by Jay Sharman
David nodded in response and said, ‘We also need to make some fucking weapons to threaten people otherwise the bulging muscles may not be enough to frighten the prisoners.’
Angelo sat down on the bed as he was busy drying his wet hair with his hand, he commented, ‘The fucking weapons are not a big problem. We can cut small pieces of metals and turn them into sharper objects and then you can wrap it on a plastic knife or a fork and that can be used to pierce somebody’s organ with deadly effects.’
Greg smiled, ‘Angelo, you fucking always think of blood and weapons. I like it, your animal instinct is still intact. We must seek information from our informers to check if fucking prisoners are trying to revolt against us. If that is found to be true, then we must fucking crush them even before they act together.’
David had more brains than brawns and was the think tank of the group, who said, ‘You all are pieces of shit with fucking no clues. Use my brain and bloody hell, you all leave that to me. The prisoners are not scared to talk to me. I usually get my information from the prison officer, Mr Sandshill, who is also our chief drug supplier in prison. He earns fucking more from drug dealing than from his prison salary. Maybe, we should pay him even more for some more vital information.’
Robin intervened, ‘When you start giving him some money, then Sandshill will ask for even more from us in the future. Let us talk to him first to see his reaction.’
Greg nodded and whispered,’ yes, that is a good idea. Let us do that.’
Hussain was busy filling up the complaints form. Asif saw him writing all the details to the precision, he came nearer to Hussain and asked, ‘Hussain, are you sure that you want to do this? What is the point in getting yourself in trouble for nothing?’
Hussain put the pen to one side and looked directly into his friend’s eyes and said while patting on his back. ‘Do not worry, my friend. I will not get into any trouble. I will teach Angelo a lesson that he will not forget rest of his life.’
Asif had a sip of tea from the blue mug and said, ‘Nobody in the prison would take any action against Angelo. Moreover, you do not have any evidence or witness present during the incident. Who is going to believe you?’
Hussain smirked, ‘I believe in Allah and he will bring justice for us. We should not stop complaining if nobody takes any action. Otherwise nobody will bother complaining. May be the prison officers may not take any action against Angelo this time, but any future complaints against him would compel the authorities to do something. We live in a civilized democratic county like UK, where justice system still ranks as one of the best in the world.’
Asif had finished his tea by now and was busy rinsing his cup with water. He laughed ‘I am not sure about the British justice system, where guilty people are set free and innocents are locked in the prison. I am here inside for nothing. I still pray to Allah every day. Maybe he is punishing me for some other sins[js1]. Allah oh Allah’
Hussain knew that large numbers of inmates pretended to be innocents even if they had committed a crime but very few innocents were also found guilty as well.
He said, ‘That is up to jury to decide the guilt, based on the evidence presented in front of them. I am not saying that you were actually guilty of your crime. Only Allah knows that’
Asif replied. ‘Yes, only Allah knows this, and he knows that I am innocent. The evidence presented can be dubious. Crown Prosecution Services can twist the evidence in their favour and make an innocent person look guilty. I have observed that Crown Prosecution Services come to the court very well prepared whereas a defence barrister looks at the case properly only after the trial begins in the crown court. Therefore, if somebody gets legal aid, then he is more likely to lose the case.’
Hussain seemed to worry a bit as his forehead started to show some lines. He stood up from his bed and said while looking through a small window in his cell ‘I have full confidence in my barrister, and he has assured me that I have a very good chance of winning the case.’
Asif smirked, ‘The barristers tell that to everybody. Wait till your trial starts. You will feel suffocated and helpless when you realise that the barrister does not even know much about your case and does not even ask the relevant questions that you expected him to ask. Look at my case, I was found guilty of assaulting somebody when I was just suggesting both parties to stop fighting. But my barrister asked me to plead guilty, which I refused. He did fight my case half-heartedly and the result was that I lost the case.’
Hussain sat down on his bed to start filling up the complaint form again and said without looking at Asif.
‘I can feel your frustration against the system and probably that is why you don't want me to complain against Angelo. On the contrary I am more determined than before to report the incident to the authorities and I will not care, whatever the consequences may be afterwards. Allah is with me.’
Asif patted Hussain’s back with his hand and said. ‘Good luck to you. Maybe, you can do some miracles. Allah is with you.’ Asif left the room to go outside in the landing.
Chapter 3
Saturday was a busy day in prison as the prisoners got their items that they had ordered from the canteen few days earlier.
The hard-earned money in the prison did not allow the prisoners to have many luxuries. They could buy cigarettes, toiletries, chocolates, crisps, non-alcoholic drinks and phone credits. Some prisoners only earned two pounds per week whereas some were paid twelve pounds per week.
To reach the top scale, the prisoners had to work in the privileged areas of prison, after the security clearance was given to them by the prison officers.
The prisoners had started to realise the importance of pennies only after coming to prison, some wealthy prisoners outside had spent hundreds of pounds a day without giving a second thought. Some were lucky to have money sent to them in the prison by their friends and relatives. Few of them were always on the lookout for wealthier prisoners, so they could share their money and items with them. The theft from their cells was common, as for professional thieves the prison was an ideal place for using their criminal skills and if they were caught by prison officers, there was not much of a penalty or punishment.
