I remember this series well. Was 16 at the time. In terms of British documentary film making it is second only to The World At War. Absolutely outstanding.
This is nowhere near the league of WAW and the 1963 prequel which was concerning the Great War. Its like comparing a disgusting Staffordshire bull terrier and a filthy road man holding it to a gracious cute Labrador with a lovely kind family person that reads Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn instead of drinking estrogen juice down the boozer and cheering on millionaire athletes that hate them and their country
@@howey935 because they would nt listen to prisoners grievances .the did nt then 3 to a cell .no tv or phone then .using bucket .education.work minimal tension brews hence BIGGEST RIOT IN PRISON HISTORY .
I stayed there in the 80s. I had such a lovely time with all the guys it was just like been in the scouts. Dib Dib Dib and up yer pipe was the war cry. I do miss them good old times 😁😁
I remember being in Dorchester/Winchester bloody slop out. Didn't mind doing my bird. Using the old line out the wundow. Just have to get on with the lads and the times goes. Over 30 + years ago.
Strangeways is a very intimidating structure, from both the inside, as well as the out. Those echoing sounds, doors slaming, voices etc, send chill's thru your soul! That riot was long over due watching this.
Amazing insight into con life back in the days, not much has changed bar the wages, spending limit and slop out. I can't believe a bunch of Law students just knock on the front door and gain access, that baffled me. At age 19 I was sentenced to 3 years for months (2009) I served it in 3 prisons, HMPYOI Castington (before it became Northumberland), then shipped to HMP Durham then to HMPYOI Deerbolt and I can tell you now the conditions these men had to endure must have been harsh as fuck compared to now. I honestly think they should bring these conditions back sometimes, the majority of con's these days have it easy (as did ii), very little deterrent and very little stopping people going back unless you change your mindset like I did. Brilliant watch.
Yup I was in strangeways 3 times during the 80s, Risley, Walton, Preston, Detention Centre and a couple of borstals and every one was like a youth club, it is no punishment at all just a bit boring sometimes 😜
the conversation between the screw & the con 20mins 50secs in reminds me of a scene out of Scum. (Think it was Archer & a Scouse screw.. lol classic.) & the con in this part of the documentary was very prophetic because 10 years later Strangeways rioted & took over.
I remember watching this on bbc2 2000 2001 all 4 on night after night some bits have been cut out I noticed I would like to watch all 4 without nothing been cut out
@@MUSIC4TRUTH.... Oh, it's lovely. Green rolling hills, clean air, a real sense of freedom and liberty. Sounds better than wherever you are. You should consider making some lifestyle changes if you have the sensation of being imprisoned when you're actually not. I reckon you should probably smoke a bit less weed and maybe find yourself a nice girl or boyfriend. Life will seem less paranoid and bleak then. Hope this helps! Good luck. :)
They brought the prison to a stop cause the screws said they couldn't work in the conditions what about the prisoners they're having to live in it the screws go home at night no wonder they rioted
Lol it's never changed this was before I was born I was in there in 2013 on remand prison uniform diffrent toilet in cell. The doors are the same same fence on the wing canteen is all on a toach screen machine now tho. loved to of seen the gym tho back then. Only good thing about the place was the gym. It was a-sick gym when I was there.
@23:41 - "prisoners who attempt suicide are stripped naked"???? What sort of institution is this??! I can understand the state's thought processes, there, 'cos I grew up in the mid 1970s - times were different, then. But - how could punishing a suicidal prisoner possibly help them?! It couldn't!!!!!
I'M ASTONISHED THAT NO ONE ELSE HAS RESPONDED TO THIS - THAT SOMEONE WHO HAS ATTEMPTED TO COMMIT SUICIDE IS STRIPPED NAKED........I will continue, regardless of the state, with MY THOUGHT PROCESSES about this injustice, & I defy anyone who challenges me on this.......
Awful, absolutely awful. Glad that I have never had any dealings with the police, never been to prison or even in court. I bet that the vast majority of British people live their lives in the hope that they never have reason to call the useless buggers.
I was in strangeways in 80s unfortunately, on the bright side my club Blackpool fc beat man City in fa Cup and did I give it em lol, sea sea, seasiders 👊
@@johnbryant6572 yeah fair enough, all i knew was i was in Manchester, and a young lad at the time so i enjoyed supporting my team, and like a lot of fans liked to wind up others.
@@johnbryant6572 I've forgotten what happened with 6 month sentence for football related shit against Bolton big fight in Blackpool and there was criminal damage of a pub the whole front caved in, and I was charged with that, it was an Xmas fa Cup game around then against City beat em 2 1, i ended up going to wymott shithole prison from there, it did my head in that much, never went back in.
I found that it was the exact opposite ...I don't remember meeting anybody that said they were innocent ....I think that's just something that once got said in a film or on the tv and people believed it . The ones that were on remand for really serious charges may have stuck to their stories ..but as soon as they got convicted they didn't keep up the pretence. The only people in prison that say their innocent more than likely are innocent
@@brendancronin3796 my experience was the opposite, it was a well known thing we joked about when someone came out with an excuse as to why they shouldn't be there.
