This is a slim but large format book, with a great deal of illustrations. It takes us through early history relatively quickly; the focus is on development in prison design from the 1960′s till the present. Any reader might be surprised to see the interiors on view (so neat and clean, so drenched in light) and to see such elegantly photographed buildings too. The accompanying text is thorough rather than elegant – in fact, it’s a wee bit plodding – but there’s much carefully recorded detail here for people wanting to learn more about such a specialised yet emotive area of building design. To a more general reader, the book may surprise – and I hope, gladden. The evidence is clearly here that architects for some years now have been genuinely attempting to make prisons as pleasant as they can within the requirements of security: there is information here about the refurbishment of existing prisons as well as the design and building of new ones. These are important points to make to the general public.

So I welcome this book – but I have two worries about it. Firstly, it is not just an objective look at architecture. To quote from the Preface: “Architecture is about buildings but it is also about people – those who live in it and those who work in it.” In furtherance of this idea, we find short sections near the end of the book with titles like The Staff and The Inmates with a chatty piece about these people presented in a warmly positive light. I’m reminded of those brochures telling my children what a particular university will be like – but told by the university.  This book is partly financed by the Prison Service and it’s designed to deliver a message. The good part of that message is that prisoners are not all monsters and the staff in charge are not all sadists, but we’re also being subtly persuaded that all is well with the prison system of this country. Hence all that “drenching with light.”

Secondly, I wish the book didn’t make an underlying assumption that prisons are for other people. Prisons aren’t exotic; they shouldn’t be “a hidden world” (to quote the back cover blurb) A prison is an institution in our society much as a hospital is, and the more we try to embrace that view of the buildings described here the better. We might work in one or we might not; we might find ourselves locked up in one or we might not. You’d be surprised by the variety of people I spend my time with.

NOTE: I wrote this review WORLD OF INTERIORS while I was working as a Writer in HMP Brixton in 1999. My apologies for it not being by a prisoner, but having dug it out now, I think it has one or two useful points to make, and so here it is.

Hugh Stoddart
Managing Editor

Eminent barrister Sir Louis delivers a concise and thought-provoking analysis of the current state of our criminal justice system and he sets out, as a prominent law reformer, how it should be.  He believes, as many do, that the current version isn’t working and backs up his belief with historical statistics. He calls urgently for Parliament to rethink the way in which criminal justice is delivered and argues, again backed up with facts, that the penal system fails to be fair, humane or effective. He draws attention to the excessive use of prison sentences as a standard penalty for all offending and states that this should cease, because it fails to re-adjust offenders. In its place, he argues, should be an emphasis on some kind of restorative justice (i.e. community service or other community-based penalties.) Community is an important element in Sir Louis’ thesis: he emphasises the estrangement prisoners and ex-prisoners suffer, from their families and the communities from which they come, as a result of being imprisoned. He argues that this need not occur – and the fact that it does adds inevitably to the likelihood of such a person re-offending. He looks at previous attempts by law reformers to change the way the criminal justice system works and demonstrates that politicians and the legislature do not appreciate the potential for restorative justice, and instead focus endlessly on their bids and counter-bids, one party against another, intending to reassure society that “all is being done” to address the underpinning causes of offending. In reality all they do is lock offenders away, punishing them unnecessarily, only then to release them back into a society that rejects them.

The Penalty of Imprisonment begins with a Forward by Jack Straw, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, whom Louis Blom-Cooper formerly advised on matters relating to the prison service. Mr Straw states, in a show of advocacy for penal reform, that ‘where and when delivered, prison sentences should be two-fold: punishment and rehabilitation’ and that one should not be delivered at the expense of the other. In Chapter 4 of the book Sir Louis reminds us that on the day he took up office, Jack Straw declared publicly that he couldn’t and wouldn’t buy his way out of the crisis in the prison system. (It was in 2007 when the prison population reached 80,000 that Sir Louis was prompted to bring out this book updating his earlier lectures on reform.) The clear implication of Straw’s words was that there would be a halt to prison building – but within five months he had accepted the idea of building a new ‘titan’ prison. It would be the first of three, each to house 2500 people.

Sir Louis analyses criminal justice from the inception of the prison estate in the 1800’s to the present day catastrophe. He details the failings. He contends that prison was never meant to be the primary penal sanction it has become and in this book he continues his campaign for its dismantlement. Sir Louis chairs the Howard League for Penal Reform and was one of the founders of the Prison Reform Trust.

