Jesus Walks Them Landings
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
Christmas in Prison? Pretty dull, you might imagine. Come for a walk round the Departments and see what's happening. Here, Security Officers are checking for contraband among piles of cell/class-made gifts - like soft toys, purses, photo albums, elaborate Christmas cards where BIG is beautiful, matchstick picture frames and working model windmills; even, once, a working, wooden model merry-go-round. In the Officers' mailing room, outgoing mail is similarly being checked, while incoming mail is not only checked but Visit dates are logged and co-ordinated with out-going presents. We pass the Canteen [Wing shop] where the Officer i/c is deducting from Inmates' wages whatever they owe for purchases on their craft work - e.g. batteries for a working model. Over to the Hospital Wing and the staff are checking they have all they may likely need should there be any `incidents'. One never knows when pressures are high or depressions low. Up the stairs to the Chapel and we meet the Chaplain who's hot-footed it back from an interview with the Governor going through the Invitation Lists for the Carol Service, the Programme and, `Yes, the Governor will read the last Lesson.' [Later, precise details will be in the hands of the Gate Officers who ultimately decide on the day who comes in and who doesn't.] The Chapel Orderly has managed to borrow the Wing vacuum cleaner to cheer up the Chapel carpet and is already beginning to re-arrange the chairs, strictly to the numbers allowed by Security. It's hard to believe now that only recently have Inmates and Visitors been permitted to sit together. He's already collected the disposable mugs and plastic spoons ready to serve the drinks and mince pies. Plastic is safer and there's no washing up! His next job will be to stand by for the delivery of the Christmas tree and then see what he can do with a limited supply of decorations. It will make a good back-drop for the box of soft-toys going to the Salvation Army Officer - just checking she's on the Invitations list! We leave with the request that I find readers for the remaining `Lessons' … and just type the carols on to the acetates for the overhead? … Oh! and photocopy the Service sheets … about 70 will do? Is this beginning to sound very familiar? Like home? That's it! It is their home. Let's go over and see what's happening in Education. First impressions? Just like `end-of-term' at school! And again, that's it! It is their school - but hang on, the keys and chains are rattling, the iron grill banging. Enter 2 men, one with a wad of papers under his arm. The escorting Officer hands-over the man-with-the-wad to me, reckoning to return within half an hour.
..?.. Are you Joan? Me Yes, and you are? ..?.. 924 Griffiths. Me How can I help you?
The ever attendant Mac, before you have even read this far, has the kettle on for number 924. Usefully, the Officer had to hurry off, which made it easier to stretch the next brew and biscuit allocation between the Visitor, me and … Mac. [who else!]
The wad of paper landed on my desk. Me What's your first name? 924 William, but call me Alan [seemed logical, so-] Me OK then, Alan - looks as though you have been busy? Alan Well, I know you're religious and go to Chapel. Well, I'm not - religious, that is - but I have been thinking about the Christmas story - as depicted, you know, in the usual Christmas cards - and I thought 2 things. He paused for a gulp of tea and another biscuit. Me Do go on, Alan, this sounds interesting. Alan Please don't be offended by what I say, but I thought that the real Christmas story - if it is indeed true, that is - could not have been at all like the pictures on the cards. For a start, they all look so clean when they must have been really grotty after all that travelling. Oh dear, perhaps I shouldn't have said that. Me Alan, you're absolutely right. I have often thought the same myself. Alan That's good, I feel better now. Me What was thought number 2? Alan Well, as a kid my parents used to take me to church and I can still remember the Christmas `grottos' the children used to make, but they were unreal too. Too clean and 2,000 years out-of-date for us. So …… He hesitated. Me Do go on, the suspense is unbearable! So … Alan I wrote a play. [Another gulp of tea.] I've spent nights in my cell imagining the Christmas story happening now. Mary and Joseph, homeless, sleeping rough like we do. Nobody wanting to know because she is pregnant and they're not married. And then Mary goes into labour. Joseph goes frantic and all he can find to put the baby in is - - - - - - - -
It was eerily quiet in the Wing. Two officers in charge of possibly 300 men. The lights were low. Suddenly there was a bang - metal on metal - followed by another - and another until a deafening volume of sound rose to the rafters of that old building, circled round and filled every corner. The two Officers looked at their watches and grinned. "Spot on time again,” said one. "Wonder why they do it,” said the other. Then, as if controlled by an invisible conductor, the banging ceased. It was the turn of the silence to be deafening! "Better take a trip round,” said one. "Should be OK,” said the other. It was. Just the traditional way of -
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
What do you reckon to our Prisons? A waste of time - just universities of crime - more like 3* hotels - food better than at home - more drugs on those Landings than on our streets - sentences too short, don't even fit the crime. These people are criminals and should be punished: that should teach them - they are released far too soon and come out worse than they went in. Lock them up and throw away the key. We are safer when they are Inside: we can get on with our lives. So goes the common opinion: include gyms, football fields, TVs and mobile phones and we turn away in disgust. It's much harder if you have been at the receiving end of crime, your heart weighed down with grief or your anger like an imminent volcanic eruption as you scream for justice and revenge. Understandable: but we must beware lest we lock ourselves up in the high-walled prison of our minds and emotions - throwing away that key. Both prisons need a rethink before true release and reconciled living are possible. Discipline Inside Jail: - Yes, but cruelty only worsens a situation already bad enough. The facilities that grate with you can work towards change for those who choose that route. You say you feel safer now `they' are Inside: the hole they left will soon be filled by others. Do you hope for a peaceful, reconciled life? Not yet, maybe: one day! But most of these people will be released back into society: then what? This book is a must read for anyone connected with prisons, perhaps especially for those who turn a blind eye, a deaf ear - through fear or not realising how redemptive involvement can be.
About the Author
From tragic beginnings, Joan Holmes' life has taken her through abandonment, adoption, College, marriage - followed by 11 years in West Africa with the Q.I. Mission - to 25 years in one of Her Majesty's Prisons serving the Education and Chaplaincy Departments concurrently. During the former, she cracked the grammar and inflections of the local tonal language and gained her first experience of prisons. For the latter, she received a Butler Award and later an MBE. Here, with imaginative metanarrative, she communicates her inspiration and vision - gained from the Jewish Babylonian Exile as depicted by the Biblical prophet Ezekiel - that a Prison sentence should be seen as a Deliverance. To prove the point, she leads us alongside two prisoners on their journey from Arrest to Release - through darkness which serves to heighten the ensuing brightness as Inmates grasp their God-given freedom of choice and choose to change. You will spend Christmas, Easter and Pentecost in Jail: you will be shocked by the badness, touched by the caring, astonished at the encouragement and support towards metamorphosis. Together with her husband, she was involved not only in caring for many ex-offenders in their home, but in bringing the Community Prison Chaplaincy scheme over from Canada - the desperately needed Mentored Bridge between Inside and Outside. She continues to serve this scheme and to urge others with Love and liberated minds to pick up the baton, at the point where Prison and Mentors have to stop, and run with it.