@@snowflakemelter1172 I know what you mean ....but on the whole I rarely heard anyone say it ....but if they did your right...we'd laugh .I was in the English prison system and if I'm honest I just don't remember hardly anybody actually saying their innocent .Other people might say " that guy over there has been stitched up and shouldn't be in here " The other one I hear a lot is " you should never ask anyone what their in for"..... I found that to be the opposite , nobody give a shit about being asked what there charges were or what they were convicted of
I was in strangeways in 79/80 first on k wing then back on G wing after being sentenced to borstal, in those days strangeways was a brutal sh#t hole, pissin and shit#in in a bucket, the smell at slop-out each morning is something I will never forget.
Take somebody who has done wrong, treat them like a cunt...an animal... and wonder why they don't pop out of prison feeling reformed and happy? Hope you can find a way to be happy mate.
There were eight episodes in the series. It would be good to see the whole thing. 29/10/1980 - Human Warehouse 05/11/1980 - The Allegation 12/11/1980 - Screws 19/11/1980 - Cons 26/11/1980 - The Block 03/12/1980 - They Call Us Beasts 11/12/1980 - Borstal Boys 17/12/1980 - Christmas
I have worked in the prison service for just over 3 months now, and it is so interesting to watch old documentaries like this to see what prisons were like in the past. The food looks like pigswill compared with what inmates eat now (examples being moussaka, marinated/curried chicken legs and pasta bakes).
I went to prison a few times when I was young and stupid for fines, 21 days is the most I got that was for a £600 fine. But they’ve apparently changed it now and if you get sentenced to days you still have to pay but when I did my days the fine was quashed unless it was for compensation.
7:36 nothings changed I was in belmarsh 2009 and 2011 on remand for 2 & 3 weeks… not only were we locked up 23hrs a day on the 3rd day of being in there they ran out of shower gel… 3 days later the screw was lucky he didn’t get the cue round his head after I said this takes the piss alright for you having your wash everyday but fook us a I’m not even sentenced already I’m being treated like an animal… Both times I got athletes foot from no bleach being allowed into clean the floors the dirty smackheads infected with their rotting feet.. Maybe if some politicians and judges were forced to live in those conditions they might make some changes….
@@Xt-tt6mc why’s that then have you been inside? I have and there loads of older inmates and even the young people in this will not be alive? Prisoners lead hectic lifestyles alcoholism drugs and don’t live that long.. Not everyone is lucky enough to afford healthy food and live like the queen.. Yes there might be a few left but I think u will be wrong...In fact I’m positive ☮️
75% probably dead as the dodo lying in a graveyard nothing but bones, other 25% probably in wheelchairs wearing adult nappies dribbling saliva down their chins
That governor looks like he just pulled his skin mask on this morn what’s with those ears look like they were super glued on ,,The whole upper management look like they should be in an old age pensioners home not a prison.
I don't have any inside knowledge, I find the Governor to be very intelligent and very realistic. If I was in inmate then, of course, I'd hate him...he takes the money from the state and represents the people that locked me up. But for 1980?...I admire his candor. Breaks my heart to hear him talking about why people end up under his care: Mental Health problems, Lack of money, a family to provide for, people overcome but use of drugs or alcohol, people with no hope. I think this Governor really stuck his head on the line by allowing this to be filmed, knowing the system was not working and accepting some of the officers and probation officers were bent or sadistic. I conclude that the people whom judge us are not always anywhere as intelligent as the people they judge over. I do not condone violence or steeling from people not cushioned from our financial/political system. I did, for a while live near a woman whom had been a magistrate for 30 years.....my dad is very wealthy and it was a select village location....she was as mad as a box of frogs....she was evil personified and a much nastier person than any crook I meet in the pub, all while doing drugs. I think we need to stand back and stop thinking about crime and punishment in such "black and white" terms. We need to start punching up: OK I smoke a bit of weed......how about the toxic loans/mortgages traded between banks knowing it was only a short term gain/bonus because the poor fuckers would never pay it back. How about stopping rich cunts in London or Amsterdam making money on the price of wheat next year when humanity just wants a bit of bread? The real crooks are people like Sir Phillip Green, Epstein, Prince Andrew, Robert Maxwell and his awful daughter. Time for us, normal people to stop being pissed over and subjugated. Live long, and follow your hearts! Olly xx
Physically it was easy when I was there in 2015 but mentally it did you in as we were on 23&1/2 lockup for weeks on end and I was celled alone 90% of the time
The governor is a former ww2 veteran so has probably seen more shit than most people ,i would of thought a majority of the prison gaurds would of been ex military also ,the discipline would of been far different back then ,but in honesty i dont think half of the inmates would even been there these days for missing a maintenance payment etc or pinching 30 bobs worth of scrap
@@brendancronin3796 i can belive that im ex army and most of us who join come from the same estates or backgrounds as some of the prisoners would've and therfore some of the prison gaurds too! I can guess the twats wouldve been the one who joined as civis probably never experienced one hardship in life previous you can tell who the thugs are in this documentary
@@herrickmaster77 yeah...the civvys tended to want to prove how tough they and the ex soldiers had a better understanding of how people react in institutions cos as you said they went through worse . I once had a cellmate that was moaning to an officer about getting woken up at 8 0clock and the officer said " shut up ...you wanna see how getting woken up at four in the morning when you've had two hours sleep and then being knee deep in freezing water carrying a weight on your back that weighs more than you wet through feels " I laughed so hard and said " ah I'd have done it on my head ..I wouldn't have needed sleep " and he said " keep dreaming Cronin " ...they actually had a similar senses of humour some of them because after all the army is an institution
@@brendancronin3796 most ex squaddies will have good humour id have hated to put up with the bully boy officers giving people a clout for saying the wrong thing or standing their ground ,im guessing a lot of that went on
@@herrickmaster77 the civvy screws tried to demand respect but the ex forces screws commanded respect ...and there's a big difference . Some of them years ago in the early 90s ( when I had my first holiday courtesy of the queen) in Armley prison Leeds were in a mufti squad called the 'A' team used to illegally enter cells on a night and kick the shit out of cons they deemed trouble makers ...and they were stopped because an ex army screw grassed them up , he was called Mr Mathews and he was full Asian with a broad Scottish accent lol...but what a legend .The civvy screws tended to bring their problems to work more than the ex army did aswell and some of them were still drunk from the night before ....and on a night you could tell which screw was night watch by his walk ...the army blokes had a walk like a metronome whereas the civvys dawdled and they swung their keys really loudly just to emphasize that they literally held the keys to your freedom .
