Lifers at most safety jail given tea events and cake – as a result of they’re lonely
While most prisoners don’t get to enjoy tea parties with a tasty slice of cake, one jail is tearing up the script and surprisingly treating the inmates to a sweet treat
Lifers at a maximum security jail are being given Tea Parties to cheer themselves up.
Inmates at HMP Long Lartin, a 650-capacity Cat A jail in Worcestershire, are given cuppas and cakes in the visits area of the jail.
Bosses at the jail – home to more than 400 inmates serving life sentences – ‘set up’ tea parties for lags who don’t get visits from friends and family.
Among the ‘visitors’ include volunteers from outside the jail, as well as folk from the jail’s chaplaincy and ‘pals’ from the wings’, who tuck into tea and cake as they have a natter with the lonely lag.
Among the notorious inmates at the jail include Jake Fahri, who murdered Jimmy Mizen in 2008 and was recently recalled to jail after glorifying the murder as drill rapper ‘Ten’.
Others include serial killer Steve Wright, Vincent Tabak, jailed for murdering Joanna Yates, and Becky Watts’ murderer Nathan Matthews.
Carl Dobson, a grime MC known as Crazy Titch who used a submachine gun to murder Richard Holmes in 2005, is also imprisoned at Long Lartin.
In the most recent report out into the jail by Charlie Taylor, the Chief Inspector of Prisons, he said the ‘tea and cake sessions’ were a ‘new initiative’ for those who ‘did not receive social visits’.
He wrote: “At the time of inspection, 57 prisoners were identified as not having any social visits.
“Good work had started with this cohort, driven by a new custodial manager.
“This included the opportunity to have tea and cake sessions in the visits area with friends from their wings to familiarise them with the visits experience.”
It added: “The chaplaincy and prison Listeners engaged in these sessions, and there were plans to expand the number of support services in attendance.”
A prison source said tea parties were ‘all well and good’, but that as most of the inmates were in jail for life – many for murder – it was a ‘kick in the teeth’ for victims and their families.
He said: “Rehabilitation is crucial if we want to stop the merry-go-round of prisoners going in and out of jail, but I don’t think victims would see this as a positive step.
“In fact, I imagine some would find it very upsetting as it’s basically pandering to these incredibly violent men – some who will never change no matter what we try to do to help them.”
Last year a report into the jail revealed how 12 inmates were treated to a ’retreat’ style experience – complete with yoga classes, tennis matches, pet therapy, drama clubs and communal dinner ‘parties’.
It revealed how there was a ‘long waiting list’ of inmates wanting to a place on the specialist Psychologically Informed Planned Environment (PIPE) unit – as well as a waiting list for STAFF, who want to work on the unit.
The jail holds some of the UK’s most dangerous inmates, with two-thirds serving life sentences – and the rest serving sentences of ten years or more.
Previous inmates include murderer Jeremy Bamber, terror preacher Abu Hamza, Charlie Kray, and Charlie Bronson.
Prison chiefs said the ‘visits’ were made – in the main – by volunteers from outside the jail.
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