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The Prisons Handbook 2022
The fully revised and updated 2022 edition is published in November 2021 – but you can buy it now at the pre-publication price Order Here
At 1,600 pages it is the definitive annual reference book on the prison system of England and Wales and has been for 25 years.
“An incredible reference book on Prisons; I keep a copy in my top drawer and I refer to it frequently” Director General, HM Prison Service.
“Strongly recommended” Chief Executive HM Prison & Probation Service 2020.
The Last days of John Lennon
464 pages
In the summer of 1980, ten years after the break-up of the Beatles, John Lennon signed with a new label, ready to record new music for the first time in years. Everyone was awestruck when Lennon dashed off ‘(Just Like) Starting Over’. Lennon was back in peak form, with his best songwriting since ‘Imagine’.
In the years after Lennon left the Beatles, becoming a solo artist and making a life with Yoko Ono in New York City, Mark David Chapman had become fixated on murdering his former hero. He was convinced that Lennon had squandered his talent and betrayed his fans. In December 1980, Chapman boarded a flight from Hawaii to New York with a handgun stowed in his luggage. He was never going home again.
Prisoner Price £12.99. Public price £14.99 – both with FREE fully tracked delivery!
The Shepherd's Bush Murders
496 pages
The crime, the criminals, the victims and their families.
And the biggest manhunt by British police…
The establishment, press and public reaction, the trial, and the aftermath are all set out in compelling narrative detail. Jack Witney served twenty-five years in prison although he shot no one and was released on appeal, only to be murdered in his Bristol flat a few years later. John Duddy died in Parkhurst after fifteen years. But Harry Roberts, by his own admission the instigator of the crime and the most notorious, was released from prison after forty-eight years in 2015 making national front page news.
What could possess an apparently rational and sane man, albeit an habitual criminal, to commit such a callous and ruthless act? What kind of a man is he? How can an ordinary person understand what he did? Should he be forgiven?
Prisoner Price £12.99. Public price £14.99 – both with FREE fully tracked delivery!
The Thursday Murder Club
416 pages
In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet up once a week to investigate unsolved murders.
But when a brutal killing takes place on their very doorstep, the Thursday Murder Club find themselves in the middle of their first live case.
Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron might be pushing eighty but they still have a few tricks up their sleeves.
Can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer before it’s too late?
Prisoner Price £13.49. Public price £15.49 – both with FREE fully tracked delivery!
The Rise and Fall of Aaron Hernandez
400 pages
He had it all. A $40 million NFL contract. Fame. Adoration – until he was convicted of murder, and jailed for life without parole.
A true story told by the master of crime fiction, All-American Murder is the tale of Aaron Hernandez, once the NFL’s youngest player, a star for the New England Patriots and a Super Bowl veteran. His every move played out in the headlines, and yet he led a secret life – one that ended in a maximum-security prison. What drove him to go so wrong, so fast?
This explosive account of the rise and fall of a life cut short in the dark shadow of fame, culminating in Hernandez’s own untimely death behind bars, is built on original, in-depth reporting. Was Hernandez a victim himself, suffering violence-inducing brain damage from the sport that meant everything to him – or was he just a heartless killer?
Prisoner Price £12.99. Public price £14.99 – both with FREE fully tracked delivery!
In Pursuit of the Truth
400 pages
Former Detective Chief Inspector Clive Driscoll is most famous for being the man who finally secured convictions for the murder of Stephen Lawrence, a case previously mired by claims of institutional racism and corruption. For Clive, it was the pinnacle of a 35-year career with the world’s most famous police force, the Metropolitan Police Service.
Clive’s prodigious rise through the ranks of the Met saw him front some of the most high-profile units at Scotland Yard. He was put in charge of their policy for sexual offences, domestic violence, child protection and the paedophile unit before heading up the Racial and Violent Crime Task Force tackling their backlist of cold cases.
From action-packed moments chasing down criminals to more tender occasions, like gaining the trust of a murder victim’s family, to making crucial legal history, and unearthing huge national scandals, In Pursuit of the Truth is the definitive account of modern day policing, its successes and failings included, seen through the eyes of a man who has dedicated his life to making a difference. This is a book that every part of society can learn from.
Prisoner Price £17.99. Public price £19.99 – both with FREE fully tracked delivery!
