In Prison

I spent the day in Low Moss Prison today.

It is the 'All New Improved' Low Moss..... the first (public funded) prison to be built in 40 years.

One of the bosses is a member of our camera club and invited us along to the 'family & friends' open day before the inmates start arriving. Only 3 of us took him up on the offer which was a real pity as it was a once in a lifetime opertunity.

Because there are no inmates we were given unrestricted and unacompanied access to everywhere apart from the security control room (and I am sure I could have got in there if I had asked).

The building looks like it will be a great place to work - very bright and colourful. Not sure if the inmates will have the same feeling though.

We were treated to a prisoners meal and very tasty it was too. The budget per head per day is £2 (for 3 meals) - but the Governor did admit that we got more chicken in the chicken curry than would be normal so our meal would have broken the bank.

The other club member I was with was kind of surprised to find that there are dog handlers work full time in the prison and was horrified to hear them say that they would expect to find drugs on prisoners from day 1 as they start arriving (she is a bit niave about certain aspects of life) ....... but she was really taken with the dogs.

I found it quite interesting talking to some of the wardens and hear about their work and how it continued the process from after the point somebody came into 'the system' with the police and passed through their custody.

I would like to show you some of the 'real' pictures I took (as opposed to this abstract which was a 1.3second exposure as I walked along a corridor past some of the colourful panels) - but they have to be 'passed' by the authorities before I can post them.