Purgatory: A Prison Diary Volume 2 by Jeffrey Archer Read Free Book Online Page A

once a fortnight or speak to them regularly on the phone. So most dealers revert to other safer methods because were they to
be caught twice, they not only lose the right to a phonecard as well as a
visit, but will be charged with the offence and can expect to have time added
to their sentence.
    ‘What are the other methods?’ I ask.
    ‘You can arrange to have gear thrown over the wall at a
designated time so it can be picked up by a gardener or a litter collector.
Helps to supplement their seven pounds a week wages,’ Jason explains. ‘But home
leave or town visits are still the most common source of drugs coming in. A
clever courier can earn some extra cash prior to being released.’
    ‘Mind you,’ adds Jimmy, ‘if you’re caught bringing gear in,
not only do you lose all your privileges, but you can be transferred to an
A-cat with time added to your sentence.’
    ‘What about by post?’ I ask.
    ‘Sending in a ballpoint pen is a common method,’ Jason says.
‘You half fill the tube with heroin and leave the bottom half full of ink, so
that when the screws remove the little cap on the bottom they can only see the
ink. They could break the tube in half, but that might mean having to replace
as many as a hundred biros a week. But the most common approach still involves
brown envelopes and underneath stamps.’
    ‘Envelopes?’ I ask.
    ‘Down the side of most large brown envelopes is a flap. If
you lift it carefully you can place a line of heroin along the inside and
carefully seal it back up again. When it comes in the post it looks like junk
mail or a circular, but it could be hiding up to a hundred quid’s worth of
skag.’
    ‘One prisoner went over the top recently,’ says Jimmy. ‘He’d
been enhanced and put on the special wing. One of our privileges is that we can
hang curtains in our cell. When his selected curtains arrived, prison staff
found the seams were weighed down with heroin. The inmate was immediately
locked up in segregation and lost all his privileges.’
    ‘And did he also get time added to his sentence?’
    ‘No,’ Jason replies. ‘He claimed that the curtains were sent
in by his co-defendant from the original trial in an attempt to stitch him up.’
I like the use of the words ‘stitch him up’ in this context. ‘Not only did he
get away with it,’ continues Jimmy, ‘but the co-defendant ended up being
sentenced to five years. Both men were as guilty as sin, but neither of them
ended up in jail for the crime they had committed,’ Jimmy adds. Not the first
time I’ve heard that.
    ‘But you can also have your privileges taken away and time added
if you’re caught taking drugs,’ Jason reminds me.
    True’ says Jimmy, ‘but there are even ways around that. In
1994 the government brought in mandatory drug testing to catch prisoners who
were taking illegal substances. But if you’re on heroin, all you have to do is
purchase a tube of smoker’s toothpaste from the canteen and swallow a mouthful
soon after you’ve taken the drug.’
    ‘How does that help?’ I ask.
    ‘If they ask for a urine sample’ explains Darren, ‘smoker’s
toothpaste will cloud it, and they have to wait another twenty-four hours
before testing you again. By the time they conduct a second test, a couple of
gallons of water will have cleared any trace of heroin out of your system. You
may be up all night peeing, but you don’t lose your privileges or have time
added.’
    ‘But that’s not possible with cannabis?’ I ask.
    ‘No, cannabis remains in your bloodstream for at least a
month. But it’s still big business whatever the risk,
and you can be fairly certain that the dealers never touch any drugs themselves.
They all have their mules and their sellers. They end up only taking a small
cut, and are rarely caught.’
    ‘And some of them even manage to make more money inside
prison than they did outside’ adds Jason.
    The call for tea is bellowed down the corridor by an
officer. I close my