Defending The Guilty!
288 pages
Shortlisted for the Crime Writers Award Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction, true crime meets humour in Defending the Guilty, a hilariously funny and eye-opening exposé of the criminal justice system.
Criminal barrister Alex McBride stands up in court and attempts to save people from conviction, prison, even a lifetime behind bars. Sometimes it’s a hopeless case.
Sometimes he has the chance to right a wrong. But mostly his clients are just plain guilty.
In Defending the Guilty, McBride takes us behind the scenes of Britain’s criminal justice system. He introduces us to its extraordinary characters and arcane eccentricities, and tells astonishing stories of courtroom triumph and defeat.
‘Gripping, engaging, compelling. The real life of criminal barristers is expertly caught’ Literary Review
Prisoner Price £14.99. Public price £16.99 – both with FREE fully tracked delivery!
Almost The Perfect Murder
288 pages
For over a year everyone assumed missing Dublin woman Elaine O’Hara had ended her own life. But after her remains were found gardaí discovered that Elaine was in thrall to a man who had spent years grooming her to let him kill her. That man was Graham Dwyer, a married father of three and partner in a Dublin architecture practice.
Almost the Perfect Murder details the exhaustive investigation – one of the most complex and chilling in Irish criminal justice history.
Prisoner Price £13.49. Public price £15.49 – both with FREE fully tracked delivery!
The Secret Train Robber
336 pages
The Crime of the Century. The biggest train heist in Britain’s history. The Great Train Robbery. In the early hours of Thursday, 8th August 1963, a fifteen-strong gang stole £2.6 million (£45 million of today’s money) from the Glasgow to London mail train at Sears Crossing, Buckinghamshire.
But 50 years on, many still question who the real mastermind behind the plot. In this engrossing biography, the only living person who personally knows the real mastermind revisits the Great Train Robbery and rewrites history as we know it. Full of explosive, fresh revelations, The Secret Train Robber sees the final piece of the puzzle firmly set in place and the name of one of Britain’s most sophisticated criminal minds ever is finally revealed..
Prisoner Price £14.99. Public price £16.99 – both with FREE fully tracked delivery!
Making a Psychopath
304 pages
Find out what truly makes a psychopath, from the leading expert Dr Mark Freestone who has worked on some of the most disturbing psychopath cases of recent times – this is his extraordinary journey with the people society would rather forget.
Danny ‘the Borderline’ killed his defenceless friend without explanation. Tony ‘the Conman’ once tried to dupe someone into buying the Eiffel Tower. Jason ‘the Liar’ had a fantasy life that led to vicious murders around Europe.
Prisoner Price £15.99. Public price £17.99 – both with FREE fully tracked delivery!
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Cell Companion 2022
FIFTH EDITION – Published 1st December 2021. From reception to release, The Cell Companion covers legal rights, housing, family, healthcare, personal injury, vulnerable prisoners, and it tackles the difficult issues too – like self-harm, avoiding gangs, extremism, drugs, the dangers of debt, bullying and the real fatal dangers of ‘legal highs’.
The Innocent Man
432 Pages.
Elizabeth has received a letter from an old colleague, a man with whom she has a long history. He’s made a big mistake, and he needs her help. His story involves stolen diamonds, a violent mobster, and a very real threat to his life.
As bodies start piling up, Elizabeth enlists Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron in the hunt for a ruthless murderer. And if they find the diamonds too? Well, wouldn’t that be a bonus?
But this time they are up against an enemy who wouldn’t bat an eyelid at knocking off four septuagenarians. Can the Thursday Murder Club find the killer (and the diamonds) before the killer finds them?
Prisoner Price £13.99. Public price £15.99 – both with FREE fully tracked delivery!
The Underworld
400 Pages.
With stories of murder, theft, fraud and treachery, The Underworld is a deep-dive into the history of professional and organised crime in Britain. From the racetrack gangs and the smash-and-grab merchants, through the Soho vice bosses and the Kray twins, to the Great Train Robbers, the Hatton Garden burglars and the new wave of international hit-men and drug and sex traffickers, Duncan Campbell exposes the dark underbelly of Britain.
A unique perspective – told by the criminals themselves and the detective who pursued them – this is a definitive history from the very beginning to the present day.
