Bang Up: Prison walls don't just keep criminals in, the keep the outside world at bay Read Free Page A

humiliation. She was living on borrowed time.
    *
    Mikey was flung into a holding cell by the scruff of his neck. He was bleeding from the side of his head and thick red blood trickled down his cheek. Once the door was slammed shut he swung his leg back and booted the steel door rapidly. He made sure they all heard what he had to say too; his words echoing throughout the corridor. “Wankers, it takes six of you to put me in here. Just you wait until it’s time to get me out you clowns. You just watch, one of you is getting your jaw snapped.” Mikey let out a menacing laugh as he stumbled over to the wooden bench at the back of the room. He was wounded. His heart was racing and he was pumping sweat. He had nothing to lose anymore, he was a ticking bomb. “Argghh,” he screamed as he punched his fist into the concrete wall. Mikey had to calm down, he was going to have a heart attack if he didn’t. His face was white and his eye balls were bulging out of their sockets, he was on the edge. It was such a shame for this lad. He was a car crash waiting to happen. Life had let him down and he was a victim of circumstances, lost in the system. Just like a lot of other youths really. Nobody had ever showed him love and he was calling out for help. Mikey crashed down onto the bench and looped his arms above his head, his body still trembling. Closing his eyes, he tried to hold back the emotion he was feeling deep in his heart. This was a mess, a fucked up dirty big mess. His mother needed him on the out. What was she going to do now with him locked away for years? They would come for her as she was his only family. They would make her pay his debt. Rachel wasn’t strong enough to deal with them on her own. They were ruthless. Mikey stroked a single finger down the cold wall. Up and down it went, up and up and then back down again. He was thinking.
    *
    Brendan Mellor sat in his cell with his knees pulled up towards his chest. His eyes scanned around the room and he was blubbering like a big baby. He wasn’t a criminal, he had just got mixed up in something he knew nothing about, trying to impress the other gang members. Brendan had few friends and Mikey had helped him out when he was at an all-time low. He felt part of something when he was with Mikey and the boys, they had his back and nobody would ever hurt him again. Not even his father. But prison life scared the shit out of him and he wasn’t afraid to admit it. How was he ever going to survive on his own in the prison system? Mikey couldn’t protect him every hour of every day could he? He sat rubbing at his arms as goose bumps appeared all over his skin. “Mam, I want my mam,” he sobbed.
     
     

CHAPTER TWO
    Rachel stormed out of the courts. She was fuming and cursing as she left the building. Sarah was behind her and she was embarrassed at the way she was acting. “Fuck them, fuck them all,” Rachel shrieked. The clouds overhead were grey and the rain pounded the pavements lashed by strong winds. Dipping her head, Rachel dodged a large puddle. “For fucks sake, every day it’s pissing down here. Come on, let’s peg it to the bus stop.” She grabbed hold of Sarah by the arm and dragged her across the road. This woman had to keep a low profile and she didn’t want to be spotted in the town centre. Her bail conditions said she could never set foot in Manchester City Centre again. The judge told her straight, she was on her last warning - either Rachel kept to her bail conditions or she went back to jail. But this woman was always a risk-taker and just like her son, she thought she was untouchable. “Have you got any money for the bus,” Rachel asked as she wiped the drops of rain dangling from her nose. “I spent the last bit of money I had on cigs before. Brassic I am, potless.”
    Sarah gasped, she knew she was lying, she was always on the scrounge and would do anything to earn an extra few quid. Sarah dug her hand in her back pocket and pulled out a crisp