A dad-of-two who was jailed for pulling a BB gun on a bike thief has spoken about his time inside HMP Grampian – as well as his “Shawshank Redemption moment” when he got released.
Alan Mitchell appeared in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court last summer and admitted confronting yob Joseph Gannon with a BB gun after learning he had stolen his bike.
The 46-year-old had been expecting a fine and unpaid work but was stunned when Sheriff Graham Buchanan elected to impose a 13-month prison sentence instead.
That sentence was met with shock and anger by Alan’s friends, family and strangers reading about the case in the Press & Journal.
A petition was even launched to appeal against the sentence, gathering hundreds of signatures.
But the decision was not overturned and Alan ended up serving just over three months behind bars before being released on a tag.
He has now opened up about his experience of prison life, how he was supported by both prison staff and other inmates – and how he even earned a prison nickname: The Civilian.
Alan, who has two sons aged 11 and 15, says he accepts he overreacted when he pulled a BB gun on the bike thief, but did not expect to go to prison.
He said: “The sheriff said ‘I can only hand down a custodial sentence – take him down’.
“When I heard the words ‘take him down’ my legs just went, I couldn’t believe it.
“I was led out and everything went so quick. I was stripped of all my stuff and I was just frightened because I’d never been in that position.
“I remember coming out the back door and going into the van.”
Alan had been planning to head next door to Archibald Simpson for a pint after his court appearance, but instead found himself gazing out of the GEOAmey security van as others enjoyed a drink in the sunshine.
He said: “The van stopped at the lights right outside Archie’s. I looked out the window and there were people that had been in court before me sitting having a drink and I was thinking ‘look at that, they got freed and I’m being taken away’.
“The whole journey to Peterhead I was just thinking about what was going to happen to me when we got there. It was frightening. A journey into the complete unknown.”
Alan, who lives in the Broomhill area, praised staff at the prison for how they were when he first arrived.
He said: “The first prison officer I encountered could see I was really anxious and really stressed. They were really quite supportive and nice to me.
“Everything went really quickly and it was a blur getting processed. You’re given your number, all your clothes are taken off you and you’re strip-searched and given prison clothing.
“My mind was racing and I was thinking ‘am I going to get out of here?’. I was naively still thinking somebody would realise this was a mistake and let me go home.”
‘I was crying for maybe three or four days solid’
Alan was given his own cell but still had to mix with other prisoners in communal areas.
He said: “I remember going into the wing and there were a lot of prisoners going about in the communal area and I just kept my head down and didn’t look at anybody.
“When the door locked I was put in a cell with my plastic plate and fork and knife and that was when I realised I was banged up.
“I was crying for maybe three or four days solid.”
Alan said he tried to keep himself to himself amid sometimes chaotic scenes.
He said: “The first few days were crazy because in the first week or so you get put in where all the people who are on remand are, so it’s really noisy with a lot of people coming off drugs and a lot of people on drugs.
“There was a lot of people banging on doors and shouting. With every noise, I was jumping up frightened.
“I only came out of my cell to get lunch and dinner and to use the phone to call my mum and dad and sister.
“I wasn’t getting any sleep at all. There was a lot of dance music thumping like boom boom boom at midnight or 1 o’clock in the morning.
“I thought ‘this is insane, I’m never going to cope with this’.”
‘They called me The Civilian’
It didn’t take long before Alan was offered drugs – and said he now understands why some prisoners would succumb to the temptation in order to make the experience of life behind bars more tolerable.
“I was offered drugs like heroin and spice within the first two or three days,” he admitted.
“I wasn’t going to take them, but it would have been very easy for me to take drugs and get wasted to keep my head away from where I was.
“I was never coerced or forced into anything, but it was always there.”
For most of his time inside, Alan was located on the top floor of the prison, which houses mainly long-term inmates or “lifers”.
He said: “They all knew who I was because they read the papers and they couldn’t believe I was there. They were all really nice.
“They called me ‘The Civilian’.
“The other prisoners were my biggest fear to start with, but I think they all realised that I shouldn’t be there so they were all really nice to me.”
