Details of Publication - Apex Publishing Ltd.

The Loose Screw: The Shocking Truth About Our Prison System
	Author: Jim Dawkins Foreword by: Dave Courtney and Charles Bronson Classification: Autobiography/True Crime	Brief Description: Jim Dawkins left home at the age of sixteen to pursue his dream of joining the army, and subsequently served with the Royal Green Jackets, including tours of Canada and Northern Ireland. During that time he learnt many important lessons in the ‘University of Life’ that would serve him well in the future, such as discipline, respect, pride and honour, but which, at the same time, would lead to insufferable stress as he constantly battled with his conscience and struggled to swim against the tide. Once back in Civvy Street, and with a new house and a baby to support, Jim decided to join the Prison Service. But what faced him in this new career, which centred on Wandsworth, Wormwood Scrubs and Belmarsh prisons, shocked him to the core. For this ex-squaddie, who believed in establishing good working relationships with inmates, including notorious long-termer, Charles Bronson, the cancerous environment of staff bully-boy tactics and prisoner victimization was sickening. Jim tells his story, which, although peppered with humorous anecdotes of often lager-induced incidents from both his army and prison days, bears witness to the stark reality of what actually goes on behind prison doors, and exposes both the glaring flaws in the prison system and the atrocities perpetrated in the name of justice, which ultimately forced his decision to leave the Prison Service seven years later.

Special Note: This book is also available as an eBook. The previous edition of the paperback carried the following ISBN: 978-1-904444-61-9.

About the Author: Harlow-born Jim Dawkins left home in Eltham at the age of sixteen to pursue a career in the army and served with the Royal Green Jackets from 1985 to 1991, including tours of Canada and Northern Ireland. Upon leaving the army, he joined the Prison Service and spent the next seven years training and working in Wandsworth, Wormwood Scrubs and Belmarsh prisons. In 1999, Jim left the Prison Service, ill with stress and disillusioned by the abuse levelled out to inmates by many of the staff. Jim eventually settled down with his childhood sweetheart, Natasha, and has two daughters, Lauren and Morgan and a son, Thomas. One of Jim’s goals in life is to fight for the rights of long-term high-security inmate, Charlie Bronson, with whom he has struck up a remarkable friendship. He wants the prison service to pull itself out of the Victorian mentality and give Charlie the chance he deserves to work towards his release and lead the normal life he yearns for.

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Publication Date:	10 August 2016
ISBN: ISBN 13:	0-993337-21-X 978-0-993337-21-5
Page Extent:	264
Book Size:	210x148mm
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Publication Date:	10 August 2016
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-- Reviews by the Famous and well Known

A GEM OF A SCREW AND A DIAMOND GEEZER!
On a personal level and having been privileged to have met Jim Dawkins on many occasions over the years, it must be said that he has most certainly earned respect in and amongst some of Britain’s most hardened inner circles for having been prepared to rightfully slag off and blow the lid on an always politically protected Home Office Prison establishment hierarchy and secret society.
All Jim has done with his book and his revelations is to expose the shocking truth of what regularly happens on a daily basis behind closed doors.
He has always and rightfully so, stood firm and can still be relied upon 200% as a fearless key witness in support of the release of disgracefully treated and shamefully incarcerated great man himself – Charlie Bronson.
I was there at the Old Bailey High Court hearing in London at Charlie’s appeal. Jim Dawkins was there ready to stand in the dock and give evidence in support of Charlie’s case against the ‘seemingly always unblemished prison establishment’. Sadly the court would not allow him to give evidence against the Home Office – I wonder why? I wish him well with the book! (Picture: Author Jim Dawkins with Andy Jones: Jim Dawkins has many pieces on display on the museum including his riot equipment and his ID card).
Andy Jones, Owner and Creator of 'The Crime Through Time Museum'

The Loose Screw is a great book. It makes me so happy that Jim has shown the courage and humanity to get to know Charlie and find out what sort of chap he really is as opposed to the image much of the media and the prison service portray him. Charlie is not a bad man and Jim’s account of the time he spent with him not only confirms this but also exposes great failings within the prison service towards Charlie and other prisoners. The book made me laugh and cry. I would urge all to read it and take the time to understand my son’s plight as Jim has. I know Charlie and his friends and family have the greatest of respect and admiration for Jim and I would like to say thank you for everything, bless you Jim. (Pictures: Author Jim Dawkins with Roy Shaw and Eira Peterson).
Eira Peterson, Mother of Charles Bronson

His honesty and judgement of the corrupt and inner workings of the prison systems is surly an eye opener to those not familiar with our prison system. Many who spent time in the system as the prisoner, know only too well the bully boy tactics of some of those who hide behind a uniform and a system that protects them. Jim Dawkins shows within his book, the disgust and unprofessional attitude of the rot within the barrel. You can only admire the man for the shame that he brings on those, who, for years run in packs committing crimes at their own leisure!
Jim Dawkins humanity is a breath of fresh air, showing the flaws within prison system, his story of army life,, and indeed leaving the prison service due to its effect, gives rise to the sort of man Jim Dawkins has aspired to ...
Leighton Frayne, Author of 'The Frayne Bros'

At last, a former prison officer has spoken out, on the mistreatment and uncalled for violence within the prison system by certain screws. Jim Dawkins, I take my hat off to you ...
You expose some of those screws, who call themselves men, as low life cowards.
All former ex prisoners, and prisoners still within the system, know only too well what goes on inside our jails, always to fall on deaf ears, maybe these cowards will sit down and think, what they really are, and are viewed by those outside the prison walls as no more than bullies.
Lindsay Frayne, Author of 'The Frayne Bros'

The Loose Screw is a searing, honest and brutally frank account of what life is like as a Prison Officer. It is as far removed from the cosy world of "official" accounts of prison as one can get, and reveals the brutalities, tensions, contradictions and simple lies that often form the backdrop to the world that prison staff often work in. In this respect Dawkins can be seen as a "whistle blower", and while I might disagree with some of his conclusions, Loose Screw should be read by everyone who has an interest in reforming prison.
David Wilson, Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice and Former Prison Governor

I spent two years in Egypt and Palestine in the fifties where I won both United Services and Imperial Heavyweight Boxing Championships, although only a corporal I had the respect of many high ranking officers such as Brigadier General Gale, I found as Jim Dawkins has said and written; that boxing especially in the Army is a great leveller. But how the hell did Jim and his cronies have enough money to apparently get pissed every night? One night in the NAAFI and I was skint so how he could afford to go to pubs, I don’t know! I enjoyed reading the book as it brought back a lot of memories and incidents that I was involved in, especially when moving to a new camp, I was uneventfully challenged to a strainer by the camps tough guy (or so he thought!).
Nosher Powell, Former Heavy Weight Boxing Champion

We all know that Britain's prison system contains ruthless bullies but what we didn't know is that many of them are actually wearing the uniforms. Jim Dawkins has provided a stunning and shocking insight that has left me lost for words - and that is some going! Well written and straight to the point, Dawkins deserves a medal for bravery for exposing the sham that is charged with guarding our most hardened criminals. He also brings the human aspect to names like Charles Bronson who typifies all that is wrong with our justice system today. Awesome read.
David Williams, Author of 'Desert England'

This is an amazing, honest, true life account of the prison service which will captivate, shock, astonish and scare its readers and, more importantly, the establishment to the core. This book destroys any belief that we live in a caring, compassionate world where we give the fallen few second chances and new opportunities.
Robin Barratt, Author of 'Bouncers and Bodyguards: Tales from a Twilight World'

Generally I would never read a book written by a screw or an ex-screw, but Jim Dawkins is a very down to earth and truthful man. He believes in Charlie Bronson like a brother, and is doing his very best to help his appeal. This book is very good and unveils a lot of prison secrets, told by a man who saw the wrong doings. I spent a long time myself on the Category A unit in HMP Belmarsh so I know it is the truth. If you want to know the truth behind our prisons then you must read this book! (Picture: Author Jim Dawkins with Joe Pyle).
Joe Pyle, Ex-Famous Boxing Promoter & Author

(Picture: Author Jim Dawkins with Craig Charles).
Craig Charles, Actor & TV Presenter

The courage it took to write this book should not be underestimated. The will to turn your back on the sheep of corruption and join the lions to hunt only for the truth and what’s right is inspiring. This book slashes through the anti Bronson propaganda to bring you the real man... Not the media made myth. Many of you I’m sure will have swallowed the bait and the hook and decided that Charles Bronson is a violent lunatic who kills people for fun (He has NEVER killed!), Jim will tell you Charlie is none of those things... And he’s right. You see, Jim has one big advantage over those who believe all the hype... He actually KNOWS the man! Here’s the true story from the inside out... NOT the outside in.
Tel Currie, Famous Boxing Promoter & Author

(Picture: David Blunkett with Jim Dawkins on the set of Channel 5's 'Banged Up' with a copy of 'The Loose Screw').
David Blunkett, Home Secretary (2001-2004)

I first come across Jim in the Max Secure unit at Belmarsh back in 1993, I was at the time, flying around the jails like a lunatic with a rocket up his arse. Jim was one of them guys that stood out from the rest, it’s very difficult to explain it, but some people just stick out, they’re are not the same as the rest. It’s the same in any walk of life some are just special. It’s no secret what I think of the system and the muppets that work in it, Hell, I’ve put enough of them on their arses, but when I come across a genuine guy, the guy gets respect off me no matter what he does for a living. My motto has always been, somebody has got to lock my door and if they do it right and don’t annoy me who am I to slag them off. Fuck with me and it’s war.
Jim treat me decent. Some days he would come in with a black eye or a tooth smashed out, he liked a battle. Still, what squaddie don’t? Jim was just Jim, a man of the world, a fighter, and I liked the guy. He gave me a dictionary which I’ve still got today, it’s falling to bits but I’ve still got it coz I do love a dictionary. It’s only a small one but it’s perfect for me, a small thing to most (but massive to me), I never forget such things. Jim was once on as escort to take me to another jail, them days I travelled naked and wrapped up in a body belt. On that journey he snapped my radio ariel off, at the time I was fuming, but it was an accident. When we arrived at Bristol jail I was put straight into the strong box, they took me out of the belt. I shook Jim’s hand and told the rest to Fuck off, the Bristol screw’s I never spoke to at all. I shat on the floor and covered the box with it, that’s how I am.
If they was all like Jim I’d never be in jail today, I’ve now spent 26 years caged up, 23 years of that in Solitary, I’ve been at war for all this time. But I take my hat off to guys like Jim and believe me there are few like him. So when I do get to meet one, I won’t take liberties. I wish him luck with his book as I believe it is a great story to tell, and it took bottle to do what he did. (Lots would love to do it but they’ve not got the bottle). They are dreamers, they only know one way, Yes sir, No sir, 3 bags full of shit sir, shall I kiss your ass now sir or later sir. They are grassing one another up just to climb the ladder, how can you respect such treachery? You can’t. Jim saw all this and said, I’m off. Now he tells it how it is for you all to see. That’s what I call bottle, Yes, it’s shocking, but it’s about time somebody told the truth about our jails. Jim’s a great guy, and a friend to me, he’s earned respect. I admire a true fighter.
(Pictures: Charles Bronson with Author, Jim Dawkins at Belmarsh Prison).
Charles Bronson, Famous Prisoner & Author - (Written the Foreword)

