GOVERNOR EB

Vanessa Frake

• Publisher: HarperElement
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9780008390051
• eBook ISBN: 9780008390068
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Social Science Biographies
• Index: Social Sciences

THE SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLER

As seen on This Morning

Back in the day, I was Governor of Security and Operations for HMP Wormwood Scrubs. If you're easily shocked or offended, you best look away now…

Having worked for 16 years in a high-security women's prison dealing with the likes of Rosemary West and Myra Hindley, Vanessa Frake thought she'd seen it all. That was until she was transferred to the notorious Wormwood Scrubs.

Thrust into a 'man's world', her no-nonsense approach and fearless attitude saw her swiftly rise through the ranks. From dealing with celebrity criminals and busting drug rings, to recruiting informers and being subject to violent attacks, this hard-hitting but often humorous memoir reveals all about life behind bars in unflinching detail.

Now, for one last time, The Gov opens the prison gates. Prepare for the madness and horror of daily life with the UK's most ruthless criminals.

Chapter 1

New kid on the block

HMP Wormwood Scrubs: March 2002

I guess it would be fair to say I started my first day at one of Britain’s most notorious men’s prisons feeling bitter.

There was a staff shortage, so me and another female senior officer had been transferred. That’s the way things went in the prison service and there was nothing I could do about it. We’d had just the weekend to prepare after someone from HMP Holloway turned up on my doorstep with a letter. A bit like what you see in the movies, when someone gets ‘served’ with their court papers.

The woman thrust the envelope at me with an outstretched hand and I just glared at her, knowing full well it was bad news. I have a sixth sense for knowing what’s coming. You’ll get to know that about me the more you hear of my story.

‘Just tell me what it says,’ I said, not wanting to bother with the ceremony of opening it.

‘You’re moving to Wormwood Scrubs.’

My stomach clenched. ‘Alright. Fine.’ I drew on all my strength to hide my emotions. ‘When?’

‘Monday.’

Monday?! You’re having a giraffe!

‘Great, thanks,’ I replied, tight-lipped. I closed the door, my heart sinking, my resolve melting to form pure undiluted anger.

I never did open the letter. I binned it. Like I say, bitter. I’d given that women’s prison sixteen years of my life and, just like that, they wrenched me from everything I’d known and shoved me into a world I’d deliberately avoided. A men’s prison.

I barely said a word to Sarah as she drove us through London rush-hour traffic to our new life. My thoughts were churning, mainly with dread.

HMP Wormwood Scrubs’ reputation preceded it. Built in the Victoria era it was one of the oldest prisons in the UK. Dirty, rat-infested, rundown, with a serious drug problem. You get to hear all the stories working in the industry. ‘A prison that continues to fall short of expected standards,’ if you prefer the more diplomatic description used by the chief inspector of prisons. On the tier system, it was ranked three, teetering on two. Four being the best. One being the worst. You get the idea.

Aside from being grubby, it was also one of the largest prisons in the UK, locking up 1,237 prisoners compared to the 400 to 500 we had at Holloway. ‘The Scrubs’, as it was better known, was just as famous for its list of well-known convicts. From Moors murderer Ian Brady to the Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe; Leslie Grantham, better known as Dirty Den off EastEnders, Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards, ‘Britain’s most violent prisoner’ Charles Bronson; George Blake, the British spy who betrayed M16 agents to the KGB. They’d all done time there. Rather fittingly, Wormwood Scrubs meant ‘snake-infested woodland’ in Old English.

Being in central London, right next to Wormwood Scrubs Common in Shepherd’s Bush, it was situated in spitting distance of the city’s magistrates and crown courts, which is why it was mainly used as a remand prison. In fact, as many as 80 per cent of the prisoners in the Scrubs were awaiting sentencing. Remand prisoners bring a whole set of problems on their own compared to convicted criminals, but more of that later.

In a nutshell, I’d been sent to an absolute hole full of lairy men who’d been accused of everything from murder to rape to plotting to blow up our country. It was a category B prison, so some of the most serious of crimes.

