As I settle in to my new accommodation in open prison I have started to look at employment opportunities in the community. I noticed a leaflet that had been produced by the Activities Team here in the prison. They have established links with employers in the community and produced a brochure of jobs that are available. Among the employers were Tesco, construction firms and companies linked to the HS2 programme. The more I read, the more optimistic I became. Until I saw the terms and conditions at the bottom of one of the listings: “No Sex offenders, No Murder, No Terror Offences.”
As I turned the pages I started to read the advertisements from the bottom up, and I was more than a little disheartened to see that the same conditions applied to every single advert. I mentioned this is passing to another mandatory lifer (like me he had been convicted of murder) who declared that it was blatant discrimination, “What they’re doing is against the law!”
I thought about this for a while – is it discrimination? Is it against the law?
Having won an Olympic gold medal, Mohammed Ali went to a restaurant in his home town. Despite his patriotic victory a young waiter approached him and apologetically informed him, “I’m sorry sir, but we don’t serve negroes here.” Ali merely replied, “That’s OK son – I don’t eat ‘em.”
I have heard first hand the experiences of my countrymen trying to find accommodation having moved to the UK. Many premises proudly bore the sign, “No Irish, No Blacks, No Pets.” Until recently, a landlord could include “No DSS” in their listings, refusing to entertain tenants that were claiming benefits. In my lifetime I have seen the height of Apartheid and two-tier sectarianism in Northern Ireland.
While such discriminations may still exist, it is no longer tolerated – and rightly so. Prejudice has been called out through civil rights action and movements like #BLM and #metoo. I have been fortunate in my life that as a straight, white, European man I have never encountered any discrimination – I have never been denied a job or a service for reasons that were beyond my control. If I didn’t get a job it was because I wasn’t the right candidate, or not suitably qualified – but at least I had the chance to apply for the job – my case was considered and not automatically dismissed.
I reasoned that precluding certain men from applying for jobs was not discriminatory in these circumstances. I am excluded because of what I have done, not because of the innate characteristics of what I am or where I come from. As for being against the law – well it made me examine the word outlaw.
There is often an anti-hero sense of romanticism to the notion of the Outlaw – the man that lives by his own rules, refusing to kowtow to the establishment. But being an outlaw was far from a romantic experience. The word comes from being ‘outside the law’ – not that you didn’t abide by the laws, but rather that the law would not protect you. Basically, if you were outlaw, anybody could do anything to you without fear of comeback or reprisal. This is where the ‘Dead or Alive’ bounty came in to play.
In this regard I have to accept that I am a partial outlaw as a result of my crime. Some employers may deny me work, some landlords may refuse me accommodation and some countries will deny me entry. I have no right to campaign or start a movement; rather I will accept my station and focus my efforts on maximising the limited options that are available to me.
