David Shipley @ShipleyWrites Twitter profile

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David Shipley

3 days

Do we now have two-tier justice? By me ⁦ @spectator ⁩

One of the worst things about prison is the rules. Before I was sentenced I’d imagined jail as a rigid, structured, disciplined environment where infractions would be punished without fear or favour....

www.spectator.co.uk

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

28 days

@hansmollman Maybe I was a cynical 10 year old but I remember thinking they probably had a backup way of lighting it

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

5 months

@CharlieRadUK @chrisshipitv @laurapurkess @AP It took me about half a second

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

2 years

A year ago I was awake, waiting to be released from prison. I'd been awake for hours. Couldn't sleep. This morning I'm up early too. I let the dogs out to run about the garden, made a coffee, and sat in the garden, listening to running water, birds and distant sheep.

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

6 months

@dsiroker Payment systems - only having to carry a card, phone or watch and being able to conduct a verified transaction in seconds across the globe, is peer mind blowing when you pause to consider it.

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

3 years

@salltweets How do they know the baby is male? Have they asked it? 🥴

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

10 months

First real morning of freedom since 2014. A decade wasted by my stupid, dishonest choice. Free now. Better use it well.

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

5 months

@_ashmip can't decide if that's more or less brutal than just removing your access

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

9 months

@VK_HM Tolkien talks about this in ‘On Fairy Stories’ - the distant, half-seen peaks make the whole world seem more real

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

12 days

@ellegist the desire to feel desired, not just utile is found in most men and women. The sex-swapped equivalent would be something like “I dated much hotter women but you’ll make a great mother to my children” and I suspect most women would not enjoy hearing that sentiment.

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

12 days

@ellegist Unless she’s never had a hookup or fwb then there’s a clear implicit comparison in the text

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

2 years

In prison they shine torches through your door at night. Light blazed into the room, until you wake and move, showing you're alive. This morning, around 3am, I woke with a bright light in my face. For a moment I was back there. Then I blinked at the moon and reached for my wife.

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

1 year

The reality of #prison is so hard to understand if you haven’t been there. I’ve written this piece to show what my arrival in prison was like.

What's it really like on your first night in prison?

The prospect of being locked up terrified me. I expected prison would be violent, dangerous and drug-filled

www.spectator.co.uk

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

2 months

@RaminNasibov These are amazing. Is there a whole deck of them?

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

5 months

@datepsych I played rugby with a guy who would consistently experience this. Astonishingly attractive; women would regularly approach him to chat him up. No personality; I could see their interest declining with every word he spoke, and they would rapidly leave.

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

2 years

Tomorrow I go back into a #prison for the first time since my release. It’s going to be strange arriving there as a member of an inspection team, not an inmate

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

3 years

Leaving prison is strange. Been out a month and although I love being in my own bed, being free to see friends & loved ones, my mood does vary and I find myself missing the camaraderie of the wing. Some great lads there. #Prison

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

12 days

@ellegist I mean, it’s not projection because my life / sexual experience is very different to this man’s. Your comparison is flawed - assuming the woman has had hookups and FWB (which, ya know, it’s 2024, almost certainly and nbd), then she is saying that her partner has different

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

8 months

@SarahDuggers Look forward to reading your prison memoir

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

10 months

The last few hours of my sentence tick away. At midnight I'm not on licence anymore. Not really sure how to feel. No desire to celebrate. Just a sense of time passing, of ending.

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

7 months

@nolemonnomelon I will wait for you in death’s halls I will honour your memory You have *mattered* to me more than you will ever know; I will never forget you When you walk in the forest in spring sunlight, think of me Namárië

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

5 months

@ellegist More compassionate take: pregnancy is a wild, destabilising time for both parents, and feels often run much higher than before or after. They probably won’t give the chair a second thought in 6 months time.

