ABSTRACT
My early signs of deviance could be seen around the age of 15 which included school truancy. This was caused by poor schooling and a lack of parental guidance due to my parents’ divorce which had significant impact on my schooling and self-esteem. School truancy is often linked to early deviance. Aged 20 and only two years after leaving the army, I would be sent to HMP Durham for robbery. I turned 21 during my time as a Young Prisoner (YP) after which I was then thrust into the adult estate within the same prison, HMP Durham. The transition is significant because there was a certain protection on the YP wing that was suddenly no longer there. I will also discuss the traditional prison regime during these days of “slopping out” and the dehumanising prison routine and structure predating the Strangeways riots in 1990. This period is significant because within a decade the prison riots would lash out at this degrading treatment which then led to the Woolf report in 1991. I was thrust into the prison system at 20 but I also reconnected with education in prison following my failed schooling during my earlier years.
