I was born in this year, and during my later misspent youth, I spent some time in here, and that was 1973, and it was still the same in every way. I never went back,
I remember strangeways when It was a prison. It was not that different than this minus the women and three to a cell. The screws were bastards. Ended up on D1 ( the block a few times). April 1990 changed everything. ( riots) its was a rat hole. Never ended up back ever again. Its a mugs game going to jail.
Three years after this was made, one of my favourite British comedy films of all time came out. 'Two-Way Stretch' set in the fictitious Huntleigh Prison, starring Peter Sellers, Bernard Cribbins, David Lodge, Lionel Jeffries, Irene Handl and Wilfred Hyde-White. It was the film that inspired Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais to write 'Porridge'. Richard Beckinsale, in the show, was named Lenny, the same name as Bernard Cribbins' character, Inspector Mackay was clearly born from the strict, militaristic prison officer, 'Kraut', played by Lionel Jeffries, and in a couple of episodes, Fletcher and Lenny were made to share their cell with a corrupt magistrate, played by Maurice Denham who played the Prison Governor in the 1960 film. There was also a prison cat in the film called 'Strangeways'!
Did you know John G Sutton who has the you tube channel Tales from the Jail, he tells some really interesting stories about his time at Strangeways including the Governor Norman Brown, Bootsie, the Chinese moneybox ,and the school bully who worked in the punishment block.
I served time there 1977 for 17 weeks on D2 , first timers wing I believe, once you got into the prison routine it wasn’t to bad , worked in the laundry one week morning the next afternoons , I also cleaned the visitor’s canteen, lucky really , there was 1 prison officer I remember mr Mackenzie, he was a fair man didn’t judge yeah , I thought they were strict but fair as long as you toed the line Norman scar face was the governor
Made at a time when there was respect, trust and understanding between national institutions and the BBC. The results are educational. We can forget about such freedom of the press ever happening again.
Love the old jail docs to be honest I been jail many times but now learnt by my mistakes been out 4 yr now so I’m proud of it as it’s not easy to stay out when you know that’s your only life and I was in the ways in 2000
It states at the beginning of this footage that no censorship of any kind has been imposed. Then step forward to current day to see how YT now behave in the opposite manner!... the bar stewards.
Ffs 5 years for about 16 and half pence, the good old days. I remember visiting my Dad there when he was in “hospital” in 1969 never forget the gates, free tea, and battle dress uniforms and boots. No wonder my Dad never went back, unlike my stepdad. Some evil sentences in them days adults and kids alike.
Try being 18 and IRISH in 1982 and innocent I was arrested at work on a building site my crime was a cousin I only seen twice was involved in the struggle in the North of Ireland. Police decided I was involved I was remanded beaten many times. At my trial they dropped charges and I was deported. This incident changed my life and I became what they originally charged me with. For decades I was angry and lost a decade of my life behind the door. They made me who I am BASTARDS.😊
And many years later it didn't change much. I watched a documentary on UA-cam about Holloway prison in the 1980's and there was a woman in prison as she couldn't afford to pay her television licence. Which meant that her children were put in a care home. That would never happen these days.
Over crowded and under staffed. That rings a bell not much has changed. Life was a lot harder then. People might say it was better back in the fiftys not when you were living it . Rose coloured speckles
Very interesring, the dreary rainy day scene at the start reminds me that in Manchester it was said that a rainy day was a good day for a hanging. Even as a pris9n officer, a free man I think it would be confronting working there. Let's spare a thought for those who were involved I being part of looking after being part of an execution. There is a good 3 part documentary on youtube about this, the strain and the mental scarring was evident. No matter what a person has done, no matter how heinous and callous, I think to have to be part of the process would have been very difficult.
Different class of people back then, when there was order and people were still "ashamed" of being sent to prison, now days you go to jail for such trivial matters, just for saying the things that others don't like to hear, PRISON is no longer seen as punishment, but more of a living hazard, as they like to throw people in jail for the most bizarre reasons, it's nearly impossible NOT to break the law now days. Everything is illegal or a crime.
