Examination of Witnesses (Questions 45
- 59)
TUESDAY 17 OCTOBER 2000
MR DAVID
COTTLE, MRS
MOLLY TIPPLES,
LADY CLARKE,
DR BRIAN
HUGO AND
MS HELEN
WARRINER
Chairman
45. Welcome to you, Mr Cottle and your colleagues.
I wonder if I might start by asking you if you would say, on the
back of what is I think a fairly long experience which most of
you have with Blantyre House, what you think has happened since
that raid on 5 and 6 May? What has happened to the ethos here?
(Mr Cottle) Morale has plummeted. The place is awash
with rumour which is linked really to the low morale but which
is also linked to suspicion, so that every change or action is
interpreted in umpteen ways as basically being to stifle the prison,
stifle the regime.
46. What has been the impact, in your unique
experience, on both inmates and staff?
(Mr Cottle) They do feel stifled. Security measures
have been raised. They feel the place is under threat. As I say
there are rumours that this is a way of closing it, of changing
it to a standard prison and that the work they have done is under
threat.
47. You and your colleagues are all volunteers
in your roles?
(Mr Cottle) Yes.
48. Are you fairly certain that you feel able
to continue with this work, given your views on what has happened
since 5 and 6 May?
(Mr Cottle) I think it is important—it is very
important—we do carry on, you do need monitors and you need
monitors who probably understand the system. If you had a new
group in—well, you certainly need some experienced members.
It is vital we stay on and monitor and make our voice heard and
comment on what we have seen and what we believe to be happening.
49. Do you detect big differences? I do not
want to get into personalities but there has been a change of
governor.
(Mr Cottle) Yes.
50. Do you detect big differences in the way
the present governor thinks it is his responsibility to run the
prison from the earlier governor, the former governor?
(Mr Cottle) Absolutely, yes. You need imagination,
you need to understand resettlement, you need to understand people,
risk management and so forth to take it forward. With the governor
who is running the place at the moment, it is very difficult for
him because obviously everyone is watching the place. The changes
which are going on are bringing the security measures round to
a sort of Category C basis, which generally means you have control.
Well, Blantyre was not run on a control basis, it was run on a
trust basis. Break the trust and, yes, you go.
51. We understand that the new governor has
clamped down very severely on inmates taking driving lessons,
either standard driving lessons or HGV or whatever, which have
been useful, it has been put to us by many people.
(Mr Cottle) Yes.
52. Were you consulted over that?
(Mr Cottle) No.
53. Would you have expected to be consulted?
If not, would you be able to make representations if you felt
you wanted to?
(Mr Cottle) We said we were not happy beforehand,
but we were told this was not in line with Prison Service policy;
it would not be acceptable to the public. We have made—
54. Forgive me, but you know they are encouraged
at Kirklevington apparently?
(Mr Cottle) Yes, we have quoted that. Even on the
basis of Blantyre or driving lessons in general, we have talked
to Martin Narey about it, we have talked to the Prison Reform
Trust, because the board thinks it is important; it is a very
important base skill. Certainly in a resettlement regime there
are no security threats, it is not costing the Prison Service
money because it is funded either by the men themselves or the
Blantyre Voluntary Fund. As far as the risk goes, if the man is
out anyway, the risk is even less when he is on a driving lesson
because he is picked up at the gate and dropped back again.
55. Are you aware of unspecified plans to reorganise
the education department and to treat a large part of the work
it does now, which leads to some form of accreditation, as purely
recreational?
(Mr Cottle) Yes I have heard of this. Lady Clarke
has our education brief on the board, she understands what is
happening in education.
(Lady Clarke) The education and vocational training
is absolutely fundamental to the work which Blantyre is doing.
It gives individual attention to each man to find a job for when
he is released. It is not just a token gesture to get a man painting
in the art studio, it is actually working towards a life after
prison, which is what this place is all about.
56. Have you heard of proposals or plans to
reorganise it?
(Lady Clarke) Yes.
57. But unspecified?
(Lady Clarke) Unspecified and specified. We have an
excellent vocational trainer here who the men trust and believe
in. He offered his resignation some while ago but said he would
stay on until he was replaced and I understand under the present
regime no efforts are being made to replace him. As the funds
in the vocational fund are administered by him and applied to
the men, and the men are encouraged to take up training, without
him there is no future for these men. He works in close contact
with our education officer so they can tailor-make a programme
for each man.
58. Do you have views on the governor's decision—I
think he said on security grounds—to discontinue the photography
classes and club?
(Lady Clarke) My understanding on that is that during
the raid a photograph was found of a key, and it has all spun
off from that.
59. Do you happen to know where that key normally
lives?
(Lady Clarke) I think it was a man's doorkey.
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