HMP Lewes

 

                                           HMP  LEWES  1986 – 2002

HMP LEWES  R.J.HARE 1986-2002 (Discipline Officer)

At the age of 48 years and redundant I applied to join the Prison Service. I passed the entrance exam and in September 1986 I went to the Prison Training College at Newbold Revel for 9 weeks. My posting was originally HMP Winchester, but on appeal I was given a posting closer to where I lived which was HMP LEWES,  but for some reason Winchester paid my wages until the end of my probation period. It took the Prison Service 3 years to rectify their mistake and then in 1989 my name was added in the POA magazine as being transferred to Lewes from Winchester, even though I had never been there. The retiring age of a Prison Officer was 55 years and then I would  be able to continue on a year to year basis, depending on my attendance and sickness record up to the age of 60 years.

On arrival at Lewes PRISON  I was the only officer wearing a black  uniform,the others were in blue.  I introduced myself as Mr Hare and the gate keeper said, “ Oh you must be Dusty,” we were expecting you. He just happened to know the  name of  the Leicester and England rugby captain DUSTY HARE and when he contacted the Training Officer to inform him that I had arrived he said,” I have got a Dusty Hare at the gate.”So my name changed over night from BUNNY to DUSTY.  My first ever duty was to take 4 inmates round the prison to do a daily collection of the dustbins and to replace them with clean ones. It was a way of testing to find out whether you were able to control the Inmates who were Young Offenders who given the chance  would take advantage of a  NEPO  (Newly enrolled prison officer.)  Probably because of my  vintage age or it could have been that I was the only Prison Officer in black uniform at  HMP Lewes and somebody had told the lads that I was working in Security.     Whoever made up that story did me a great favour because the inmates showed respect and worked well thinking that I had been in the prison service for years instead of seven months.        Twelve months into my service another NEPO ( dressed in black) arrived and took over the CHIEF`s PARTY from me.

I moved  to C wing and worked  with the Lifers and long term inmates and in 1988  I looked  after one of the London gangsters   REGGIE KRAY one of the KRAY TWINS.  Tania, my  16 year old stepdaughter asked me to get Reggie Krays “autograph” so I asked him if he would write his name on a piece of paper and he obliged by signing  his paperback book, “Our Story”  but his signature  wasn`t legible but at least it was written by Reggie Kray and  she could brag to her mates that it was him who wrote it.

I worked on C wing until the end of my one year probation period and  during that time 4 inmates who were coming to the end of their long sentences were D categorized and  were allowed to work on the outside gardens. They  worked hard and kept the garden looking really nice. They planted about 500 bulbs in the raised bed below the flag mast in September, six months prior to their release and when the police helicopter flew across the prison they saw the message left by the garden party inmates. They had planted the daffodils and tulips in such a way that from the sky  it read  THIS   IS    BOLX

I was transferred to A Wing looking after young offenders between the ages of 17 and 21 which I thoroughly enjoyed because it was much more of a challenge than working with the C Wing inmates who were institutionalized and aware  of everything regarding their entitlements  and didn`t need to ask me questions  because they knew the  answers, but working with Young Offenders,  which I did for 10 years was totally different because young offenders questioned everything and made my job more interesting. I enjoyed the job so much that I requested to continue working on the landings when I was 60 which the Government would not allow.        Ann Widdecombe the Minister of State for Prisons visited Lewes  and I asked her personally if it would be possible for me to continue working as a prison officer and she confirmed that it was government policy to retire Prison Officers at the age of 60. I applied for an OSG (Officer Support Group) job and  after 12 years as a prison officer I was interviewed again by a principal officer to see if I suited the vacancy.  Six weeks after my 60th birthday I started my employment as an OSG.

When I came to HMP Lewes in 1986 none of the cells had integral toilet facilities so the inmates were issued with a plastic bucket with lid to use. Prior to each meal they were allowed 10 minutes to slop-out as it was called, before collecting their meal. This meant that they passed  by the hotplate where the food was being served on their  way to the recess where they disposed of their body waste. Disinfectant was not permitted in a prison because it didn`t prevent the dreadful odours and  would only cover them up.

