TRAINING & EDUCATION


I tell them to view their day as coming to work and aiming to get the site looking as attractive as they can, whilst making the best from a bad situation, which being in prison is, of course.


”


They seem to take that on board as seldom, if ever, do we encounter a problem


office. The prisoners team has recently laid foundations for its larger, modular timber- framed successor behind the greenhouses. “I’m just one cog in a big educational


wheel,” she notes. “I assess needs in Maths and English, which are embedded in prisoners’ jobs, and focus on functional and applied aspects, such as asking them how many flowers they would need to plant within a designated area or how to measure out stripes to a set width.”


Evidence of the practical skills and artistry prisoners bring to the site is everywhere.


A splendid timber bird


table, assembled in the expansive wood shop, adorns the Prison Governor’s Garden, which his office overlooks, whilst a pair of dramatic hexagonal wooden planters straddle the entrance to the garden to


complement beds bustling with colour, trees and eye-catching striped lawn. Elsewhere, the team


created their own sensory garden,


complete with shrub and herb planters


surrounded by aquatically inspired mural art on the walls. To the rear of the greenhouses, vegetable planters


142 PC December/January 2019


constructed by the prisoners are inscribed ornately with the words: ‘Gardening - cheaper than therapy and you get tomatoes’ and another with ‘Trespassers will be composted’. The output is not purely for internal application. The gardens department has linked with a community garden scheme in Peterlee, supplying ‘Old English’ styled signs for it. Andrew Pepper, 56, Band 3, Gardens Maintenance, manages the external areas fronting the main entrance and the bund at the rear, which requires chippers and chainsaws to keep it under control. “Although one of the team, Andrew works exclusively outside, which is a big task in itself,” Andy notes. Terry Mallerby, 60, a Band 4 member of the team, co-ordinates the waste management function, with Derek Pears, 67, and Colin Steer, 57, working with prisoners assigned to this aspect of land-based activities.


Given the size of the prison population


here, the scale of the operation is necessarily vast. “Prisoners have the opportunity to sort their own waste for recycling,” Andy says. “Waste paper is shredded and bailed, cardboard compacted and bailed and tins, clothing and bedding sorted, ready for the waste management operator, which collects three times a week.” Andy, still only 30, came to Holme House in early 2015 as a Band 3 Horticultural Instructor and holding a wealth of experience in turf management. “The bands reflect length of service and qualification,” he explains. “I’m Band 3, whilst Les is Band 4 and Jeff Band 5.” Qualified to Level 3 in Horticulture and Level 3 in Sportsturf, he also holds PA1 and PA6 spray licences. Holme House presented a dramatic change in Andy’s career. Starting out straight from school in 2005 at 15, he took a fortnight’s work experience at Hartlepool United FC in what proved a true trial of his ambitions.


“My first job was sweeping and painting


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