From T-Bone (Letter 27)

T-Bone is a massively-built spiritual ex-Marine, who uses fighting skills to stop prison rape. T-Bone’s latest letter:

Someone came into my cell and took things when I was at church services. My cellmate didn’t stop them. He said he was in the shower, but I think he had something to do with it. It happened and it was well planned by these guys. They took my food and I want revenge. You know the old saying, cut off the head of the snake and it’s dead.

I’m going to find out who the mastermind was behind all this and ask everyone involved to return everything. I am going to close now, because I am a little upset. Everything will be all right. Peace.

Click here to read the previous letter from T-Bone

Click here to donate to T-Bone.

I now have two books featuring T-Bone, the hard-hitting Prison Time and a self-help book, Lessons from a Drug Lord

Click here to join the T-Bone Appreciation Society on Facebook   

Click here for descriptions of all of the prisoners I write about at Jon’s Jail Journal ranging from Mafia hit men to giant transsexuals.

Shaun Attwood  

From Xena/She-Ra (Letter 7)

Xena/She-Ra - A 6 1/2 foot transsexual and Wiccan priestess with a tattooed penis. The charismatic leader of Cult Of Xena (COX).  Cut off a testicle and almost bled to death. 

I stopped heroin! I’ve been clean now July 22, 2013. I am with a new man who has been helping me with my responsibilities. He is good to me. I have also stop smoking cigarettes. Wow, Huh! Five months now and I am getting fat and I am having problems removing this weight. I weigh 210 pounds now. I have a big ass now, which is great. My breasts are much larger. I am a B cup, 38B.

I don’t think I can talk any more about getting prison raped. It is an issue which is truly painful for me to have to relive. I have tried on countless occasions to put it all to words, and I am gripped with the same fear every time. Thinking about this and other events in my life are equally painful.

The doctors in here do not care for us people, and to find help elsewhere take steps which I have no control in doing. My head is full of Demons, they are dark and scary. I’m afraid to talk about them. How do I? Huh? How? 

Click here to read Xena's previous letter with art

Click here for descriptions of all of the prisoners I write about at Jon’s Jail Journal ranging from Mafia hit men to giant transsexuals.

Shaun Attwood 

Dawn of a New Adventure (Part 15)

Long-term readers of this blog may remember that back in 2008 I was grateful recipient of the mentor scheme run by the KoestlerTrust. I was assigned a mentor, Sally Hinchcliffe, an author who kindly travelled across the UK from Scotland to help me improve my writing. I documented the sessions here. It’s thanks to the Koestler Trust and Sally that I now have four books published.

More recently, I was contacted by the Koestler Trust about being a curator for their annual exhibition of prisoner art at the Southbank Centre. I gladly accepted. Last week, I spent a few days at the Koestler Trust location at Wormwood Scrubs prison selecting art to exhibit in my area of the Royal Festival Hall in September at the Southbank Centre.

These are going to be my bouncers at the exhibition door.

Out of almost 9,000 entries, I selected 19, mostly portraits. Knowing nothing about art, I chose what appealed to me and was of the highest standard. I’d compare it to when you meet someone, you pretty much know right away whether you like them or not. The theme that evolved organically from my selection is faces. Spending all day gazing at art was like meditating on colour. It was great to take a break from the computer to take up such an unusual challenge.

The staff were surprised that I picked a dog in a pink feather boa but some of you know me better.

With eight other curators, all ex-Koestler mentees, I’ll be at the Royal Festival Hall on September 23^rd and 24^th. The “Chasing Dreams” exhibition is free to the public and lasts until the end of November. If you’re in London around that time, please come and support this wonderful organisation and take a look at the prisoners’ art.

Fellow curator Daniel with some of his selection

Click here for Dawn of a New Adventure (Part 14)

Shaun Attwood

From T-Bone (Letter 26)

T-Bone is a massively-built spiritual ex-Marine, who uses fighting skills to stop prison rape. T-Bone’s latest letter:

It’s the same old, same old in this place. The cons are smuggling drugs in their asses and the guards allow it all to happen. There are fights and game playing and exchanging of money and promises. A guy was jumped for his store food. A guy overdosed on heroin and they got to fighting over who was to get what of his. Now we’re on lockdown for who knows how long.

There are a lot of wannabes who pretend to be part of the Mexican Mafia, Aryan Brotherhood or Mau-Mau. One jerk came into the pod and turned all of the Mexicans against each other by saying they had to pay taxes to him. Needless to say, all hell broke loose.

So I made a call to the fourth floor, where all of the shot-callers are locked down. I didn’t feel good about it at all, but all he had to do was stop bullying the weaker guys, stop demanding drugs off everyone who came in from the streets and trying to change the way he thinks in this situation. Guys like him never understand that you can’t keep pushing people around just because you think you can.

Now he’s on a hit list on sight they say. They rolled him out of here with a lot of fanfare and cat calls. He is a hated man. So many people are always trying to run things who aren’t qualified. There’s always one in the bunch who thinks he’s bad. The ones who are truly bad are either dead or put some place in the system where they can’t be around people. 

Click here to read the previous letter from T-Bone

Click here to donate to T-Bone.

I now have two books featuring T-Bone, the hard-hitting Prison Time and a self-help book, Lessons from a Drug Lord

Click here to join the T-Bone Appreciation Society on Facebook   

Click here for descriptions of all of the prisoners I write about at Jon’s Jail Journal ranging from Mafia hit men to giant transsexuals.

Shaun Attwood  

From T-Bone (Letter 25)

T-Bone is a massively-built spiritual ex-Marine, who uses fighting skills to stop prison rape. T-Bone’s latest letter describes more fallout from him smashing the rapist:

As I’m writing this, two things just happened. A guy trying to kill himself jumped off the upper tier, but didn’t die. There was a fight between a Mexican kid and a black kid over why they were looking at each other.

I had to fight another of the shower rapist’s homeboys. He was young and very strong, but didn’t have the experience. He called me out and I tried to ignore him for as long as possible. He put his hands on me by pushing me into a cell and hitting me upside the head. It hurt but I rolled with it and landed a left hook that let him know to stop and he did.

But his homeboys talked him into coming back. I was on guard for him. He tried to cut me with a razor. I had no choice. I blocked it with a double hand Russian arm bar, put him on his back and hit him with a right elbow. His head hit the floor with a dull smack and I walked away.

The last time I looked he was still out of it, lying on his bunk. It’s 9.30PM now and the guy is still hurt. All this because his homeboy couldn’t control his desires and he had to bully some skinny kid, who’s in here for drugs. The rapist saw a fish [new prisoner] and he had to have him instead of saying, “Here’s the ropes, kid” [the do’s and don’ts]. I don’t feel good about any of this crap. I hate bullying of any kind. It’s wrong. The guards are here, so I’ll write you later on.  

Click here to read the previous letter from T-Bone

Click here to donate to T-Bone.

I now have two books featuring T-Bone, the hard-hitting Prison Time and a self-help book, Lessons from a Drug Lord

Click here to join the T-Bone Appreciation Society on Facebook   

Click here for descriptions of all of the prisoners I write about at Jon’s Jail Journal ranging from Mafia hit men to giant transsexuals.

Shaun Attwood