During the first lockdown in March 2020, prisoners at HMP Manchester were offered the opportunity to write down their reflections as part of a creative writing competition – and have their work judged by real authors. The results offer extraordinary insight into the minds of inmates during the onset of COVID-19.
HMP Manchester / Image: Peter McDermott via Geograph
When Prime Minister Boris Johnson appeared on television screens last March staring solemnly down the lens and warning us not to leave our homes, it should have been shocking enough to send cups of tea spilling across living rooms right around the UK.
But as gloomy and demoralising as the broadcast might have been, it was not a surprising one.
By this point, most of us knew it was coming.
That infamous public address on March 23 had – just like COVID’s symptoms and knock-on effects – crept up on us in sinisterly steady fashion.
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For weeks, we read headlines about the increasing spread of the virus and watched many of our European neighbours bolting their own gates shut. So, when the decision was made to officially lock down in the UK, many of us had already mentally prepared ourselves for the worst.
For many in Manchester, the preamble to the address had involved messaging loved ones and setting up home working stations. But over in Cheetham Hill, there were 650 people behind bars still struggling to comprehend exactly what was happening.
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HMP Manchester’s inmates – concealed from view of the deserted city centre streets – had relied on TV sets as their sole window into the real world. But despite the drama unfolding on the news channels, they still felt once removed from the pictures being shown on the screens inside their cells.
It wasn’t until the morning of March 23 when officers told prisoners to “check their phones” that the seriousness of the situation sunk in.
After punching in their access codes, they realised something. Their call credit had increased.
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Prisoners could read between the lines. This was a full-scale lockdown.
Inside the Visitor Centre at HMP Manchester back in 2016 – Image: Neil Theasby
For those who have never set foot inside a maximum security facility, HMP Manchester has an otherworldly aura; epitomised by its towering walls and fortress-like architecture.
Portraits of prison life – on camera or in print – can often feel like they belong to another realm. And this is exactly what made the onset of COVID such an unsettling time for its inhabitants.
As one prisoner’s grave confession at the start of the first lockdown testified: “I fear people are going to forget about us and we’re going to die because we’re bottom of the pile.”
But when the pandemic hit, inmates at Manchester were actually presented with a unique chance to share their stories through art. And now this material is set for publication.
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The booklet, titled Write Inside At HMP Manchester, is a compendium of astonishing reflections written by those incarcerated during COVID, ranging from real contemplations on an unravelling pandemic to fictitious worlds created out of a desire for a form of escapism.
Put together by MK College and curated by HMP Manchester’s Distance Learning Coordinator Maureen Carnighan, the project began life as a simple writing exercise to keep prisoners preoccupied.
But it quickly snowballed into a creative writing competition, with a panel of published authors – including Jonathan Aitken, David Nolan, Joseph Knox and Erwin James – stepping in to judge the work and offer feedback.
Aitken and James had previously served sentences themselves, whereas Nolan has produced extensive coverage of the Strangeways Riots throughout his career.
The submissions – which include diaries, stories, poems and illustrations – were originally scrawled on scrap paper and the backs of envelopes by prisoners at the height of the pandemic, before being collected and cobbled together to form an anthology.
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It’s set to go to print later this year; with all money raised going towards the Prisoners’ Education Trust.
Thousands of prisoners across England and Wales have tested positive for COVID-19 – Image: Donald Tong via Pexels
After the writing competition ended, entries were judged and a prize was split between the winners. But a little bump to the prison bank balance was just a bonus. According to organiser Maureen, what was most important to inmates was the fact their stories were actually being read by others.
Nolan, Knox, Aitken and James added comments to every entry, and as Maureen passed on the feedback to inmates, she could hear their self-esteem “growing over the phone”.
“The fact that real authors read their work – they were amazed by it,” Maureen explains.
“All the stories [in the booklet] are so different. Some of the fiction is amazing.
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“But there are some surprises, too. There’s even some soppy poetry in there!”
Many of the most affecting pieces within the collection are the ones that pull readers inside Strangeways to share a cell with the authors.
One such article, entitled ‘COVID Diary’, paints an eerie picture of a cell block on the morning of lockdown where you could “hear a pin drop” – before going on to tell the tale of inmates scrambling to check their phone credit.
As the story ebbs on, the author expresses his concern for his fellow inmates.