Unless you have worked in a prison prior to the 1990`s you will have no idea of what the stench was like. It was probably the worst thing about working in a prison and because it always coincided with meal times it could make you wretch as the buckets passed within inches of your nose. Some inmates made parcels of their body waste and threw them out of the cell window, preferably at passing prison officers. Others would store their pee until it turned black and looked like Guinness which is then at its worst stench, just right to POT an Officer. Inmates on the top landing would wait for the opportunity and then tip it over an Officer who was working on the bottom landing. I was very fortunate  and never got potted, but  my nephew Geoffrey Mitchell was the last  person on F wing  to receive the contents of a bucket.

” F”  wing closed for refurbishment  and on reopening every cell had a toilet installed and Slopping out became the thing of the past. It made my job a lot easier because I didn`t have to worry about dodging the contents of the plastic buckets from above.

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For several years I was on the Operations Group escorting prisoners to  the Crown Courts at Lewes, Brighton and Chichester and presented them to the Judge from the Dock for the hearing of their court case. Other outside prison activities included hospital bed watches and Out patience appointments, funerals, transfers of prisoners to the appropriate category prison after being  sentenced , also I had attended at both HMP Brixton and HMP Rochester prisons to relocate the prisoners who had instigated  the rioting in their establishments.

I thoroughly enjoyed supervising the young offenders and getting them to work without too much hassle. At one time I worked with a party of 10 prisoners working on the gardens and the football pitch and I told them that I required 40 minutes of hard graft from each of them and their reward would be a 45 minute kick about on the football pitch prior to going on a 1 hour exercise or conversely if just one of the inmates messed-up in any way it would mean that the whole work party would be returned to the wing and  whoever it was who stepped out of line would be taken off the work party altogether and at no time did I need to return any inmate to the wing but there was a couple of occasions when things  didn`t work out as I had wished, one of them being when  we were dismantling some cubicle door frames in what was called the old reception and I had explained exactly what I needed them to do and I physically showed them how to remove the frames without damaging them. There were four frames to be removed and it should have taken no more than 30 minutes to complete the job and then we would have been on our way to have our usual kick around on the football pitch. I secured the inmates in  reception and went off to make them a jug of tea in F wing which was closed for refurbishment. It took only a few minutes to boil the kettle and on my return there stood 10 smiling faces and 4 undamaged door frames in the passage way. I praised them for their efforts and gave them a mug of tea and then went on our way to  go to the football pitch and as I walked down the passage to where they had been working I saw how they had completed the job so quickly, THE SILLY SODS had kicked down every partition wall and left nothing standing and the room was completely full of rubble. They thought it was an easier way to do it, but by doing it their way, I had no option but to return them to the wing  and bang them up. I explained to the Governor of Works  who was accompanied by the Principal  Officer and Senior Officer what had happened and they were most dejected and called on the Prison Governor to be present. Having listened to their negative attitude and their  moaning and groaning she whispered in my ear,   “Well-done, YOU HAVE STARTED Mr. Hare, so they will have to FINISH!”   When word had  been shared, I was tagged as the demolition man for Months!

There was another occasion  when they were rolling the football pitch and things didn`t go as planned. I had explained to them exactly how I wanted the job done. The roller they were using weighed 10 cwt and 6 inmates were required to use it, 3 pulling and 3 pushing. I was supervising the rolling procedure and the lining up of the roller for the commencement of the first crossing of the pitch and I was directing them from the opposite side of the pitch. The first crossing towards me was easy because they were able to follow the goal line and on the return journey they over lapped and again on the return they again slightly overlapped and everything was going fine until  after several journeys they became over confident and decided to speed things up a little and started to run with a 10 cwt roller. They were heading towards me with the correct overlap in place and I was shouting telling them to stop running but they continued and by this time they were travelling  about 8 miles an hour and were half way across the pitch when the inevitable was about to happen because I knew they  wouldn`t be able to stop the roller which was travelling far too fast and was too heavy to be stopped before reaching the line when an inmate who was pulling let go of the handle and ran forward and quickly turned around to face the roller and used his leg to try and stop it, but the roller buried his foot in the ground and travelled up to his thigh before it stopped.

We pulled the roller off and I sent an urgent radio message for medical assistance. He had broken his leg in two places and ended up in the RSCH to have it fixed and was in plaster for 9 weeks.

