Product Description

For anyone trying to understand what drives some people to commit serious, heinous and sometimes unspeakable crimes and what is achievable through therapy - the first-hand tales in this book merit close study. For over forty years Grendon Prison with its Therapuetic Communities of high security residents has remained unique among Britain s prisons. In 2000 researcher Ursula Smartt was given extensive access to interview residents and prison staff governors, prison officers, therapists and probation officers and to observe their day-to-day routines. The result is Grendon Tales, a perceptive, insightful and at times shocking account of life inside a unique and world famous establishment. Grendon houses many dangerous, disturbed and disruptive criminals (ranging from armed robbers to paedophiles, to rapists and murderers). For many of them, it is the last chance saloon a final opportunity to alter their thinking patterns and behaviour and maybe to convince the authorities that their security category should be downgraded with a view to future safe release back into the community. Even now, the approach remains unique - as can be seen from comparisons with Europe and a new therapeutic regime due to start in 2001 at Britain s newest privately managed prison, HMP Dovegate. At times the author found the experience overwhelming, but ultimately it is her captivating style, eye for detail and sensitivity to victims of crime which allow her to avoid the sensational and to write powerfully about matters which might otherwise prove too raw and distressing. An academic Silence of the Lambs

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #699023 in Books
• Published on: 2001-04-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 232 pages

Review
'As readable as a novel... I could not put it down until finished' --The Magistrate

'A breathless personal slide through her year talking to some of the country's most difficult prisoners': --Frances Crook, Community Care

'The book is both comprehensive and thourough... This is not a book to engage with lightly, or to browse through. It needs to be read completely, with a degree of commitment, for it is, ultimately, encouraging and optimistic... I can firmly endorse Ursula Smartt's work': --John Broughton, It's Wandsworth

About the Author
Ursula Smartt was raised in her native Germany but has spent all her adult life in the United Kingdom. After graduating from university in Hull with a degree in English Literature, her career has included work in BBC local radio, teaching in secondary schools - both state and public - in Yorkshire, Scotland and Surrey, and a brief period working in personnel with a top London hotel. She has postgraduate qualifications in German Politics, Law, Criminology and Hotel Management. A visit to HM Prison Wormwood Scrubs in 1993 sparked aninterest in prisons and she embarked on doctoral research, comparing German and English conditions for untried male prisoners. Since then, utilising her multi-lingual skills, she has undertaken extensive comparative research for HM Prison Service in Europe, and also in the USA. Her writings have focused on prison regimes including 'Prison Industries in England and Wales' (2000);'Constitutionalism in the British Overseas Territories' (1999) and 'The House of Correction in Bruchsal: A Copy of Pentonville Prison' (1999). An exhibition of her prison photographs 'Images of Incarceration', was opened by His Honour Sir Stephen Tumim, former Chief Inspector of Prisons, in January 1999 and further extensive photographic work, depicting international prison architecture andprison regimes from around the world, has toured public exhibition sites. It includes a study of the mother and child unit in Tihar Jail, New Delhi, India. Ursula Smartt is married to Mike, a BBC Journalist. They live in Surrey. She enjoys a wealth of sporting activities and plays the piano enthusiastically, when time allows.