September 25: Checking out of Segregation and into PC

At the completion of a private family visit following his sixty-day review, Jimmy Whitmore made what is probably the most agonizing decision a GP prisoner ever has to make: he agreed to sign "Annex A," a document in which he acknowledged that his safety in the general population was at risk and he agreed to become a protective custody prisoner. As a result, instead of remaining in segregation with the prospect of an involuntary transfer to Edmonton Institution, he moved into B unit on the PC side of the house at Kent. Our interview on September 25 was difficult for him to give. He was now a member of that part of prison society he had long despised and differentiated from himself and his "solid" brothers. He confirmed what I had suspected: his reason for taking this drastic step was fear not for his life or safety but for the future of his relationship with his wife and son. Prisoners’ Legal Services had advised him that the chances of a successful legal challenge to either his segregation or his involuntary transfer were very slight. During the private family visit, he had discussed his options with his wife and decided to put his family before his reputation. He was concerned that some prisoners would misinterpret his move, believing that he would now be providing information to the institution about what had happened in the yard in July. He asked me to convey to the prisoners still in segregation that he would never become an informer.

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