Holloway Prison.
At 8am Henrietta’s steel door was opened and the smell of cheap white toast permeated the corridor as breakfast was announced. She followed the dozen or so women who collected porridge, boiled eggs and tea from the serving hatch and then sat in the dining area to discuss their different sentences. Hetty listened to a short fat black mother of four who had been convicted of fraudulent benefit claims and a blonde Croatian girl charged with drug offences. She felt sorry for an older white woman who said the Police had found a gun in her son’s bedroom and said she blamed herself for exposing him to gang culture when they were forced to move to undesirable part of London after she fell into debt. Hetty listened to an Asian girl who was obviously suffering from depression and had been accused of stabbing her best friend. There were many tattooed women of varying sizes and nationalities with bad attitudes and worse teeth. Hetty finally noticed a slender black woman in her fifties who ignored everyone and hid her face in a book which was written in French. Hetty was intrigued and offered conversation for the first time.
“Why are you here?” The woman casually looked up from her book and said:
“My dear, if I can offer you one piece of valuable advice to help you survive this Hell hole it is this; never ask another inmate what crime they have committed as they may attack you.” She closed her book, stood up and continued: “Keep your own counsel and don’t confide in anyone.” She disappeared into her private cell to continue to read in peace.
“Who the fuck is she?” asked one of the girls, completely ignoring the advice on privacy.
“I heard someone say she was a barrister or something. Fuck knows what she did wrong but she’s just been to court for her confiscation. I heard her talking to the guard last night. She lives in fuckin’ Mayfair or some other nobby place.”
After the women had left the room, Henrietta sat alone feeling bewildered and wondered what ‘confiscation’ was. The officer supervising breakfast had told her that she would be allowed to call her solicitor and arrange a ‘24 hour visit’ from her family, so after reading all the literature stuck to the notice boards on the virtues of giving up drugs and reporting bullying, she waited to be taken to the induction offices. It was a long walk through umpteen locked gates and she was taken so far that she would never have been able to find her way back unaided.
She was then left in a large hallway and told to wait until another guard arrived to take her on the next leg of her journey. She sat quietly on a chair and felt relatively safe until a group of rowdy girls were delivered. They were loud, tattooed, badly dressed, had scars on their arms and faces and had few teeth which were mostly dark brown in colour like the opium users in period TV dramas. They enthusiastically swarmed in on Hetty who was surrounded and petrified. They shuffled up close and in ‘spaced out’ voices and with wandering eyes they asked her if she had any cigarettes and demanded to know her name. They asked how long her ‘stretch’ was whether or not she was a murderer. Hetty was frightened but managed to say words which assured them that she did not smoke and had not murdered anyone. They said they were the ‘lifers’ and that most of their select group were ‘in’ for murder. Hetty screamed inside and thought she might wet herself if they touched her ‘luvly’ hair again. Over the next five minutes which felt like five hours they bombarded her with information about themselves without being prompted or encouraged. She tried to appear calm and smiled and nodded where she considered their torrid tales warranted such a response.
By the time the officer came to collect her girls, she was late and ruffled and was also perturbed to find another lone and sober prisoner in their number. She radioed for someone to collect Hetty but by that time the ‘crackheads’ and ‘lifers’ were full of love and admiration for their brave new sister and confirmed that they would watch out for her later in the yard. Hetty dreaded the ‘yard’ wherever and whenever it was but focussed her mind on the chance to call home and speak to a normal human being.
She was summoned into a waiting room to join other women who were being assessed for possible training or learning or for a suitable prison job. Hetty had not considered that she might have to do any manual work and dreaded it. When the officer asked her what her qualifications were and how the prison service could help her for ‘work on the outside’, they were at a loss and she was swiftly moved on to another officer who asked about any current drug addiction.
Eventually a young black guard took her into a little office and made the call to Henrietta’s Lawyers but was told that they were on holiday. Hetty felt abandoned and started to cry. The officer passed her a box of tissues and asked who else she could call. The officer was pleasantly surprised by the educated man with the commanding voice who convinced her that Holloway prison was the wrong place for Henrietta and that her incarceration had been a shock to her defence team. Simon told the officer what sort of person Hetty was and that he feared for her welfare in such a harsh environment. The officer nodded periodically and began to accept the view she was offered as she looked intently at Hetty’s pitiful face. She informed Simon of the visiting hours and promised to set the wheels in motion to ship Henrietta out of London in a new record time.
