H.M.P
Penninghame
Now this is my kind of jail.. set in roughly 80
acres, bowling green, putting green, long flowing lawns, a driveway fit for a king, at least 1/4 mile long if not more, a
big country house, only problem, it is miles away from anywhere, Newton Stewart to be exact, the river cree running through
the grounds, an excellent salmon water, to which I was to see and help visitors land fish and give tips....
Work parties in this prison consisted of
the gardens, and cleaners and cooks, of course there were a few of my old mates that I had met going through this sentence,
this is a prison that all your , bent lawyers, accountants, went to no mainstream prison for them, yet they were robbing the
tax-payers...leniency or what.. the reason was of course so they wouldnt get bullied shame ...
I was allocated the gardens fortunately their was
an officer from Dungavel who had gained promotion and his post was at Penninghame, so once again I got a job working on my
own steam, nobody to carry again...
My job driving a tractor and mainly consisted of
making sure the main lawns were kept tidy, and on many occasions Mr. Pierce from the scottish prison service commented how
well the grounds looked.....hard-work sir thats all
Penninghame has its own victorian walled garden
so it was mainly self-sufficient ,also a potting
shed, where on one occasion during a visit I managed to have sex, not the most romantic place, but when your locked-up anywhere
will suffice........
It was here I was asked to do some voluntary work,
a garden in Newton Stewart roughly 2 acres plus, little corsbie as it is known and as far as I am aware is possibly the oldest
house in the village dating back to some 1540(
to
be confirmed)
Anyway on visiting this house and garden , it looked
as though it had not been touched since it had been built, not to be put off, I took the task on, this also allowed me out
the prison at night from 17.00pm to 20.45pm during the week and 10.00am to 16.45 pm at the weekends....
Here I met the neighbours ron and loretta
who run a B&B...
The owner of the house a quaint woman called Patricia
Cunningham-tweedie
also in the grounds was a static caravan with it
own electric supply, so they I was all set for the job in task, little did I know how long it would take me get this garden
into some sort of shape
visiting was a pain in the butt as it meant miss
mccauley had to travel from Hamilton down to Newton Stewart, she was not enamoured, but did visit a few times at the prison
and at little-corsbie...the caravan proving its worth at the weekends.....smile
During the week it was all graft and time flew
by and on the odd occasion I was still at the house well after 21.00pm, having to phone the gatehouse asking for someone to
come and pick me up.....oh sorry we forgot you were out.....
Every so often you were allowed day trip to Ayr
leaving the prison at 08.15 and catching the school
run going to Girvan arriving in Ayr roughly 10.15am just enough time to grab some breakfast put a line on and then go to the
pub till 15.15pm
and hope you didnt get a pull at the gatehouse
smelling of drink, numerous occasions I slithered to the dormitory, wasted though drink...lucky-b
One thing I have forgotten to mention is that at
christmas you get a 5-day leave normally from the 22dec till 27dec coach party everyone buzzing...
It was quite funny actually , at the same time
Noranside ,Dungavel,and Penninghame all out for christmas leave used to meet at the clyde bar in Glasgow queen street
talk about a criminal reunion
there must have been at least 150 cons or more
all converging in Glasgow at that time of the year, also there was a summer break of 7 days
to which I cannot remember getting although I did
manage to swing 5 days commpassionate leave to Doncaster..... to which a few of my weekends were supposed to have been , other
ideas myself and miss mccauly taking the route north to Oban spending a night in the (Falls of lora) hotel we only managed
the one night as we were too loud in the evening I guess, so the following night was spent, across the connel bridge in a
B&B once more only one night to bloody loud, as I was supposed to be in Doncaster I was granted an extra day...travelling
time...got to use your head sometimes.....
A small mention to Violet Marshall newton stewart
for the charity work she and the fellow cons did...sponsored car-wash etc...
to be-updated