If it’s a punishment,you can’t expect them to stop doing it. If we want them to not do it again we have to make them stop by giving them more opportunity’s.
Prison officers are also in a way imprisoned with the felons in an odd way. I was in the army & if I had to go to prison then & now it would not phase me. I'm 71 now, alone, no family or friends & happily would go to prison for company.
The most naive comment I've ever seen on youtube. You obviously believe in fairies too. Amongst many other things hundreds of offences once listed dont even make the crime stats these days , millions of crimes aren't reported crime is at its worst of all today and getting worse all the time.
Prisoners nowadays all act like a bunch of wild animals in the zoo. It's strange to see the prisoners in this film acting like actual decent, civilised people. The shot that really made me feel any type of sympathy was the shot at the beginning where the camera holds on the man with the fluffy blonde hair holding his face in his hands, defeated, alone, without his kids or his wife, possibly crying. It's a poignant shot, very powerful.
@@jackjohnstone1683you do realise that they wouldn't have shown anything else? The fact they're in jail to start with perhaps gives a clue as to what they were really like
Ever served a week have you?, if not you’re talking out your arse. These were the days before gangs & drugs took over the prisons. My Bro was a screw & it’s as far a holiday camp as you can imagine. The suicide rates prove that.
@@markdavids2511 agreed. These people who have no experience of prison, yet think they know what it's like inside from reading the Daily Mail or something get on my nerves. Not a nice place to be.
A hotel for emotionally damaged psychopaths happy to remove your face for the slightest little thing. Sometimes the infraction your brutalised for doesnt even exist it was all in a lunatics head. I assure you they are no holiday camps.
"Five star hotels" ? You wouldn't last five minutes in one of those "hotels" sunshine. The extortion, the violence, the screws that can't be arsed doing their job (& for the money they get, you can't really blame them), hotels they are not. You clearly don't have a bloody clue what you're talking about. Muppet.
Though strangeways fell on the first 90 fools day the screws held on at walton till at least 2000 and ran it with a iron grip snowflakes have ruined prisons half ounce matches papers knew where you was what you were getting time flew on routine
What a great Documentary. One of the best i have seen.
Fascinating, well done, more please.
I was born in this year, and during my later misspent youth, I spent some time in here, and that was 1973, and it was still the same in every way. I never went back,
We all make mistakes. Some of us get away with it, others fall hard. The main thing is you never went back. Good for you, that’s character.
@@Daniel-deMerrivale Appreciate your comment.
I remember strangeways when It was a prison. It was not that different than this minus the women and three to a cell. The screws were bastards. Ended up on D1 ( the block a few times). April 1990 changed everything. ( riots) its was a rat hole. Never ended up back ever again. Its a mugs game going to jail.
Always has been, always will be .@@SuperTerry1963
Good for you
excellent work thank you 🙏 manchester uk 🇬🇧 😊
Great These Old Documentaries
On this channel 👍
Three years after this was made, one of my favourite British comedy films of all time came out. 'Two-Way Stretch' set in the fictitious Huntleigh Prison, starring Peter Sellers, Bernard Cribbins, David Lodge, Lionel Jeffries, Irene Handl and Wilfred Hyde-White. It was the film that inspired Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais to write 'Porridge'.
Richard Beckinsale, in the show, was named Lenny, the same name as Bernard Cribbins' character, Inspector Mackay was clearly born from the strict, militaristic prison officer, 'Kraut', played by Lionel Jeffries, and in a couple of episodes, Fletcher and Lenny were made to share their cell with a corrupt magistrate, played by Maurice Denham who played the Prison Governor in the 1960 film. There was also a prison cat in the film called 'Strangeways'!
wow. what a find !!