What they’d done didn’t bother me though – I’d met all sorts working at Holloway, from serial killers to child murderers to IRA members. I’d had the Angel of Death, Beverley Allitt, on my wing. She’d murdered four babies and attempted to kill nine more through insulin or potassium overdoses while working as a hospital nurse in Lincolnshire. Doesn’t get more grim that that. So no, I wasn’t intimidated by their crimes. It was more about what they were – men.

Even though I was what you might call a sturdy woman at five foot nine inches tall, I wouldn’t stand a bleedin’ chance against some six-foot-six bloke built like a brick shithouse, who had the added strength of ten men thanks to a drugs rush he’d just got from contraband smuggled into the prison. What if things kicked off, which they inevitably would being a prison, and I got attacked? Would I be able to put them in their place? No doubt I was going to be in a minority among the staff. Would I enjoy working alongside male colleagues? Would they respect me? I was stepping into a man’s world and I was panicking whether I had the balls to handle it.

Giving up wasn’t an option, though. This was my career, I’d chosen to do it, and I wasn’t quitting for anyone.

I wound down the window so I could have another fag. That made four already. I’d been puffing away like a trooper, and on an empty stomach. My insides were digesting themselves.

Sarah slammed on the brakes as yet another plonker stepped out in front of us. It had been stop-start the whole way so far. That was something I’d also have to get used to – the commute. I’d been lucky enough to avoid London traffic up until now thanks to my flat being a five-minute walk from Holloway. The two-bed had been given to me as part of my training scheme when I joined the prison service. I wasn’t giving that up, why should I? Anger, that’s what I was feeling now as I inhaled deeply on my cigarette. I was angry and bitter.

We were on the final stretch. Du Cane Road, Hammersmith Hospital on our right. Less than a hundred yards more and there it was – the gatehouse. The main entrance to the Scrubs. I don’t think there is anyone in the country who wouldn’t recognise those iconic towers. Formidable. Steeped in history. Used in countless films and TV shows. The gateway to our future. I felt queasy.

We pulled up in the staff car park and made our way along the gravelly track. Still barely saying a word to each other. The crunch of the stones underneath our black shoes filled the silence.

I was wearing my uniform. Black trousers and a white shirt, but no epaulettes. I’d refused point-blank to put them on that morning. I didn’t want any more association with Holloway; I’d cut all ties the moment that letter arrived.

The staff entrance was a far less glamorous side door. I wasn’t expecting the welcome committee but a bit of acknowledgement would have been nice.

‘It’s senior officer Frake reporting for duty,’ I announced as we rocked up at the gate. I handed them my ID.

The bloke behind the glass checked his paperwork and looked up. ‘We don’t have anything to say you’re coming in.’ Off to a good start then. I looked around me. Less than impressed. Bite your tongue, Vanessa.

‘Wait here a minute.’ He picked up the phone. I was hardly going to go anywhere. My sarcasm was running rife. I slid my gaze across to Sarah who looked equally hacked off. I didn’t believe in omens but was this someone’s way of trying to tell us it was all downhill from here? Seriously, Vanessa, just calm yourself down.

I don’t know how long it took, but eventually the head of HR came down to get us. I’d spent that time chewing the fat, working myself up. Notching up my levels of dread ten rungs higher, if that was even possible. So when the woman from HR greeted us with a huge welcoming smile, I was taken aback.

‘Right, you two,’ she said, pointing. ‘Come up to my office, I’m going to make you a cup of tea.’

That was music to my ears. Tea and fags. My two favourite things.

We were escorted to a 1960s prefab building on the other side of the entrance, so nothing like the historic buildings we were yet to encounter. Sarah and I took a seat opposite the HR lady on the other side of the desk; she chatted away while I nursed my cuppa. The woman was lovely and welcoming but I just wasn’t in the right frame of mind for banter.

‘How do you feel about being here?’ she finally asked.