During my time as a Prison Officer I used the Gymnasium facilities at least three times a week mainly playing Slazball or  circuit training when the slazball court was  being occupied. The rules of slazball is identical to lawn tennis but the court is smaller and the ball is made of sponge which can be hit so hard that is possible to score aces. I had been  playing the game for twelve years and was explaining it to my son David who was a karati  black belt  instructor who taught the skills  to others on a weekly basis. He was of course very fit  and challenged me to a game, expecting  to win easily ,but I knew that I could hold my own against him because of  the amount of time that I had played the game . I arranged a Saturday evening for him to come into the prison with his wife, kids and my wife as spectators and witnesses to the event. I gave him the option to pull out of the challenge  to save the humiliation of losing but he insisted that he would be ready to take me on and he was confident that he would beat me and leave as the new Slazball Champion. We agreed that only one set would be played to decide  the winner. I was  60 years old, playing a 36 year old. I had the experience of twelve years playing and  had held my own against the regular players over the years and was confident that I would win against my son because he had played tennis but not Slazball! He was shocked when he was beaten 6-2 and he  asked if he could have a re-match when I was 70 but that day never came because he was too old at 46 to compete,  so I didn`t remind him about the challenge.(Only Joking!)

 

The  criteria  for  a  convicted  prisoner  is the duration of a prison sentence which the judge considers to be appropriate for the criminal offence committed and by taking away the inmates liberty was his punishment and  he was not to be punished whilst serving his time in prison unless he committed an offence against Good order and Discipline  when a Governor Grade would decide the outcome.  Some people feel that prisoners do have life too easy in prison and I am inclined to agree with them. Most of the inmates would say that they were banged-up 23 hours a day with only 1 hour for exercise (solely to give the impression that they are having a hard time in prison.) What they don`t mention is that as convicted prisoners they are obliged to work and would be required to work 4 hours a day from Monday to Friday. HMP LEWES in the 1980s was a training prison where inmates could do courses and end up with certificates to produce to their future employers. They had choices of bricklaying, painting and decorating, and using sewing machines to make mail bags. There was a Plastics Shop where they learnt how to operate the machinery to make plastic plates, cups, cereal bowls, combs etc. and Inmates worked in the laundry and clothing stores. Eight inmates worked in the kitchen 7 days a week and  2  in the officers-mess. All working inmates would be given the chance to go to the gymnasium or education classes in the evening during the week. So now the 23 hour bang-up becomes 18 hours. They were also given the choice of bathing once a week and taking the slop-out time into consideration and the collection of their 3 meals a day uses up more time, plus the time spent on a visit reduces the time even more. Taking the time of 8 hours away for slumber, leaves only 8 hours for recreation, more than enough time to write a letter or two and listen to the radio, but when their letters were censored prior to being sent out none of the inmates would have mentioned the positive side and the opportunities they have to better themselves while they are in prison. The opportunities have always been there and it is down to the individual to take advantage of what was on offer, and I know of only one prisoner who did just that! During his 6 years  in prison he gained 18 NVQ`s. He also designed the( Listeners Logo ) for inmates who worked as Samaritans,  listening to prisoners problems within the prison and confidentiality  between the prisoners was uppermost. It  is alleged  that he was rewarded £1,300 by the Home Office for his  design, during his sentence!

The opportunity for prisoners to improve their knowledge during their sentence is set up for them to take advantage of, but I am afraid that the “run of the mill” criminal has no interest to better himself and his only aim is to get released to be able to continue his criminal activities and will consider that being remanded in custody and serving another sentence is only a another hurdle to overcome during his criminal career. The majority of the young offender inmates who are in prison today have fathers who have never done a days work  themselves and are unable to lead by example and  their youngsters  will have no future because they will have been brought up in a criminal environment and will end up producing children who will then live the lifestyle of their parents and their grandparents and so on!!  ( You can lead a horse to water BUT you can`t make it drink)

The correct address for Lewes prison is No 1, Brighton road and not many inmates are aware of that, but some are and use it to their advantage by just writing their name eg.: A Person, 1 Brighton Road, Lewes and requesting the firm to send whatever they are advertising for free!! Because the establishment`s name Lewes Prison is not used the firms who are advertising will not be aware that they are dispatching their goods to a Prison Establishment. I did see a brochure of European Holidays sent to an inmate on C Wing and the amusing thing was that he was serving a LIFE sentence. It was sent to him via another prisoner for a bit of fun.

