Ruminations

Immoral Sadistic Behaviour Has Consequences

"The prison van might as well have been a spaceship, because it put me into a whole new world. I liken it to arriving in North Korea."

"The sights, smells, sounds, the language the other prisoners speak was all alien to me. Most middle-class prisoners will come across as slightly different to the rest. They're not of the villainous nature, they probably speak slightly differently, they probably, don't understand the language."

"[Then, about six months in, clients will reach their] realization point -- when the adrenalin stops pumping. You've realized this is your home now, and then the enormity hits you, and t he stress you put on your family. That's a massive low point."

"It took me about two weeks to get through. It happens with everybody. I get calls from concerned relatives."

Steve Dagworthy, 44, financial broker, founder, Prison Consultants, U.K.

"When I went in, I kept looking to the guards for guidance on what you do and when you do it, and quickly found out that that was absolutely the wrong thing to do."

"It's typical for people who are sentenced to long terms in prison to despair. But what eventually happens is that your former life falls away. So it's not 'what am I missing -- my girlfriend, my family/' Instead, it's: 'On Tuesdays I play the sports league', or 'on Thursdays I go watch a movie in the library'."

"You develop a different life in there. The first six months are really hard. The last six months are also really hard. But the ten years in between, they're really not that bad."

David Parker, prison consultant, U.S.

Law enforcement officers stand at the entrance to the Alderson Federal Prison Camp where Martha Stewart turned herself in October 8, 2004 Getty Images

These are voices of men who have committed white collar crimes, been charged with criminal offences, had court dates, were convicted and then incarcerated. Experiencing your freedom taken away is a shock to anyone. Likely those thought of as forming the criminal class for any kind of societal offense feel disconnected from the world, from their lives, from everything familiar to them, but people of the middle-class who consider themselves generally law-abiding who may have strayed just never imagine that they will commit a crime and face the punishment that accompanies conviction.

Steve Dagworthy, a white-collar worker, middle class, married with two children erred on the wrong side of legal behaviour. He describes his total ignorance of how prison inmates behave, regulated by what he terms "cell etiquette". Which are rules that inmates are expected to recognize and respect. An example being whoever first takes up residence in a prison cell is entitled to the preferred bottom bunk. His lawyers, representing his best interests purportedly, informed him of nothing related to prison life.

When he witnessed bloody knife fights between prisoners he was appalled and no doubt frightened of those who inserted "shivs" within the handles of toothbrshes. He was incarcerated in 2009, and released three years later, serving three years of a sentence. And when he was once again a free man he founded the United Kingdom's first jail-time advice service, teaching wealthy clients how they must adapt to a new style of life in prison, among inmates incarcerated for a wide variety of crimes and coming from mostly backgrounds that partially explain their crimes.

This is a far different type of service than most people could conceive of. It is one aimed directly toward the moneyed upper-middle-class who have abused their privileges through illegal activities of one kind or another. It was revealed this week that Harvey Weinstein the once-powerful Hollywood film producer found guilty this week of some of the charges laid against him of sexual impropriety with a wide number of women who finally stepped forward to reveal his crimes, has seen fit to hire a prison consultant. The man faces up to 25 years in prison for third-degree rape.

Speculation is that in exchange for thousands, the consultant will proceed to tutor Mr. Weinstein on surviving life in prison as a highly recognizable sex offender, someone who will be viewed as despicable among the prison population. The advice will be wide-ranging, from how best to interact with the other inmates in whatever prison he ends up in, to the broader issue of how his long, empty days as a prisoner can be 'enriched'. Presumably, what kind of prison activities he can take advantage of to fill in the blank hours of his new life.

At his age and with the condition of his health, a long prison sentence is a fairly good substitute for a death sentence. Temporarily at least, he will be held at Rikers Island, a New York jail notorious for overcrowding, gang brutality and allegations of human rights violations. Conditions so brutal that municipal politicians have committed to shutting it down. Eventually. It is not Mr. Dagworthy who has been hired by Weinstein to advise him, but if he were, he would begin by informing the man that the first six months he will spend in prison will be full of fear and bewilderment.

Clients of this former prisoner-turned-mentor are advised to find something that will occupy them but to leave a distance between themselves and jobs in the prison that have the potential to place them in awkward positions. Working in the prison kitchen, as an example, might result in someone asking for extra food. "As soon as you get involved in that, then you're known, and you succumb to the professional prisoners who are there to try to get something from you or bully you", he advises, drawing on his personal experience.

As for Mr. Parker and his experience and advice... He states that someone like Weinstein would need to show respect toward those in prison with him. The relationship a prisoner establishes with fellow inmates is critically important to their well-being, far more so than any relationship that can be established with guards, who should be kept at arm's length to avoid accusations of currying favour.
And with Mr. Weinstein's particular case where he will be vulnerable to the actions of other prisoners who may take exception to the presence of an infamous rapist among them, he will likely be placed in protective custody.

There have been instances, points out Mr. Parker, when such notorious prisoners have been beaten to death by fellow inmates. There have been instances where once-powerful men who have been accused, charged and convicted of serial rapes have committed suicide, even those who have been placed on a 'preventive' death watch. However, there are two sides to protective custody; one is fairly obvious; to ensure that other inmates are unable to violently attack another inmate held in low esteem.

And, needless to say the other side of the coin is a curtailment of whatever 'freedom' is available in a prison setting.There is no win-win for someone of this man's ilk. Having committed despicable crimes time and again and bearing no consequences, the times simply caught up with him in a new era of female empowerment, and now there are due consequences. For Mr. Weinsein, dire consequences.