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Andrews UK - Jim Dawkins

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109 pages

English

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Jim Dawkins left home at the age of sixteen to pursue his dream of joining the army, and subsequently served with the Royal Green Jackets, including tours of Canada and Northern Ireland. During that time he learnt many important lessons in the 'University of Life' that would serve him well in the future, such as discipline, respect, pride and honour, but which, at the same time, would lead to insufferable stress as he constantly battled with his conscience and struggled to swim against the tide. Once back in Civvy Street, and with a new house and a baby to support, Jim decided to join the Prison Service. But what faced him in this new career, which centred on Wandsworth, Wormwood Scrubs and Belmarsh prisons, shocked him to the core. For this ex-squaddie, who believed in establishing good working relationships with inmates, including notorious long-termer, Charles Bronson, the cancerous environment of staff bully-boy tactics and prisoner victimization was sickening. Jim tells his story, which, although peppered with humorous anecdotes of often lager-induced incidents from both his army and prison days, bears witness to the stark reality of what actually goes on behind prison doors, and exposes both the glaring flaws in the prison system and the atrocities perpetrated in the name of justice, which ultimately forced his decision to leave the Prison Service seven years later.

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Publié par	Andrews UK
Date de parution	27 mai 2010
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781907792403
Langue	English

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Title Page
THE LOOSE SCREW
JIM DAWKINS
Forewords by Dave Courtney and Charles Bronson
Publisher Information
First published by Apex Publishing Ltd
PO Box 7086, Clacton on Sea,
Essex, CO15 5WN, England
Digital Edition converted and published by Andrews UK Limited 2010
www.andrewsuk.com
Copyright © 2005-2009 by Jim Dawkins
The author has asserted his moral rights
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
All rights reserved. This book is sold subject to the condition, that no part of this book is to be reproduced, in any shape or form. Or by way of trade, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition, including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser, without prior permission of the copyright holder.
Production Manager: Chris Cowlin
Cover Design: Andrew Macey
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
There are a great many people who have helped me over the years while compiling the contents of this book. I am sure that I have bent the ears of many that are close to me with my enthusiasm while writing it -none more so than my partner Natasha, who has put up with the last six years of research and rewrites. She was of course there when, disgusted with the constant aggressive and violent acts of brutality and vindictiveness that I witnessed on a daily basis being carried out by a certain element of power-crazy prison officers against prisoners, I felt I had no choice but to turn my back on what I found to be a corrupt and outof-control Prison Service. She has also seen the bouts of stress and depression I suffered as a result of the time I spent as part of that institution and therefore agreed that it was important for me to make my findings public so that others, who would otherwise be ignorant that such behaviour is encouraged and condoned by senior management in the Prison Service, could read about it. It has not been easy for her to put up with me, but she has always supported me and for that I thank you and love you very much.
I would also like to thank some men who have become very good friends to me and have offered me their support and wisdom while writing this book: firstly, my pal Charlie Bronson, who has been a great supporter and firm friend of mine for the last 12 years -Chaz, hang in there mate and I will see you for that pint in no time; Joey Pyle, who has become a good pal and by whom I have been privileged to have been made welcome -a true legend in the London underworld; Dave Courtney, who has been invaluable in sharing with me his experience of writing books and with whom I have shared many funny moments reminiscing about the time we were both at Belmarsh Prison; Tel Currie, who apart from being a very successful boxing promoter is also a very talented writer with a number of highly recommended titles to his name and a staunch and loyal friend to all that have earned his trust -thank you Tel for all your support to me and Charlie and Ronnie Biggs, and indeed all the others that you put yourself out to help in times of need -you are a true gentleman; Roy Shaw, with whom I have enjoyed many good times listening to his often hilarious and sometimes sad accounts of the time he spent in 18 different prisons, including Broadmoor special hospital, and who has kindly provided me with a glowing review; and Andy Jones, owner of the 'crime through time' museum at Little Dean jail Gloucestershire, who has been kind enough to display some of my uniforms and memorabilia in his collection. Special thanks must also go to Lorna Smith and the other members of the Prison Chat UK website team, who have all been very kind with their reviews and a great help in spreading the word about my the book -you are all doing a great job, so keep up the good work girls. Finally, I would like to thank all the other 'chaps' who have welcomed me into their trust and I know have all offered me their support, and everyone that has written reviews after reading the first edition of the book -they have played a very important role in boosting my confidence in writing this second edition.