 

 

 

 

 

A prisoner serving any length of sentence was well cared for and it wasn`t necessary for him to spend any of his earnings because he was issued with everything that he would need. On arriving he would be supplied with clothing. He would be given a Reception-Letter to inform people of his whereabouts. He would be given a free letter on a weekly basis for the duration of the sentence. He would be given three cooked meals a day, and it wasn`t necessary  for him to buy anything, other than cigarettes if he was  a smoker, the rest he can acquire for free i.e  all toiletries soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, shaving soap, combs, razors, writing paper envelopes. A prisoner doesn`t have to spend a penny and could be a much wealthier person on release!” If he served a 2 year sentence and worked in the kitchen and was a non-smoker he could walk out with over £1000 on his release which should encourage him to attempt to make a better life for himself.

If a prisoner had served several years in prison and his stored clothing was too small on his discharge day he would be taken to reception a fortnight before his release date to  be given  a pair of shoes and  the choice of selecting a full set of clothing from  the “Fruit of the Loom designer clothing”. They looked very smart in their brand new clothing, walking out of the front gate carrying a large plastic bag, displaying the “Prison Logo”

The most unusual duty that I was asked to undertake was to look after an 18 month old baby while the mother visited her brother who was up in front of the parole board. I was told that I would only be required for one and a half hours. It was 10 am when I took over the care of the baby who was asleep in a pushchair and didn`t wake up until around 11am. The mother hadn`t catered for the baby because she didn`t expect the parole board to take so long to come to their decision. There was no drink or food for the baby, but nappies were plentiful! I walked up and down for one and a half hours outside the prison pushing a baby in a pushchair and being dressed in a prison officers uniform it must have looked most odd to the visitors on their arrival and departure to and from the prison, to see me carrying out my duty.  At 12.30 I took the little one in to the Officers Mess to buy her something to eat, but before buying anything I needed to know whether she had any allergies.  So I rang a female Governor-grade and she contacted the parole board governor to see if the baby had any allergies and I was told that she could eat anything so I gave her an egg mayonnaise sandwich which ended up quite messy, but she enjoyed what she had managed to get in her mouth and she managed to drink a carton of Ribena  through a straw.

There was one job that I was not prepared to do was to change her nappy because I couldn`t afford to leave myself open to accusations, so I contacted the Board of Visitors office and requested that a female should do the sensitive job for me. At 3.30pm the mother returned to collect her baby. She thanked me for looking after her kid and apologised for being so long at the meeting but said it was worth it because her brother had been given a parole date.

During my 16 years at Lewes Prison one of my duties was to work on Visits. The visitors were received at the front gate and were then ushered across the forecourt and up to the visits hall and once in the hall it was my job to organise the seating arrangements on what was known as the SNAKE which was 3 feet tall barrier and it separated the inmate from the visitor. Prison Officers were placed at strategic points to help prevent any passing of drugs etc. Remand prisoners were allowed a 15 minute visit every day and were also entitled to have a cooked meal, fruit ,except bananas , also a half bottle of wine handed in at the gate every evening. By the regularity of remand visits I got to know the visitors quite well and I remember one young lady named Jenny who came to visit her boyfriend every day without fail for a month and then she gave him the news that she was pregnant with his child. This meant that the baby would be born while the inmate was still on remand as the usual time of waiting for trial was around twelve months, so she suggested that an abortion would be the way to go as she wouldn`t want to raise a child on her own. He assured her that he would only receive a short sentence and the time that he would had served on remand would count as being part of the sentence, so even if he was given a 2 year sentence he would only have to serve 12 months and the time on remand would cover for that, so he would only serve 1 day for the Queen and he would then be released!! So on the strength of his prediction she would only be on her own for about three months, so she decided to keep the baby.