Gaetano Y

Alex Wheatle was our interviewee in Issue 4 (Nov 2004) and he’s made many visits to London prisons both to talk about his own life and how he finally broke through as a novelist. He’s also worked for NOT SHUT UP as one of our writer/tutors. His new novel is just out published by Serpent’s Tail and thanks to them too for speeding a copy to us. Dwain R reviews it here.

The Dirty South
By Alex Wheatle

This is a well written tale of life on the inner city streets of south London. Set in Brixton twenty years after the race riots of the eighties, it brilliantly depicts the reality of what today’s youth go through and the possibility of getting into a life of violence and crime.

The main character, Dennis, falls victim to peer pressure mainly due to his less well-off best friend, Noel who comes from a broken home. The pair go on to become drug dealing partners with the money they’ve made from robbing local shops. They begin by buying drugs from ‘Red Eye’, one of the big drug suppliers in the community. But before long ‘Red Eye’ is brutally killed. Then Noel finds out that ‘Red Eye’ is in fact his father.

Dennis and Noel attend the funeral with their families but the pair are intent on findng a new supplier so they can continue to sell drugs. They are eventually set up and robbed, and during this incident Dennis witnesses Noel being kicked to death while he is beaten and hospitalised. Dennis is then faced with a dilemma: whether to avenge the killing of his best friend or whether to let it go. This is all the more hard to deal with as Dennis knows his friend’s killer and has had previous run-ins with him in the past.

Alex Wheatle’s Dirty South is a brilliant, ‘page turning’ read encapsulating street slang and witty humour and yet still keeping with the seriousness and dangers of the ghetto lifestyle.

By Dwain R

We interviewed Caspar Walsh in Issue 7 (October 07), who at that time had recently secured a contract to write a book. The book is now about to be published and we asked David F to take a look and our thanks to publishers Headline for rushing us a preview copy.

Criminal
The story of Caspar Walsh

Criminal is based on Caspar Walsh’s own often depressing life. So why put yourself through the agony of this dark tale? Possibly for the relief you feel at the end of the book when Caspar eventually finds some happiness. This is a story that needs a relatively happy ending to balance out the depravity of Caspar’s childhood and early adult years. The book follows Caspar’s life from his birth in the mid 60’s to the end of the 90’s. It is mainly set in West London where his Dad lives, but also takes us to France and Northern Africa.

At the age of about five, preferring a life with her lover, his mother gives Caspar away to his estranged father. A strong bond between father and son develops, and is maintained through misguided dependence on crime and drugs over many years. Caspar is brought up to understand only the criminal life, and except for some time at school his early years are largely dysfunctional.

Choosing to mainly bunk off school, Caspar instead helps his father to be even more successful as a career criminal. He also spends a lot of time with Sam, his Dad’s partner, who is another strong influence on him. Following long family trips to France and North Africa Caspar finds himself steeped in a culture of drink and drugs before he is even a teenager. And this violation of his childhood continues when he finds himself the victim of systematic sexual abuse from a school porter.

Long teenage years are lived apart from his father who spends time in prison. Sam, who is from a middle class background, understands the value of education and a structured life, although she does not adopt these for values herself. She pays for periods of public school education for Caspar, until her funds run out.

On release from prison his Dad’s relationship with Sam inevitably fails, and the father and son are left alone to pursue a life of using and dealing in drugs. This life spirals out of control, and Caspar is left ill equipped for adulthood. Eventually he meets the justice system head-on and has to make a choice about how to live. After many years of mental abuse by a misguided but caring father he chooses a route of rehabilitation. It is a route that we know won’t be easy for Caspar, but early achievements in media work and employment in prisons teaching creative writing leave us feeling optimistic about his future.

The book is written in a blatantly honest and straightforward way, and with a flow that is occasionally jarred by realistic but offensive language. Caspar is depicted as naïve, both as a boy and as an adult, and it is easy to empathise with his emotional rollercoaster of a journey. Some passages of the book however, seemed too extreme even in the context of this highly dysfunctional life. Throughout we get a strong sense of the stark contrast between the life that Caspar could be enjoying and the life he is actually dragged through, by a loving father whose company he craves. Waiting for the positive ending seems to take forever as Caspar stumbles from one tragedy to another. And so when it finally arrives, it would pssibly have been more effective to give us more information and more detail. However, we are at least left feeling optimistic.

The fact that the book is largely based on real events provokes you to think about your own family relationships, and also about the support required for some of the vulnerable in our society. Overall Criminal is a book that leaves us feeling positive about people’s ability to fight chaos to achieve a sense of normality and happiness.

By David F