Time In Issue 21

ART IS REVOLUTION!

Issue 21 Winter 2023

3: Reflections Anthology 4: Prisoners’ Week 5: Conflict Transformation 7: Chin Up (Honest Jim) 8: Transformative Arts and Music

9: Koestler Winners 2023 11: Poetry Pages 15: Gallery Pages 17: Writings 21: Rufus & Floyd 22: Women in Sport 23: Book Review: Finding My Wild

24: Goings On

25: Step by Step 28: A Day in the Life:

Depression

29: Transformation in Nature

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Acknowledgements: Sincere thanks are offered to all who played a part in creation of this magazine, in particular the contributors, without whom th would be no publication. Additionally, it would not have been possible with the support of Governor Gary Milling, all of the Prison Arts Foundation St the librarian Andrea and staff in On Point Printing. Sincere appreciation extended to Jayne the Art Tutor, and all of the teachers and prison educat who supported their students as they created their submissions. Particu gratitude is offered to the in-house artist, RMcA, for the bespoke cover art.

the here hout taff, n is tors ular

Issue 21 Winter 2023

When asked to guest-edit this edition of Looking back through previous editions of Time In, I immediately grabbed the Time In, it became clear that somewhat of a chance.

We had been having house-style existed. If I was going to talk conversations around the concept of about Transformation, I had to be Transformation and once suggested as a transformative in my approach. Therefore, that theme for this issue, it seemed a no- house-style went out the window. I wished to brainer. During these conversations, we create a more visual experience, one jamnaturally talked of conflict and peace, as packed with colour that rejected the modern well as change on an individual and social notion of using white-space. My hope was to level, and the impact Art can have on create an experience where every turn of the those processes. page provoked interest, curiosity and attentiveness.

When I put my mind to the actual practicalities of putting together the magazine, the first We all have tales of transformation in our thought that occurred was that this was an lives. To some extent it is inescapable. opportunity, not only for me, as editor, to Whether a result of changes in our curate content that spoke to the environment, new ideas we engage with, or transformative effect the arts can have and simply our own emotional and psychological the transformative journeys some of the maturity, change happens to us all, and like artists have been on, but also to push time, it will stop for no-one. Art and creativity boundaries in terms of how that can be allow us to funnel that inevitability in a positive presented. So, despite the, no-doubt, direction and promote and facilitate social trepidation of the editor-in-chief, I was given inclusion, reciprocity and justice. the green light.

In considering the content for this issue, education was an important consideration.

Editorial Note: Time In has been fortunate for the second time this year to have a prisoner guest editor whose experimental graphic design extends our visual content.

Experimentalism is a vital creative element that can produce new forms within the arts.

Our current guest editor has assisted in challenging our own artistic expectations and goals, and for which we are thankful. Prison Arts Foundation platforms offer workshop in a diversity of arts disciplines that fundamentally encourage respect and expression. The Chinese sage, Confucius extolled propriety as ceremonial rite, respecting each participant with proper speech within proper actions. The arts as education are an ultimate in communication. Every conversation in good faith will produce educational values. Bernard Shaw stated: ‘the single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place!’ I wish to close off the year by offering special thanks to Everyone who contributed to our Creative Writing Group; as well as, to all prisoners who made submissions @PamelaMaryBrown to Koestler Arts Writer-in-Residence (2023) and to Magilligan those who gained Koestler Awards.

Many of us find the rigidity of formal education, with its deadlines, narrow focus and set-script style, an obstacle to learning which rubs roughly against our natural grain. Art, not only allows ideas, stories and personality to be communicated in many different ways, but it facilitates individuals engaging with such things in ways that are personal, motivating and ultimately enriching.

I feel compelled to highlight the fantastic work the Prison Arts Foundation does in creating circumstances in which people are free to explore the arts, their own creative impulses, and to be adventurous in that.

I’ll end by thanking everyone who contributed to the magazine. Personally I found the writings on offer thought-provoking and inspiring, and for me the hope and the pain being communicated through some of the visual work was clear. Particular thanks go to Pamela Brown, our editor-in-chief who regularly tolerates my hair-brained ideas, and who offered faith by giving me this opportunity. @JPW

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Reflections Anthology

The Reflections Anthology project, created through the PAF Creative Writing Group in Magilligan, was a collaborative project between writers in the group, and those with a particular interest and aptitude for the visual arts.

The hope is that the poems within will offer an insight into the lives and memories of those who took part.

Some of the writers have had very little writing experience, and for many this will have been their first time putting pen to paper. The collection offers a ‘reflection’ of the talent that lies beneath the surface.

Visually, individual Mayflies were hand-drawn and positioned manually to create a ‘flip-book’ effect. This was developed using a polychrome method in order to duplicate the lifecycle of the insect.

The finished booklet has been distributed to Antrim, Dungiven, Holywood, Lurgan and Omagh Libraries and it is hoped that the Anthology will be entered to the Koestler Awards 2024 as a group entry.

Triptych @PMN Definition - Historical: A picture or relief carving on three panels, typically hinged together vertically and used ad alter piece; Modern: A set of three associated artistic, literary or musical works attended to be appreciated together.

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Prisoners’ Week Prisoners’ Week ran from 8th -14th October this year. This interdenominational event is an opportunity for bridging the division between prisoners and those in our communities.

The event was co-ordinated by Fr Kevin Mulhern. Magilligan’s Creative Writing Group created postcards, posters and composed letters explaining what prison life means to us and our families. We hope that this goes some way to breaking down stigmas that exist around prisoners, and re-humanising us in society’s eyes. The postcards and letters were available in all of the parishes in the Derry diocese.

We had an opportunity to interview Fr Kevin after the celebration.

Q: What is the aim of Prisoners’ week?

A: Prisoners week aims to encourage prayers and awareness of the needs of prisoners and their families , victims of crime and their communities those working in the criminal justice system and the many people who are involved in caring for those affected by crime on the in and outside of our prisons.

Q: This is the first year that it has been expanded to include a project by prisoners.

Why is this so important?

A: The inclusion of Prisoners involved in creative writing has helped people to have a greater understanding of people in Prison. Everything was prepared by the prisoners this was evident in the cards with their poetry on them, yet more especially on the letters written by the prisoners themselves.

Q: What are your aspirations for prisoners’ week in the future?

A: My hope would be that a continuation of what has been achieved this year can be built upon in future years ahead so that people will be able to grow in understanding of the people who find themselves behind bars.

Q: What was the reception of the event like in your parish?

A: In my own Parish the event was received with a certain enthusiasm due to my involvement with the prisoners in Magilligan and in the preparation of the literature produced.

Several have enquired about writing to a prisoner or the possibility of financial support if needed.