I'm not known for admiring prison officers but Jim is very different. It takes a hell of a lot of courage to turn your back on a mob when you are on your own but that¹s exactly what Jim did. He earned the respect of prisoners by treating them with respect. Some of them make life hard for themselves by treating the chaps like shit. If you show my mate Charlie Bronson respect he will show you it back, treat him like shit and he will destroy you! I admire Jim for taking a stand for what¹s right no matter what the others
say. Lets hope we see Charlie out here soon ... I know Jim will be invited to the coming home party! (Pictures: Author Jim Dawkins with Dave Courtney and Roy Shaw).
Roy Shaw, Famous Armed Robber & Author

Hello people, it’s Dave Courtney here. Please let me tell you about my pal Jim Dawkins. I have known him for some ten years and he was always known as a very fair bloke, even when he was on the other side of the fence, and seeing as though I met him while on remand in the special category A unit at HMP Belmarsh and he was one of the screws locking me up I would say that was the other side of the fence wouldn’t you, ha, ha, ha!
Anyway, he became a very good pal of Charlie Bronson, Joe Pyle, and a good few of the other chaps and is known in Civvy Street, and has completed his first book and it is a fucking eye opening and very educational read as it looks at the situation of being in prison from the other side. Jim has more than done enough with the content of this book and the very disturbing documentary he has made with me, an ex-policeman and woman, an ex-traffic warden, barrister and magistrate and of course his good self as “The Loose Screw” to let me know the whose side of the fence he is on. I wish him well with this book. We all know that he is not going to be on the top of any of the authorities Christmas card list and for that Jim I think you are a brave man and I salute you.
It is so important that this book is on the crime shelf, on a scale of one to ten I would give it – 10! It dot-coms all the other chaps books and what they say. Once someone like Jim writes a book it is very enlightening to say the least about the goings-on of a prison officer, it makes all our stories more believable and true. I personally have grabbed hold of Jim Dawkins, especially as there is a chapter about me in this book and now drag him around everywhere I go verifying all my stories and so have all the other chaps. Where we might not all get on with some of the other boys that was wrote books we all get on with Mr Dawkins because he verifies everything we are saying so read this book or fucking else… dot com.
Dave Courtney, Celebrity Gangster & Best Selling Author - (Written the Foreword)

As a former high risk double category A prisoner who served a decade in the British Prisons during the tumultuous mid-1980s to 1990s, and also a recent spell on remand in the High Security Unit at Belmarsh prison. There is very little anyone can tell me about our disgraceful prison system.
Like the author, I have witnessed the persecution, brutalization, alienation and even suicide of fellow prisoners. I have met remarkably humanitarian and truly evil screws. Nonetheless, I have never met a screw like Jim Dawkins who was prepared to “unlock” and let us stroll down the landings of his mind and experience the daily moral conflict of being a good man in an uncomfortable blue tunic. One can only admire and respect the strength and courage it took to write this book. It was so easy for Jim to have gone with the grain and become another tea-room cynic and pocketed his pay slip at the end of the month; it was so easy for Jim to have got blood on his boots while no one was looking. This is more than a book about a disgruntled prison officer; this is a book that should become essential reading for everyone who has an interest in crime and the criminal justice system. This book that will be read in a thousand years time. (Picture: Author Jim Dawkins with Author Terry Smith)
Terry Smith, Author of 'Nil Desperandum: “Never Despair” - A Biography of Patsy Feeley'

I applaude Jim Dawkins for being a very brave man and being so truthful in his first book.
Howard Marks, Famous International Drug Smuggler & Author of 'Mr Nice'

When I was first asked to review this book I thought I might be hearing things, because the autobiography of a prison officer is a rare thing in this country, think unicorn- shit rarity. Then I got to thinking that it was probably going to be a watered-down version of the official Prison Service party line, full of slightly amusing anecdotes about the staff mess and 'Porridge'-style jolly japes involving dim-witted convicts and firm-but-fair screws. But, boy, was I in for a surprise.
Before joining the Prison Service in 1992 Jim Dawkins served with the Royal Green Jackets and did tours of Northern Ireland and Canada, so he had already seen a bit of life and the world before picking up his set of keys and entering the employ of HMP. Unfortunately none of this really prepared him for life as a screw and Jim was soon to become more than disillusioned with his choice of profession. With searing honesty Jim tells how he drifted into the Prison Service because it was the only job that offered the financial security he needed, how no one can fail the entrance exams as they are supplied with the answers an advance, how, on his first day as a trainee at HMP Wandsworth, he witnessed a prisoner being brutally beaten and framed by prison staff who told him not to write anything in his trainee's notebook about it. And how even he himself was gradually seduced into being one of the HMP gang, though never involved in the brutality against inmates he did give false evidence for those screws who were.
Jim Dawkins pulls no punches in this expose of the prison system and confirms everything that prisoners have always known but the system has vehemently denied. That there are prison officers, a lot of them, who beat, torture and regularly plant evidence and lie on adjudication's, and that some members of the senior management encourage and collude in it all. He paints a picture, that most prisoners will immediately recognise, of a service infested with petty-minded bullying braggarts and sick psychopaths who can get away with anything simply because they wear the uniform of HMP and have the full support of the Home Office.
Jim worked in the brutal London karzi's of HMP Wandsworth, HMP Wormwood Scrubs and HMP Belmarsh and anyone who has spent time in these unhallowed institutions will be pleased to hear that he tells it like it really is. It was while he was working at HMP Befmarsh that he first met the legendary Charlie Bronson. Jim was willing to look beyond the reputation of this man and the two became fiends. So much so that Charlie has written the foreword to this book in his usual inimitable style. Jim gives a fascinating insight on Charlie, and how the prison system have dealt with him in his almost 3 decades behind bars. Charlie Bronson, despite what the prison system might want us to believe, is no stone killer, but just a prisoner of circumstance much maligned and brutalised by the prison system over many years. He is an extraordinary man who has refused to let the system break his spirit, and Jim confirms this.
Jim Dawkins has now left the Prison Service, because he could no longer stomach 'the cancerous environment of staff bully-boy tactics and prisoner victimisation'. His book should be read by everyone, ministers, public, prisoners and, in shame, by those responsible for the British prison system. 1 salute Jim Dawkins for his courage and honesty and I sincerely hope that his book will inspire those prison officers who do not join in the bullying and brutality to have the courage to stand up to those who co. Silence will not change the system.
A brilliant book and highly recommended.
Noel 'Razor' Smith, Author of 'A Few Kind Words and a Loaded Gun' and 'Warrior Kings'

A great insight to prison life – a must read for anyone wanting to know what happens ‘inside’.
Jason Marriner, Author of 'It's Only A Game'

Although I have unlocked a few defences in my time in the Scottish Premier League and sttod outside the famous Barlinnie Jail I had no idea what went on in prisons until I read Jim Dawkin's account. God forbid I ever do go to Jail, the first thing I would ask for is "soap on a rope". Sad, humerous and very revealing - Jim has captured it all in "The Loose Screw. (Photo: Andy Ritchie with a copy of 'The Loose Screw').
Andy Ritchie, Ex-footballer & Scottish Footballer of the Year

I thoroughly enjoyed the book and Jim's story, and there was much I certainly related to. I loved the info on Charlie Bronson, as me being in after Jim, the old urban legends of him were being passed around like you wouldn't believe! It was great to hear how the man is from a man who knows - but as Jim knows, 'everyone one has bent him up' blah blah blah. It was great that Jim ironed out the myths, etc.
Ronnie Thompson, Author of 'Screwed'

An interesting delve into a ‘closed’ profession. Jim’s revelations are startling and raw. But I have had an insight into this profession, where from the beginning trainees have ‘team’ and ‘camaraderie’ hammered into them, where they watch each other’s backs and to ‘whistle’ on a fellow officer is unthinkable, hence my admiration for this work and Jim’s courage. Well done indeed. (Picture: Author Jim Dawkins with Author Robert C. Auty)
Robert Auty, Author of 'Trance Warriors: The Siege of Scarn'

-- Newspaper and Website Reviews

The Loose Screw by Jim Dawkins
The Weekly News

THE LOOSE SCREW
Jim Dawkins is an ex-prison officer with a difference: a screw with a heart. He became a firm friend of and staunch advocate for Charlie! Now you can read Jim's story, which bears witness to the stark reality of what actually goes on behind prison doors, and exposes both the glaring flaws in the prison system and the atrocities perpetrated in the name of justice, which ultimately forced his decision to leave the Prison Service after seven years of challenging the system. He wants the prison service to pull itself out of the Victorian mentality and give Charlie the chance he deserves to work towards his release and lead the normal life he yearns for. This is a remarkable book.
www.freebronson.co.uk

COMPETITION!
The Shields Gazette

The Loose Screw gives a interesting insight into prison life, from its everyday routines to the bullying that goes on behind bars. Dawkins' autobiography gives an honest account of his experiences. His sinister stories of violence depict the stark reality of how some officers behave and Jim's tales are a real eye-opener. What is most fascinating about this book is the detailed description of notorious prisoner Charles Bronson, which portrays him not as a crazed criminal but as a man who was driven to take action against his mistreatment. The Loose Screw will challenge stereotypes, shock readers and cause controversy in the world of Her Majesty's prison service.
Jenni Horn, The Kent Messenger

A GEM OF A SCREW AND A DIAMOND GEEZER! On a personal level and having been privileged to have met Jim Dawkins on many occasions over the years, it must be said that he has most certainly earned respect in and amongst some of Britain’s most hardened inner circles for having been prepared to rightfully slag off and blow the lid on an always politically protected Home Office Prison establishment hierarchy and secret society. All Jim has done with his book and his revelations is to expose the shocking truth of what regularly happens on a daily basis behind closed doors. He has always and rightfully so, stood firm and can still be relied upon 200% as a fearless key witness in support of the release of disgracefully treated and shamefully incarcerated great man himself – Charlie Bronson. I was there at the Old Bailey High Court hearing in London at Charlie’s appeal. Jim Dawkins was there ready to stand in the dock and give evidence in support of Charlie’s case against the ‘seemingly always unblemished prison establishment’. Sadly the court would not allow him to give evidence against the Home Office – I wonder why? I wish him well with the book!
www.crimethroughtime.com

A well written insight into life behind bars and beyond by a man who has seen it all.
Gary Wright, Kentish Saturday Observer (Editor)

The Loose Screw.
Kentish Saturday Observer

A hard hitting account of life on the 'inside' of our prisons and a much needed exposure of this very secret world. The author, having served in Northern Ireland, could have reasonably expected to have been suitably prepared for a career as a prison officer so to read of him being shocked and sickened by what he witnessed behind the walls is a real eye opener.
www.insidetime.org