Nothing ever changes this was filmed 4 years before i was born and when I was in strangways in 2015 it looked almost the same except now you have a toilet room as part of your cell
I remember back when we slopped out and queued up for water to wash back at the cell, it was a joke. There was no water pressure so it took ages to get enough water which was almost cold.
@@bellman8041I'm glad I had a separate toilet room as we were locked up 23&1/2 hours a day for weeks on end so can only imagine what it would smell like if we just had buckets
@@chrisw3513 Because at the time the screws were on a work to rule a lot of days it was 24hr bang up Chris. The screws only opened 2-3 cells at a time, it took forever to allow slopping out. Sometimes the bottom landings would flood with sewage, the whole place stank. We never complained you had to get use to it, I only write this for the historical aspect.
I haven't been to jail for over a decade and since my first stretch until then canteen was; basic £5 private + wages, standard £10 + wages, enhanced £30+ wages for convicted cons... £60 on remand. Bang up pay was always £2.50.... you could get 1/2 oz burn, skins and matches for that when i started going to jail.
Can any prisoner understand what incarcerated means? You do a crime and you go to prison not a bloody holiday camp.... also why should any prison have any bloody rights? They don't think about the rights of the people who they are robbing beating raping or been downright obnoxious too... no sympathy for any of them... they are only in this position because they wanted something that they couldn't be arsed to go out and work for... nobody thats nobody should have to suffer the after affects of a incarcerated unsociable delinquent
Humans should still have rights. How do you want them to be treated? If you want to treat them how they treated people then it's just as bad. It's not that black and white. Some people simply haven't had a choice in the paths they have taken in life due to their environment. We have a lot less free will in life than you think. It would be better and more productive for yourself and the world to ask questions and understand human behaviour instead of just dismissing things that are way more complicated than you make out. Otherwise your opinion is based on ignorance. The way humans live now is just a facade, we like to think we are good but we are all capable of doing bad. We aren't any more evolved from even the most barbaric periods of human life. It's just that socially we have created a facade that makes us appear that way. That's just one of many, many aspects to this complicated subject anyway.
You try being terrified of going out the house or coming home again... I agree some upbringings have been difficult but that doesn't give anyone the right to do exactly what they want and bugger the consequences.?. This is what they should do BRAKE THE VICIOUS CIRCLE
@@sallycox2135 yea I've experienced it, I grew up in a rough town and I was getting in trouble myself. It's not as easy as breaking a vicious cycle. That's what I'm saying, some people do well and come out of it but it takes time and self awareness and help from people. For a lot of people there is zero help and it's all they know. For exameple abuse cycles in families are passed down generations. Or simply the way a family member talks down to you affects the way you treat others. There always has been and always will be people who do bad things. Treating prisoners with no respect and giving them no rights does NOT solve this problem. For example, what you described happened in this video where a suicidal inmate has his clothes taken off him and is locked in a tiny room. How will that help anyone?! You want this to be fixed yet you aren't interested in opening your mind and having a discussion about helping people. I don't think we will ever have a definitive solution but treating people how they've been treated their whole life is just going to perpetuate behaviour.
Mr smithson You obviously think i suffer ignorance ... it's not that at all it's first hand experience that's made me bitter.. I'm thinking you have made your point so we really need to agree to disagree.. We all have our own opinions .
That bloke 6 minutes in moaning about being locked up 23 hours a day and having to piss in a bucket, he should of thought about that before committing crime, if you can't do the time then don't do the crime
Not much has changed really prison needs real reform and the war on drugs isn't working they need treatment not locking up legalize drugs tax them and stop making prisoners out if addicts and crime would drop by a massive amount better for society at large
@Carl Carter charles hawtrey was the camp star of the " carry on " films. the other camp one , apart from kenneth williams. he was unkind in real life and refused to sign autographs for children , whose parents sent them over for an autograph , saying " do you know who i am , no , then why do you want my autograph ? " your name sounds american and maybe you dont know what " carry on " films are, in which case please look them up here. they were a series of films from the 50`s approx to the 90`.
@@MisterSands Well I am just observing that it is an industry. If there was no crime there would be no police, prisons, prison officers, judges, lawyers and so on. If a society did not have any crime it would have to invent it. Counterintuitively, society requires crime.
@@richardkelbie5362 no not me this was filmed in the late seventys or 1980 I got out of there in 78 before those 2 guys from Liverpool smashed it up and ran riot for 3 weeks nothing celebrity about me.think I was 23/24 I'm nearly 70.this wasent filmed when I was in there but it's exactly how it was.