If anyone is interested they can contact me through the chaplaincy. @DON

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Introduction Lederach distinguishes Conflict Transformation from Conflict Resolution. He defines Resolution as a process that seeks to end conflict by dealing with the immediate situation. This is characterised as a superficial approach.

In contrast to this, Lederach’s approach is to recognise that conflict is an ongoing reality, and rather than being a destructive force, it is a ‘motor for change’ which we can direct towards more positive outcomes. He argues that a Conflict Transformation approach ‘provides a clear and important vision… [that] brings into focus… the building of healthy relationships and communities, locally and globally,’ and it does so by engaging in a deeper analysis.

Lenses Lederach sets out that the key to Conflict Transformation is to approach problems through a series of lenses, three to be precise:

1. Immediate Situation This is the immediate presenting problem. Lederach uses an example of a family argument over who is doing the dishes.

2. Underlying patterns and context This involves analysing the underlying nature and quality of relationships, the differing power dynamics at play and the decision making that flows from that.

Continuing the example of the dispute over who is doing the dishes, Lederach proposes we ask such questions as ‘who has washed them in the past?’ ‘Who will wash them in the future?’ and indeed as an extension, ‘who normally determines who washes them?’

3. Conceptual framework Transformation seeks to provide a framework that addresses the content, context and structure of the relationship between the immediate situation and the underlying patters and context.

CONFLICT

tRANS Form aTION A SUMMARY

Goals

The goal of Conflict Transformation is to create process through conflict. For this, Lederach identifies a number 

Personal

Minimise harmful outcomes and maximise the potentia individual people at physical, emotional, intellectual and 

Relational

Minimise poor communication between people and max 

Structural

Analyse the root causes and social conditions that give conflict; promote nonviolent methods to reduce confron eliminate violence; foster structures that meet basic ne maximise inclusion in decision making processes (proce 

Cultural

Understand cultural patterns that encourage violent ex

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Map of Conflict In pursuit of these goals, Lederach breaks down the process and proposes the use of a “map of conflict.” For this map he suggests three main points of inquiry.

Inquiry One – The Presenting Situation Here, Lederach embeds three levels of analysis, which he presents as spheres. At the centre he situates the ‘Issue.’ This is of course the immediate presenting issue from Lens One. This is then embedded within a second sphere which takes us into the underlying ‘Patterns’ and context (Lens two). Both these are then embedded within a third sphere that seeks to remind us that all that has been considered so far, comes with a ‘History.’

Inquiry Two – The Horizon of the Future Again, Lederach presents us with a set of three embedded spheres. At the centre is ‘Solutions.’

This is the set of short term solutions to the immediate issue. Next is ‘Relationships’ and relates to the solutions that tackle problems in the underlying relationships. Finally, we have ‘Systems’ which forms the set of solutions related to systemic or structural change.

Lederach notes that it is important to remember that this process is circular, so we may need to move through Inquiries One and Two more than once as some solutions may be imperfect or create new challenges or forms of conflict.

Inquiry Three – The Development of Change Processes This inquiry focuses on the design and support of change processes. Lederach makes the point that it is “processes” plural, as it is important to utilise several interdependent enterprises. Once more he chooses to represent this inquiry as a set of embedded spheres. Sharing the centre is ‘Episodic,’ the series of immediate situations, and ‘Epicenter,’ the relevant patterns and context.

The point of this inquiry is to ‘conceptualize multiple change processes that address solutions for immediate problems and at the same time processes that create a platform for longer-term change of relational and structural patterns.’ Around the ‘Episodic’ and ‘Epicentre’ sphere, Lederach presents four elements that must be attended to as a ‘web of interconnected needs,’ when developing any process for change. These are the Goals listed previously: ‘Personal,’ ‘Relational,’ ‘Cultural’ and ‘Structural.’

ses for constructive change r of goals. These are:

l for growth and wellbeing for d spiritual levels.

ximise understanding.

rise to harmful expressions of ntation and minimise or eeds (substantive justice) and edural justice).

pressions of conflict.

Continued on page 27

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Chin UP I once read a story about a German soldier who got separated from his patrol on the Russian front during World War Two. I t w as bitterly cold and the tw o sides w ere hunkered dow n several miles apart in the icy desolation of a Russian winter. Lost and disorientated, the poor German soldier stood on a landmine which blew both his legs clean off below the knee.

Alone and without any help, he knew he must act quickly in order to stay alive. So, he used the braces from his pants as tourniquets to wrap around each leg to stem the bleeding, and tore his shirt to use as bandages. Then he tied his tw o boots together using the laces: w ith the low er halves of his legs still in them! He slung his boots, legs and all, around his neck and crawled for miles through no-mans-land to get back to the German lines.

Needless to say, his legs couldn’t be saved. But he survived and was shipped home. The moral of this story is, “isn’t it amazing what lengths people will go to in order to stay alive?”

No Easy Life I personally have had no easy life. As a child I was continually bullied and brutalised by my psychopathic drunk of a father. He often kicked and stamped on me during the night because my asthma attacks were keeping him awake. To this day I’ve got Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) because of the way the monster treated me. I w ent to London to get aw ay from him in my early twenties and only came back twenty-seven years later because my health was starting to fail.

I ended up homeless on Dublin ’s streets for years. I ’d also been diagnosed with irreversible lung disease as well as severe asthma and the Mater Hospital refused to put me on the transplant list as I may not survive the operation. For the last two years I’ve been using a power wheelchair to get around as I can ’t walk far without getting very breathless and as a side effect of all the medication I take for my lungs, I ’ve developed diabetes. I ’ve also got glaucoma which is incurable and I ’m half blind in my right eye now.

In early July I had a nasty fall at home in my council flat. I fell w hilst getting out of my wheelchair and the entire weight of my body landed on the chair’s control panel. The joystick went up into my spine like a bayonet and I lay on the floor calling for help for about half an hour. Then I must have blacked out because of the pain and I came around on the floor two hours later, freezing cold and absolutely saturated with blood. It was all around me in a puddle. Realising that I might die if I lost consciousness again I knew I had to get help. If I got hypothermia, along with shock, pain and blood loss, I might not survive the night.

So I dragged myself across the floor, bit by bit, stopping every foot or so to catch my breath and let the pain subside. After half an hour of this I reached the panic emergency alarm in my hallway and an ambulance was called. I h a d m i n o r s u r g e r y t o s t e m t h e b l e e d i n g , including a pump inserted into my back for six days and sealed with sixteen stitches. After three weeks in hospital I ’m home in my council flat taking painkillers and getting my dressing changed every three days by the local public health nurse.

