From Bayelsa to Britain: Life in Brixton Prisons Where A Seating Nigerian Governor Now Resides

By

Hosiah Emmanuel

hosiah.emmanuel@gmail.com



 

The Brixton prison was sold to the British Government in 1862 and converted into a prison for females. In 1882, it was converted to a military prison, and in 1898 made the remand and trial prison for the whole of the London area.  Today, it is still used as a remand and trial prison but for only male offenders.  It is therefore no surprise that Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha of Bayelsa State of Nigeria who is awaiting full trial is being remanded there since September 28, 2005 for alleged money laundering in the UK.

 

I presume that Nigerians will be interested in how life as a prisoner of Brixton is like.  In this short write-up, I have attempted to X-ray the inside of a Brixton prison. Happy reading.

 

Brixton prison is located at Jebb Avenue, London, SW2 5XFIt is run by a governor who reports to the Home Services Secretary.

There are four main residential units, labeled A,B,C and G, and an additional health care facility labeled D.


 "A" wing houses 143 cells which are mostly doubled (i.e 2 prisoners share one cell),  "B" wing houses 86 cells (some doubled, some single cells), "C" wing houses 69 cells (all doubled, except 1 for disabled),  G wing houses 151 cells (61 doubled, 1 for a disabled person).  The Health Care Centre (D wing) houses 36 spaces. All cells have self-contained sanitation facilities but only B and C wings have in-cell electrics.

 

The operational capacity is estimated at 798 inmates. On entry into the prison is a GateHouse which is responsible for the admission of new prisoners and checking of Ids of prisoners, staff, visitors and contractor.  From the GateHouse, the prisoner is received at the Reception.  Each prisoner is subjected to strip-searches (NO EXCEPTION) at the reception.  Warrants and Ids are also checked at the reception.

 

From the reception, the prisoner is allocated a cell and after the initial trainings on the mode of operation of the prison is retired into his cell.  All prisoners are also entitled to basic educational and training services.  Courses such as IT skills, English as a second language, etc are offered.  There is also a recreation area where prisoners mix freely.  TV room and pool tables are available at the recreation area.

 

Periodically, workshops  to train prisoners on car maintenance, contract cleaning, sewing, bricklaying and light engineering are organized by the prison service.  A chaplaincy is also available at the Brixton prison to care for the spiritual needs of interested prisoners of all faiths.  Headed by an Anglican chaplain, he co-ordinates all the other faiths (roman catholic, Jew, Hindu, Islam etc).

 

Not bad for a prison, not bad.  This writer hopes that the governor enjoys his temporary stay at Brixton and most importantly, he will come out of this trial as victorious as his political appointees have made us believe.  If convicted, he is however likely to spend years in some of the other prisons in the UK.  Nevertheless, the routine operation of most of them is similar and so the Brixton experience will come handy.

 

The lesson of this "Excellency's" experience should not escape us:  we should teach our children to be above board all the time.  There is no use accumulating all the wealth in this world for yourself and  family because you have been placed in charge of public funds.  I hope this governor realizes this and come out a better person.

 

Hosiah Emmanuel