Inside Parkhurst: Stories of a Prison Officer

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He started his training at HMP Shrewsbury and then spent the next 22 years on the Parkhurst landings, dealing with the country's most violent and badly-behaved prisoners.

By using the Web site, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by the Terms and Conditions. Divided into three parts – the first from David’s early years on the wings, the second the middle of his career, and the third his disillusioned later years – David will take readers into the heart of life inside and shine a light on the escalating violence and the impact the government cuts are having on the wings. Having joined prior to the editor, spending the first 17 at HMP Dartmoor, and still serving, I can hand on heart say it’s the most truthful written account of life inside HM Prisons I have read …. Ideally this should be read against A Bit Of A Stretch - The Diaries of A Prisoner By Chris Atkins, so that you get both sides of the story. There’s a deep black humour running through these recollections with a anger that ‘things ain’t what they used to be.

Biography: David Berridge joined the prison service in 1992, three weeks short of his 32nd birthday. With this searingly honest account he guides us around the wings, the segregation unit, the hospital and the exercise yard, and gives vivid portraits of the drug taking, the hooch making, the constant and irrepressible violence, and the extraordinary lengths our prison officers go to everyday. Today, a blue-lighted [ambulance] inmate was suffering from what the paramedics said was ‘severe rectal trauma’. David has been assaulted and abused, he has tackled cell fires and attempted suicides, riots and dirty protests; he has foiled escaped plans, talked inmates down from rooftop protests, witnessed prisoners setting fire to themselves, and prisoners ruthlessly murdering other prisoners. while I agree there can be truth in that, the book doesn't present the other side and the positives.

This book had be laughing out loud and gagging so be prepared for some grim stories but I laughed so much! Speaking of bragging, I lost count of the amount of times he reminds the reader that he can ‘handle himself’, alongside the constant reminders that EVERYONE inside is a danger and out to get you, it all feels like laying the ground work to justify some later brutality to prisoner, which right on cue keep rolling around, wrapped in the excuse of it’s needed because I’ve kept telling you they’re dangerous. He has been assaulted and abused; he has tackled cell fires and attempted suicides, riots and dirty protests; he has helped to foil escaped plans, talked inmates down from rooftop protests, witnessed prisoners setting fire to themselves, and prevented prisoners from attempting to murder other prisoners. The author is not a worthy person, this is a job, and he only ends up in the high-security Parkhurst because after training when asked for his choices of where he wants to work, he can only remember this one's name. Endless budget cuts in the number of staff, dog units, mental health cuts is all awful and some of this skimping leads to extremely dangerous situations.I think most of us have an idea of some of the things that happen in prison but this book is yet another eye opener.

By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. From dealing with inmate violence and clearing out defiled prison cells to the unsavoury nature of prison language and life, this is an even more detailed look inside Britain’s most infamous prison.

It really opened my eyes and my mind to what life is really like inside such a notorious, high-security prison.

It has 3 parts, the first 2 parts are of his career at Parkhurst, and the final part when he worked at Albany prison, which was worlds away from Parkhurst. I have a new phrase, 'turning religous", as in when the author can't work out the who, what and where of a situation that might end badly for him, he says he 'turned religious' and prays! Maybe David John was chosen to narrate this book as the author liked his voice or perhaps that's what the author sounded like but this strong west country accent was horrendeous and I almost gave up after ten minutes of listening. From present-day duties and customs to organization and administration, this newest title in the Stackpole Military Reference Series offers practical information for officers assuming command of a medical unit and taking on a mission. I also bought several books by Charles Bronson, Britain's most notorious long-serving prisoner, but I didn't enjoy his books as much.As a previous serving prison officer who left the service in 1999 I was amazed to read how much the balance of power has changed from the staff to the inmates I retired as a governor and I always made it my priority to support the staff as best I could not as seems to be the case now . but only because I feel being an ex con giving this 1* will make it look like I did it out of spite and not because this is a genuinely awful book. No nuance, no discussion of the vulnerable, even when mentioning mental health inside he doesn’t bother to say anything about how people with mental health issues shouldn’t be in prisons, they should be treated by people qualified to treat them, they shouldn’t be treated like or judged to the standard of normal prisoners, but are.