FIRST NIGHT ON THE WING

“I have made the call for you. She said to say she still loves you”

pact's first night in custody project works with prisoners in their early hours and days in prison. Here a first night worker reveals a day in their life on the First Night wing at HMP Wandsworth.

11am The shift starts by popping into the visitors’ centre to see if there have been any referrals.

Today there is a referral for a prisoner named Terry who was transferred from HMP Wormwood Scrubs Friday night. He was seen by a pact First Night volunteer on the Friday who called his mum, Julie, but she is still very concerned about him.

I call his mum from our office on the First Night Wing. She tells me that this was the first time she had ever visited a prison. She says he cried for the whole of the visit and she is extremely worried about him.

When I go to see Terry he tells me that he feels a little better but is desperate to make his own phone call. I check his account and the money his mum sent in has still not been transferred to him. So he will not be able to top up his phone PIN credit. I explain the system to him and he seems happier now he knows how it works.

I call Julie again to pass on the messages he has given me and reassure her that he is feeling better. She is relieved to know he is ok and extremely grateful.

2pm I attend the afternoon Wing Briefing with the E-Wing officers.
3.30pm When I get back from lunch there are already quite a few new arrivals on the wing. Most request a phone call to be made for them mainly to their mothers or partners.

6.30pm As I get back onto the First Night Wing one of the Insiders points to a young guy who is sat at the table crying. I find out he is called Omar and is from Iraq. His English is limited so I arrange for a translator to be brought over.

The translator explains that Omar was arrested with his wife at Gatwick when they tried to claim asylum. Their families had forbidden the wedding as they were from different religions. So they decided to run away to England for a better life. He is very worried about his wife and doesn’t know what has happened to her.

I explained that she is probably at HMP Holloway and I will contact the pact FNIC team there. I made this phone call straight away. The pact Worker confirmed that his wife is at HMP Holloway, they had already seen her. They give me her prisoner number and assured me they would pass his details on to her.

I let him know that his wife is ok and give him the address of HMP Holloway. After receiving the message he began to calm down a little, I suggested he write to her which he begins to do straight away.

8pm... "she is so glad to know he is alive, they had not seen or heard from him in 3 days"

It is time to start making the calls. This is my favourite part of shift. It is extremely rewarding to hear the relief in the families’ voices when you are able to provide the information that have been waiting for and most importantly let them know that their loved one is doing alright and they are safe.

One of the prisoners I saw earlier is deaf. He had written a message for me to pass on to his sister. When I tell her where I am calling from she started to cry. She tells me she is so glad to know he is alive, they had not seen or heard from him in 3 days. Her parents were just about to call the police and report him missing.

When I finish making the calls I go back to each prisoner to let them know the result of the phone call, even if I had had no answer. For the prisoners whose families I was unable to contact I assure them I will try again tomorrow.

This is a very important part of the evening. The prisoners are often surprised that I have made the effort to go back to them. There is no better end to a long day than seeing the huge grin appear on somebody’s face when you say:

“I have made the call for you. She said to say she still loves you”.