Birmingham Away-Day

Birmingham is somewhere I've visited several times, and I don't mean HMP Birmingham. The city of Birmingham is such an interesting place with so much history packed into what is relatively a small area. From the early 1900s with Peaky Blinders and Major Chester Campbell of Small Heath, sir! to the more modern HS2 complex …

What’s Your Story?

A few weeks ago, I was approached by Rebecca Richens from Fedcap Employment who asked me if I would speak and share my story at a Thought Leadership session as part of their Local Engagement Network. A quick bit of research and I read the following from their website "At Fedcap, we are all about …

Short V Long

Sorry if you thought this was about finances as its about sentences, and I don't mean written ones. Although most of my sentences were not exactly short, or overly long, my experience of prison still involved the revolving doors of crisis and crime. To a point where I was happier and more content in prison …

RECONNECT: Cross Border

On Thursday September 29, 2022, on the first floor of Millenium Point in Birmingham I had the honour and pleasure of chairing NHS England's learning and development day. The day provided an opportunity for RECONNECT services to come together to meet, share ideas and improve ways of working together. It was not only a pleasure …

Inside Knowledge

On September 20, 2022, as a member of Revolving Doors' Lived Experience Team I was due to give a talk at this year's Perrie Lectures, however, due to the passing and funeral of my dear old former landlady, aka the queen, the lectures had to be postponed until sometime next year, by which time I …

Almost not here!

I don’t know about you but for me, January, is, by far, my least favourite month; and not just because it is cold and bleak. You won’t know this, but I’ve been thinking for five minutes since writing that last sentence on what is good about January. The beginning of a year full of what …

a person on probation

Well, I'm pleased to start with that I haven't been a person on probation since April 26, 2019. The first time from since I last wore plimsols (or got hit with one by a teacher). My school to prison pipeline didn't appear to have a light at the end of the tunnel, until, ironically, prison …

Justice?

Making friends has never been a part of 'what can be', mainly because I knew that, along the way, I will make friends. New friends, that is, as I gave most of my old 'friends' up. I had to, for me. So, I've not been afraid of what to talk about or what to share, …

Book Launch!!

Formed in 1931, following the Castellammarese War, New York’s original ‘Five Families’ consisted of the Luciano, Profaci, Gagliano, Mangano, and Maranzano organised crime families. After attempting to have Luciano murdered the wheels were turned on Maranzano on September 10, 1931, and following Maranzano’s death, Joseph Bonanno, at the age of 26, became one of the …

The Bigger Picture

Thanks to the fantastic work I am involved in, through being a member of Revolving Doors Lived Experience Team and those we work with, I get to see the criminal justice system as a whole thing rather than a myriad of sections. Which, in a way, is just like reducing reoffending. I can't speak for …