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

1 year

Just over two years ago, at HMP Hollesley Bay, I started an MA in Creative Writing. This week I've had my final grades through - I got a merit. Very pleased - now just need to wait to hear back from my PhD applications! 🙏

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

5 months

@Iandaveez @CharlieRadUK @chrisshipitv @laurapurkess @AP oh sure, the photo is riddled with obvious photoshopping artefacts; I just don't think Louis' hand was one of them

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

2 years

Prison changed me. Before I loved to be in busy, noisy places with lots of people. Now I find I just want solitude, or at most one or two others around. After the constant noise of the wing, I just want silence and birdsong.

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

2 years

Almost two years ago, in January 2021 I started my MA in Creative Writing. At the time I was a prisoner at HMP Hollesley Bay. I've just submitted my final portfolio. Now the long wait for results.

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

5 months

@jachaseyoung The end point of this logic is that self-awareness is maladaptive

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

1 year

Prison reform is often considered a left wing issue. My experience inside showed me that whatever your political leaning you should want to fix our broken prison system.

As a former inmate, I know just how badly our prisons need reform

Before being sentenced to 45 months in prison for fraud, I knew that British prisons were bad. I expected endemic violence, drugs and filth. What I found inside still horrified me. Yes, our prisons...

capx.co

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

3 years

Our approach to phones in prison is completely backward. Everyone agrees that increased contact with family reduces reoffending, improves behaviour & mental health and reduces harm. And yet phone calls are an expensive, rationed luxury for prisoners.

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

2 years

A year ago I was still in #prison , today I have a meeting at the Ministry of Justice. Life is constantly surprising.

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

10 months

On the day I went to prison, cramped in a cell on the ‘sweat box’ bus, I looked out the window across the river at Parliament in the sunshine and thought “I’ll never see the inside of that place again”. Feel surreal that today I’m attending a safer prisons event in the House of

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

7 months

@samswoora The older I get the more Jungian I become

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

7 months

Four years ago right now I’d just arrived at Southwark crown court for my sentencing. I felt on edge, frightened, imagining what might lie ahead. Coronavirus was still a distant rumble in China.. This morning I’ve walked the dog, played with my daughter and now I’m sitting down

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

8 months

Have you been strip searched? I have. Police chiefs have adopted an intimate search policy which puts vulnerable women at risk. By me @spectator

Police are in a muddle over transgender strip searches

The law is clear that strip searches should be carried out by a police officers of the same sex - but what does this mean for trans prisoners?

www.spectator.co.uk

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

1 year

The Mail wrote some absolute nonsense about prisoners working on ROTL yesterday. This is why they’re wrong. By me ⁦ @spectator ⁩

Don't condemn McDonald's for giving prisoners a day job

Prisoners from open jails are being let out to work in restaurants like McDonalds, but is that really such a scandal?

www.spectator.co.uk

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

1 year

I find since prison I enjoy the feel of rain on my skin. It’s always so much better than being sealed away in a steel and stone box.

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

2 years

@molly0xFFF @keribla People can behave in strange and unusual ways in times of high stress. I know my parents found my trial and sentencing very difficult - I'm sure SBF's are overwhelmed by his arrest.

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

23 days

@NoContextHumans Saw a similar one recently

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

2 years

Thinking about writing an illustrated book aimed at young children who have a father in #prison , explaining and hopefully reassuring. Would this be useful? Has it been done before for the UK system.

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

4 months

@RebeccaCNReid this is worthy of a lead character in a sitcom

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

1 year

Imagine it. 22 or 23 hours a day locked inside a cell the size of a parking space. A bunk bed. A sink. A toilet. A little desk. Nothing to do. You stare at the walls, at the TV. Prisoners sleep their sentences away when they could and should be studying, training or working.

Danny Shaw

@DannyShawNews

1 year

It’s not just Wandsworth… @HMIPrisonsnews inspection report says “too many” prisoners at HMP Brinsford, West Midlands, “spend their days sleeping & watching television” .. “Helplessness…lack of motivation” are driving violence.. Staff body-worn cameras often not turned on..

