Student Review of My Talk (by Lydia Rainford)
Shaun Attwood came to The Oldham College on the Thursday 3rd of November and Friday 4th of November and presented a talk about his life before he was inside Arizona’s toughest prison, whilst he was inside the prison and what it is like and also about how it has affected his life.
Whilst in the talk we learned about how the prison is in the control of the “gangs” rather than the guards. It was also brought to the attention to audiences what the “gang” members also did to the other inmates. The majority of incidents often lead to many fights and even deaths in the prison. He told us about all different events that he had witnessed and the violence he saw.
Lydia is next to me in the above pic.
Shaun also mentioned about the conditions that was surrounding him and the other inmates in the prison. This involved Cockroaches that “flooded” the room whilst you slept and the spiders that bite the inmates and the treatments that involved squeezing the wound until all the “puss” had left them and then that they placed salt onto the bite to reduce the bacteria as it is the prisons policy not to treat insect bites. During the talk Shaun also mentioned the reality of what happens to young members that enter an adult prison for the first time, and how the media portray that they are going to be going into the prison and be having fun and relaxing. When the reality is that they are more than likely to be robbed, raped, abused and be stabbed by the handmade knifes called “shanks” that the inmates make at night.
Shaun also mentioned other inmates and how he got their stories out of the prison and onto the internet. He also mentioned that because of this that he had a lot of protection around the prison. This was because that he was their only contact to the outside world. One of the prisoners he mentioned was called T-Bone. T-Bone protects the young inmates that look like they are going to be raped because as I have mentioned they are an “easy target”.
In conclusion I think that Shaun’s talk to the college makes you think about the choices you make and what could happen to you if you make the wrong choices in life. I think that students learned; the realities of drugs and prison against their glamorisation, the consequences of choosing drugs and a high-risk lifestyle, the realities of being a prisoner, and the future consequences of the choices they make now. I also think that Shaun’s talk was very eye opening because the realities that we were being told about his time in the prison were unbelievable. The talk was also graphic with the images he was showing and the stories that he was telling were very strong and powerful images. Since Shaun had short intervals with students from the college reading parts of his book had people wanting to read the book “Hard Time” as you wanted to read more about his experience.
Shaun Attwood came to The Oldham College on the Thursday 3rd of November and Friday 4th of November and presented a talk about his life before he was inside Arizona’s toughest prison, whilst he was inside the prison and what it is like and also about how it has affected his life.
Whilst in the talk we learned about how the prison is in the control of the “gangs” rather than the guards. It was also brought to the attention to audiences what the “gang” members also did to the other inmates. The majority of incidents often lead to many fights and even deaths in the prison. He told us about all different events that he had witnessed and the violence he saw.
Shaun also mentioned about the conditions that was surrounding him and the other inmates in the prison. This involved Cockroaches that “flooded” the room whilst you slept and the spiders that bite the inmates and the treatments that involved squeezing the wound until all the “puss” had left them and then that they placed salt onto the bite to reduce the bacteria as it is the prisons policy not to treat insect bites. During the talk Shaun also mentioned the reality of what happens to young members that enter an adult prison for the first time, and how the media portray that they are going to be going into the prison and be having fun and relaxing. When the reality is that they are more than likely to be robbed, raped, abused and be stabbed by the handmade knifes called “shanks” that the inmates make at night.
Shaun also mentioned other inmates and how he got their stories out of the prison and onto the internet. He also mentioned that because of this that he had a lot of protection around the prison. This was because that he was their only contact to the outside world. One of the prisoners he mentioned was called T-Bone. T-Bone protects the young inmates that look like they are going to be raped because as I have mentioned they are an “easy target”.
In conclusion I think that Shaun’s talk to the college makes you think about the choices you make and what could happen to you if you make the wrong choices in life. I think that students learned; the realities of drugs and prison against their glamorisation, the consequences of choosing drugs and a high-risk lifestyle, the realities of being a prisoner, and the future consequences of the choices they make now. I also think that Shaun’s talk was very eye opening because the realities that we were being told about his time in the prison were unbelievable. The talk was also graphic with the images he was showing and the stories that he was telling were very strong and powerful images. Since Shaun had short intervals with students from the college reading parts of his book had people wanting to read the book “Hard Time” as you wanted to read more about his experience.
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