Life Imprisonment - Baker, Alan

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Résumé :
**Winner of a Koestler Trust Silver Award*** and the only book of its kind by a serving lifer. Contains a Foreword by Tim Newell, former Prison Governor life-sentence expert. A snapshot of the most severe sentence available in the UK which treats key topics in 40 easy to read sections. Alan Baker's personal selection and treatment of topics of concern to life-sentenced prisoners looks at subjects across the life-sentence regime. Ranging from the realisation which 'kicks in' after being sentenced in the dock-shock, numbness, hopelessness-to the intrinsic nature of long-term imprisonment, it is an explanatory handbook and survivor's guide. Life Imprisonment looks at aspects of long-term imprisonment from inside the head of a lifer: daily preoccupations, the uncertainty about when he or she will be released, the long years ahead, time for reflection, work towards release, setbacks and coping mechanisms and staying out of trouble. It tells about how a life sentence leads to risk assessments, courses, reports, psychological tests and possibly a period in a therapeutic community and/or a resettlement prison. To this first-hand knowledge, Alan Baker adds his thoughts on the state of the prisons, having experienced first-hand the impact that the justice system has on have on someone serving a sentence with no fixed end date. The result is a book packed with useful information as well as an insider's perspective on the major concerns of life-sentenced prisoners, whether about their sentence, future, their victims or the (often greatly magnified) minutiae of prison life. Review 'A hard-hitting set of survival notes from someone writing with great experience of having walked the walk. It is grounded in reality ... Alan Baker writes with sound practical advice and insight which is not for the feint-hearted. He takes prison seriously, recognising it as the place you don't want to be': Tim Newell (From the Foreword). Author Alan Baker has spent over 20 years in prison (despite a tariff of just nine years) having received a discretionary life-sentence for the attempted murder of another prisoner. He has spent time in some 30 prisons and youth custody centres (as they were known when he was a younger man) and experienced maximum security segregation several times. He received a Koestler Trust Silver Award for the manuscript of Life Imprisonment: An Unofficial Guide.

Biographie:
Alan K. Baker was born in Birmingham, UK in 1964. After graduating from the University of Reading in 1991, he endured a series of increasingly unpleasant jobs, culminating in a nine-month stint as a meat-packer in a Sheffield sausage factory, which served to increase his fascination with the macabre and outlandish. Since 1997, he has published a number of books on the paranormal and popular history, which have been translated into seven languages.

Sommaire:
To My Victims; After Sentence; Stages of an Indeterminate Sentence; Tariffs; Parole; Paper Reviews; Release from Closed Conditions; Escorted Town Visits; Single Cell Occupancy; Prisoners Protesting Their Innocence; The Offender Assessment System (OASys); The Personal Officer Scheme; Therapeutic Communities; Making a Contribution; Prison Visits; Open Conditions; Release on Temporary Licence (ROTL); Lifer Recall; Driving Lessons; Travelling Abroad; Personality Disorder; Prison Politics; Bullying; Same Sex Relationships; Drugs and Healthcare; Money Management; Mental Health Issues; Self-Harm; Hygiene Adjudications; Artificial Insemination; Complaints Procedures; Access to Official Files; The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA); Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC); The High Court, Court of Appeal, Supreme Court and European Court of Human Rights; Offending Behaviour Courses; Possessions and Volumetric Control; Tough on Crime, Tough on the Causes of Crime?; Bereavement; Emotional Trauma and Mental Health; Some Useful Addresses; Prison Slang.