“I’ve done many, many lockdowns,” he writes, having been in and out of prison for almost three decades.
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“[But] this is the first time there has been a lockdown like this.
“Only urgent health care appointments, no dentists, no work, and up to twenty-three hours banged up unless you are a servery worker or cleaner. I honestly feel for all those lads and girls who I think are ‘suffering in silence behind that door.’”
Another prisoner also describes the stress levels in prison as being so high that the wing is “crackling as if it’s charged with static”, with a lack of routine akin to having his “body vigorously rubbed with a cheese grater.”
Most in-person social visits have been banned for several months at HMP Manchester due to COVID – Image: Prison Phone
The collection also features a haunting short story penned by an inmate who was among the first to become infected.
He recalls curling up around the toilet bowl, a big warning sticker being slapped on his cell, and guards dressed head to toe in quarantine suits bellowing at him to “stand back” so they could safely drop off food.
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“Shivering in my bed, thoughts ran through my head,” he writes.
“What if I don’t wake up? The thought of dying in prison was so scary.”
But not all prisoners felt compelled to write about COVID. Others seized the opportunity to pen letters to their former selves, whilst one inmate – sentenced for 28 years for gang-related murder – scribbled a painful and emotional apology to his mother for everything he’s done.
According to Maureen, the writing casts the inmates in a whole different light.
“We tend to ‘monster’ everyone that goes to prison,” she says.
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“But these people do come out [of jail]. It’s our job to re-educate and support them whilst they’re inside to reduce the chances of them reoffending.
“Here, in this writing, they come across as real human beings who have made very real mistakes.”
Please see notice that our residents received this week outlining the impact of the latest national lockdown. We are grateful for all the support and cooperation at this difficult time. pic.twitter.com/aSKung6Np7
All prisons offer a core education curriculum covering English, maths, digital skills and relevant vocational training – which all inmates who would benefit are encouraged to attend.
But enrolling in higher education courses (e.g. university level) involves meeting certain criteria. Permission from the prison itself is required before applying for funding from the Prisoners’ Educational Trust and for individual courses. Proximity to release date is also taken into consideration.
What made Maureen’s writing competition so unique and appealing was that it was open to all inmates immediately, at no cost.
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When word got around, the uptake was big.
Even once the initial exercise was over, the Distance Learning Coordinator said she was “overwhelmed” with additional requests from prisoners – many of whom thrived on the experience and expressed a desire to keep learning whilst locked up for long portions of the day.
Educational in-cell packs have also been introduced at HMP Manchester in the absence of face-to-face education – covering subjects such as maths, English, business, art and ESOL (English for speakers of other languages).
Cases of COVID are finally in decline across the penal system – Image: Gov UK
Write Inside At HMP Manchester – a time capsule and window into Strangeways during an aberrant moment in history – is set for release at a pertinent point in the pandemic; with the whole penal system once again in lockdown.
Since March 2020, over 10,000 prisoners in England and Wales have tested positive for COVID-19. At least 86 have died.
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Interventional measures have prevented the numbers climbing higher. But this has meant more time in cells, with prisoners spending the past few weeks reliving the experiences they wrote about last spring.
Most in-person social visits have also been banned since the beginning of the second lockdown in November – with inmates instead meeting loved ones via ‘Purple Visits’; the prison equivalent of video calls (at HMP Manchester, a phone has been fitted in every cell so that support staff can speak to prisoners, with the Education Department using them to provide feedback for in-cell study packs).
Conditions have been tough – and in December one retired judge even suggested sentences of inmates should be reduced in order to compensate.
Still, there is cause for optimism across the penal system in the weeks ahead.
Cases of COVID-19 among inmates and staff have been steadily declining since the end of January.
The situation is improving, and there is cautious hope that a tough chapter for UK prisons is slowly coming to a close.
“Prisons are not the holiday camps that the public sometimes believe them to be,” Maureen states.
“They are difficult environments made more severe during lockdown for obvious reasons.
“Some of the men I come across are so keen to get educated and so determined to change their lives around.
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“But having the opportunity to write and tell their story? That’s definitely helped them.”
Write Inside At HMP Manchester is being published in the prison print shop and sold in support of the Prisoners’ Education Trust.
Details on how to purchase copies are available online.
Feature
Five Manchester artists we’ve been listening to this month | May 2025
Danny Jones
Oh, hey, didn’t see you there. Come looking for more top Manc tunage, have we? You’re in luck, because Greater Manchester just keeps pumping out top bands and artists all the time, hence why we do this.
