Informative, entertaining, against the grain, Her Majesty's Philosophers highlights the artificiality of prison life. By a Guardian correspondent this book is set to be a penal affairs classic which every student of crime and punishment should read.
survival, coping, soap, teabags, cell mates, the constant noise and immediacy. And needless to say, the men come up with philosophical gems of their own. Her Majesty's Philosophers is also about isolation, the long hours, knockbacks and the emotional mutilation of imprisonment; and whilst philosophy is 'soft and fluffy' it contrasts starkly with the pragmatic world of prison officers, for whom the Holy Grail is Security, Keys and Prison Craft. The book charts how learning changes lives, especially for prisoners who missed out on formal education, who-once motivated-become voracious readers and extraordinary students. It demonstrates more than any official report the value of a wider agenda than Basic Skills. Prisons have been labelled 'Universities of Crime', but colleges are increasingly populated by those who began their studies in a prison cell. In a book packed with wisdom and humour the author laments the fact that prison policy means that this is becoming a far less easy step.
Reviews
Amy Leavitt , Writer, USA.
Dick Gordon, The Story
how it can mess with people's minds': Alice Woolley, The Guardian.
Benjamin Allen, South Texas College.
Clive Hopwood, Director, Writers in Prison Foundation.
Alan Smith interview on Four-I's.
Alan Smith is a novelist whose columns for The Guardian introduced readers to some of the absorbing characters and true storylines in this book. A university lecturer as well as a prison tutor, he empathises with life's failures-and as he explains, Philosophy in prison may sound strange but neither was it a regular degree choice for someone brought up in the back streets of 1950s Sheffield.
