Heaven: A Prison Diary by Jeffrey Archer Read Free Book Online

considered the first diary date to be of any
significance?
    We also discuss
the witness who could help me prove that Potts should never have taken the
case. Nick warns me that Godfrey Barker is getting cold feet, and his wife
claims she cannot remember the details.
5.30 pm
    I see David
(murder) in the corridor; he has a big grin on his face. He’ll be spending
tomorrow with his wife for the first time in two decades. He’s very nervous
about going out on his own, and tells me the sad story of a prisoner who went
on a town visit for the first time in twenty-five years and was so frightened
that he climbed up a tree. The fire service had to be called out to rescue him.
    The police
drove him back to prison, and he’s never been out since.
6.00 pm
    My evenings are
now falling into a set pattern. I join Doug at six-thirty and have a bath,
before watching the seven o’clock news on Channel 4.
8.15 pm
    I report for roll-call, and then return to play a few games of backgammon
with Clive.
10.00 pm
    Final roll-call.

DAY 101 - SATURDAY 27 OCTOBER 2001
8.07 am
    There are some
prisoners who prefer to remain in jail rather than be released: those who have
become institutionalized and have no family, no friends, no money and no chance
of a job. And then there is Rico.
    Rico arrived at
NSC from Lincoln Prison this morning. It’s his fourth burglary offence and he’s
always welcomed back because he enjoys working on the farm. Rico particularly
likes the pigs, and by the time he left, he knew them all by name. He even used
to sleep with them at night – well, up until final roll-call. He has a single
room, because no one is willing to share with him. That’s one way of getting a
single room.
9.00 am
    I check in at
SMU, but as there are no officers around I write for two hours.
11.00 am
    I try to phone
Mary at Grantchester, but because the flash flood has taken the phones out, all
I get is a long burr.
12 noon
    On the way to
lunch, I pass Peter (lifer, arson), who is sweeping leaves from the road.
    Peter is a
six-foot- four, eighteen-stone Hungarian who has served
over thirty years for setting fire to a police station, although no one was
killed.
    I have lunch
with Malcolm (fraud) who tells me that his wife has just been released from
Holloway having completed a ninemonth sentence for money laundering. The
£750,000 he made was placed in her account without her knowledge (Malcolm’s words)
but she was also convicted. Malcolm asked to have her sentence added to his,
but the judge declined.
    Wives or
partners are a crucial factor in a prisoner’s survival. It’s not too bad if the
sentence is short, but even then the partner often suffers as much, if not
more, being alone on the outside. In Mary’s case, she is now living her life in
a glare of publicity she never sought.
4.15 pm
    There’s a timid
knock on the door. I open it to find a prisoner who wants to talk about writing
a book (this occurs at least once a week). His name is Saman, and he’s a Muslim
Kurd. He is currently working on a book entitled The History of Kurdistan, and wonders if I’ll read a few chapters.
(Saman read engineering at a university in Kurdistan.) When he has completed his
sentence, Saman wants to settle down in this country, but fears he may be
deported.
    ‘Why are you at
NSC?’ I ask him.
    Saman tells me
that he was convicted of causing death by dangerous driving, for which he was
sentenced to three years. He’s due to be released in December.

DAY 102 - SUNDAY 28 OCTOBER 2001
6.00 am
    Today’s is my
mother’s birthday. She would have been eighty-nine.
8.15 am
    After breakfast
I read The Sunday Times in the
library. Rules concerning newspapers differ from prison to prison, often without
rhyme or reason. At Wayland the papers were delivered to your cell, but you
can’t have your own newspaper at NSC.
    While I’m
reading a long article on anthrax, another prisoner looks over his copy of the News of the World , and says, ‘I’m glad
to find out