NOT MUCH OF A KING IF YA V CANT FIND EPISODE 7 OR 8 ITS TITLE IS; ; : they call us the beasts:: im only joking but ive asked you time ago, and you've still not found it do u =think youtube took it down cause I watched it years n yeas ago ON RUclips but watched them all , its like = impossible,,,,,,, unless you king Artur
Steel a car go to prison 1980 . .Now you could steel a police bmw x5 get chase,d a 100 miles then rite it off .You would get a police caution and a fine £300 , and end up on channel 5 . thats it .
Mmm it depends on your record and the quality of your barrister. We are sending too many people to prison, more than anywhere in western europe and we have the worst reoffending rate so it's not working and costing the taxpayer a fortune. We should be putting more money into reforming people who nick cars, educating them on how to live in a society because most of the time they've grown up in single parent households with zero care. So long as a person is not violent I don't think it's productive to put them in prison where they just learn how to become better criminals. We need to get away from this desire for petty punishment that has no advantages.
I remember this series well. Was 16 at the time. In terms of British documentary film making it is second only to The World At War. Absolutely outstanding.
This is nowhere near the league of WAW and the 1963 prequel which was concerning the Great War. Its like comparing a disgusting Staffordshire bull terrier and a filthy road man holding it to a gracious cute Labrador with a lovely kind family person that reads Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn instead of drinking estrogen juice down the boozer and cheering on millionaire athletes that hate them and their country
I've never been robbed once by a hoodie but thousands of times by a suit and tie!
Cracking statement
English frank! 👊
And had your freedom and rights denied by a suit and a tie too no doubt!
@@marks238 standard procedure by them.
@@andygee8716 Absolutely Andy :)
10yrs after this programme it did EXPLODE.
32:24 - bloody hell it’s Ronnie Barker from Porridge 😂
😂😂😂 great shout I lolled
Got love the calm reasonable approach the officers put on fot the camera ... Every other day the kick the shit out of you
👍and that's the truth couple ok rest are pure dogs
Old Skool bang up 40 years! Thanks for post
I remember this from the 80 s as that guy predicted . The roof did go .and the biggest riot in prison history .
Yep they took it until 1990 then as you say the roof went.
@@howey935 because they would nt listen to prisoners grievances .the did nt then 3 to a cell .no tv or phone then .using bucket .education.work minimal tension brews hence BIGGEST RIOT IN PRISON HISTORY .
@@christopherjamesjames1682 i remember it very well it was just after my 16th birthday.
@@howey935 1 qas 32
@@christopherjamesjames1682 seems like yesterday.
I think think, as an ex-con, that this is one of the best prison documentaries about prison life made
very outdated now
@@rickhardman7376 Yes overcrowding is worse now.
...I remember Manchester Tart, Sunday Dinner Leeds 1984...🙏
😂🤣
Armly
I stayed there in the 80s. I had such a lovely time with all the guys it was just like been in the scouts. Dib Dib Dib and up yer pipe was the war cry. I do miss them good old times 😁😁
u miss sloping out
I guess this was a precursor for the 90s roof riots. Thx for posting.
I remember being in Dorchester/Winchester bloody slop out. Didn't mind doing my bird. Using the old line out the wundow. Just have to get on with the lads and the times goes. Over 30 + years ago.
That takes me back mate, it was when yous was locked up and I was doing your bird back at your house. Memories.
@importedmusic Very good, quite 😁 Yeah, she told me you were a crap lay to pass the time.
@@importedmusic😂😂😂😂😂
Cheers for the upload.
I remember being there in 1987 for a month before going to wymott.it was grim then !
Strangeways is a very intimidating structure, from both the inside, as well as the out.
Those echoing sounds, doors slaming, voices etc, send chill's thru your soul!
That riot was long over due watching this.
I've been to jail 3 times. The main thing they needed to change was the slop out but except for that you do the crime you do the time.
just shows how much the demographics have changed in only 40 years ,
Only!
I'm amazed when I look back at the 80s now, it looks like a foreign world.
That's a polite way to say it.
Did blacks and Asians only start going to prison in the 90’s?
You're right of course but don't forget this is up North. I spent a fair few years in HMP HULL 2000-2012 and it was just about all White lads.
I remember watching this whilst I was sat in there lol
living the dream
those people who were visitors were so snobbish and so far removed from reality and the real world all they do is make it worse
Only the ones interviewed. You can volunteer to be one.
Amazing insight into con life back in the days, not much has changed bar the wages, spending limit and slop out. I can't believe a bunch of Law students just knock on the front door and gain access, that baffled me. At age 19 I was sentenced to 3 years for months (2009) I served it in 3 prisons, HMPYOI Castington (before it became Northumberland), then shipped to HMP Durham then to HMPYOI Deerbolt and I can tell you now the conditions these men had to endure must have been harsh as fuck compared to now. I honestly think they should bring these conditions back sometimes, the majority of con's these days have it easy (as did ii), very little deterrent and very little stopping people going back unless you change your mindset like I did. Brilliant watch.
I agree with you ...I was in Armley and various other prison in the late 90s and it was far too easy ....
Yup I was in strangeways 3 times during the 80s, Risley, Walton, Preston, Detention Centre and a couple of borstals and every one was like a youth club, it is no punishment at all just a bit boring sometimes 😜
the conversation between the screw & the con 20mins 50secs in reminds me of a scene out of Scum. (Think it was Archer & a Scouse screw.. lol classic.) & the con in this part of the documentary was very prophetic because 10 years later Strangeways rioted & took over.
