a gallimaufry

start the week with some good news

(Solomon Alexander Hart, Milton Visiting Galileo when a Prisoner of the Inquisition, oil on canvas, 1847; Wellcome Library; photograph by the Wellcome Library; found here)

Perhaps you remember back in March that the British government introduced tight restrictions on prisoners receiving parcels, including books? Well, Barbara Gordon-Jones, who has a doctorate in English literature and is in Send prison for arson, challenged the decision. On Friday the High Court judged that there was ‘no good reason’ to prevent prisoners from receiving books and that in fact to do so was unlawful. (You can read the full judgment here.) Hurrah for an independent judiciary! And also well done to the lawyers who acted pro bono for the claimant.

more on books for prisoners

In March I wrote about the British government’s crackdown on family members sending books to prisoners, and the petition you could sign asking the government to think again. Not much seems to have happened since then. However, I thought some of you might be interested to know of Haven Distribution, a charitable organisation which sends educational books to British prisons. There are several ways you can support them, including by donating direct or by clicking through the link on their 'Donating' page to give 5 per cent of the cover price of anything you purchase from Amazon.

English PEN runs a scheme sending books to imprisoned writers in other countries. More information about that is here, but you need to become a member to participate.

I haven’t yet donated to either of these schemes, so can tell you no more than this.

no no no British Government, prisoners should be encouraged to read!

I have just been reading Frances Crook’s article on the British Government’s new plan to restrict prisoners’ access to books and I am deeply shocked and horrified.

No I’m not, I’m absolutely, steamingly, hoppingly furious.

I’m equally disgusted to discover that children are no longer allowed to send Christmas presents to parents in gaol. That is just jaw-droppingly inhumane. Here is an article about it in the Guardian – and here is Chris Grayling’s (feeble) response. Is Chris Grayling highly educated and in fact himself an author? Why yes he is. You might think he would understand the value of reading. Perhaps he does.

I read a lot (!!!) and I believe in the importance of reading, to inform, to stimulate, to challenge and to give pleasure. Shouldn’t prisoners be encouraged to read as much as possible, in order to deepen their understanding of other people, to acquire new skills and learning? I mean how are these things inimical to rehabilitation, which is surely a fundamental aim of prison? Aren’t many prisoners in gaol due to a failure in education or empathy in the first place?

If you too are outraged by this, there is a petition you can sign here. It doesn’t matter whether or not you live in Britain.

(This photograph was doing the rounds on Twitter with the caption ‘Nick Clegg and Chris Grayling prevent prisoners from getting to the books’ but I can’t find that original; this is from the London Evening Post)