Banged
Up, with the subtitle The Truth About Life as a Criminal, is a
mirror of the life of British criminal Davey Sommers. Written by Ronnie
Thompson, author of a similarly placed book called Screwed, in which
Ronnie Thompson, as an ex-prison officer, exposed life from one side of the
bars, this new book Banged Up (ISBN 978-0-7553-1986-2, published by
Headline Review, 2010) exposes the life of a criminal from the other side of
the bars. The side you don’t go home from every night.
Thompson (and Sommers) make no excuses to attempt to
explain the enormity of the crimes committed. Sommers is a thoroughly nasty
character, and would best be described as a psychopath, despite having come
from a good middle class background, with a preacher father and a
cardiologist brother.
His rise to notoriety is shown to be one of extreme
violence to get to the top of his illegal tree, and he spent some years as
leader of the distribution gang. There he was so sure of himself that it
came as a complete shock when he was apprehended and then given a 15 year
jail sentence.
In jail, the similarity in character between some of the
warders and the prisoners is well documented. However, the warders have the
‘law’ on their side. Prisoners do not.
Sommers deals in drugs and is a user himself. After his
escape from prison he describes a cyclical use of different drugs to
eventually push his brain over the edge and then into flashbacks. This type
of abuse is fortunately not as common as one would imagine, but any mild or
recreational user and contemplating heavy drug use (in reality overdosage)
would be advised to read this section - provided that the brain damage
already experienced still allows cognitive discrimination.
It is written in narrative style and the language is
criminal as well. No euphemisms for this book, each page is roundly peppered
with both the F and C words. This may be the way that criminals speak, but
quite frankly I began to find it tedious. Over-use of either word very
quickly debases and defuses the intent in using bad language.
I did not enjoy the beginning of this book, even though
it is very well written, fast-paced and in some areas has the reader on
tenterhooks. The second half of the book was quite different and is very
moving, as Sommers eventually comes to recognize his own demons and how to
master them. In Sommers’ own words, “And ill is what I was. Spiritually and
mentally. I’m not blaming them (the prison) for all my savage violence. I
was a sick man.”
As he begins to understand himself, he begins to have
‘normal’ relationships within the prison, even with the warders whom he had
fought against physically for over 10 years. Prison may not be the ideal
environment for rehabilitation, but in some instances it can work. It did
for Sommers and his final hours in prison after 17 years inside are very
touching.
At a hefty B. 685 in Bookazine, it is, however, a very
hefty book.
