Past My Cell-By Date

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Thomas Graham was born on the wrong side of the tracks in Gateshead in 1939. He never knew his real father but his mother did her best and life wasn't too bad until George, his violent 'new father' arrived on the scene. Tom describes himself at the time as "an impotent pygmy pitted against a powerful evil giant". Things went from bad to worse and it wasn't long before he was sent to St Gilberts approved school, run by Christian Brothers, who tortured and brutalised him and many others, for no other reason than to slake their sadistic thirst. 'Beat the child to save his soul' was the school's motto. It was during this time that he found he excelled at sport and, in particular, boxing. All his opponents were 'George', against whom one day he would get his revenge. At the same time Tom discovered literature and found he had a natural aptitude for writing. Fuelled by excesses of alcohol, however, crime increasingly became a way of life and he spent approximately 35 years in a variety of criminal institutions, rubbing shoulders with some of the most dangerous criminals of our times: Frank Mitchell, the mad axe-man, Frankie Fraser and Albert Reading to name but a few. He also did time with the aristocratic Sebastian Guinness in Dorchester prison, who he describes as "a real gentleman". Tom spent a good deal of his incarceration in solitary confinement. He served this at a time when bread and water was the usual form of punishment in borstals and prison. The two things that saved his sanity were his fanatical fitness routine, which he still pursues to this very day, and his love of books, writing and poetry. The Sagittarian Tom was also an adventurer and in between periods of incarceration he loved nothing more than hitch-hiking from country to country. His vivid descriptions of his environment and the characters he met with bring his story to life. His tales will make you laugh and cry at the same time. In 1989, influenced by the teachings of Carl Jung, he met the woman who would have a positive effect in his life. She could see beyond the ex-jailbird and when he told her that he loved writing she inspired him to write his autobiography. Through many experiences in the prison system he discovered that the majority of inmates are 'inadequates' and although they call themselves professional criminals the reality is they are in fact professional prisoners who unconsciously see institutions as a means of sustenance and survival. He was once in this category but now, rather than 'wronging' he is 'writing'.