My Story

"Why on earth would I want to help support prisoners!  They deserve everything they get!"

I've been writing to a couple of prisoners through New Bridge for 2 or 3 years now, and have visited one of them 4 times in HMP Northumberland and the other once in HMP Littlehey.  Why do I choose to help, when the Daily Mail would surely rather I didn't?

I've been fortunate enough to have a fairly privileged life, free of childhood trauma, and as such consider myself lucky.  I am absolutely convinced that if I - or you? - were to swap backgrounds with many of the UK's prisoners then it would be them who was writing to us.

I'm no longer religious, but I do think that the mark of a compassionate society is one in which we don't ignore anyone.  Nobody else is willing to engage with prisoners, so New Bridge provide a vital service in providing the means for me - and many others like me - to do so.  

One last thing: I asked both my prisoners what they disliked most about being in prison.  I expected the answer to be the lack of freedom, or the food, or the violence, but they both said it was not being treated with respect.  By writing to (and perhaps visiting) a prisoner New Bridge volunteers become often virtually the only people who have a relationship with prisioners based on respect, rather than judgment.

New Bridge are a tiny charity who are continually short of money, and despite having been in existence for many years operate still on a shoestring.  Please give your support!

Thanks for reading.

Andy