theRecord
Issue 16 October 2012
The free magazine for law-abiding people facing discrimination and inequality as a result of a criminal record
In this issue... 2. Editor’s Welcome 3. Every House a Home 4. Forum Feature 5. Poets Corner 6. Prison Doesn’t Work 7. Damaged and Beyond Repair 7. Unlock Vocal 8. Unlock Appeal 9. theRecord Needs You 10. Unlock Media
original image © boogey_man on sxc.hu
Editor’s Welcome Erica Crompton After the Olympics and Paralympics it was good to see some positive news in the media. And the positive spin spans people with convictions too with Second Chances making the headlines. Reverend Mark Rowan, 41, spent more than 17 years in and out of jail for a variety of drugs, theft and violent offences – including stealing lead from church roofs. But he’s now fully reformed and has made it in life as a vicar., turning to the church and ‘seeing the light’. And this month Mark’s plight and story has been doing the rounds in the media. He’s clocked up cuttings from Metro, The Daily Mail, The Sun, Yahoo. com and the Daily Star – all heavy weight, national publications which will no doubt contribute to public opinion and awareness. The former gang leader swapped his criminal career for a life of prayer while inside Channings Wood Prison in 2000. Speaking to The Daily Mail he said: “I used heroin, cocaine and cannabis and lived a crazy life. A lot of my friends are either dead or serving life sentences in prison. The only time I went to church was for the
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lead on the roof. I had no respect for Jesus and never thought about being a Christian.” Yorkshire-born Mark was reported in the paper to have began his Christian mission following his release from prison when he moved to Exeter, Devon. He escaped a life of violence and crime, and has now settled down to a quiet life in a sleepy Devon village, with wife Andrea, a clinical psychologist, with whom he has two young children. He also told The Daily Mail: “The community here have welcomed me with open arms, when they first saw me I am not sure what they thought. I have tattoos from my neck, down to my feet, but now, after two years, everyone is great and we all get on so well.” And now he is launching a new outreach service in Barnstaple, to pass on his knowledge and help troubled youth. Speaking to The Daily Mail, he said: “If my old self could see the new me, I would be inspired with what I am doing now. I am trying to get children to steer themselves away from the life of crime. My children and family are all very proud of me now, I
wasn’t around for their childhoods but now I am making up for lost time and rectifying my mistakes.” “Many of my family didn’t believe that I would survive much longer from my previous life. People were kicking doors of my family homes with shotguns and baseball bats, contracts were out on my life - for me to come out the other side unscathed is a miracle.” Read the full story at MailOnline here
Every House a Home Kazuri
Kazuri holistically addresses the housing needs of women, now we need you to engage... Whitehall generated, generic housing policy fails vulnerable women already marginalised and disenfranchised by society. Existing mainstream policy encourages a culture of dependence because it looks at the client’s needs in isolation against a framework of benefit entitlements, rather than self actualisation or empowerment. It is a gradual and stressful transition from an existing traumatic place, be it prison or an abusive relationship to another round of refuges, hostels and unsafe, unsustainable accommodation culminating in the client finally being housed in a residence a client can call home. Kazuri’s approach is radically different and you can be part of the process of recovery through community action. We need socially engaged supporters to help us maintain the provision of sustainable housing for every woman. Our Housing First model is deployed by assigning each woman with a dedicated advocate, who works to empower the woman (and her family)
to reach her potential and achieve realistic goals. Empowerment breaks the culture of benefits, violence, trauma and crime. Our clients live productive lives as stakeholders in society and they volunteer in local charities or social enterprises, to rebuild fragmented broken bonds. You can be part of that success story. Each woman can also avail herself of the services of a mentor, a woman who has achieved some level of success in her community, as she wishes. It can be a long journey and the advocate, the mentor and the Kazuri community will be there every step of the way that takes investment from all involved.
