In Britain, Even Jails Have a Class System
In June 2016, the filmmaker Chris Atkins was convicted of fraud after he submitted false invoices for his documentary about the British media, allowing its investors to dodge taxes. He was sentenced to five years in prison and sent to Wandsworth, in South London, one of the largest prisons in Western Europe.
Built in 1851, it holds about 1,600 men and is classed as Category B, one grade below the high-security prisons for violent offenders and terrorists. Thanks to his talent for sweet-talking the guards, Atkins soon got transferred to one of its less violent and rundown wings, Trinity, a Category C unit focused on training and resettlement. Eventually, he was moved from Wandsworth to a Category D—or “open”—prison with minimal security to serve the rest of his sentence. He was released in December 2018.
While in Wandsworth, Atkins—deprived of his liberty; regular access to his toddler son, Kit; and a smartphone—began to keep a diary. Because journalists are allowed only limited access to jails, few Britons have any idea what conditions are really like inside them. Atkins consoled himself that although he was locked up, he also had unfettered access to “the story of his life.”
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With his filmmaker’s.
