Run Up to Windermere: HMP Swansea

22nd August 2019

I didn’t have a great sleep, someone decided that walking up and down the corridor whilst talking on their phone at four in the morning was acceptable behaviour. My tiredness wouldn’t catch up with me until much later on in the day.

I woke tired after the events of the previous night, got myself showered and dressed then headed downstairs for breakfast. We were staying in a hotel chain in Swansea city centre, I was doing something which I’ve never done before. This is the first time I’m going to share my story with the men who are serving time in prison.

I’ll be honest with you I am nervous. I’m nervous because I’m afraid they won’t be able to relate to my story or that I won’t be able to bridge the gap with the differences in our situations. Even though some of these men have served in the Armed Forces, I’m still worried about what I say might not be of any help. 

I’m going to be talking about my injuries, my recovery, I’ll talk about all the support I’ve had over the years. Support from friends, family and a huge network of medical professionals, welfare experts both from the Army and from the service charities.  Do these men have access to this kind of support? Will I be rubbing their noses into the luxuries they didn’t and currently don’t have?

I’m going to be talking about exercise, about being outside in the fresh air, I’ll be talking about my love of outdoors swimming. 

These men don’t have access to a swimming pool, they won’t get near open water until they leave. I didn’t want to ask them why they were there, quite frankly it’s none of my business, I’m not there to pry into their past.

I was careful how I framed my passion, the joy and the freedom I get from being in the water. Of course, I did talk about my swimming, how it helped. However, I drove home about the need to find something physical and the part exercise played in my recovery.

Two of us spoke that day, another veteran called Stewart Harris who had joined the Welsh Guards. I’ve listened to his story many times, it only struck me afterwards that our stores have one common theme.

Open Water.

Our experiences differ though, open water has and does save my life every day, open water nearly took his life away. Stew has been through the mill, he served in Afghanistan the same year as I did. He saw and experienced a lot of warfighting, he received injuries both physical and psychological. As a result, he couldn’t cope. One day he decided that the best course of action open to him was to end it all by swimming as far out to sea as possible and then become too exhausted to return. Luckily he could not go through with it, luckily he is still here to tell his story.

We left HMP Swansea drained, I had a long journey back home to reflect on what I had experienced and to think about whether I had made a difference or not. I really hope I did. 

Men and women are rightly sent to prison as a punishment for their actions. Some people can be returned to society safely, some can’t not. I’m not sure that their rehabilitation nailed down in the correct manner. People should leave with their slate clean and hopefully a reasonable opportunity to rejoin as a functioning member of their community. There are similarities with what I found when leaving the Armed Forces with life-changing injuries and a medical discharge.