blocks and start working outside the prison. The thinking behind this is that by allowing prisoners to earn a living, they will be less likely to reoffend when released. Two new blocks (Portakabins) of forty rooms have been constructed on the playing fields near the gate for this purpose. From today, sixty-two prisoners will be eligible to leave NSC from 7.30 am, and need not return until 7 pm.
But, and there are always buts in prison, Mr Berlyn has posted a notice in both new blocks, making it clear that this is to be considered a privilege, and anyone who fails to keep to the guidelines will be suspended and put to work on the farm at ?5.60 a week. [30]
DAY 325 FRIDAY 7 JUNE 2002
Mr Beaumont (the governing governor) has just marched into the hospital, accompanied by Mr Berlyn. Dr Walling, David and I are watching England play Argentina in the World Cup, and Beckham has just scored from a penalty to put us in the lead. I assume they had heard the cheering and popped in to find out the score. However, they don’t even glance at the screen. One look in my direction, and they both stride out again.
I learn later that the governor had received a call from Reuters asking him to confirm that I had committed suicide.
Not while we’re in the lead against Argentina.
11.00 am
An officer drops in and tells me over coffee that there is disquiet among the officers and staff that sex offenders will in future make up a considerable percentage of our inmates. Officers fear the atmosphere may change from the relaxed state we currently enjoy to one of constant tension, as regular offenders despise paedophiles. It is even possible that one or two of the more violent inhabitants might take it upon themselves to administer their own form of justice. [31]
The officer goes on to tell me that a murderer at Gartree shared a cell with a prisoner who was allegedly in for burglary. But the lifer discovered from another prisoner, who had been in a previous jail with his cell-mate, that he was in fact a sex offender who had raped his nine-year-old daughter.
At roll-call the following morning, the lifer reported to the main office. His statement was simple and explicit. He had stabbed his cell-mate to death and left him on his bed. The lifer was immediately placed in solitary confinement, charged and later given another life sentence. The judge added that on this occasion, life meant the rest of his life.
6.00 pm
I umpire this evening’s cricket match between NSC and a local school. I give the opening batsman from the visiting side out, caught and bowled. When I see the look of surprise on the batsman’s face, I immediately feel anxious, because the bowler had taken the catch as he ran in front of me. Have I made a mistake? The batsman is already heading towards the pavilion (a small wooden hut) when Mo (murder, terrorist), who is fielding at silly mid-on, looks at me and says, ‘It was a bump-ball, Jeff.’ I call the opening batsman back and apologize for my mistake as the rest of the team applaud Mo’s sportsmanship.
The visiting team go on to win, thanks to a fine innings from the opening batsman. Funny old world.
DAY 369 MONDAY 22 JULY 2002
It’s been a tense day as I wait to discover how much longer I’ll have to remain here. My appeal against conviction took Mr Justice Rose two minutes to dismiss, which was no more than my counsel, Nick Purnell QC, had predicted. The appeal against sentence was granted by Mr Justice Brown, so we had all felt more confident that Mr Justice Rose would knock off at least a year, possibly two, allowing me to return home this evening.
At 5.07 pm, Mr Hocking walks slowly into the hospital, looking grim. As senior security officer, he had already set in motion a plan to have me off the premises before the press could arrive. He told me that Alison had rung to say that my sentence had not been cut, even by a day. Although Mr Purnell addressed the judges for over two hours, Mr Justice Rose returned to the court one minute and forty-eight seconds after Nick sat down, and read out a prepared statement that he must have written some days before. Mr Justice Rose could at least have had the courtesy to tell Mr Purnell not to bother, as he’d already made up his mind and wasn’t interested in any new evidence.
So much for British justice.
DAY 370 TUESDAY 23 JULY 2002
The press are curious to know why Mary didn’t appear in court to hear my appeal. She was being interviewed for the chairmanship of Addenbrooke’s Hospital at 1 pm, and the date had been fixed for some weeks.
I had told her that under no circumstances was she to request a change of dates, as this was clearly the most important interview of her life. Addenbrooke’s, attached umbilically to Cambridge University, is one of the country’s leading teaching hospitals. It has a budget of some ?250 million per year, and nearly 1,000 doctors and 2,500 nurses. Mary has been vice-chairman for the past two years, and on the board for eight, and although she is up against a formidable shortlist I still feel she’s in with a good chance.
We spent over an hour on the phone (until I ran out of phonecards) considering the likely questions that might come up. I want Mary to get this chairmanship job more than I want to be released from jail; otherwise I would spend the rest of my life feeling that I was the reason she failed.
DAY 371 WEDNESDAY 24 JULY 2002
I call Mary to confirm that she will be coming to pick me up on Saturday and take me out on my first town visit, a precursor to, home leave. I don’t get a chance to ask any questions because everything is overshadowed by the news that she has been appointed chairman of Addenbrooke’s.
I’m so delighted that I can’t remember why I called.
DAY 373 FRIDAY 26 JULY 2002
There has never been a suicide at NSC, despite the fact that there were seventy-three suicides in British jails last year.
Today an inmate made two attempts to take his life. First he tried to cut his wrist, and after being rushed to the Pilgrim Hospital and patched up, he attempted to hang himself. He failed.
He’s a young man who recently lost his mother, and last week his girlfriend sent him a ‘Dear John’ letter. I later learned that during his trial he took 106 paracetamol tablets and although they pumped his body out, he has irreversibly damaged his liver. His crime, by the way, was shoplifting, for which he received six months, and will serve three at most.
However, one good thing came out of it. The Listeners, who have been requesting a room for counselling for some time, were allocated one this morning.
