the Prison Triptych
The Prison Triptych An Elegy to desistance theory [i] . Question mark? By Lottie E. Allen Dedicated to the gates of Her Majesty’s Prison Wandsworth [ii] , And to the School of Criminology, Sociology & Policing, at the University of Hull, On the eleventh anniversary of Early Release Day, 25 April 2025. Footnote no. ii (for Footnotes matter): In the Spring of 2014, it was Her Majesty’s Prison Wandsworth. Triptych I: The Prologue – The Paddy Wagon The unforgiving wheels of justice, on my white prison bus, career through the frightened night. Fleeing Southwark Crown Court. Padlocked into my single dark cold white cell. I listen to the boys, screaming innocence and for their mothers. Through tough illiterate windows, glimpse night cold South London. Fleeing freedom, through, we swing, Wandsworth’s grimacing turreted Prison Gates. Triptych II: Incarceration The cell is my mind, a refuge from the clanging noise. The mind is my room, a sanctuary from the smell of ...