There is a god
Yes I know, he was screw after leaving army, before Nissan. sure it was Durham, a proper Cat A full of long termers. He said it was better than you’d think as there was a lot of respect as they were all proper villains, not the unpredictable junkies and dregs of society you get in most nicks.
How very dare you ![]()
A bloke at work was a screw at one of the cat a prisons, think it was probably Durham as it’s where he lives and came across Charles Bronson 
There’s a case in court in Boro atm, from before Christmas I think, gets a 5 car & 3 bike escort every day from near Barnard Castle I think, 6 heavily armed police outside most days 
The Mrs went to Rampton when she was a 20 year old trainee in Nottingham 
Mrs W does some volunteering for a charity that works with people in prisons. She went to Wandsworth a few times. The prisoners that they worked with there were mostly on remand.
She made the mistake of googling one of the blokes she was working with after he was tried and sent off to his long term “home”. She said he was a bit odd. Turns out he was convicted of murdering two women, who he kept in a chest freezer. The pathologist reckoned there was evidence that he’d thawed them out and re-frozen them several times
.
I had assumed that if you had outsiders going into a prison that they’d be escorted around by guards. What actually happens is they check in at the gate house and then get given a set of keys to open and close the doors as they move around the prison by themselves 
In the late 80’s I played rugby in a team that had a few warders from Bedford prison who let us in to train in the gym. For a lad who’s led a pretty sheltered life & was not yet in his 20’s it was a bit of an experience to hear the shouting & all those doors close behind you.
They also organised - away - games against a couple of prison teams that had a mixture of warders & inmates. I was never too sure which was which.
Cat A prison would be HMP Frankland Up there, HMP Durham is a cat b local I think.
Frankland houses the serious crims, it was quite intimidating for me to get in and out and I’m on there side.
Prisons are mostly boring tedious places day to day, when it goes off it can do in dramatic fashion.
I used to hate some of the “ residents “ we have, now it’s just a job.
The system is FUBAR.
It’s quite sad for all concerned.
I think there’s also Deerbolt for younger offenders that’s in the county of Durham.
I played a few football games in Holme House, which I drive past every day, it’s probably Cat B but that was an experience and a good motivator to stay on the straight and narrow. I did get informed that the Vaseline I had in my bag might have a market value in there 
But yeah, it’s a frightening system and part of society that a lot (including me) will be very oblivious to.
In Leeds there is a secure unit for U18 criminals and when I went there to look at some IT stuff when they had a notorious child murderer there (child who murdered a child). It’s properly tucked away in a nice part of town and I lived in and around that area as a student and had no clue it was there. The security was so tight, as you would expect. The only time I saw any inmates they were playing basketball in the yard.
When I boxed as youth, our gym coaches had good mates with a club in Derby and we ended up doing a set of exhibition bouts in an open prison. Being a light welterweight I was on soon after the lightweights and kids. It got quite raucous and I was a bit worried TBH. I went to the loo, which was next to the weights room and was very conscious I just walked past a whole load of massively strong inmates. Definitely time for quick piss and back to the main hall. Thinking back I bet it was a good way for inmates to let off steam without having to do anything but watch. Even though they were exhibition bouts no one wants to ‘lose’ so it often escalates.
But, are any of these Prisons the tinderbox Slowtwitch is?
You honestly meet all sorts, from incredibly talented individuals who lost there way too really lost sad guys who’s entire family, including the ladies are engaged in some sort of criminal enterprise.
Crime for some of them is as normal as going for a run to us.
We are mostly very polite to them and get the same in return, there are exceptions on both sides.
Anyway enough jail talk… IMJ is such a nicer place !
Are you suggesting that Slowtwitch…is a prison for your mind?

I have completely disengaged from ST, unless you guys post a particularly juicy link, where there’s a chance to wind-up Empfield.
I did see that the Horizon treadmill offer thread is probably not heading a direction that DE is pleased about!
For a country that bangs on about 'freedom, they sure seem surprised at having a choice of power companies!
America isn’t having a very good time at the moment is it!
They clearly should’ve voted for Trump.
Haha. Talking last 6 months.
Trump would have got his sharpie out, drawn on the weather map and there wouldn’t have even been winter storms in Texas 