‘I love being a listener now. I don’t think I could give it up’

A prisoner listener service is helping reduce self-harm and suicide among inmates, writes Noel Baker

They say time stands still when you enter jail — maybe that’s why the clock on the wall in Wheatfield Prison auditorium is frozen at two minutes to two.

That same sense of paralysis can lend itself to worries and anxieties among inmates, sometimes leading to serious mental health issues, self-harm and suicide. In the words of prison governor Pat Kavanagh, this is “a very macho environment”, where there is a herd mentality and a need to “maintain face”. This is where the listeners come in.