Redemption: From Iron Bars to Ironman by John McAvoy & Mark Turley

Author:John McAvoy & Mark Turley [McAvoy, John & Turley, Mark]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Autobiography, Biography, Criminals & Outlaws, Non-Fiction, Personal Memoirs, True Crime
ISBN: 9781785312069
Google: BbgQkAEACAAJ
Amazon: 1785312065
Publisher: Pitch Publishing (Brighton) Limited
Published: 2016-10-21T23:00:00+00:00

18

14 November 2009

IWAS accompanied on the drive to Lowdham by Andy, a kid from Manchester being transferred with me. When we arrived at the latest stop on my tour of penal institutions, the manner of the officers who met us was so different to what we were used to. I almost felt I was home.

‘Do you want tea?’ one said as they showed us into the building.

‘Tea?’ I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

‘Yeah,’ he nodded. ‘Would you like a tea and something to eat?’

‘Err…okay.’

‘Milk and sugar?’

After refreshments, they began going through our belongings. There were items in there I had never been allowed to wear, trainers and t-shirts that Mum and aunties sent in for birthdays, things from my old life that were forbidden in high-security environments. At Lowdham, all of it was allowed. I could hardly believe it. In comparison to where I had come from it felt like a holiday camp.

With our clothes piled up into trollies they sent us over to F wing where we would be staying. A screw opened a door at the back of reception and that was it, we were outside, beneath the sky! There was no strip-searching, no helicopter wire and we were accompanied only by a lone female officer. Freedom seemed closer than ever.

Each cell at Lowdham had its own phone and you were able to make and receive calls from the outside world, an unbelievable luxury. Beyond that, pretty much every guy in the place had a mobile, although they were officially prohibited. To begin with the change in culture was disconcerting. We were out of our cells more. We had more time to ourselves. It took me a couple of weeks to adjust.

It all meant that I was able to begin to make small arrangements for my eventual release. I could speak to Aaron, Johnny and others, not that I would openly talk business, but there were ways and means.

I had a gym induction and took a job as wing cleaner, as I had at Full Sutton. With about 14 months to serve until my parole hearing, although I hoped for the best result, I thought it unlikely I would be granted release at that stage. What I expected was a reduction in status to cat D and a transfer to an open prison, at which point my arrangements on the outside would kick in and I would bunk out, get myself a fake passport, head to the continent and disappear. That made a lot more sense than trying to organise an armed escape from Lowdham, although it would have been perfectly possible, as it would draw a lot less attention from the police and media.

For the first six months I purposely kept myself below the radar, spending a fair amount of time in the gym, as had become my habit. One day I got talking to an inmate called Mickey Steel, who was always rowing on the machines. He explained that he was pulling a million metres for charity, so the officers allowed him extra time out of his cell.

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