After another sleepless night Henrietta could not wait until ‘visits’ were announced and the women were frog-marched through dozens of doors and corridors, then frisked and had their mouths and hair probed and checked. Then they were given red tabards to wear and shown into a large visiting room and allocated a numbered low table with a quartet of upholstered seats. A serving hatch opened for visitors to buy sandwiches and drinks. A door at the far end of the room was opened and a guard admitted the visiting groups and directed them to the prisoner they come to see. Hetty’s heart leapt when she saw her son, although he seemed reticent to enter until he had a gentle push from his grandma who had been driven one hundred and fifty miles by Simon. All three of her visitors had tear- stained faces and were visibly shaken by the people and behaviour they had observed. Simon went to the serving hatch and bought drinks and chocolate. Hetty apologised to her son and he stifled a sob. She thanked Simon for bringing her Mother and son to visit her in a place they would never have dared to come to without his support. Grandma recounted the embarrassment she felt when she was asked for her photographic identification and was told that her driving licence had expired. She had grabbed Simon’s arm tightly and said: ‘Don’t leave me here!’ The security staff laughed at the old lady in the pearls. Hetty did not laugh, her humour was lost. The time spent with her loved ones went too quickly and they were asked to leave. All four cried.
When Hetty returned to the induction wing she was told to pack her belongings as she would be taken into the main prison. She was again disorientated but did as she was told. Two officers came to escort the new women to their new accommodation for the duration of their imprisonment. Hetty was taken to ‘B’ wing on the fourth floor and shown into a room which slept six women. She was then given a plastic washing up bowl which contained her own plastic cup, plate and dish and plastic cutlery. She was directed to a metal bed which was bolted to the floor and had a thin and grubby foam mattress which was laid on top of the mesh springs. She was revolted by what she was expected to sleep on. She used one of the blankets she had been given to envelop the mattress before she tried to make up the bed with the polyester sheets. She was grateful that her son had brought her fluffy pink dressing gown because and had something clean and warm to try and snuggle up to.
Henrietta knew she had to survive the hell of being moved to this shared room of six which was filthy and untidy and had tatty wet clothing on the radiators under the two large metal windows. She had to share a sink and toilet with the other five women and was shown where to wash her own plastic crockery in a Belfast sink in the corner. Hetty boiled the communal kettle and located the washing liquid and proceeded to clean the utensils she was expected to use. She was watched by a black woman who sat silently on the opposite bed, filing her nails with an emery board whils
t listening to her radio. Hetty didn’t like being watched by the predatory woman but thought it prudent to smile. She finished washing her pots then tipped her bowl down the drain. Suddenly her feet were soaked and Hetty realised that the sink had no waste pipe. She shrieked and asked the girls what to do.
“There’s a mop and bucket in the cupboard on the landing.” Someone said apathetically. Hetty went to find them and returned to dry the floor. She couldn’t believe that there was no waste pipe in the communal room and that no one wanted to help or care.
That night she did not turn off her personal night light above the bed and tried to sleep using her familiar fluffy dressing gown as a pillow. She prayed with every fibre of her emotional strength that she would survive her ordeal and would see her son and her home and sleep in her perfectly laundered bed again soon.
Morton Hall Prison.
Henrietta and three other women were loaded into a G4 van and taken to an alternative prison in Lincoln where they were unloaded, processed and photographed and had their possessions checked meticulously again. Only then could they be escorted to their new accommodation. Henrietta was pleasantly surprised that each room was relatively clean and well equipped with a single bed, a wardrobe, a sink with a mirror and a window without security bars and a view of mowed grass. She went to the phone box in the hallway and used the phone credit card she had been given to call Simon and inform him of her new location.
A loud bell rang and the women lined up for the walk to the dining room. Hetty looked around at the three hundred women who had ended up in the same place and felt overcome with sadness. When each prisoner had finished eating they could leave the hall and return to their room or watch TV in the common room, or go to the well-equipped gym. Henrietta did not feel able to socialise and returned to her cell and shut the door.
The following morning each new prisoner was interviewed by the head of the Offenders Management Unit (OMU). The officer was a stocky man in his sixtieth year with thick greying hair, dark rimmed glasses and a spotless uniform. The silver stars on his shoulder denoted his long service and high rank.
“My name is Mr Steel. Please confirm your full name and prison number to me.” Henrietta did as she was asked. He nodded and ticked his clip boarded notes. “You have been imprisoned on the charge of a conspiracy to obtain a money transfer by deception, contrary to section one of the Criminal Law Act of 1977.” Hetty was bemused.
“No, that’s not what I’m here for.” Mr Steel looked up from his notes and examined her face which looked earnest enough, so asked her why she believed she was in prison.
“I attended a meeting on behalf of someone else.”
“Is that a crime?” He asked.
“Yes, I am told so, because that person used me to commit a crime in my name.”
“So you didn’t conspire with anyone to steal money from a bank?”
“No, definitely not!” Mr Steel knew in his experienced gut that something was wrong and he would have to go away and check the validity of the documentation. He said he would send word for her to attend his office once he had clarified her position.
Two days later Hetty was summoned to the OMU block and for the first time she had a chance to see other parts of the prison en-route and observe other prisoners gardening or going to and from duties. It was certainly a better place to be incarcerated than the high security and abject poverty of the Holloway jail. She considered that maybe she could endure this place for her four month ordeal. Mr Steel saw her and went to unlock the door.
