Wednesday - from an unusual angle
Nov. 28th, 2007 09:36 pmIt was an early start this morning, as I was up and out the door before Caroline… and in fact, I was out the door before 8am! (no, hell hadn’t frozen over… go away!)
From Royston, 0804 train to Cambridge, then a bus to Cambridge city centre, and another to work in Milton. But, this was no ordinary ‘day at the office’. It was my first day back ‘at work’ since surgery, although this was officially classed as training. I feel it is good to see things from both sides of the fence – so to speak (is this cliché central today or something?), and to see the world from someone else’s point of view. So, in that regard, myself and a few of my colleagues were guests of Ormiston’s project at HM Prison Highpoint.
The place is one of two prisons in the Suffolk hamlet of Stradishall, and we took a number of windy roads to get there – including a few names that I’d heard of from occasional bus routes yet to try. At one point, we ended up driving through a road that became a dirt-track because of rebuilding work, and then as we left, we spotted a ‘no through road’ sign…
… anyway, not to worry, as the car was parked, and we made it to the gates bang on the agreed 1045. Pip and Lucy run the Ormiston work here, and the former used to be the co-ordinator at the PFH, before my time there. Lots of acquaintances renewed before we all signed in, id was shown, and mobile phones handed in.
Ormiston operates the visitor centre here, and provides additional facilities over and above what may otherwise be provided. This includes a large children’s play area, refreshment facilities in the visitor areas, and providing the personal assistance for additional visits for children to see their fathers. (The idea is that if families keep in contact during this time, it reduces the chances of reoffending.) As a result, the two Ormiston workers here have wide access to the two-and-a-half mile site, and were able to take us around almost the entire site. Most of the officers knew Pip & Lucy by sight, and assisted us in our tour around the site where possible.
The site has a total of eight cell blocks of varying designs, originally meant for around five hundred inmates, but now believed to be well over eight hundred (HMP website says capacity is 816 at the start of last year). It was a big place, and there were numerous areas to be shown around. The workshop facilities include pre-packaging single use cutlery, prison metal bars and door bars (but not locks!), making jeans and other clothing, and an impressive range of hand-made greetings cards, along with all the other rehabilitation measures.
We were shown around a number of cells, and the men who we spoke to were happy for us to look around. They didn’t know that we were coming, but they did recognise our guides. As a result, best behaviour was granted, and a ‘good morning ladies’ from several of them. Now, this is what took me aback. These are supposedly some of the worst men in the country, and they are able to be civil, polite, and well-mannered. (Not all prisons, or prisoners, are like that, I am sure, but this was), and yet, they treated us with welcoming arms. Nothing rude or inapt – it did make us all feel at ease. In fact, I could see that doing a job like this would result in greater job satisfaction than one to just ‘pay the bills’. I thought back to times when I’d been abused in previous employment – just for doing what I was paid to do. Not here, though.
One man was showing us a picture album of his family. Every time they arrive, one of those from the visitors centre takes a new photo of his children, to add to his collection (there are rather tight rules about prisoners having pictures of themselves, but otherwise it’s ok). They dated back over four years, and he spoke well of our guides. He said that thanks to them, he’d been able to see more of his family, despite being there. Another one told of us of his six children, and how they still enjoy visiting, even after all that time.
It also showed that a number of them knew and recognised our guides (Pip & Lucy). Rather than turning them down when they asked questions, they stopped for a moment to talk to the prisoners, and noting their questions, and promising to come back to them by the end of the day. Again, some other people I’ve dealt with before could have said (in other circumstances and situations) that they were busy, but not these. It also shows the high regard in which the prisoners seemed to hold these people. I guess when you are locked away from family and loved ones, and these people do what they can to make it easier for you to see them… well, logic would state that you’d be grateful – and they were.
After being shown the extended visiting facilities provided by the trust, we left to drive back, and we were talking on the way back in the car. This job may seem like a weird choice, but it’s a job they seem to love doing – and get good, positive feedback. The prison population may seem to be another misunderstood sector of society, kind of like transport enthusiasts, transsexuals, those with underlying medical disorders… you get the idea. I enjoyed the time, and it did show me yet another aspect to life that had previously gone unseen. Yet again, something else I didn’t think I’d be doing this year.
