A window into LandWorks

“I class myself as a gentleman really, literally, always have done. Then a load of crime got involved from a very young age. So, I ended up doing 40 years in different institutions, incarcerated all over the country, leading up until now…

Life in prison? I don’t have anything else to talk about. The next day I was nine, so, from then until now, I’ve been incarcerated. Twentieth December 1971, 10 o’clock in the morning. They put me into care homes. The next day I was nine years old. So, from then until now, I’ve spent 14 years out. When I’m out, there’s nothing but crime, that puts me back in. The police used to say to me “are you going home?”, I’d say “yeah, I’m going home”. So, there’s not a lot to say about out here. I haven’t been a lot out here. The longest period I’ve spent out was 12 months and nine of that was on the run from the police…

The only period I’ve had out with no crime was the last six months I did before this sentence. I’d had enough back then, but I had no support out here, so I couldn’t cope. They stick you in probation, you’ve got 29 rules and regulations before you start and I said “this ain’t happening, I can’t do it”. It’s easier to go back to prison where you’ve got four rules – don’t fight, be respectful, don’t take drugs and don’t escape…

Now I’ve got plenty of support, more support than I can get anywhere. It’s changed right around it has. I’m here every day. I get up, make the effort and come every day. I won’t get on anyone’s nerves because I’m a joker and a happy person, but you need that…

I’ve been coming out about six weeks, that’s 41 days. Tomorrow, six weeks. It was a Friday I came out on. Friday’s a good day to come out, you’ve got the whole weekend, party on. I was stuck in a room, I was. I didn’t come out of my room for three days, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, I thought what time is unlock? Yeah, so, six weeks tomorrow.

LandWorks, it’s been brilliant. It’s been absolutely brilliant, all of it, everything. I did struggle at times, going back at night, going up all them hills with my bike, struggling to breath, soaking wet with sweat, soaking wet with rain, but the next morning I was up again and out the door. Then I had to get the bus at 20-to-nine and get here for 10-to-10. Now I’m closer. The person I am sharing the flat with leaves about 25-to-nine and he drops me off when he’s working…

I’m feeling good. It’s all good. It’s all positive.

In Prison, I was doing the garden… I miss my garden. I’m a flower person. You’ve got vegetables here. That’s why I’m doing the front at the moment. I want to turn it into a flowerbed. I’ve built the wall back up and I’m going to get the plants that you put in and they hang down. Blue, whites and pinks, not too many because they’ll grow each year, bigger and bigger, to cover some of the stones. I want a centre piece on the top and chuck loads of bulbs in there. So, you’ll get all these different bulbs coming up, crocuses, daffodils, loads of them. Well, the front of the place is what they look at, isn’t it? That’s why I painted the sign at the front, ‘for sale’, you couldn’t see it. I painted it black. I still left the wood in between the signs. It stands out more. It’s all good…

My kids are all saying “dad, we want a phone call saying you died out here, not in jail”. I’m in touch with some of them, but at the moment I’ve got no time for them because I’ve got to sort myself out…

There’s nothing you can dislike at LandWorks. That’s the truth. You cannot dislike anything here. When you’ve been locked up and incarcerated in a room, the size of a bathroom, for so many years … I did struggle the first week. My head was all over the place. That’s because your thoughts are your old thoughts and now my thought pattern’s different. My thought pattern now is positive instead of negative.

There hasn’t been one day, after the first week out, that I’ve thought about doing anything other than what I’m doing, which is a positive way. It’s like you’re on a track and you come to a fork in the track. All them years ago I took the wrong fork. This time I’ve got out, I’ve took the right fork. I struggled in the beginning to get motivated and all the rest of the stuff in here. I came out here, and been here since. The first week was a struggle because it’s different. I wanted to come out before and go back in, come out, go back in, but I changed my mind halfway through because when I walk out that gate, I want to walk out for good.”