An Upbeat Feel to Things

Steven is indeed in a good place. A friend of ours, Libby went to see him (she lives in Managua) and said that Steven was looking the best she had seen him for some time. This is really encouraging. He did say that he was doing his best to get things sorted and onto an even keele.

We have been able to set up the transfer of money to Steven each month which amounts to approximately £20 per month (C$400). This has allowed him to put some momey aside so he can buy some new shoes and clothes. This is leaps and bounds ahead of where we would have hoped to be and it seems Steven is starting to take responsibility fo this element of his life now that he has the means.

We also had confirmation back from the Honoray Consuls PA that we are still awaiting a date for a further hearing for Steven to see if his sentence will be further reduced or if he can be deported back to the UK to serve out the remainder of his sentence. As soon as we have a date we shall let you all know.

The picture above is of Tipitapa Prison - the horizontal orange lines are the 'galleries' where the prisoners have their cells. We assume that Steven is in the first of these Galleries, kind of gives a feel for what the prison looks like.

Steven has also been able to apply to Prisoners Abroad (Charity based in the UK serving those imprisoned abroad) for dental treatment, we are hoping this will be forthcoming and he will be able to sort some of the issues he has, although we may have to supliment that amount provided from Prisoners Abroad.

So all in all it is very good news. All we wait for now is the next court hearing!

Steven In Good Spirits!!!!

Finally after quite some time trying to get hold of Steven, I finally spoke to him tonight, and, he is in really good Spirits. It seems that the thought of getting out of Tipitapa prison has lifted him into a very positive frame of mind, it was a pleasure to speak to him tonight.

He is currently awaiting another court hearing which will determine if he will be considered for deportation in accordance with the formal agreement that exists between the UK and Nicaragua concerning prisoners being returned to their own countries. However, since Stevens sentence has been reduced so much it is unlikley that the Foreign Office will consider him for deportation since he has approximately 16 months left to serve. Again, we have no definitive date for his release but hopefully that will be confirmed at the next court hearing.

The complication is that the deportation process can take a ridiculous amount of time to complete, up to 18 months, so it may be that Steven will be released prior to this. And, if he can continue working then that will be the case since every day that is worked in prison is counted as two full days, however there is also some ambiguity concerning the accuracy of this scheme, but if correct he could be released in 8 months (December 2009).


Now, to say he is 'working' is somehwhat inaccurate since there is no work in the prison. Without giving too much away Steve has an arangement to have his days counted as 'work' days, the exact details of which I have no idea. Regardless of how this is achieved, I am more than sure if there was some work then Steven would be doing it, since there is not, there is the age old issue of boredom.

Steven tells me that he is keeping his head down now and doing everything he can not to get into debt in the prison to other inmates. He is also doing a lot of exercise as he is motivated about his release which at worse seems as though it could be December 2010.

It was wondeful hearing him talk so positive about the whole thing and his excitement spilled over to me, so much so when I put the phone down I was jumping around my lounge thanking God. YAY!

I have put up some images that were taken from within the prison. Neither me or Andy took these pictures since we could not and indeed did not try and smuggle in a camera, however, having a quick search around on the internet I did find these pictures, how they were taken I have no idea but they give a little idea of the conditions.

So, back to Stephen. We had the inevitable swine flu conversation. Latest information from Nicaragua is that there are no confirmed cases of swine flu in Nicaragua, however, if there was, I think it is unlikley that anyone who contracted the virus would have the money to go and see a doctor. However, listening to Steven, it seems that they are getting themselves very worked up and sometimes the fear of something can be just as bad as the reality. I tried to put his mind at rest that the UK was dealing with it very well and that we have only had 20 something cases all of which seem to be doing ok. I guess when the mind has nothing to focus upon, anything that is new can be a welcome releif from the monotony of everyday life in Tipitapa.


Steven is currently borrowing a phone which is also hard to use, not just becuase it is someone elses phone and he only gets a short amount of time each day to pop his SIM in it, but also becuase an inmate was stabbed recently which has led to the guards being a little more observant of late. So much so that a few weeks the guards did a full search of the cells and found Steven's SIM card, hence it has been difficult to get hold of him.


So again we wait, it seems this is all we do, and whilst we wait we think of further ways to help, people to contact, things to do.

As I mentioned previously we are starting a little fund for Steven to help him whilst he is in Tipitapa and also for when he is released. If you feel like you would like to help either by a one off doneation or donating as little as £2 per month we would love to hear from you. Please do get in touch by emailing us here


Steven asked me to pass on his most sincere thanks to everyone at St. Boniface Church who has prayed and helped financially. He is so very grateful.


Once I have some further news I will of course let you all know.


Many thanks.

A little update

If we could establish exactly when Steve is due to be released that would be an amazing thing. The thing is, we cant. No one seems to know when he is due to be released; even Steve does not know himself. We have written to the FCO (Foreign and Commonwealth Office) to see if they can shed some light on the matter, we shall see.

What we do know is his sentence has been reduced to 10 years overall, this was because the Judge agreed that the original trial was not accurate and because current law in the country is seeing a number of these types of cases having the sentences drastically reduced. So this is all good news. However, the possibility of introducing work allowance into the equation which would see the sentence further reduced is proving to be a near impossibility, simply because no one knows really how much time Steven has spent working in the prison. Prison officers do not seem to have any idea.

So still we are waiting. I am intending to speak to Steven today and see if he can provide us with any further information, however, it would seem we know more here that he does. Hopefully though he will be able to shed some more light on this.

Currently we have set up a little scheme where we are providing £20 per month to Steven via a contact we have in Nicaragua (Libby) to help him buy food and basic items, this will also help to pay for phone calls so he can keep in contact with his mom. We are also hoping to put aside some money each month to help Steven when he returns to the UK as he will not have any funds, education, job or anywhere to live. These are all things we are seeking to assist with once he returns back to the UK.

If you feel you would like to contribute to this little fund either in a one off payment or a regular donation of as little as £2 per month then please do email us and we will get in touch with you with the necessary details.

We also thank you for your prayers and have listed some items below that we feel require prayer:

1. Steven's health is good and he is in good spirits
2. We can continue to support Steven financially as well as socially
3. That we can obtain some proper definitive information from the FCO and Steven
4. That his mother and familly keep in good health for Stevens return to the UK.

Many thanks

Brendan