The 9 months passed and a baby girl was born and for the 3 months  up until the trial she visited every day bringing the baby to see her dad and over the period before the trial Dad and daughter bonded well and a happy little family was developing. The trial day arrived and Jenny turned up at Lewes Crown Court only to find out that he was charged with handling stolen antiques on a large scale not burglary like he led her to believe. The trial lasted 3 days and on the final day he was found Guilty and was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment. Jenny was devastated to think that he had lied to her from day one and continued to lie to her to the very end. On the following day she came for a visit and on entering the hall she came over to me and said “what I have got to do will only take  seconds” so can you get somebody ready to take me back to the gate straight away.  She then walked over to the father of their child and handed him their baby saying “she is definitely yours so you can have her” and then walked back, to be taken down to the gatelodge.     He just sat there with his mouth wide open and watched her walk away. There were several visits going on at the time and the whole room saw to their amazement what had just taken place.   I then moved dad and baby into a legal box where they could sit on their own until we could resolve the problem. I contacted the prison chaplain for advice and he in turn contacted Child Welfare and that was the last I saw of baby and inmate because with a 12 year prison sentence he was transferred to HMP Camphill on the I.O.W.

On many occasions I have been asked if I was ever scared while supervising the Inmates and the answer was No, but there were two incidents when I was not in control of the situation but I wasn`t frightened, but concerned about the outcome. When I was working an evening shift between the Inner and outer gate  when the Animal Rights protesters decided to pay a visit to protest about the 100`s of pigeons which had been trapped and caged in Lewes Prison. They had been informed of the entrapment and as I understand it, by a member of staff! I looked through the observation window at the main gate and saw two people standing directly opposite who were dressed in uniform, one was a policeman and the other was a RSPCA officer, also “Press Photographers” and within minutes the front gate cast iron knocker was used continuously for over an hour by a woman protester who appeared to be the leader of the pack. Although I am fully in agreement with peaceful protest I cannot condone the aggression which I was about to experience. I was summoned by the Orderly Officer to patrol the outer wall of the prison to check that the protesters were not attempting to climb over the wall and the moment I  ventured outside the lead female protester came right  into my face using obscenities of which I  can`t repeat. I kept my cool and suggested that she should go home because there was every possibility that her house was being burgled while she was demonstrating and before she could reply a <Gentleman> who happened to be her husband came as close to my face without actually touching noses and started to spit in my face while he was shouting obscenities at me and I had to take this filthy behaviour without any reaction because I was being observed by the Constabulary, the RSPCA and an angry group of about 20  demonstrators.  The whole of the incident was being viewed and recorded on our own security camera but it was not reported and no charges were brought against anybody so I suppose protesters are allowed to physically show their anger towards other people and not get arrested for committing a public offence. Of course  what they did not know  was that I kept 39 pigeons of my own at home and was a member of the Racing Pigeon Association and had my own loft number  and rings to register the birds and that I was aware of the trapping of birds at LEWES, which  I considered was more humane than  laying poison down for them to eat and then waiting for them to die and  fall from the building to be collected up and put in black bin bags  to be taken away in the early hours of the morning, which was  the usual way it was done to rid the prison of thousands of vermin who`s droppings were everywhere.  The outside window ledges of some of the cells were at least 2 inch thick of pigeon droppings and I cannot remember ever seeing anybody cleaning them off.

 

It was decided by the Government to scrap the old shift pattern and introduced Fresh Start working. Prior to  the”Fresh Start” regime, Officers were detailed to work regularly on the same landing which guaranteed Officer to Inmate continuity and it is the most important factor which is required to run a Prison successfully.  The  Two Chief Officer`s at HMP Lewes who`s job it was to be responsible for Discipline  Staff in uniform was abolished and were replaced by Junior Governor Grades.

