Heaven

DAY 184 FRIDAY 18 JANUARY 2002

5.26 am

The night security guard has just walked in and tells me with a smile that I can abscond. I put my pen down and ask why.

‘We’ve got one too many on the manifest.’

‘How did that happen?’ I ask.

‘A lad who was released yesterday arrived home and no one wanted him, so he crept back in last night and dossed down in his old room.’

‘So what did you do?’ I ask.

‘Marched him back to the gate and threw him out for a second time.’

I feel sorry for a man who has nowhere to go, and can only wonder how long it will be before he reoffends.

8.00 am

I bump into Keith (‘knowingly concerned’ with a class B drug) on his way back from breakfast. He must still be waiting for his missing papers to be signed before they can release him. You _ might be – as I was – puzzled by what his charge means.

Keith ran a small transport company, and one of his lorries had been fitted with spare fuel tanks. When the driver came through customs, the spare fuel tanks were found to contain 249 kilos of marijuana. Keith was sentenced to nine years.

Whenever a judge passes a sentence on drugs, there’s a tariff according to the class of the drug – A, B or C. Also relevant is whether you are considered to be ‘in possession of’ or a supplier, and the amount involved.

Drugs’ classification:

Class A heroin, ecstasy, cocaine, opiates

Class B cannabis (marijuana) (now Class C), amphetamines

Class C anabolic steroids, keratin, amyl nitrite (poppers)

Here’s a rough guide to the maximum penalties:

Class A possession, seven years supplier, life (fine or both) (fine or both)

Class B possession, five years supplier, fourteen years

Class C possession, two years supplier, five years

Many of the inmates feel unjustly treated when sentences can vary so much from court to court, and as over 50 per cent of prisoners are in on drug-related charges, comparisons are made all the time. A few admit to having got off lightly, while most feel hard done by.

5.00 pm

The man who was sentenced to five years for attempting to murder his mother-in-law turns out to be another unusual case. This particular inmate hit his mother-in-law when she refused to allow him access to visit his children. She collapsed and was taken to hospital. As she didn’t die, and the police didn’t have proof that he intended to murder her, the charge was dropped to aggravated burglary and he was sentenced to five years. It would take a trained legal mind to understand how the second charge came about. The prisoner explains that when he went in search of his children, he entered his mother-in-law’s house when she had not invited him in – and this offence is aggravated burglary.