Fighter With all the problems I’ve got it would have been easy to just give up: to just go back to eternal sleep on the floor. Yet I didn’t. I’ve always been a fighter and my basic personality took over. Believing that my life was still worth living I fought for it. And I w on.

Isn’t it amazing what a person will go through to stay alive? You see, there’s always the chance that things will improve, that your life will get better and become enjoyable again. W e all get periods of unhappiness when things seem hopeless but change may be just around the corner.

So, chin up and carry on through the rainclouds of life for tomorrow, the sun may shine once again.

@HonestJim

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Transformative Art and Mu-

Traaaaaannnnssformativeart…. …transformative art is really hard to explain when you’re stuck in a creative rut. Lately I have found it difficult to put pen to paper, so! I have decided to put fingers to keyboards instead (less paper thrown away)… in music, it takes something special to alter the state of mind you are in. A song you’ve heard a million times, on the millionth and one time playing you could hear the words a different way, you could experience a melody in a different light, you could change the meaning of a song for yourself. Well known indie band London Grammar have an album called “If You Wait” and on this album there is a song called “Wasting my young years” which has now taken a different meaning to me in the sense that I feel I have wasted my young years. I may only be 27 years old, but out of those years I have already spent just under 6 years in prison altogether.

“I’m wasting my young years” And this song in beginnings has had many meanings. It has been played on days waiting to be sentenced contemplating the waste in the ways of my life. It has been along with me in the background, stuck in my mind at times, stuck in the idea of “I have wasted my life so far” and “this judge will tell me now how long I will have to waste it in prison cells and prison wings” and prison visits with loved ones… wasting years, wasting a life that could have been, instead of one devoid of meaning… …but that’s just it isn’t it… …there is meaning in the sense that the time is never wasted if you’ve used it to make yourself a better person, to change the way you think, and therefore the way you act… …and time, time has it’s own meaning for you whether you see it or not…

The fact that I have written, have experienced this all while listening to the album and song I am referring to is an example of how transformative art in the form of music can affect us as human beings. A song that has had many meanings for many years for me personally, now has new meaning. *The next song plays* “London Grammar – Sights” “What are you afraid of?”… …”making it better” “keep it in your sights now”… …”whatever the weather” Where once it was a daunting, looming figure threatening to take any hope I may have clung to, 4 years later into this sentence my reflection on previous sentences on this time now, it’s completely different… I’m no longer wasting my young years, I’m changing my future …in place of erasing hope, this song is now a form of light I can walk towards. Despair may try and try but hope don’t rust, place this in your dreams, learn to trust… that where there is hope we will try to find it in any form we may… …there is a better day… all you have to do is wait… *London Grammar- If you wait*

“If you wait……. I will trust in time that we will meet again” So here’s to hope… here’s to my dreams… here’s to how we will meet again, me and life…and here’s to how music, how one song heard many ways can change the way you say “I’m wasting my young years” prison is a part of your life so make it as good as you can… …After all, what is it you’re afraid of?.... …Making it better?… and all of this from a few songs on one album...

@PH

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This year was a record year for the Koestler Arts Awards on a number of different fronts. Over eight thousand entries were received from people around the UK, more than in any recent recorded year and a total of two thousand three hundred and fifty awards were given across fifty-two categories in two hundred and sixty-five settings.

Over the years, judges have included Turner Prize-winning artist Jeremy Deller, Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, representatives from the Victoria & Albert Museum, the British Council, the National Theatre, Speech Debelle, and Louis Theroux.

This year’s event saw artists like Hot Chip (Computer Generated Music), Louise Galvin (Hairstyling) and Chelsea McDonagh (NonFiction, Blog, Essay, Article and Review) assess and give recognition to the skill, effort and ambition of artists in secure settings.

Locally seventy one awards were received: Forty-Three in Magilligan Prison Sixteen in Maghaberry Prison Ten in Hydebank One in The Shannon Clinic One in the Community.

Fifty-two of these awards were achieved by PAF students and these comprised: Two Platinum Three Gold Two Silver Eight Bronze Five Outstanding Debut Seven Highly Commended Twenty-Five Commended.

The awards were won across twenty-two different categories with an eclectic mix of styles and talents being recognised. These included a Platinum award for a Screenplay, a Gold award for Ceramics, and Commended awards for poetry, Graphic Design and a Life Story.

In addition to this great trove of accolades, a number of entrants were selected to be exhibited at the annual Koestler Southbank Exhibition whose title this year is ‘In Case of Emergency.’ These pieces were ‘Tempest,’ a Singer-Songwriter Original which also won a Gold Award; ‘Moonlight City,’ a Painting; ‘Kaleidoscope,’ a poem; ‘Little Chair,’ a matchstick model; ‘Girl with Golden Earring,’ a painting; and ‘Poppy,’ a needle craft.

Finally, a number of pieces of poetry were selected for publication in the Koestler Arts biennial anthology: ‘This Place,’ which also won a Silver award; ’Kaleidoscope;’ and ‘Chain Poem,’ which received a Bronze award as part of a poetry collection entitled ‘Section 18.’

The following pages exhibit some of the amazing works that achieved success this year.

The Koestler deadline is usually in April and the coming year’s theme is ‘From Now On,’ so get creating!

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- Platinum Award @PM

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POETRY PAGES 11

Chain Poem Countries all round the world in conflict and war War that separates and causes hate Hate that manifests itself in bullets, bombs and murder Murder of the innocent and the guilty Guilty as w e turn over the new s.

D

If you look

S

He rule

Ra

Pens the - Bronze Award -

Te

@PC

3 Magic Kisses There is something important I think you should know

-

It’s a secret for you, I can’t really show I lay on my bed About 12 every night I send you my love, before I turn out the light I purse my lips together And send you 3 kisses I send so many, in case one of them misses They go up and out And into the skies The weather can’t stop them, not that it tries They travel far And their aim is true They fly over the city just to get to you They arrive at your house When you’re asleep in bed Go straight through the window, onto your head.

- Commended Award @MF

A

Writer in the Room

Dark, dusty, smoked filled air,

k hard enough, you’ll find him there.

Spectacles on, a glass in hand,

es this thought-provoking land.

cks his brain to find the words,

em down, his thoughts are heard.

ension rises as do the stakes.

Full Stop.

The End. Is all it takes.

Kaleidoscope Through chaos, form, and function, A brave new world glimmers fleeting.

Hidden through a lens unfocused, The geometry of the living appears.

- Highly Commended Award @Maghaberry

- Highly Commended Award @Maghaberry

Split Decision — A poem about boxing I’m training hard for a fight

This Place We serve this sentence together.

They say training is the hardest part And the fight is the easy part You need to be fit to last the rounds

Against a landscape.

