Good Man Inside

Will Phillips

Description

The diary of one man's experiences of his time in prison written over 300 days as he reels from and makes sense of being under lock and key.

Sujets

• Sociologie, société et politique
• Prison

Informations

• Publié par: Waterside Press
• Date de parution: 27 mars 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781908162717
• Langue: English

Extrait

A Good Man Inside
Diary of a White Collar Prisoner
Will Phillips
Illustrated by the author
Copyright and Publication Details
ISBN 978-1-909976-03-0 (Paperback)
ISBN 978-1-908162-71-7 (Epub ebook)
ISBN 978-1-908162-72-4 (Adobe ebook)
Copyright © 2014 This work including the illustrations is the copyright of Will Phillips. All intellectual property and associated rights are hereby asserted and reserved by him in full compliance with UK, European and international law. No part of this book may be copied, reproduced, stored in any retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, including in hard copy or via the internet, without the prior written permission of the publishers to whom all such rights have been assigned worldwide.
Cover design © 2014 Waterside Press. Cover photograph of the author by Stephen Murphy. Design by www.gibgob.com
Main UK distributor Gardners Books, 1 Whittle Drive, Eastbourne, East Sussex, BN23 6QH . Tel: [phone]; [e-mail] ; www.gardners.com
North American distribution Ingram Book Company, One Ingram Blvd, La Vergne, TN 37086, USA. Tel: [phone]; [e-mail]
Cataloguing-In-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book can be obtained from the British Library.
Printed by Lightning Source.
e-book A Good Man Inside is available as an ebook and also to subscribers of Myilibrary, Dawsonera, ebrary, and Ebscohost.
Published 2014 by
Waterside Press
Sherfield Gables
Sherfield on Loddon
Hook, Hampshire
United Kingdom RG27 0JG
Telephone [phone]
E-mail [e-mail]
Online catalogue WatersidePress.co.uk
Contents
Copyright and Publication Details
About the Author
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Introduction
List of Illustrations
Day 1: A Broken Man
Day 2: My Angel
Day 3: God, Where Are You?
Day 4: Invisible Man
Day 5: The Welcome Return of Caffeine
Day 6: Infamy
Day 8: Gym
Day 9: Groundhog Day
Day 10: Bollocks and Boils
Day 11: Business Studies
Day 12: Canteen and Cornflakes
Day 14: Benefits of Community Service
Day 15: Papillon
Day 16: The Truth
Day 17: A Columbian Cold
Day 18: The Great Apes
Day 19: The Naked Butler
Day 20: The Return of the Great Seabass
Day 21: Sea Bass’ Lucky Day
Day 22: Mummy’s Boy
Day 23: Careless Whisper
Day 24: The Sabbath — Another Day of Resting
Day 25: Alan Wells
Day 26: James Bond and Decency
Day 27: Did Man Invent Peanuts?
Day 28: Smashing!
Day 29: Appealing
Day 30: Better Incarcerated than Stoned!
Day 31: Yet Another Case of Injustice
Day 32: Hoping for the Best!
Day 33: You Take My Breath Away
Day 34: Knives and Prison Don’t Make Good Bedfellows!
Day 35: The Bee Gees
Day 36: The Worst Place on Earth?
Day 37: Suicide is Painless!
Day 38: Meaningful Employment
Day 39: Lord of the Rings and the Keeper of the Argos Catalogue
Day 40: Ex-wives and Druggies
Day 41: The Sun
Day 42: Nothing to Say
Day 43: Oh Dear, Seabass!
Day 44: No Room for the Truth!
Day 45: Extra Time
Day 50: Fifty Not Out
Day 51: My Very Own Knockback
Day 54: Goodbye to Seabass
Day 57: Useless Lawyers
Day 58: Chuwawa
Day 60: Groundhog Day… Again
Day 70: Heady Days!
Day 76: Heaven and Hell
Day 77: Cuts and More Cuts
Day 78: ‘You Can’t be Serious!’
Day 80: Stone Cold and Sober, and the Arrival of Kitty’s Quilt
Day 85: Nuts for Lights
Day 90: Daves
Day 97: The Right Trousers
Day 99: Prisons be Damned
Day 100: Hitting a Century!
Day 136: Christmas Day
Day 140: Released
Day 141: George and Georgina
Day 177: Schindler’s List
Day 180: Anyone for Scrabble?
Day 199: Home For the Elderly
Day 200: Prison Life Goes On
Day 219: Love Doesn’t Hurt, Expectations Do
Day 233: The Wrong Trousers
Day 234: Fabulous Baker Bros.
Day 242: Wasted Time
Day 255: Live in Concert
Day 256: My Song
Day 260: Learn the Rules
Day 280: Time Spent Crawling
300 Days: Giorno Trecento
Epilogue
About the Author
Will Phillips is a singer-songwriter and performer whose on-stage experiences include as lead singer in bands and appearing in musicals such as Camelot and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Having worked as a chef and catering events consultant and organizer, in 2010 he found himself in prison for white collar crimes. The author of several short stories, including Ouija Board and Curse , he spends his free time at home playing his guitar in the company of his Siamese cat and best friend Dexter. For further information see dark-knight.org.uk
Dedication
This book is dedicated to my dearest daughter Jodie and granddaughter Neve.
Acknowledgements
I wish to thank my good friend Elaine for her love and help in the writing of this book, and my long suffering girlfriend Karen for doing all she could to stand by her man.
I would also like to give my gratitude to Bryan Gibson and Waterside Press for making this publishing endeavour possible.
Introduction
I always believed myself to be a good man. So how is it that I found myself behind bars in one of England’s most grim Victorian prisons? After a childhood filled with unhappiness, my adulthood had been blessed with contentment until another sadness struck to the heart of me. A deep and dark depression.
What brought it on? A change of fortunes, a run of bad luck? A mid-life crisis, or a nervous breakdown? A combination of all the above maybe. But I think I now know what it was that began the rot. It was an overwhelming sense of so much loss.
My daughter had flown the nest, my businesses had failed and been taken away, the family home had been re-possessed, and I was on the verge of divorce from my wife of 25 years. I was bankrupt in every way!
Whatever the reasons that influenced me, my actions and wrongdoings had led me to this dreadful place. The banging of the prison cell doors, the jangling of the jailer’s keys and the howling of the inmates would help me loose another piece of my already lost mind.
But I told myself to hold on. Probation had told me to only expect a suspended sentence. Therefore, I would win my appeal and my four year prison sentence would be judged to be excessive. I would be free in no time at all. Everything would be alright.
Thank God I didn’t know then what I do know now! This is a story about people, both good and bad, and those of us that walk the line in-between.
The Warrior of Light unwittingly takes a false step and plunges into the abyss.
Ghosts frighten him and solitude torments him.
His aim had been to fight the good fight; and he never imagined that this would happen to him, but it did.
Shrouded in darkness, he contacts his master.
‘Master, I have fallen into the abyss,’ he says. ‘The waters are deep and dark.’
‘Remember one thing,’ replies his master. ‘You do not drown simply by plunging into the water. You only drown if you stay beneath the surface.’
List of Illustrations
PHILLIPS you’re such a bad man … there isn’t a sentence long enough for the likes of you!
Typical A and C-wing inmates.
What Lessons have I been taught?: ‘If you can’t stand up, you better learn how to fall’.
Teaboat HMP X.
Showertime with Chad — the prison mastermind.
Almost every prisoner has a story that they’ve been bursting to tell.
Suspicious minds. I am accused of hoarding by the local nut baron who thinks I might be treading on his patch.
Frustration: Forklift Dave waiting for an answer.
Leaving HMP X.
Days 1–300

