Prisoner by Ross Greenwood
My latest book is set in the prison I used to work in. Most people have very little knowledge or experience of prison, getting most of their information third hand from the media, in particular films, which might not be accurate. Such as smoking inside.
If you’d really like your eyes opened to what it’s like in our jails, for those on both sides of the doors, give Prisoner a read. Hopefully my descriptions will be enough, but if you want to see some photos of the prison for your interest or perhaps for your own books of a place which is unique to the whole country, read on.
There are many themes in the novel; ranging from whether you believe people are often victims first before they are villains, to the difference between the male and female estates where that line can often be blurred. It will make you consider the challenge of managing inmates’ mental well-being in a place where most of their coping strategies are gone or diminished, and the fact that in, one way or another, we are all prisoners. To the wage, to our responsibilities and commitments, maybe even to our health.
So, here’s the ‘local nick’.
HMP Peterborough and sister prisons
Built on the former site of Baker Perkins engineering works, HMP YOI Peterborough opened in March 2005 and comprises a local category B prison, a closed women’s prison and a category C extension, operated by Sodexo Justice Services, who also run Addiewell (West Lothian), Forest Bank, Northumberland and Bronzefield.
HMP YOI Peterborough is the only purpose-built prison in the country to accommodate both male and female residents, who are kept separate at all times.
In line with Government policy, all prisons across the country are smoke free. The female prison became smoke free on 11 September 2017; the male prison became smoke free on 29 January 2018. Please note, all tobacco products are now considered contraband.
Female: The uncrowded capacity is 360 including a separate Mother and Baby Unit which can accommodate 12 mums. The main accommodation comprises of two houseblocks each containing five wings.
Houseblock One holds women on remand and sentenced YOIs, Stabilisation, Induction, Lifers and an open unit.
Houseblock Two holds a foreign national unit, a complex residents’ unit, and all other sentenced women.
The wings can hold a maximum of 38 women. There is a Separation and Care unit and a 15-bed healthcare facility.
Male: The current crowded capacity for male residence is 868. Each wing houses approximately 80 residents with the exception of Z2, the enhanced wing, which has 64. There are twelve wings on the male side across three houseblocks.
Each cell has integral sanitation and the wings each have shower facilities, a servery area plus an association area. There is a Separation and Care Unit which holds 14 prisoners and an inpatient Healthcare unit which can hold up to 14 residents.
A male wing, twice as long as a female one. They have a table tennis table and two and pool tables! A lot of the balls have chips in them…
Female wing; only a pool table
Upper landing, no safety net. Many a TV taken a dive from here, but surprisingly few people.
Visits hall. Red chair for the inmates, or residents…
Aerial view, female prison, five ‘spokes’. Each spoke is a wing, and has a small exercise yard where they usually walk around in a small circle. Mother and Baby unit on the left with play area. Polytunnel top left for gardening. Chickens are also kept. The ‘coop’ is top right, almost obscured by the houseblock, and it features in the book!
Single cell. Note the tiny privacy screen. The toilet seat is just behind the sink.
Houseblock. Female side. Exercise yards left and right. High fence…
Violent inmates 😊, or visitors, who are always nervous when you lock them in. Due to the pandemic, it’s more or less 23 hour bang up. No visitors, no work, no association. Imagine how that would affect your own sanity being stuck in a room, especially if you had years and years of it ahead of you, followed by the prospect of being homeless when you were finally released.
HMP Peterborough is overcrowded. Single cells such as these are turned into doubles by bolting another bunk onto the wall above the bed on the right. Nothing else changes (except perhaps the smell).
Aerial view. The whole purpose-built prison next to the train tracks to London, eighty miles away. X shape, category B prison, Male side. V shape. Cat C prison, male. Star shape, female side. Admin block building on left near visitors car park. Industries, gyms, kitchens, laundry, big building on right.
Prison transport vans. Tiny seats, tinted windows. No toilets. People can be waiting outside the prison or courts for hours in these. They need mopping out afterwards.
I asked to sit in a prison transport vehicle before I left. My shoulders were completely snug. Very claustrophobic. Many people are arrested, held in the police station for a couple of nights, put before a magistrate in the morning, remanded and kept in the court cells until late afternoon, placed in one of these vans, then driven to the prison, still in the clothes they were arrested in on Friday night, minus their laces. On the male side, all new arrivals are strip searched. Unless they are violent or ill, they will then be put in one of the cells pictured earlier with a stranger.
Prisoner is out now! 🇬🇧 https://amzn.to/3tidxW0 🇺🇸 https://amzn.to/3a6MWE0