FOREWORD BY DAVE COURTNEY
Hello people, it’s Dave Courtney OBE here. Please let me tell you about my pal Jim Dawkins. I have known him for some ten years and he was always known as a very fair bloke, even when he was on the other side of the fence, and seeing as though I met him while on remand in the special category A unit at HMP Belmarsh and he was one of the screws locking me up I would say that was the other side of the fence wouldn’t you, ha, ha, ha! Anyway, he became a very good pal of Charlie Bronson, Joe Pyle, and a good few of the other chaps and is known in Civvy Street, and has completed his first book and it is a fucking eye opening and very educational read as it looks at the situation of being in prison from the other side. Jim has more than done enough with the content of this book and the very disturbing documentary he has made with me, an ex-policeman and woman, an ex-traffic warden, barrister and magistrate and of course his good self as “The Loose Screw” to let me know the whose side of the fence he is on. I wish him well with this book. We all know that he is not going to be on the top of any of the authorities Christmas card list and for that Jim I think you are a brave man and I salute you. It is so important that this book is on the crime shelf, on a scale of one to ten I would give it – 10! It dot-coms all the other chaps books and what they say. Once someone like Jim writes a book it is very enlightening to say the least about the goings-on of a prison officer, it makes all our stories more believable and true. I personally have grabbed hold of Jim Dawkins, especially as there is a chapter about me in this book and now drag him around everywhere I go verifying all my stories and so have all the other chaps. Where we might not all get on with some of the other boys that have wrote books we all get on with Mr Dawkins because he verifies everything we are saying so read this book or fucking else… dot com.
FOREWORD BY CHARLES BRONSON
I first came across Jim in the Max Secure unit at Belmarsh back in 1993. I was, at the time, flying around the jails like a lunatic with a rocket up his arse. Jim was one of those guys that stood out from the rest. It's very difficult to explain it, but some people just stick out; they're not the same as the rest. It's the same in any walk of life; some are just special. It's no secret what I think of the system and the muppets that work in it -hell, I've put enough of them on their arses -but when I come across a genuine guy, the guy gets respect off me no matter what he does for a living. My motto has always been: somebody has got to lock my door and if they do it right and don't annoy me who am I to slag them off. Fuck with me and it's war.
Jim treated me decent. Some days he would come in with a black eye or a tooth smashed out -he liked a battle. Still, what squaddie don't? Jim was just Jim, a man of the world, a fighter, and I liked the guy. He gave me a dictionary, which I've still got today. It's falling to bits, but I've still got it coz I do love a dictionary. It's only a small one, but it's perfect for me -a small thing to most, but massive to me -and I never forget such things. Jim was once on duty as the escort assigned to take me to another jail. Them days I travelled naked and wrapped up in a body belt. On that journey he snapped off my radio aerial. At the time I was fuming, but it was an accident. When we arrived at Bristol jail I was put straight into the strongbox and they took me out of the belt. I shook Jim's hand and told the rest to fuck off -the Bristol screws I never spoke to at all. I shat on the floor and covered the box with it -that's how I am.
If they was all like Jim I'd never be in jail today. I've now spent 26 years caged up, 23 years of that in Solitary. I've been at war for all this time. But I take my hat off to guys like Jim and, believe me, there are few like him. So when I do get to meet one, I won't take liberties. I wish him luck with his book as I believe he has a great story to tell, and it took bottle to do what he did. Lots would love to do it, but they've not got the bottle. They are dreamers; they only know one way: yes sir, no sir, three bags full of shit sir. Shall I kiss your ass now sir or later sir? They are grassing one another up just to climb the ladder. How can you respect such treachery? You can’t. Jim saw all this and said, “I’m off”. Now he tells it how it is for you all to see. That’s what I call bottle. Yes, it's shocking, but it’s about time somebody told the truth about our jails. Jim's a great guy, and a friend to me. He's earned respect. I admire a true fighter.
Dedication
Dedicated to the loving memory of my grandparents and my Uncle Clive.
“Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely” -Lord Acton, 1834-1902

INTRODUCTION
"You are fucking mad you are, Jim," Charlie Bronson said to me one afternoon while we were playing scrabble on the exercise yard in HMP Belmarsh's Category A segregation unit. "That's rich coming from you," I replied to the only man I know who has come out of Broadmoor with a certificate to say he has been certified sane. Many of you may agree with Charlie and think that I, a prison officer, must be missing a few marbles to be playing scrabble on my own with Charlie Bronson in the heat of a summer's afternoon. If you do, all I can say is that you obviously do not know Charlie as I have come to know him over the years. Hopefully when you have finished this book you will understand a little mor