Saturday 23 March 2013

SHREWSBURY PRISON - Ever wondered what it looked like on the other side of those massive gates?

1. 


2.


3.


4.


5. Outside 'A' Wing


6 - 8.  Inside 'A' Wing



7.


8.


9. Recreation area outside


10 & 11. Free to a good home.  From Shrewsbury Prison kitchen


11.


12. Shrewsbury Castle - from one prison to another



13. 'C' Wing - Housing for older inmates



14. A welcome bit of colour...



15. Shrewsbury Castle from the condemned man's cell


16. The hanging chamber from the viewing room[trap still under carpet in middle of room]



17. The hanging chamber [topping shed in prison parlance]


18. Walls of the old gaol



19. Grille to cell in old gaol


20. More of the old gaol wall



21 - 23 The Gym - HMP Shrewsbury Memories & Dreams
[This is what I found written on the wall]

'As I sat cradling the man's head with blood and brains sticking to my hands, I could hear my own voice. It was asking me something. Asking how I had ended up like this. Desperate people who thought nothing of caving in a man's head and then standing back to watch him die.'

Nick Bullock was a Prison Officer working in a maximum security jail with some of Britain's most notorious criminals, trapped in a world of aggression and fear. He felt frustrated and alone. Then he discovered the mountains. Bullock soon became one of Britain's best climbers, learning his trade in the mountains of Scotland and Wales and travelling from Pakistan to Peru in his search for a new way of seeing the world - ultimately an escape route from his life inside.  Told that no one ever leaves the service - the security, the stability, the 'job for life', Bullock focussed his existence on a single goal: TO WALK FREE WITH NO SHACKLES INTO A MOUNTAIN LIFE.  
Dedicated by PE Officers Past and Present...


22.


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24. Prison officers through the years


25. Roll of Governors



26. Roll of Benefactors


27. Thank you Prison Officer, Neil Gregory, for showing us round.



Want to know more about Nick Bullock's book, 'Echoes: One Climber's Hard Road to Freedom'? HERE'S the link.

2 comments:

  1. That quote in the Gym is a powerful piece of writing. Some fine pictures too. I particularly like Picture 12, which makes the castle seem as though it is across a broad, grey river or a stretch of cold sea.

    ReplyDelete
  2. It felt like that. River Lethe, maybe? Certainly a great divide.

    ReplyDelete