PHILLIPS you’re such a bad man … there isn’t a sentence long enough for the likes of you!
Day 1: A Broken Man
I had been ordered to appear in court at 1.30 pm for sentencing. However, an earlier trial had overrun it’s allotted time, meaning that I was taken away in handcuffs and kept in the cell below court until the previous hearing was concluded. Little did I know just how much this ordeal would pale into insignificance when compared to the suffering that awaited me in the months to come.
Fate had ordained that the trial in question, and the reason for my early incarceration, related to a man whose company I would have to tolerate 24-hours a day, seven days a week for the next two months. In the beginning I would help him survive the shock of imprisonment we both suffered but ultimately he would become my nemesis.
This would not be my first taste of incarceration but it was my first taste of imprisonment. Following the death of my father my childhood was interrupted by a deep and dark depression treated with sabbaticals to asylums in Devon and Cornwall, in tandem with a small, or large, dosage of electric shock treatment. I cannot remember how much. In fact, I can’t remember anything at all because of the electrocompulsive therapy (ECT). Although I can testify that ECT does not work, as it was my second major depressive disorder, combined with prescription drugs and excessive alcohol that resulted in my changed behaviour and helped explain my illicit actions.
My estranged wife sent a friend to report on the day’s events. But other than that in the courtroom I had no benefactors. I was friendless and defenceless. The probation officer conducted an interview with me before sentencing and the pre-sentence report, which contained a potted history of my life — the highs, which were not inconsiderable, and the lows — concluded that I deserved a suspended sentence. Judge Willington however, was reading a different misleading script.
He described me as ‘A man who lived beyond his means and lied to his family to maintain their lifestyle.’ In his closing address to the court, he remarked that he was sending me to prison ‘a ruined and broken man.’ That is what he wanted for me. That and a harsh four year exemplary sentence to make sure. However, he was wrong, he did not know me. I had other plans, which included a future. He took away my money and belongings, but was powerless where it really mattered. I retained the few people who loved me and their mo