Warinder Juss MP Visits Prison Chess Club
CSC has recently reached a great landmark in its work in prisons - we now run 30 clubs in prisons and Young Offender Institutes across the the country. One of the longstanding clubs takes place at HMP Wormwood Scrubs, a category B prison in west London. CSC tutors visit weekly, running a popular club that welcomed Hollywood actor Woody Harrelson a couple of years ago.
Recently the club received a welcome visit from Warinder Juss, MP for Wolverhampton West, combining two of his interests. Not only is Warinder keen chess fan, having recently supported a CSC tournament for schools in his constituency, he also sits on the parliamentary Justice Select Committee. Warinder joined CSC CEO Malcolm Pein, our prisons coordinators Peter Sullivan and Ben Wicks, and our regular tutor at HMP Wormwood Scrubs, Andrew Smith. They made their way to Echo wing meeting eighteen members of the chess club alongside the governor and several officers. All enjoyed a fantastic afternoon of chess.
Subsequently, Warinder raised the visit in questions to the prisons’ minister, Lord Timpson: It was a very positive experience, not only for me to try to understand the prisoners but for them having somebody coming in from outside to engage in an activity with them… To what extent are activities of that nature somthing we should look at to try to improve the health and wellbeing of prisoners, not only while they are there but also to help them assimilate into society when they leave?
Lord Timpson’s reply indicated his support for our programme: I am a big fan. Chess in Prisons is a brilliant organisation. I have played chess with them upstairs over the road at one of their events. When we talk about purposeful activity, it is not just about sitting in a classroom or learning a skill; it is about having an experience and intellectual challenge with other people…The Chess in Prison team does a really good job.
Our thanks to both Warinder Juss and Lord Timpson for their continued support of our work in prisons. You can listen to their full exchange below.