Alexandra Genova a Writer + Multimedia Journalist are working on a documentary on the impact of IPP tariffs on the mental health of inmates and their families..

This is good opertunity for IPP prisoners on release and those still incarserated to have a voiceas well as the  family's and friends .

IPP prisoners willing to dicuse the inpact  you can send letters / messagse direct to Inside Times to be forwarded to the Documentery address. Or you may ask for them to be sent to katherinegleeson,IPP Family Compaign, katherinegleeson@aol.com, i will happy to forward them on.

Alexandra Genova

IPP Prisoners Media Enquiry: IPP tariffs Date: Fri, 1 Jun 2018 12:46

Myself and my colleague Naomi Larsson (cc’d) are freelance journalists, working for publications including the Guardian, TIME and National Geographic.

We're working on a documentary about the impact of IPP tariffs on the mental health of inmates and their families. This project is based on government statistics that show that self harm among IPP inmates has increased exponentially in the last 12 years.

We are interested in talking to both former IPP prisoners and their families to understand the adverse effects of indeterminate sentences. We would be grateful for any help or guidance in reaching out to those affected and can assure you that we would treat them with the utmost sensitivity.

Naomi has a particular interest in this subject as a relative of her partner has been imprisoned for more than 12 years now.

All the best,

Alexandra

Alexandra Genova
Multimedia journalist
UK: +44 7380323342
TW: @Alexandraaa_cg

alexandragenova.co.uk

alexandracgenova

Contact/ Bio

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Arlette  (Criminal lawyer)

Anyone in need of help with IPP parole "hearings"ONLY let me know I have some members of my set who are willing to provide free legal help with written reps and also representation in person at hearings.

07973116515

Arlette 

Scan the "QR Square on this Poster with your Mobile Phone and you automatical sign the IPP petition . Print out the poster and add to bus stops, cars, work place, prison letters, cards, T Shirts and cards ....

Im going to speak about IPP

From over the wall– Imagine writing a book…

The other day I set off from my home in Suffolk to travel to Erlestoke in Wiltshire. This is a Cat C prison where about half of the residents are IPP prisoners. I’m not going to speak about IPP’s this time except to say that it’s taking an awful long time to sort out the mess caused by this particular piece of legislation. As one writer once put it, many people remain in prison not because of what they have done but because of what they might do in the future! However, Erlestoke struck me as a reasonably cheerful place and the fact that it was a lovely sunny day helped a lot.

I had been invited by the educational team to speak at their arts festival which takes place in early March but as I could not make the dates given, they invited me back to give a talk and answer questions. It’s twenty-six years since I was released from captivity and it’s hardly surprising that many of the younger prisoners had not the faintest idea who I was. However word got around and I spoke to a full house in the education block.

In talking with the staff afterwards, our coversation got around to books and especially books written for those in prison who might have reading difficulties. Let me say right away there is no shame in that. At school I was always getting into difficulty because of my poor spelling and it’s not improved over the years. Perhaps I have a mild form of dyslexia. If you are not sure what that is, here is the Google definition: ‘It’s a ‘specific learning difficulty’ which means it causes problems with certain abilities used for learning, such as reading and writing. Unlike a learning disability, intelligence isn’t affected.’ If you have that sort of trouble then don’t let anyone tell you that you are stupid.

I think some of my problems started at a very early age when at primary school I was forced to write with a steel nibbled pen which one dipped into an inkwell. As I was left handed and as the teacher required me to write with the letters sloping forward I could not avoid smudging my work. Thus, I hated writing! It was not until some years later when my father gave me his old small portable typewriter that I found that writing could be enjoyable as well as rewarding.

In talking with David, one of the education team, I mentioned a series of books that have been recently published by SPCK and written especially for prisoners. I asked him what he thought of them. He said that in his experience, people liked to read true stories in preference to novels. That set me thinking. Noel Smith, the Commissioning Editor of Inside Time, has written a series of articles in the paper about prisons up and down the country. 

Many establishments have a fascinating history and of course have been home to men and women who are still household names long after they have long left this life. Apart from prisoners, I discovered that some of the staff at Erlestoke had no idea that this former Country House was a training base for SOE operatives in World War Two. The Special Operations Executive was a specially selected group of men and women who were parachuted behind enemy lines to disrupt the enemy by causing as much havoc as they could! It was an extremely dangerous job, to put it mildly. If they had the misfortune to be detected and captured, they could expect to be tortured and eventually killed. Odette Churchill, one such operative, was caught and had her toenails removed one by one in an attempt to get her to reveal the names of her accomplices. I don’t know if she ever trained at Erlestoke but you can guarantee that equally brave men and women were trained on that site and played a highly significant role in enabling Britain to have victory in World War Two.

What a story there is in Erlestoke. Using the library facilities it would be possible to do some research about SOE and combining fact with fiction write the most fascinating story of a recruit entering into training and being dropped into occupied France.

Well, as you can see, my imagination was running away with me as I spoke to David on that sunny afternoon in Wiltshire. That’s what you need if you are going to write … imagination.

If in the establishment where you are there are educational opportunities, why not explore them and learn how to structure your imagination and eventually write a book. You may not think that you could do it but I will guarantee that there are prisoners in the UK who are now reading this article who could, with a little encouragement, get to work and emerge from their sentence as a published writer. It could be you! Why not give it a go?

Thu, May 31st, 2018

IPP knock – back

I have come to the conclusion that the Parole Board is a joke! I have recently received my latest knock- back. I am an IPP prisoner maintaining my genuine innocence and was given a nominal tariff of 1 year and 2 months. I have now been incarcerated since January 2006. Yes, that’s correct, 12-years.

I am now 64-years old and I believe that the Parole Board are being influenced by recent events and publicity and erring on the side of caution. It is time the government stepped in and ended this barbaric and inhumane sentence once and for all. After all, it was the government that created it.

“They should convert the remaining IPP sentences to determinate terms. I’m sure that there are many, like me, who are innocent yet still lost in a nightmarish system without hope.”

Perhaps there is a solicitor out there who would take on this challenge? I don’t profess to know the law but it seems to me that when a sentence is passed, the trial judge, being in possession of all the facts, gives a sentence that is correct. Surely it could be argued that being incarcerated 10-years beyond what the trial judge intended makes a sentence become ‘manifestly excessive’? Any thoughts on this?

 Mental health not taken seriously

some years back i was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome. Then, in 2011, I came into prison and suddenly I was told that I had been ‘misdiagnosed’. For the last 7-years I have suffered without any support for my condition. Despite many COMP1 forms, letters to the Ombudsman and my MP, plus letters to NHS England, I have been unsuccessful in overturning this.

After 7-years of fighting this I have become a very negative person. I’ve had IEP warnings and adjudications all because I am trying to get help and support. Mental health isn’t always taken seriously in prison.

“I am told ‘Deal with it’, and ‘If you can’t do the time don’t do the crime’ and that is the typical response from staff.”

Prison is a breeding-ground for negativity, it’s like air, we all breathe it in every second, even the staff. I try to be positive and even applied to be a member of the Rehabilitative Culture here at Whatton, but the reply on my application, written by the Custodial Manager, states – ‘I do not support this application, Mr Walker struggles with rules and regulations that apply to him. 

He has a negative outlook and uses his ‘autism’ to excuse his behaviour.’ I found it very offensive that she uses the word autism in inverted commas, as though I have made it up. What is the point of the Equality Act 2010, if it does not exist in this prison?

https://insidetime.org/mental-health-not-taken-seriously/

https://insidetime.org/from-over-the-wall-imagine-writing-a-book/

https://insidetime.org/ipp-knock-back/