And bounce on your toes, ducking

Our shoulder blades held high.

And weaving can tire you out

Under autumnal colour,

A blow to the stomach can make it difficult

Or smothered in summer sky

To breath. A jab to the chin and you will Win a point. Keep your guard up and elbows

Mountains they surround us.

But I never feel hemmed in.

I paint them with my eyes, And draw them closer in.

Tucked in to protect yourselves and also Make it difficult for you opponent to score a point.

Some boxers use the jab a lot to connect with His opponent’s face. That’s just his style of boxing Jab and move. Then some fighters use combinations A lot. The punch you don’t see is the one that

Still, I get up in the morning.

Knocks you out. The referee will

There is always something to do.

Stand over you and give you a count

And I think about this place a lot,

And hopefully you get up before number

When I think about you.

10. Or the fight will be over with a knockout win.

- Silver Award @DMC

- Commended Award @LL

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POETRY PAGES 13

The Thin

Hands on Hands (Extract)

Some friends are unknowing enemies, Their damage unintentional,

We carry

Missed birthdays and Ch

With our children partn

With a lack of ill intent,

family

Lots of missed fir

help me to feel at peace… with demons who hold my hand.

First steps, first days a

…

And other important m

the oceans, never quite as blue as they seem to be in movies

Tooters and utensils to

We carry drugs

…

We carry

and it seems like….

Addiction antisocial per

I could throw these thoughts as far as you see.

Mental health issues th our lives

The trauma of a societ violent

- Commended Award -

We carry a

@PH

Heightened fight or response

Over reacting because o

Due Date Playing dice with her life, no longer an option, she welcomes the responsibility of motherhood, rubs and protects her tummy. Whilst walking away as the trouble echoes with the ringing of the jail bell.

Her mental health was so low as she lay alone in a bare and quiet cell but now she thrives as she can feel this bundle of joy move inside.

The due date has come and she can’t relax.

But when she sees her child it all makes sense.

She forgets her surroundings for a short while even though she’s handcuffed to a city hospital bed.

She knows it’s the rules to give away her child but her mother instincts shouts, “No, she’s mine.”

Her mental health plummets, as does her life.

The system tells her you cannot fight but a mothers instincts are always right.

- Highly Commended Award @WV

ngs We Carry don’t work right

hristmases

We carry

ners and

Fear but it makes us angry

rsts

and lash out We carry

at school

The broken hearts of

milestones

everyone we left behind

o take our

Especially the ones who are too young to Understand why We carry A motivation to make things

rsonalities

better

hat plague

A reason to prove we have

ty that is

changed And mend those hearts we have broken

If we can…

r flight

our brains

- Commended Award @PC

For the first time in a number of years, Barbering has been a winning category, with a local entrant taking a Bronze Award.

The Creative Writing Group Magilligan are proud to receive a Gold Award in Graphic Design from the Koestler Arts for Issues 18 and 19 of Time In. 14

LLE

GA RY A

F

H

15

11

B

G

I

A: Eyes Wide Open – Commended Award - @Maghaberry, Donegal Cottage - Commended Award - @Maghaberry; B: A Colourful Experiment - Commended Award - @Hydebank; C: Robert De Niro – Bronze Award - @Maghaberry; D: Crazy Crew – Outstanding Debut Award - @Magilligan; E: Mountain at Dusk – Commended Award @MN; F: Jail Life - Commended Award - @AH; G: Little Chair H: Mountain Hills – Highly Commended Award - @MN; I: Moonlight City @CC; J: Funfair Carousel – Platinum Award - @Maghaberry; K: She Shone Out of the Crowd – Bronze Award - @Maghaberry; L: The Bag – Gold Award - @S.

C

D

E

J

K

L

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WRITINGS 17

Buried Alive (extract) I was buried alive for 3 days. It felt like weeks. A single day felt like weeks, the hours felt like days, I was terrified. I thought I was going to die. When I was buried alive, during the dark hours, I thought I saw mice, rats and foxes but I

am not sure if I did, or if I was seeing things due to no food or water. The foxes checked me out and moved on.

After day or two I started to pass in and out of consciousness. I came out of unconsciousness and saw a wee dog.

Then a couple minutes later, I saw a wee women, she got on her hands and knees and dug my arms out. It took twenty minutes, maybe more, then I was able to climb out.

I was very weak and tired, all I wanted was a drink and to go to bed. Within minutes there was police there, then shortly after that there were reporters, asking me all sorts of questions. I couldn’t answer, my head was wrecked.

I just wanted sleep, I was absolutely wrecked, so I walked away from the scene. I kept walking, then a taxi pulled up beside me, the women that dug me out rang the taxi for me, and paid for it. God love her, she stayed in contact with me and until this day she writes me letters and cards at Christmas.

…

People often ask me ‘What was going through your head?’

At first I though these boys will never leave me here. But when night turned to day…I knew they weren’t coming back for me. Then you pray and mostly believe that you are going to die.

- Highly Commended Award @CS

Dreamin’ (Singer-Songwriter Original Lyrics)

I don’t know what I’ve done, done to deserve you Everything you’ve done for me, and all you still do Everything you’ve been for me, and all you still are I’m in deep for you, and that’s just so far Have I any right to seek more Have I and right to try I don't know how you feel about me But I just can’t deny I just can’t dent I’m Dreamin’ Of a place far away from here I’m Dreamin’ Of a place, a place where you are near I don’t want to say its destiny, that somehow its meant to be That’s just not what I believe, in the end its down to me I need to step up now, let the truth be told I don’t want to run away, I need to put it up don’t fold.

- Commended Award @JPW

Screwed “I’ve thought long and hard about this case and decided I must impose a custodial sentence”.

The Judge’s mouth continued to move but I did not hear anything else he said, instead, I had to focus on keeping myself upright.

My legs felt heavy, yet my head was light. I could hear my heart banging in my ears and felt the cold sweat running down my back.

I kept telling myself I’d be ok but in truth I knew I was f****d.

Next thing I heard was a voice telling me to “come this way”. I turned to face a young man wearing the same uniform I’d worn proudly for the previous 6 years.

The feeling of sheer panic struck me next as it dawned on me, I was now going to be on the other side of the cell door.

As I was led out of the courtroom, I managed to lock eyes with my wife. Time stopped and allowed me to witness a pain in her that I’d never seen before. I wondered if it was caused by what she had heard in court or by the fact that I was going to prison.

I wished I could have given her a hug, a hug I needed as much as she did to be honest.

I blinked and our moment was gone.

- Outstanding Debut Award @Hydebank

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Life is often inundated with a curious obsession to money and the monetary value we assign to goods and services. Seldom can one go more than sixty minutes in today’s consumer capitalist society without any reference to money.