Greg and David teamed up together to walk in the corridor where the prisoners had come together to receive their canteen bags. Greg saw a new prisoner struggling to carry his bag to his room as it was quite heavy due to presence of numerous items inside it.
Greg just went to the prisoner and took the bag away from him and said, ‘Let me help you with this heavy bag. You seem to have just come to this prison.’
In a split second, Greg snatched the bag from the prisoner, who wanted to take it back from Greg, he tried to pull it back from Greig by stretching his arms towards the bag. He pleaded, ‘No, do not worry I can manage to carry the bag myself.’
Greg pushed the prisoner away and shouted, ‘You probably fucking don't know who I am? Ask anybody, who Greens are? Any things that you buy here from the canteen belongs to us. I am going to take the bag to my room and take out the items that I like and leave the rest for you.’
The prisoner started to snatch the bag even with more force and shouted, ‘This is a day light robbery.’
David came to join Greg and used his hand to push the prisoner away from the bag and shouted, ‘You piece of shit, what do you expect in the prison? We all are fucking thieves, murderers, gangsters here. You can't pretend to be an innocent person. You must have committed a crime. That is why you are here. You piece of shit’
The prisoner still had his grip tight on the bag, he tried to push David away from him, and said, ‘No, I am innocent, I was framed by my friends.’
David pulled the prisoner’s hand away from the bag. ‘You piece of shit. Everybody says that here. I am innocent. Nobody will buy that from you. You understand, you piece of shit. Whatever you have come here for does not make any difference. If I was you, I would let Greg take away the bag. Otherwise, you will not be safe in this prison.’
The prisoner started to cry and said, ‘I can't believe that prisoners can get away with bullying in the prison. I will report this incident to the prison officer.’ By this time Greg had disappeared from the scene with prisoner’s bag in his hand.
David pushed the prisoner back into his cell and got hold of his neck and before prisoner could secure his release, David put the burning cigarette onto the prisoner’s palm that made him cry with pain.
David started to strangle him hard and said, ‘If you report this incident to anyone in prison, then I will burn you everywhere. Do you understand, you, piece of shit?’
The prisoner was struggling to breath and whispered, ‘Yes, I do understand. I will not report this incident to anyone.’
In the meantime, prisoner’s cellmate entered into the room with his own canteen bag. He seemed surprised to find David there but acknowledged. ‘Mr Green, I did not expect you in my room.’
David released his hold on the first prisoner, and turned his face towards the second prisoner called, Molly. David just took the canteen bag away from Molly and said, ‘I have come here at the right time. Let us see what you have got in your bag for me.’
Molly handed over the bag to David without any second thought to the astonishment of the first prisoner, but pleaded, ‘David, I have only got meagre income and only got few essential items.’
David started to laugh and said, ‘All of us have low income here, you piece of shit. That is why we need your canteen.’
David checked Molly’s items quickly and took away his cigarettes, chocolates, and shampoo.
David looked at the new prisoner and said,
‘Look you piece of shit, how Molly has handed over his bag to me without any hesitation. That is what you are supposed to do. You understand, piece of shit. What is your name anyway?’
‘Simon.’ replied the prisoner.
David put the cigarette in his lips and gave one to Molly and turned his head again towards Simon and said, ‘Look Simon, if you cooperate with us, then we don't take away every item of yours. Also, we will give you protection from other prisoners. That way, you will feel safe in this prison.’
Simon just nodded. He realised that the Greens had a powerful hold on the prisoners and there was no point in arguing with them, especially after a big guy like Molly could not defend his canteen bag as well.
David was about to leave the room but then stopped to say, ‘Molly, you need to teach this new bird the rules of the prison, otherwise, he will find himself in lots of problems here. He will definitely become a piece of shit’ David laughed again.
Molly just nodded, as he was busy taking the remaining items from his bag.
After David left the room, Simon looked at Molly in a pitiful way and asked him, ‘Do these Greens take canteen items every week like this?’
Molly had taken his items out of the bag by now and was putting them on his table. He replied, ‘No, they pick up prisoners in random. They target especially new prisoners who look soft and gentle. Just like you.’
Simon felt hurt by this comment and said while washing his hands in the sink. ‘I can be assertive, but I was surrounded by two big guys, so I did not want to start a fight. But why have they taken your canteen. You look much tougher than me?’
Molly looked around the room and said, ‘They have not touched my canteen for many months. Where is your canteen?’
Molly took a deep breath and sat down on his bed.
Simon said, ‘Another big chap from the Greens took my canteen earlier. This is not fair. I wanted to report, but David threatened me with dire consequences. Look at my hand, he has stupidly burned it with a cigarette.’
Molly looked at the burn marks on Simon’s hand and said, ‘Poor you. No point in reporting them. Your hand was burned when you were threatening of reporting this incident to the authorities. Imagine about the consequences if you had actually reported it?’
