LORD LONGFORD'S PRISON DIARY

Hardback. Lord Longford's name was synonymous with the cause of prison reform in Britain, and in particular with support for the release of murderer Myra Hindley. But behind the headlines and the public debates lay a lifetime of prison visiting, begun in the 1930s in Oxford. Even in his mid-nineties he continued to visit an average of two prisoners a week, travelling to all corners of the country by public transport to see people who often had no one else for support. This remarkable diary, covering the years from 1995 to 1999, is not only a witness to his extraordinary commitment to and compassion for prisoners, but also a disturbing insight into what goes on in British jails in the name of justice. In it he describes visits to well-known prisoners - Hindley, her accomplice Ian Brady, mass murderer Denis Nilsen, and spy Michael Bettany - to sex offenders, rapists and conmen, whose names are known only to their victims; but also to those like, Roisin McAliskey, whom he believed to be innocent of the crimes for which they were held, or mentally unsuited to serving their sentences in prison. Longford, more than any other outsider, understood the criminal psyche. He remained one of the few public figures with a belief in the power of prison to reform, but also believed that too many people were sent to prison who could be more effectively helped outside. This diary constitutes powerful evidence for his view. With Epilogue - Justice for Myra + Index. 224pp. 8vo. h/back. From the library of true crime writer, Wilfred Gregg, with his personal b/plate. F. in Vg+ dw.