Peter's 70th anniversary reading challenge

If you would like to donate to Peter's fundraising page, you can find it at: https://www.justgiving.com/page/peter-newbridge-reading

Reviews

4: A BIT OF A STRETCH by Chris Atkins

Chris Atkins, a documentary filmmaker, is sentenced to five years for tax fraud. He enters prison not as a hardened criminal, but as somebody ‘ordinary’ – middle-class, educated, and completely unprepared for what he is about to experience. He does not write to glorify crime or dramatize prison life. Instead, he writes a very readable, detailed diary of his time in HMP Wandsworth. The diary is full of detailed observations that manage to be funny, human, and quietly devastating.

He simply describes what he sees, hears, and experiences - underfunded facilities, overworked staff, inconsistent discipline, and people in prison treated as problems to be managed rather than people to be rebuilt. He shows how prisons can increase criminality because the system strips away confidence, stability, employability, and connection to the outside world. He describes people in prison struggling with mental illness, addiction, learning difficulties, trauma, and poverty – people who are not monsters but damaged, neglected, and often failed long before they ever committed a crime. He does not excuse criminal behaviour or pretend everyone is misunderstood but he does force the reader to confront the truth: prison often warehouses society’s most vulnerable people instead of helping them.

‘A Bit of a Stretch’ is very readable book, funny, disturbing, compassionate and infuriating in equal measure. The people feel real, and small details carry enormous weight. The book serves as an indictment of a prison system that seems less interested in justice than in containment.

 

3: BEHIND BARS by Charles Bronson

Charles Bronson’s book focuses mostly on the life inside of one man who has over 40 years of experience in prisons and high-security units. He records many quotes in the last section of the book that reflect his own position. This is one quote that in many ways sum-up one of his key messages.

‘The vilest deeds like poison weeds

Bloom well in prison air;

It is only what is good in man.

That wastes and withers there.’        Oscar Wilde

The book is a series of sections that record Bronson’s experiences throughout his long sentence and his interest in the history of the penal system. These sections include an A-Z of prisons, hostage taking, professional reports from legal and medical officers and his criminal history. Throughout these sections he focusses on the many prison regimes he has experienced and how he reacted to boredom and monotony through often violent exchanges between himself and officers. He doesn’t glamorise violence but explains its place in the culture of prison. Most of his 40 years were spent in segregation or isolation cells spending 23 hours of every day with locked doors. He explores how isolation and routine can warp perception leading to conflict, survival instincts, vulnerability, and lack of control. The book can help volunteers appreciate that many behaviours which look ‘difficult’ to outsiders often have roots in the institutional realities of confinement.

One of the greatest strengths of ‘Behind Bars,’ is its ability to humanise someone who, to many readers, is a symbol of danger. The fact that, like many people in prison, he wants meaning, dignity, and connection, even in the harshest of conditions. For volunteers, this is critical. It reminds us that behind every inmate label is a complex person with a story, not just a statistic or risk profile. It challenges readers to look beyond headlines to the human realities of incarceration.

April 2026

 

2: THE LIFE INSIDE by Andy West

Andy West starts each chapter with a quotation. This quote is the first and captures one of the main themes of the book.

 

         ‘Justice: to be ever ready to admit that another person

         is something quite different from what we read when

         he is there.’          Simone Weil

‘The Life Inside’ is a deeply humane memoir that gives an insider perspective on the realities of prison life – not from the viewpoint of policy makers, but from someone who has spent years teaching philosophy inside various prisons. The project, which included men and women, discussed what it means to live, think, suffer, and hope within a system built around punishment. He also grew up with a Father, an Uncle and a brother who were all imprisoned, a legacy that left him carrying guilt, fear and questions about identity and fate long into adulthood. The book is structured around philosophical themes – freedom, shame, identity, forgiveness, time – each chapter weaving together classroom conversations with moments from his own life.

His students in prison are not portrayed as stereotypes, but as complex, witty, thoughtful individuals. The book overturns the flat ‘victim v villain’ myth and replaces it with a rich mosaic of real people grappling with life behind bars. Their discussions – sometimes funny, sometimes deeply unsettling – reveal how conversations can be forms of freedom. West’s own struggle with shame and inherited guilt parallels many prisoners’ battles with identity and self-worth.

‘The Life Inside’ is more than a memoir, it’s a bridge between worlds often separated by stigma and silence. For volunteers of prison charities, this book offers not only a better understanding of prison life, but a reminder of the shared humanity at the heart of the toughest circumstances. It encourages readers to see people in prison not as stereotypes, but as whole people.

April 2026

 

1: MY NAME IS WHY by Lemn Sissay 

Lemn Sissay’s My Name Is Why is a powerful, deeply moving memoir that combines unflinching look at what it means to grow up without stability, belonging, or truth. It is not simply the story of one man’s childhood, but a wider indictment of a system that failed countless children in care. 

The memoir is structured around his early life in foster homes and institutions, but what gives it such emotional force is the presence of one question: why? Why was he taken from his mother? Why was he lied to about who he was? Why did the adults around him seem so ready to discard him? 

The most heartbreaking element of the book is the sense of deliberate erasure. Sissay describes being stripped not only of family, but of identity itself—his name, his origins, his history. The cruelty is not always loud; often it is bureaucratic, hidden behind paperwork and “procedure,” which makes it even more disturbing. The memoir reveals how devastating it can be when a child is treated like a case file rather than a human being. This is clearly evidenced by the continual use of reports of his time in care from social workers, psychologists, foster parents and other professionals who have taken decisions about Lemn’s life. 

Ultimately, this is a memoir that stays with you. It is beautifully written, socially important, and emotionally devastating without ever feeling manipulative. My Name Is Why is essential reading—not just because it tells Lemn Sissay’s story, but because it forces the reader to confront the lasting impact of neglect, racism, and institutional cruelty. It is a book about identity, loss, and the human need to be known. 

Lemn did not enter the adult prison system but the story of his life from birth to 18 years old reflects many of the key factors faced by too many people from the care system who are now held in prison. 

April 2026

 

About this blog...

My name is Peter, and I have been volunteering with the New Bridge Foundation for over 17 years. Our charity was established 70 years ago by Lord Longford to support prisoners who are isolated from the wider society. The work of volunteers provides a bridge to the outside world, along with an increased sense of value and potential for their future. This long-term support is through regular written correspondence and visits together with support on release for those who ask for continued support. I am proud to say that several of my previous befriendees have gone onto establish meaningful crime free lives. 

To support New Bridge and to celebrate our 70th anniversary many of the volunteers are completing various challenges. Sadly, I cannot run a marathon or swim many kilometres, so I have chosen to read a book related to prisons and prisoners for every decade of the charity and write a review for each book. It is hoped that the reviews will support new volunteers to widen their understanding of prisons from a wider perspective and generate some funds to enable our valuable work to continue. 

This page will be updated with a new review each time I finish one of the 7 books.

If you would like to donate to my fundraising page, you can find it at: https://www.justgiving.com/page/peter-newbridge-reading