12 Dec 2006 -15:35
Dear H
I am sitting in House Block 1 in Elmley Prison on the Isle of Sheppey. North Kent. I am still being processed after what can only be described as a different kind of day.
This morning I was due in court at the request of Judge L after an application last week. Your mum had applied to have me committed for returning to our home on the 1st of November… and because I told her I was coming to your school carole service today to see you sing!
After court I was going back to Kent and Sussex Hospital where I spent the last two days to have my gallbladder and a gallstone removed. Something I have been waiting 3 months for after a very unpleasant week in hospital back in September. Well that is not going to happen.
I suppose I feel somewhat resigned to this as I did not do myself any favours in Court. I made the mistake of telling Judge L, the law is an ass and that it was being used to play games at your and my expense and he needed to realize this and make a decision! Well he did and here I am.
18:35
Well I am in a cell with 2 others. Dave on remand for burglary and Chris who is also on remand. He has spent 15 years inside mostly here at HMP Elmley which he thinks is one of the best! I hate to think what the worst looks like!
Dinner was a pasty, potatoes and gravy collected and then eaten in the cell. Cells are locked at 1930 until 0800 in the morning.
Wednesday 3 Dec 2006
No sleep last night. Constant pain from gallbladder. Bed so uncomfortable with mattress so thin you can feel the frame through it. No pillow and little headroom in top bunk. I am literally 40 cm from the ceiling. The cell is 3m by 2.5m for 3 of us and contains two bunk beds and a toilet. We have a tv though!
Last night was an interesting study in human behavior we could hear someone being beaten up in their cell by a fellow inmate. No one came to help.
Outside there were two fires burning from blankets or clothes thrown out cell windows and inmates screaming abuse at the guards or others half the night. It feels like I am in an asylum.
Today I have Induction. Its 0845, I have had breakfast and am now waiting to be taken to the induction classroom.
Induction consists of :
Drugs rehabilitation
Resettlement
Medical
Benefits
Housing and
Legal – It was suggested I appeal to the court for clemency. Over my dead body- no way am I going to grovel to the court. I know…. pride comes before a fall etc.
I explained my medical condition to the doctor and that I had been in Kent and Sussex awaiting an Op to remove my gallbladder. He saw no chance of that happening. He said he would get me some painkillers for the pain. Let me think painkillers in a prison full of druggies!
This afternoon I went into the Exercise yard. It is about 10m square, concrete and surrounded by 5m hign wire mesh. What a god forsaken place. Still no painkillers and the gallstone is excruciating. Today 20 hours locked up!
Thursday 14th December 2006
Another sleepless night. A guy went berserk in his cell. Screaming and swearing all night. He was eventually dragged away by the ‘screws’ (Prison Officers) before we were allowed out of our cells to collect beakfast. Very wise move I think he would have been lynched by the rest of us… including me! (Zimbardo's experiment in action! )
This morning was taken up with a Gym induction. Very boring but a good gym and I should be able to get a good workout at last. Gym booked for 2pm.
20:10. A somewhat surprising day. Chris left whilst I was away and has been replaced by a big Irishman Gerry who was sentenced to 12 years for smuggling cocaine. From how he describes it, sounds like he has been stitched up. Get the impression he is involved in something much deeper and this is about keeping him locked up. (PIRA??) He was in here last year for 3.5 months so is showing Dave and I the ropes. He shows great strength and fortitude given his sentence.
We got unlocked at 1400 to go to the gym but was told I had a visitor. This was a surprise. It took 1 hour 15 for me to be processed into the Visitor Centre and another 20 mins wait before Jane appeared. It was a nice surprise. By the time I got back to the cell via the Medical Centre to collect my painkillers and anti-inflammatories it was time to move to another cell.
I don’t know what to say. I am now on B Spur -Cell 17 We three have moved together which is a blessing as the place we have moved to is hell. The cell is the same-ish but the toilet is like something from an Egytpian train. The cell is covered in graffiti and Bspur is full of crackheads and hardened criminals. Just moving in was intimidating enough. Immediately we appeared, the cell was infested with inmates wanting to buy stuff or nick it. (cigarettes, clothes etc) I could feel myself getting really riled. Just when I thought it could not get any worse it just has.
In bed but not resting. Another long night. 2 down 11 to go.
Friday 15 December 2006
Nightmare night! Met the local Ninja who claims he is ex marine, ex para and in for a gun crime. What a bullshitter!
Gerry snored like a roaring lion all night. Dave had a nightmare. `the children’ were screaming and swearing all night as usual.
This morning it was down to reception for 2 hours to collect clothes from Jane. Then to the gym at last. 20mins on the bike, 1500m on the rowing machine in 5.58. 2 mins on the stairmaster, 150 situps and 1 mile on the treadmill.
Met a Turkish guy in Gym my age. Ran a restaurant in London He turned up one day to open the restaurant o find two Police waiting to arrest him for allegedly assaulting his ex wife. Told them he knew nothing about it. He said she was stopping him seeing his children and this was a tactic she used and that he had not been anywhere near her. I believed him It sounded familiar! He told the Police he had a restaurant to run and he was not going anywhere. They insisted he come with them, he resisted arrest and was charged with assaulting a Police Officer and was sentenced to 2 years! Is this the ghost of Christmas Future?
Jane visited this afternoon. Lovely to see her again. Met and talked to a couple of other inmates who’s ex’s have stopped them seeing their kids and they ended up going off the rails and in here. I’m not saying half the guys inside are here because of the actions of their spouses but it feels that way.
Saturday 16th December 2006
Uneventful. In cell all day. Gym cancelled -no staff. Exercise yard at 1530 for an hour – turned out to be 15 mins! Chicken and jacket potato for dinner. Watched X factor, film with Clint Eastwood and then Dracula. All farted all night. Good nights sleep at last!
Sunday 17th December
Discovered this should be my last day! Apparently you only ever serve half your sentence unless you are bad. So should be out tomorrow! Fingers crossed.
A fight on the Wing today. Two young lads kicked the shit out of each other and got carted off probably to hospital! No Gym again today. 1 day in 7 so far. Great!
Just had ravioli and mash for lunch locked up again but hoping to go to guitar club at 2pm. Dave has written a song for H. So will hopefully hear him play it.
Club cancelled.
Monday 18th December 2006
Released this morning before breakfast. Im sitting on a Railway Station, Got a ticket for my destination wo ooh… (Homeward bound, Simon and Garfunkel)
Awaiting a train home wherever that is. Dave’s song – a good luck gift in my pocket. Maybe get to hear it put to a tune one day!
My Daughter
by Dave Garrett
Elmley Prison 16/12/06
I see the ships out on the water and in my dreams they take me home.
They carry me back to my daughter and all the heartache from her mum.
Chorus
And not a night goes by when I don’t lay awake and cry
I want to see her face again and when I close my eyes
I can hide from all your lies but I can’t hide from the pain
I cant live another day cos I’m gonna find a way
I’m gonna see my daughter no matter how much you try and break me
however long it might take me, I’m gonna see my daughter.
Night time seems only to bring the feeling of the life I left behind,
when it calls it always finds me kneeling when it leaves I’m crying
Chorus
God knows I’ve tried to find a reason why I left them all behind
If loneliness makes your vision clearer then how could I have been so blind.
Rpt Verse 1 and Chorus
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