On 6 January 2022 HM Chief Inspector of Prisons published their report on an unannounced inspection of HMP Wandsworth in September 2021. Although prison conditions were found to be “poor”, and much of the report focused specifically on the inadequate treatment of foreign nationals, BEST was praised for “staying on site during the pandemic” andContinue reading “BEST’s work in HMP Wandsworth “invaluable” – HM Chief Inspector of Prisons”
Author Archives: geoffreyericsmith
Why the prison system is fundamentally flawed and what can be done
Is a prison sentence a punishment or an opportunity to rehabilitate and reform a convicted felon? Most countries view a prison sentence as a punishment. With that philosophy, a prisoner will not only lose his freedom. But he will also be placed in an over-crowded prison, sitting two people in a prison cell built forContinue reading “Why the prison system is fundamentally flawed and what can be done”
Reflection – John McAteer
it is the less than noble truths like the ones you see in mirrors that reveal the duplicity the defiance and delight admonishment and disparity of imagination so strange the alchemy the unconscious hierarchy of thought preternatural cliché the memories that brew on the outer edge illogical yet silently obtuse crooked branches like gnarled fingersContinue reading “Reflection – John McAteer”
This time – John McAteer
the sadness is that I have grown weary of the snow the buses the endless signs in Arabic and the woman who keeps phoning to inform me of her commitment to suicide and how this time this time she is serious because how dare they treat her this way her of all people and byContinue reading “This time – John McAteer”
Love poem #101 – John McAteer
mad as a midwinter nightmare as cold and unreal and vexed astonishingly vivid desperate honest like stone crude brutal as space and wide empty full of rapture and quiet and glare all the potential of a ticket a coin labyrinth mystery woman
This reality – John McAteer
the road not taken is the one most travelled the clouds are full of children hidden but this reality is difficult to bear what might have been or used to be are echoes buried in the present landscapes and flowers unseen own the look of being looked at the shadow at the funeral dance criesContinue reading “This reality – John McAteer”
Unwritten song – John McAteer
the end of June a crooked wind worrying the yard with ghosts unwritten songs across the wall the traffic hums evading obstacles and life below a varnished moon another war soon ending to a silence rich with dust and the blood of children and in the metal light beyond the door slow death and slowerContinue reading “Unwritten song – John McAteer”
Colindale – John McAteer
dawn yawns without the sun just the chatter of nestlings the distant hum of traffic workmen its winter in north London footfalls in the snow sound terribly like complaining
Undrunk – John McAteer
online in another world esoteric depictions the separation of being from becoming learning dreams instead of lessons clichés of sacrifice antiquity terror unfathomable as centerefolds park in garages and foyers inscribed with the fullness of slime-rich caverns prepared incorrectly for the coming of war the afterness of copulation
Tinsel – John McAteer
cluttered days and hollow years remnants burned broken scattered with the dreams the demons the death that hurt that didn’t just beyond the door the moon trapped inside a puddle like a trophy warning now must be the time to be old when difficulties are pinned to walls as decorations tinsel
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