A prisoner who was recently released from HMP Wandsworth shared what the reaction inside the jail was like after two inmates were accidentally released
A prisoner this week released from HMP Wandsworth revealed his fellow convicts found it “hilarious” when they discovered two inmates had been freed by mistake.
Proinsias O’Doherty, 28, was let out just before 3.30pm on Thursday after serving a two-week recall for missing a probation appointment. Previously, he had been jailed for four months for carrying a bladed article.
He admitted that he has been a “prolific offender” who has done eight years in jail, in eight different prisons. Asked what the reaction was inside the prison when inmates heard two prisoners had wrongly been let out, he said: “It was hilarious!”
He added: “Everybody was going ‘let us out, let us out, let us out!’ I was on the landing yesterday when we found out on the news. Everyone was going ‘oi guv, I’m up for release!’ and banging on the door and that!
“It was a little joke we have because some of the people in here, they’re doing life.”
When it came to the morale of prison staff inside the jail, he said: “They look a bit taken aback by everything that’s happened! And the word is you boys are all out here as well, all the Press is outside.”
He was also asked why he thinks prisoners were being accidentally released, The Mirror reports. He said: “It’s the NOMIS system, not the actual screws. The screws can only work to what the computers are like. Even releasing me now, trying to find me on the system to release me was so hard. I had to go and give all my details.
“They have a fingerprint system. Now, this finger print system I don’t think is any good for any prison because you know what technology’s like… it breaks!
“What I think they should do is go back to old pen and paper. Everything on pen and paper and file it on pen and paper. You can’t lose four copies of a bit of paper can you?
“If they have digital, they should also have a paper back-up. This country has worked over pen and paper for how many years before computers?”
Asked what advice he would give to Justice Secretary David Lammy about what needs to change, he joked: “Stop losing his paperwork!”.
He added: “Instead of investing [money] into each prison individually, try and invest it in a whole and get a system that works for every prison, that any government person can come in and find a prisoner no matter where they are in England. Just tidy it up.”
Asked what it’s like inside HMP Wandsworth, he said: “It’s easy, good little jail, cushty. They treat you well, they treat you like a human, it’s not one of the worst jails I’ve been to.”
He added: “They need to stop recalling us for the smallest things because the prison population is overflowing from recall prisoners.”
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