So how do we do this and how can you help? Kazuri builds on the existing success working with women ex-offenders, those on Local Authorities housing lists and women facing homelessness
through domestic violence. We need supporters to invest time, love, resilience, energy and money! Investment goes beyond the financial, time, awareness and support are just as valuable. This is aligned with the holistic approach we adopt at Kazuri. Look at the whole picture and you will see a place in that vision for yourself. Our current crowd funding campaign on Buzzbnk lists multiple ways to get involved and raise awareness of an innovative way to reach the most vulnerable who are hardest to reach. Click here Look out for our next crowd funding venture, Devi Ghar (Goddesses’ Home), a fully serviced women’s resilience centre offering everything from holistic body treatments, trauma counselling and a women only hotel. We’re also currently offering internships involving tenancy sustainment, mentoring and coaching, training and property management. Click here Call Kazuri on 020 7 377 5791 or email info@kazuri.org.uk
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Forum Feature
We were so impressed by release2succeed’s recent forum post we thought we’d share it... release2succeed
So it’s Saturday evening... and back in the good old days plans would be being made for a serious session down the local followed by a decent Ruby Murray on the tramp home. Money not really an object but instead merely beer tokens and curry coins for the night. A night to be spent assessing the worlds’ problems and the relative qualities of any attractive lady who might walk past our table. But hey ho, those days are gone for the moment and due to a DWP cock up I have survived the last two weeks on meagre rations with the help of the local food bank and a friend who realises that without my rolling baccy there will be a potential one man riot in my area. Some call it a luxury (love the Daily Mail) while those in the know realise a thinly rolled ciggie can be the difference between sanity and genocide! So I make an assessment of my worldly provisions and realise, well, I’m not going to starve (thank you kind food bank people) but certain things are not supplied and are running low or non existent. Milk is needed as is bread so it’s off to the jar of many pennies to calculate my financial buying power. I know I have 81p in my bank account so I could go to the local Tesco and get a cheap loaf of bread on that. I also have £1.83 in pennies so I have spent the last 30 minutes working through my priorities - milk, rolling papers and maybe some cheap
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margarine. Now it’s off to the local Tesco to fill up their self-service machine and hope to not get too many withering glances from the queue behind as the pennies clank through the system. Now I know that all sounds grim, and to some extent I guess it is, but in reality it’s just a different challenge from the one’s I faced when I was dealing with the big boys world of serious money and media and organising tens of thousands of pounds to be paid, moved, invoiced and ordered across the world. A world where I had more credit cards than clean underwear and I never thought twice about blowing a couple of hundred on a night out. Nowadays life is much quieter and even in the moderate poverty of being an ex-offender on the rock and roll in GB PLC 2012, things are not so bad. I look at my current situation now as transitional, just as I suspected the good times were also just a phase of my life even while I was enjoying them (and perhaps that’s why I enjoyed them with such fervour). We all have bad times to face in our lives and sometimes they can seem insurmountable and never-ending. This has led me and many others towards depression and despair. However, with my meagre finances of the evening, some hot food later and a cup or ten of coffee I am rich
beyond the dreams of billions of others on this planet. I am also lucky enough to have relative health (even if disabled) and dammit, just because I did something wrong and got caught a few years back, I will not let that define who I am and who I will be in the future. It’s bloody hard dragging the get up and go out of myself each day and much harder for some than for me but here are a few things: 1. If you wallow in despair and self pity - they have won. 2. If you give up on yourself then so will everyone else 3. If you have the freedom to walk out your door whenever you choose you are free 4. If you don’t like your life, change it. No-one else will. 5. People who write lists like this one are a real pain in the arse and should just sod off down the shops!!! All I’m trying to say is this - the fact that you are an ex-offender means you’ve already made the biggest and best decision of your life. Make some more decisions for your future and even if some of them turn out to be mistakes, you can only learn from the things you do and not the things you don’t. Take a chance on yourself - you know you deserve one! Find out what members have to say, click here.
Poets’ corner • Poets’ corner • Poets’ corner • Poets’ corner • Poets’ corner • Poets’ corner • Poets’ co
Bar None Bastian Wolf Inside Out Upside Down A Mind in torment ‘hind a frown For my neighbour Not for me I’m okay, My thoughts are free. I read, I dream, Recall the good I run through fields Hide in woods I’m lucky For I have a friend Someone to have The love I send. That’s all I need To stay the course To gird my loins Repel ill force And with the love That I receive I don’t feel down I cannot grieve So bless my friend For being there We’ll hug again Out there, somewhere.
