Brett Ewins hospitalised by police

[Emperor]

Perhaps the first port of call would be to contact his family and close friends to establish their wishes in the matter, before embarking on any kind of campaign however well-meaning.  Who would have a point of contact for his brother, for example?  Rufus, maybe?

His MP Steve Pound seemed to know Brett, maybe he would be someone to approach about the matter, but I presume the family have tried that already.

Good points. It'd make sense for only one person to do the contacting, so they don't get swamped (going via Rufus might be the best idea). Any volunteers?

Looks like that volunteer is me. I'll fire off an email to Rufus later.

[Cactus]

My suggestion is that Brett's family might want to contact Private Eye. His situation and obvious poor treatment at the hands of the people we trust to defend us is right up their street.

Not exactly high profile but I suspect the Eye's circulation is greater than 2000ad's.

[Old Tankie]

We only seem to be getting one version of events here.  Perhaps we should wait a bit longer to hear the other side, before we completely slag off the authorities.

[TordelBack]

I admire your equanimity and patience, Tankie, but taken direct from a fragile recovery in hospital to remand in Wormwood Scrubs without his psychiatric medication would seem like shoddy treatment for Hannibal Lector, never mind Brett Ewins.  Hardly anyone here has played down the seriousness of injuring a police officer, but there are serious questions to be asked about the subsequent sequence of events, and particularly the current situation. 

I've written to his MP asking that he look into the conditions under which Brett is held, seeing as he appeared in a favourable light in the initial press report.  It's less than nothing, especially from a non-national, but pending some information from those close to Brett I'm reluctant to get too strident.  Yet.

Brett Ewins' art gave me a great deal of pleasure as a child, and if a fan can't express his concern for his well-being in part return for that gift, who can?

[Old Tankie]

I have to confess, TB, that I haven't read every post on this thread in detail or every news item about it but I just get the impression that the anti-police/authorities slant seems to be taken as gospel, when I would regard some of it as speculation.  Just because someone with a personal interest in the situation states a certain view, it doesn't necessarily follow that that person is 100% correct in what they are saying.  I think it's a good thing that you've written to his MP and, hopefully, you'll get a positive response.  I wish Brett all the best.  However, there are, in most cases, two sides to a story.

[Bat King]

Perhaps the first port of call would be to contact his family and close friends to establish their wishes in the matter, before embarking on any kind of campaign however well-meaning.  Who would have a point of contact for his brother, for example?  Rufus, maybe?

His MP Steve Pound seemed to know Brett, maybe he would be someone to approach about the matter, but I presume the family have tried that already.

Good points. It'd make sense for only one person to do the contacting, so they don't get swamped (going via Rufus might be the best idea). Any volunteers?

Looks like that volunteer is me. I'll fire off an email to Rufus later.

Your idea of one person contacting Rufus to get the family's wishes known gets my vote Emperor.  I trust you to act on my behalf in this.

Regardless of the fact we are getting mostly one sided versions of events it is clear that moving someone with severe mental health issues from hospital to Wormwood Scrubs is a rather questionable step.

I can't comment on what force was used against Brett.  The fact a police officer was ingjured is serious, albeit the injuries were much lighter than Brett's.  There is no knowing whether the force used against Brett was excessive, remember serious injury can come from 'reasonable force' as well as excessive force.

The important fact at the moment is that a very ill person, one many of us respect, is in Wormwood Scrubs when he should be in hospital.

[Judo]

mental health issues or not, commit a crime and you will be taken to jail once well enough pending trial. Notifying the family is the hospitals job, as is providing details on the medication. Then it is between the police, the social work and the victim to decide whether to press charges. Yes disabled people can be charged with assault, but then its usually decided that retributive punishments are a waste of time I do not know the full details on this as I have only heard newspaper and other such coverage and am only sharing my personal knowledge of this as this from dealing with it at work in scotland (variations may apply). If there really has been any misconduct then yes, 100% look into it further - the social work should be doing that anyways - but I would definitely ask the family and find out more first x

Ps give rufus my number while you're at it ;P jk!

