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Issue 78 Spring 2018
Michael Selby
Prisons I Have Known (An unexpected life Inside) by Harry Crew.

Published by Eebygumbooks

Distributed by Amazon

Long ago, when I was working at Huntercombe Borstal , in charge of sport, amongst other duties, I arranged a day out for the staff of Borstal Aftercare with a cricket match: our "lads" against their staff. That is how Harry and I first met, as he was a young clerical assistant in that curious organization. Now we meet again, 60 years later in this excellent autobiography.

Harry sensitively traces his family origin and influences that brought him to apply to join the Prison Service as an Assistant Governor. His description of the staff course emphasizes the wide variation of backgrounds of the trainees. This diversity was always strength of the Governor grades. Significantly, he recalls a lecturer who emphasized a choice he had in his career, either to be a functionary of the system OR to try
to change and improve it. This was a guiding principle.

The accounts of his work and the anecdotes reveal a person who was decent and caring. So far so good, though why is this work being strongly recommended?

There are two sections of particular value.

The first describes his period as deputy governor of Gloucester prison. In 1985 cuts in the budget were enforced and the process resulted in the staff refusing to obey instructions--in effect-- Mutiny. This is fascinating and his description of the events and his own harrowing involvement is vivid. So what was the result? It was all an evasion. Worth studying by a PhD Criminology student, but as Gloucester prison suffered from the Grayling Cull, presumably all records and those concerned are dispersed beyond recall.

The second is Chapter 6 "Governing". This describes his 9 years as Governor of Askham Grange. He claims that his lifetime experience culminated in this achievement. In addition is the essence to successful governing, encapsulated in Proverbs "Without Vision the people perish" and the vision of 'Prison I Have Known' by Mary Size, who opened Askham in 1947, was crucial. He describes the grotty circumstances of his inheritance--"drifting and without direction in the absence of the Governor who had been covered by a succession of temporary reliefs". He had to overcome the staff expectation that he would be yet another transitory person or that he had been sent to close it down. Unexpected support came from that underrated Director General Derek Lewis, who showed far more interest and concern for women prisoners than any other Director. Alas, that his intentions were lost when he was sacked.

Harry's conclusions on his retirement were that Governors increasingly had to concentrate on contract management rather than governing, as he knew it. Certainly the Ministry of Justice, with its rapid change of politicians in charge, has no perception of the task. It is significant that the legacy if his work at Askham was to enable his successors to fight off the proposals for closure.

My advice would be that when- and if - there is to be training for staff members actually to govern an establishment, this excellent book should provide a case study on what it is all about. And a copy sent to the Justice Minister.

Meanwhile you are recommended to read it. You can purchase through Amazon at £4.99 (plus postage)
and the royalty goes to the charity 'Women in Prison'.

Critique by

Michael Selby