“When I first come out, I was anxious, really anxious, because I thought to meself, I don’t know nothing other than what I’ve been doing all my life. I’ve had to change everything. The way of thinking. I’ve had bad thoughts, don’t get me wrong, they’re fading away now, yeah, not so many at all. … More Finishing Time: Glyn six months out
“It’s quite a weird feeling coming out and just literally being out here. It was quite nice to be able to just… I didn’t find it daunting coming out. It was a little bit exciting at first, if you know what I mean, to be able to come out here… I feel like I get … More Tom says: “you don’t really appreciate things until you haven’t got them…”
“My time in prison has been an experience, one I could’ve done without… Do you know, LandWorks has been a godsend to me, it really has, and you need more of these units around the country, definitely. They get you in touch with humans again, instead of people in bloody black suits. You’re just like … More Matt says: “my time in prison has been an experience, one I could’ve done without”
“It’s like in Prison, you start talking to someone, you know within a few minutes whether they’re full of shit, whether they’re telling the truth, whether they’re making up … you know, everything comes in that first few moments and it’s “bye” or you keep talking. Those are the options. Going home’s going to be … More Lee says: “It just took a little bit of time for me to realise that there are nice people in the world…”
“I think a lot of people are a bit wary about picking up prisoners, but that didn’t faze me at all. I’ve worked with people before who’ve been in prison. People have made mistakes and that’s life, isn’t it? We all make mistakes. People say to me “why are you driving prisoners?”, like it’s something … More Ernie says: “I think a lot of people are a bit wary about picking up prisoners…”
“Christmas was just a couple of telephone calls home and before you know it, it was here and gone, wasn’t it? There were no parties going on, but most people just locked their door and the odd person would go and bang on the doors and wished people a merry Christmas and a happy new … More George says: “It is hard to go through prison.”
“I’ve been coming out to LandWorks for a couple of months. I’ve now been released from prison on a Home Detention Curfew (HDC/Tag), but I’m still coming out here to volunteer. I’ve found it really useful to re-humanise myself and gain some skills that I can use when I get out. It’s a nice environment … More Tarquin says: “it can be pretty scary getting out and then just ‘bang’ into normality.”
“I’ve been here four weeks. My views on this place and the ethos and what I’ll get out of it has certainly changed. It’s taken me four weeks to suss everyone out… I’ve been doing the pots for two weeks. I thought, the first two I did, when I did them I thought “they’re s@*#t”, … More Quentin says: “I’m very apprehensive about what happens when I get out, employment wise. I’m going to be restricted to what I can do…”
People say to me “why did you do it?”, I said “greed at the end of the day”, that’s the bottom line, didn’t have to do it, but the opportunity was there. But, I’m not coming back to prison. No chance. but I never knew the implications, how long you’d get… I’ve done what I’ve … More George says: “Are people going to want to talk to you if you’ve been in prison?”
I suppose one of the things I’d like to try and get across is how easy it is to actually end up in prison. Most people assume that you’ve done something to go to prison. Well, I did nothing to go to prison. Some of my staff didn’t do enough which is why I gone … More Frankie says: “Coming out to LandWorks has been a breath of fresh air…”
A window into LandWorks 