We got back to Milton, then into Cambridge, then stopped briefly to visit![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
auntysarah before getting the train back to Royston.
(got a bit more to blog about too, but will do that tomorrow).
From Royston, 0804 train to Cambridge, then a bus to Cambridge city centre, and another to work in Milton. But, this was no ordinary ‘day at the office’. It was my first day back ‘at work’ since surgery, although this was officially classed as training. I feel it is good to see things from both sides of the fence – so to speak (is this cliché central today or something?), and to see the world from someone else’s point of view. So, in that regard, myself and a few of my colleagues were guests of Ormiston’s project at HM Prison Highpoint.
The place is one of two prisons in the Suffolk hamlet of Stradishall, and we took a number of windy roads to get there – including a few names that I’d heard of from occasional bus routes yet to try. At one point, we ended up driving through a road that became a dirt-track because of rebuilding work, and then as we left, we spotted a ‘no through road’ sign…
… anyway, not to worry, as the car was parked, and we made it to the gates bang on the agreed 1045. Pip and Lucy run the Ormiston work here, and the former used to be the co-ordinator at the PFH, before my time there. Lots of acquaintances renewed before we all signed in, id was shown, and mobile phones handed in.
Ormiston operates the visitor centre here, and provides additional facilities over and above what may otherwise be provided. This includes a large children’s play area, refreshment facilities in the visitor areas, and providing the personal assistance for additional visits for children to see their fathers. (The idea is that if families keep in contact during this time, it reduces the chances of reoffending.) As a result, the two Ormiston workers here have wide access to the two-and-a-half mile site, and were able to take us around almost the entire site. Most of the officers knew Pip & Lucy by sight, and assisted us in our tour around the site where possible.
The site has a total of eight cell blocks of varying designs, originally meant for around five hundred inmates, but now believed to be well over eight hundred (HMP website says capacity is 816 at the start of last year). It was a big place, and there were numerous areas to be shown around. The workshop facilities include pre-packaging single use cutlery, prison metal bars and door bars (but not locks!), making jeans and other clothing, and an impressive range of hand-made greetings cards, along with all the other rehabilitation measures.
We were shown around a number of cells, and the men who we spoke to were happy for us to look around. They didn’t know that we were coming, but they did recognise our guides. As a result, best behaviour was granted, and a ‘good morning ladies’ from several of them. Now, this is what took me aback. These are supposedly some of the worst men in the country, and they are able to be civil, polite, and well-mannered. (Not all prisons, or prisoners, are like that, I am sure, but this was), and yet, they treated us with welcoming arms. Nothing rude or inapt – it did make us all feel at ease. In fact, I could see that doing a job like this would result in greater job satisfaction than one to just ‘pay the bills’. I thought back to times when I’d been abused in previous employment – just for doing what I was paid to do. Not here, though.
One man was showing us a picture album of his family. Every time they arrive, one of those from the visitors centre takes a new photo of his children, to add to his collection (there are rather tight rules about prisoners having pictures of themselves, but otherwise it’s ok). They dated back over four years, and he spoke well of our guides. He said that thanks to them, he’d been able to see more of his family, despite being there. Another one told of us of his six children, and how they still enjoy visiting, even after all that time.
It also showed that a number of them knew and recognised our guides (Pip & Lucy). Rather than turning them down when they asked questions, they stopped for a moment to talk to the prisoners, and noting their questions, and promising to come back to them by the end of the day. Again, some other people I’ve dealt with before could have said (in other circumstances and situations) that they were busy, but not these. It also shows the high regard in which the prisoners seemed to hold these people. I guess when you are locked away from family and loved ones, and these people do what they can to make it easier for you to see them… well, logic would state that you’d be grateful – and they were.
After being shown the extended visiting facilities provided by the trust, we left to drive back, and we were talking on the way back in the car. This job may seem like a weird choice, but it’s a job they seem to love doing – and get good, positive feedback. The prison population may seem to be another misunderstood sector of society, kind of like transport enthusiasts, transsexuals, those with underlying medical disorders… you get the idea. I enjoyed the time, and it did show me yet another aspect to life that had previously gone unseen. Yet again, something else I didn’t think I’d be doing this year.
We got back to Milton, then into Cambridge, then stopped briefly to visit
auntysarah before getting the train back to Royston. (got a bit more to blog about too, but will do that tomorrow).