I started there in 1975 for my 30 year Career as an officer, it was just as grim then
Did you know John G Sutton who has the you tube channel Tales from the Jail, he tells some really interesting stories about his time at Strangeways including the Governor Norman Brown, Bootsie, the Chinese moneybox ,and the school bully who worked in the punishment block.
Do you know John G Sutton . He was working there and wrote a book.
@@kenneth2656John started working there in 1975 to 1985.
I served time there 1977 for 17 weeks on D2 , first timers wing I believe, once you got into the prison routine it wasn’t to bad , worked in the laundry one week morning the next afternoons , I also cleaned the visitor’s canteen, lucky really , there was 1 prison officer I remember mr Mackenzie, he was a fair man didn’t judge yeah , I thought they were strict but fair as long as you toed the line Norman scar face was the governor
@@richardthompson6115 ok
that really was incredible
Made at a time when there was respect, trust and understanding between national institutions and the BBC. The results are educational. We can forget about such freedom of the press ever happening again.
Troll
Love the old jail docs to be honest I been jail many times but now learnt by my mistakes been out 4 yr now so I’m proud of it as it’s not easy to stay out when you know that’s your only life and I was in the ways in 2000
All credit to you.
It’s grim up North…and I love it
jamms
How far have we fallen.
It states at the beginning of this footage that no censorship of any kind has been imposed. Then step forward to current day to see how YT now behave in the opposite manner!... the bar stewards.
Better days, even the criminals were a better quality of person back then!!🤷
Human nature doesn't change but a lot of bad stuff was hidden in the past .Some of it wasn't reported and some of it was never prosecuted
Brings back some sad memories and waisted years you never get back , the only good thing was is my wife left me
FFS 😂
Too many inmates, too few staff.
Even back then, this seemed to be an issue. It appears to surface no matter what UK prison documentary I've watched.
Very enjoyable...thank you for that.
where the hell do you find these???
unreal.............I hope you find more...
Ffs 5 years for about 16 and half pence, the good old days. I remember visiting my Dad there when he was in “hospital” in 1969 never forget the gates, free tea, and battle dress uniforms and boots. No wonder my Dad never went back, unlike my stepdad. Some evil sentences in them days adults and kids alike.
Try being 18 and IRISH in 1982 and innocent I was arrested at work on a building site my crime was a cousin I only seen twice was involved in the struggle in the North of Ireland. Police decided I was involved I was remanded beaten many times. At my trial they dropped charges and I was deported. This incident changed my life and I became what they originally charged me with. For decades I was angry and lost a decade of my life behind the door. They made me who I am BASTARDS.😊
And many years later it didn't change much. I watched a documentary on UA-cam about Holloway prison in the 1980's and there was a woman in prison as she couldn't afford to pay her television licence. Which meant that her children were put in a care home. That would never happen these days.
Gold 🥇....
“Said the spider to the fly” that narrator was like that Harry Enfield,can you imagine these cats in today’s jungles 😮😅
Think u should be thinking the other way round....the cats as u call them wouldn't be able to handle it then if went back to been like it was then .
Those stars look like surplus left over from the Third Reich.
Der Juden!
Over crowded and under staffed. That rings a bell not much has changed. Life was a lot harder then. People might say it was better back in the fiftys not when you were living it . Rose coloured speckles
Very interesring, the dreary rainy day scene at the start reminds me that in Manchester it was said that a rainy day was a good day for a hanging.
Even as a pris9n officer, a free man I think it would be confronting working there.
Let's spare a thought for those who were involved I being part of looking after being part of an execution.
There is a good 3 part documentary on youtube about this, the strain and the mental scarring was evident.
No matter what a person has done, no matter how heinous and callous, I think to have to be part of the process would have been very difficult.
They used to reconstruct scenes with actors back then.
They'd still be neck stretching them in 1957, strange they never showed us the condemned cell.
Was a great name for a prison. The name should be reverted.
How beautiful the 1950s were.
Amazing if you love slums and outdoor toilets
Did they still hang people at this prison in 57 ?
Likely
Yes. The last execution at Strangeways was in 1964.
