Anybody being released, ‘ghosted’ (where an inmate is transferred to another jail with little or no notice) or taken to court would have had their doors opened at 7.30am so there was no mixing.

The type of work varied, and there were a number of opportunities available. Other than the essential security of the prison, just about everything else is done by inmates. That includes cleaning, painting, cooking, laundry and prison industry, which brings in a little income for the prison. Prison industry could be anything from making clothing, items for charities or even CD scratching – destroying unsold copies of albums. The work was very mundane and generally, from what I saw, didn’t meet the usual health and safety guidelines. There were benefits to working – it was something to do, and even menial tasks helped to pass the time. More worrying for me was that inmates were punished if they chose not to work; forced labour is supposed to be something from the past but it’s alive today in our prisons. (Picture: Getty) The morning work session lasted until about midday, then we would be sent back to the wings to collect lunch. We were then locked up for about two hours so the staff can have their own lunch. Around 2pm, we’d be unlocked and sent back to work until around 5pm After the second shift, we’d be served dinner – or tea as prisons call it. Dinner had to be eaten in your cell. It’s not so bad if you had the bottom bunk – you could sit there and eat – but if you were top bunk, it was much easier to eat with your dinner on your knee, sat on the toilet. The food in prison was of a very poor quality and it was only helped by the choice available. 

Usually, five or six main course options were available for dinner and there was always a vegetarian option. Menu sheets were issued a week in advance so you could choose your meal. Failing to get the form returned to the wing orderly would mean you had the default meal, which was always the vegetarian option, for the next week. The menu was different each week, but was the same every four weeks, so after a few months, the options became very mundane. There were provisions for low-fat options too, but these were only ever given to inmates who had a note from the doctor. These meals were separately packaged and were individually labelled with the inmate’s name on them. The meals were generally stews and curries – anything that could be made in a large pot. And they were very high in carbohydrates – more filling than nutritious – and pasta, potatoes, rice etc were the base of most meals. I once collected my meal and asked an officer what she thought it was – she told me she wasn’t sure but it looked like somebody had already eaten it.

Breakfast was collected the night before, while you collected tea. This was a small, single portion of cereal, a small carton of UHT milk, four tea bags, a couple of sachets of jam and a couple of pats of butter. Lunch was a sandwich, usually cheese, and a packet of crisps. A couple of times a week, we were given half a small pork pie, which were jokingly called pork piecicles as they were usually still frozen. During Ramadan, a special menu was available to Muslim inmates. This was delivered to each cell late in the evening to be eaten overnight. The food provided was much better quality than the usual fare, sometimes produced by a professional chef brought into the prison. There was actually a ban on inmates converting to Islam in the run up to Ramadan because it was common to do so just for the food, which was often traded. (Picture: Getty) What you should know about ghosting Normally, when an inmate is moved to another jail, they are advised a few days in advance. In some circumstances, the move may come after a request has been made or an application process has been completed. The few days notice give the prisoner the chance to say goodbyes to the other guys and inform family and friends on the outside of the move. When somebody is ghosted, they are usually told the night before, after bang-up, to allow them to pack belongings but not mix with other inmates – making it impossible to settle any scores or collect debts. They don’t have access to telephones to inform anybody on the outside either. In extreme cases, the inmate would only be told where they are going as they are being processed for transport the next morning so nobody on the wing would know. Normal transfers are scheduled and arranged in advance, they’re used to manage population levels and for an inmate to progress through the prison system. Often, a ‘fit for travel’ medical assessment would be made. Ghosting is more of an emergency measure and could be for a number or reasons. There may be intelligence that the inmate is in imminent danger, is himself causing problems on the wing or to split up family members and co-defendants. In the most extreme cases – usually somebody being disruptive – they would be taken to segregation (the block) and never seen again. A pair of flip-flops is an essential part of the prison kit. They have to be purchased but well worth the investment. Once a week, there was a ‘kit change’ where clothing and bedding could be exchanged for clean items. At this time, other items such as toiletries – shower gel, shaving gel, toothpaste and toilet rolls etc could be obtained. The shower gel was in single use sachets, with a maximum of three sachets for the week. It was perfectly adequate, but I preferred to shower daily so it was in short supply for me.