Read these facts about prison life. You will be asked questions on them.
Prisoners will share a cell with other inmates. You have no control over who you share your cell with – you could be sharing your cell with a murderer.
Prisons in the UK operate the ‘Earned privileges and incentives scheme’. Prisoners can access work and education in prison, but this is a privilege which must be earnt, and can—of course— be taken away.
It’s true that most cells will have small TVs, but there isn’t a huge range of stations and prisoners only get them if they behave.
A prisoner who breaks prison rules is normally punished. They can be kept in their cell for up to 21 days or given up to 42 extra days in prison on top of their original sentence. The prison can take away privileges – eg removing a TV from a cell.
Prisoners can only go outside for between 30 mins and 1 hour per day
A prisoner who has a child over 18 months old will have their child taken away from them by Social Services, who will arrange for the child to be cared for
Normally there’s no limit on the number of letters you can receive as a prisoner. But most letters sent to and from prison are checked by prison staff.
A prisoner will not have a mobile phone or any devices with wifi or internet access. A prisoner can only make calls using a prison phone and prison staff can listen to and record most types of call.