Interview by Miguel Peromingo, Freelance Consultant and Writer
Inside Connections supports individuals who have experience of the Criminal Justice System with training opportunities and links to the labour market to provide a pathway into sustainable employment. They also work pro-actively with young people who need a positive intervention to avoid showing criminal behaviour. John Burton, founder of Inside Connections has been in prison himself and shares his journey.
John, if you could talk to your younger self, what would you tell him?
I would tell him everything that has gone wrong in my life. Not listening to my dad and to all the grown up people that tried to put me on the right track was wrong. I ignored them all, went down a crazy path and ended up in a lot of trouble right until I was 40 years. If I listened to them, I would probably be a top manager now, instead of working for years with drug cartels and mafias all over the world and then going to prison for 20 years. When you are young you think you know best, but you don’t.
How is the day-to-day life in prison?
Your life in prison very much depends on your security clearance. When I went in, I was deemed high risk. My day-to-day was totally different to anyone else’s there. I had to wear a blue and yellow suit on the prison wing every day. You cannot move freely between units. Anytime I went to a different part of my unit, I needed to be ticked off in a yellow book I had with me. When I went to meet a visitor, I was escorted by two guards. When going to the yard by four guards with Alsatians. Every 20 days I had to move cells. My children could not see me in the first four months after I went in. The police went to my home to check everybody out in person before they could come and visit me. I was in this high-risk unit with murderers, terrorists, robbers, and gun runners. We were 17 guys and I did not get my risk reassessed in 14 months. Only then they lowered it. Later, I eventually got into a category where I was allowed to work and support my family. You know, when you go to prison, your family goes to prison with you. They are the ones who need to send you money. They have to look after the bills, look after themselves. In prison, you have food and light and water, but your family might not have that. So, getting back to work and earning money is a pivotal moment during your sentence. And you have to stay away from the illegal stuff in prison. There are always inmates trying to sell drugs or make money out of something and get into fights. I have seen people getting hit with boiler nuts, slashed across their face, butt, and back. I have seen stuff that I am just glad I do not have to see anymore. It’s not a life for anyone.
Is it possible to make human connections in prison?
Prisons are overcrowded. I have been to wings that hold 500 to 1400 people. It is very full everywhere. You are surrounded by people like yourself, some of them with a heavy drug addiction. People also rotate a lot. Remember that there are more than 100,000 people in the UK justice system. It is difficult to get to know people that stay, but you can find mates, that you will keep in touch with.
Why did you create Inside Connections?
I saw first-hand which support people were not getting when they got out prison. I had people leaving their stuff in my cell on day of release asking me to keep it for them. When I asked them if they were not going home, they answered that they don’t have a home. They went out on their day in freedom, spend their little money, ate, got drunk and in the evening, they were back in prison. I thought, there needs to be a way to get around this. So, I developed an app that helps returning citizens to find the right places for housing, medical care, education, and work. I started doing that in prison and now it is on all major app stores called Inside Connection.
Who are your clients?
We help people who get out of prison, they can use our app, and we can also put them in touch with employers, some of which also provide labour in-prison. We do not work with all convictions, though. We cannot work with sex offenders or multiple murderers. If you got into a fight and hit somebody on the head and that person dies, we look at what we can do. It is difficult to place people sentenced for arson. People who worked in gangs and had knife fight, someone dies, the other one goes to prison for 20 years. These might be people who changed and will be great workers. They made a big mistake, and we are the company that gives them a chance. We work with charities, with probation, with prisons. We have put more than 5000 people into lasting jobs.
How does that feel?
Back in prison, I did not think for a minute I would be where I am today with what I have done with myself and my children. I made my children travel for 18 hours to come to see me in prison. I am glad I am not doing this to them anymore.
