Storybook Dad's posterous

LIFE INSIDE and NOW! 

To those of you who do not know me, my name is Chris Dredger, and I have worked for Storybook Dads for about 4 and a half years now.

Only 2 of those years have been "ON THE OUT"

I met the charity while serving a 6-year sentence in HMP Dartmoor for armed robbery. It was my first AND only offence.

 I wanted to write this blog for you guys out there that may know someone inside. From experience, it is a FACT that it is harder for the family’s of prisoners, than it is for us lads ( I still say “us” as like i am inside ).  Prison is a TOTALLY DIFFERENT WORLD that unless you are in there, cannot be fully described and so i will try to remember to explain the lingo.

People always ask me about the "first night inside", which is very relevant in my "prison education", as it was one of the most interesting nights/mornings i have had in my life.

 Long story short, I was put in with a "dealer" in a 2-bed cell, and he tried to send drugs between cells (using blanket wool, toothpaste and a mirror).  The screws (officers) must have seen it, and at 7am the next morning, the cell door slams open and sniffer dogs and screws in riot gear barge in...WELCOME TO HMP DARTMOOR i thought! It was certainly a revelation of things to come!

After 6 months inside, i met Sharon and the Storybook Dads staff via a mate, to see if i wanted to start work there as an editor. I started straight away, and was working there until i was released in 2009.

The weird thing about Storybook dads is how it works/operates inside. As a prisoner, you get NO trust or respect, and i understand why, but prison is and should be about rehabilitation. To change people,  to allow them the ability to change themselves it  needs those factors, you need to feel respected, to know that the efforts you are making to change matter, and so to be at Storybooks and be treated like an "outside" member of staff, and given respect was like..."what the hell??!!"

This, I can honestly say was a massive thing, it was a turning point. I have always said, and will always say, that going into prison will make you a better (more qualified) criminal.  You are sat around most the time, nothing to do but talk...WITH other criminals...hence you learn many things about crime!

All of the Storybook Dads staff became very important to me, there was always that boundary, but with it came respect.  I can honestly say to this day, they are some of the closest and true friends I have made in my life thus far.

 I remember my last Christmas inside, I was working in the DVD room, filming and editing prisoners recording bedtime stories on DVD for their children. We had a backlog of about 10 DVDs to do, and had to make the post the next day and I had the WORST flu I have ever had!

Terri, Tams, and Rother were constantly bringing me hot drinks to keep me going, while I was wrapped in about 10 layers of clothing to keep warm. The point i am trying to make is that on the outside I would not have thought twice about going in to work, the charity made me WANT to work!

 I wanted to get these DVDs to the families;  being able to be a part of something so worthwhile, to see the difference I made by working for STORYBOOK DADS, made me want to come out of prison a better person.

I work online for the charity now, monitoring and updating Facebook/Twitter etc, and i always see tweets/blogs about the prison system (usually from people who have no idea how the system actually operates) and  I just think, DAMN I would love to just sit down with these people and talk some common sense into them!

It only takes ONE person to actually be bothered and help someone, that One person CAN make people want to change, and can make a huge difference in their life. Ok, ok, you're thinking WHY should someone bother, they are prisoners, they bought it on themselves and yes that is true but I have seen 1^st hand the difference just one person can make, it happened to me and so you may be sat there thinking why should I care ? WHY? Because that is what YOU pay your taxes for, you pay screws/governors to help to change and rehabilitate prisoners, so once released they are no harm to the public.

2 years upon release from prison, i find myself being short-listed for the TALK TALK DIGITAL HEROES Award 2011. I feel honoured to of been nominated, and I have found it to be a very humbling experience. #digitalheroes http://bit.ly/pnkLh9

I often do a lot of extra hours for the charity  because I feel I still owe a lot ,and need to give back to the charity for doing so much for me, they literally changed my life, and without them I believe my life would be very different now. 

 On reflection, I cannot ever imagine myself being in trouble again, or ever going back inside. Why?  Because a big reason now, is that I have worked as hard as i can over the last 2 years,  I have become a part of something so rewarding and worthwhile and now have so much to loose!

I do not believe in the word "regret" as i find it pointless, you CANNOT change the past, but I Can and will make a good and HONEST future for myself.

Well all back to normal after the manic Christmas rush. Just collating figures now for the year but it looks like Storybook Dads has produced over 5,000 CDs/ DVDs for prisoners’ children in 2010.    That’s a lot of children having a very special gift from their absent parent.  So a huge thank you to our production team at Dartmoor prison and to all the dedicated people who run the scheme in prisons nationwide.

This year we need to try to raise more public awareness about our work to try to encourage public donations.  The grant giving trusts on whom we rely for most of our funding are feeling the pinch too so have less money to give to charities.  We need to ask the general public to help. So try to spread the word everyone.  More families keeping in touch doesn’t just benefit prisoners’ children; it helps to reduce reoffending, which saves the public purse and that affects us all.

On 15^th of this month at 9.00am I will be with John Govier  for his morning show on BBC Radio Devon, so will be able to promote our work in the South West.

Later this month we have several visitors coming from the Polish prison service as we have been advising them about how they can copy our model over there.

We are also delivering Storybook audio production training to HMS Drake in Plymouth to further the development of ‘Storybook Waves’, the naval version of our scheme.  

So it’s all go as usual.  Wouldn’t have it any other way!

Well what a hectic few days! Did a presentation with my colleague Terri in London on 26^th for the Association of Members of Independent Monitoring Board’s annual conference.  As always, they loved the audio and video examples of prisoners’ reading too their kids.  The  conference was in the early evening so we had to stay overnight  so were able to meet up with an ex staff member of Storybook Dads who is now working in London on editing a movie. Great to have a chat and few drinks with him. 

