Mark ’Whippy’ Whipp, who was serving time for drug offences at the time of the recording, was the main focus of the episode which aired on Wednesday night.
During the episode, viewers were shown how Whipp had been refused parole twice for his behaviour behind bars. His parole was granted at a third attempt.
Such behaviour included, according to him, for drinking from a barrel in the garden which contained ’horse manure and water’ that ’tasted lovely’. He was suspended from his gardening job for that infringement.
Earlier in the episode, Whipp was spoken to by guards for his involvement in a bucket of water being thrown over another inmate who was in the shower and referred to the prison as a ’youth hostel mixed with a mental institution’.
Also featured was inmate Natalie Jane Bayle who is serving a six year sentence for importing £25,000 of heroin into the island.
She was shown using her time in prison to work in the kitchen, which it is said would help her chances of parole, and as a result of her good behaviour and to prepare her for release, Bayle was granted a day release to work in the kitchen of the Guard House cafe which is near the prison.
Bayle said: ’I work hard and I take the opportunities given to me whereas some people do sit around doing nothing for their sentence and expect to get their parole, but they have to earn it for themselves.’
Whipp’s friend Ian also featured and was shown using his time in prison, also for drug offences, to read. He said during his time in Jurby, he had read Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time twice.
Ian is using his sentence to take part in a creative writing class, run by Gemma Middleton who said he is ’very articulate and intelligent’. It was revealed later in the episode his writing had received a commended award in a UK-wide competition run for prisoners.
He admitted that taking advantage of the education schemes on offer to all prisoners had made a difference to him as he reflected on wasting his education in his youth and that he was ’proud’ of himself for his work with Gemma.
Prison officer Bob Qulliam was the other main person to feature during the episode, filmed during last year’s TT, as he set up his motor home and lived in the staff car park for the fortnight to avoid the long drive home made worse by road closures.
He was shown grilling a burger and steak and relaxing in the sunshine with his satellite dish hooked up to the fence for his TV.
Bob was later seen on his last day in the job before his retirement where as well as colleagues, several inmates wanted to say goodbye and wish him well.