Prisoner Price £14.99. Public price £16.99 – both with FREE fully tracked delivery!
The Man Who Died Twice
432 Pages.
It’s the following Thursday.
Elizabeth has received a letter from an old colleague, a man with whom she has a long history. He’s made a big mistake, and he needs her help. His story involves stolen diamonds, a violent mobster, and a very real threat to his life.
As bodies start piling up, Elizabeth enlists Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron in the hunt for a ruthless murderer. And if they find the diamonds too? Well, wouldn’t that be a bonus?
But this time they are up against an enemy who wouldn’t bat an eyelid at knocking off four septuagenarians. Can the Thursday Murder Club find the killer (and the diamonds) before the killer finds them?
Prisoner Price £22.99. Public price £25.99 – both with FREE fully tracked delivery!
The Interceptor
320 Pages.
Fighting on the frontline of the war against crime, Cam Addicott was one of the very few hard-boiled and highly-experienced surveillance operatives to get called up to the secretive and elite Alpha Projects unit – a group of dedicated undercover Customs officers who hunted the UK’s most dangerous criminals by extraordinary means – starting with the interception and decoding of their phone calls.
Cam soon knew the lives of the people he hunted better than they knew each other. He knew who was cheating with who’s wife, what drugs the dealers’ kids were into, and who was planning to murder who. The team shadowed gangsters as they mixed with celebrities, as they brokered huge drug deals in nightclubs and airports, as they discussed how to spend their ill-gotten gains until finally, it was time for Alpha to strike.
In this riveting and brutal true story, a cast of unforgettable Mission Impossible characters go far beyond the call of duty to take down their most elusive target, as the lives of the hunted and hunter weave together in an explosive narrative.
Prisoner Price £18.49. Public price £19.99 – both with FREE fully tracked delivery!
The Cartel
288 Pages.
A global workforce. Billions in sales. But, unlike Tesco or BP, few have heard of it. The Cartel is Britain’s biggest drugs organisation, a shadowy network stretching from the freezing, fog-banks of the Mersey to the glittering marinas of Marbella, from the coffee shops of Amsterdam to the trading floors of Canary Wharf.
Run by godfathers as rich as Branson but kept in line by a new generation of teenage killers. Here is the inside story.
Prisoner Price £14.99. Public price £16.99 – both with FREE fully tracked delivery!
One of the Family
416 Pages.
This is the remarkable true story of that man: ‘the Englishman’.
Investigations revealed that the Englishman was never mentioned in any of the previous books on organised crime, not because he wasn’t involved, but because everyone was too scared to speak his name. Moreover, he was as legendary a figure on the streets of New York as on the streets of London.
Pearson persuaded the mysterious criminal leader to talk to him – and the result was a story even more extraordinary than that of the Kray twins. Here Pearson reveals the true story of the Englishman who became the adopted son of Joey Pagano, the head of one of the major New York crime families. Here the Englishman tells the story that no-one else dared to tell.
Prisoner Price £14.99. Public price £16.99 – both with FREE fully tracked delivery!
Reykjavik Confessions
320 Pages.
In 1974, 18-year-old Gudmundur disappears after a boozy night in a fishing town near Reykjavik. Eleven months later Geirfinnur, a quiet family man, goes missing from Keflavik harbour in the southwest of Iceland after being summoned by a mysterious phone call from home. Both men are eventually presumed dead, but their bodies are never found.
This quiet island is in an uproar – two disappearances with no forensics, no leads, no clue what has happened. Soon, the vanishings set in motion an almost surreal series of events, a remarkable tale of corruption, forced confession, false memory and madness that stretches over 40 years.
Based on author Simon Cox’s celebrated BBC News investigation, The Reykjavik Confessions is a chilling journey of discovery into a dark corner of Icelandic history, and a riveting true-crime thriller that will have you gripped until the very last page.
Prisoner Price £13.99. Public price £15.99 – both with FREE fully tracked delivery!
Inside Parkhurst
Assaults. Riots. Cell fires. Understaffed wings. Suicides. Hooch. Weapons. It’s all in a week’s work at HMP Parkhurst.