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

2 months

@AdamAtkins0 Wasn’t it astonishing! To see a space like that full, to experience it as a theatre was amazing. The wind whipping up behind as though the gods wished to be heard too.

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

3 years

@Baddiel I’m sure I’ve seen this episode of Mr Bean

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

3 years

@Rebeccaboden4 @gruffyth @janeclarejones @rampitchfork @pippapoppilula @MarcelDugenoux I don't think you know what a Company Secretary is. It's an Officer of a company, not an admin role

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

9 months

I often think of the elderly man on H1 in Wandsworth, too frail to shower himself, helped every morning by his neighbour, half-carrying him to the shower block and washing him. God is very loud in prison.

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

4 months

@moveincircles I think a lot of men do too…perfectly normal to grow and change

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

1 year

I’ll be starting my PhD on the impact of parental imprisonment on children, and novel strategies for communicating with them, this September, aged 41.

PhD_Genie

@PhD_Genie

1 year

How old were you when you started your PhD? How old were you when you finished your PhD? (2nd question only if relevant)

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

5 months

@AskYatharth this generalises across lots of domains; writing, creating, sex, sport, how we dress etc

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

2 years

Where we're at

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

2 years

There’s something about attending my monthly probation meeting that triggers waves of misery in me. Why? I’m not in prison anymore so I should be fine and yet…a reminder that my release is conditional, that invisible bars still cage me

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

3 years

@tomhfh @Julie_Frew @DominiqueTaegon You showered clothed? Or didn’t wash after games?

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

4 months

I’ll be on @BBCNewsnight tonight, speaking about prison overcrowding, and the harm it does.

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

3 years

@salltweets The level of cognitive dissonance required to believe this nonsense is off the charts

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

7 months

@JamGloom @ellegist We now have a 7 month old daughter…

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

8 months

@TylerAlterman have you met your immune system

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

5 months

Four years ago Lockdown started in England. In Wandsworth prison we received a succession of notes, then spent endless days behind our cell doors. The biggest change was the sound. At night the chatter and shouting ceased; the wing was silent other than muffled coughing as men

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

6 months

@zeta_globin Did he?

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

1 year

The government must not be allowed to pretend that Wandsworth is uniquely bad. Our prison system is rotten. By me for @spectator

HMP Wandsworth isn’t the only prison in crisis

Daniel Khalife £20,000 reward for information Richmond Park. As of Saturday morning he might be in Chiswick.

www.spectator.co.uk

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

4 months

@ArmandDoma I didn't start doing anything that mattered with my life until my release from prison, aged 38. You have time.

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

6 months

@Louise_m_perry I suppose it’s psychologically ‘safer’ to pretend the past is worthless and destroy its creations than to recognise the decline.

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

7 months

@ellegist Yeah, I found as a 38 year old former prisoner looking for love, marriage and children that I received a huge amount of attention on the apps.

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

2 years

Before prison I lived in London, I loved to be in busy places, full of people. Now I need peace. Here the rising sun wakes me, not clangs or shouts.

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

1 year

Old prisons like Wandsworth are made of brick and steel. Giant ovens. Those bricks soak up heat through the long sweaty day. When the sun goes down that heat is released and the cells get even hotter.

Forensic Hope | Rehabilitation | Prison Reform

@hopeforprisoner

1 year

It’s that time of the year again when we think about how hot it must be in a prison cell. The heat especially affects elderly prisoners.

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

10 months

A third of pregnant women prisoners are on remand. Is there really no safer, better place for them to be than prison?

Revealed: one in three jailed pregnant women in England and Wales still to face trial

New data on prisons has added to calls by campaigners to end custodial sentences for expectant mothers

www.theguardian.com

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

3 months

HMP Wandsworth was an awful prison when I was there. Even then it ruined lives and wasted human potential. Today’s Urgent Notification shows that it has only become worse. Wandsworth isn’t unique though; many of our prisons are awful, ruinous and wasteful. We need radical change

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

2 months

Absolutely fantastic choice. @JamesTCobbler has done a huge amount for prisoners. Look forward to seeing his ideas for fixing the broken system.

