Wasp no2

Handelingsdeel: WASP no 2
1 uur 45 min.

I was in prison, now I’m on TV

Georgia Gwynne-Griffiths remembers how an eloquent private-school girl she was at the Oxford University. She completed her law degree. When she was 21 and unemployed she became a criminal awaiting sentence on drug charges. After her final exams she travelled to Thailand, she took amphetamines, ecstasy and acid. When she returned in 1992 and carried on, she got arrested.

A 25ft fall
On 2 December 1992 there was discovered one guy, who jumped or felt of his flat form 25 feet. This student, Henry Skelton, consumed a lot of LSD and alcohol. A couple friends of Henry came that night before by Georgia looking for acid. She told them they were at the wrong place, but after a while, Georgia sold them some acid. Georgia didn’t consider she was dealing. The morning after she sold the acid, the police was looking for her. She got arrested on the grounds of possessing and dealing three acid tabs and intend to supply speed. Georgia didn’t yet know about Henry’s death.

No big deal
Georgia reasoned that it wasn’t such a big deal and there would be no need to drag her parents into it. After her questioning they told her she was responsible for someone’s death and kicked out into jail. After a few days Georgia found out about Henry. Her parents didn’t condone what she did, but they stand by her. On 2 January 1993 she arrived at court. There was a massive media presence that was linking Georgia with the death of Henry Skelton. The case of Georgia was sent to the Crown Court.

Guilty as charged
One month later they found out that Henry did not taken any of the acid from Georgia. That was a massive relief for her. But still she was charged of possessing and dealing. In June 1993 she pleaded guilty and they gave her nine months. Georgia was shocked. Her prison career was about to kick off. First she was sent to Risley remand centre. There was a smell of urine and both officers got aggressive faces. After a day she was ‘shipped out’ to Drake Hall, an old munitions factory. She was faced with angry inmates in her small lock-less room. Working in the laundry
Georgia settled gradually inn. She supposes it was an easy time. The state teached her not to use drugs. The refs were constantly bending the rules.

Another crisis
Georgia informed a journalist about the illegal going-on in jail. When she came in the dining hall she and a prostitute started a fight. Georgia was removed for her own protection. She was moved to New Hall prison. Two days before here 22nd birthday she was still locked up in a cell. The guilt ate away inside her. Once the realisation sank in and she became really strong. Georgia applied for a position on the prison farm and spent hours witnessing the lack of the team spirit and the unnecessary violence.

Prison zombies
At least 75 percent of the crimes commited by woman in New Hall were drug-related. But the prison gave them more dugs to play with. Untill the time the prisoners became zombies unable to function. Georgia got her job at the prison farm and began working with giant sows and a humorous group of heroin smugglers who enjoyed their lesbian affairs and catfights. Georgia survived at the farm by throwing herself into a routine of exercise, meditation, writing letters and poetry, and appreciating the natural environment and attempting to help those around her.

Lake Titacaca
Georgia got a picture of Lake Titicaca stuck on her wall in prison. She knew that she would go there soon after her release. Georgia felt strange about freedom at first and she got violent dreams. She needed to get the trauma out of her system. So she starts travelling trough South and Central America. She was for Greenpeace in Chile and she wrote for newspapers in the Middle East. Seven years on she travelled extensively. While she was in India, she was offered a job as a TV producer/presenter for a travel documentary. She spent a year filming before setting up a company with a woman she met in the Bolivian jungle. At the start of last year, they arrived at Asia’s mount Kailas in Tibet having escaped Chinese officials and my heart rejoiced. It is possible to go from the pits to the peaks.