Inside Parkhurst: Stories of a Prison Officer

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I nside Parkhurst is his raw, uncompromising look at what really goes on behind the massive walls and menacing gates. None of this is to overly criticise the author though, it seems like it’s very hard to win in this job, other officers who wrote honestly would also be easy to criticise and if I was one of them so would I be.

This inmate had used his bottom for many things, including the smuggling of illicit items, concealing contraband, and for sexual pleasure and debt clearing.Beware there is some fruity language as he works his way around bullying, the day they stopped a suicide attempt, crap diet, the scream he can still hear, a scrap on the exercise yard, getting truly screwed, drugs, and playing by the rules. It is interesting to see how much prison life have changed even just over the course of the authors career. This particular lifer was very quiet, kept himself to himself, but known to have a violent streak, Even with my limited medical knowledge, I knew that anyone who can eat a live budgerigar – yes, he actually popped a live budgie into his mouth, crunched, chewed, swallowed and was then quite literally spitting feathers – was likely in need of some psychological attention. Through it all, David retains his wry humour and offers a much-needed assessment of the state of UK prisons today, the job crisis and poor recruitment, the corruption and gangs running rife, and the mental health epidemic hitting prisoners, causing many to take their own lives.

I used to be a Prisoner Custody Officer back in the day so I have dealt with the people he talks about, except I did it with very little back up in insecure environments. He has been assaulted and abused; he has tackled cell fires and attempted suicides, riots and dirty protests; he has helped to foil escaped plans, talked inmates down from rooftop protests, witnessed prisoners setting fire to themselves, and prevented prisoners from attempting to murder other prisoners. I was hoping this book would give more of an insight as to a certain set of prisoners, I should have known better.Divided into three parts - the first from David's early years on the wings, the second the middle of his career and the third his disillusioned later years - David will take listeners into the heart of life inside and shine a light on the escalating violence and the impact the government cuts are having on the wings. Biography: David Berridge joined the prison service in 1992, three weeks short of his 32nd birthday. obviously we are warned that some names and terms are used as they were at the time but it doesn’t really mean some of them should be published today. Newsflash a lot of prisoners are arseholes but if you treat people like animals they will behave like animals.