After working as a prison officer for 22 years at HMP Parkhurst, David Berridge has had to deal with it all. Inside Parkhurst is his raw, uncompromising look at what really goes on behind the massive prison walls. Thrown in at the deep end, David quickly had to work out how to deal with the most cunning and volatile of prisoners, and learn how to avoid their many scams. He has been assaulted and abused; he has tackled cell fires and attempted suicides, riots and dirty protests; foiled escapes, and prevented prisoners from attempting to murder other prisoners. Both horrifying and hilarious, David’s diaries will shock and entertain in equal measure.
Inmate/Charity: £16.99 FREE p&p
Public: £19.99 FREE p&p
Bringing Down The Krays
336 pages
Bobby Teale and his brothers, David and Alfie, were the three men the Kray twins trusted most. They weren’t in the Firm, they were closer than that. They were old family friends, confidants, companions…
But then things changed. Witnessing Ronnie and Reggie become increasingly psychotic – taking murder, torture and rape to sickening new levels – Bobby knew he had to take action. Unknown to his brothers, he became a police informer; risking not just his own life but those of the people dearest to him too. Crammed full of explosive, new revelations, Bringing Down The Krays is the last great untold story of Britain’s most infamous crime family.
Prisoner Price £15.99. Public price £17.99 – both with FREE fully tracked delivery!
Converse National Monthly Prisons Newspaper
The only national monthly prisons newspaper edited and published by reformed offenders!
Looking for a prisoner – place an advert in the largest circulation national monthly prisons newspaper for England and Wales for just £9.99!
Prison Law Index 2022
FIFTH EDITION 2022. The Prison Law Index 2021 is completely sold out – but The Prison Law Index 2022 is now available to buy at reduced pre-publication prices prior to publication in November 2021. Prison Law is a hugely important subject, affecting the rights and liberties of almost 80,000 people every single day – yet its sources are spread around a plethora of places from statute, to statutory instruments, prison service orders, prison service instructions, advice to governors, circular instructions, standing orders and Policy Frameworks….. and the highly popular Prison Law Index brings all those sources together within one book!
Murder of Innocence
320 Pages.
It’s impossible to resist Andrew Luster. He’s rich, charming, good-looking, and dozens of women have fallen under his spell. But there’s a very dark, very dangerous side to his womanising. And it’ll take a global manhunt to put him behind bars.
Mark Putnam is a rookie FBI agent given his first assignment in a remote part of Kentucky. When female informant Susan Smith helps him make a big break in an important case, rumours begin circulating about an affair and a pregnancy. Then Susan suddenly disappears . . .
Prisoner Price £13.99. Public price £15.99 – both with FREE fully tracked delivery!
The Hitmen
288 Pages.
Brothers Eric, Keith and John Wilson, their cousin Alan, and nephew Luke shared a trade – assassination. Working for Ireland’s criminal gangs they brought bloodshed and chaos to the streets.
The Wilsons were not choosy about their targets. Hutches, Real IRA chiefs or random opponents from pub rows – they were all the same to them. Nor were they picky about motives – as long as the price was right, they asked no questions.
The Hitmen is the shocking story of how a family cornered the market in intimidation and vengeance. It details the terrible cost in human suffering, particularly the death of an innocent teenage girl, Mariaora Rostas, when she randomly crossed their path. And it reveals how, one by one, each of the Wilsons was put out of business.
The Hitmen draws on exclusive access to wire taps, case files and interviews with sources close to the gang who have never spoken before. No 1 bestselling authors Stephen Breen and Owen Conlon have written an extraordinary account of a family business like no other.
Prisoner Price £17.99. Public price £19.99 – both with FREE fully tracked delivery!
Grease Junkie
320 Pages.
An unstoppable enthusiast from an early age, Edd had 35 ongoing car projects while he was at university, not counting the double-decker bus he was living in. Now he’s a man with not only a runaround sofa, but also a road-legal office, shed, bed and bathroom. His first car was a more conventional 1303 Texas yellow Beetle, the start of an ongoing love affair with VW, even though it got him arrested for armed robbery.
A human volcano of ideas and the ingenuity to make them happen, Edd is exhilarating company. Join him on his wild, wheeled adventures; see inside his engineering heroics; go behind the scenes on Wheeler Dealers. Climb aboard his giant motorised shopping trolley, and let him take you into his parallel universe of possibility.
Prisoner Price £15.99. Public price £17.99 – both with FREE fully tracked delivery!