If you’re new around these parts, first of all, welcome and secondly, the whole thing is very simple: every month, we round up some of the best talents coming out of 0161 and talk about why we like them. I know, groundbreaking stuff, right?
They don’t have to be born and bred in Manchester, but they do need to have made this their music home – the first the correct career decision they made, the second being working their way into our ears.
So, now all the housekeeping is done and dusted, let’s dive into some delightful new Manchester music, shall we?
Five Manc bands and artists we’ve been listening to recently
1. IST IST
This month we’re starting off with one of those Manchester bands that may not be new but still crop up for us at regular intervals to remind us of two things: first of all, that they’re brilliant and secondly, that they should have featured on our regular round-up of artists a long time ago.
We’re talking about IST IST, who returned with another live, multiple LP-spanning compilation (plus some extras) this past March, which we’ve had on plenty over the past month. It goes without saying that they sound brilliant live, and we feel bad for only just remembering how good and prolific they’ve been.
You always get plenty of New Order, but also White Lies and Editors; Future Islands, The National and lots of other baritone-driven bands that bring that element of melodrama to layer over the instruments themselves. ‘You’re Mine’ might be their biggest track, but ‘The Kiss’ and ‘Exist’ are also favourites.
2. Robbie Cavanagh
Now, we all know that country music is having a real moment right now and we, for one, couldn’t be happier about it, to be completely frank. Though arguably simplistic at times, it’s soulful, often impressively pared-back, and when something does impress you lyrically or technically, it sticks.
With that in mind, we recently realised that award-winning songwriter Robbie Cavanagh has been on somewhat of a comeback since 2023, and we hadn’t noticed until painfully recently. Returning after a six-year hiatus – bar some little ditties during lockdown – his latest project has some of his best work yet.
Fully tilting from folk into country and folk, the stunning vocalist belatedly blew us away with the bluesy single ‘Helpless’ and a gorgeous new collaboration with solo artist, Abby Gundersen (equally talented sister of Noah), but please still start with his 2016 Mahogany Session, where it arguably all began.
Named after Manchester city centre’s famously eclectic indie emporium, Afflecks Palace have never quite blown up in the way they way we thought they would when we first came across them years ago, but there’s still plenty of time and we’ll be damn it if they don’t deserve more regular listeners.
You’ll also be glad to know that, despite the name, they aren’t one of those trite, overly performative bands who wear a stereotypical Manc-ness on their sleeve that we sometimes come across; they’re just good and deserve a lot more recognition for their contribution to the neo-pysch genre.
As for where to start, we’ll admit we prefer their first album; ‘Forever Young’ is noodley and catchy, ‘Everything Is an Attempt to Be Human’ has those shoegazey guitars, but it just doesn’t get better than the incomparable ‘Pink Skies’, which still makes us feel some type of way – we just can’t quite describe.
We just love it. ‘Nu-Madchester’, or whatever you want to call it, its distinct sunniness never fails to tickle a part of our brains.
4. Findlay
Next up is Stockport singer-songwriter Findlay, who released more new music this past February, and has been making indie pop that ropes in plenty of other influences for more than a decade now.
That being said, she’s always experimenting with her sound, as her collabs with Blossoms, Miles Kane, Bill Ryder-Jones, Joris Delacroix have shown, and this latest iteration seems to have her tapping into everything from almost 50s and 60s female soul singers to slow electronic and more.
We love the smooth sexiness and sheer ambition of her latest single, ‘Stay Kinky’ and ‘Waste My Time’ always feels like a late-night chiller fit for music video set in a dingey bar, however, we still have a soft spot for her debut, ‘Your Sister’, with the riff that’s almost reminiscent of ‘Blockbuster’ by Sweet.
Last but not least, it’s the second time we’re featuring a returning artist and it comes in the form of young Alex Spencer, whose journey from busking around the streets of Greater Manchester to sold-out headlines shows and featuring on the likes EA Sports FC 25 (yes, FIFA) is a truly remarkable one.
The charming and still fresh-faced local lad from Droylsden is nothing short of proof that hard work and determination can pay off, and those ‘Bucket List’ dreams really are within reach. Obvious talent aside, this teenager has grafted his arse off and we couldn’t be more proudof how far he’s come already.