Hello people, it’s Dave Courtney OBE here. Please let me tell you about my pal Jim Dawkins. I have known him for some ten years and he was always known as a very fair bloke, even when he was on the other side of the fence, and seeing as though I met him while on remand in the special category A unit at HMP Belmarsh and he was one of the screws locking me up I would say that was the other side of the fence wouldn’t you, ha, ha, ha!
Anyway, he became a very good pal of Charlie Bronson, Joe Pyle, and a good few of the other chaps and is known in Civvy Street, and has completed his first book and it is a fucking eye opening and very educational read as it looks at the situation of being in prison from the other side. Jim has more than done enough with the content of this book and the very disturbing documentary he has made with me, an ex-policeman and woman, an ex-traffic warden, barrister and magistrate and of course his good self as “The Loose Screw” to let me know the whose side of the fence he is on. I wish him well with this book. We all know that he is not going to be on the top of any of the authorities Christmas card list and for that Jim I think you are a brave man and I salute you.
It is so important that this book is on the crime shelf, on a scale of one to ten I would give it – 10! It dot-coms all the other chaps books and what they say. Once someone like Jim writes a book it is very enlightening to say the least about the goings-on of a prison officer, it makes all our stories more believable and true. I personally have grabbed hold of Jim Dawkins, especially as there is a chapter about me in this book and now drag him around everywhere I go verifying all my stories and so have all the other chaps. Where we might not all get on with some of the other boys that was wrote books we all get on with Mr Dawkins because he verifies everything we are saying so read this book or fucking else… dot com. (Picture: Dave Courtney with a copy of 'The Loose Screw')
www.davecourtney.com

The Loose Screw by Jim Dawkins, Apex Publishing £8.99.
The image of Charles Bronson, serial hostage-taker and regarded as one of the most dangerous prisoners in the penal system, smiling and shaking hands with a prison officer, is not an everyday sight. When Bronson agrees to write the foreword to a book, written by that officer-and on which the image forms the front cover - it occurs that the book may be worth reading.
By nature and design, prisons are secretive places. Most people's idea of life inside will be based on what they have read in books, or watched on TV and film. Occasionally, chronicles of prison life, written by former inmates, will appear, often containing allegations of mistreatment by prison staff. Such accusations are difficult to substantiate; not least because the authors are of proven 'bad character.' Therefore, to find a former prison officer not only backing up claims of abuse, but dismissing the notion that it is the work of a 'few bad apples' is both refreshing and important.
Prisoners, past and present, know that abuse, by staff, is far from rare. We know that, to give a person the power that prison officers have over inmates, you have to be sure that the person selected will not abuse that power. But really, there is little excuse for anybody claiming to be shocked by allegations of maltreatment within the penal walls.
The images of abuse in Abu Ghraib prison amply testified that power can corrupt those who wield it. The criminal trials of staff at Wormwood Scrubs in the nineties and Hull prison in the 70s proved that abuse was alive and, literally, kicking in English jails. The place to go however, to prove the issue beyond doubt, is a seat of learning rather than a penal institution.
In 1971, Stanford University set out to conduct a two-week study into the psychology of prison life.24 students were selected and split into two groups, prisoners and guards, the roles being decided on the spin of a coin. The experiment was abandoned after six days because the 'guards had started to behave 'sadistically' towards, their charges who, in turn had become depressed and showing signs of extreme stress.
The most chilling point that emerged from that experiment was that all the students had undergone diagnostic interviews before selection. These were supposed to eliminate candidates with psychological problems. In other words, the two dozen selected were regarded as a perfectly normal group of healthy, intelligent middle- class males; half of whom promptly began abusing the other half-knowing full well that their every action was recorded on camera.
When Jim Dawkins turned up at the gates of Wandsworth prison in 1992, he had not undergone any psychological profiling to see if he was fit to be a prison officer. Perhaps his selection board thought that his two tours of duty, with the Royal Green Jackets in Northern Ireland, were proof of his ability to cope under pressure. And Dawkins himself, a fully paid up member of the 'one-of-the-lads' club, did not expect to be shocked by what he was about to witness. Seven years later, when he handed in his keys for the last time, Dawkins was suffering badly from stress and totally disillusioned by the abuse he had witnessed.
In writing an account of his experiences on the wings and landings of three major prisons, Wandsworth, Belmarsh and Wormwood Scrubs, Dawkins has performed an important social service. By his own admission, he was no bleeding heart liberal, who joined the service because he thought that all prisoners, irrespective of the nature of their offence, deserved to be treated with humanity. (Indeed, some of his views on sex-offenders would not sound out of place in the company of those staff that he, rightly, castigates for their abuse of prisoners. (All the more reason to take this chronicle seriously.)
In Wandsworth, the gaunt, South London fortress, feared and hated in equal measure by those who have dwelled within it's walls, he was told from the start that, the 'Wandsworth Way'-of treating inmates-was the only way. He was to witness many examples of how the way worked. From the severe beating, handed out to a young prisoner who had been cheeky to an officer, to the cover- up at the adjudication, which resulted in the prisoner being punished for the 'offence' of being at the wrong end of a beating.
Dawkins found similar 'rules' in place at two other London jails, Belmarsh and Wormwood Scrubs. Casual, institutionalised, abuse-verbal and physical-were the orders of the day. Again he found the abuse condoned/covered up by the prison managers: Bad apples? More a case of the barrel being rotten. And again, it must be stressed that the author freely confesses to behaving badly: he toe-ed the party line in giving false evidence against a prisoner and admits to giving the odd inmate-and fellow officer-an occasional 'dry slap'. In this reviewer 's eyes the admissions, if not the behaviour, go massively to his credit.
Where is Charles Bronson's place in the picture? Charlie has spent the last 30 years inside, over 20 of those in solitary confinement and constantly shunted from jail to jail. Dawkins was working in Belmarsh's Category A-'Super Max'- unit when Bronson arrived, Hanibal Lecter style, naked, except for a body belt and escorted by ten prison officers.
Bronson was usually kept in solitary and only allowed out of his cell under the eyes of several staff wearing body armour and carrying shields and staves. Dawkins and another officer took it upon themselves to treat Bronson as a human being, rather than the 'dangerous animal they had been warned about. During his spell in the unit, he spent a lot of time out of his cell, exercising, playing badminton and scrabble with his keepers - he was the only prisoner in the unit at the time. Bronson responded in kind, causing no trouble at all. So much so that Dawkins and his fellow-officer received a merit award from the Governor, praising them for their team work displayed in dealing with one of the most difficult prisoners in the system'
Sadly, the prison service failed to capitalise on the benefits of that teamwork. Bronson was transferred, naked except for the body belt, to Bristol prison and placed in the 'strong box'. In his own words-in the foreword-Bronson promptly, 'Shat on the floor and covered the box in it.'
Dawkins makes the point that,if you treat people like animals, you should not be surprised if they behave accordingly. Despite my misgivings about certain aspects of his, admitted, attitude and behaviour, it would seem, warts and all, the prison service has lost an officer they could have done with holding on to. He is not the first former prison officer I have come across who left the service because of the way they-and those in their charge -were treated. He is however, the first one to show the courage-and ability-to blow the whistle on the bad practices.This is an honest book, which shines a bright light on those jails which are still bastions of prison officer power. It would make uncomfortable reading for the executive of the Prison Officers Association, but bad staff only survive by virtue of the blind eyes of those above them. With that in mind, I shall send a copy of 'The Loose Screw' to the Director General of the prison service.
Eric Allison, The Guardian (Prisons Correspondent)

Eye-opening, passionate and often terrifying, these memoirs of a renegade prison officer will shake the British Prison System.
Jeff Maysh, Loaded Magazine

Jim Dawkins story...
Loaded Magazine

Jim Dawkins is a good writer. I’ve read quite a bit about crime and violence and, many moons ago, penned a long-running newspaper column about how members of the public could protect both themselves and their property from harm. I also spent a number of years in the police service, so I think I’m qualified to say that Jim Dawkins really is a good writer. He’s good because he knows his subject matter well, tells it like it is and doesn’t pull any punches.
Years ago, when I first read about one of Britain’s most notorious prison inmates, Charles Bronson, I remember thinking that somewhere inside that intimidating, fearsome exterior there was a decent human being. Despite his reputation Bronson never struck me as a bad man – not “bad to the bone”, if you get my drift. In Dawkins’ riveting book Loose Screw I found a copious amount of evidence to support my theory.
Dawkins has a superb eye for detail – perhaps this stems from his training in the Royal Green Jackets – and effortlessly transports the reader into the dark heart of our outmoded, outdated and – to be honest – often out-of-order prisons. Dawkins actually became a prison officer and met Charles Bronson during his tenure.
Dawkins’ book disturbed me because it radically changed my perception of what it is like to be in prison, whether you’re a prisoner or a guard. At one stage I wanted to put it down because I could feel my preconceptions melting. Only the best of books make you do this. Good books help you relax. Great books challenge your deepest-held convictions and make you rethink the world around you.
Dawkins has befriended Charles Bronson and has come to see the nice guy within. He doesn’t whitewash Bronson or make him out to be an angel; he simply illustrates graphically how the prison system is geared to making people like Bronson worse, not better.
Bronson has actually written the foreword to Dawkins’ book. In just over one page he manages to paint with words the tapestry of his life. It sets the scene very well indeed for the chapters that follow.
I can remember the last time I read a book as powerful as Loose Screw. It was in 1992. It will probably be over a decade before I read another.
Mike Hallowell, The Shields Gazette

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Film News Magazine

MY PAL BRONSON - BY PRISON BOOK AUTHOR (By Mark Lavery)
HE has been dubbed Britain's most dangerous inmate after attacking more than 20 prison officers.
Self-styled hardman Charles Bronson's penchant for beating up his guards has earned him more than 20 years in solitary confinement.
But one former warder says he refused to believe the hype surrounding Bronson's violent past and became firm friends with the man currently serving a life sentence at Wakefield's maximum security jail.
Ex-prison officer Jim Dawkins, 37, who struck up an unlikely bond with Bronson at Belmarsh Prison in the 1990s, has turned author to tell of his seven years in the prison service in Loose Screw.
And he plans to travel from his home in Kent on Thursday to visit Bronson at Wakefield Jail and personally thank him for writing a foreword in the book, billed as an expose of staff "bully-boy" tactics Mr Dawkins claims he witnessed at Wandsworth, Wormwood Scrubs and Belmarsh prisons.
In the book foreword Bronson writes: "When I come across a genuine guy, the guy gets respect off me no matter what he does for a living. My motto has always been, somebody has got to lock my door and if they do it right and don't annoy me who am I to slag them off....... I've now spent 26 years caged up, 23 years of that in solitary, I've been at war for all this time. But I take my hat off to guys like Jim and believe me there are few like him. So when I do get to meet one, I won't take liberties. I wish him luck with his book as I believe it is a great story to tell, and it took bottle to do what he did."
Mr Dawkins, 37, said: "I had heard horror stories from my first couple of weeks training about how violent he was towards staff and built up a picture of him as a monster.
"When I met him I was terrified at first but then I saw behind the myth and found a highly intelligent and witty guy. We started playing Scrabble and badminton and got on really well.
"I was fascinated how he managed to maintain such a sharp mind after so many years of abuse from the prison system.
"In his letters to me over the years he had told how he has missed out on family life. I think he desperately wants to break this image that the public have of him. He wants to show people he is not this out and out lunatic he is portrayed to be. He had become like a Frankenstein monster to the prison service. I think they are worried about the can of worms that will come out about his treatment inside when he is released."
Bronson, who changed his name from Michael Peterson in honour of the star of the Death Wish films, has served 30 years in prison with only two short periods of freedom.
Bronson is currently serving life for holding a Bridlington lecturer hostage for 44 hours during a siege at Hull Prison.
Yorkshire Evening Post

