FEATURE
DEATH ROW JEWELLERY
A Texan prison populated by Death Row inmates may seem an unlikely source of jewellery-making
inspiration. But for ANDREW HOWARD, lecturer in Jewellery and Silversmithing, it was one of the
most profound such moments in his career
ANDREW HOWARD
August 2017 | jewelleryfocus.co.uk
Manchester. I worked on a dedicated mental health
unit housing 10 of the most dangerous, suicidal or self-
harm prone women, all this whilst teaching myself from
books and videos how to make jewellery.
In my team was a marketing manager for Bentley, an
advocate for Foster Family Children in Parliament, a
journalist and the team leader a lady from the fraud
prevention team in the Department for Work and
Pensions. We put our requests in a few weeks before
flying as to what we would like to do whilst out there
- ‘visit the set of Dallas’, ‘go to a rodeo’, ‘ride out in a
ranch’, ‘attend the local English History event’ - and all
of these things, we did. Finally, there was my request
as a serving prison officer ‘go to Death Row’ Well you
never get anything if you don’t ask, and boy did I get.
During my weeks travelling from county to county
I was taken to an incredible 26 prisons, police stations
and jails and one jewellery workshop. One thing I
did notice in 90% of the establishments I visited was
the complete lack of care for the prisoners as human
beings. I worked tirelessly in the UK ensuring that
prisoners were looked after to the highest level and were
supported throughout their stay with us to become
someone I wouldn’t mind living next door to. Decency,
as a male working in the female estate was very high on
my agenda yet in Texas full strip searches took place
in the exercise yards in both estates. Showers had no
curtains and assaults on staff were through the roof.
All was not lost though, I attended the Jail of Warden
Jackson, a true Texan, white hat, cowboy boots and
a huge star pinned to his chest! We got on like old
friends and we truly got each other’s respect for the
prisoners. Warden Jackson insisted that every prisoner
attend education classes or work and he went out
daily to speak to those held in the segregation block.
After a full day with him I was taken out for a meal
and I was awarded the highest achievement reward
coin for exemplary work within the UK prison system.
Whilst out for tea we finally got on to my true passion,
jewellery. He was amazed that as a prison officer I knew
‘‘
Well you
never get
anything if
you don’t
ask, and boy
did I get
‘‘
W
ay back in the long hot summer of 2006 I
was selected to be part of a five-strong team
of young people to represent our careers
here in the UK in a foreign country as part of the Rotary
Foundation Group Study Exchange Programme. The
aim of the programme was to see how ‘your job’ is
done in another country and I was lucky enough to be
flown on an all-expenses paid trip to Texas, USA for
five weeks.
There I was to stay with exchange programme
families and live their life style for a maximum of three
nights in any one county. At the time I was employed by
HM Prison Service working at a female prison in South
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