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Pentonville is a "local" prison (taking prisoners from local courts) and its iconic buildings are highly visible to the many thousands who pass it everyday. The partnership is far from being a one-way street. The continued help of the Guardian will help sustain this opportunity for prisoners to have a means of expression."
![inside the ville inside the ville](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/a27d24_f171d0de17bc48188ff8a745fee19ed3~mv2.jpg)
Inmate Carl says writing for the Voice rekindled his love of learning: "With the support of teachers and visits from Guardian staff, prisoners now have the facilities to undertake journalism courses and develop their writing. She says visitors from the paper "treat prisoners as equals and listen to them" in a practical interaction raises their self-esteem. She says that meeting staff from the paper has "widened the horizons" of the participating prisoners and "shown them there is something better". Thomas, who lectures in English at the jail - and has been involved in the partnership from the start - speaks highly of the benefits brought by visits from the Guardian.
#Inside the ville professional#
They sit in at conferences, exchange ideas, suggest layouts and, in the words of Jenny Thomas, "give prisoners real life experience of desktop publishing on professional equipment". Writers and support staff from across the paper make regular visits. It is not just equipment that has found its way from the Guardian to Pentonville. GNM also supports the prison's accredited BTEC programmes, including the National Union of Journalist course. The improved product comes courtesy of IT equipment donated by GNM to furnish the institution's new media suite.
#Inside the ville full#
Now it runs to 16 pages, with full colour front and back pages and spot colour throughout. When the paper moved to its new headquarters in King's Cross in December 2008, it approached the governor to see how the two organisations could work together.īefore the Guardian's involvement, Voice of the Ville was laid out in black and white on two sides of A4. The Guardian, which has been supporting the development of the prisoners' newspaper Voice of the Ville for the past year, developed its link with Pentonville in 2006 when executives spent a year mentoring the senior management team at the prison. Security is the biggest threat to deadlines, with sudden transfers of key personnel, running second. Setbacks of this nature are part and parcel of publishing a newspaper produced by prisoners, in this case at Pentonville prison, north London. The prison was on lock down due to a security alert and the editorial team were holed up, alongside the other 1,100 residents. Just people from all walks of life-whether they hoped to swap partners or just meet like-minded people and fool around-who came to drink in the rich sexual energy.The editorial conference aimed at planning the World Cup edition was cancelled. There weren’t any weird single men cruising for ass and no couples trying to coerce newbies into “shared” lovemaking. So what is a swingers party, exactly? Who are the people that attend, and what are they looking for? For someone with limited (read: zero) knowledge in the swinger/sexually uninhibited underground, there were more than a few surprises waiting for me-for instance, that the beautiful (and single) Russian blonde was literally a rocket scientist.Īfter spending a few hours observing and talking to guests, it quickly became clear that the event was a place to openly discuss sexuality and fantasy without the pressure of actually having sex (though much sex was had). At this party, Coco Chanel’s Hollywood mansion was the playground: an open bar, plenty of mood lighting, lots of bedrooms and even more hidden spaces. Mass Pleasures, the exclusive social club hosting the party, throws wild soirees in luxurious locales (from penthouses and estates to castles all over the world) where open-minded, sexually adventurous couples explore their fantasies.
![inside the ville inside the ville](https://live.staticflickr.com/5732/23651926890_fe801d1e66_b.jpg)
To my right, a young couple with mischievous glints in their eyes soaked up the scene along with me. In front of me, the shy first-timers whispered and giggled nervously, trying to build up courage, and the two sets of couples vigorously fucking next to each other on the bed were lost in their own world. There was the couple directly to my left going at it standing up, and the man by the fireplace trying out some new tongue exercises on his date (or perhaps someone else’s date?). I was standing at the door to Coco Chanel’s former master bedroom surrounded by couples in various stages of, um, lovemaking.