“…Charlie began his nightmare journey into the belly of an archaic, corrupt prison system that, with its bullies, beatings, cover-ups, dungeons and brutal, inhumane regimes, had not changed much since Victorian times.”
The author Jim Dawkins tells his story about the notorious inmate Charles Bronson, and the cruelty dealt out within prison walls where a percentage of the Screws are even more corrupt than the inmates confined within the system.
Jim Dawkins is Welsh. He is introduced to trouble and strife from a very early age, he fulfils a longing and joins the Royal Green Jackets at the age of sixteen. In the services he learns respect, honour, pride, and discipline.
After six years in the Royal Green Jackets, Jim Dawkins walks back into a world now alien to him. He has a wife and child to support and through need he applies for the job as a Prison Officer at Wandsworth.
The Loose Screw is an inside look at a way of life so alien to those on the outside that it evokes a sense of futility that the law can be twisted and bent to the extent where it is completely unrecognizable as true justice.
HMP Belmarsh Category A segregation unit is where Charles Bronson plays scrabble with Prison Officer Jim Dawkins, in the heat of a summer’s afternoon. The man behind the myth yearns to one day lead a normal life.
The Loose Screw is compelling reading!
www.rollingseas.com.au

THE BRITISH CRIME AND PRISON QUIZ BOOK AND THE LOOSE SCREW
Wales on Sunday

TV REALITY SHOW WILL GIVE SHORT, SHARP SHOCK TO YOUTHS TEMPTED BY CRIME
* Blunkett to head parole board of mock prison
* Old lags will help to show what life inside is like
Ever since the "short, sharp shock" was suggested in the 1970s by the former home secretary Willie Whitelaw as the best deterrent to a life of crime, there has been a debate about whether subjecting young men to harsh incarceration has the desired effect and whether judges should make greater use of custody at an early stage. Now the theory is to be tested in the form of a reality television series, to be screened this summer, featuring a former home secretary, reformed criminals and a former prison officer with strong views on the failings of the current system.
The series, Banged Up, comes after the suggestion on Thursday by Glyn Travis, the assistant general secretary of the Prison Officers' Association, that "prison is no longer a deterrent - it is merely an occupational hazard".
The aim of Banged Up, which was commissioned by Channel Five, is to take young men "on the cusp of a life of crime" and subject them to the criminal justice system in all its forms. The former home secretary David Blunkett heads the "parole board" of a "prison" - a former jail in Scarborough - where the young inmates find themselves alongside old lags who give them an impression of what life is really like behind bars.
"The prime task of any criminal justice system is to prevent people from committing a crime in the first place, and then to avoid reoffending," said Blunkett of the aim of the programme. "Getting across a clear message, forewarning young people what prison is like, and encouraging them to take an alternative path in life has to make sense. Therefore, linking preventive work in warning young people with a clear method of getting across to both potential criminals and the public as a whole the reality of prison will make a significant contribution to both education and greater understanding."
Also taking part will be Jim Dawkins, an ex-soldier with the Royal Green Jackets, who worked as a prison officer for seven years at Belmarsh, Wandsworth and Wormwood Scrubs before leaving the service. He wrote graphically about his experiences in his book The Loose Screw, in which he lifted the lid on some of the practices of his fellow officers. The book carried a complimentary foreword by Charles Bronson, who has the reputation of being Britain's most violent criminal, but with whom Dawkins established a rapport in prison.
"The problem, as I see it, is that it is quite the opposite to short and sharp these days," is how Dawkins describes the issue of punishment in prison. "The shock is, in fact, meted out as a constant battering of an individual's emotions over many months."
Of Banged Up, he said: "By the end of filming, I was emotionally and physically exhausted but had thoroughly enjoyed the experience and was amazed at how well everyone came together to give the kids as real an experience as possible." Ex-prisoners who work with young people to deter them from crime also participate.
A call for systematic innovation within the criminal justice system is made today by the Young Foundation thinktank, which argues that the number of young people sent to prison could be dramatically reduced. A new strategy would "involve the community in taking responsibility for crime and dealing with offenders". The foundation suggests that a body similar to the National Institute for Clinical Excellence but dealing with crime and punishment be set up.
"Building ever more prisons is neither sustainable nor affordable," said Geoff Mulgan, the foundation's director. "Nor is an endless stream of new national legislation. What we need now is much more systematic innovation in alternatives which address the causes of crime - from poor skills to mental health - and bring down the reconviction rates."
He added: "We need to mobilise local communities and families to become a much larger part of the solution."
The Guardian

THE LOOSE SCREW AND THE BRITISH CRIME AND PRISON QUIZ BOOK
Abergavenny Chronicle

This book is a great insight to the prison system from an officers point of view and is sure to rock the system with some of Jim's tales.
Robert Potter, The Weekly News

THE LOOSE SCREW by Jim Dawkins
Inside Time: The National Monthly Newspaper for Prisoners

Christmas Bookings
Dave Courtney appeared at the centre with former soldier Jim Dawkins.
Gravesend Reporter

When I saw Razor Smith's write-up in 'Inside Time' on 'The Loose Screw' I thought this is a first! Ordered it straight away and posted a message on my website to let other prisoners wives and families know that at last a screw has spoken out and is telling the truth! As the wife of a man serving life, my knowledge of the REAL system is very limited, there has only been rumours of prison officers brutality, lies and corruption, until now. The powers that be have always done a thorough job of papering over the cracks, brushing under the carpet and concealing any incriminating evidence against themselves. Jim Dawkins book is like a breath of fresh air, he has opened my eyes to many injustices that are everyday occurances in our prison system. I commend him for his honesty and bravery in being the screw to unlock this box of secrets. Well done Jim.
www.prisonchatuk.com

THE LOOSE SCREW
Western Mail

A damning exposé of the prison service.
Rick Lyons, Daily Star Sunday (Crime Correspondent)

JAIL GANGS IN TERROR ALERT
Daily Star Sunday

THE LOOSE SCREW
Pick Me Up Magazine

The Loose Screw
If you enjoyed The Shawshank Redemption and its candid look at the American prison system then I think you will enjoy reading the Loose Screw by former Prison Officer Jim Dawkins.
This is the shocking truth about the British Penal system seen through the eyes of a prison officer, not an inmate with an axe to grind, but a former employee who Describes graphically his observations.
I can assure you having spent almost 14 years inside myself, albeit as a seconded probation officer or as the inmates called us “The Welfare” that Jim gives an honest assessment about the system and points to how it has gone terribly wrong.
As anyone who has entered a jail as a visitor or inmate knows you will see notices around the place with the Prison Departments commitment to treating all inmates with dignity and respect.
In a word “bollocks”.
If the prison staff can get one over on the inmates and visa versa then they will. It is almost a game to some people within the jail. The prison staff wind up the inmates and the inmates make cracks about what the prison officers wife is going when they are on nights. Scoring points off each other is part of the prison culture.
Don’t get me wrong there are a great many decent prison staff who do subscribe to the humane containment philosophy but there are others who belong to a by-gone age who believe inmates should be given precisely “nowt”. They are the “dinosaurs” that still roam the landings of any jail. They should have been consigned to history along with “slop out” the age old practice of having a bucket as a toilet from 8pm until 7am in your cell. Then the next morning emptying it in the wing recess.
The stench had to be experienced to appreciate the disgusting smell. Thankfully that has disappeared.
The dinosaurs will go in time as well.
But the writing is on the wall in Jim’s graphical illustration of life within these walls and there is no doubt that as the prison population rises that unrest and possibly riots will ensue.
There are many of Jim Dawkin’s colleagues in the Prison Officers Association who believe he committed the cardinal sin by befriending inmates especially such inmates as Dave Courtney and Charles Bronson. Prison Officer’s do not befriend inmates and this may well have been an influencing factor in Dawkin’s premature “discharge” from the Prison Service.
He is about to start his own business as a locksmith and I cannot think of anyone more suited to advising about security and locks than a prison officer. No doubt some of his former charges will be willing to offer advice on the best lock to use.
Rehabilitation, containment, violence are all in this book which I couldn’t put down. Its tinged with some humorous stories and anecdotes as well as some sadness.
A Prison Officers job is no doubt very difficult. They are at the coal face when it comes to containment and everyday they face the possibility of unprovoked violence.
Her Majesty’s Prisons can be a very violent environment and Jim Dawkins has captured the mood with remarkable clarity.
Bully boy tactics from the staff, sickening victimization and vulgar atrocities which eventually forced him to leave the Prison Service.
A cracking read with forewords from two of the most notorious criminals who graced the prison system.
* The Loose Screw, The Shocking Truth about our Prison System by Jim Dawkins. Published by Apex ISBN 978-1-904444-61-9 price £10.
John Riddle, The Paper

THE LOOSE SCREW
Bodyguards & Bouncers Magazine

The Loose Screw, describes a world of bullying and casual violence.
Robert Dex, South London Press

A great insight to prison life – a must read for anyone wanting to know what happens ‘inside’.
www.jasonmarriner.com

THE LOOSE SCREW
Christian Market Place Magazine

The book makes for a most fascinating and engrossing read.
Lesley Toll, The Daily Mail

