Exceptional speaker addresses members at the Autumn Supper
The Club’s Autumn Supper on 24 September contained an unusual, even unique event – a talk given by a man who had been sentenced to life imprisonment in 1985 and served 20 years in prison. Erwin James spoke candidly about his long journey from being a mindless criminal to that of becoming a thoughtful and respected writer about prison life.
He described his curious feeling of relief when he was sentenced – “I was glad it was over”. What was over was a gradually deepening life of crime which had started at the age of 10 when his ‘broken’ father had bullied him following the death of his mother. He began by stealing sweets and ended up with a life sentence.
Erwin described how, when he had been in a care home as a youth, he had come across a culture where youngsters protested their innocence in public but bragged about their (often imaginary) crimes in private. He found similar signs in prison. It was clear, though, that he had never complained or sought to avoid blame for what he had done. Instead he used much of his time to become properly educated.
The brutal prison culture based on fear was brilliantly described by Erwin in a series of ground-breaking newspaper articles entitled “A Life Inside” published while he was a serving prisoner. He now, justly, describes himself as a writer and advocate of prison reform.
The vote of thanks was given by Penny Veness (see photo) and at the end of the evening Erwin was surrounded by guests all wishing to ask more questions.
It was a pleasure to meet Erwin James and to hear his story first-hand. This was an evening when many members went home reflecting deeply on what they had heard. [by Laurie Painting]
Photographs:
[top] Penny Veness gives the vote of thanks.
[bottom] Erwin James with President Patricia and her husband Laurie.
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Erwin James is a columnist for the Guardian Newspaper. His series of articles have been published under the titles A Life Inside – a prisoner’s notebook (ISBN 978-190380-998-3) and The Home Stretch – from prison to parole (ISBN 1-84354-438-5. More recent articles can be found at the Guardian website. We eagerly await his next book, Bloomsbury.
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October 1st, 2009 at 1:28 pm
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