To wonder What's it like in prison as a category A prisoner child sex offender

[toothfairy73]

The man that abused me and at least 5 others (there will be many more) was convicted as a category A prisoner last year. He got 16 years but can apply for parole after 8. The Judge described him as a serial predatory paedophile (he was convicted of crimes over a 30 year period).

I got an update from the victim liaison officer today (just an annual one) which doesn't tell me much (I'm not allowed to know much). I did wonder (before I opened it) if he had died of coronavirus. He is in his 70's and has cancer. It's left me wondering what life is like for a category A convicted child rapist. I have read that prisoners can have jobs, but wonder if the restrictions are greater for category A. Does anyone know?

@lookingatthepast that was a great, informative post.

Rest assured OP that they are shit scared every moment of every day. Word gets round extraordinarily quickly about who is in for what. They are loathed by all other prisoners (and guards).

Kudos is given to a prisoner who manages to attack any of them and the attacker rises up in the social hierarchy.

A friend of my DD was in the VP section of a woman's prison. She'd had a horrific past, lost a child as a teen and was bullied into hiding drugs for her abusive bf. First offence, but given three years. She said that the worst part was being in with sex offenders, it made life very dangerous, so you hoped that word was put out what you were in for (if not involving a child). Most of the sex offenders saw themselves as victims and felt that they should be seen as such and treated as such. A lot viewed it as something they were born with and couldn't be blamed. For other categories of prisoner in with them, it makes day to day very difficult.

@Ponoka7 I'm sure he is feeling sorry for himself. He was in complete denial. They had so much evidence. They had text messages he had sent to the most recent victim. When he was convicted on every count he shrugged and shook his head in belief. The judge described him as a serial predatory paedophile when sentencing him and he just shook his head. As far as he is concerned he was helping us.

No idea but I hope he spends every second of his life terrified. And I hope he has a very painful death

Someone mentioned 'open prison'.

What is that compared to closed prison?

An open prison is a prison with little physical security. Prisoners are trusted to not escape (and the few that do will be sent to a closed prison when they're caught). In the UK they're also known as Category D.

Very doubtful a sex offender would be on one.

Life will be very dull and restricted.
Work may be something like laundry, sorting rubbish for recycling, or woodwork for about £10 a week.
Food is crap.
Even amongst sex offenders child abusers are looked down upon.

I went to visit a prison as part of my degree, although I’m talking 1991 so things may have changed. It was an old fashioned prison building. The B prisoners had a set up like the prison programme ‘Porridge.’ Then, to go through to category A, you had to go through severally heavily locked doors. Inside, the set up was very different. As these people were lifers, they had some home comforts e.g. chintzy curtains even tho they had no windows out, a gym and a kitchen where they could help prepare food. They were in there for horrendous things that I can’t even write here. They behaved very pleasantly towards us. It was very difficult to reconcile what they’d done with how they seemed.
The very fact they were a Category A told you they’d not done typical stuff.

Florentino Juvenal

As per pp

They go on VP wing and can access work and education (for which they are paid) but it’s limited and they don’t have same freedom to move

They have to opt to go on VP wing for this reason -they don’t have to - they can take their chances in main population

They are generally the most compliant of all prisoners and the most educated

Often on admittance they’ll go in main population and once their trial starts they’ll move to VP prior to stuff going in the papers

It’s pretty safe for them on the VP wing and contrary to other posters it’s almost impossible for main population prisoners to get access to them

I have heard rumours that guards can be a bit 'oops' with hiding what they're in for from other prisoners and also that they may turn a blind eye to witnessing an attack on them. Please nobody burst my bubble. I really pray this is true. I can see the good in most people and believe many things are forms of illness. But child sex predators - i wish they were tortured painfully and ruthlessly and watched to die a very slow very painful death and had it videoed for their victims to watch and cheer over. Scum absolute scum. So sorry op you've had to live through abuse of vile pieces of sputum like 'him'

@Hunnybears
If I was a guard in charge I would accidentally leave the door to their cell open so other prisoners could say hello...... oooops silly me, my mistake

Prison officers are professionally trained to keep prisoners safe, not to allow vigilante beatings - thank goodness.

The offender will be locked up and terrified every day as they are detested by other prisoners who take the 'high moral ground'. Laughable given they are likely to be murderers, vicious thugs, gangster drug dealers and armed robbers. Yeh - really moral if they are in Belmarsh.

Nah that never happens

Staff don’t even rarely look st what people are in for

We really don’t care and I don’t mean that to sound bad but we are too busy and it’s not necessary

Every crime has a victim to be fair and whilst these are awful we couldn’t work there if we thought like that

They really aren’t scared

They are with other men who are exactly the same - the whole wing is VP

They have zero contact whatsoever with general population

They don’t leave their wing when other men are out of their wings

I worked in prison with them on the sea offenders wing. The worst ones often got killed by the others or committed suicide. It's no picnic I can tell you.

@Sunshineonarainy1day I'm afraid I couldn't sleep at night if I had your job of 'protecting' paedophiles. And I'd hardly lump thieves in the save category as child rapists. The latter is pure evil. However bad a crime is nothing but absolutely nothing is as bad as child rapists/murderers.

Depends how far he is into his sentence. At 70 and RSO I doubt he is still in Cat A.

More than likely cat C

You would be notified if he applied for Open/Cat D as this would be through the parole process. Your VLO will inform you.

@safariboot There are several open prisons specifically for sex offenders in England.
North Sea Camp for example

Just to add - Personally speaking, I hope you get a letter rather soon to say he has plonked it. Unforgivable offence

Im afraid that most posters here have it wrong, he’s unlikely to be in a general population Cat A prison.

t’s likely that he’d go to a specific sex offenders prison, eg HMP Ashfield. There’s been a huge rise in the number of sex offenders in prison over the last decade - both as a result of sex crimes like rape being taken more seriously by police, but also because of the bravery of people like yourself reporting historical sex crimes after Operation Yewtree.

The average age of a sex offender in prison has also risen considerably because of historical sex crimes being pursued. What this meant was that suddenly there were prisoners in their 70s, 80z,
90s being put in old Victorian jails which didn’t have accessible cells etc, and so they’ve built new prisons which can accommodate their needs.

They aren’t nice places to be. Not so much for violence - that’s more an issue in general prisons that have high issues with drugs etc - but imagine that every person there has the characteristics of a sex offender - they are manipulative, devious, untrustworthy. It means prison officers have to be incredibly vigilant. Your abuser will be isolated and lonely. There are very high levels of suicide within the sex offender estate.

Secondly, the prison officer recruitment crisis, coupled with the COVID crisis means that time out of cell is very limited. He’s likely to be locked up 23 out of 24 hours in a very small room, with very limited entertainment. The monotony, the boredom, the claustrophobia will be intense.

I hope this gives some insight. Not nice places.

I hope he dies a slow painful death and then burns in fucking hell op.

Hi Op, please remember that if/ when he is released into the community, he is very likely to have a SHPO (sexual harm prevention order) issued so police plus probation will be managing him in the community. He may leave prison and initially go to an AP (approved premise aka bail hostel) where he will be subject to curfews, sign ins and from there move into the community.
I hope the other responses have reassured you . Keep in contact with your victim liaison officer x

I stand corrected.

@nancyjuice7 what's RSO?
@BeamerTown that's what I was hoping. Stuck in a cell in communal pants

I heard from my victim liaison officer yesterday which is what got me thinking. He can apply for parole in 2027. When I got the email I did wonder whether he had got COVID19 and died... but no. He has many long days and nights ahead of him.