The Parkhurst Years: My Time Locked Up with Britain’s M… (2024)

Bobby Cummines is a British ex-con who, during the 1970's and 1980's, served twelve years in some of the UK's maximum security prisons. He has penned a memoir of his early years of crime, his time in prison, and how he used those experiences to turn his life around. Upon release from prison, he founded a company to help people with criminal convictions reintegrate into society. A program similar to whats being tried now in America, only 30 years earlier.
Cummines pulls no punches, he is very honest about his life of crime, and what he has done and seen. No "I'm a victim of a set-up", he accepts his actions wholeheartedly.
The book is full of interesting stories and characters. The author relates his dealings with the infamous British inmates of the time. I especially liked hearing his language, and some of the terms he used that were unfamiliar to me. Screws, banged up, a bit of work, loo, bird, bum smuggler, nicking, Old Bill; the list goes on and on.
After working in US Federal Prisons for 21 years, I found this story to be very engaging. Even as different as British and American prisons are, there were still times I found myself thinking, "yeah, that happened to me, too". Cummines has a way of pulling you into what he is experiencing.
All told, this is an interesting book. I recommend it.

Intriguing! Bobby Cummines is a British ex-con who, during the 1970's and 1980's, served twelve years in some of the UK's maximum security prisons. He has penned a memoir of his early years of crime, his time in prison, and how he used those experiences to turn his life around. Upon release from prison, he founded a company to help people with criminal convictions reintegrate into society. A program similar to whats being tried now in America, only 30 years earlier. Cummines pulls no punches, he is very honest about his life of crime, and what he has done and seen. No "I'm a victim of a set-up", he accepts his actions wholeheartedly. The book is full of interesting stories and characters. The author relates his dealings with the infamous British inmates of the time. I especially liked hearing his language, and some of the terms he used that were unfamiliar to me. Screws, banged up, a bit of work, loo, bird, bum smuggler, nicking, Old Bill; the list goes on and on.After working in US Federal Prisons for 21 years, I found this story to be very engaging. Even as different as British and American prisons are, there were still times I found myself thinking, "yeah, that happened to me, too". Cummines has a way of pulling you into what he is experiencing. All told, this is an interesting book. I recommend it.

Great insight.

Having never committed more than a speeding offence and lived in a rural community, it makes interesting reading that, for whatever reason , people find themselves set on a life of crime at a young age. Great insight into how easy it is to do this and how difficult it is to stop

'The next stage meant that there was no going back. An Irish prisoner stepped forward and slipped a blade into my hand. I felt the ice cold metal and pressed it against the governor's cheek. I thought to myself: would they ever release me after this?'

This book is the sequel to I am not a gangster: Fixer. Armed Robber. Hitman. OBE. Bobby Cummines tells his story about being locked up in the former Parkhurst Prison on the Isle of Wight. Cummines tells about his time alongside famous names such as Reggie Kray, Frankie Fraser and Charlie Richardson, whose advice led Cummines to achieve a degree with the Open University. He goes through his time there, from arriving on the island chained to a screw, through to his eventual downgrading to a lower category at Maidstone, which led to his Open University degree. Towards the end of the book, he tells the reader about how he was able to set up a scheme for ex offenders and their rehabilitation, which eventually led to him receiving the OBE from the Queen.

I have always had a keen interest in biographies of the notorious criminals. Before reading this book, I had no idea who Bobby Cummines was, had no idea that he was one of the youngest people at sixteen to be convicted of carrying a sawn off shotgun and had no idea that he shared the same prison as Reggie Kray, Charlie Richardson, Peter Sutcliffe and the teacup poisoner Graham Young, who Cummines describes as the most evil man in Parkhurst.

A good, honest and interesting read.

A good, honest and interesting read. Good to hear that someone who was on the wrong side of the law, finally saw the error of his ways and achieved success doing good.

This book is a very honest insight into Bobby’s experience of being inside prison and his life beyond those walls. It is an incredibly interesting read and I am so interested to hear about the work he has done since leaving prison. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a biography!

Tidy

Enjoyed this book a lot a very open and honest approach to life in parkhurst read it in 3 days as couldn't put it down

A very interesting read.

I really enjoyed this book. This man has totally turned his life around. I would love to meet him. Total respect for him .

might just not have been the target audience for it. i was interested in learning what prisons are like but i felt like the book was a bit simplistic and light hearted