Before I went to prison I thought a lot about what it would be like. Almost a year passed after I pleaded guilty to fraud and my sentencing, in February 2020. Informed by TV and film, I expected prison would be violent, dangerous and drug-filled. I was terrified.
On 6 February 2020, I arrived at Southwark Crown Court with a suitcase full of clothes, books, pens and paper. After the judge sentenced me to 45 months, a guard took me down into the holding area beneath the court. I handed over my property and had a brief meeting with my barrister. Then the guards locked me in a cell. The only objects in the cell were two small plastic benches, neither quite long enough to stretch out on. I sat. I wrote. I waited.
Eventually the door opened. Enough men had been sentenced, so now the ‘bus’ would take us to HMP Wandsworth.
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