Report of the Inquiry into the circumstances of the Death of Bernard ...

with officers in the kitchen for going down for seconds but it ended “in a joke, so no
charge sheet for that”. There are no records in the history sheets correlating with any of
these incidents. During this period Sonny was still considered to be at risk of suicide or
self-harm. The F2052SH form was closed on 20 July.
7.30 An entry by SO Lowe in the history sheets on 22 July says that he warned Mr
Lodge at 6 pm for being incorrectly dressed. When he was still improperly dressed at
7.20 pm he was locked up for the rest of the evening. Mr Lodge’s account, in his letter of
the same day, is that he had just got on the pool table when he was “nicked … for not
having his shirt tucked in at the back”. According to his girlfriend, he saw this as playing
games with him.
7.31 In a letter dated Thursday 23 July, Mr Lodge says he was in work all morning:
“What a laugh. I had about 90 staples stuck in my head.” He claims the officers are “still”
trying to provoke him but he is not rising to the bait. In an undated letter that seems to be
from the same day Mr Lodge says he is doing fine except for the officers who “seem to
be trying to get me on one”. He says he knows he has only four weeks to go and is trying
to “get on with it” but “if this carries on, someone is going to fall and I know it won’t be
me.” He expects to be “in front of the governor again” and wonders what the officers will
come up with next: maybe “nicking me for snoring.” Mr Lodge says he still has no
phonecard to make telephone calls but hopes to get one on Sunday or Monday.
Disciplinary offence
7.32 On Friday 24 July, Mr Lodge was sacked from the workshop and returned to E
wing at 9 am. He was then located in the segregation unit, awaiting adjudication on
charge 810/98, endangering health or safety by firing staples from a compressed air
gun. The papers from the adjudication are no longer available and Mr Lodge’s letters do
not give any account of the incident giving rise to the charge. The penalty the governor
imposed was seven added days suspended for one month, seven days stoppage of
100% earnings and seven days stoppage of all privileges, including:
50
canteen (buying things from the prison shop)
association (indoor recreation periods with other prisoners but not statutory
exercise)
tobacco