Recently, Frank had to go into hospital to have an operation on his knee. While he was there, he
met an old acquaintance...
An interesting story as a sort of codicil. One of the
nurses, a fellow, was here 12 or 13 years ago when I was brought here for the first time. It was in
my "bad person" days when I was like a raging bull all the time, biting doors and trying to punch
out everybody I met. Those days.
At the time, no prison would have me, not even in their segregation units, and so I was in the
strip-cell here, in the naked, snarling every time they opened a door. They couldn't open the door
unless there were six kangas [prison officers] and a dog. That is what I had been reduced to.
So, one day the door opened and the doctor came in on her own, a lovely woman, tall and stately
with loads of red hair. Her name was Gill Jones. She came in and knelt down on the floor (in all the
mess) next to where I was lying and had a look at my injuries and tested my chest. She said I had
the beginnings of pleurisy and asked me if I would like to come into her hospital for a while to
have a rest from all the badness and a bit of a holiday. So I agreed, grudgingly.
That's the background to the story. So, when I was talking to Doc Nandy yesterday, one of the
nurses said, "I remember when I first met you years ago. Can you remember?"
I said, "What happened?"
Doc Nandy said, "What happened then?"
The nurse said, "It was really strange. We were told that we were getting a real maniac and I
was at the door to receive him. When the door opened, there were six seg staff with a dog handler
and he" (meaning me) "was standing there in the nude. It was funny. The seg staff didn't say a word.
One of them shoved him through the door and quickly locked it and we heard him say through the door,
"Go on, piss off!" and they all walked away and just left me with Frank. I didn't know what to do!"
Doc Nandy said, "What happened?"
The nurse said, "I just said, 'Hello.' and he sort of looked at me and said 'All right!' So then
I asked him if he fancied a nice hot bath."
I said, "I remember it. I had a bath and a nice clean bed to lie in afterwards."
The nurse said, "He was here for months after that. All the nurses loved him. He helped the dentist
with the x-rays. He was here for months!"
I said, "Yes, six or seven months."
Doc Nandy said, "So what changed you?"
I said, "Everybody treated me decently for a start, and all the nurses were women. I've never
been rude to a woman in my life."
Doc Nandy said, "It just goes to show that a bit of kindness works wonders."
So I said, "Well, it's a well-known fact that it is easier to handle a friendly lion than it is
to handle a mad dog."
We went on to have a chat about me first meeting Doc Nandy years ago when he was the doctor at
Frankland and he said that he had only ever known me to be polite and decent to people. He couldn't
believe that I had been such a thug.