When I was first asked to review this book I thought I might be hearing things, because the autobiography of a prison officer is a rare thing in this country, think unicorn- shit rarity. Then I got to thinking that it was probably going to be a watered-down version of the official Prison Service party line, full of slightly amusing anecdotes about the staff mess and 'Porridge'-style jolly japes involving dim-witted convicts and firm-but-fair screws. But, boy, was I in for a surprise.
Before joining the Prison Service in 1992 Jim Dawkins served with the Royal Green Jackets and did tours of Northern Ireland and Canada, so he had already seen a bit of life and the world before picking up his set of keys and entering the employ of HMP. Unfortunately none of this really prepared him for life as a screw and Jim was soon to become more than disillusioned with his choice of profession. With searing honesty Jim tells how he drifted into the Prison Service because it was the only job that offered the financial security he needed, how no one can fail the entrance exams as they are supplied with the answers an advance, how, on his first day as a trainee at HMP Wandsworth, he witnessed a prisoner being brutally beaten and framed by prison staff who told him not to write anything in his trainee's notebook about it. And how even he himself was gradually seduced into being one of the HMP gang, though never involved in the brutality against inmates he did give false evidence for those screws who were.
Jim Dawkins pulls no punches in this expose of the prison system and confirms everything that prisoners have always known but the system has vehemently denied. That there are prison officers, a lot of them, who beat, torture and regularly plant evidence and lie on adjudication's, and that some members of the senior management encourage and collude in it all. He paints a picture, that most prisoners will immediately recognise, of a service infested with petty-minded bullying braggarts and sick psychopaths who can get away with anything simply because they wear the uniform of HMP and have the full support of the Home Office.
Jim worked in the brutal London karzi's of HMP Wandsworth, HMP Wormwood Scrubs and HMP Belmarsh and anyone who has spent time in these unhallowed institutions will be pleased to hear that he tells it like it really is. It was while he was working at HMP Befmarsh that he first met the legendary Charlie Bronson. Jim was willing to look beyond the reputation of this man and the two became fiends. So much so that Charlie has written the foreword to this book in his usual inimitable style. Jim gives a fascinating insight on Charlie, and how the prison system have dealt with him in his almost 3 decades behind bars. Charlie Bronson, despite what the prison system might want us to believe, is no stone killer, but just a prisoner of circumstance much maligned and brutalised by the prison system over many years. He is an extraordinary man who has refused to let the system break his spirit, and Jim confirms this.
Jim Dawkins has now left the Prison Service, because he could no longer stomach 'the cancerous environment of staff bully-boy tactics and prisoner victimisation'. His book should be read by everyone, ministers, public, prisoners and, in shame, by those responsible for the British prison system. 1 salute Jim Dawkins for his courage and honesty and I sincerely hope that his book will inspire those prison officers who do not join in the bullying and brutality to have the courage to stand up to those who co. Silence will not change the system.
A brilliant book and highly recommended.
For information on Charlie Bronson's long struggle - http://www.FreeBronson.blofspot.com
Inside Time: The National Monthly Newspaper for Prisoners

EX-PRISON OFFICER REVEALS TOUGH LIFE BEHIND BARS
* Book tells what really goes on inside a jail
by Jenni Horn
A FORMER prison officer has written a book about his experiences behind bars.
Jim Dawkins, 37, from Hever Croft, has chronicled his seven-year stretch at high security prisons around Britain.
The Loose Screw portrays the startling reality on what goes on behind prison doors.
Jim, now a lorry driver, worked at Wandsworth, Wormwood Scrubs and Belmarsh before leaving the service in 1999.
During his time as an officer at Belmarsh, Jim met the infamous Charlie Bronson with whom he built up a lasting friendship.
It was armed robber Bronson who encouraged Jim to write the book and the notorious long-termer has written the foreword.
Jim said: "It was Charlie who gave me the push I needed. I had it all bubbling up inside me and wanted to write about my experiences. There have been a lot of prisoners who have written books but I wanted to tell the other side of the story.
As well as Jim's prison experiences, the book includes stories from his time in the armed forces. Jim served in the Royal Green Jackets for seven years before becoming a prison worker.
The father of two believes his book will cause some controversy.
He said: "I have written about the goings on in prisons that people don't usually get to hear about. I have described the bully-boy tactics and abuse that goes on inside. That was why I eventually left the service, because I had become so disillusioned with it."
Jim has spent the last six years writing the publication which will hopefully be available to buy before Christmas. For more information visit http://www.apexpublishing.co.uk.
The Kent Messenger

MY CHOSEN CATEGORY
South London Press

THE LOOSE SCREW
Daily Sport

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The Brit (Madeira Newspaper)

THE LOOSE SCREW
Inside Time: The National Newspaper for Prisoners

THE LOOSE SCREW
On The Doors Magazine

THE LOOSE SCREW
The Self Publishing Magazine

REALITY TV TO EXPOSE JAIL MISERY FOR YOUTHS
A Prison officer is to star in a new television show showing kids the harsh realities of life behind bars.Author and former prison officer Jim Dawkins, of Skewen, is in Five show Banged Up.
The programme, which is broadcast for the first time on tonight at 9pm, features 10 juveniles aged 16 and 17 in a disused prison in Scarborough.
During their stay they experienced, as close as possible, the realities of an adult prison.
Mr Dawkins, aged 39, of Dynevor Road, was the senior prison officer in the show.
Jim said: "With the help of the former Home Secretary, David Blunkett, criminologists, psychiatrists and ex-criminals, who now work for various reform groups, we took 10 young men and introduced them to what life would be like if they continued on their path towards crime."
Mr Dawkins said he was amazed at the effect the regime had on the youngsters.
"It was obvious to me that although they all arrived as cocky young men, they all had completely naive views as to what it would be like to be locked up in a cell."
He added: "Each of them had the opinion prison was easy, which they had derived from at least one friend who had told them stories of their time in prison.
"Their friends are obviously not going to tell the truth about life in prison because it would do their street cred no good.
"They would not admit they cried themselves to sleep on the first night or they could not sleep because they were terrified their cell mate may physically or even sexually assault them.
"They would not describe the hours of mind-numbing boredom when, due to lack of staff or an incident, they were locked up in a cell 4ft by 8ft."
Mr Dawkins has written a book called The Loose Screw, which he describes as an expose of the prison system.
He served as an officer for seven years at Wandsworth, Wormwood Scrubs and Belmarsh, and he believes the glamorisation of crime and gangster lifestyle in films and video games give youngsters a false image.
Mr Dawkins said: "Young people believe crime pays. In reality, it destroys lives. I have yet to meet a person who has been involved in crime who would not swap the measly amounts of money they have made for the chance to have the years in prison back."
Evening Post

GRIM FACTS OF LIFE BEHIND JAIL WALLS
Former prison officer JIM DAWKINS of Skewen, who spent more than seven years on the landings of three of London's most notorious prisons, is the star of a new Channel 5 show Banged Up.The programme filmed 10 juveniles aged 16 and 17 in a disused prison in Scarborough as they came face to face with the realities of life behind bars. Jim, of Dynevor Road, played the part of the senior prison officer in the experimental reality TV show.
Here he gives a first-hand expose of the criminal justice system and offers his advice on how to tackle the scourge of crime.
DURING my time as a prison officer I found some glaring flaws in the system which I did not agree with, and which ultimately led to my decision to leave the service prematurely in 1999.
I wrote my experiences in a book The Loose Screw, in which I made a point of being quite brutally honest about what I witnessed and how I felt the system was being managed.
I am totally in favour of the need for prisons and custodial sentences for criminals, and have no regard for anyone who commits crime of any sort. However there are some serious problems in the system which need to be addressed, as well as the current issues of overcrowding in our country's prisons.
The main concern that I have over the issue of overcrowding is that some offenders are not receiving the correct custodial sentence.
Many are not even being sent to prison when their crime would usually warrant it due to the pressure that our courts are under to manage the lack of space in our system.
My experience of working in prison led me to discover there was an element of "Bad Apples" among the staff who spent their days bullying and assaulting prisoners and putting other more junior members of staff under immense pressure to do the same.
Most of you will say these people are in prison, and therefore you don't care if they receive a hard time inside, and I can quite understand your way of thinking.
There are, however, a couple of points which I must raise to highlight why staff bullying has a negative effect.
As a prison officer you are employed to protect the public by keeping in custody those committed by the courts and (this is the important part for us the general public) to help them lead law-abiding lives on their release.
You are given a tremendous amount of power over the prisoners, as you control their every move. You may say you are given absolute power.
The trouble with power is that it can often go hand in hand with corruption.
I must stress these members of staff who participate in these acts are a minority, but they do cause incredible strain on other officers and prisoners who are just trying to do a difficult job well or get through their sentence and learn to understand the consequences of their actions and change their behaviour for their release back into our society.
As I have said, the most important job of a prison officer is to act as a role model for the prisoners under your care and to show them the errors of their ways.
If you walk the landings like some sort of predatory animal and build a reputation of preying on weaker prisoners and carry out unlawful acts such as assaulting prisoners in unprovoked attacks, planting contraband in cells or smuggling contraband into prison for a price, how can you begin to educate people who are serving custodial sentences that breaking the law is wrong and will not be tolerated in our society.
All that happens is these acts breed a vicious contempt between prisoners and staff and prison becomes a battleground for survival and the prisoners end up leaving prison with nothing but resentment and often more bitterness and hatred for authority than they entered with.
We have to commit to educating our youngsters in the pitfalls of crime and the real horrors of spending many years in prison.
Every day we turn our televisions on or open our newspapers to see another tragic death or serious injury as a result of some sort of violent crime.
More often than not these stories involve youngsters between the ages of 15 and 18, and it is this age group I believe we need to seriously target now to begin to tackle the problem of overcrowding in our prisons. I have taken part in a ground-breaking TV series called Banged Up where I played the part of the senior prison officer in an authentic but disused Victorian prison in Scarborough.
With the help of the former Home Secretary David Blunkett, criminologists, psychiatrists and former criminals who now work for various reform groups, we took 10 young men aged 16 to 17 and introduced them to what life would be like if they continued on their path toward getting involved in crime.
I was amazed at the effect the programme we put these youngsters through had on each of them.
It was obvious to me that although they all arrived cocky young men, they all had completely naive views as to what it would be like to be locked up in a prison cell. Each of them had the opinion that prison was easy which they all had derived from at least one friend who had told them stories of their time in prison.
Their friends are obviously not going to tell them the truth about life in prison, as it would do their "street cred" no good at all. They would not admit that they cried themselves to sleep on the first night or that they could not sleep as they were terrified that their cell mate may physically or even sexually assault them.
They would not describe the hours of mind-numbing boredom when due to lack of staff or an incident they were locked up in a cell measuring four foot by eight foot.
It is these stories that need to be told to youngsters before they find themselves on a prison van at the start of a five- year sentence or worse, as well as giving the young people some pride back in their communities in the hope that they will learn not to destroy property or rob the elderly or become involved in futile gang fights where no-one wins but lives get destroyed.
I honestly believe that the glamorisation of crime and the gangster image in Hollywood films and video games, not to mention the increasing interactive violence on many of these games contributes greatly to giving youngsters a false image of a life of crime.
Many young people really believe that crime pays, although in reality all it does is destroy lives, and I have yet to meet a person who has been involved in a life of crime who would not swap the measly amounts of money they may have made for the chance to have the years back that they wasted in prison.
We need to get this message across to our youngsters to dispel the myth that crime will offer a glamorous lifestyle and bring them the reality that involvement in criminal activities will only bring years of incarceration, serious injury or death and misery to all they affect.
That, I believe, is the way to tackle the increase in crime and prison populations. They need to hear from people who have experienced first-hand the grim reality of being locked up for years or being a victim of crime or who have experienced the true horror of life in prison, the real truth about crime and its effects on everyone in our society.
We need to work in our own communities to bring back the community spirit I remember when I was growing up, so we no longer feel afraid to walk out of our houses without fear of attack.
Evening Post