[Dog Deever]

there's loads of guys in prison whoo need medication and very often can't get it- it isn't as simple as 'having a line from a doctor'. There are sanctioned drugs like methadone and valium etc for addicts and ibuprofen for general use- sometimes people find it hard to get those- it's easier to get valiums off another prisoner- or any other drugs, than any kind of medication. There is a strict procedure to go to get medication and there is no way round it- because of the severe staff shortages in prisons, paperwork takes ages to get attended to and this is the cause of so many delays.
Meanwhile you have jails full to capacity with a great many people locked up who are in desperate need of medication and just cannot get at it. I've seen some pretty fucked up guys in prison for a fair amount of time before being released, and it's a hard ride in there for anyone vulnerable.

It's hard to fathom any kind of social justice or rehabilitation, or , indeed, even sense out of this system. It's very dis-spiriting to see really.

[Dog Deever]

sorry if that sounds bleak as fuck, but it is what it is.

[TordelBack]

sorry if that sounds bleak as fuck, but it is what it is.

No no Dog, you're mistaken - prison is a luxury hotel, three meals a day served to you free of charge, plasma TVs in every cells, free gym membership, your friends and family coming to visit all the time, hot-and-cold running drugs.  At least that's what I understand to be the case from radio talk shows and comments sections of almost all news sites.  There's an unpopular tax currently on the go here in Ireland, and the Number 1 comment on every site I visit is: "I'm not paying, they can lock me up instead, I fancy a few weeks holiday at the government's expense".  It makes me want to scream.

[Dog Deever]

it's bravado that's picked up on- I heard guys say all the time that it was like a holiday camp etc, but those same guys also has bitter complaints and lots of problems while inside- the very culture itself is detrimental to anyone's mental health.
It suits people to pick up on the idea of that they have it easy inside- sure they have food and a bed- shit food that was cooked by other prisoners who may hate you and may be skimming foodstuffs to exchange for tobacco/ drugs/ scrolls. Meat dishes with very little meat left are common.
It's cut-throat in there and there are predators and prey. Unfortunately the systems rarely work how they look on paper- thanks to a slew of paper work tick-boxes to 'prove' the system works, generally filed by people who would shit a brick if they had to rub shoulders with actual prisoners.
In Scotland, the prison budget has to be cut by 5% every year. At what point does (did?) that start cutting into a systems ability to function on the ground, despite what the paperwork says.

And people who have never experienced it and the mass media would love us all to believe it's a dawdle in there- of course they would- then they can cut the budgets year in, year out and pretend that prison actually serves any real purpose other than to get people out of the way for a while.
I worked in one for 6 years, two in fact, so I've seen enough to laugh tales of prison being easy- I've often pointed it out to guys who have been blahing about how easy it was to other cons- 'that's nae whit ye said 2 weeks ago when yer co-pilot smashed you in the head with a mug over a 1/4 oz of tobacco owed.'

I would rather pay up any fine in instalments- no matter how large, than spend one entire week in there.

[Judo]

the prison system as a whole is an entirely different matter. Like did you know that drugs are such a problem that they have to have 'drug free' areas of the prison as hard drugs are so common. This is because people just throw things over the wall all the time. My cousin works in a prison doing drug rehabilitation.

But yes i totally agree that prisons are over filled and under staffed x

[TordelBack]

I would rather pay up any fine in instalments- no matter how large, than spend one entire week in there.

Just to be clear, I agree entirely, and in every particular.

My wife has done work in prisons, and it scared the crap out of her.  Worse, I have a good mate who's been working in the probation service for nearly 20 years now, and on the rare occasions he talks about his work it would move you to tears.

[Dog Deever]

Like did you know that drugs are such a problem that they have to have 'drug free' areas of the prison as hard drugs are so common.

well- yeah I did. People who have never had drug habits before can easy come out with an addiction- it's actually fairly common. To spend your time gouched rather than having to actually experience the reality of it is a fairly attractive prospect.

This is because people just throw things over the wall all the time. My cousin works in a prison doing drug rehabilitation.

Yeah- tennis balls and oranges packed with stuff, or sometimes just a blatant chunk of hash going over. Much of this is organised from inside though, mobile phones are a valuable commodity inside, and access to the internet can be had then. There is a heartening amount of human ingenuity in there- even if it is being channelled in entirely the wrong direction.


No worries TB- I know you were satirising the populist view f pokey.

[O Lucky Stevie!]

From Alan Mitchell via Facebook:

"Is there are opportunities to get him a legal brief or to engage the support of mental health campaigners? I would go to the press with this story if I were you. The Guardian, Time Out The Times ... we need to turn this into a story by spinning it on the local news and in the press."