Prisons: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Prisoners repair bikes for children

Men at HMP Perth are restoring discarded bicycles to be donated to schoolchildren and families. Since last year the prison’s Bicycle Mechanics Academy has refurbished around 250 bikes, which are collected from recycling centres. People on unpaid work orders have also been involved in the work.

Sean Malone, the prison’s Offender Outcomes Officer, said: “The bikes that are coming in have been left out in gardens. They have been left to rot, basically. They’re sort of rusty. There are parts missing from them, etc.”

He says the bikes are taken to the prison workshop for “a full MoT” – taken apart, scrubbed, and rebuilt. “You can see the bikes are coming in and the state of them to how they are going out; it’s night and day,” he added. “They just look brand new.”

Scott Francis, founder of Dundee Cycle Hub – a social enterprise that collects unwanted cycles from recycling centres to be rebuilt in the prison – said: “We started with a few bikes in the garage in 2015, and it’s grown exponentially. We’re now at the point where we’re receiving 4,000 bikes a year.”

He said ex-prisoners could find work repairing bikes and help to fill a skills shortage, adding: “We’re hopefully getting ex-offenders trained as mechanics who can come into the industry and continue working. They refurbish bikes to an incredible standard.”

Man ran drug business from his cell

A 35-year-old man who was caught running a multi-million-pound drug business from prison has had 17 and a half years added to the sentence he was already serving. He pleaded guilty at Luton Crown Court to supplying drugs worth over £3 million between March 2020 and August 2021. He had been on remand at HMP Norwich for conspiracy to supply cocaine at the time he was caught, and was later sentenced in 2023 to eight and a half years for that earlier crime. 

Pigeons rehomed

Eighteen homing pigeons rescued by the RSPCA after their previous owners could no longer care for them have been rehomed at HMP Foston Hall. They have joined 40 other pigeons who are already living at the Derbyshire women’s prison, where they have space to stretch their wings and take flight. The existing residents, are looked after by women who maintain the pigeon loft and care for the birds. It is part of an animal care course run by education provider PeoplePlus.

Stocken finds a new way to ban books

A prison which banned books from being sent in by families and friends has found a new way to prevent its residents from receiving them.

Last year HMP Stocken enforced a local policy that stopped book send-ins, in defiance of national prison rules stating that all governors must allow them. After the issue was highlighted by Inside Time and by an MP in the House of Commons, and following a three-month delay, the prison introduced a new local policy making clear that prisoners can receive books.

But the new policy also states that before a prisoner can receive books, he must ask his Wing Custodial Manager to carry out a volumetric control check. One prisoner at Stocken told Inside Time that prisoners who ask for a volumetric check are routinely told that it cannot be done because all staff are too busy. The prisoner said that books which were sent to him in February were still being withheld, four months on.

The Ministry of Justice told Inside Time that the volumetric checks were required “for safety reasons”. An MoJ source added: “Prison staff work hard to complete these as quickly as possible to avoid unnecessary delays. The prison is aware that there was a temporary backlog in processing books sent to prisoners, but this is being resolved.”

Prince of Wales gives up rental income

The Prince of Wales will no longer personally benefit from the £1.5 million annual rent generated by Dartmoor Prison. He has asked for the sum to be removed from income he personally receives from his Duchy of Cornwall estate from 2026/27 onwards, insisting the money goes to a community-led local regeneration fund instead. The prison, in Devon, has been empty since July 2024 after high levels of radioactive radon gas were recorded in prisoners’ accommodation areas. The Ministry of Justice signed a 25-year, £37 million deal to lease the prison from the Duchy in 2022, after the radon problem was known about.

Orchestra visits prison

The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra is working with HMP Low Moss and its education team to use live music and the arts to support creativity, learning, and family connection. The three-year partnership has included music and art workshops, concerts, and a family event for men in custody and their children. Programme leader Lucy Drever said: “Music can help people connect with those around you, change your narrative and see yourself differently, and experience being in the moment with those you love most.”

More female prison officers in court

In recent separate cases, six more female prison officers have appeared in court over illicit relationships with male prisoners.

• A female officer at HMP Lindholme who formed a sexual relationship with a prisoner and had sex with him twice in staff toilets has been jailed for nine months. The divorced 52-year-old woman had worked at the jail from 1999 until 2024. Sheffield Crown Court heard that her relationship with the man, in his thirties, lasted for six months. She admitted misconduct in public office and was sentenced last month.

• A 42-year-old custody officer at HMP Millsike sent revealing pictures of herself to a prisoner – including some of her wearing red underwear – during a secret relationship. When the photos were discovered, they were compared with photos of Millsike’s female staff and matched to the officer involved. At Hull Crown Court she admitted an offence of misconduct in public office. The offence took place in August and September last year, just five months after the prison opened. She was given an eight-month suspended sentence with 100 hours of unpaid work.

• A 28-year-old prison officer at HMP Rochester exchanged 300 phone calls with a prisoner during a months-long affair, and wrote him handwritten letters in which she called him the “love of my life”. At Maidstone Crown Court she admitted misconduct in public office and was handed a 24-month suspended sentence, while the man was given an eight-month suspended sentence for unauthorised transmission of an image from within a prison.