Killing For Company
368 Pages.
In February 1983, residents of Muswell Hill had been plagued by blocked drains. When a plumber was called to investigate, he discovered a large blockage of biological material. To his horror, it appeared to be formed of human flesh and bones.
The next day, local resident Dennis Nilsen was arrested.
‘Are we talking about one body or two?’ a detective asked. Nilsen replied ‘Fifteen or sixteen, since 1978. I’ll tell you everything.’
Prisoner Price £13.99. Public price £15.99 – both with FREE fully tracked delivery!
Good Cop, Bad War
320 Pages.
‘Undercover, you’re never just acting; you’re only ever a different version of yourself.’
Neil Woods spent fourteen years infiltrating drug gangs as an undercover policeman, befriending and gaining the trust of some of the most violent, unpredictable criminals in Britain. But Neil was never your stereotypical gung-ho, tough-guy copper. This is the story of how a thoughtful, idealistic character learned to use his empathetic nature to master some of the roughest, most dangerous work in law enforcement. There was no training, no manual and no plan for when things went wrong; he was just dropped at a corner and told to make connections. But, inevitably, having swords thrust against his jugular, witnessing beatings, stabbings, and gangsters burning suspected rats with acid took its toll.
Drawing on Neil’s experiences, with the insight that can only come from having fought on the front lines, GOOD COP, BAD WAR is at once a narrative-driven true crime read and a fascinating story of a character under pressure.
Prisoner Price £17.99. Public price £19.99 – both with FREE fully tracked delivery!
The No-Equipment Workout Perfect for Small Spaces
Cell Workout is a bodyweight training guide devised from a prison cell but accessible to anyone who wants to get fit in a small space using no specialist equipment. Using your own body weight – the oldest exercise equipment out there – Cell Workout guides you through understanding how to make bodyweight training work for you, helping you to achieve any personal training goal or maintain a healthy physical condition. With workouts for those of varying ability and fitness, the step-by-step exercise instructions and accompanying photographs for LJ’s 10 Week Cell Workout are easy to follow and tailor to you, improving all aspects of your physical fitness.
Inmate/Charity: £26.49 FREE p&p
Public: £28.49 FREE p&p
Unnatural Causes
464 pages
Meet the forensic pathologist, Dr Richard Shepherd.
He solves the mysteries of unexplained or sudden death.
He has performed over 23,000 autopsies, including some of the most high-profile cases of recent times; the Hungerford Massacre, the Princess Diana inquiry, and 9/11.
He has faced serial killers, natural disaster, ‘perfect murders’ and freak accidents.
His evidence has put killers behind bars, freed the innocent, and turned open-and-shut cases on their heads.
Yet all this has come at a huge personal cost.
Unnatural Causes tells the story of not only the cases and bodies that have haunted him the most, but also how to live a life steeped in death.
Prisoner Price £13.99. Public price £15.99 – both with FREE fully tracked delivery!
Young Blood
304 pages
‘The young bloods did not care whether they killed criminals or civilians . . .’
The Cartel is Britain’s biggest drugs gang, a global corporation employing thousands of criminals and flooding Britain with cocaine and heroin. Yet the established order is under threat: street gangs are overwhelming the old-school Cartel godfathers with a campaign of violence, intimidation and mayhem, heralding a series of events that has had devastating consequences for the whole of society.
In Young Blood, the explosive follow-up to The Cartel, bestselling true-crime author Graham Johnson reveals how the brutal assassination of drug baron Colin ‘King Cocaine’ Smith in 2007 by a group of young bucks triggered the rise of the foot soldier, and exposes the bitter struggle that has spread throughout Europe as various factions battle to seize control of the most lucrative crime syndicate in British history..
Prisoner Price £15.99. Public price £17.99 – both with FREE fully tracked delivery!
The Making of a Detective
288 pages
When he retired in 2018 Pat Marry had been instrumental in solving dozens of serious crimes, including many murders.
But as a newly qualified garda in 1985, Marry had no idea how to become a detective.
He soon realised he would have to learn on the job – put himself forward and show that he had what it took.
The Making of a Detective follows Pat Marry’s path from rookie to Detective Inspector through the stories of key cases he worked on and investigations he led.
Prisoner Price £14.99. Public price £16.99 – both with FREE fully tracked delivery!
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