I remember watching this on bbc2 2000 2001 all 4 on night after night some bits have been cut out I noticed I would like to watch all 4 without nothing been cut out
2020 and we all live in strangeways.
I don't. I live in Somerset.
@@davesaunders3334 Sorry to hear that.
@@davesaunders3334 Somerstrangeset ....
@@MUSIC4TRUTH.... Oh, it's lovely. Green rolling hills, clean air, a real sense of freedom and liberty. Sounds better than wherever you are. You should consider making some lifestyle changes if you have the sensation of being imprisoned when you're actually not. I reckon you should probably smoke a bit less weed and maybe find yourself a nice girl or boyfriend. Life will seem less paranoid and bleak then. Hope this helps! Good luck. :)
Very true Gary
I expect that a lot of young people at the time thought that being in prison would be like the tv show Porridge. They got a nasty shock.
Lots looked much older in those days
not if they'd seen Scum first
@@speakertreatzradio thieves beware
K-wing slop outs lovely and the smell of Boddingtons Bitter, The cream of MCR
Notice, no netting on the landings to stop jumpers.
I wonder how many were pushed or "fell" and only proven if it suited those running the show
They brought the prison to a stop cause the screws said they couldn't work in the conditions what about the prisoners they're having to live in it the screws go home at night no wonder they rioted
Five star upload this mate...thanks for this and the other eps.
Yep, that's why it's called 'punishment'...Lol
Of course she knew of prisoners having a fair hearing. . . . . And I'll bet she had fairies at the bottom of her garden til the devil came for her.
Lol it's never changed this was before I was born I was in there in 2013 on remand prison uniform diffrent toilet in cell. The doors are the same same fence on the wing canteen is all on a toach screen machine now tho. loved to of seen the gym tho back then. Only good thing about the place was the gym. It was a-sick gym when I was there.
Met and trained with Paul Sykes there in late 70s
I half expected him to say "4737, Carlin, Sir!" @8:53
@23:41 - "prisoners who attempt suicide are stripped naked"???? What sort of institution is this??! I can understand the state's thought processes, there, 'cos I grew up in the mid 1970s - times were different, then. But - how could punishing a suicidal prisoner possibly help them?! It couldn't!!!!!
I'M ASTONISHED THAT NO ONE ELSE HAS RESPONDED TO THIS - THAT SOMEONE WHO HAS ATTEMPTED TO COMMIT SUICIDE IS STRIPPED NAKED........I will continue, regardless of the state, with MY THOUGHT PROCESSES about this injustice, & I defy anyone who challenges me on this.......
It just looks brutal compared to now.
I predict a riot
Great show
Are you Stuart torevell from most haunted?
wow i had the sound off and staying alive on another tab playing i really thought this was the video at first !
Awful, absolutely awful. Glad that I have never had any dealings with the police, never been to prison or even in court. I bet that the vast majority of British people live their lives in the hope that they never have reason to call the useless buggers.
"Judges must beware of hard constructions and strained inferences, for there is no worse torture than that of laws."---- Francis Bacon.
Amen to that..
I was in strangeways in 80s unfortunately, on the bright side my club Blackpool fc beat man City in fa Cup and did I give it em lol, sea sea, seasiders 👊
@@johnbryant6572 yeah fair enough, all i knew was i was in Manchester, and a young lad at the time so i enjoyed supporting my team, and like a lot of fans liked to wind up others.
@@johnbryant6572 I've forgotten what happened with 6 month sentence for football related shit against Bolton big fight in Blackpool and there was criminal damage of a pub the whole front caved in, and I was charged with that, it was an Xmas fa Cup game around then against City beat em 2 1, i ended up going to wymott shithole prison from there, it did my head in that much, never went back in.
He said Man City.
Trevor was our neighbour no surprise he ended up here?
Everyone in prison is innocent, they all told me when I was there.
I found that it was the exact opposite ...I don't remember meeting anybody that said they were innocent ....I think that's just something that once got said in a film or on the tv and people believed it .
The ones that were on remand for really serious charges may have stuck to their stories ..but as soon as they got convicted they didn't keep up the pretence.
The only people in prison that say their innocent more than likely are innocent
@@brendancronin3796 my experience was the opposite, it was a well known thing we joked about when someone came out with an excuse as to why they shouldn't be there.
@@snowflakemelter1172 I know what you mean ....but on the whole I rarely heard anyone say it ....but if they did your right...we'd laugh .I was in the English prison system and if I'm honest I just don't remember hardly anybody actually saying their innocent .Other people might say " that guy over there has been stitched up and shouldn't be in here "
The other one I hear a lot is " you should never ask anyone what their in for"..... I found that to be the opposite , nobody give a shit about being asked what there charges were or what they were convicted of
@@brendancronin3796 It makes them look daft because they're still sitting here like the rest of us
I was in strangeways in 79/80 first on k wing then back on G wing after being sentenced to borstal, in those days strangeways was a brutal sh#t hole, pissin and shit#in in a bucket, the smell at slop-out each morning is something I will never forget.
Take somebody who has done wrong, treat them like a cunt...an animal... and wonder why they don't pop out of prison feeling reformed and happy? Hope you can find a way to be happy mate.
Was in there 1986 k wing what a shit hole
I played a gig there with my band back in 79’ ( I think , or late 78’). In the chapel on a Sunday morning.
fantastic upload mate...do you have more episodes?