There are a number of contributing factors to this in my opinion. Greed for one. Our constant self-comparisons to the images of wealth and power conveyed on the media and social media being another.

It is these factors that I believe people feel a constant need to chase a life full of monetary wealth. However, is money the be all end all?

I have been in prison for one month and one day. This pales in comparison to the remainder of my sentence and a drop in the ocean in comparison to many of my fellows I have encountered in my short time here.

32 days however, is time for reflection. Thoughts of wealth are replaced with thoughts of health. Will I still be able to see my older relatives upon release?

 My name is BM and I am a chef. I first started chefing at eighteen, in Frames, in Belfast. I started as a glass collector and hated it, as the manger could never find me. I was helping the head chef, chef JT, the coolest chef I’ve ever worked with. He had the full chef suit on, the white jacket with the fat white studs, and the le chef trousers, black Croc shoes. He was an old-school chef with the big white tall hat which you don’t see much these days.

One Friday, the manager handed me my wage packet with my name on it and it said “kitchen”. I was buzzing. I started the next day. My first job was prepping ribs. I had about an hour to do them.

JT handed me a meat clever that was half the size of me, I near dropped it.

I worked in Frames for three months. JT sent me to learn more at the John Hewitt bar. It was named after a poet, John Hewitt. It was a gastro pub, nice pub grub, a small kitchen, small menu. In the John Hewitt I found a passion for food, and respect for the job.

My aunt ‘Scooter’ had blonde, bleached, spiky hair. She was a great chef and she taught me how to use knifes the right way. Also, what knife done what job and to set up my section for service. I 19

In the short period I have realised it’s not particularly important on how you spend your money, but rather your time. In the next two years, I will miss my youngest siblings 18th birthday and my Father’s 50th. This may appear trivial and insignificant to some, but for me this at one stage would have been unimaginable.

My thoughts are now drawn to how to best to spend time. Time I have realized is, and always has been greater than wealth. From the second we’re born, until the second we depart, every second, every minute we spend is important.

With money we can acquire the newest car and the biggest house, but can you go back and see your child’s first steps or a parent’s last breath if you miss them?

It is up to the individual how they spend their time. It can be wasted or put to use. Time is ultimately our eternal currency. Money can be earned or spent, won or lost, time however will keep marching on.

- Silver Award @SMcC

 loved service, the heat, the shouting, the flames, and most importantly the crack. It was a buzz, a drug on its own.

I left the Hewitt after a year, and started working round restaurants in Belfast city centre, from pub grub to fine dining. I was working 6 days a week and over sixty hours a week, not realising I had started drinking a lot more, and my tolerance for cocaine was very high. I was taking it as soon as I opened my eyes, and last thing at night taking sleeping tablets or weed to sleep, and coke to wake up.

I tried Addiction Northern Ireland twice and it didn’t work. I don’t think I wanted to stop to be honest.

I am 32 now, serving a fifteen month sentence in Magilligan for control of supply. I am using prison as rehab centre and a school. I am not one for sitting and thinking, prison is a second chance. To me addiction is like a shadow, it’s always there but help is out there. Being in prison has changed me very quickly, it’s made me realise that it’s the smalls things in life that count, and who counts like family and friends. I know when I am released I will be a different knowing. I don’t want to see jail ever again. I am going start my own business as a wall and floor tiler, I am currently doing tiling in Magilligan.

- Commended Award @BMG 20

trAnsfoRmaTive

Transformative art is the use of art to initiate, facilitate or focus change in people or society.

Art has transformed so much over the millennia that is hard for me to pinpoint where to even start, which means I am in danger of repeating what I have said in previous articles.

Art used to be scribbles on walls in caves, then morphed into the multi-faceted art world we see today.

For the last number of years, art on the outside has moved on again to become largely digital, and what a transformation that has been: what with handheld devices, NFT’s, and more recently A.I. generated art. As far as transformation goes, I think I have nailed the point on that!

For me personally, the transformation in myself through art has been immense. I started off doing graffiti when I was really young which helped me escape the rough place I was living in. About 20 of us from a local ‘writing crew’ used to gather and head to the train yards and spray really big pieces on trains – sometimes 2 full carriages long – with a big slogan, usually bigging up our crew or some social message.

That was the early introduction to art for me. Eventually, I started doing my own pieces as time moved on and I got better at it! Then came murals on people’s homes and businesses and shortly after that I put my hand to tattooing which came naturally to me.

I was deeply involved in all kinds of art at that stage of my life and then tragedies struck me which sent me off the rails and I downward-spiralled into addiction.

Since then art has significantly helped me beat my addiction issues by constantly painting and devoting all my spare time to researching and continually looking for new ways to be creative. Now at this stage of my life I hope to be released in the next few years out to a society which I will hope will appreciate the art I will be doing and not who I was in the past! That is a snippet of my life story and how art has transformed me from my darkest days to my place of tranquillity in which I reside today.

@RMcA

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Women in sport have always taken a back seat with few being in the public eye and perhaps the exceptions being the Williams’ sisters, Sonia O’Sullivan, Zola Budd and Mary Peters from Northern Ireland to name only a few. In more recent years, the likes of Jessica Ennis Hill, Victoria Pendleton, Katherine Grainger, Nicola Adams, Hannah Cockcroft and Ellie Simmonds have become household names as they were rightly lauded for their gold -medal exploits in the Olympics and Paralympics.

Women’s sport has widely grown in the past decade, particularly football with female England players being awarded professional contracts. Their matches are now being shown on terrestrial TV channels compared to 2011 when they were shown on the BBC red button.

In the Women’s Super League (the female equivalent of the men’s Premier League) to attend a match is only £9 whereas the men’s is £65, even at this low price women’s tickets seldom sellout. It’s a wonder the female clubs are managing to survive, as ticket sales pay a big part in keeping them afloat in terms of funding.

In 2019 the BBC launched the #changethegame campaign to showcase female athletes this gave live rights to the football and netball World Cups, World Athletics and World Gymnastics Championships, ‘we turned the volume up on women’s sport and altered perceptions and it worked with more than 45 million people, consuming women ’s sport content across television, radio and online. ’ Although we have come a long way in the past 10 years, governing bodies need to invest more in women. Sponsorship, pay and prize money need to be increased as well there also needs to be more female coaches, officials and representation on board.

There have been many remarkable sporting moments over the past 10 years but what I have respected is the number of sportswomen prepared to use the power of their profiles and platforms to call out injustices and inequality.