I shrugged. Speaking for the both of us I replied: ‘How do you think we feel!’

‘This is a fresh start for you here. The Scrubs will be what you make of it.’

I made a small shrug. ‘Okay.’

She smiled kindly.

Draining my mug, I placed it down on the edge of the desk. ‘So where are we going then?’ I said. Despite her hospitality, I really wasn’t in the mood for small talk. I just wanted to get on with my job, do what I’d been paid to do. No more dilly-dallying.

Sarah was sent to work at the security office. I was allocated D wing. That’s where the ‘lifers’ were locked up. Lifers, i.e. criminals who were serving a life sentence because their crime was that heinous. The worst of the worst.

I’d never worked with lifers before. Of course I’d come into contact with them at Holloway, but I’d not been responsible for them on a day-to-day basis. As the senior officer on the wing, I’d be in charge of 244 of them.

‘Someone will take you there,’ the HR woman reassured me.

‘No.’ I shook my head defiantly, or some might say stubbornly. ‘Just point me to where the wing is and I’ll make my own way there.’

She looked at me closely, trying to read my eyes, and then nodded. ‘Okay, as you prefer. We’ll get your keys sorted and let you make your own way there.’

‘Thanks,’ I replied, standing up. Preparing to slip out of the office and to my new posting without any more fuss or bother.

My footsteps echoed as I made my way along the bleak corridors. The brand new Scrubs epaulettes sparkling on my shoulders were going to scream ‘fresh fish’ to the prisoners. Apart from the duty staff walking to and fro, the place was desolate. The only time prisoners walk between wings is on ‘free flow’ when they’re escorted to their jobs or education. Clearly neither was happening right now.

First impressions? It was huge, three times the size of Holloway. Dirty. Rundown. And it stank of men. Of stale BO, musty unwashed clothes and urine, to be specific. It was so pungent it made me want to gag.

But despite the stench there was something unusual about this prison. You could really feel the history as you walked through it. It’s hard to put into words what it felt like; it was a kind of vibration. As if the walls were alive, humming with the ghosts of prisoners past.

I reckon, back in the day before it was torn down and rebuilt in the 1970s, Holloway would have given off the same sort of vibe. But when I worked there it felt more like a hospital with giant communal wings that resembled wards in a mental asylum.

The Scrubs couldn’t have been more different in layout. Five wings, marked A to E, five imposing red-brick buildings, huge long wings with three or four landings, joined together by a canal of corridors. They were all separate entities. I wondered what delightful character traits my wing would have. Miraculously, I’d managed to navigate my way without stopping to ask for directions. I’d been handed my own set of keys and all that now stood in the way of me and those serving life imprisonment were a double set of iron-clad doors.

The key turning in a lock in a prison, that’s a sound and a half. Metal on metal. A dragging, scraping noise that can send a chill right through you. It becomes part of you when you work in the nick though. That and the sound of keys in your pocket, jangling with every step. When I worked in Holloway I could tell who was about to appear around the corner just by the clink of their walk. It would only be a matter of time until I knew who was who here. It’s not for nothing jails are nicknamed ‘the clink’.

As the first set of gates slammed behind me, I gave myself a talking-to. Whatever I was feeling inside – nerves, trepidation – under no circumstances could I let that show. As senior officer on the wing, I needed to project an image of being in charge. To the other officers and, most importantly, to the prisoners.

Prisoners can smell fear a mile off. I once heard from a psychologist that a woman who has been raped walks differently. She takes quicker steps and has a less confident stride. They’re such slight differences you or I wouldn’t detect them. Prisoners are looking out for these weaknesses though; they search for chips in your armour, for ways to get under your skin so they can dominate. I learnt a long time ago that in order to survive working in a prison you had to wear a ‘game face’. A neutral expression no matter what. I could never let on what I was really thinking, because if they know they’ve got to you, with the insults they hurl or the violence they threaten you with, they’ve won.

The second and final door clanged shut, juddering at my heels.

