A chance meeting on holiday in Majorca changed my life forever and launched me into a 25-year career in a job that I never would’ve considered previously: working in Her Majesty’s Prison Service.This book catalogues my personal experiences of working as a prison officer, from my early days at HMP Pentonville to my final years in therapy-based HMP Grendon.

Filled with interesting observations and incidences, hilarious wind-ups and memorable characters, this autobiography is the story of a journey, from the happiest days in what will always be a potentially volatile environment to a complete state of disillusionment as an ‘old dinosaur’ that no longer fitted into the modern prison service world.

I give an honest account of my feelings, as someone who would never be a yes man and toe the party line, in the face of a constantly changing environment that had become increasingly controlled by political correctness gone mad and by budgetary needs rather than human needs.

I am a man who cared, and even though my heart was sucked out of the job, I never lost my dignity or respect.

Most importantly, I would never allow myself to be reduced to just a turnkey.