“Come in Henrietta, follow me.” He led her to a small room with a desk, a phone and two chairs. “Please sit down and let’s sort a few things out. I have your file which contains your charge and your conviction which is clearly set out here.” He looked over the top of his reading glasses at her for a response but saw a vacant face, then continued: “The Court has said that Aiden Hoare, Terry Newman and Henrietta Champion conspired together between November 2005 and August 2006, to dishonestly obtain a money transfer by deception, namely by making false statements of wage slips, P60s, bank statements and Experian credit reports in the name of Henrietta Champion for the purpose of deceiving the bank and obtaining a mortgage loan of 2,700,000 euros. Is that correct?”
“Apparently. They did it behind my back.” Mr Steel shuffled uncomfortably and began to grind his teeth.
“But you pleaded guilty to the charge. Maybe you just don’t understand?” Mr Steel could not help noticing the little details, so asked Hetty what had happened. She looked into his kind eyes and told him everything from meeting Terry to going to the Police.
“So if all you did was meet a man in a bar because your mother’s life was threatened. Why did you plead guilty?”
“My lawyers advised me to.”
“Why?”
“Because I couldn’t afford to stay in a hotel for trial and I didn’t want the sexual abuse to become public knowledge and have my family suffer the public shame and humiliation.”
“I also have your lengthy pre-sentence report which I believe was done by a senior parole officer who interviewed you on instruction from the Judge. This report causes me some genuine concern. It begins by saying that you are of no risk to society, that you are not racially motivated and do not take drugs, is that correct?” She nodded. He continued “It also says exactly what you have just told me about becoming romantically with a man who immediately asked you to marry him and simultaneously exploited you financially.”
He looked at Henrietta’s demeanour which was unlike most prisoners he had known during his long career in the prison service; there was something detached and graceful about her. He read on:
“Mrs Champion expresses strong disapproval of crime and has been financially successful. She says that your father left you a considerable bequest in his will and she can see no trigger for you to commit a crime for financial gain. She believes you have suffered a mental breakdown and need specialised counselling….. Then finally suggests that a conditional discharge or suspended sentence to the Judge.”
He put the ten page document on the table and placed his folded glasses on top of the report and sat pondering the niggling question in his mind and wondered whether Henrietta’s legal team may have been negligent. He consulted the file looked for their phone number but was told that the solicitor was still on holiday. Mr Steel was angry that any law firm let their client get sent down without fully explaining the reason why. If Henrietta was telling the truth, which he questioned, he was disgusted by the lack of duty or care. He left a message and requested a legal visit as a matter of urgency, to reassure their client of her legal position.
Legal visits were from 9.30 – 11.00 am on Tuesdays or Thursdays and there was a perceived necessity to have a senior prison guard with many years of experience to sit at the desk at the front of the room, in the event that there may be unusual circumstances to handle. On the day when Henrietta’s solicitor and barrister came, Mr Steel made a rare appearance and dismissed and replaced the officer on duty, to monitor the room and to surreptitiously try to listen to the conversation between Henrietta and her advisors. He heard Kevin apologise for the unexpected custodial sentence and explain how the law had changed before her court appearance but that to appeal the sentence would be futile. Kevin assured her that she would be out of prison before she knew it and no-one would even know she had been gone! He said that he was very fond of her and felt very sorry for her and went on to say that he would send her a formal document to explain her position. Mr Steel watched as the threesome chatted and Kevin told her the gossip from Court about Mr Newman suffering a heart attack and Aiden Hoare’s wife who had begun divorce proceedings when his mistress had called at the family home. They laughed when Henrietta pointed out the irony of a cruel man having heart issues and an ugly man having a mistress.
Then Mr Steel heard her barrister deliver the bombshell:
“We can forget about them now, they’re not your problem. The only problem we have to addr
ess when you come home is the process of ‘confiscation’. We have to show that you did not benefit financially from the crimes.”
“Are you kidding, I’m almost half a million pounds worse off because of him!”
“Good!” Kevin said, “No problem then, other than the fact that the prosecution say your benefit was the 2.7 million euros. If they run with that assumption and we can’t disprove it, then you would have to pay back that figure to the Court or serve a sentence in prison of ten years for anything over a million pounds.” Kevin was embarrassed and Hetty was dumb struck.
“Tell me that can’t happen….”
“Don’t worry, we will help you!” Kevin stood up, as time was called on the visit and leaned over to give Hetty a kiss on the cheek. Henrietta remained seated and motionless as both her barrister and solicitor walked out. She was horrified by the shocking news which had been dumped on her by the misnomer of her defence team and the prospect of ten years in a prison, away from her son, her home and her friends. She had very little money left since Terry’s embezzlement and certainly did not have two and a half million pounds.
By the time Henrietta returned to her room she was shaking so violently that her teeth were clattering together and the female officer on duty rushed towards her and asked where she had been and if she had taken any drugs. Hetty shook her head. The male guard on the desk looked at the register.
“Says here; she’s been on a legal visit.” He said. The female officer took Hetty into the staff room and made her a cup of sweetened tea before she asked for an explanation.
The Unsuspecting Housewife Page 24