The Williams sisters have both been active voices in the fight for race and gender equality. Simone Biles talked openly about the sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of USA gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar, Megan Rapinoe and her World Cup-winning colleagues took on their own federation demanding equal pay and Allyson Felix highlighted the maternity policy hypocrisy of Nike, they are only a few amongst many others who have put their heads above the parapet to improve the future for others.

I’ll end this Article using the words of Fifa Women ’s Player of the year Megan Rapinoe on her thoughts about the next decade for women’s sport after 1.2 billion people tuned in around the globe to watch this summer ’s Women’s World Cup. “We changed the game,” She said. “But is it enough?

No way, Man, this is only the start!” @GM

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22

Finding My Wild by Kathy Donaghy (2023 0’Brien Press) (Book Review) Kathy describes her childhood and teenage years on the Inishowen Peninsula in Co. Donegal. The reader enters a world of happy family memories with the backdrop of mountains, woods and the wild Atlantic.

share a love of the outdoors and travel. Living in Dublin they reach a time in their lives when they decide to start a family. During this period between the birth of their first son Dallan and second Oirghiall, Kathy starts to question:

“Even though I had worked very hard as a journalist to get to a certain level an uneasiness had set in a restlessness, was this Donaghy leaves this life behind all there was? We had a good when she enrols at Maynooth to solid existence what more could study English and French however you want?” travelling home every weekend.

In her last year of study an anxie- The conclusion, return to Inishowen to nature to a simple life. ty and unhappiness takes hold.

Like Thoreau deciding to live in “I didn’t see it coming or recogthe cabin at Walden Pond to get nise the warning signs… it away from the fast pace of town seemed to descend like a dense life in 19th century Connecticut. fog… I couldn’t do something simKathy considers the meaning of ple like get myself out of bed.” career path, success, the eternal After going through periods of questioning as to what do you do. exhaustion and social isolation A constant pressure to reconcile she was diagnosed with depression. With the help of counselling this with a desire to live a meaningful family life with an appreciashe found her feet again reignittion of nature. ing her love of nature, her roots and her family.

These dilemmas have been faced particularly post famine by the majority of Irish people and, as Kathy alludes to her family was not immune. The destruction of a way of life especially language and culture. People moving to the cities both within Ireland and abroad. As their small plots became unviable they sell the only thing they have that is their labour. From this a new structure develops and with belief systems aligned with production, consumption, work, Idleness, reward, punishment etc.

there except ‘get money get it legally and get a lot of it. Money has become the grand test of virtue.’”

This was 1920s London. The process had only accelerated in early 21st century Ireland in which period the author was embroiled. She is mindful that she is fortunate with established resources and 3mb broadband to embark on this journey. In a period when remote working was very much conceptual.

However when trying for a third child the author suffers a series of miss carriages, she vividly describes the pain, trauma and a further descent into self-doubt and distress.

“By now an almost madness had descended on me. I had become obsessive about becoming pregnant. I snarled and shouted at anyone who was pregnant.”

This inferno was further stoked as if by a malignant invisible hand when we read of the death of Richard’s brother by suicide.

The dilemmas faced by the author There is a picture of an individual being broken apart and potentialreminiscent of Orwell’s perspecly a once happy family unit. tive on beggars:

Donaghy goes on to work in journalism and on her journey meets her future husband Richard who is also a journalist working with the Sunday Tribune. They both

23

“Why are beggars despised ?[…] for they are despised universally.

I believe it is for the simple reason that they fail to earn a decent living. In practice nobody cares whether work is useful or useless.

In all the modern talk about energy, efficiency, social service and the rest of it what meaning is

A re-encounter with the ocean and its wildness, uncertainty and strength saves Kathy and her family. Giving a perspective to the uncertainty of life but giving forth a calmness of heart and a contentment to realise people get through things not just surviving but living life to the full. @FD

GOINGS ON Director General Beverley Wall, along with PAF, Belfast Met & NIPS staff attended the opening night of an exhibition of art by students at Hydebank Wood College & Women’s Prison on th 19 September 2023, Newtownbreda Library, Belfast. The exhibition was open to the public, during library opening hours, from 20th September – 21st October 2023.

The ‘Embracing Emotions, Inspiring Hope’ exhibition, featured in the last edition of Time In, was in Omagh, from 2nd – 31st October.

Advance copies of ‘Enduring Words’ will be received by five writers whose work was selected for the Arkbound anthology on 23 November. The collection will be available to the general public from December 1 2023 and can be bought via www.arkbound.com/ product 24

STEP I sat and thought about the people around me, the people I’d met over the years and thought about how we were just doing the same things over and over. We get up and go to work. We get home and fall asleep in front of the TV. Then, we get up and do it all over again, begging for the weekend to come. When that arrives, we get drunk in the same 25

It was like a switch flicked in my mind: my view on life changed instantaneously. I no longer felt the world was against me. I realised that, if I wanted my life to change, then

I had to change. I stood up and began tidying my flat, cleared away the empty bottles, got washed and shaved, while continuously thinking over and over about what I needed to do. By the time my flat and I were clean, so was my mind.

Things were clearer, I did not know exactly how to do it, but I knew what not to do.

I made a plan and wrote it down, just small things at first, small steps, small adjustments.

Firstly, I needed routine, I needed a job. So, first thing in the morning I would get up and get the first bus to town and start looking for work. I called into the job centre and 3 temp agencies and, on the bus ride

home, I had a phone call: I started work in the morning! I was laying the foundations for the life to come, one small step at a time and, before I knew it, everything else just started falling into place. My luck had changed in an instant and it all stemmed from a thought and change of mind set.

Another change I made was swapping one bad habit at a time for a positive one. Filling my time with positive habits so that I wasn’t getting time to sit around and get bored was the key to everything. I began with the gym, then started different classes and from that I discovered that I loved trying new things, I loved getting out of my comfort zone and doing things I wasn’t so good at rather than

STEP

At 15, I had dreams of travelling the world, having a family, a nice car…. everything that I suppose a normal person dreamed of at that age. But what was it that made my life spiral out of control? Why did I not follow those dreams or at least have a go at them? I think from that age I stopped pushing myself, stopped trying. I was afraid of failing, so much so that it made me not even have a go. I’d got comfortable and accepted a third-rate life.

places with the same people. So many people I looked at were older, in their 60s & 70s, and they’d spent their entire lives in this endless routine. The more I thought of it, the more it scared the hell out of me. I did not want another 30 years to pass, to then one day look back and realise I’d done nothing. I started to think about how much I would regret it if I let myself do the same thing and piss my life up against the wall.

just sticking to the things I knew.

