“People do come out of prison, that’s the whole point. So what’s next?” Lucy Kenningham speaks to ex-offender Jason Barnfather
Since October 10,000 prisoners have been let out before the end of their sentences under the previous government’s early release scheme. Now the scheme has been extended, it’s estimated to lead to another 5,500 prisoners being released early. But what actually happens when you’re let out of jail?
“It’s quite surreal,” Jason Barnfather tells me from a hostel specifically for people released on tag, four months after he was let out from prison. “It’s quite conflicting, because you’re happy to be out, but at the same time you’ve basically been pushed back a few years from your life, and it’s really hard to catch up and get back, to get back to zero, you know?”
Life after prison is tough. You have lost years of your life, languishing in often squalid conditions with very little to entertain or educate you. You may not be up to date on the latest technology, or be able to maintain relationships with family and friends. “That’s the punishment,” Barnfather says frankly. “That’s the idea: you’re away from the people you love and you’re in prison. But then on top of that, having really bad conditions – locked in for an unnecessary amount of time is inhumane – it does a detriment to people. It doesn’t serve their rehabilitation.”
He would know. Barnfather has served time twice, both for drug offences. He served years inside jail and saw terrible things. Conditions were “terrible”: there was overcrowding and rampant drug abuse. The chief inspector of prisons, Charlie Taylor, has said that “no one has a grip on the basics of running a prison.”
After being released the first time, Barnfather fell back into old habits of dealing. Yet now he considers himself one of the “lucky” ones. During his last months at HMP Brixton, he secured a place at the prison’s bakery operated by The Clink, a charity that offers work alongside training. Barnfather earned a qualification in City & Guilds NVQ level in patisserie.
The Clink’s bakery in Brixton – photo by Jeremy WithersJust 20 prisoners are chosen for the programme out of 800 or so inmates. The Clink gave him routine, purpose and confidence: “you’re so grateful just to have the job and be out yourself. You don’t even think that I’m working for one pound something [The Clink doesn’t dictate prices, it is up to individual prisons which can pay prisoners as little as £1 a day].”
“The first three months after coming out of prison are very tough,” Barnfather says. “Personally, I don’t like to ask people for help and stuff. There’s been days where I’ve starved on low food, and I’m waiting for my universal credit and I haven’t told anyone about........