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700 pm

I visit Leon in the north block He has just come off the phone to his fiancée, still safely ensconced in Portsmouth with Leon’s brother Sunita’s three Indian suitors have returned ho her father in Bradford Sunita has rung her father who has agreed to meet Leon But he still doesn’t know that Leon is in jail and won’t be released for another three weeks

DAY 135

FRIDAY 30 NOVEMBER 2001

930 am

The best laid plans of mice and convicts

I a tea for Mr Simpson at SMU when the duty officer asks one to Boston for his Exotic Foods interview, so they are short of an orderly

Suicide watch is quite common in prison, and this is the second I’ve covered in three weeks Linda and Gail have to judge whether the prisoner is genuinely considering taking his own life, or si for tea and sympathy and a chance to sit and watch television

I turn up at the hospital a few e is a man of about forty-five, squat, thick set, covered in tattoos, with several teetha six-year sentence for GBH What puzzles me is that he is due to be released on 14 January, so he only has a few more weeks of his sentence to complete All I’ets on with her other duties, which today include taking care of a prisoner as injured after being thrown through aat his previous jail

David’s first request is for a glass of water, which is no problem He then disappears into the lavatory, and doesn’t reappear again for solass of water No sooner has he gulped that down than the vicar arrives He sits down next to David and asks if he can help I ask David if he wants me to leave

‘No,’ he says, but he would like another glass of water

He then tells the vicar about the de that he ht, he doesn’t knohat to do

‘Are you a practising member of any faith?’ asks the Reverend

‘Yeah,’ replies David, ‘I believe in God and life after death, but I’ve never been sure which religion would be best for me’

A long and thoughtful discussion follows after which David decides he’s Church of England The only thing of interes