This is where the govt should be put!
They all look old.
Were the hell did you get this?
There are archives on the way to the incinerator full of this stuff.
Strangeways Here I Come. - The Smiths.. 🎵⚽️🥁🏴📚⚓️🇬🇧🎵
50% on the baccy. I did double bubble all the way. Good little number that was!! Good old days 😂
What jail were you in mate, and what baccy did u tick? Just curious
Different class of people back then, when there was order and people were still "ashamed" of being sent to prison, now days you go to jail for such trivial matters, just for saying the things that others don't like to hear, PRISON is no longer seen as punishment, but more of a living hazard, as they like to throw people in jail for the most bizarre reasons, it's nearly impossible NOT to break the law now days.
Everything is illegal or a crime.
No way could they get away with putting the star of David, on arm bands,
That doesn't seem right, does it?!
75% never come back that’s massive compared to today’s standards back pthen you could trust the intel you got, .
In 1957 I was 8yrs old at school well that to me was like a prison very decenzion they used to kain the boys but not the girls very authoritarian
If it’s a punishment,you can’t expect them to stop doing it.
If we want them to not do it again we have to make them stop by giving them more opportunity’s.
Back when you knew you were getting a kicking daily off the screws
How prison should bel..
Prison officers are also in a way imprisoned with the felons in an odd way. I was in the army & if I had to go to prison then & now it would not phase me. I'm 71 now, alone, no family or friends & happily would go to prison for company.
Get to the Men's shed mate. Best thing my dad ever did.
Easy to say but don’t continuously break the law..
Proper jail time.
The big house, was in 1976 you just knew it would explode 🤬
It might of been harder back then. But England was safer
As of 2023, crime is at its lowest ever levels
No it wasn’t… that’s just your racist mind fooling you
The most naive comment I've ever seen on youtube. You obviously believe in fairies too. Amongst many other things hundreds of offences once listed dont even make the crime stats these days , millions of crimes aren't reported crime is at its worst of all today and getting worse all the time.
The inmates sure have changed, diversity has seen to that.
Prisoners nowadays all act like a bunch of wild animals in the zoo. It's strange to see the prisoners in this film acting like actual decent, civilised people. The shot that really made me feel any type of sympathy was the shot at the beginning where the camera holds on the man with the fluffy blonde hair holding his face in his hands, defeated, alone, without his kids or his wife, possibly crying. It's a poignant shot, very powerful.
@@jackjohnstone1683you do realise that they wouldn't have shown anything else? The fact they're in jail to start with perhaps gives a clue as to what they were really like
Russian troll
Well…. You wanted an empire, there is a price for everything… you Brit
so don’t bitch now
OMG, a proper prison, so far removed from the five star hotels of today.
Ever served a week have you?, if not you’re talking out your arse. These were the days before gangs & drugs took over the prisons. My Bro was a screw & it’s as far a holiday camp as you can imagine. The suicide rates prove that.
@@markdavids2511 agreed. These people who have no experience of prison, yet think they know what it's like inside from reading the Daily Mail or something get on my nerves. Not a nice place to be.
A hotel for emotionally damaged psychopaths happy to remove your face for the slightest little thing. Sometimes the infraction your brutalised for doesnt even exist it was all in a lunatics head. I assure you they are no holiday camps.
"Five star hotels" ?
You wouldn't last five minutes in one of those "hotels" sunshine. The extortion, the violence, the screws that can't be arsed doing their job (& for the money they get, you can't really blame them), hotels they are not.
You clearly don't have a bloody clue what you're talking about.
Muppet.
Really? Looked peaceful, orderly and respectful compared to anything that came later
Though strangeways fell on the first 90 fools day the screws held on at walton till at least 2000 and ran it with a iron grip snowflakes have ruined prisons half ounce matches papers knew where you was what you were getting time flew on routine
So they’ve been using the overcrowded and understaffed excuse since the 1950s , interesting lol