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

I left HMP Parkhurst and C Wing Unit to take up a post at Hindley Prison in the NW of England from where I retired six years later. My Governor here was David Roberts. Over my years in the service I worked with many Governors and the best for a host of reasons was Mr. Roberts; a real gentleman. It was not until the start of the policy to privatise prisons that the Prison Officers Association became malleable. Up till this time they could be a real pain, obstructing so many projects and improvements to our system and routine. David Roberts was expert in handling (I was going to say, manipulating) the POA and I was fascinated by his ability to circumvent their, often less, than cooperative stance.

Initially on quite a steep learning curve I soon picked up the role at this remand prison for young offenders. One of my tasks was to check the accuracy of release dates. We were liable to huge compensation awards if we were late discharging a prisoner; even worse repercussions if we were too early.

My other role was that of adjudicator on prisoners who misbehaved. Most mornings I would attend the Segregation Unit to hear the case against the miscreants who had fallen foul of the prison rules. Most of the cases that came before me were fairly innocuous but occasionally they could be serious and then we would bring in the local police and further charges might well be forthcoming. Violence and serious assaults were fairly rare but all the same did happen. I admit to rather enjoying this role as judge and jury but, unless the case before me involved violence and injury, I did not take it all too seriously. I sat at the end of a long table and the accused was brought in to stand at the other end whilst the charge and evidence was put before us. 'Now, you little tinker, what have to say for yourself?' Some of the excuses were ingenious. Some were in total denial. 'Not me, Gov.' One Governor famously told a prisoner in denial that, if his staff told him he had been riding around the landing on a motorbike, he'd want to know where he got the petrol!

The important element here was that the officers felt supported by the adjudicating governor so, in truth, denials were never going anywhere and it was our job to see that the punishment fit the crime. The alternative might well be that a lad would get a 'thick ear' rather than being placed on report for misbehaviour. Not the way to go though I am not that naive to believe it might have occurred from time to time but Officers were aware that their job was at stake and circumspection prevailed.

We looked after young men from both Manchester and Liverpool and, until Lancaster Farms Prison came on stream in 1993, which took those from Liverpool, we had a wicked job keeping them apart. Any chance at all and they would be at each other’s throat and this extended to their families and friends who visited. I was duty governor one weekend when all hell broke loose in the open visits area as the two sides battled it out with furniture and handbags flying in all direction. Police back up was necessary which included the police helicopter overhead. 'Oh, me nerves!'

I was unlucky with my weekends as duty governor. One time we had a bad fire and the Fire Brigade had to attend. It was all getting very tense as the situation was being used to also fire up the animosity between the Liverpool lads, the 'scousers', and the Manchester lads. An official from the Fire Service, a small man in mufti and wearing a cloth cap, strode across the yard in a very determined fashion and with one voice from the wing housing the scousers came, 'Left, Right, Left, Right, Left, Right.' It was all downhill from then on and the situation calmed right down.

So the foregoing just about sums up my 36 years in the British Prison Service. If I was 20 again (I wish!) then would I do it all again? An emphatic yes is the answer.