Archer defiant over prison diaries

A defiant Mary Archer today said her husband was pleased his controversial diaries were being serialised, despite fears they breach prison rules and could lengthen his sentence.

Speaking outside Lincoln Prison, where Jeffrey Archer was moved after breaching day release conditions, Mrs Archer said he felt the diaries discussed important issues concerning prison life.

The disgraced peer is waiting to hear whether he will lose remission from his four-year sentence if A Prison Diary breaks strict guidelines.

“He is pleased that the book is to be serialised.

“He feels that what he has to say about drugs, about paedophiles, and about lifers in particular is important and should be debated as soon as possible,” she told reporters after her prison visit.

Publishers Macmillan have confirmed the book, based on Archer’s three weeks in London’s top security Belmarsh jail, breaks a ban on naming fellow inmates.

Prison Service director general Martin Narey has said he is taking legal advice over Archer’s conduct and is likely to view the book early next week.

Rules state that an inmate is not allowed to identify any other prisoner in literature, describe his or any other prisoner’s crime, or be paid for work.

If in breach, Archer could face “extra days” inside before being released from the jail term he received last year for perjury and perverting the course of justice during a 1987 libel case.

Richard Charkin, chief executive of Macmillan, said Archer could earn between £200,000 and £300,000 in royalties, but added that his client has received no advance.

The book will be serialised in the Daily Mail next week and payment for that will be donated to drug rehabilitation and victim support groups.

Mrs Archer was also asked how her husband was coping after being moved to Lincoln from North Sea Camp open prison.

The transfer was prompted after Archer breached day release conditions by attending a party thrown by former Tory Education Secretary Gillian Shephard.

It was also disclosed that he had had lunch in a restaurant in Lincoln with a prison officer and an off-duty policewoman.

Mrs Archer said: “He says that the conditions are appalling but the prison officers are fair and decent.

“I think that the Prison Service has yet to demonstrate he infringed any regulation and I hope they will feel they can conclude their investigation and return him to a D-category, that’s an open prison.”

She added that she hoped the investigation into the breach would soon be completed and said she believed he was being treated differently because of who he is.

“All we ask is that he is treated like any other prisoner in his category,” she said.

When asked if the situation would throw a shadow over this week’s Tory Party Conference, she said: “Well I would point out that Jeffrey is not a member of the Conservative Party.”

Archer was in Belmarsh at the beginning of his sentence and the Daily Mail said he refers to Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs and Jill Dando’s killer Barry George in the book.

Today’s News of the World claims that in an early draft of his book, seen by the newspaper, Archer tells how he was strip-searched for drugs and told he must not let anyone tattoo him.

The manuscripts were smuggled out of jail in bags of correspondence to avoid censors, the newspaper says.

In one passage he writes: “They’ve supplied me with a Bic razor and I consider cutting my throat. But the thought of failure is just too awful to contemplate.”

He says that on the first day he was strip searched for drugs and razors under an arc light with a camera following his every move.

The newspaper also claims that Archer went into prison with a sheaf of legally drawn-up forms, and used them to get prisoners to waive all legal and financial rights so they could not claim any of the profits from his book if they were named.