Transport to the Prison

When they decide to move you to the prison depends entirely upon what they have agreed with the prison. They move all types of prisoners, men, women and juveniles so how long you will wait in the holding cell is uncertain. If your stay covers a meal time they will give you a basic meal which will reflect your religious choice. The food is simple.

The move to the prison is by special vans. These vans have a number of small compartments in them ( rather like an old fashioned train toilet in size except with a seat not a toilet). 

You will be handcuffed to a guard while in your cell and walked to the van. Here you will be placed into the compartment and your handcuffs removed. 

After the van has finished loading it will pass through various security check and doors before starting its journey. Don’t expect it to have a police escort unless you are a very high risk or profile prisoner, these van plough up and down the public roads every day and just look like Security Vans to the uninitiated.

The van ride is slow, noisy and uncomfortable. There is no loo so it pays to use the facilities in the court holding cell before you start the trip. The van will carry “new” prisoners along with existing prisoners returning to prison after court appearances. There is usually some shouted banter between the more assured travellers but sitting in silence is what most “new” prisoners do! You will find that some of the prisoners on the van tell people that they “only got x years, that’s easy to do”, or others saying they were innocent and its all a dreadful mistake. Remember that the officer on the van will have heard it all before, and the loudmouth saying it is easy is just as scared as you are!

The van may not go straight to your prison and will stop at other prisons on the way. These stops all take time, but you can’t make them go any faster by complaining!