Travelled back to Cornwall on 27^th only to have to go back again on evening of 28^th to collect my OBE on the morning of 29^th.  My husband, son and sister were able to attend – so it great to get all dressed up in our finery. It was awarded by Prince Charles in the state ballroom and official photos and film taken inside the palace will be on the website in a couple of weeks.   Left London about 1pm and headed back to Cornwall for a celebration with family and friends in the evening.  So exhausting but brilliant couple of days.  

Only a few more days to go before I go up to Buckingham Palace to get my OBE. Still haven’t had time to go and get anything to wear yet.  Have to make time next week somehow.  But travelling up to London on Tuesday 26^th to do a presentation for the prisons’ Independent Monitoring Board. Back on 27^th. Then travelling up again on 28^th for Buckingham Palace the next morning. HELP!!  Running out of time.  Got to get a hat too – that’s completely out of my realm of experience!  Had a little burgundy trilby type hat once in my twenties which I thought looked really cool at the time.  I’m going to need a friend to help me pick something – that’s for sure. 

Mark Nicholl from Acacia prison in Australia came to visit yesterday. We have helped him to set up Storybook Dads over there and a very good job he has done of it too.  He presented me with some prezzies – including a beautiful jewellery box, made and decorated by Aboriginal prisoners.  So thanks so much for that. 

Love the new DVD on our videos page of Martin Jarvis, the actor, reading a story with Olly, our Orang-utan puppet, at Dartmoor.  Check it out if you haven’t seen it yet.

Feeling a bit twitchy about the Ministry of Justice spending cuts.  Hoping above all else that Dartmoor prison is not shut down.  It will be eventually I guess – it’s very old and expensive to maintain - but I do hope it isn’t for a good few years yet.  Anyway it’ll be a couple of weeks before any decisions are made so I’m not going to think about it until I need to. 

Had a visit last week from the cultural advisor for the Ministry of Justice in Holland who is keen to set up a similar scheme in Dutch prisons.  He seemed impressed with the set up at Dartmoor.

Today I was delivering audio production training to two RAF staff and tomorrow someone from the Navy will be training too. We do this on a fairly regular basis so that the armed forces can provide the scheme to their serving personnel. We also provide ongoing training for the army (audio production - not armed combatJ)

Got a couple of new prisoners who have started work with us. Both proving to pick up the audio production really quickly.  Just as well – won’t be long before the Christmas rush starts. Then it’s manic!

Well.... September has brought some beautiful sunshine so I’m happy.   Stopped on my way to work thismorning just to watch the ponies  grazing in the sunshine. I’ve seen them a hundred times before so don’t know what compelled me to stop. Maybe because I know that the autumn is creeping in so time is running out.

Did a presentation with a colleague last week for students of the Devon School for Entrepreneurs.  There were some great people with fantastic ideas for social enterprise.  Wasn’t really sure what we could teach them but they seemed to really enjoy the story of how Storybook Dads developed and were inspired by our story. 

We had two visits in two days from film makers who are interested in making a documentary about our work.  I hope that this comes to fruition as it’s just what we need to raise public awareness (and hopefully funds).  I gotta say thanks to all the prisoners our visitors spoke to – they had so many great things to say about the scheme (even though prisoners don’t get access to the Internet so can’t read this – but thanks anyway!)

One of our prisoner editors will be leaving us this week to go home.  So we wish him well and will miss him ‘cos kept us laughing.  

Had an email from a prison in Arizona asking for advice about setting up Storybook Dads. It’s a small prison that just has indigenous prisoners. Have sent them info and a demo CD and look forward to hearing about their progress. It’s satisfying to help other establishments get going.  A couple of years ago we trained someone from the Australian prison service and he recently sent a demo CD with an aboriginal prisoner reading a story- “Wombat Stew”  complete with didgeridoo. Fantastic!

The new web site is almost finished and should be live very soon – so keep checking in. 

Dartmoor prison and surrounding moors seems to have been covered in mist and rain for weeks now.  Almost forgotten what it’s like when the sun shines golden across the moorland.   Feel so sorry for all the holiday makers resolutely hiking around in their waterproofs and drinking endless cups of tea in cafes. Let September bring some sun please....for everyone’s sake.

One wing in the prison has now been closed for building and refurbishment so there are about 100 less men in the prison.  It does seem strange walking through that wing – empty silent landings – where there is usually buzzing activity.   The prison is over 200 years old and was originally built to hold French prisoners of war, so it’s obviously going to need major maintenance at times. 

The Storybook Dads department is as busy as ever though.  We have two new civilian volunteers and a new prisoner who have joined our team.  We are editing for about 70 prisons in the UK now so we need all the help we can get.  Two of our ex- prisoner editors work for us from home and we are pleased that we are able to utilise the skills they have learnt with us. 

We are exploring ways to include prisoners who have older children. Bedtime stories aren’t really  appropriate so we are thinking about ideas in which prisoners can make an interactive DVD for their  children that will involve some sort of game/ challenge.  Any ideas gratefully received!

Also looking at some sort of social media PR campaign to raise public awareness. We have a few ideas for that and will be letting you all know soon. 

There was a family day last Thursday at Dartmoor Prison. Dads get to spend the day with their little ones playing games, face painting etc. Couple of them got to change baby's nappy for the first time - they looked a bit pale - ha ha. It was great to see them being a dad for the day and we film them so each prisoner and family has a private memento of their time with their children.  Very important to keep the family ties.