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Two young officers from Group 4 appear in the corridor They are to accompany me and two other inmates from this hell-hole – not that the devils’ keepers have been unkind In fact, with one loutish exception, they have been supportive and friendly

The Group 4 officers help s, before I am locked into a tiny cubicle in another sweat box I sit cra a ‘movement order’

1149 am

The electric gates swing slowly open, and the van eases out onto the main road I stare fro away All they’ll get is a blacked-out

I remain hunched up in my little box, despite the fact that as a D-cat prisoner I am entitled to have my wife drive ain, the Home Office has put a stop to that

For the next five hours, I am cooped up with two stale sandwiches and a bottle of water as we trundle through four counties on the endless journey to somewhere on the Suffolk coast

319 pm

The van finally arrives at Hollesley Bay, and co The three of us step outside, to be escorted into reception More for – decisions to be made about e can and cannot possess

Whilechecked, the duty officer inadvertently gives it all aith an innocent remark ‘It’s the first time I’ve checked anyone in from Lincoln’ And worse, the other two prisoners who came with me have only teeks and three weeks respectively to serve before they complete their sentences; this despite the fact that their homes are in north Yorkshire They have been uprooted because the Home Office is prepared to mess around with their lives just to make sure I couldn’t travel by car

When all the red tape is completed, I am accompanied to the north block by another officer, who dule room

Once again I begin to unpack Once again, I will have to find ain, I will have to suffer the endless jibes and sullen stares, never lowering ain, I will have to find a job

Once again …

EPILOGUE

For the past fourteentwo thousand words a day, nearly a million in all, which has resulted in three published diaries

Although Hollesley Bay turned out to be quite different froh to warrant a fourth diary However, there is one significant difference worthy of mention Hollesley Bay is an open prison, not a resettlement establishment It was clearly selected to ensure that I couldn’t work outside After I had completed my induction, the director of Genesis, a Mencap project in Ipswich, offered overnor, despite there being three other in at Genesis at that time I appealed to the Prison Ombudsman about this blatant discrimination, but he said he didn’t have the authority to reverse the governor’s decision