Woolly says – As the heavy steel gates clanged shut behind me, I felt a small tremor run from my trunk to my tail, I looked around at the high walls and bars and wondered how long it would be before my release. Alfie the Dog seemed to be considering digging his way out as he started sniffing the drainpipes as a possible exit route. Would this be the last time I would see daylight? Would my best friend Sion Sheep send me a file in a cake? Was the porridge as bad as I had read? Would I ever be a free mammoth again?
I set about inspecting the prison van with its heavily bolted doors and seating that would allow only the smallest and slimmest to have any form of room around them, how many convicted criminals had sat in that seat before me? I shivered and leapt down the steps and into the reception area where I would be processed and assigned my cell.
Hard benches lined several rooms where prisoners would have sat waiting for the strip and search part of the process, scuff marks lined the walls where feet had kicked out and men had been restrained. The staff seemed to be slacking today and the officer who should have been seeing to my processing was no where to be seen, taking this as a sign of possible reprieve I headed though an open doorway and found myself in a maze of corridors.
Steel gates and bars were everywhere as I crept along passing the surveillance office which was also strangely empty.
I found myself on the ground floor of A Wing with hundreds of cell doors lining the walls, above me was the metal mesh that discouraged anyone from jumping from the higher landings.
I took a deep breath and steadied my nerves as I peered into what could be my new home. Based on the 2013 housing for inmates it contained two wooden bunks a desk, TV, and kettle, in fact it looked quite reasonable and better than some rooms we have stayed in on our travels! Next door was a single cell from the 1990’s, far more basic and a lot less homey, I decided immediately that I would need to have some pictures on my wall as I stood no chance of seeing out the barred windows set just below ceiling height.
Next was a 1960’s cell with a hard looking metal bed and incredibly thin mattresses and little in the way of comfort, I quickly crossed my paws in the hope that this wouldn’t be my allocation. Although it was a step up from the next cell with it’s 1900’s hammocks and not even a bucket for that little emergency in the night.
Across the landing was a modern cell that had been recently searched, the officers had certainly left a mess and the inmate appeared to have lost his hair in the process of being searched.
Perhaps most chilling of all was the Victorian cell with its uncomfortable looking bed and wooden basinet for a baby which would have been a normal occurrence for female prisoners at the time. Some tables of football tables filled the floor space between cells where I would spend my recreation time, although light filled the area from high above there was no way of enjoying the cloudy sky through the layers of steel that separated the landings.
We came to the servery where I would be able to collect my porridge and refreshments, I was glad to see it looked clean and well equipped although, I wasn’t sure how the servers would know where to place the food given there lack of head, as did the shower block although I didn’t feel the cubicles would give much privacy especially when you’re as short as me.
With Alfie the Dog leading way we clattered up the steps to the next level, peering down through the wires to below, cell and after cell lined each side of the landing. At the end was the medical area where I would go if I had any problems, a slightly larger cell provided for those that were bedridden.
Next door was a lot more sinister, as I entered the room, I wondered why there was a wooden open box in the middle until I spied the noose and the lack of floor below it. I wondered how many executions had taken place there, how had the man lying in the condemned cell felt as his last hours ticked away.
We climbed to the next landing and the one above that, the place was vast although it would only house 350 prisoners at a time it seemed far bigger. Finally at the top I stood looking down and understood the despair that might make you want to jump to your death 4 floors below.
A maze of corridors took us through to C Wing and the older part of the prison, although the cells were slightly bigger, they were not in good condition as mould covered the walls and paint was sliding off due to the water in the brickwork. This wing only had cells on one side and felt much much smaller, inmates who were at risk would have been housed there and during the Victorian times it had formed the women’s part of the prison.
As we opened a heavy metal door, we found ourselves in the exercise yard, it was bleak, surrounded by tall walls and barred windows the space was barely big enough for me to exercise let alone Alfie the Dog and all the other inmates. Jo appeared as if by magic carrying a tray of drinks and cakes and I felt my happiness return, at least I would have a hearty meal before starting my sentence. We sat in the dismal space as Jo told me a little more about the prison itself.
HM Prison Shrewsbury was a Category B/C men’s prison in Shrewsbury, Shropshire. Built on the site of the Dana Gaol, a medieval prison, the name Dana is still often used for the prison. Built in 1793, the original building was constructed by Thomas Telford and took female convicts until 1922. Executions had taken place there between 1902 and 1961 and were all conducted by Albert Pierrepoint and his assistant. In September 2004, Member of Parliament George Stevenson, called for an enquiry into the number of suicides which had occurred at Shrewsbury Prison. This came after 3 inmates had hanged themselves at the jail in 2 weeks, the report took until 2005 and named Shrewsbury prison as the most overcrowded in England and Wales. In January 2013, it was announced that the prison was scheduled for closure. The last inmates were transferred from Shrewsbury to other prisons on 27 February 2013, ahead of its closure in March.
Woolly says – My first thought was ‘so there not going to keep me here?’ ‘No; laughed my carer but you can book a cell for the night if you want to, I shook my head vigorously at the thought and headed into the final part of the tour. A small museum contained two outfits once worn within the walls and several paintings from prisoners who had once occupied the cells. Pardons from the Crown lined one wall which given that the person named was dead before receiving them was a little macabre. As I trotted out of the building I took a large lungful of air, thanking my lucky stars that I have yet to do anything that might mean incardination and the need to spend a single night in a place like that.