This is an article Mark wrote for The Big Issue
There’s a place, and it really does exist, which has four political parties. Each one stands for a different aspect of social reform. Each one agrees wholeheartedly with the aims of the others. All four work together for the greater good without political infighting or the usual point-scoring shenanigans. No, don’t pack your bags. You don’t want to go there. And the people who live there just want to get out.
When I visited recently, the sound of metal doors slamming shut behind me, bolts clanging and the rattling of the guards’ key chains, brought back enough unpleasant memories to make my hair stand on end. I had to keep reminding myself that these days no sadistic guards were about to beat me up. I served time, but never at Guys Marsh prison in Dorset. Today, I was here to watch a small revolution in action. It’s called the Prison Council and it’s one of about twenty initiatives which are giving offenders a voice for the first time and might, just might, be a hint that something’s changing in the stony heart of our mighty, steel-clad Criminal Justice System.
“We’re a community here, staff and inmates together, not just an institution. The council is about residents playing a role in their community. I took as my example inner-city problem housing estates, plagued by drugs and anti-social behaviour. The estates which have managed to turn things around are the places where the residents decided they don’t want any more violence or drugs. Change is only possible when the community itself wants and calls for change.”
Who’s that talking about communities? Surely not someone who’s spent a lifetime running institutions? Like, say, a prison governor? But yes, it’s the enlightened voice of the man who runs Guy’s Marsh, Barry Greenberry. Every governor has a huge headache these days and if you’re a law-abiding member of the public who doesn’t give much thought to life in jail you might be surprised to hear about it.
It’s this. Quite a lot of prison inmates are off their heads quite a lot of the time. Our jails are turning into crack houses. When I was inside I sweet-talked friends, relatives, even my friend’s mum for God’s sake, into smuggling me drugs using their orifice of choice. These days everyone’s doing it despite sniffer dogs, body searches and nasty reprisals. Drugs seep through the walls and governors have proved powerless at stopping this osmosis. And there are other things, too, which governors have always had to deal with: cruelty, violence, bullying, indifference, the same faces arriving through the doors again and again… It’s governors’ desperation which is taking them away from institutional thinking and into ideas about communities and prison councils.
But let’s not get too carried away. Barry Greenberry adds: “Don’t start thinking the council is about introducing free democracy. It isn’t. It’s about this community taking some responsibility for itself. I was looking for a safe way to do that which wouldn’t threaten the traditional and legitimate authority of the staff.”
Actually, it’s the role of the staff which is crucial to the new voice of prisoners at Guy’s Marsh. The prison council places inmates and guards on an equal footing for once: they can all stand for election, join a party, vote, express their views. Elections take place each November. Candidates canvass on behalf of one of four well-designed political parties and just choosing which one you believe in most gets you thinking about the system and your part in it. Which is the whole idea.
The Respect party is about the prison’s first rule: treat others as you wanted to be treated and that includes officer/inmate interaction. The Partnerships party supports better links with the outside world: families, local councils, employers, the public. The Resettlement party concentrates on life beyond the prison gate, looking into problems like accommodation, debt and employment which, when they remain unresolved, can lead to re-offending. And the Drug Stop party… well, Barry Greenberry would like it to win an election but of course it hasn’t yet. It isn’t just about stopping drugs getting into jails, it also focuses on how the jail can deal with the addictions which come in with the sentencing.
So how much power can you give to sixteen men, most of them offenders, at a weekly meeting? The list of achievements might not look groundbreaking to outsiders: a barber’s shop and barber training, better kitchen facilities for visitors, that sort of thing, plus the elected men spend a lot of time sorting out small problems on the wings. But more important is the debate and thinking which the council has stimulated.
I talked to four council members, raging in age from 19 to almost 60, all of them the kind of serious offenders who inspire vitriol from the Daily Mail. They were intelligent, thoughtful, articulate people. One told me: “You have to get out there and convince people what you’re fighting for. But inside the council, we’re all out for one thing, to better our lives and the lives of the men who come after us.”
Another said: “Elections are good. We go around with our flyers, talking to people about our parties and what we believe in. There’s so many good ideas out there, we want to air them. And it’s about educating the staff too, so they’re more aware of the issues around offending.”
The oldest offender told me: “Years ago you weren’t heard. There were all these issues regarding the system and the way to fight back then was to smash the place up, tear things down and cause mayhem. That was the way to make them listen. The way forward today is different. When people on the wing have concerns now they’ve got someone to speak to. I can either take it to council, or I might be able to sort it out myself before someone gets stressed and snaps.”
And listen to this. If only one man among the 600 inmates at Guy’s Marsh feels this way, then the council’s done something big: “Being on the council has changed me. It’s changed my attitude to prison. I’m representing myself for the first time, and for the first time I’m doing something which is a bit rewarding. I’m helping other people.”