He last featured in this round-up back in April 2024 but even in the time between then, he’s released plenty and developed even further as musician, so much so that we’re not going to suggest which songs to try; instead, you can watch our most recent interview with him and relive his last year or so with us.
I’m Alex Spencer and This is my journey so far!
8 years of my music journey summed up in 1 minute 55😅 Thankyou to everyone who’s followed my journey so far, to anyone new or to anyone who doesn’t know my story, I made this video to show where it all started and how I got here❤️ pic.twitter.com/Hi3W7MHMxX
So, the next time you hear someone foolishly complaining that the Greater Manchester music scene ‘isn’t what it once was’, you can go right ahead of show them these bands and artists.
In fact, you could just point them in the direction of this very page and Audio North, in general, as we do this round-up every month and plenty more every week, meaning you’re headphones never dry up.
For instance, you can check out which Manchester bands and artists we were listening to back in April, both new, current and old, down below. We’ll see you again very soon.
Bruce Springsteen’s unforgettable final night at Co-op Live in Manchester – just wow…
Danny Jones
It’s rare you get to see legends in real life, especially this up close and personal, but there’s still just one key word that keeps coming to mind when we think of seeing Bruce Springsteen in Manchester at the Co-op Live last night: surreal.
We still can’t quite believe that he was here in Manchester, in the flesh, for three separate nights, but we do intend to replay it in our heads over and over again until it fully sinks in.
Springsteen, ‘The Boss’, Brucey, whatever you want to call him, there really is something to be said for someone who’s been going this long and still exerts so much energy at 75.
That goes for his desperately loyal and dedicated crowds, too. The legions that marched down ‘Thunder Road’ and back down the CityLink walking route and the Ashton canal in supreme spirits after all was said and done gave as good as they got.
We can only assume Springsteen was as incredible on the first night at Co-op Live as he was on the last. (Credit: Audio North)
From singing back every chorus to the chants of “Bruuuuuuuce!” between every single song, it was more apparent than ever that being a Springsteen fan is quite literally a way of life for these people; they know every line, every call and response, every micro-dance move and regular on-stage ritual.
Each show is roughly three hours long, by the way – he does have an absolute treasure trove of discography to work through, in fairness.
Put simply, there’s no messing about, just non-stop rock and roll of the highest order. Well, there are some brief pauses, but for good reason…
As a passionate political and philanthropic person throughout a career which spans more than six decades, he took the time to talk about America and the turbulent times they are once again facing.
He spoke about the craven billionaire class, poverty, uniting through art and, just as he did on night one in Manchester, Springsteen railed against a particular tyrant who happens to have found himself in the seat of power yet again back over in the States. He made sure to do this every single night.
‘Born in the U.S.A.’ (which he did decide to play, along with a plethora of the other biggest hits) now feels more like a protest song than ever. The war may no longer be in Vietnam, but there is one raging back home, and he’s even more wary of it than before.
He thanked those in the pit and the stands for indulging him, as well as the “wonderful space” of the Co-op and its “beautiful sound” for hosting him, but we have a feeling the New Jersey poet could have said just about anything and he’d still have 23,500+ in the palm of his hands.
All that being said, it wasn’t like this was a pseudo-rally or anything like that, nor was anything of this being foisted upon the audience, but there was a real sense of a congregation gathering in the church of Bruce to take in his sermon.
His followers have often been referred to in this way, and despite only previously considering ourselves a very casual Springsteen enthusiast, having now been to a sell-out arena gig with one of the biggest Boss fans we know, we can understand why millions of people around the world idolise this absolute icon.
It goes without saying that a huge amount of applause must go to The E Street Band themselves, who are just as much a part of what makes Springsteen sets so special as he is.
From the ever-charismatic Steven Van Zandt (still hard not to see him as ‘Sil’ from The Sopranos) to Jake Clemons on sax – who has been part of the group since 2012 and shared a touching embrace with Bruce as tributes to his predecessor and uncle, Clarence, played behind them – these lot are a family.
Our only minor gripe is that we sorely missed hearing ‘Atlantic City’, but what the concert did confirm is that much like the effect the recent Bob Dylan biopic had on us, we’re now more committed than ever to working through the Springsteen back catalogue from start to finish and seeing how obsessed we get.
To end on one final thought and echo the words of the man himself: “peace, love and freedom.”