THE LOOSE SCREW
On The Doors Magazine

Inside the UK prison service by Jim Dawkins
Drawing from his experiences as a prison officer in some of London's most notorious prisons, and more recently from his Channel 5 programme ‘Banged Up', Jim Dawkins shares his insight into the problems of the UK prison service. Corruption and other discrepancies in prisons have been highlighted in BBC's current series ‘Criminal Justice', while the issue of overcrowding has also been a hot topic in the media recently. Dawkins argues that in order to tackle overcrowding we need to get to the root of current crime trends – educating young people about the consequences of their actions and regaining community spirit. For those who do end up in jails, the systems should be in place so that prisoners are released back into society ‘restored' and able to change their behaviour once they've served their sentences.
I spent over seven years as a prison officer on the landings of three of London's most notorious prisons – Wormwood Scrubs, Belmarsh and Wandsworth. During my time as a prison officer, I found some glaring flaws in the system which I did not agree with, and which ultimately led to my decision to leave the service prematurely in 1999. I documented my experiences in a book, ‘The Loose Screw', in which I made a point of being quite brutally honest about what I witnessed and how I felt the system was being managed. I am totally in favour of the need for prisons and custodial sentences for criminals, and have no regard for anyone who commits crime of any sort. However, I know first-hand that there are some serious problems in the current prison system, which need to be addressed with immediate effect.
The initial flaws of the prison system are the ‘bad apples' among a minority of staff, who spend their days bullying and assaulting prisoners and putting other more junior members of staff under immense pressure to do the same. Some people have the opinion that it's part of the process that prisoners should have a hard time while they're ‘inside', but staff bullying has a negative effect and does not help criminals to see the error of their wrongdoing. As a prison officer, you are employed to protect the public by keeping those committed by the courts in custody, and to help them lead law abiding lives on their release. You are given absolute power over the prisoners, as you control their every move. The problem with power is that it can often go hand in hand with corruption. To quote a well-known phrase by Lord Acton: "Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely". Although members of staff who participate in these acts are a minority, they do cause incredible strain on other officers and prisoners, who are just trying to do a difficult job well, or get through their sentence, learn to understand the consequences of their actions, and change their behaviour for their release back into our society.
The most important job as a prison officer is to act as a role model for the prisoners under your care and to show them the errors of their ways. Those officers who walk the prison landings like predatory animals, build reputations of preying on weaker prisoners, and assault prisoners in unprovoked attacks, are not teaching inmates that breaking the law is wrong and will not be tolerated in our society. I've also known prison officers to have planted contraband in cells and smuggle contraband into prison, for a price, of course. These acts breed a vicious contempt between prisoners and staff and prison ultimately becomes a battleground for survival. Furthermore, prisoners end up leaving prison with nothing but resentment and often more bitterness and hatred for authority than they entered with.
Whilst I feel very strongly about staff bullying and corruption, I also feel that relaxing the regime too much can have a negative effect. I have dealt with many prisoners during my time, and most of the inmates I was closely involved with were serving long sentences. The majority of them preferred the old routine of twenty-three hour lock-up to some of the latest regimes of all day association, including televisions and computer games in cells. Many people who find themselves in prison are from underprivileged backgrounds, and so for them to be suddenly given access to equipment they may not have had access to outside prison seems ludicrous. When Wandsworth prison first opened, Queen Victoria apparently delayed its official opening by ordering the removal of the latest but expensive invention of the time - integral toilets. The toilets had been placed in every cell to showcase the latest in modern Victorian technology. The Queen reasoned that most of her subjects who had not committed a crime did not have the luxury of a toilet in their homes, so why should criminals have such luxury in their prison cells? It seems that we have missed some things in the 21st century that Queen Victoria spotted decades ago. The more you give someone in a prison environment, the more chances you create for bullying and corruption on all levels, which in turn gives rise to the emergence of hierarchies.
So what should be done about the state of our prisons?
Primarily, and in order to have an effect on the apparently rising problem of more violent crimes in our communities, the way we manage our prisoners needs to be seriously redressed. My ideas, based on experience, would be to begin by removing the softer regimes and reintroducing a standard regime across the board. This way, everyone is equal and no-one has more or less than each other. This would instantly remove many of the possibilities of bullying and corruption. I would then introduce more interactive therapy classes, such as psychology, sociology, and creative activities such as art and drama, which help inmates to express themselves and release anger. There should also be more commitment to anger management courses and perhaps most importantly, restorative justice, where the criminal can face victims of similar crimes and are forced to see and understand the consequences of their actions. This is something most criminals never have to do, but often produces the most definite and positive response from both criminal and victim. The only time a criminal should be rewarded should be following satisfactory completion of a carefully planned set of courses. At this stage, an inmate's release should be considered. If prisoners fail, they should be ‘back-squadded', in a similar way to army recruits, and be made to retake the course again.
Although this solution would work for people already serving custodial sentences, it would not address the current problem of crime wracking communities and overcrowded prisons. To tackle this, I believe we have to commit to educating our young people about the pitfalls of crime and the real horrors of spending many years in prison. Every day, we turn on our televisions or open our newspapers to see another tragic death or serious injury as a result of some form of violent crime. With rising gun and knife crime among young people, it's this age group I believe we need to seriously target now, to begin to tackle the problem of overcrowding in our prisons in the future. In my current TV series, ‘Banged Up', I played the part of the senior prison officer in an authentic but disused Victorian prison in Scarborough. With the help of the former Home Secretary, David Blunkett, criminologists, psychiatrists and former criminals who now work for various reform groups, we took ten young men aged sixteen and seventeen and introduced them to what life would be like if they continued on their path towards living a life of crime. The effect the programme had on each individual was profound. They all arrived as cocky young men with naïve views as to what it would be like to be locked-up in a prison cell. Each of them had the opinion that prison was easy; information which they had all derived from at least one friend who had told them stories of their time in prison. They came to realise that their friends are obviously not going to tell them the truth about life in prison, as it would do their ‘street cred' no good at all. They would not admit that they cried themselves to sleep on the first night or that they could not sleep as they were terrified that their cell mate may physically or even sexually assault them. They would not describe the hours of mind-numbing boredom when, due to lack of staff or an incident, they were locked up in a cell measuring four foot by eight foot.
It's these stories that young people need to hear before they find themselves in a prison van at the start of a five year prison sentence or worse. Young people also need to feel some pride back in their communities, in the hope that they will learn not to destroy property or rob the elderly or become involved in futile gang fights, where no one wins but lives get destroyed. But just as prison officers have to be role models to inmates; adults also have an obligation to behave as role models for young people to look up to and respect in their communities. Perhaps if more of us pulled together to try to do more to encourage these young people to channel their energies into getting some community pride and spirit back, and if we earn their respect instead of taking every opportunity to chastise them, we may be able to deter these young people from a life of crime. In turn, the problem of overcrowding in our prisons would naturally be tackled too.
Many young people really believe that crime pays, but I have yet to meet a person who has been involved in a life of crime who would not swap the measly amounts of money they may have made for the chance to have the years back that they wasted in prison. Getting this message across to our young people is the key. They need to hear first-hand from people who have experienced the grim reality of being locked up for years or how it feels to be a victim of crime. And to reach the source of prison overcrowding, we need to work on our own communities to bring back the community spirit I remember when I was growing up, so that we no longer fear attack every time we leave our homes.
Jim Dawkins is an ex-prison officer at Belmarsh, Wormwood Scrubs and Wandsworth prisons, the author of two books and is currently in Channel 5's television series ‘Banged Up'. His book, 'The Loose Screw, is available to buy on Amazon.
www.crimestoppers-uk.org

THE LOOSE SCREW
Carmarthen Journal

FORMER PRISON OFFICER SHOWS BAD LADS CELL LIFE
HARDNUT prison officer Jim Dawkins has been putting wannabe gangsters through their paces in a jailhouse version of Big Brother starring former Home Secretary David Blunkett.
Banged Up, which starts on Five this week, sees bad lads from around Britain thrown into jail for 10 days to show where a life of crime could lead.
Jim, from Skewen, Neath, has looked after crooks including Britain’s most violent prisoner Charles Bronson – who is from Aberystwyth – and Cockney gangster Dave Courtney in lock-ups such as Wandsworth, Belmarsh and Wormwood Scrubs between 1992 and 2000.
Victorian Scarborough Prison was reopened especially for the show to provide the teenagers with a genuine taste of prison.
On arriving at the nick they were all strip searched and had their belongings taken from them.
Jim, 39, who has wrote about prison life in his book The Loose Screw, said: “The general opinion of youngsters is that prison is easy but until you are in that environment, whether you have got the use of a TV or not, the environment is still very daunting, especially to youngsters who have never been locked in a four foot by eight foot, old-fashioned cell, like the ones you see on Porridge. They closed it in the 1800s.
“I was expecting to get a load of lip and backchat because ultimately they were kids going to be on a TV show.
“I assumed that one or two would object to strip searches. But they didn’t say a word. I think they were in shock or awe. I don’t think any amount of preparation could have prepared them.”
One of the youngsters who asked to be locked up was from Cardiff. Five would only reveal his name as Benjamin.
Jim said: “He had a problem with alcohol addiction and as with most of them had suffered some kind of breakdown in the family unit. He had not been able to communicate with his parents for a number of years.”
But there was an extra surprise in store for the boys.
Just as they were getting settled in real ex-cons who had served time for crimes ranging from armed robbery to knife attacks were thrown in the cells with them.
Jim said: “They made it clear they were the top dogs.”
Former home secretary David Blunkett sits on a “parole board” in the show. He hoped it would help keep kids out of clink. He also admitted to making mistakes while he headed up the prison service.
He said: “This experiment has given 10 young people a second chance and this is like a second chance for me.
“Over four years I had the opportunity to do some of these things and I failed to invest sufficiently in the experiments that make it possible.”
Banged Up is on Monday nights from 9pm.
Wales On Sunday

-- Radio and TV

Jim Dawkins was interviewed on BBC Radio Wales 93-104 FM. Jim was asked questions about the prison officers' strike (August 2007) and his experiences as a prison officer.
BBC Radio Wales 93-104 FM

Jim Dawkins was interviewed by BBC Radio 5 Live and answered questions about his experiences in recording the Channel 5 television programme 'Banged Up'.
BBC Radio 5 Live

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'Clubbing to Death': Jim stars in new film with Dave Courtney and Craig Charles
Clubbing to Death (Film)

Jim Dawkins was interviewed on BBC News 24. Jim was interviewed about the prison officers' strike (August 2007) and his book 'The Loose Screw'.
BBC News 24

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Jim Dawkins was interviewed on More 4 News (Channel 4). Jim was asked questions about the prison officers' strike (August 2007), his experiences as a prison officer and his book 'The Loose Screw'.
Channel 4: More 4 News

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Jim Dawkins was interviewed on BBC Radio 4 92-95FM (Broadcasting House show, presented by Paddy O'Connell). He was interviewed about his book 'The Loose Screw' and took part in a debate about prisons and the prison officers' strike (August 2007).
BBC Radio 4 92-95FM

