Prison Diaries

(Hardback)

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Description

Two days before Christmas 2013, former MP Denis MacShane entered one of Europe's harshest prisons. Having pleaded guilty to false accounting at the Old Bailey, he had been sentenced to six months in jail. Upon arrival at Belmarsh Prison, his books and personal possessions were confiscated and he was locked in a solitary cell for up to twenty-three

Reviews

"Following in the literary footsteps of names from Oscar Wilde to Jeffrey Archer." The Guardian "The author began his working life as journalist - and this book is not just a diary, but a fine piece of investigative journalism." The Independent "Denis is one of the best journalistic writers I know, and the resulting book gives us the taste and texture of prison." Francis Beckett, Third Age Matters The diaries become vivid, often moving and always generous to fellow inmates - MacShane is eloquent about the loneliness of being in prison. Peter Wilby, Guardian He provides a superb insight into the real injustice inherent in the prison system - MacShane has performed an invaluable public service by simply telling the stories, in unvarnished fashion, of fellow inmates being crushed by the system - MacShane writes with clarity and passion. Tribune Day after day he documents the banality and pointlessness of prison life, the petty humiliations, the surly indifference of many of the prison officers and the overwhelming incompetence of the system as a whole. Rehabilitation, he finds, is a low, almost nonexistent priority. Indeed, from this account, it is hard to see how anyone could emerge a better person than they went in. Chris Mullin, The Observer [A] brilliant account of Denis time in Belmarsh and Brixton. It is a great book, by turns analytic, personal and passionate. We get a strong sense of the absurdity of the prison system and its appalling failures. A must read. John McTernan Progress [A]n engaging account... He recounts [fellow prisoners'] stories as they are told to him, fascinating vignettes leaving many unanswered questions, and details many random acts of kindness. MacShane asks why so few MPs are involved in prisons, a topic that he himself did not take sufficient (or any) interest in until having personal experience of them. He does come away with a clear empathy with those behind bars and a strong sense that our current overuse of imprisonment is not the answer. Halfway through Prison Diaries, a fellow inmate, Darren, remarks: 'everyone leaves here worse than when they came in'. Paradoxically, that may not be true for MacShane. Francesca Cooney Prison Reform Trust 'Independent: Politics Books of 2014' John Rentoul, The Independent

Author Bio

Denis MacShane was a Labour MP serving in Tony Blair's government as Minister for Europe. During his time in Parliament, he was a member of the Privy Council and chaired the Commons inquiry into anti-Semitism. He was first elected as MP for Rotherham in 1994 and served until his resignation in 2012. Prior to that, he worked for the BBC and was the youngest ever president of the National Union of Journalists. In 2009, the British National Party made a complaint about the GBP12,900 MacShane had claimed for networking in Europe. Though Scotland Yard and the CPS decided not to press charges, MPs and officials found MacShane guilty of breaking Commons rules. Shortly thereafter, he was charged with false accounting, to which he pleaded guilty, and sent to Belmarsh and, later, Brixton Prison. MacShane studied at Oxford and London Universities and has four children.