You reported Erwin James’s death as national news (23 January). In his 20 years of life inside and a further 20 of life outside, Jim wrote and spoke about imprisonment. Writing not in broad sweeps but through personal accounts, he detailed small acts of kindness and cruelty in dehumanising institutions.
Jim brought to public view this least visible, and most neglected, of our public services. He described the work of prisoner listeners, trained and supported by the Samaritans, and was one himself for many years – not that he said. He helped people survive incarceration, encouraged prison officers to treat everyone with dignity and respect regardless of what they had done, and inspired prison reformers inside and outside the system to keep working for change.
