Have you been searching for swift justice against a crime you deem worthy of incarceration?
Do you know of a guilty individual who has yet to have their day in court? Whether it is the friend who is always the last to buy a round, the colleague who always manages to avoid the Christmas Day shift or the roommate who just won’t stop snoring, or if you are simply desperate for 24 hrs peace and quiet, look no further, justice is about to be served…
Courtesy of City & Country, for the first and only time, SOS Africa is empowering 200 lucky individuals with the authority to ‘nominate an inmate’ of their choice and sentence them to 24hrs imprisonment in HMP Shepton Mallet this October.
Dr Matt Crowcombe, Frome resident and founder of the SOS Africa Charity based in Shepton Mallet said, “In return for these judicial powers we ask that each nominee raise £240 – a year’s tuition for an SOS Africa child.
“Whether pupils nominate head teachers, students nominate their lecturers, constituents nominate their councillors/MPs or sports teams nominate their coaches, we are willing consider all requests.”
Until its closure in 2013, the oldest operational prison in the UK famously known as Cornhill or ‘The Glass House Prison’, hosted some of the nation’s most notorious criminals including The Kray Twins, Charlie Robinson and 19th Century baby killer Amelia Dyer.
The prison also has a fascinating history; built in 1610, underneath its 75ft walls are buried the bodies of seven individuals executed between 1889 and 1926. During World War 2 it was adopted as a military prison by the allies, and 18 American soldiers were executed for defecting. During the same period the facility protected 10,000 boxes of national valuables including The Domesday Book, The Magna Carta and the log book from Nelson’s Flagship.
Dr Matt Crowcombe continued, “This unique event will take place from 12.00pm on Saturday 10th October to 12.00pm Sunday 11th October and from 12.00pm on Saturday 17th October to 12.00pm Sunday 18th October. The prison officers running the event will be none other than SOS Africa’s fiercest volunteers.
“If you wish to ‘Nominate an Inmate’, please email the following information to info@sosafrica.com…
– Your name, email, postal address and telephone number
– The inmate’s name and a portrait photograph (the more embarrassing the better)
– Why they are being sentenced, e.g. ‘Too much self-promotion on Facebook’
– A £20 deposit to be posted to SOS Africa, 21 High Street, Shepton Mallet, BA4 5AA – this will cover the inmate’s prison clothing and food and ensure that 100% of the funds raised will be invested in the children we support.
“We will then…
– Register your nominated inmate
– Set up your online fundraising page (and email sponsorship forms if requested)
– Send you a consent form (to be filled out by the inmate and returned)
“In order to successfully nominate their inmate, each nominee must raise £240 before the event takes place. If successful the event will raise a minimum of 200 years of education, enough to pay for the tuition fees of 16 children from Grade 1 right through to Grade 12! This will enable us to launch a new education programme in the Western Cape in January 2016.
“For more information visit www.sosafrica.com /events.htm?id=45 or contact our Shepton Mallet charity office (01749 344197/info@sosafrica.com). Please be aware that we have a limited number of cells, and inmates will be sentenced on a first come first served basis.”
