Reviews : Happy Hours Swingbridge Video From 41 Stowell Street, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 33 minutes, VHS, £35
| Published date | 01 December 1989 |
| Date | 01 December 1989 |
| DOI | 10.1177/026455058903600414 |
| Author | David Gardiner |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
language it explains exactly what hap-
Happy Hours
pens from the initial point of arrest
through to release, with all the possible
Swingbridge Video
digressions into such byways as deport-
From 41 Stowell Street, Newcastle-
ation and life sentences.
upon-Tyne, 33 minutes, VHS, £35.
It provides the answers for all
those tricky points that prisoners and
This video has been produced by a
their relatives are prone to spring upon
very professional workers’ co-operative
who
have already made an
us. What do
impact with
you do if a VO’is lost in
their
the post? How and when
previous work, notably Wbite
can a
Lies which tackled racism issues. The
prisoner apply for short home leave?
aim of the current offering is to enter-
How long before the tariff date will a
tain, inform and stimulate discussion
Lifer be reviewed? I really should be
on substance abuse amongst 16 to 21
able to answer such questions but I still
year olds
get caught out I didn’t know that a
It tells the story of a day in the life
copy of The Manual on the Conduct
of five believable young people - a
of Adjudications should be kept on
heroin user, three truants with a pen-
open display in the prison library or
chant for canned lager and a young
that women prisoners do not have to
woman with tranquilliser problems.
have their hair cut unless the medical
There is a generous and capable sup-
officer makes an order that this is
porting cast in spite of the limited
necessary. When I worked outside a
budget that was available. Shot in and
prison, my only answer to a really
around Newcastle, Happy Hours is par-
tricky question would be to ring a col-
ticularly effective in the way that it ent-
league inside. Now all that is un-
wines the stories of the main characters
necessary -
with this book the answer
and also sets them in the context of
is always to hand.
both the international drugs trade and
But it is more than a digest of fac-
the local...
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