Simon did not get convinced by Molly’s argument and said ‘Molly, I don't want to stay in the prison, if the first day can be so disastrous, then I can imagine that my remaining days would become a nightmare. We must all unite together, if we have to survive here. Otherwise these Greens and some Reds and Yellows will all dominate us.’
Molly just laughed at Simon’s innocence and said, ‘It is not that easy as you think. Nobody wants any trouble here otherwise prisoner records in prison can get tarnished which could affect their duration of stay in the prison. By the way, are you coming to the exercise yard this afternoon as that would freshen up your mind a bit.’
Simon took a sip of water from a glass and said, ‘Yes I would love to go there. When are we going there?’
Molly had put his items in the cupboard and thrown his plastic bag in the dustbin. He turned his back towards Simon and said, ‘We will go in about ten minutes, you better put your trainers on, as then it is much easier to walk there.’
Chapter 4
The exercise yard was full of prisoners, some had grey coloured prison uniforms and others had marron colours. Some were trying to walk brisk, while others were trying to jog. Few of them were sitting on the grass and others were standing in small groups in one corner of the yard trying to chat about various issues in prison.
While in the other corner, the Greens were standing together in a group. Few prisoners were standing in a queue waiting to talk to Greens to discuss their problems. Simon was curious and asked Molly, ‘Mate, what are those Greens doing there in that corner?’
Molly laughed and said, ‘You idiot, The Greens have summoned some prisoners to their so call Court of the Greens and they are busy telling these coward prisoners that they need certain canteen items as part of their protection, but all these Greens are doing is selling these items to different prisoners and in exchange, they are selling drugs to them. Some of them have tried drugs for the first time in prison. Now then, these Greens are handing over their bank account details to these prisoners and asking them to deposit monies in their bank accounts for the drugs they have supplied to them.’
Simon seemed puzzled and asked Molly, ‘How can the money be deposited in their bank accounts, when they are locked inside here?’
Molly laughed, and said, ‘You will find out soon. Very soon, you will be summoned by them.’
In fact, just after Molly had finished talking, Greg pointed towards Simon and asked him to come to him. Simon reluctantly waddled towards the Greens. Greg took him to one corner of the ground and got hold of his collar and said ‘You are fucking new here and you do need to follow the fucking our rules here. You fucking tried to resist giving your canteen to me earlier. So as part of punishment, you ass hole, listen to me. You need to deposit five hundred pounds into my bank account.’
Simon was shocked by this demand, he pulled away from Greig and asked, ‘Why should I pay you. I don't owe you any money. Moreover, I don't have any money outside in the bank.’
Greg flexed his biceps and said with a toothy grin, ‘You have a fucking wife outside, ask her to put fucking money into my account. That will also guarantee safety of your wife and your children. You understand ass hole’
Simon’s face went pale and his breathing became shallower and he could clearly hear his louder heart beats. He looked at Greig and asked, ‘How do you know that I have children?’
Greg laughed and said, ‘You just told me. Look, your fucking family will be coming to visit you in the prison. My gang members outside the prison will treat them according to how you treat me inside this prison. The fucking choice in yours.’
Simon tried to look for Molly, but he was busy talking to another prisoner in the other corner of the exercise yard.
Suddenly Simon saw Angelo hitting another prisoner on the face and shouting at him. ‘The reason we picked up your wife was that you did not put money into my bank as you had promised. Your wife also informed police and look at the results. Your wife could now end up becoming somebody’s mistress. I give you another three days to put the money into my ban
k account and we will only release your wife after that.’
The prisoner fell to the ground to bend on his knees, with his hands folded in front and head bent down to the ground, he pleaded, ‘Please don't touch my wife. I love her very much. I will do anything to get her released. I will make sure that money is deposited in your bank account within three days.’
After watching that incident, Simon tried to compose himself and looked at Greg, who was smirking with a sense of victory. He said, ‘OK Greg, give me your bank details and I will deposit the money into your account.’
Greig gave a copy of a pre-printed paper to Simon that had his bank details.
Simon and Molly were walking back to prison together after the exercise had finished. Simon observed that many more prisoners were summoned by the Greens and each of them was a willingly participant in the activities of the Greens by obliging to their desires and orders. Nobody seemed to object to their demands and it soon dawned on Simon that in prison, a different kingdom ran parallel to that of prison department, whose rules were as strict as that of any authority in the land.
When Simon was entering inside his cell, he saw two new prisoners going inside the adjacent room. Simon introduced himself to them as he felt senior to them and wanted them to make aware of the Greens. But before Simon could give much information, both the prisoners were locked inside their rooms.
Chapter 5
Both new prisoners put their bags on the floor and sat down on the bed.
Nick Walker was about thirty two years old, slim built with long hair and had very feminine looking features. He was short about five feet and five inches tall and he hardly spoke any word as he preferred his own company most of the time. Whereas
Julian Dashwood was about five feet and ten inches tall, well built, masculine with tattoos marks on his both arms and he had a deep voice. Julian and Nick were put together in the same room as they had requested at reception area of the prison that they were friends outside.