The Complete Parkhurst Tales by Norman Parker

Author:Norman Parker [Norman Parker]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781857828290
Publisher: John Blake Publishing
Published: 2012-07-12T16:00:00+00:00

17

THE CENTRE

Of all the prisons in the country, Wandsworth was far and away the most feared and respected among the cons. Other jails might have had their moments – certain incidents or periods when a particularly brutal heavy mob had reigned – but ‘Wanno’ was in a class of its own.

Home Secretaries might come and go, liberal policies might be enacted, but Wandsworth was immovable and immutable. It was the flagship of the Prison Service. At least in the eyes of the screws if not the Home Office.

Wandsworth was a tight ship. There was no such thing as prisoner power, and as long as most of the screws there drew breath there never would be. It was a hotbed of militants. Their POA was one of the strongest in the country. If there were to be some sort of industrial action, you could safely bet that Wandsworth would be to the forefront.

Wandsworth was a local prison, a remand prison, a top-security prison and an allocation centre all rolled into one. On any given day, you could have as many as 1800 cons banged up. And banged up they would be, for there was little work and less association.

It was often said that you got exactly what you were entitled to at Wandsworth and not a jot more. That was true to a certain extent, but it was the absolute minimum you were entitled to.

The jail served London and the South, but there were cons from all over. Sentences ranged from 18 months right up to natural life. The toughest of the tough regularly walked through its gates. The screws managed to contain them though. Whoever it was, everyone toed the line. This was achieved by a very simple method: brutality. If you got out of your pram at Wandsworth, you could get very severely bashed up.

At the first sign of any trouble the alarm bell would sound. Every available screw would run to its source. This could mean 30 or 40 men, and many of the screws at Wandsworth were big lumps. With no hesitation whatsoever they would steam right in. Never mind who started it, or what the rights and the wrongs of the situation were, they would grab whoever was at the centre of the mêlée and drag them away.

They would be carried bodily across the centre and down on to E1. This was the punishment landing. Here they would be beaten, rammed head first into walls, their clothes torn from their bodies and, finally, thrown naked into a strip cell until the following morning.

On the subsequent Governor’s Adjudication, or VC, the screws would all close ranks and lie in unison. To justify the beating, the con would be charged with assaulting a screw. He would inevitably be found guilty and lose six months’ remission. You just couldn’t win at Wandsworth.

In layout, it was typical of all the old Victorian prisons. Five long galleried wings, ‘A’ to ‘E’, radiated off a central hub. There were three separate wings, ‘G’, ‘H’ and ‘K’, but these were used mostly for the nonces.

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