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I prepare identity cards for the three new prisoners who arrived yesterday As each officer comes in, I anize the filing system for inductees I will still be one myself for another week

When Mr New arrives, he leaves his copy of The Ti home

I a into a routine I now meet new prisoners as they appear, and find out what their problems are before they see an officer Often they’ve coht form Many of them want to be interviewed for risk assessovernor, whose office is in the administration block on the other side of the prison But the real problem is Mr New himself, because many prisoners believe that if their request doesn’t have his io any further This is partly because he takes an interest in every prisoner, but mainly because he won’t rush them He can often take twenty minutes to listen to their problened, which results in four other prisoners having to sit in the waiting room until he’s finished

During any one day, about thirty prisoners visit SMU I have to be careful not to overstep thetheir corner, while the officers have to feel I’reatercups of tea But however much I take on, the pay remains 25p an hour, £850 a week

12 noon

I pick upI take my tray back to the SMU and read The Times

200 pm

A prisoner rounds because his mother is ill Mr Downs, a shrewd, experienced officer, tells him that he’ll send a probation officer round to see his mother, so that they can decide if he should be released The prisoner slopes off without another word Mr Downs immediately calls the probation officer in Leicester, just in case the prisoner does have a sick mother

Bob (lifer) co for life outside once he’s released, possibly next year, but before that can happen, he has to complete ten town visits without incident Once he’s achieved this, he will be allowed out at weekends unescorted The authorities will then assess if he is ready to be released Bob has been in prison for twenty-three years, having originally been sentenced to fifteen But as Christine points out, however strongly she recommends his release, in the end it is always Home Office decision

Christine joins me in the kitchen and tells me about a lifer ent out on his first town visit after twenty years He was given £20 so he could get used to shopping in a supermarket When he arrived at the cash till and was asked hoould like to pay, he ran out leaving the goods behind He just couldn’t cope with having to make a decision

‘We also have to prepare all lifers for survival cooking’ She adds, ‘You have to remember that some prisoners have had three cooked meals a day for twenty years, and they’ve beco’

The next lifer to see Christine is Mike After twenty-two years in prison (he’s forty-nine), Mike is also co to the end of his sentence He invites ht (chicken curry) He’s determined to prove that he can not only take care of himself, but cook for others as well

500 pm

I walk over to the canteen and join Ron the fraudster and Dave the ostrich farmer for cauliflower cheese Ron declares that the food at NSC is as good as most motorway cafés This is indeed a compliment to Wendy

600 pm