It’s the sort of perk that might have left even Norman Stanley Fletcher speechless. And goodness knows what Mr Mackay might have said.
For while the 1970s Ronnie Barker sitcom saw the inmates of HMP Slade run rings around the warders, it seems that at one modern jail special privileges are dished out with the, er, porridge.
HMP Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire is allowing inmates to spend £330 on new clothes as a birthday treat, a report has revealed.
The jail has increased prisoners’ allowances for catalogue items by ten times the normal amount during their birthday week.
The move is partly to stop friends and family sending gift parcels, which often contain drugs or contraband.
Instead, they can transfer cash into an inmate’s prison account which they can then use as a ‘drop down’ allowance to buy whatever they want.
Normally, prisoners can only spend between £5.50 and £33 per week, depending on behaviour, on items of clothing or food from the prison shop.
In a recent report, inspectors from the Independent Monitoring Board wrote: ‘In place of a birthday parcel, prisoners [at Aylesbury] are allowed a one-off ‘drop down’ from their private accounts to their spends.
‘If the prisoner is on the enhanced level of the incentives scheme, the maximum amount is £330; on the standard level, it is £190. This is ten times their regular ‘drop down’ amount.’
HMP Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire is allowing inmates to spend £330 on new clothes as a birthday treat
Porridge: Ronnie Barker (died October 2005) (left) pictured as Norman Stanley Fletcher, with Richard Beckinsale (1947-1979) as Lennie Godber, in a scene from the BBC sitcom
Normally, prisoners can only spend between £5.50 and £33 per week, depending on behaviour, on items of clothing or food from the prison shop (stock image)
HMP Aylesbury has held some notorious criminals including Ryan Herbert (pictured), who beat Sophie Lancaster to death in a park in Bacup, Lancashire in 2008
The review added: ‘This change was made to reduce the number of parcels coming into the prison, many of which contained prohibited items.’
HMP Aylesbury has held some notorious criminals including Jade Braithwaite, one of the knife thugs who murdered 16-year-old Ben Kinsella in London in 2008, and Ryan Herbert, who beat Sophie Lancaster to death in a park in Bacup, Lancashire in 2008.
A prison source said: ‘Spending £330 on birthday clothes is pretty extravagant even for someone who is doing quite well in life and has never committed a crime.
‘For inmates to be allowed to spend that much is a bit of a kick in the face for the rest of us – especially if there are concerns about how that money was obtained in the first place.’
Prison shopping catalogues sell clothes and items such as toothbrushes, cosmetics, towels, stereos and musical instruments. It is understood the £330 allowance for inmates must be spent on clothing.
Inspectors found that life at HMP Aylesbury, which holds up to 403 prisoners, is quite cushy. Inmates have phones in their cells, access to snack-making facilities including air fryers, and there are regular pool competitions, movie nights, a book club and exercise equipment.
A high number of illicit parcels containing mobile phones, steroids and other drugs are regularly thrown over the prison walls, with only some intercepted by staff.
The prison holds regular ‘amnesty’ days when prisoners can hand over prohibited drugs, weapons and phones without punishment, but very few items are offered.
