Southwark (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Placey’s play Lifers at Southwark Playhouse stands out for its realism and research, offering a gripping and authentic portrayal of life behind bars.
The story of Lenny, an elderly man serving a life sentence at HMP Drummond, is told in Lifers. His fellow prisoners see that he is losing his memory.
The wing officer, Mark, has also taken notice. The prisoners defraud him of his card winnings; they are not his buddies. When Lenny believes Mark is his son Simian, he plays along and talks about how Lenny was a father to him when he was younger. Mark, on the other hand, tries to help the prisoner by helping him get dressed in the mornings, not yelling at him when he asks where he is, and looking perplexed when told, “You’re in prison.”
Lenny tries to get medical care since he knows he is sick, but the NHS in prison is in much worse shape than the NHS outside.
When Lenny tells her about excruciating headache aches and is offered Ibuprofen rather than a referral to see a consultant, his rage erupts. This is because Ibuprofen is the drug of choice for the overworked jail doctor, whose unwritten rules are to keep expenses down.
Mark does Lenny a favor by getting the doctor to refer him, but she details the charge, stating that it would cost £960 from the jail budget.
For this play, Placey has done his homework. He went to see lifers in prison to get their opinions on his script, which they then read aloud and debated. Because of this, Lifers has a genuine sense of realism, and the characters have a suitable long-term mindset: Norton is only content when he is grumbling, constantly quoting the regulations, and groaning; Baxter is very laid back, aware of how long he has to work, and prefers to take it easy.
Lenny is a large man who has intimidated others with his bulk in the past. His bully mentality and short fuse periodically surface.
Mark is a screw who enters the job with the idealistic belief that he can help inmates become better individuals and improve society.
How does Lifers portray prison healthcare for older inmates?
In Lifers, the care given to older prisoners is presented in a very realistic and sympathetic way and illuminates the specific challenges that aging prisoners are going through. It shows the painful realities of declining physical and mental health in the prison setting, including the managing of chronic illnesses and dementia behind bars.
Lenny, an elderly character with dementia demonstrates the conflicted character of someone with a long history of violence who is now vulnerable, demonstrating the lack of sensitivity that prison healthcare can embody when trying to mediate secure healthcare with compassionate care.
The piece demonstrates the frustration of older prisoners dealing with inadequate medical care and the mental toll of incarceration.