The Ball is Rolling

We have received confirmation from the FCO (Foreign and Commonwealth Office) that the PTA(Prison Transfer Agreement) has been signed by Steven. In fact, it was signed by Steven about a year ago in the hope that once all his court appearances are complete the process can be started immediately. It seems this has worked very well.

The only thinkg that is holding the process up at the moment is the official ruling from the court. There is no doubt what the court has decided, its just that the paperwork on the Nicaraguan side needs to be issued so it is official that Stevens sentence has now been agreed and is final.

We are trying to ascertain if there is anything we can do witht he Ministry of Justice to expedite the process, however, with it being a Nicaraguan thing it is likley that we will just have to wait until they issue the paperwork.

Rambling through an update.

Throughout the discussion with the FCO it has come to my attention that the PTA (prison Transfer Agreement) was actually set in place a couple of years ago specifically because of Steven. The Foreign Office knew that Steven had been imprisoned there and then set up an agreement between the UK and Nicaragua for prisoner transfers. How good is that!



Now that all appeals and court cases have been settled, we can now apply for Steven to be transferred back to the UK under this agreement. So, Steven will be the First person ever to be transferred from Nicaragua to the UK. Not entirely sure that’s a great achievement, but hey, I am not concerned.

Thing is, since it's the first time this agreement is going to be used, we have no idea how long the process will take. The FCO say it could be as little at 3 months or it may not happen until Steven is official released as a free man in April 2011. No-body knows. But what I have been assured is that if there are any hold ups it will not be on the UK side. The FCO confirm they have good procedures in place and it will be the Ministry of Justice (Jack Straws back Yard) here in the UK and in Nicaragua that will carry out the process. If the Nicaraguan Ministry of Justice drag their feet (lets face it all our experience to date has been of nothing but people dragging their feet, in fact, dragging the feet would suggest that they have gotten up off their backsides :-0 tut tut!) then there is not too much the British Government can do except keep pressure on.

I guess one of our prayers now should be that this process is a speedy one, not with delays and not with apathy, but that Nicaraguan authorities would want Steven out of their system just as much as we want him back and in ours.

The benefit of having Steven back here is that any remaining days left on his sentence will probably be reduced by 50%. Also, he will then be entitled to all the services that any other prisoner in the UK system is afforded. he will have a probation officer and receive help with resettlement, housing, clothes, welfare and education. He will not get any of this help if he is returned to the UK as a free man. SO thins is why we have started this process and because the conditions in UK prisons are probably a billion times better than in Nicaragua, plus he will get all the dental and medical care he needs.



All prisoners returned to the UK under such an agreement will be sent directly to Wandsworth Prison in London (picture above). An assessment of where he should be sent will be made at that time, however, since he will only have a few months left to serve it is quite likely that he will serve it out in Wandsworth, rather than be transferred to Winson Green. We will have to see what the options are; however, it will mean that we will be able to take his mother to London to meet her son who she has not seen for over 6 years. That will be an amazing moment.

In addition we will be celebrating his return as the prodigal son was received by the father in the famous biblical story. I am so looking forward to that.

All in all we could not have hoped for such progress. Even against the rickety grinding and aching pains of the Nicaraguan system we have come so very far. When we first met Steven he still had 19 of his 24 to serve, now he has 18 months maximum and maybe even less. God is such a gracious and merciful God!

Please do continue to pray for this man; it seems to me that this is a two part journey based in two different countries. It maybe that the Nicaraguan leg of this journey is coming to an end, or at least we can see the end of it, but the English journey has not even begun and that is one that could well hold just as many joys and disappointments as the first part. Its a story indeed, but its also a mans life and so as Jesus taught we must love all, regardless, indiscriminately, passionately and in the manner in which we love ourselves. The challenge is not actually to know and realise this, its not even to notice when its needed or preach about the merits of such a way of life, no, the challenge is quite simply having the guts to love others in such a way.

A famous Indian Spiritual Teacher once said 'We naturally love those who are dear to us, we must learn to give that kind of love to the whole world'. I claim these words in the name of Jesus Christ and I claim then as my ongoing challenge to the manner in which I live and the manner in which I love others around me, even those whom the world does not want to love.

Amen!

Numbers

We have had it confrimed from the FCO that as of Friday 4th Septemberm Steven Evitts is to serve 1 year, 7 months and 13th Days, which sees his official release from prison as 17th April 2011. Steven seems to think that this will be reduced base don work days that he can 'pay' for but we are currently not taking this into account.

We spoke to Steven last night and have confirmed that we are now starting the PTA (Prisoner Tranfer Agreement) process to have him returned to the UK to finish his sentence.

Finally - Decision (or could there be another one....)

Finally we have a decision from the court. However, the information has only been passed on from Steven so we are awaiting confirmation of the decision from the Honorary Consul.

Steven must serve 18 months prior to him being set free and returned to the UK. However, this could be reduced if he 'pays' for work days thus reducing his sentence potentially by half, however, we are aware that the wardens are exceptionally flexible with the administration of this somewhat interesting system and thus, we would rather work on 18 months and be surprised if his release happens earlier than that.

We are faced now with the dilemma of weighing the benefits of having Steven retuned via the PTA (Prisoner Transfer Agreement) or waiting until his sentence is up and complete. The benefit of having him transferred is that he will be afforded all the resources required from the Probation department and educational information and help with his release. He will not receive any of this if he is simply retuned to the UK as a free man in 18months time.

We are waiting to hear from the FCO what they are prepared to do.

In the meantime we are continuing the support we have for the last 8 months by sending books, money and by being in touch at least every 7 days. We are also preparing things back here for when he returns to the UK and may even get a chance to visit Nicaragua and help out more locally as well. We shall see what the future brings.

We want to say thank you to everyone who is interested in this man and for those who have prayed and offered money to help him. We are so very grateful and we know that Steven is overwhelmed by the support he is receiving.

A Big Day (We Hope!)

Ok, so we have been to court, and the 20 minutes that the judge said he wanted to make his decision has turned into a week. Today (Friday 4th September 2009) Steven returns to court to hear the judges decision concerning his release. I am expecting a phone call from Steven this evening to let me know how it all went.

Could this be the day he really does find out if he is going to be released? Who knows. What we do know is that anything can happen and so we wait...........