So many people in the campaign now have fines which they have no intention of paying that there are going to be many more activists going to prison. Since in many cases the fines will be "transferred" to the activist's local court to deal with this means that lots of different prisons will be used to lock us up. Support for people in these prisons will have to be undertaken locally and the people doing the support will need to have an idea of what's involved.
Since practice and procedure varies considerably from prison to prison and is liable to change in each prison, it is impossible to provide a template of procedures that will cover all cases. What can be done from experience is to put down a few pointers and pose a set of questions that those undertaking the support will need to address.
The first thing is to note just how important the prison support role is, especially for longer sentences and periods on remand. A first step is to find out if possible what the prisoner wants in terms of communication, visits, practical things they need etc. Ideally this will be sorted before the period in prison begins but if this cannot be done then use the earliest contact you can have (either by phone out, letter out or in or preliminary visit) to get the prisoners wishes. Do they want a newspaper provided (usually by a local newsagent recognised by the prison)? Do they want someone to keep an overview of visits and even co-ordinate that? Do they want to be kept up to date about the campaign and how is this to be done? Are there legal support issues to be dealt with, such as getting documents, research, liaison with lawyers etc.
Even before this stage is reached it may be necessary to find out what the
prison rules are about:
Visits;
What can and cannot be sent in;
Property;
Money;
What the scope is for the prisoner to communicate outwards;
Arrangements for release and travel warrants.
If things are reasonable the prisoner will be able to get that information to you but it is also in order to phone the prison and ask, and there is no harm in developing contacts within the prison officialdom that may have long term benefits.
If the sentence is short (sometimes four days or less) then there will not be time to get any of this going but there will still be options such as a vigil outside the prison or nearby. A very effective constant vigil was held outside Barlinnie in Glasgow during one of Brian Quail's spells and elicited a lot of local sympathy.
From time to time the support team may have to take additional action if there is a problem in the prison for an activist that calls for the involvement of politicians, lawyers or even police. It is in any case good practice to inform local politicians about the imprisonment (subject to wishes of the prisoner) and engage their interest, even if they do not support the campaign as such.
As long as one person is keeping an overview of the support arrangements for a particular prison the tasks themselves may well be divided up into such areas as visits, communication, practical needs etc.
Remember too that each prison will have a Visiting Committee and at least one Chaplain, plus a Quaker visitor. These can be most useful allies in getting over any communication difficulties and helping if there are problems. The prison will provide you with names and contacts.
index - organisation - attack - survival + freedom - other