A Turnkey or Not

A chance meeting on holiday in Majorca changed Tony Levy’s life forever and launched him into a 25-year career in a job that he never would’ve considered previously: working in Her Majesty’s Prison Service.This book catalogues Tony’s personal experiences of working as a prison officer, from his early days at high-security HMP Pentonville to his final years in therapy-based HMP Grendon. Filled with interesting observations and incidences, hilarious wind-ups and memorable characters, this autobiography is the story of a journey, from the happiest days in what will always be a potentially volatile environment to a complete state of disillusionment as an ‘old dinosaur’ that no longer fitted into the modern prison service world.Tony gives an honest account of his feelings, as someone who would never be a yes man and toe the party line, in the face of a constantly changing environment that had become increasingly controlled by political correctness gone mad and by budgetary needs rather than human needs. He was a man who cared, and even though his heart was sucked out of his job, he never lost his dignity or respect. Most importantly, he would never allow himself to be reduced to just a turnkey.