‘It was like Bullseye’
Despite the stresses and strains of prison life, Alan said there were moments of peace – like when got his hands on a guitar.
He said: “It was a really bad acoustic guitar – probably the worst acoustic guitar I’ve ever had, but it was also the best guitar I’ve ever had.
“I wrote a few tunes – the prison sessions.”
Due to a paperwork mix-up Alan spent the entire duration of his stay in prison clothes and slippers.
Prison staff revealed they had received a parcel of clothes and trainers from his family but could not give it to him.
Alan said: “It was like Bullseye – this is what you could have won.
“I walked away crying, I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t get any of that stuff.”
Although he didn’t want any visitors, Alan managed to stay in contact with friends and family, who were “devastated” by his imprisonment, via phone calls and letters.
He explained: “I didn’t want to see anybody, it would have been too upsetting and I didn’t want to do that to my mum and dad.
“I kept it to phone calls, which was better for me and better for them.
“My mum and dad and my sister, and one of my friends I was phoning were saying everybody was asking for me and that everybody was on my side.
“It was a big relief.
“I’d like to thank Jan Whyte, a friend of mine who started the petition for me.”
“I thought about my boys all the time I was there and seeing them the day I got home was magical. They are the greatest boys on earth.”
Alan was also full of praise for the prison staff, including his personal officer George, and staff on a life skills course he was able to take part in.
He said: “The guys there, Alan and Shaz, they were absolutely amazing. They were a life-saver to me.”
However, Alan also ran into trouble during his stay – including the moment he came face to face with Joseph Gannon, the man who had stolen his bike.
Alan said: “He was in the wing just opposite mine and he saw me and shouted at me across the hallway.
‘This is it, I’m away to get shanked’
“He was waving at me and smiling, like a menacing smile.
“I didn’t react, I just kept my head down and walked away.”
Another anxious moment came with he was confronted by four prisoners as he walked back to his cell from the life skills class.
Alan said: “They were saying like ‘here’s gun boy, you’ll no get a gun in here, mate, you’re going to need protection’ and they were really having a go at me.
“That was a frightening moment.”
The fact Alan was still wearing prison clothes and slippers was not lost on the inmates.
“They were saying ‘check his slippers, min, he hasn’t even got proper trainers’,” Alan recalled.
“I thought ‘this is it, I’m away to get jumped, I’m away to get stabbed or shanked or whatever they call it’.
“I immediately told a prison officer when I got up the stairs because they could see that I was shaking.
“From then on I was put on protection because they knew something could happen to me.
“The prisoners on my wing heard about that incident and said ‘there’s no way they’re getting away with that, nobody’s allowed to touch Alan, we’ve got your back’.
“From then on, nothing happened.”
The Shawshank Redemption moment
Alan applied for early release with a tag and had a long, anxious wait to learn if he had been accepted.
He said: “I was thinking about it all the time – constantly.
“Then one day the prison officer George came in and said ‘I’ve got good news and bad news for you. The bad news is it’s raining outside but the good news is you’re going to get out.
“I was elated. I couldn’t believe it. Now that I knew I was going to get out, the last two weeks were a breeze.”
Alan compared the moment he finally walked through the exit doors to the iconic scene in The Shawshank Redemption when Andy Dufresne escapes.
He said: “It was just absolutely amazing. The greatest thing was when I got to the reception area all the clothes my mum and dad had sent out were still there, so I had a brand new pair of trainers to put on, a brand new pair of joggers and a brand new T-shirt.
“I’d been wearing these slippers for three-and-a-half months – I was basically walking on concrete. When I got the trainers on it was like bouncing.
“When I got outside the door there was rain and sleet and it was freezing cold, but it was the greatest feeling.
“It was a bit of a Shawshank Redemption moment. I just looked up to the sky and was like ‘yes!’.”
Looking back at the prison experience, Alan is philosophical.
“It is what you make of it,” he said.
“You can go in there and fight with the prison officers and get involved with all the prisoners and use drugs and have a horrendous time, or you go in and just be compliant, stick to the routine properly, keep your head down and it’s a breeze.”
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