FREE AGAIN

THE SLIPPY START

As Darryl stood there a young man aged only 18 years old. He looked up from his glass surrounded seating area and looked the judge in the eye as he passed his sentence.

sitting in a holding room made for 4 people with about 7 very nervous newly sentenced prisoners. one person looked at me and said "what you been sent down for bro" with a concerned look on his face I replied "communicating false information causing a bomb hoax"

one officer came to the holding cell and opened the heavy metal door after looking through a observation slot in the door. "England" the officer shouted at the top of his voice. "follow me" I went with the officer into a small area like a swimming pool cubical. "ok take um off" he said with a smile on his face. I proceeded to comply with what I was asked and removed the white shirt my mother had got the day before for my day in court. I passed the officer my shirt and proceeded to sit on the very small bench "hay get the fuck up boy" the officer shouted with small bits of spit spraying in my face. it was at this exact second my hate for anyone in authority started.

after about a week in HMP/YOI Glen Parva in Leicestershire it was quite plain to see that there was a lot of angry young teenage boys in one place. I got talking to a few other prisoners and started to get to know a few people.

the only person you can only trust in prison is your self ask anyone who has done even a day inside the walls of any HMP. its you and only you. you go in on your own and you leave on your own but don't be fooled because the prisons of the UK hold more empty lost soles more than anything. the amount of times I looked into the eyes of fellow con and saw nothing not even the hint of hope is uncountable.

people seem to care and may seem that they will listen to your problems but honestly they don't give a fuck if you cut your wrists and die on your cell floor because they clean out the cell and put another person in it within a week of some poor fuck who weren't mentally strong enough to cope with the bully's and the lack of care in the prison system.

well I finished my 9 month stint in Glen Parva and that started another ball rolling.

I was nearly 19 and just out of a young offenders prison. I tried to do the wright thing and be a farther to my partner I was with and our now 2 children.

I had started to leave her at home more often while I went out to the pub and drank with her father Mick. Mick is a drinking man that has pride in his family but he dose not see his self worth hence the strong smell of stale alcohol and roll up cigarettes. he is a good man and one of the mentally strongest people I know.

Helen and I moved out of mick's flat with the children to a nice two bedroom house in Northampton not far from the town center. After a few months Helen and I would be having arguments on a regular basis. so one morning I was doing some paid work for some one when at some point in the day I was in a situation where I could take something that didn't belong to me that would financially benefit my family at home.

I stood in the kitchen of my house looking at Helen playing with the boys in the living room holding the cheque book I had stolen that day in my hand contemplating if this would help our financial struggle.

I decided to put pen to paper and I opened the cheque book and rapidly looked for a blank cheque before being spotted by Helen I wrote on the cheque using a different handwriting.

PAY: Mr D England the sum of seven hundred and fifty pounds only was now written on the cheque of my choice. I put it in my pocket and grabbed some identification, kissed the kids and walked out the door.

as I walked into the cash exchange shop I started looking around at things for sale dotted around the shop floor. I proceeded to slowly walk up to the glass topped counter that had what look like rubber bar matts one the top.

I placed the cheque on the counter top along with my identification looked the man behind the counter square in the eye I remember he was the first person I ever saw with pierced lip. "Any chance I can cash that please bro" I said. he picked up all the paperwork I had put on the counter and walked into the doorway directly behind him and sat at a computer and tapped at the keyboard and asked me to make an account with them or they wont be able to cash the cheque.

I filled out the verbal questionnaire with him and he processed the paper work. "GRATE LETS GO THEN" he shouted as he walked over to me with a bundle of twenty pound notes and started counting them 20-40-60-80 all the way up to £600 in £20 notes. "i have taken a percentage of the £750 cheque" he said with a smile on his face as I started to walk out and put the money in my inside coat pocket. I looked up straight into the face of the police officer that had arrested me for a previous crime. " good morning" I said and proceeded to walk out of the shop.

The kettle clicked indicating it had boiled. Just as Helen came into the kitchen and proceeded to shout at me because i had not told her I was going out. I looked her in the same way I had done on countless times with a look of laughing concern as I took the £600 from my pocket and took her hand and placed the what seemed like a small bundle of money into her now shaking hand.

Helen looked me up and down and pushed the money in her face and took a deep breath looked at me and shouted at the boys saying "Darryl sorted it this time look". To this day she never has called me Dad or Daddy to the kids.