An Ode To You... (An Ode To My Friend) TopCat68 No one single deed, No moment in time No simple descriptor Can clearly define No scales that could measure Nor words that could lend could capture the essence What makes a true friend? A friend is a person You know will walk in And stand by your side Stay through thick and thin When there’s no one else left ‘cause they’ve all turned and walked out A friend is that one On whom you always can count
When life throws you curve balls That knock you askance And trial, pain and sorrow Are leading the dance And shadows are casting, your world all in grey A friend is the sunshine Who brightens your day A friend is that person Who’ll always stay true The soul from your past life You know you once knew He’s cried for your sorrows He’s celebrated your joys His music is calming gentle soothing deep voice A god given gift In whom which to rejoice
My anchor, My rock, I’ll love till my life’s end
An Ode To Old Friends (and especially to my long dead parents)
IanC I’ve not many left, My bridges I burned; I caused too much trouble, A lesson well learned. For you who stuck by me, And I’m amazed that you did; For the heartache I caused, I hope you’ll forgive. Don’t remember the fool I once truly was, I have no regrets, but that’s only because; Your advice to me has made me so strong that I now know the difference between right and what’s wrong.
Thank you dear friend For the gift that is you The love that you giveth Letting me love you too You are the one person I’m proud to call ‘Friend’
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Writing with conviction
Prison doesn’t work according to Judge David Honeywell A judge recently caused outrage when while sentencing 26-year-old Richard Rochford for burglary, he said it was courageous to burgle someone’s home. Judge Peter Bowers The Teesside Crown Court judge also said he thought prison did criminals “little good”. His remarks sparked criticism and Prime Minister David Cameron said burglars were “cowards” whose “hateful crime” violated victims. The case is local to me so I am aware of the problems we have here with drugs and burglaries. Often Judges comments are taken out of context but in this case, surely it has sent a message to other burglars that what they do is something to proud of? On the other hand, if we put aside our feelings of burglars to look at his comment that prison doesn’t work in more detail, does he have a valid point? Politicians of whatever party have long been firm in the assertion that prison works – indeed the most simplistic slogan to the complex problem of crime and criminality is ‘lock em up’. From Michael Howard’s claim that ‘prison works’ to the Labour mantra
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‘tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime’ ever since the 1990s, both major parties have competed to be the party of law and order. I can only draw from my own experiences as always. The harshest prison I was ever in was the army ‘glasshouse’. Its regime was unrelentless and its brutality brought me to tears. But it didn’t stop me going back a second time. It hadn’t worked then because the one thing it didn’t address was the mental health issues I had and sadly, prisons are full of these cases. My stint in Durham prison in the 1980s didn’t stop me going back 10 years later either. But what did deter me from crime was the belief others had in me. As I have always said, education changed me but it wasn’t the books and study; although this was important for changing my thinking; it was the acceptance by a culture. The culture of academics did not judge and therefore I was allowed to climb the ladder without prejudice. The prison didn’t change me or help me, I changed me, but without the support of others - this would not have been possible. Of course people need
to be punished but also they need to be given the tools to change once they have paid their price to society. Without these tools, how can anyone expect them change? Employers need to give them a chance and society needs to accept that people can and will change. Prison can never work as the only answer to crime. It is a belief that prisons are holiday camps which is felt by mainly those who have never been near a prison except what they have seen on films and through hearsay. They complain about all the privileges prisoners get. Privileges have certainly increased since I was in prison in the 1980s and 1990s, but as was then, the more privileges, the more control staff had over inmates. When I was in prison in the 80s, we all had nothing so they couldn’t take anything from us except our dignity by making us use buckets instead of toilets and exploiting their ‘caged mentality’. Things are much easier these days when it comes to basic human rights for inmates, but prison never has worked and probably never will.
