The Tartan Con

This is the speech that I delivered on 29/01/2024 to the Birmingham- Legal - Medical Society. I was delighted to be asked to deliver a speech on the state of prisons in the United Kingdom at their monthly meeting. The audience consisted of members of the local legal community and psychologists. FYI They did't fall asleep !

This is a re-record and small edit of an earlier rant. I did it again as i think that I can do it better justice, now.

A little excerpt uploaded by request. I have moved a couple of stanzas around for context. Hope you enjoy !

This episode discusses the reasoning of the difference of what the media report and the actual facts. It also touches on why we resign ourselves to failure.

My Rant on the state of prisons

I read my recrnt blog on my experiences of launching a new program in a prison

A very short 2 1/2 minute reading of Rudyard Kipling's poem "if". A little calming music in th background. Please enjoy.

The one where I discuss if I wa given the opportunity of turning my life clock back, would I ? The answer might surprise you.

Recorded in the wee small hours, "My Friend" Kahlil Gibran

I disect the horrnedously badly written press release issued by The Ministry of Justice in England referring to the building of 4 new prisons in England over the next 6 years. I state that this is a huge admission of failure on behalf of society.

A story

A reading of The Daffodils by Wordsworth Defeat by Kahlil Gibran The Road not Taken by Robert Frost. Enjoy!

Today, in the back pages of the internet, it was revealed that HMPPS had decided to roll out PAVA spray throughout the male closed prisons. At this time when staff relations with prisoners is at an all time high, this decision beggars belief.

A few of my favourite excerpts from De Profundis. The Letter written by Wilde to Lord Alfred Douglas. De Profundis is an amazing letter, showing the machinations of his mind.

De Profundis is a letter written by Oscar Wilde over 3 months in 1897 to Lord Alfred Douglas. In Part 1 there is a crtitique of De Profundis and I read the first 20 pages. Parts II, III & IV to follow.

This letter, written in 1898 from Paris was Oscar Wilde's last known letter to the Editor of the Daily Chronicle. In it he discuss the need for urgent reform in England's gaols. In it you will hear about Wandsworth prison having in cell lavatories. Such was the outcry from the neighbourhood that a prison should be built with in cell facilitries that they were soon removed. Wilde was released from prison in May of 1897 and died in Paris some 3 years later. The average life expectancy of someone released from prison at this time was no more than 4 years.

The Ballad of Reading gaol was written by Oscar Wilde in 1897, a year after he left prison and was living in self-imposed exile in France.

Taken from the wonderful David Sedaris' book Squirrel Seeks Chimpunk

a short while after being reelased from prison Oscar Wilde writes to the Editor of the Daily Chronicle. In it he asks for the intervention of the newspaper in looking at the treatment of children in Prison and the treatment of those who are mentally ill. He decries the firing of an officer for giving a child a biscuit !

A Reading of the wonderful Desiderta originally written my Max Ehrman in 1927

I just wanted to rant a little at the inability to get the most basic things right and a slight at the bureaucracy that faces our prison staff on a daily basis.

The one where i ask for decencyfrom everyone. I condemn the person who needed to be condemned and I thank the people who need to be thanked

I discuss the Party Manifestos of the Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat parties as they relate to the prisons in England & Wales.

The one where I talk about the blurred lines of reality vs perception .

A while ago, I was asked on twitter whether or not i thought that there was a glass ceiling for those of us who are ex-prisoners who work within the criminal justice sector. From my heart to yours.

The one where I rant about the lack of ture engagement with ex-prisoners. (Yes, that's right, I don't use the "Lived Experience" thing!)

At an event held at HMP Swinfen Hall earlier this month, I was asked to give a speech on the importance of induction into custody. I was asked to be brief. I failed.

After being interviewed , i thought i would take this chance just to give you a bit more background.

This is a recording of the speech that I had the honour of giving at the Annual Summer Symposium, hosted by the wonderful Butler Trust at Keble College, Oxford.