Principal  Officers were then  responsible to  manage the staff in their own  groups which left the Senior Officers to run the wing. Two discipline Officers were detailed to work on each landing and the Officer with the most time served  automatically became the No1 and took responsibility for running the landing and it was an excellent working routine which worked well, but the Government were determined to change the routine which was shift work without overtime and it didn`t go down too well with the officers who had mortgages as they were financially less well off. The change of shift pattern also had a great impact on the inmates  because they were unable to communicate with the usual officers who had previously helped them as we didn`t have free time on their hands to do anything other than prison work.  The “E” shift pattern was only for the morning and it worked in such a way that it was impossible for an officer to arrange to do anything or to organize help for an inmate.  The “L” shift which followed started at 1300hrs to 2000hrs and didn`t incorporate time for officers to help inmates with personal requests such as: Guv would you give me a hand to write a letter?  Will you take me to reception to get my trainers? These requests didn`t warrant a  Governors  Application and was sorted out by the landing staff who on the old regime had time, but  on the “Fresh Start” regime the landing discipline officers` authority  and judgement was  taken away from them and given to the wing Senior officer. Because of the New Regime the word  NO had to be used more often by the landing staff  and  NO is a word which can cause upsets throughout all walks of life. I used it when answering a cell bell when the occupants demanded to be let out, because they had been given the job of reserve-visits runner and had been opened up the day before, by an officer who found the word NO difficult to say!  I told them that I would call and let them out if  and when they were required. But as they were  NOT needed they remained locked up.  On the following day I was handed a letter from the censors Officer which had been put in the inmate mail box. It was made up of newspaper cuttings and written words and read:-“ HARE you bastard you are going to die of AIDS we have got a needle and blood.” During the morning an inmate who had H.I.V entered the landing office to tell me that he had been approached by an inmate asking for blood. He assured me that he didn`t oblige.  I decided to report the incident to the wing Principle Officer and as I was making my way down to  his office a passing inmate told me, “Watch your back today Guv, you know what I mean!” and a second prisoner told me not to be on the landing at 1545 when the “workshops” return to the wing because they are out to get you then because you refused to unlock them. I reported the matter to the Principal Officer and produced the letter and told him what had been said. He read the letter, looked at me and said “ Don`t be on the landing at 1545 pm then.” That was  his way of dealing with the situation, which I thought was  quite unprofessional and I spent the rest of the day with my back to the wall  standing on the bridge  in F Wing 4`s landing waiting to be injected with HIV blood!  Fortunately nothing happened apart from the fire alarm being set off at 1545 pm which was  just an inconvenience and meant that the local fire brigade had to attend to confirm that it was a false alarm. I was mystified to why  a situation of that nature was  not  taken seriously enough to  have me removed from the wing for the day. When I arrived at work the following day I was told that the incident HAD been taken seriously and the two inmates had been ghosted out at Midnight to spend their remand time at HMP Winchester and  they returned to Lewes for their court case about 9 months later.

During the time when adult inmates occupied F Wing I was involved in two serious cases of assault by prisoners on other prisoners. The first assault was the pouring  of boiling water over  the shoulders and back of another inmate during the serving of breakfast. I was patrolling the 2`s landing and witnessed the assault  and restrained the offender until help arrived. He was taken down to the segregation unit and the F Wing inmates were locked in their cells. The serving of breakfast continued under a controlled unlock regime.

The following day I was called to report to the Principal Officer of the wing, on arrival he told me to sit down. I was expecting a reprimand, for what ,I didn`t know, instead I received a commendation for the way that I handled the situation during the serving of breakfast the day before. His  recognition, remarks  and praises made me feel good about my actions.

Some 9 months later I was witness to another serious assault on an inmate from another, while one was speaking on the phone the other one took a billiard  ball from the table and  with a cupped hand smashed it into the mouth of the inmate on the phone. I quickly restrained the offender and as I was taking him towards the alarm bell push button to get assistance,another inmate threw a punch at the head of the inmate who I was restraining which glanced off my cheek before making contact with his head, I pushed the button, but by this time other officers were  already at the scene and  they followed the necessary procedure required when serious incidents occur.

The following day I was called to report to the wing Principal Officer  and on arrival was told to sit down and  I was expecting to receive yet another commendation but was shocked to be told that he wanted me to put my signature to a form which he produced and read  aloud ” Mr Hare has been informed that he will summon aid before intervening in any incident.” I signed the form!  The POA wanted to know the reason and was told that I had received a blow to the face during the incident and  the wing Senior Officer suggested that I visit the prison hospital to get checked over and it had been recorded that I had a small swelling under the right eye. The POA`s advice was ( Do not get involved Dusty, let the younger officers deal with the alarm bells and you open and shut the gates for them to pass through.) It appears that if you are not injured in any way when dealing with an incident you will receive a commendation for your actions, but if you get unintentionally hit in the face and then you need to visit  the Health Care department  to be checked over your actions are not considered worthy of praise.

