“I like being active and doing stuff, like woodwork and stuff, which being at LandWorks has helped me do. I just like being active and doing things. When I’m doing things, I don’t get myself into trouble with the police and stuff. So, I think it’s quite good for me to keep myself busy and I think that’s what LandWorks helps me do. When I came out of prison, my turnaround worker mentioned it to me, and he said that he thought it might be a good idea for me to come out here and have a look…
I like the cooking. I’ve done all sorts. I’ve done sausage and mash, I’ve done shepherds pie, I’ve done jacket potatoes. I think that’s it. I’ve cooked other things as well, but I’ve forgotten.I like doing the pottery and I like doing the woodwork sometimes. The main thing I really like doing is the pottery and the cooking. That’s the two main things I like doing. In pottery I’ve made bowls. I’ve made tiles to sell in the shop. I made a tile for my mum and my sister for their birthdays. I made some chopping-boards. I made one for my mum and I made one for my friend.
Before I went to prison, I was shoplifting, and I was heavily using heroin every day. Coming out here has helped me stay clean and it’s helped me concentrate on sorting my life out. I’m just doing things that I never would’ve done before and just trying to do things and learning that it doesn’t matter if you make a mistake. You can just start again. Whereas before, if I made a mistake or something, I’d get really angry and upset. Whereas now, I’ve learnt, if I make a mistake, it’s easily rectified and if it’s not easily rectified, just start again…
I’ve been to prison like 13 or 14 times… It wasn’t nice. Prison’s not designed to be nice. It’s designed to punish you and teach you a lesson. It’s supposed to, but for some people it doesn’t. It’s taken me 13 times to learn my lesson. For some people it takes longer. I know some people that’s been in and out all their lives and then there’s some people that I know that’s been in once and that’s been enough for them. I’ve been in for about 11 or 12 years. I think I worked it out the other day, altogether, between the last 11/12years, I’ve probably done nine or 10 of them behind the door. I don’t really think about it to be fair. I don’t necessarily think it’s a bad thing and I don’t necessarily think it’s a good thing. It’s a bit of both really. Obviously, going to prison has helped me in some ways and going to prison hasn’t helped me in others…
This time it’s helped me get off the drugs and it’s helped me rebuild my relationship with my mum and stuff. I’ve spent the last 10 years of my life in and out of prison. It’s time wasted really. I could’ve been doing other things and stuff. I try not to think about that. I just don’t like thinking about it because it brings back some bad memories and stuff. So, I try not to think and talk about it too much…
When I was a kid, before I got taken into foster care. I haven’t lived with my mum since I was about seven or eight. So, it’s a good 20 years, nearly, 18 years, 19 years. I went into foster care when I was seven, until I was 18. I did see her, but not very often. It wasn’t too bad. It wasn’t perfect. I suppose everyone has their own little definition of perfect, don’t they? What I think is perfect, she might not think is perfect…
Maybe I’d like to get a job one day, maybe doing woodwork or something. I don’t know. I’ve got to sort my life out, having somewhere to live, having my own place. I haven’t had a job, so I couldn’t pay my bills and stuff. Maybe setting up a family and stuff. I don’t know. I haven’t really sat down and thought about it too much. At the minute, it’s a little bit difficult to start thinking about things… it’s been a rough couple of weeks…
I think it would be good for me to find my own place and move out. The council won’t help me. Probation won’t help me. So, it’s just maybe trying to find somewhere on my own and then finding some way of paying for it. I don’t know… I think it’s just getting hard for her where she’s having to deal with my problems and hers as well. I know it’s only a tiny one-bedroom flat. Obviously, she’s having to sleep in the front-room on the sofa-bed and I’ve got the bedroom. It’s such a small flat, we’re always on top of each other and there’s not a lot of space. So, it’s a bit difficult…
I sort of just think take each day as it comes…”
A window into LandWorks 