If you or your loved one are facing a criminal conviction and want help navigating through the minefield which is the British penal system this is the site for you. DoingTime will tell you the reality of what you are facing as you are processed through the system, and will help you and yours deal with the day-to-day issues. We do not dispense legal advice, that is the role of the expert legal profession, but we will deal with the more basic problems you will face. DoingTime is not a political or campaigning web site; we try to tell it like it is based on our shared experiences on both sides of the wall.
The truth. DoingTime won’t disguise the difficulties of serving a custodial sentence, neither will we try to frighten you about life behind bars, just give you the reality. Whether you have a community order, a suspended sentence or are held in prison the stress and pain is felt by all those connected, and this site tries to help all those parties. The pain doesn’t always end when released, and we also try to help you address those issues.
The Victims. DoingTime provides factual information to the victims of crime, explaining what help is available from the prison, probation and other agencies. DoingTime also explains in simple, clear, terms what actually happens to those given a sentence by the courts, and what rights and help is available to the victim. We also hope that this site will give some insight to the victims of crime so that they can understand and appreciate what a prison sentence means to the guilty party and their friends and families.
The Law. Throughout this website DoingTime will refer to various Government or Ministry of Justice web sites or publications as the weight of legislation and documentation surrounding prison life is mountainous and it’s always better to go to the source of the information rather than a brief summary, but we hope this site will uncover some of the mystic around prison.
The Media. Reports on prison, probation and crime in general in the media almost always have a bias, be it politically or socially driven; the facts can be difficult to find! DoingTime tries only to report the facts, we leave it up to you and others to form opinions about what is right or wrong.
The site is always being amended and new information posted. This means that sometimes many/some of the features are still in development and are not functioning. Please forgive the DoingTime team as we try and get it completed.