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An excellent read! This book should touch a raw nerve with the prison service and get alarm bells ringing at the way the current system is run. Jim's unique access to the service gives his writing understanding, conviction and humour. This book is a must for anyone interested in what goes on behind the closed doors of the prison service.
Andrew Thompson, BBC

It's a tremendously powerful book that paints a grim picture of the British prison system. Unlike many books of this type, it has an author who is honest about his own failings and consequently Jim's story is all more involving for the reader.
Andrew Offiler, Calon Television (Head of Development)

Radio 123 (Netherlands) reviewed 'The Loose Screw' written by Jim Dawkins.
Radio 123 (Netherlands)

Jim Dawkins was interviewed on 'The Philip Solomon Show'. Jim answered questions about his books 'The British Crime and Prison Quiz Book' and 'The Loose Screw' and what is what like to be a prison officer in some of the UK's most famous prisons.
Wolverhampton City Radio 101.8 FM

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Jim Dawkins is to be congratulated for producing a book of considerable depth. I understand that it took over 6 years to write and it is a work of which he should be justifiably proud. I found it fasinating and of great interest.
Frazer Ashford, Ashford Entertainment (TV Producer & Managing Director)

Jim Dawkins was interviewed on BBC Radio 4 92-95FM. Jim was interviewed on the Eddie Mair show, talking about the prison officers' strike (August 2007) and about his book 'The Loose Screw'.
BBC Radio 4 92-95FM

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Jim Dawkins was interviewed on Volts Radio. Jim answered questions about his book 'The Loose Screw'.
Volts Radio

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Jim Dawkins was interviewed on BBC London 94.9 FM on 'The JoAnne Good and Paul Ross Breakfast Show'. Jim was asked to give his views on the incident where a prison officer allegidly smuggled a McDonalds meal into Belmarsh for the inmates. Jim also mentioned his book 'The Loose Screw' that provides details of similar incidents.
BBC London 94.9 FM

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Jim Dawkins took part in the 'Richard Evans Lunch Time Show' on BBC Radio Wales 93-104 FM where the current situation on knife crime was discussed, Jim also spoke about his book 'The Loose Screw'.
BBC Radio Wales 93-104 FM

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Jim Dawkins was interviewed on City Talk 105.9 FM. Jim answered questions about his book 'The Loose Screw'.
CityTalk 105.9 FM

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Jim Dawkins was interviewed on 'Liberty Radio Breakfast Show' where he was asked about 'Youth Crime' and also talked about his book 'The Loose Screw' and the Channel 5 TV series 'Banged Up'.
Liberty Radio

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Jim Dawkins was interviewed on Wolverhampton City Radio 101.8 FM. Jim answered questions about his book 'The Loose Screw'.
Wolverhampton City Radio 101.8 FM

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Jim Dawkins was interviewed on Sunny Govan Radio 103.5 FM. Jim answered questions about his book 'The Loose Screw'.
Sunny Govan Radio 103.5 FM

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Jim Dawkins was interviewed on BBC London 94.9 FM on 'The JoAnne Good and Paul Ross Breakfast Show'. Jim answered questions about his book 'The Loose Screw'. (Picture: Jim Dawkins, centre, with JoAnne Good and Paul Ross).
BBC London 94.9 FM

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Jim Dawkins was interviewed on Northsound 2 103.5 MW. Jim answered questions about his book 'The Loose Screw'.
Northsound 2 103.5 MW

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Extracts showing Jim Dawkins from the first episode of the Channel 5 television series 'Banged Up'.
Banged Up, Channel 5

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Jim Dawkins was interviewed on Kerrang! Radio 105.2 FM. Jim answered questions about his book 'The Loose Screw'.
Kerrang! Radio 105.2 FM

Jim Dawkins was interviewed on BBC Radio Wales 93-104 FM. Jim answered questions about overcrowding in prisons and his book 'The Loose Screw'.
BBC Radio Wales 93-104 FM

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-- Readers Comments

Having experience of the system I was pleased to read a no-holds barred account of like as an officer! I would like to wish Mr Dawkins all the luck in the future and his main associate who he supports.
Mr Anon
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This book is an insight into the unknown world of prison life. It is a well written and very engrosing and mindblowing read, once you pick it up you will not put it down.
Gareth Goves
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The Loose Screw by Jim Dawkins is surely a autobiography written with a conscience and in honesty.
This is a real life story which is a must to read to get a much better view of the prison system in the UK (but this ill prison system is very similar around the globe) and the way justice is used by people in power.
Furthermore is Jim a man who became aware "as a screw" that Charlie Bronson is a amazing man who has long time ago fulfilled his prison stay and therefore Jim got him self a cause. This cause is the true to tell and make aware of what goes on behind the close doors of the penal system in the UK.
The world would be a better place with more honest people like Jim, and in the prison system they wouldn't produce that much hatred in the name of justice.
Diddy W
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A great book. I was gripped from the start, a fascinating true life tale of a mans journey through life in the British Army and British prison system. Highly recommended!
S. Scott
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Totally Amazing Book! I have now read the book twice and find it riveting. Having had a son in the army and another son who has been in prison, I found it really informative and eye opening. Jim tells his story in an open and honest way, he is a man who has the courage and conviction to stand up for what he believes in. I would recommend The Loose Screw to anybody. The book should be available in all prisons (but unfortunately isn't!) Keep up the good work Jim!
A reader from England
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WHAT A READ! Since I picked up this book I was glued to what was one of the best books I have ever read which I could not put down as I just had to see what happens next! Having my fella inside the book made me feel sick in parts when it describes the behaviour of some of the officers and i have to say its a shame there were not more decent officers like Jim was and that the decent ones feel pressured to leave the service due to pressure from the bad ones for the sake of their own sanity. Other parts had me in stitches with some of Jims hilarious antics. This is a truly fabulous book truthful and very down to earth and I would like to congratulate Jim for his courage in bringing this shadowy world to light for the public to read it will certainly open some eyes.
A reader from England
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A great book, once I picked it up I could not put it down. Possibly the best true life book I have read.
Terry Skelern
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The only thing that is disapointing about this book is that it has to end. Jim's honesty and ability to admit his own failings throughout his life make this book a real winner.
Jason Cogger
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A fantastic read a real eye opener written by a man who has been there seen it and done it.
Lisa Thomas
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Serving a life sentence myself I see injustice on a daily basis and it is extremely refreshing for someone on the other side of the fence to expose a realistic side of prison life. Instead of newspapers articles describing prison life as a holiday camp.
Jim Dawkins is a brave man for standing up and being counted when most men are found wanting. This book will not have you on the edge of your seat with excitement, however its honesty and openess will challenge even the staunchest of hardline reformists.
'John the Lifer'
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This is a brilliant book. I had tears rolling down my face reading some of the hilarious stories. One of the funniest things I have ever heard was the one about Dave Courtney looking out of the doctors window, you will have to read it to see what I mean. Also, it was a great eye-opener to the way prisoners are treated, especially Charles Bronson, who until I read this book I just assumed he was exactly the type of person that you read about in the papers. This book has convinced me that he is actually nothing like this and is actually a very proud and respectful man. This is probably one of the best books I have ever read. I would recommend it to anyone from all walks of life.
Dave Harding
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I read this book whilst on holiday and I would like to say well done to Jim for writing it. It is about time someone had the courage to bring some of the stuff The Loose Screw exposes out into the open. I am very aware of the kind of stuff that goes on in our prisons and am so glad that jim felt strongly enough to tell it how it really is. I recommend this book to anyone with an interest in prison life and human behaviour in general as it certainly will open your eyes. Well done and thank you Jim!
A reader from England
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I've just read 'The Loose Screw' and would like to congratulate and thank Jim Dawkins for writing it. It makes difficult reading for those of us with a loved one inside, but knowledge is power. I just hope the right people - those with some clout who can make a difference - read this book. It certainly needed to be written. Thank you for publishing it.
Gemma Hooper
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An excellent book and a very honest account of what our prison service is really like. I wish the author every success for the future and if I may quote an old South London face who once told me many years ago 'The strongest men you'll ever meet are the ones who overcame their own weaknesses'.
Ian Payne
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This book is brilliant - it is just what we need to shake up the bad element in our service that Jim describes with disturbing accuracy.
A current serving Prison Officer
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A top book! Once I picked it up I could not put it down again. This is the best book I have read for a very long time - a must for all to read.
A reader from England
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A fabulous book, extremely well written, honest and a real eye-opener.
Laura Sheen
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A top book. The best I had read for a long time, well done Jim.
Greg Bennett
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This book is simply brilliant.
A reader from England
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A fantastic book, an excellent read.
Sandra W
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This is an amazing book, I couldn't put it down!
John Gordon
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An absolutely brilliant book. Buy it now as it is a fantastic insight written by a man who knows.
Mr J Mills
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A very good read; true to life and gritty, this book tells it as it is and is very poignant to me having a boyfriend currently in prison, once I started reading it I couldn't put it down!
Lisa Crossthwaite
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I am a prison officer currently coming to the end of my prison officer training and I felt I must say how much I thoroughly enjoyed reading this excellent book. I found it both highly informative and a great help for me to understand some what I am about to encounter as an officer. Everyone should read this book as it really does give an unbiased account of what can go on inside our prison walls.
A trainee Prison Officer
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I've just read the book and found it totally compelling and gripping! I'm a London Taxi driver and bought the book to sit and read for 5 minutes at a time whilst waiting for a job. Instead, I started reading and could not put it down and had to go and sit in Hyde Park to read it for most of the day. The old woman moaned when I got in because I had taken next to no money that day! Well done Jim for such a fantastic book and one that shows what the monkeys in charge are really like!
Tony Ratcliffe
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What a fantastic book, It is rare that you find a book which draws you in so much that you become obvious to anything else around you. Great writing, thank you Jim Dawkins.
Andrea Smith
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I enjoyed the book but maybe this book should have been called 'The Bent Screw'. As a serving prison officer myself I can understand the mention of bully boy screws, as I have come across them, but as for the author turning a blind eye to the inmates making illegal home brew known as hooch then taking in his own hip flask of brandy at Xmas time for his personal gang of criminals (wing cleaners) amazes me. It's a total disgrace to think a well respected prison officer prefers the company of hardened criminals to law abiding citizens, it astounds me.
A. Richardson
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It is the sheer honesty with which this book is written which makes it possibly the best true life account I have ever read on any subject. Jim doesn’t pull any punches in both describing his own failings in early life and that of the service he had hoped would offer him what the 'brochure' said 'a job for life'. For this fact alone it is totally believable and I for one was shocked by the revelations. I hope anyone involved with our legal system will read this unique account and give Dawkins the credit he deserves for having the courage to expose the rotten eggs.
Terrence Slavern
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I picked this book up with an open mind as I am certainly no supporter of criminals. I quickly realized though that the author is not a prison officer turned by the tempting stories of get rich quick schemes he heard from the armed robbers he locked up. His point is not that we should free prisoners and give them cushy prison sentences but he quite rightly felt that he had a position of responsibility entrusted to him by us the taxpayers. He soon found not all his new colleagues had the same ideas and abused this responsibility by committing acts of violence against prisoners in their jails. Astonishing and shocking reading.
Faye Trent
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Read this book - it is gripping from page one and will give you a unique sometimes horrifying insight into how power can corrupt the human mind and how peer pressure can cause peoples whole character to change. Excellent reading!
John Lawton
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If you want real life, forget the rest, just reach for this one - it should be a best seller! Far better than the prison diaries by that well known author as Jim holds no airs and graces and freely admits his own failures in his struggle to fight against what he saw as wrong.
Graham Wellfield
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A great book which is long overdue. I was drawn into the fascinating events of Jim's life story from page one as it is such a down to earth, warts and all account of real gritty true life.
Dave Wall
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Raw and exciting! Full of shocking truths and laddish humour, and for a novice writer it is extremely well written with a flow that will not allow you to put it down until you have reached the end and will leave you eager for more. Excellent.
John Pressnell
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The book is excellent, as an inmate I know all what Jim has said is true. 10 out of 10 for how Jim has written the book. This book is a winner!
D Baker
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An absolutely fantastic book! Once I picked it up I was glued to it and could not put it down until I had read every page. A great read, possibly the best book I have ever read.
Adam Capell
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What a great read!
Andrew Gaskin
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I've read dozens of biographies and can say in all honesty that this is one of the best! I couldn't put it down... It was a real eye-opener. I came to one big conclusion while reading it, Jim must have balls like a bull! It has taken hell of a lot of bottle to write what he has. I only hope it lights a fire under the back-sides of the top brass and something can be done for the likes of Charlie Bronson. I hope it is not to long in Jim writing a follow up as I am sure he will have plenty of material. It was great to read that Jim has got his life back on track.
Gordon W
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A brilliant book, an extremely good read. How Jim describes his feelings about bully's and liars echoes my thoughts exactly, it was like I was reading about my own philosophy on life in general. A saying that I hold true as I go through life is: THE ONLY NECCESARY THING FOR THE TRIUMPH OF EVIL IS FOR GOOD MEN TO DO NOTHING.
John Aspinall
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I recently bought this book and would like to congratulate Jim Dawkins on what is an absolutely awesome book! I could not put it down when I started to read it. I was gutted when I did finish it as it was such an intense read I craved more. I like to read about the underworld and hard-cases in general but this book was something else. I have the utmost respect for Jim for having the courage to stand up and be counted. I have read some things about Charlie Bronson and felt he should be let out after reading ‘The Loose Screw.’ The Dave Courtney chapter had me in stitches reading about some of his escapades.
Steve Fearn
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I could not believe it when I heard that a prison officer had written a book exposing some serious flaws in the hierarchy of our prison system, so I rushed out to get a copy. I was gripped from start to finish with Jim Dawkins gritty true life accounts of his escapades whilst in the Royal Green Jackets and his horror at what he discovered when he joined the prison service relating to the corruption and bullying tactics employed by many of his fellow officers. If you enjoy reading true life stories about prisons and are intrigued to read about a man who dared cross the line and engage in building relationships with the prisoners he was charged to look after this book must be read. I very much doubt you will see a book of its kind published for a very long time. Jim Dawkins should be commended for his bravery for coming forward with these shocking revelations and I am sure it will cause a much needed shake up within our already troubled british prison service and home office.
Mark Edwards
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Highly recommended to all from top politicians to anyone with an interest in prison life and corruption.
Natalie Smith
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I first met Jim in 1985 when we both joined the Green Jackets together and we have remained firm friends ever since. Jim is a loyal and funny guy and one of the qualities many warm to is the fact that he wears his heart on his sleeve. He is never afraid to stand up and be counted and has always fought hard for what he believes is right. His character has shone through in his book and I can assure you that all the accounts within its pages are true however hard hitting they appear. I thoroughly enjoyed reminiscing his tales from our army days and was fascinated to read his accounts of his time spent as a prison officer. Knowing Jim as I do I can understand his frustration at feeling that he had to expose what he saw as morally wrong i.e. the unprofessional conduct by other prison officers he encountered, and he does this with an honesty and passion only Jim can portray. I have been lucky to have had Jim as a friend through some pretty tough times and I can tell you that you couldn’t find a better man to be in your corner. I know he feels very strongly about the treatment Charlie Bronson has and still is enduring but I know he has and will continue to show complete commitment and loyalty to Charlie’s cause until he is sure justice is done. The loose Screw is extremely well written and is unique and I would highly recommend it to anyone who has served in the forces or who has an interest in our prison system as Jim really does tell it how it is.
Harry Betts
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This is a unique one and only book which is extremely well written, true to life and very honest and hard hitting. It is the first and I suspect last time a prison officer will have the courage to write an honest account of what happens behind closed doors of our penal system. We have all read the accounts by ex-prisoners now those stories have been substantiated by an ex-serving prison officer. It is raw and shocking in parts, laced with humour but the shocking revelations and the authors willingness to admit to certain acts that he is not excactly proud off only adds to the authenticity of the account. An excelent read and a must for all involved with or who have an interest in our penal system and the accounts of the infamous Charlie Bronson are fascinating and shed a completely different light on the way he has been potrayed by the media in the past. Don't miss your chance to read this unique insight into a previously unknown world.
A reader from England
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I can't remember the last time I read such a honest hard hitting true life gritty and yet very well written book. I thoroughly enjoyed this shocking and often funny expose of a normal every day man who has seen first hand some terrible acts of injustice carried out within the walls of our prisons. This book deserves to be a best seller and should be seeling out all over the world. The author has shown extreme courage in coming forward to write this book and his relationship he formed with the infamous Charlie Bronson makes fascinating reading. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED TO ALL!
Thomas Finn
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I must say I found it very interesting and thought it was a great read and a must for all fellow riflemen. I also believe that Jim has highlighted the very special and unique qualities that are only found in riflemen of the Green Jackets. Well done!
Gary Driscoll
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A gripping read, shocking but truthful. This book should be available on every shelf in every bookstore for all to see. I am sure it will sell in the thousands if more could see it as it is far better than a lot of other biographical books I have read by more well known people.
Phil Harknett
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An interesting read made all the more poignant due to the fact I was on Prison Officer training course NR32 at Newbold Revel, the one after Jims, in 1992, and "Senior Officer Ian English" was one of my instructors! A brilliant man who, in my opinion, should write a book himself. By the way, Jim, yours wasn't the last course to teach marching, etc. We did it on NR32 as well! It takes a great amount of courage to go against the pack, and it appears Jim has this in spades. I'll say no more and let the reader decide for themselves. At the end of the book, he states that a great weight was lifted off of his shoulders. I know EXACTLY how he felt, as I resigned less than two years after joining, for reasons I have outlined in another review. A worthwhile read.
Andy Harvey
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-- Book Signings and Events

