HMP Guys Marsh ......
This Category C (closed) prison is a couple of miles outside town and hit the headlines, if you recall, with a serious protest and fire in one of the blocks last year. It's quite a small, discrete establishment really, only about 600 inmates, but does include a lot of foreign detainees. Anyway, as part of the rehabilitation / vocational training effort, there's a small public cafe (the "Jailhouse Cafe") on the site and they're open 10:00 to 2:00 for light snacks with lunches from 12:00.
The café is run by a charity called Expia and staffed by risk-assessed prisoners on day release, according to the blurb. It's upstairs in the Learning Centre, quite a bright and spacious room and a laid back décor. In fact, it was just like an ordinary café, not like the last prison café we visited at HMP Sudbury, Staffordshire. Sudbury was a Category D open prison (no security walls / fencing) and the café there was inside the prison campus, so you actually felt part of it. That cafe was much more utilitarian, with old photographs on display from its days as a WW2 barracks, and servings doled out by shaven-headed body-builder types from huge hot trollies - Mrs O was given such a huge serving of lasagne there, she couldn't eat for a week afterwards. In contrast, with Guys Marsh being a closed prison, we were outside the perimeter in a block next to the warders' residential houses, and it didn't have quite the same "jailhouse" feel.
On the specials board today were pork chops apple sauce and veg for £7.95 and chilli-con-carne. We settled for a couple of baked potatoes.
"Do you have fillings?"
"Yes, baked beans, cheese, tuna or chilli"
"Great, make it two chillis"
"That's two cheese"
"Chilli"
"Yes, that's right, cheese"
I said to Mrs O, "I think we might be getting cheese ...."
Mrs O: "whatever we get, just don't start a riot!"
We got cheese ...(with a nice side salad) - served by a chirpy, tattooed Cockney character.
Mrs O: "What about coffee?"
Ossie (with nervous glance around): " I wouldn't risk trying to change the order ...."
Not knowing the system, I got the prison stare when, after eating, I eventually located the till. It was supposed to be pay on order. Anyway, I mollified the café manager by buying a Jailhouse Café T-shirt (£8) and a souvenir jar of beetroot and horseradish chutney. Whether it contains added cannabis, I'll find out later ....
Finally, I picked up a copy of the newsletter for the Friends of Guys Marsh Prison. Inside, there's a fascinating report-back of a talk recently given to the group by one Noel "Razor" Smith. He is now a successful author (his first book was entitled "A Few Kind Words and A Loaded Gun"), following a career change from serial bank robber (proceeds £1.4m but two lengthy jail terms). An interesting slice of life "on the other side" .......