Henry Zeffman

@hzeffman

2 months

NEW: James Timpson (of Timpson fame) is given a peerage and will be prisons minister

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

2 years

@GoingMedieval It’s literally “hey bourgeoisie please hate the proletariat” isn’t it

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

6 months

@wylfcen I find frequent use of the mute button is the best route to a good energy timeline - just mute anyone who gives you bad vibes

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

4 months

I can trace my decision to pursue a writing career from the feedback I received after entering the Koestler prize in 2020. They bring hope into darkness, and change lives.

Koestler Arts

@KoestlerArts

4 months

Our BBC Radio 4 Appeal to raise money for our arts mentoring scheme is live & we really need your support to reach our target! The appeal is live until Sunday 14 April, so please listen in, share with your networks and donate if you can 🔗 #R4Appeal

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

7 months

Some people, like Annelise Sanderson, shouldn’t be in prison. By me @spectator

Why do we send the wrong people to prison?

An inquest is underway into the death at HMP Styal of an 18-year-old girl, Annelise Sanderson. Why are vulnerable people like her in prison?

www.spectator.co.uk

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

5 months

@ellegist (Hence why it's bad to take this stuff to social media)

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

1 month

@netcapgirl The real best option isn’t on here.

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

1 year

Our prisons are understaffed. We all know that. But why does that matter, and what makes it so dangerous? By me, for @Spectator

Why Britain’s prisons will only get more violent

Prison and probation staffing is approaching dangerously low levels’ said the Ministry of Justice in a document they published by mistake this week. It’s hardly surprising to those of us who know...

www.spectator.co.uk

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

1 month

@RickshawFutrism I don’t think we brits ever stopped describing our height in feet and inches

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

5 months

@Lookinupatstars Keep them. My mum recently handed over a load of my old books which my daughter now loves.

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

9 months

The very first man I met in prison was on an IPP sentence. Up until that moment I hadn't even heard of them. His situation shocked me. It's great that the government has finally acted on this.

Over 1,800 offenders to have indefinite jail sentences terminated, says MoJ

Imprisonment for public protection sentences will now have an end date under changes in England and Wales

www.theguardian.com

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

9 months

What happens when a former prisoner (me) and a former governor ( @NotThatBigIan ) chat about the state of the prison system? Find out here:

What will fix Britain’s prisons?

HMP Bedford was issued with an urgent notification yesterday, meaning it must immediately make reforms to improve. It’s the fifth prison to receive such a notification this year. What’s going wrong...

www.spectator.co.uk

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

3 months

Realised I was walking very close to Southwark Crown Court, where I was sentenced. The forgotten, familiar tightness in my chest and writhing guts. Decided I had to walk off Tooley St, and face it. I choose not to let this place haunt me.

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

5 months

@DarkWilbo Start running every day. Start reading every day. Leave your phone behind.

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

8 months

The children of prisoners are forgotten victims. By me @CapX

What about prisoners' children?

There exists a group of perhaps 300,000 British children who are three times more likely than their peers to develop mental health problems. These same children are more likely to miss school, get...

capx.co

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

2 years

Awful dream. Back in prison. It’s the day I’m due for release. It’s delayed. Some bureaucratic reason no one can explain to me. Most of us leave prison, in the end, but it never really releases us.

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

5 months

@enslagsperson @datepsych He was oblivious for the longest time. Then we explained to him and he took it pretty well, started trying to work on his conversation skills

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

9 months

I'm writing a piece on Christmas in prison - an antidote to the 'lags enjoy slap up Christmas dinner' narratives in certain tabloids. I'd love to hear stories about prison Christmas from former/current prisoners, their families, and people who work in prisons. #journorequests

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

10 months

In prison the simplest things feel like gifts from heaven. I remember being able to toast bread for the first time in months and being astounded at how good it tasted.