I still had that same nervous feeling and doubt in myself as before. I would get in the car and the whole journey I’d be telling myself to turn around and go home. Or turn up to things I’d signed up for when brave but sit outside in the car trying to think of excuses not to go in. But I forced myself and after a while I noticed that I actually began to enjoy that nervous feeling. The sensation of accomplishing and nailing my fear made me feel amazing and I realised that nervousness was just part of the process.

Soon I started signing up for things that really scared me, things I could never have dreamt of doing. I was scared of heights, so I signed up for mountain climbing and a sky-dive. I was afraid of sea water, so I signed up for cave snorkelling.

This opened up a whole new world to me and led me to start thinking about my work. At the time I worked in a factory driving a forklift and one day I saw an advert for a local gym wanting to recruit and put people through their fitness instructor course. This was totally alien to me as I was a quiet person that didn’t like talking to many people. But I thought, ‘what’s the harm in giving it a go?’ Before I knew it I was taking classes, training clients and managing the gym. People who had knew me my whole life kept saying that they couldn’t believe that same shy person that was throwing his life down the toilet had transformed into the man that stood in front of them.

Now this story isn’t all sunshine and roses because as I write this I do so from jail. I made a few mistakes along the way. After 8 years my life was flying but, when lockdown kicked in and everywhere closed, I found myself with no job and bored, so I made the mistake of allowing myself to have a drink and, within 18 months, everything I’d worked so hard for was gone, to the point where I lost my freedom.

The thing is now that I’ve shown myself what I can really do and that I can turn everything around. I believe it has made starting again much easier. So, here I am, throwing myself into classes, doing things I never thought I could do again and smashing it. With time to think and reflect I had set myself a great foundation in my early 30s. But I wasn’t prepared for dealing with things when they went wrong. I’d got used to things going right for 8 years.

There was a hard lesson in this for me and that was to build up stronger walls this time so if things do take a turn for the worst I can deal with them.

There is always a thin line between success and failure and disaster can always be only a couple of wrong decisions away.

I know now that anyone can be who they want to be when things are going well but its only when our back is against the wall do we truly get to show what we are made of. @BB

AD:EPT provide a range of services to people who have problems with drug and alcohol abuse.

All AD:EPT workers are trained professionals who offer a sensitive and confidential service.

Ask an officer on the landing to arrange an appointment or speak to your medical officer or probation officer .

Turning Pages Shannon Trust is a reading programme specifically designed for adults who struggle with reading.

It’s a peer led, confidential, one -to-one programme that can be worked through in short bursts of 20 minutes a session.

If you are interested in improving your reading or becoming a Mentor speak to landing staff, Andrea in the library or any of the Learning and Skills staff.

Interested in applying for the Open University?

Speak to Andrea in the library for an application form and Prospectus.

26

Continued from page 6

Developing Capacities Lederach complements his discussion of conceptual ideas with more practical concerns. He talks of the importance of developing personal capacities that would assist in the application of Transformative concepts.

1. See Presenting Issues as a Window Here he talks of the requirement that we develop our ability to defy the urge to act immediately, to resist the ‘urgency that pushes for a quick solution’ and avoid being ‘captivated, overwhelmed or driven by the demands of the presenting issues.’ He lists three key subskills:

 An ability to see beyond the immediate presenting issues;  An empathy that enables you to understand others’ situation but to avoid the inertia created by their fears;  A capacity to create responses that take seriously the presenting issues but are not driven by the search for a quick fix.

2. Integrate Multiple Timeframes This relates to the ability to avoid thinking in exclusively short- or long-term timeframes. He advocates using a variety of timescales and argues the need to be comfortable with doing so. He states, ‘we must be short-term responsive and long-term strategic.’ This will involve setting out targets that might comprise multi-year timescales alongside those that will be acted upon within the days, weeks or months ahead.

3. Pose Energies of Conflict as Dilemmas Lederach talks of the ‘energies of conflict’ being the contention between short-term relief measures and long-term strategic measures, and our tendency to see one as potentially undermining the other. He advocates shifting our thinking from a ‘one or the other’ mind-set, to a ‘both/and’ one. He puts stock in the phrase ‘and at the same time’ to link the conflicting energies. He promotes recognising ‘the legitimacy of different, but not incompatible, goals and energies within the conflict setting.’ In embracing complexity, he argues, it is possible to appreciate you are dealing with different but interdependent aspects of a complex situation. This leads to the development of interdependent goals. This is summed up in the simple formula, ‘How can we address “A” and at the same time build “B.”’

4. Embrace Complexity Complexity can at times feel overwhelming. The challenge is to find a way to make it a ‘friend rather than a foe.’ Lederach points out that while it can create a feeling of ‘too much,’ it can also provide us with a multitude of possibilities for creating change. If we choose to embrace this, we can be the ‘kid in a candy store.’ He lists as key:

 Trust a systems ability to generate options;  Pursue those that hold greatest promise for constructive change.

5. Hear and Engage Voices of Identity Lederach notes that often there are voices of identity that sometimes struggle or become lost.

He states that, in his experience, issues of identity are at the root of most conflicts. Therefore, he argues that a ‘capacity to understand and respect the role of identity is essential to understanding the epicenter of conflict.’ Identity can shape the expression of conflict as it goes to the heart of how people see themselves and how they relate to others. Despite this fundamental relationship to conflict, it is often missed when possible solutions are being constructed.

Conclusion The framework Lederach sets out, from his Lenses for analysing conflict, through his Map of Conflict, to the capacities needed for its application, provides a good grounding for efforts to create a global society that has moved on from violent and destructive interrelations. It paves the way for the adopting of a creative approach to solutions, which are responsive, constructive and ultimately nonviolent. @JPW

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A Day In The TODAY I’M FEELING REALLY LOW. This is not a new feeling. I have suffered from depression ever since I was a teenager.

That doesn’t mean that I’ve been sad for the past twenty years. There has been plenty of good times, but sometimes it has been really dark and I have felt lost. It is important to remember that having bad days is a natural part of life, but when those days turn into weeks, months or years something is wrong. I stopped enjoying things like spending time with friends or going out, and I tried to shut myself away from the world. I started being really hard on myself, and blaming myself for a lot things that that were not my fault. I lost my appetite, and began putting on a lot of weight, and I didn’t have the energy or motivation to exercise and because of this my self-confidence took even more of hit.

At the time I didn’t recognise what was happening, and I didn’t want to admit to myself that I wasn’t well, at least mentally. Instead I thought that there was something wrong with my physical health. I did visit my GP on a number of occasions looking for the answers, and a few times he asked me about my mood. ‘Everything is good.’ That was a lie, but in the moment I genuinely believed I was telling the truth.

