Serial sex predator Russell Brand will be regarded by fellow inmates as the “lowest of the low”, a prison advisor has said.
As both a convicted rapist and a celebrity, Brand will be seen as a target simply because he is famous, or by those wanting to extort money from him.
After being sentenced on Monday to 10-and-a-half years in jail, Brand, 51, was reportedly taken to HMP Wandsworth, a Category B security prison built in 1851 that holds around 1,300-1,500 inmates – almost double what it was originally designed to accommodate. Former prisoner Chris Atkins said of the jail: “It is a form of hell.”
According to those who have served time in jail, the first night as a sentenced prisoner is often the hardest part of all.
An adviser to Prison Consultants, a privately-run advice service staffed partly by ex-offenders, said: “He’s over the worst but what he’s got to do now is watch his step. In the league table of prisoners, sex offenders are considered to be in the relegation zone, they are the lowest of the low.
“The two worst things you can be in prison are a former police officer or a sexual offender. “He will be seen as a target because he’s a name or they will say they will look after him if his family pays their family and if he doesn’t he will have an accident.”
Brand would have been woken this morning at 8am and been offered an hour of exercise. He would then have undergone a medical examination by the prison doctor and been given the chance to visit the prison chaplain.
The advisor said: “He will then remain in his cell which will have a sink and toilet. Maybe he will be able to have a shower but he is such a high profile prisoner he will probably avoid that.
“He will also be entitled to a legal visit today when his team will ask if he wants to appeal his conviction and sentence.”
Brand will also get a welfare phone call to family or loved ones, strictly limited to two minutes. He will likely be classified as a “Category C” or “low-risk” prisoner after undergoing an assessment in the next ten days.
That may see him transferred to spend the bulk of his sentence in a Category C prison such as HMP Coldingley in Surrey.
Cells in such prisons are typically equipped with single or bunk beds, along with a partially partitioned toilet and a TV with basic terrestrial channels. Brand will probably have to share a cell for at least part of his sentence.
He will only be eligible for a move into open prison conditions if he completes specialist treatments designed to address sexually predatory behaviour.
Inmates are expected to work, often in the laundry or kitchens. Brand is likely to be given a backroom job away from other prisoners, perhaps in reception or in the governor’s office.
High profile former prisoner Rolf Harris worked in the garden at HMP Bullingdon while the musician served five years for indecent assault.
Max Clifford, a PR guru who was jailed for eight years at HMP Littlehey on indecent assault charges, helped other inmates with legal letters.
Brand, who has previously written books and newspaper columns, will also be given pens and paper, raising the possibility he will write a prison diary.
Disgraced former Tory MP Jeffrey Archer penned three books covering his time in jail serving a four-year sentence for perjury.
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