Secrets from a Prison Cell

@cellsecrets

10 months

I acquired a tomato today. Don't ask me how! I haven't seen one in years at this prison. I don't know whether to eat it like an apple, cut it to use on several meals, or share with a friend. I can't believe this stupid tomato has me in tears of anticipation & anxiety.

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

3 months

I fear the criminal justice system is on the brink of collapse By me ⁦ @spectator ⁩

The criminal justice system is on the brink of collapse

High-risk prisoners have been released. Probation is no longer supervising low-risk offenders in the last third of their sentence.

www.spectator.co.uk

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

6 months

@TheOnlyImz @ChefAnthonyDC Awful. Teaches nothing good and does so much harm.

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

3 months

We know there are three factors which make a huge difference to someone's likelihood of reoffending: If they have a home to go to If they have work If they have a supportive family / social network Then that likelihood of reoffending drops significantly. Throwing people out

Switchback

@Switchback_ldn

3 months

50,000 people are released from prison each year 1 in 3 are released homeless or to unknown circumstances. Switchback are calling for a National Resettlement Framework that guarantees accommodation on release. Stable housing is important for a stable life away from crime.

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

2 months

@scottygb so much worse

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

8 months

It took me two years to be ready to start writing my prison book. Here’s the first line:

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

5 months

@jrmcmanaway Now I feel the need to imagine a society which would have been chill about it

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

4 months

Amazing turnout for the ⁦ @WandsworthPIC ⁩ meeting tonight to discuss what’s wrong with ⁦ @HMP_Wandsworth ⁩

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

2 years

Forty tomorrow. For the first year in forever I won’t be worried about, or in prison. Life surprises us and I’m sure there will be struggle and stress ahead but right now I’m happy and content. Treasure the golden days when you get them. They’re a rare treasure.

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

11 months

Too often our prisons cause or contribute to inmate deaths. By me, @spectator

The toxic prison attitude that can cost inmates their lives

Inmates, who urgently need medical help or medicine, are sometimes being left to fend for themselves in Britain's prisons

www.spectator.co.uk

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

1 year

Every day in prison I wrote a journal. There’s about 500,000 words in these books. It’s taken a while but now I think it’s time to start reading them, and writing.

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

3 months

When I was in prison, I loved reading @InsideTimeUK - a newspaper distributed inside our jails. It made me feel as though other people understood my experience. It's always a pleasure to write for them. This piece, about HMP Wandsworth, and @WandsworthPIC is addressed to people

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

4 months

In case anyone thinks I’m being unfair when I say that the majority of contraband is brought into prisons by people who work there:

John Podmore

@John_Podmore

4 months

Having governed 3 prisons, run 3 anti-corruption units, delivered anti-corruption training from India to Argentina, written the handbook on anti-corruption measures for UNODC , I agree with David not the POA.

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

1 year

Prison libraries are havens, spaces of normality and respite.

Prison Librarians

@PrisLibrarians

10 years

We think particularly of any prisoner or young offender who has nobody to send him/her anything: they need libraries.

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

2 years

@shotscarecrow @runthinkwrite @AudreySuffolk @NickHeath 🙄 we have plenty of research about bone density, muscle density etc. You have to believe that those differences disappear which transition to believe there’s “no reason”. That belief is unevidenced and obvious nonsense. And the reality is even you’d be dangerous playing

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

7 months

@_ali_taylor I feel like anyone who’s been a child should know this - we all have experience of how our parents shaped us. Wisdom is having the confidence to recognise that studies aren’t measuring the things which matter.

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

9 months

I’m working on an investigation into the probation service. I’d love to speak to probation staff and people on probation. We can speak anonymously. #journorequest

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David Shipley

@ShipleyWrites

4 months

I was really impressed by how many turned out to hear about their local jail. When people learn the reality of our prisons, they are outraged.

Jackie Long

@JackieLongc4

4 months

“Lawless, inhumane “ a place that “maims” the prisoners and the people who work there . Wandsworth Prison and the public fight back to make it better. Prod @sallyches . 🎥 @SorenMunk . Ed - @DonnaMarie_W via @jackielongc4

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