My breath escaped me. Bloody hell, this place was enormous. It was the stuff of movies. Four storeys high with metal staircases taking you up the landings. Netting was strung up between the floors to stop prisoners jumping to their death. Suicides, a big part of prison life.

Because the ceiling was so high, the noise was deafening. BANG! BANG! BANG! The sound of fists on doors rung in my ears. It was almost noon, their lunch break, or association hour as we call it, and the inmates wanted letting out.

A friendly older officer approached me. He was what I would call ‘old school’, impeccable manners, no-nonsense, probably ex-army. ‘And who are you, ma’am?’ he asked politely.

I took in a deep breath. ‘I’m your new SO.’

‘Ah, right.’ He looked a little taken aback. ‘Would you like a cup of tea?’

‘Yes, thank you. And then I’ll have a tour of the wing and you can show me what’s what.’

I was right about the epaulettes. They attracted the prisoners like bees to a honeypot. Amazing really considering how small they were, a single diamond with the crown HMP on either shoulder to show I was a senior officer. But the prisoners’ beady eyes don’t miss a trick. Because the epaulettes were shiny, because they hadn’t seen me before – all of them assumed I was new to the job. Wet behind the ears. Someone they could take the piss out of, which is exactly what they did, or at least tried to do.

The conversations that lunchtime were much of a muchness and all went something a little like this: Prisoner would sidle up to me, look shifty, glancing left to right, and then when he was confident he was out of earshot from the other officers working on the wing, he’d say: ‘You’re the new SO then?’

‘Yeah, that’s right,’ I’d reply. Playing along.

‘So here’s the thing, miss, the old SO who worked here always used to give me an extra visit.’

Lifers were allowed one visit from friends and family a month and if they were an Enhanced prisoner, i.e. if they behaved well, they would get an extra visit, making two visits per month. This particular prisoner was angling for me to bend the rules and give him one extra. Little did he know who he was dealing with. But I played along. Not just because it was mildly amusing to see what lies they spun, but because you can glean a lot from small conversations like that. Namely, who I should be keeping an eye on. It allowed me to work out who was who and who the biggest players were. If they were brazen enough to try it on with me, they were likely to be the ones dealing in contraband. And I don’t just mean drugs. Phones, weapons, cigarettes, home-brewed – or, rather, cell-b...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright
• Note to Readers
• Dedication
• Contents
• Prologue
• Chapter 1 New kid on the block
• Chapter 2 Game face
• Chapter 3 One bad apple spoils the bunch
• Chapter 4 Chirpy chappy
• Chapter 5 Lording it up
• Chapter 6 What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger
• Chapter 7 Shit show
• Chapter 8 The first cut is the deepest
• Chapter 9 Drugs on a wire
• Chapter 10 Ace Ventura: Prison Detective
• Chapter 11 Who let the dogs out?
• Chapter 12 A shadow of himself
• Chapter 13 Auntie rose
• Chapter 14 Baking the truth
• Chapter 15 Another rung on the ladder
• Chapter 16 Law and hoarder
• Chapter 17 The boy that cried wolf
• Chapter 18 Ambushed
• Chapter 19 Rum bugger, run
• Chapter 20 Who’s the BOSS?
• Chapter 21 What a shambles
• Chapter 22 Bent officer
• Chapter 23 The Colonel’s secret
• Chapter 24 Who d’ya think you’re talking to?
• Chapter 25 Staring evil in the eye
• Chapter 26 Hooch pooch
• Chapter 27 Ready-made family
• Chapter 28 Gotcha!
• Chapter 29 Bent coppers
• Chapter 30 Surprise of my life
• Chapter 31 Don’t mess up the curtsey
• Chapter 32 Playing dead
• Chapter 33 My way or the highway
• Chapter 34 The beginning of the end
• Chapter 35 Curtains
• Chapter 36 Riot act
• Chapter 37 The past always catches up
• Chapter 38 Let sleeping dogs lie
• Acknowledgements
• About the Publisher