Time for Reflection - Again

To my amazement it's this blog's second anniversary. I'm genuinely surprised because along the way many a time I've struggled with writers block, together with an overwhelming sense of my just repeating myself. But then, typically when I'm down and think it's all been said, something comes along and I can't seem to stop myself just getting it all off my chest.

Of course it's a cliche, but writing has proved to be very therapeutic. I don't know if it's ever apparent, but I often find myself laughing out loud as I type, so empowering does the process feel. The blog has taken me to some surprising places both intellectually and emotionally. Almost without exception the feedback has been both touching and thought-provoking. I can well understand how lonely an author of a book must feel once it's published and all the friends and family have finished feeling obliged to read it and pass comment. It just goes into a big black hole it seems to me, unlike a blog that grows and develops dynamically. The 'hit' counter keeps telling you that someone, somewhere might actually be reading it. With nearly 400 posts, I think I've possibly written that book I didn't think I had in me.

I never really expected to get much in the way of private e-mails, but contact from clients, former clients, relatives of clients, victims, worried and confused individuals together with numerous authors, trainee journalists and other media types has been both revelatory and taxing. It was a serious shock I can tell you to receive an e-mail from a former Chief Inspector of Probation only some twenty minutes after publishing an admittedly complimentary piece about them. Funnily enough, no follow up e-mail was forthcoming when some months later I had a pop at them. 

Actually I've been pondering the whole thing about endorsement and acknowledgement recently - or should I say conspicuous lack of. Considering there is still so little out there on the internet about probation, I think there continues to be a role for an independently-minded contribution from an 'old school' officer like myself. More than ever, I conclude there's plenty of scope for carrying on with an unofficial view of the whole probation landscape, and in contrast to the new breed of officially-sanctioned facebook pages, tweeting and blogging that's trying to influence public opinion. The elephant in the room will be sticking around for a bit longer yet.

Still a relative newbie, I'm extremely gratified to have collected over 140,000 hits in two years - they can't all be friends and family, so thank you once again dear reader, wherever you may be.        

Prisoners Online

I see that the coalition governments Digital Champion Martha Lane Fox is repeating her desire to see prisoners having access to the internet and indeed expresses amazement that as a group they are being excluded. In an article in the Independent she talks of 'controlled internet access'. Now I have no idea what that means, how feasible it might be or to put it frankly what aspects of the internet might be left that couldn't be put to malevolent use. There is no doubt that used positively the internet could be hugely beneficial, for instance by allowing prisoners to undertake Open University courses once more and now that they are sadly no longer available by old fashioned post.  

Over the years I've come to be mightily impressed with the ingenuity of clients generally and in particular their 'Great Escape' ability to improvise whilst incarcerated. Ok they're not digging 'Tom Dick or Harry' as in the film, or as far as I know, but have you ever wondered about some of those stereotypical prison-type tattoos and how they get them? They've moved on from a needle and ink substitute to constructing electric tattoo machines out of paperclips, bits of wire etc.

Making hooch in the lead-up to Christmas really does still happen in some locations and I've never been quite able to look at an orange without recalling one prisoner telling me about the simple expedient of inserting a piece of yeast from the kitchen and leaving it to slowly ferment into alcohol on his window ledge. Before facilities were widely available, another prisoner told me how he made tea and toast in his bare cell. He would tear a strip off his prison bedsheet, plait it into a tight wick, ignite it and pass it under a slice of bread laid flat on the sprung mesh beneath his mattress. Water was boiled by a similar process using a small coffee tin.

Now these are all examples of relatively harmless 'easing' behaviours and the natural result of many fertile and creative minds being incarcerated with endless time on their hands. However, the sad fact is that just as much effort goes into extremely unpleasant activity, such as the construction of weapons. The general public will not be aware of the 'black museums' of confiscated and hideously ingenious weapons that some prisons have on display in the official visits area. Some are truely dreadful and give some insight into the degree of deviousness and evil intent sadly present amongst some prisoners. I have no doubt at all that should internet access be provided to prisoners, a similar amount of effort would be expended by some to use it for malevolent purposes. 

Despite all the efforts of the prison service, mobile phones are widely available in prison already, thus enabling all sorts of criminal activity to be conducted from inside, ranging from witness intimidation to control of drug rings. Does anyone seriously think that 'controlled internet access' would provide any serious deterrent to some very sophisticated prisoners? 

In my experience, some clients who indulge in criminal activity are always remarkably well informed about technical innovations and very quickly discover ways to use technology to further criminal activity. I well remember being amazed by a guy informing me that not only had I no idea how phone card technology worked, but how easily payment could be avoided by the simple use of a scalpel. Or another telling me how he read the coded data on a credit card with the help of a domestic video recorder. Without doubt I've met some very bright and resourceful people over the years and it's always struck me as a great shame that their skill and ingenuity couldn't be put to better use. Sadly, internet access by prisoners would in my view pose too many risks and therefore outweigh any possible benefits.