As things got worse, I couldn’t concentrate on my education or work, and I failed exams. I thought that I was just stupid. I became tearful, and began having panic attacks over trivial things. It was nearly impossible to get over to sleep at night, and when I did manage to sleep, I was waking up early. I was permanently exhausted. Looking back on that time now, I remember praying every night that I would simply not wake up the next morning, or ever again.

It was a few years more before something happened, and I saw a psychiatrist and I was diagnosed with a severe form of recurrent depression, and I was started on anti-depressants. I was angry at myself for needing medication to manage my own emotions. The effects were not immediate. It took months before I noticed any change. One of the first times I noticed that they were working was when a friend I was with tried to sit down on a chair but missed it and hit the floor. I laughed, and I won’t apologise for that. It was funny. This was the first time that I had laughed so easily and spontaneously in as long as I could remember. I laughed so hard that I cried. I remember afterwards I thought how strange it felt to laugh like that.

I have been on the medication for a few years now, and I am in a much better headspace, generally speaking. But it has been a long road, and even after working with mental health and taking medication, there has still been low days, but thankfully they don’t happen as much anymore, and the dark periods are shorter. I enjoy things now. I am not angry at myself when I do have down days.

The most important thing for me was recognising that how I was feeling was not normal, and not being afraid of asking for help from professionals, and from my family and friends. I was not alone even though at the time it felt like I was. Life is good now and I enjoy it as much as I can. Yes, today I’m feeling low, but I can see now that tomorrow is brighter. @DON 28

Have you ever wondered and felt angry why so many people today are starving or struggling to pay for food when food literally grows from the soil?

Well then you have probably heard of or would like to hear of the concept of Guerrilla gardening. Guerrilla gardening is the act of growing food or even just plants for show on all the land around you that isn’t being used or being neglected. Like a roadside full of grass that could hold any amount of freshly grown vegetables. Or an empty garden in an abandoned house.

Of course there will always be someone to tell you NO! That ground belongs to the council or government which you Know to be absurd as the same spot has probably been nothing but an eye sore to you and your community for years.

This is where Guerrilla gardening comes in. It’s where a group of people who share the belief that people shouldn’t be starving needlessly and then decide to transform the area either in the night time in the cover of darkness or in the day time for publicity to make a statement.

Guerrilla gardening groups have been popping up all over the world with the common belief that one should be able to roam the world and come across free food.

In Australia there are groups called Permablits who design and construct vegetable gardens for free in an effort to educate locals in how to grow their own food.

The earliest Guerrilla gardeners were Gerrard Winstanly from Surrey England back in 1649 and John ‘apple seed’ from America Ohio back in 1801.

But the actual term Guerrilla gardening wasn’t recorded publicly until 1973 when a woman called Lizz Christy’s green Gorilla group transformed a derelict private lot into a garden at Bowery Houseton area of New York. The area to this day is still looked after by locals and also has the protection of the City’s park department. So it just goes to show what a difference people can make once they stand together. Imagine how abundant the world would be with food if everyone took the same stance as the Guerrilla gardeners

Guerrilla Gardening today has put its mark on 30 different countries worldwide which people can follow and support on social media.

@WV

29

Did You Know?

William Wordsworth’s trademark poem ‘I wandered lonely as a cloud’ is renowned for its opening line. First published in 1807, the line became the de facto title of the poem, which originally carried none. The poem, in many ways, conveys the archetypal spirit of the Romantic Movement’s spirit. These writers called attention to a personal affiliation with nature.

There is a rumour that Wordsworth first wrote ‘I wandered lonely as a cow’ and it was his sister Dorothy who advised him to alter this. He often consulted with Dorothy on his writing and she provided editorial direction. According to Interesting Literature (online) ‘though it’s a nice story: the myth may have originated in Conrad Aiken’s 1952 novel Ushant.’

Here in Magilligan we too have heard a rumour that a daffodil garden has been planted in the gardens. As we move through the dark days of winter what better way to see nature transform into spring than with a ‘never ending line’ of daffodils.

Factoids: Narcissus pseudonarcissus also known as common daffodil or trumpet narcissus, are bulb-forming plants native to northern Europe and grown in clement climates worldwide.

A perennial that grows to approximately 41 cm (16 inches) in height.

Daffodils were introduced into gardens around 300BC and were brought here by the Romans. @DH

When someone dies we can feel a lot of emotions including being abandoned, angry, guilty, shocked and sad.

Talking about how you feel when someone has died can help.

Cruse can offer you a weekly session with a volunteer who will listen and provide support.

Listeners Available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to offer support to inmates who are having a difficult time.

To make a request ask an officer on the landing. The scheme is independent of the prison authorities and completely CONFIDENTIAL.

Church Services The spiritual needs of inmates are catered for in prison as well as on the outside.

The main denominations have chaplaincies but others are also accommodated. Speak to your landing officer to contact them.

16 30 6

Transformation Ask yourself do you want to be sitting with the same old faces doing the same old thing?

Or do I want the life I know I deserve?

Replace bad habits with good habits and surround yourself with likeminded, driven, positive people as this will make your journey so much easier and be a real help on your days of struggle.

There will be times you want to give up and go back to what you know, because even though you know it’s bad for you and not where you want to be, it’s where you feel comfortable because it’s the life you’ve been used to for many years and you know your place within it.

Ask yourself regularly, when I look back over my life, what will I regret most?

For most it is the chances they did not take, or the opportunities they turned their back on, because of fear of the unknown. @BB

Credits Cover Art: RMcA;

Magazine

Graphic Design: JPW

Education Centre

Background Images: OA, PH, PMcN,

HMP Magilligan

JR, MN;

Point Road

Writers: Honest Jim, JPW, PH, CS, GM, SMcC, FD, BB, DH, WV, BMG, DON; Poets: TR, GM, WB, PH, PC, WV, LL, DMC, MF; Gallery Art: AH, CC, MN, S; A particular thank you to contributors from Hydebank, Maghaberry and The

Limavady BT49 0LR Prison Arts Foundation Unit 3, Clanmil Arts & Business Centre, Northern Whig Building, 2-10 Bridge Street, Belfast, BT1 1LU Phone : 028 90247872

Email: info@prisonartsfoundation.com

Shannon Clinic for their wonderful work.

Prison Arts Foundation (PAF) is a registered charity that seeks to provide access to the arts for people who have offended in Northern Ireland. Our mission is to inspire creativity and encourage personal and social change in offenders within the criminal justice system, through the arts.

All contributions welcome. While reasonable care has been taken in the preparation of material in the magazine, TIME IN accepts no responsibility in law for accuracy or contents of each issue. No item may be reproduced without the written permission of PAF. Printed by onpointprinting@btconnect.com Phone: 028 777 20 598