• Two brothers jailed at HMP Buckley Hall for drug dealing each entered into illicit relationships with female prison officers between January and April 2024. The women, aged 25 and 27, appeared together at Manchester Crown Court on 23 June, when they both pleaded guilty to misconduct in public office. They are due to be sentenced this month. The brothers have been charged with encouraging and assisting the offences. 

• A 29-year-old woman was sentenced to 16 months in prison for a relationship with a prisoner that started in October 2022 while she was a prison officer at HMP Whitemoor. It was discovered in spring 2023 after colleagues became suspicious of her behaviour, and her mobile phone was seized showing messages between her and her lover. She pleaded guilty to misconduct in public office.

• A prisoner who formed an illicit sexual relationship with a female officer at HMP Five Wells and encouraged her to smuggle drugs, tobacco and mobile phones into the jail for him had his sentence extended. The woman was aged 18 when she began working at Five Wells in July 2024, and she was arrested only five months later. In January this year the man was sentenced to three years and four months in prison, but the sentence was referred to the Court of Appeal as ‘unduly lenient’, and the appeal court increased it to five years. The new term will begin when the man’s present sentence ends in 2029.

Welded artwork

Prisoners at HMP Altcourse have created a welded artwork which has gone on permanent display near the prison entrance.

Inspired by the environment, men at the jail worked with artist Faye Claridge to produce a design including silhouettes of birds of prey and the phrase ‘Only carry what serves your future’. The work was commissioned by education provider Novus.

One prisoner involved said: “This project has given us a sense of purpose. Others can see the artwork as they walk around, and hopefully it helps them as much as it’s helped us with their mental health.”

Sarah Hartley, Creative Strategies Manager for Novus, said: “As well as providing a brilliant new addition to the prison entrance, it has had a significant impact on those involved. Learners have already reported increased optimism, improved self-expression and stronger teamwork, while gaining practical skills that can support reintegration when they leave prison.”

Jailed for extremist material

Three people who conspired to smuggle Islamist propaganda into HMP Lindholme on USB sticks via drone were handed prison 

sentences last month. A 33-year-old male 

prisoner was handed an 18-month suspended sentence, a 36-year-old female prisoner already serving time for disseminating ISIS propaganda received an 18-month sentence to run concurrently with her existing sentence, and a 36-year-old man was handed a 15-month sentence. Police said the material included sermons that encouraged violence.

Prison phone used to threaten ex

A prisoner who left terrifying voicemails for his former partner – threatening to kill her, beat her, and distribute her private photos among other prisoners – has been handed a further two-year sentence. The 27-year-old man made the threats from a prison phone at HMP Norwich, where he was serving a sentence for aggravated burglary. Ipswich Crown Court heard that the woman had asked prison authorities to block the man from calling her, but he bypassed security to leave the messages over a three-day period.

Bed bugs in two jails

Two men’s prisons in England have called in specialist teams to tackle infestations of bed bugs in cells. At HMP Holme House on Teesside, it was reported that at least three cells were affected by what the Prison Service said was a “limited outbreak”. Alternative clothing was provided to men whose clothes needed to be sterilised as a result. And at HMP Wayland in Norfolk, a recently-released prisoner wrote to Inside Time stating that he was “detained in a cell infested by bed bugs”. In response, the Prison Service said the prison had seen “a limited outbreak of bed bugs which affected four cells and was dealt with quickly and appropriately”. Bed bugs thrive in warm weather, live in clothing or bedding, suck blood, and can pass from person to person.

Sponsored bike ride for charity

Men from HMP Cardiff clubbed together to support a Physical Education Instructor (PEI) in his fundraising efforts for the Frenchay Brain Injury Rehabilitation Centre near Gloucester. 

The initiative came about after PEI Paul Wales, from the jail, learned that a close friend had been badly hurt when he fell from three storeys, and was learning to walk again at the Frenchay centre. 

Mr Wales took part in a sponsored row to raise money for his friend’s family. Prisoners saw him training for the event and wanted to help, so they came up with the idea that 13 prisoners and the PE staff would virtually cycle around 16 prisons in Wales and south-west England, a total distance of around 1,226km. The prisoners raised £560 in donations from other prisoners across all wings, which allowed the Frenchay centre to buy a new spin bike to help with the rehabilitation of current and future patients. Mr Wales said it was a fantastic achievement by all that took part and every prisoner who had put their hand in their pocket.

Scottish jails delayed

Three Scottish prison-building projects face lengthy delays. The new Scottish Justice Secretary Neil Gray told the Scottish Parliament in June that HMP Highland, being built in Inverness, will not open until spring 2027 due to “construction issues”. Its opening was originally scheduled for 2020, then pushed back to 2026. HMP Glasgow, being built for £1 billion as a replacement for Barlinnie, is due for completion in 2028 – against an original deadline of 2025. And work on a new prison to replace Victorian-era HMP Greenock will now not start until at least 2031, according to Scottish media reports last month. The original timetable saw it opening in 2015.

Drunken assault on day release

A prisoner who got drunk and was arrested for assaulting a female pub bouncer whilst on day release from HMP Norwich was granted another day release just five weeks later. The 45-year-old life-sentenced prisoner was allowed unsupervised leave from HMP Norwich last October. He went out drinking and fell asleep outside a bar in Norwich. When the bouncer asked him to leave, he put his hands around her neck and grabbed her hair. He was charged with assault causing actual bodily harm, and was returned to HMP Norwich – yet five weeks later he was again granted day release. He was convicted in June of the assault, and awaits sentence.