A VP wing is for "Vulnerable Prisoners" - those who might suffer from abuse or worse from those "ordinary" inmates like murderers or muggers.

I changed the name to VIP the moment I arrived.

Actually 95% of "the main" are perfectly fine - in fact I made many friends (to this day) from "the main" - many places like the Print Shop at Maidstone were "integrated" - prisoners deemed suitable were allowed to mix and mingle.

When we were putting together The Insider - the Maidstone prison magazine, an excellent publication monthly - my friend the Editor (still my friend and a regular vistor to this board and to tea) used to come over with other "main" inmates for editorial meetings and we sipped Earl Grey from my bone china Wedgewood cups and nibbled fruit cake as we discussed the merits of articles.

The Insider was mailed to key MP's, Editors, media people. As the profile grew higher and higher, they "ghosted" me to Elmley (where Chris Langham is now) and closed the magazine down.

Shame. It was terrific.

The few mentally difficient inmates who shouted NONCE or other epithets were only the dimmest, dumbest, saddest - rather as they are out here (you would not believe some of the obscenities, always misspelt, I got from my Harold Shipman tune). I used to peer at them with curiousity on the few times they dared shout at me, wondering what on earth inspired a human being to behave like that.

I think it's a lack of brain cells.

I still communicate with many lifers and others on "the main" in several UK prisons.

At Elmley and then back at Maidstone when I returned I took on cleaner duties, sweeping, mopping and generally keeping the wing spotless.

Hypnotic in the repetition. I quite enjoyed it. It allowed me to think. I'd never done manual labour before and became rather good at it.

Interesting stuff. I don

Oh I met a far classier kind of person in prison than in my previous media decades, I can assure you Marcus!

Yes, it is going the Orwellian way. It will get far worse until the species self destructs.

JK, I understand that the smoking ban does not apply to HM's prisons (nor to HM's palaces).

I xan understand that trying to ban smoking in prison might be a nightmare scenario - but am a little bemused as to why HM has her palaces exempt? She's not a smoker is she?

Marcus wrote:
[quote]I, and many other people, are reaching breaking point regarding council tax, and if the inflation- busting annual increases continue then I suspect many perfectly decent, law- abiding people with modest incomes and not especially large houses will not have the means to pay and end up in prison.

I will also refuse to carry an ID card. I do not like the Orwellian nightmare that is emerging all around me on a daily basis, and point blank refuse to be fingerprinted or have my DNA stored on any government database. I feel very strongly about this and I am persuaded by the very good arguments about how such a system could be abused and manipulated by government bodies.

Prisons appear to have plenty of very pleasant people judging by what JK, and others, have told me.

If the day comes when I am locked up for a terrible, evil crime like refusing to pay my council tax or refusing to be a microchipped slave of the state, it

Hi JK,

I have read all your posts on here & I think your amazing and strong, I hope you kick that awful system we have, When I was a kid ( I'm 43 now) all you read in the papers was drunk people nicking things, then in the 80's it was drugs taking over, now all you read about is child abuse and "things" that happened 20 years ago! what on earth is going on, I never heard of a "pedo" etc.. til a few years ago now its a word all kids know ( & use!!) they seem encouraged at school to "talk" about things etc.. where did all these "pedos" come from!! theres millions out there now according to papers etc..
You were a cruel victem and no matter what you do you will always be tarred, so unfair, I still listen to your hit millionare album ( complete with free gold flexi disc!) your version of Sugar sugar the the best you can get.
Keep up your fight JK, Victems out there need you badly.
Duncan

I can confirm the veracity of ITK's post, as I work in this sphere too. I think, in fact, the only people who have been imprisoned for non payment of Council Tax are those who have actively sought to be imprisoned in order to highlight their campaign.

You have let me back into my pet topic of the fascist anti-smoking laws again, ITK! I expect the exemption of HM palaces is something vaguely to do with HM being above the law!

The prison situation raises an interesting point. Presumably I could keep smoking inside pubs, consistently refusing to pay my mounting fines until I was sent to jail. Then, I would quite legally be able to do the very thing I was incarcerated for in the first place. How totally ludicrous!

I've learnt a great deal from having first stumbled across this board earlier in the year. I have been called a sycophant elsewhere for using this board, but I have always admired JK primarily as a broadcaster for many years now, and I knew little about JK's convictions, or indeed the media frenzy surrounding it all. All I did know is that a terrific broadcaster had unfortunately fallen from grace, and that the world wasn't as good a place because of it. I've always had a deep mistrust of our media, and especially the tabloids, and what I've learnt from using this board is just how manipulative the media is, and how they can demonise individuals such as JK for no other reason then to tittilate their readership. What sickens me is the likes of The Sun who hide behind noble'crusades'; the pretence only fools the fools who subscribe to their garbage. What really really annoys them is the fact that JK wasn't destroyed, and didn't emerge from his incarceration blinking in the sunlight with haggard expression, furrowed brow, on the brink of insanity.

Let them call me a sycophant if they wish. Far far better than being a brainwashed muppet who believes anything within the wretched pages of our diseased press. I know who I would sooner be reading.

I'll be totally honest and say I always thought Jonathan King was a "smug git", but when the court case came up there was definately something dodgy about it. When I researched the case I found that there wasn't really a case. I was surprised that things like that could happen in this country. King, like many others, was guilty until he could prove otherwise. Also having read through these boards a few times I now see Jonathan King as a thoughtful and considerate guy with a good handle on the music scene.