There were eight episodes in the series. It would be good to see the whole thing.
29/10/1980 - Human Warehouse
05/11/1980 - The Allegation
12/11/1980 - Screws
19/11/1980 - Cons
26/11/1980 - The Block
03/12/1980 - They Call Us Beasts
11/12/1980 - Borstal Boys
17/12/1980 - Christmas
@@stevehamilton3430 Is this a Granada / World in action production?
Thanks for the episode titles.
wow brings back so many memories, met some decent lads in the big house..
Watch this entire series and then wonder how the riots happened a decade later.
It's classium pure
The BoV lol what a joke. You can clearly see from 34:05 they were farrrrr from impartial, they may as well have worn the same get up as the screws.
I have worked in the prison service for just over 3 months now, and it is so interesting to watch old documentaries like this to see what prisons were like in the past. The food looks like pigswill compared with what inmates eat now (examples being moussaka, marinated/curried chicken legs and pasta bakes).
To be fair the food you describe is mostly garbage, i was in strange ways in 80s and food wasn't that bad, regular meals.
Jennifer g. Hands off the inmates.
@@peterhoey7453 I'm a Records Clerk and I only see the little charmers through a window into Reception when collecting files 😀
@@Potionette81 nice one. Do you work in a adult prison.
I went to prison a few times when I was young and stupid for fines, 21 days is the most I got that was for a £600 fine. But they’ve apparently changed it now and if you get sentenced to days you still have to pay but when I did my days the fine was quashed unless it was for compensation.
Yeah I used to go for my fines ...but now your right you've still got to pay them ...fuck that
G wing YP landing 1971 goolash n manchester tart
I was in Forrest bank In 05 and u used to get £8 week bang up pay and u had to pay 50p a week for ur tv in double sell and £1 week in single
bargain
Anyone know who was the old geezer locked up 26 year's seemed to be a rebel still
7:36 nothings changed I was in belmarsh 2009 and 2011 on remand for 2 & 3 weeks… not only were we locked up 23hrs a day on the 3rd day of being in there they ran out of shower gel…
3 days later the screw was lucky he didn’t get the cue round his head after I said this takes the piss alright for you having your wash everyday but fook us a I’m not even sentenced already I’m being treated like an animal…
Both times I got athletes foot from no bleach being allowed into clean the floors the dirty smackheads infected with their rotting feet..
Maybe if some politicians and judges were forced to live in those conditions they might make some changes….
I'd love updates on the people in this show.
Graveyard it’s 41 years ago son lol? I think there all sleeping peacefully now ☮️
@@Roscoe.P.Coldchain
Not really.. statistically The Majority will be alive and in their sixties or seventies
@@Xt-tt6mc why’s that then have you been inside? I have and there loads of older inmates and even the young people in this will not be alive? Prisoners lead hectic lifestyles alcoholism drugs and don’t live that long.. Not everyone is lucky enough to afford healthy food and live like the queen.. Yes there might be a few left but I think u will be wrong...In fact I’m positive ☮️
75% probably dead as the dodo lying in a graveyard nothing but bones, other 25% probably in wheelchairs wearing adult nappies dribbling saliva down their chins
They dead
Is the guvnors head heavy on one side? He can't seem to keep it upright.
It said he was injured during WW2
Just stressed about being honest during a time when we didn't think men, even when they have done wrong, have any feelings. An early whistle blower.
Just got out strange ways end January lovely place will be back to visit shortly
free meals waiting for you
That prisoner "i dont read" theres yer problem clam
I didnt know the governor was CHARLES HAWTREY
That governor looks like he just pulled his skin mask on this morn what’s with those ears look like they were super glued on ,,The whole upper management look like they should be in an old age pensioners home not a prison.
As per the narration, he was a tank commander severely injured during the war.
@@robertyoung73 explains it then
So where’s the rest of the series ?
The British penal system, worse than some, better than some!
Was that long haired lad a hippie probably went to Stonehenge festivals
Real jail, the lads now have it easy
The Gov looked aged 80 in 1980.
