‘We’ll be having a takeaway tonight’ – loved ones reunited with Pentonville’s early-release prisoners
Tribune was at the gates of the Caledonian Road prison as inmates were freed
Friday, 25th October 2024 — By Isabel Loubser
PRISONERS from Pentonville were among the 1,100 released early this week to relieve overcrowding in cells across the country.
The Tribune was at the gates of the Caledonian Road prison as inmates were freed, with some looking forward to being with their families again, and others worrying about how they will survive with little money and no home to go to.
Vicky – who did not wish to give her last name – was waiting to collect her husband who had served four years for conspiracy to supply cocaine.
She told the Tribune that she was “over the moon” that her husband was being released early, and that they would be celebrating with a takeaway.
“I’m just really pleased and happy that he’s coming home,” she said. “The nightmare has ended.”
Of Sir Keir Starmer and the Labour government’s early release policy, she joked: “I didn’t like him, but I liked him then.”
‘I didn’t like him before, but…’ Sir Keir Starmer
Another early-release prisoner was feeling more conflicted about his premature freedom. He said that he had only £12 in his pocket, and expected to be back in prison soon.
Pentonville has come under scrutiny in recent years for the harsh conditions that prisoners are subjected to while inside.
The prison’s population stands at more than 1,200 men, far more than the capacity it was designed to hold, and a report published last year found that prisoners had to contend with vermin, sewage spills, and a lack of heating and hot water.
“It’s terrible in there, cockroaches and things. He’s always had to share a cell, and they’re always really tiny,” Vicky said of her husband’s experience.
The early-release policy has been marred by controversy after fears that some violent offenders had been released or that there would be a wave of reoffending due to a lack of support for prisoners leaving custody.
Vicky said: “I think they’re giving it a bad press. They’re not letting out violent prisoners, or domestic abusers.”
Our politics film channel Peeps Online then went out to see what people living and working near the prison thought about the scheme – and we found a compassionate response.
Watch it all from tomorow (Saturday) at www.youtube.com/@peepsonline