Damaged and beyond repair? IanC A long time ago, when governments were still trying to work out ways to control mass populations, along came communism. This took the view that only the elite could control the masses. By the twenties and thirties, whole sections of the top UK Universities were filled with the elite obviously who took to this ideology, but after the war when people realized what communism really meant and living standards improved, the ideology died down although it didn’t entirely disappear. By the sixties it re-emerged and an experiment began. The experiment took the view that if the state knew better than parents then all the faults of society lay with the people. Take children into care for the slightest of reasons and in one generation you would have a perfect society. Approved schools, although not a new concept were now run by social workers and the socially engineered disaster began. In 1946 the Official Handbook for Approved Schools stated that its primary aim was, ‘Making citizens’. By 1961 in the Manager’s HMSO
Handbook, that had changed to ‘Social re-education’. Hundreds of thousands passed through this system; the results were staggering and a huge percentage went on to Borstals for punishment and from there to YP (Young Prisoner wings), within adult prisons. In one generation socialism, (the State as the provider and dominant ideology), produced more criminals than any other in history. The result was that one in three people over the age of fifty now has a criminal record. The experiment failed and socialism/communism began to get a bad reputation elsewhere in the world. Time for a name change and Labour became Nu Labour, the Red Flag was replaced with a rose and socialism became progressivism; just like the problem Windscale became Sellafield and our trading partners turned into a European Federation. The old guard still remained; Blunkett, Prescott, Harman, Brown . . . laughed at in the sixties they were now in power and continue to wreak havoc with their policies. Multiculturalism, mass uncontrolled
immigration, equality . . . if you dumb down and destroy society what you’ll get is a population that is forced to rely on the elite in power. Thank goodness that the government gives you JSA, housing allowance, ‘free’ health care and education? Aren’t you grateful that big business, (depending on your status as defined by the State) provides you with work? Nothing in politics is an accident; like Approved schools, the recession didn’t just ‘happen’ it was allowed to happen. CCTV’s weren’t produced by a stroke of magic and the influx of ‘Manager’s’ to run our lives isn’t something that is needed but pre-planned. Blackboard becomes chalkboard, just as English becomes British . . . and it all appears so normal. Just like we old Approved school and Borstal graduates, the experiment is now on you. It’s a process to regulate you, make you into perfectly controlled citizens and the unfortunate fact is, this time around it appears to be working.
Unlock Vocal
Your news and views at forum.unlock.org.uk
Unlock Forums > General Information > Latest news & current affairs > LASPO commencement of ROA changes in November 2012 for under 18s only? - aim discusses news regarding the LASPO and ROA Click here Unlock Forums > General Information > Latest news & current affairs > For young people, a criminal record should not be a life sentence - Interesting read – Scarface flags up an interesting article in The Guardian Click here
Unlock Forums > General Information > Feedback and help on the Forum > Splitting the forum -Members discuss changes to the forum Click here Unlock Forums > Forum 1 > About ‘Forum 1’ > How to use ‘Forum 1’ Christopher Stacey explains how to use Forum 1 Click here Unlock Forums > Forum 2 > About ‘Forum 2’ > How to use ‘Forum 2’ Christopher Stacey explains how to use Forum 2 Click here
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Unlock Appeal 2012 Dear Friend, Unlock provides information, advice and advocacy that helps people with convictions reach their potential. Our services are developed and delivered by passionate role models with personal experience of the system. Over the past twelve years Unlock has become the acknowledged expert on overcoming the on-going impacts of criminal convictions. Every year, 140,000 people access the information on our website, 2,500 people are assisted personally by phone, email and letter. Over 2,000 people subscribe to theRecord. Our online Disclosure Calculator tool was used 2,350 times in its first seven months. But we don’t stop there. In the past year Unlock has influenced government and industry to change the law for the benefit of millions of people. From Spring 2013, a revised Rehabilitation of Offenders Act will improve the employment prospects of many people with convictions. Changes to consumer insurance law will protect them and their families from being exploited by insurance companies. Across the prison estate, people are now able to open a bank account before release – a fundamental foundation for a positive future. For a small organisation Unlock makes a big difference.
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theRecord Needs You This November sees the first ever ‘women’s only’ edition of theRecord guest edited by Farah Damji, and endorsed by Martina Cole. Martina has confirmed she will support and be interviewed for the special women’s issue of Unlock’s theRecord, in November 2012, around women and violence. Martina says “I’ve always been very vocal about the treatment of women in prison and am happy to support anything that helps ease their plight - I believe that the majority of
women who are in prison shouldn’t be there anyway.” For the first time ever, fabulous femme ex-offenders will share their untold stories in the monthly magazine by Unlock, The National Association of Reformed Offenders. And we’re currently looking for contributors too. If you’re a women with a criminal conviction and are interested to tell your story – anonymously or not – get in touch today on newsletter@ unlock.org.uk.
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The Guardian Home Office to correct anomaly of historic convictions for gay sex Click here BBC Radio 4 Daniel is rebuilding his life in a community that knows he has been imprisoned Click here
A round-up of relevant news and views in the media this month
HomeOffice.gov.uk Statutory disclosure guidance Click here Manchester Evening News Police order thousands of DNA samples from ex-convicts in Greater Manchester Click here The Independent Jail Caesar! A new film about the Roman leader features a supporting cast of prisoners Click here
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