The Big Breach - Index of

The Big Breach; From Top Secret to Maximum SecurityCompliments of http://www.192.comsome of the most violent men in the country. `What a bleedin' liberty,'laughed Onion-head, scornfully eyeing the warning on the stairs. `Theylock up an ordinary, decent armed robber like me with dangerous, bookwritingex-secret agents like you,' he said to me, `and then they warnus about steep bleedin' stairs.' With a quick glance around to ensureno screws were watching, he drew heavily on his roll-up until the tipglowed red, and lit the corner of the sign. As flames leapt up thepaper laying long, black soot streaks up the wall, Onion-head chuckledmischievously, `That's that fixed then, eh? They should put up anothersign saying ``Caution: Inflammable Signs''.'Shortly after the next computer workshop session a few additionalnotices appeared, written on identical paper with the same typeface.Above each toilet appeared the notice, `Caution: this toilet is fuckingfilthy'. On the wall behind Mr Richards' desk appeared another,`Caution: this screw is bloody thick'. It took Mr Richards a few daysto notice and then we never saw any more of the `Health and Safety atWork' notices.Even though Belmarsh was a maximum security prison and elaborateprecautions were taken to prevent prisoners smuggling contraband on tothe spurs, there was still a fair amount of drugs about. For severalprisoners, especially those facing long sentences, getting high wastheir only relief from the numbing boredom and lack of challenge inprison life. Drugs were smuggled in by two routes. One was by a crookedscrew who had been recruited by a former inmate. The other was via thevisiting-rooms. Now that I was a B-cat prisoner, I could attend openvisits and saw for myself how it was done.Open visits took place in a large hall, filled with six rows ofvisiting-booths. There were 20 booths on each row, separated by lowdividing partitions. Around the edge of the room was a raised gantrywhere the screws could observe the visits. We waited in a large, smokefilledholding-cell for our turn to go forward, be briefly searched andto receive a coloured, lettered bib to wear. The colour and lettercorresponded to a particular booth. When all the prisoners were seated,the visitors were permitted to enter. They had been checked for drugswith a sniffer dog, but it was not legal for the prison staff to searchthem physically. Wives and girlfriends of the prisoners defeated thedog without too much difficulty by wrapping the drugs in cling-film andsecreting the package in their bodies. Prisoners were allowed to kisstheir partners briefly at the beginning and end of the visit, and thepackage was transferred. We were searched on leaving the visits hall,but prisoners who were seen kissing suspiciously were searched morethoroughly, including inside their mouths. Smugglers therefore had nooption but to swallow their package, which was potentially fatal shouldit burst. They later retrieved the package, as Ronnie explained, `fromone orifice or the other'.Prisoners were regularly tested for drugs. Those suspected of drugtakingwere called up more often to give urine samples. I had my firstmandatory test on 2 February. As I was preparing to go to work, a screwcame to my cell. `No work for you today, Tomlinson. Drink that tea downfast and don't have a piss.' He escorted me down unfamiliar corridorsto the drug testing centre, and put me in a holding-cell with couple ofother prisoners. Amongst them was the Italian guy I had briefly metwhen first remanded to Brixton, his cockney English now fluent.page- 193 - To purchase the original limited edition hardback version of this bookplease call 08000 192 192 or go to http://www.192.com