Mad thing is he was only 26 in this video just working at strangeways aged him terribly
I don't have any inside knowledge, I find the Governor to be very intelligent and very realistic. If I was in inmate then, of course, I'd hate him...he takes the money from the state and represents the people that locked me up. But for 1980?...I admire his candor. Breaks my heart to hear him talking about why people end up under his care: Mental Health problems, Lack of money, a family to provide for, people overcome but use of drugs or alcohol, people with no hope. I think this Governor really stuck his head on the line by allowing this to be filmed, knowing the system was not working and accepting some of the officers and probation officers were bent or sadistic. I conclude that the people whom judge us are not always anywhere as intelligent as the people they judge over. I do not condone violence or steeling from people not cushioned from our financial/political system. I did, for a while live near a woman whom had been a magistrate for 30 years.....my dad is very wealthy and it was a select village location....she was as mad as a box of frogs....she was evil personified and a much nastier person than any crook I meet in the pub, all while doing drugs. I think we need to stand back and stop thinking about crime and punishment in such "black and white" terms. We need to start punching up: OK I smoke a bit of weed......how about the toxic loans/mortgages traded between banks knowing it was only a short term gain/bonus because the poor fuckers would never pay it back. How about stopping rich cunts in London or Amsterdam making money on the price of wheat next year when humanity just wants a bit of bread? The real crooks are people like Sir Phillip Green, Epstein, Prince Andrew, Robert Maxwell and his awful daughter. Time for us, normal people to stop being pissed over and subjugated. Live long, and follow your hearts! Olly xx
Yep
What insight named the names then quite rightly
MR BROWN THE WAR HERO
Holiday camp beleave me beats being in outside world working for a pittance in all weathers
Physically it was easy when I was there in 2015 but mentally it did you in as we were on 23&1/2 lockup for weeks on end and I was celled alone 90% of the time
@@chrisw3513 me too both mentally as well ,had far worse managers and foreman's beleave me than any of the screws in there
The governor is a former ww2 veteran so has probably seen more shit than most people ,i would of thought a majority of the prison gaurds would of been ex military also ,the discipline would of been far different back then ,but in honesty i dont think half of the inmates would even been there these days for missing a maintenance payment etc or pinching 30 bobs worth of scrap
Yeah back then there was a fair few ex military and in my experience most of them tended to be firm but fairer than the screws that had been civvys
@@brendancronin3796 i can belive that im ex army and most of us who join come from the same estates or backgrounds as some of the prisoners would've and therfore some of the prison gaurds too! I can guess the twats wouldve been the one who joined as civis probably never experienced one hardship in life previous you can tell who the thugs are in this documentary
@@herrickmaster77 yeah...the civvys tended to want to prove how tough they and the ex soldiers had a better understanding of how people react in institutions cos as you said they went through worse .
I once had a cellmate that was moaning to an officer about getting woken up at 8 0clock and the officer said " shut up ...you wanna see how getting woken up at four in the morning when you've had two hours sleep and then being knee deep in freezing water carrying a weight on your back that weighs more than you wet through feels " I laughed so hard and said " ah I'd have done it on my head ..I wouldn't have needed sleep " and he said " keep dreaming Cronin " ...they actually had a similar senses of humour some of them because after all the army is an institution
@@brendancronin3796 most ex squaddies will have good humour id have hated to put up with the bully boy officers giving people a clout for saying the wrong thing or standing their ground ,im guessing a lot of that went on
@@herrickmaster77 the civvy screws tried to demand respect but the ex forces screws commanded respect ...and there's a big difference .
Some of them years ago in the early 90s ( when I had my first holiday courtesy of the queen) in Armley prison Leeds were in a mufti squad called the 'A' team used to illegally enter cells on a night and kick the shit out of cons they deemed trouble makers ...and they were stopped because an ex army screw grassed them up , he was called Mr Mathews and he was full Asian with a broad Scottish accent lol...but what a legend .The civvy screws tended to bring their problems to work more than the ex army did aswell and some of them were still drunk from the night before ....and on a night you could tell which screw was night watch by his walk ...the army blokes had a walk like a metronome whereas the civvys dawdled and they swung their keys really loudly just to emphasize that they literally held the keys to your freedom .
A bit like Butlins.
Who remembers their prison number? I do...TG0870! 😳
Lol A5051cc
I've had so many but I remember my first one from HMYOI Northallerton AX8033.
Nothing ever changes this was filmed 4 years before i was born and when I was in strangways in 2015 it looked almost the same except now you have a toilet room as part of your cell
I remember back when we slopped out and queued up for water to wash back at the cell, it was a joke. There was no water pressure so it took ages to get enough water which was almost cold.
Poor you 😂😂
@Gee smith it did but when they rebuilt it if you look at the video the wall between cells they created a toilet room in that void about 6ft square
@@bellman8041I'm glad I had a separate toilet room as we were locked up 23&1/2 hours a day for weeks on end so can only imagine what it would smell like if we just had buckets
@@chrisw3513 Because at the time the screws were on a work to rule a lot of days it was 24hr bang up Chris. The screws only opened 2-3 cells at a time, it took forever to allow slopping out. Sometimes the bottom landings would flood with sewage, the whole place stank. We never complained you had to get use to it, I only write this for the historical aspect.
Mr Thacker was the main screw on my landing on the Borstal allocation wing at this time. Anyone remember him?
I remember him, rumour had it he hated cons as his daughter married one he knew from strangeways!!
@@cooksteve8428 His daughter probably rebelled against him, after all he was the typical drill Sargent.
@@bellman8041 Probably, personally i thought he was hilarious and never took him serious!!
Screws are just that, 🧠⚰️.
Carlin from the movie Scum...arriving in Big Boy Prison.
Bath once a week 🥴
They were systematically brutalised into the bargain
17:05 Cat Z acting
Straighways prison in 90s
They always won
You get £4:50 on basic, £8:50 standard, £14:50 on enhanced emount. They got £1:50 back in the day 😮 Fuck that lol
I haven't been to jail for over a decade and since my first stretch until then canteen was; basic £5 private + wages, standard £10 + wages, enhanced £30+ wages for convicted cons... £60 on remand. Bang up pay was always £2.50.... you could get 1/2 oz burn, skins and matches for that when i started going to jail.