'Free Charles Bronson' campaign in Derby - Jim Dawkins signed copies and talked about his book
Free Charles Bronson Campaign

Cafe Taj, Gravesend, Kent
Cafe Taj, Gravesend, Kent

Dickens Festival Rochester, Kent, 2006
Dickens Festival Rochester, Kent, 2006

Thamesgate Shopping Centre, Gravesend, Kent
Thamesgate Shopping Centre, Gravesend, Kent

Sir Robert Peel Public House, Chatham, Kent: An Evening With 'Dave Courtney & Jim Dawkins'
Sir Robert Peel Public House, Chatham, Kent

Thamesgate Shopping Centre, Gravesend, Kent
Thamesgate Shopping Centre, Gravesend, Kent

Stratford Shopping Centre, Stratford
Stratford Shopping Centre, Stratford

Thamesgate Shopping Centre, Gravesend, Kent
Thamesgate Shopping Centre, Gravesend, Kent

'The Loose Screw' on sale at Waterstone's, Colchester (Culver Square).
Waterstone's, Colchester (Culver Square)

Jim Dawkins signed copies of 'The Loose Screw' at Waterstone's, Abergavenny.
Waterstone's, Abergavenny

Spring Fair 2007: The World's Essential Gift and Home Showcase.
Spring Fair 2007: The World's Essential Gift and Home Showcase

Heroes & Villains Store, 'Inshops', Trafalger Centre, Chatham.
Heroes & Villains Store, 'Inshops', Trafalger Centre, Chatham

JIM DAWKINS - THE LOOSE SCREW
Waterstone's, Cardiff

Jim Dawkins signed copies of 'The Loose Screw' at Waterstone's, Cardiff.
Waterstone's, Cardiff

Authors Jim Dawkins and Dave Courtney attend Inside Time's 100th issue celebration.
The event took place at the Parliament Chamber, Inner Temple, London.
(Picture: Dave Courtney (left), John Roberts (middle) and Jim Dawkins (right), with 'The Loose Screw' and 'The British Crime and Prison Quiz Book).
Inside Time - 100th Issue Celebration, Parliament Chamber, London

Jim Dawkins signed copies of his books 'The Loose Screw' and 'The British Crime and Prison Quiz Book' at Waterstone's, Merry Hill, West Midlands.
Waterstone's, Merry Hill, West Midlands

Jim Dawkins signed copies of his books 'The Loose Screw' and 'The British Crime and Prison Quiz Book' at Borders, Parc Fforestfach, Swansea.
Borders, Parc Fforestfach, Swansea

Jim Dawkins signed copies of his books 'The Loose Screw' and 'The British Crime and Prison Quiz Book' at Waterstone's, Carmarthen.
Waterstone's, Carmarthen

Jim Dawkins signed copies of his books 'The Loose Screw' and 'The British Crime and Prison Quiz Book' at Borders, New Park Shopping Centre, Mid Glamorgan.
Borders, New Park Shopping Centre, Mid Glamorgan

Jim Dawkins signed copies of his books 'The Loose Screw' and 'The British Crime and Prison Quiz Book' at Waterstone's, Camden, London.
Waterstone's, Camden, London

-- Libraries that stock this book
Aveley Library, Essex
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Queenborough Library, Kent
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East Tilbury Library, Essex
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Hempstead Library, Kent
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Vange Library, Essex
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Pitsea Library, Essex
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Stanford Le Hope Library, Essex
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West End Library, Southampton
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Colchester Library, Essex
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Harlow Library, Essex
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Brentwood Library, Essex
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Loughton Library, Essex
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The Library of Trinity College, Dublin
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The National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth
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Chelmsford Library, Essex
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The Bodleian Library, Oxford
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The University Library, Cambridge
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The National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh
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Dartmoor Prison Library
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Kings Farm Library, Kent
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The British Library, Boston Spa
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Sheerness Library, Kent
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Sittingbourne Library, Kent
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Gravesend Library, Kent
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Hoo Library, Kent
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Lordswood Library, Kent
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Luton Library, Kent
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Rochester Library, Kent
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Twydall Library, Kent
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Grays Library, Essex
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