An inmate who had a very strong, perhaps obsessive interest with TRAINS and had spent hours finding out virtually everything you need to know about them and more than enough to be able to apply  to be a train driver with Southern Railway. He convinced the interviewers that he would be the right person to employ to fill the

vacancy and within a week he was driving passenger trains. He had been driving for about a month when he was called into the office to be told that they had received information that he had lied on his application form. The police were informed and he pleaded guilty to the offence and was given police bail to appear at Lewes Magistrates Court. He was given a 6 month prison sentence for falsifying documents and endangering lives by operating a train without a driver permit. When he arrived in Lewes he was located on my landing and was a model prisoner who on his day of release had written me a poem to thank me for helping him through his sentence.

I thoroughly enjoyed my job as a Prison Officer and requested to continue working on after the retiring age at 60 but it was against government policy to allow officers to work on the landings. My wing Senior officer Steve Childs  submitted a paper  to the governor requesting that I  continue to work on F wing after my retirement date, but it wasn`t granted due to the safety aspect.  ( Too old to continue working with inmates.)  So I applied to become the first Prison Officer to work as an OSG (Officer Support Group) at Lewes Prison. I had to attend an interview before being accepted and had to wait six weeks for a vacancy. I must say that at times I forgot that I didn`t have the authority of a Prison Officer and occasionally overstepped the mark when dealing with inmates, but it didn`t take long to adapt to the different regime.

 

 

 

I have now re-mustered from a Prison Officer down to an OSG (Officer Support Group) and I was the first Lewes Prison Officer to do so with a wage reduction of 50%. One of my weekly tasks was to drive the Prison Mini-Bus to transfer prisoners after they had been sentenced to their categorized Prisons.  HMP`s Camphill on the IOW,  Weymouth,  Dorchester,  Dover and many others! The most embarrassing incident that happened to me as the driver of the mini-bus was to take an inmate to the out-patients department at the Royal Sussex Hospital Brighton.       I parked up after off loading the inmate at the front entrance. There is usually a long wait at these sort of places and after about an hour I thought I would go and investigate when both of the Prison Escorts came running out of the building and shouted to me “have you seen him he`s just jumped out of the top window and has done a runner” They asked me to drive round the streets to see if we could catch sight of him, but to no avail! He was probably sitting on the beach sun tanning, stripped to the waist. Although I wasn`t officially part of the escort and only the vehicle driver it was requested that I submitted a statement of my involvement in the incident, but I insisted that being the driver didn`t include me as part of the prisoner escort, so the instruction was withdrawn. When I wasn`t transferring Prisoners my main job was to sort the Royal Mail and distribute it to the Wings for collection and to get signatures from the inmates when they received parcels.

During the time of being an OSG I was asked if I would consider being in charge of 10 inmates to maintain the gardens and the football pitch .Of course I jumped at the idea and after 6 months everywhere looked fantastic, the lads really did work hard. But then things changed completely because the Prison was breaking the law by allowing me to supervise inmates using machinery whilst I hadn`t got any qualifications to do so! So that came to an abrupt end, so now I am working back in the mail room!! The Prison advertised the vacant position  for a gardening instructor and several applicants turned up for an interview.  The panel made their choice and selected a person with no interactive skills whatsoever but he did have was the necessary qualification certificate of being able to use a petrol “Mower” and that is what mattered. I was asked if I would show him the ropes  for a couple of days before I went on my annual leave and on my return I was told that the chap they selected only lasted 4 days and was unable to control the inmates and then went on to ask if I would be prepared to carry it on!  What FOREVER, I said,   Oh NO only until they can get somebody else permanently . You can guess my answer!!!

As time went on I was being asked to do jobs which were meant to be done by Prison Officers NOT Officer support grade and the crunch came when I was told to go to the Gate-Lodge and draw Cell-Keys and to go to the Hospital because all of the staff who were on duty there were Agency Nurses and they were not allowed to carry keys, so I was unlocking doors for £12000 a year whilst a Prison Officer was being paid £23000 a year. So at the age of 64 I resigned, no notice was required because the firm owed me 70 hours T.O. I. L  I collected my belongings from my locker and made my way to the Gate –Lodge and after 16 years of service I handed over my whistle and truncheon and said, “ my goodbyes” to the gate staff and made my way HOME’

Date:- March 2016 I have recently found out that my daughter has been in the Prison Service as A prison officer for 11 years and transferred to HMP Lewes from HMP Downsview  about  two years ago.

 

DUSTY/BUNNY/RICH HARE