Can any prisoner understand what incarcerated means? You do a crime and you go to prison not a bloody holiday camp.... also why should any prison have any bloody rights? They don't think about the rights of the people who they are robbing beating raping or been downright obnoxious too... no sympathy for any of them... they are only in this position because they wanted something that they couldn't be arsed to go out and work for... nobody thats nobody should have to suffer the after affects of a incarcerated unsociable delinquent
Humans should still have rights. How do you want them to be treated? If you want to treat them how they treated people then it's just as bad. It's not that black and white. Some people simply haven't had a choice in the paths they have taken in life due to their environment. We have a lot less free will in life than you think. It would be better and more productive for yourself and the world to ask questions and understand human behaviour instead of just dismissing things that are way more complicated than you make out. Otherwise your opinion is based on ignorance. The way humans live now is just a facade, we like to think we are good but
we are all capable of doing bad. We aren't any more evolved from even the most barbaric periods of human life. It's just that socially we have created a facade that makes us appear that way. That's just one of many, many aspects to this complicated subject anyway.
You try being terrified of going out the house or coming home again... I agree some upbringings have been difficult but that doesn't give anyone the right to do exactly what they want and bugger the consequences.?. This is what they should do BRAKE THE VICIOUS CIRCLE
@@sallycox2135 yea I've experienced it, I grew up in a rough town and I was getting in trouble myself. It's not as easy as breaking a vicious cycle. That's what I'm saying, some people do well and come out of it but it takes time and self awareness and help from people. For a lot of people there is zero help and it's all they know. For exameple abuse cycles in families are passed down generations. Or simply the way a family member talks down to you affects the way you treat others. There always has been and always will be people who do bad things. Treating prisoners with no respect and giving them no rights does NOT solve this problem. For example, what you described happened in this video where a suicidal inmate has his clothes taken off him and is locked in a tiny room. How will that help anyone?! You want this to be fixed yet you aren't interested in opening your mind and having a discussion about helping people.
I don't think we will ever have a definitive solution but treating people how they've been treated their whole life is just going to perpetuate behaviour.
Mr smithson
You obviously think i suffer ignorance ... it's not that at all it's first hand experience that's made me bitter..
I'm thinking you have made your point so we really need to agree to disagree..
We all have our own opinions .
@@sallycox2135 cool no worries
They are letting Charlie bronson out about time to
doubt he'll cope with modern world
£120 a week lol!! 🤦♀️
was a lot in those days
Throw away the key. Job done
That bloke 6 minutes in moaning about being locked up 23 hours a day and having to piss in a bucket, he should of thought about that before committing crime, if you can't do the time then don't do the crime
Not helpful
God he was a whining little twerp, don't break the law then
@@norbertalbertz7259 a whining derp? He predicted exactly what would happen, the roof would come off the prison.
Crime doesn't pay.
Not much has changed really prison needs real reform and the war on drugs isn't working they need treatment not locking up legalize drugs tax them and stop making prisoners out if addicts and crime would drop by a massive amount better for society at large
Charles Haltrey is the prison governor 🤣
Oh i say!
@Carl Carter charles hawtrey was the camp star of the " carry on " films. the other camp one , apart from kenneth williams. he was unkind in real life and refused to sign autographs for children , whose parents sent them over for an autograph , saying " do you know who i am , no , then why do you want my autograph ? " your name sounds american and maybe you dont know what " carry on " films are, in which case please look them up here. they were a series of films from the 50`s approx to the 90`.
Ronnie barker trying out his role for porridge
Crime control as industry.
Yeah but what's the alternative?
@@MisterSands
Well I am just observing that it is an industry. If there was no crime there would be no police, prisons, prison officers, judges, lawyers and so on.
If a society did not have any crime it would have to invent it. Counterintuitively, society requires crime.
wonder if any of the young lads are still alive hope some are ... did you change your life and get out of jail ?
Lol'z
@@johnbryant6572 Were you a bit of a celebrity at the time with it being on tv? With only 3 channels back then everyone seen it
@@richardkelbie5362 no not me this was filmed in the late seventys or 1980 I got out of there in 78 before those 2 guys from Liverpool smashed it up and ran riot for 3 weeks nothing celebrity about me.think I was 23/24 I'm nearly 70.this wasent filmed when I was in there but it's exactly how it was.
@@johnbryant6572 life goes past so quick
@@johnbryant6572 glad to read you are still about :) all the best .
How is learning em French gonna help em ffs 😢
Doing baccy runs to France lol.
NOT MUCH OF A KING IF YA V CANT FIND EPISODE 7 OR 8 ITS TITLE IS; ; : they call us the beasts:: im only joking but ive asked you time ago, and you've still not found it do u =think youtube took it down cause I watched it years n yeas ago ON RUclips but watched them all , its like = impossible,,,,,,, unless you king Artur
I ant seen one black person?
The good old days.
@@MisterSands hahaha 🤣🤣👍
Because it's up North... they were all down south then.
Was that Paul Sykes ?
No, similar looking but wasn’t him
Vinnie valenti
Steel a car go to prison 1980 . .Now you could steel a police bmw x5 get chase,d a 100 miles then rite it off .You would get a police caution and a fine £300 , and end up on channel 5 . thats it .
Mmm it depends on your record and the quality of your barrister. We are sending too many people to prison, more than anywhere in western europe and we have the worst reoffending rate so it's not working and costing the taxpayer a fortune. We should be putting more money into reforming people who nick cars, educating them on how to live in a society because most of the time they've grown up in single parent households with zero care. So long as a person is not violent I don't think it's productive to put them in prison where they just learn how to become better criminals. We need to get away from this desire for petty punishment that has no advantages.
What a horrible creepy little man I wonder who jgs
Is it me or does Strangeways actually seem like a pretty decent place to be banged up?
At least the screws had the prison under control. Nowadays it's a complete shit show.
Thatchers Britain
Dirty, dishonest screws.