A Bit of a Stretch: The Diaries of a Prisoner by Chris Atkins & Chris Atkins

Author:Chris Atkins & Chris Atkins [Atkins, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Atlantic Books
Published: 2020-02-05T16:00:00+00:00

Unhappy families

Barnardo’s estimates that at any given time there are 200,000 children in England and Wales who have a parent behind bars.22 This fact is rarely mentioned in the reporting on prisons. It’s easy to dismiss the vile conditions of British jails by blaming everything on the prisoners. ‘If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime!’ is the predictable response to stories on the prison crisis. Focusing on innocent children doesn’t fit that narrative, so they just get ignored. The consequences for these kids can be dire. Children with a parent in prison are twice as likely to experience mental health problems, and three times as likely to be involved in crime: 65% of boys with a convicted father will go on to offend themselves.23

By far the worst part of my incarceration was the separation from Kit. Lottie remained unswervingly supportive throughout my sentence, and brought him in to visit every week. He’d stand waiting as I came into the visits hall, and bounded up to me like a puppy, completely unfazed by the grim surroundings. There’s a consensus that kids under five won’t register the brutality of closed prisons, but those over six might find visiting really upsetting.

Lottie referred to Wandsworth as ‘the building’ to avoid using the word ‘prison’, but otherwise didn’t shield Kit from the reality of where I was. Other inmates maintained highly elaborate cover stories to prevent their kids learning that they were in jail. Scott’s biohazard colleague Howard had three children back in Nigeria. He’d told them he was in London on business and didn’t have time to come home. This might have worked on a short sentence, but Howard was doing 13 years for drug smuggling. It would just take one of his children to google their dad, and the game would be up.

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