Dates (not yummy dates!)

We now have a date for the psychiatric evaluation. It is Monday 6th July 2009.

If you are able to pray, please do. This evaluation in whatever form it is produced will assist the judge in making his final decision about the length of time Steven has to serve. We have no idea what the report needs to say for it to be positive, but we simply ask that Gods will be done.

Also, we are desperately sorting a translator which should be appointed by the court. We learnt that the last translator appointed by the court never turned up to the evaluation and that is why it never took place. We have soken to the FCO and the Honorary Consul in Managua and have asked them to put pressure on the court to ensure the translator is indeed appointed and turns up. This is something we will continue to follow up a few times up to the appointment on the 6th.

If you wish to help financially please do get in touch with us at brendaquinn@hotmail.com - we are currentlty raising money to help Steven pay for a flight back to the UK, pay for a new passport (old one has been lost by the Nicaraguan authorities) and support him with food whilst he is still in prison.

Thank you for your prayers.

Presure Presure everywhere

Steve is a little upset as he has been robbed and his cell mate did nothing to stop it. Tension in the gallery (wing) is high as there are no cigarettes to go around. Times like this lead people to do silly things and so the US$15 Steve had stashed has been stolen. Pressure is building. He is not a happy man at the moment, but sees the wisdom in just closing the door to his cell and keeping his head down. It's hard especially when Steve knows there is nothing he can do, he is a white man in a Nicaraguan prison which means he is always a step below, always considered less of an inmate than the rest, racism is rife when tension scratches the surface.

It seems the pressure we have placed on the FCO has also had an effect as Steven was contacted on Friday and asked how they could help him further. It seems having an interested party in the UK causes people to move forward. The FCO contacted me on Friday to see how they can better the service they are providing to Steven, so this is all very positive. Positive pressure.

It seems pressure is positive and negative all at the same time. We do have other money coming to Steven soon which has been donated by interested parties. So we thankthose who have donated so we can help the guy.

Thank you.

Lost in Translation

The hearing in Managua never took place yesterday. At Stevens last hearing in court he was asked to undergo a psychiatric evaluation which he was happy to do. However, in order for the evaluation to take place there would need to be a translator in place. Steven had requested from the Honorary Consul in Managua that a translator be provided, however this was not forthcoming.

So, in time honoured Nicaraguan style, they took him to the hospital anyway, without a translator only to be told that the doctor would not provide a report becuase there was no translator present. So a report was never produced, hence the court did not want to see him without being able to review a report.

Libby (our friend in Managua) has agreed to be Stevens translator and has been approved by the court. So we are now awaiting a second date to visit the hospital and then another date for the report to be reviewed in court.

Yet again the system has fallen over and it is typical of things in Nicaragua unless there is someone out there following every last step and making sure that nothing is missed. Since we are not there we can only do this from here.

We have written to the FCO and requested a statement confirming why a translator was not provided and we have requested that they provide to us as a matter of urgency the dates for the psychiatric assessment and hearing.

Of course, we shall let you know........

Back in Court

I have spoken to Steven tonight and he is yet again is very good spirits, by all acounts he is the best I have ever known him to be. He is due in court again at 8am on Thursday 18th June for his final hearing. This hearing was due to examine a psychiatric report, however, when he was taken to the hospital for the assessment the doctor was not there, hence no report was undertaken, therefore he has nothing new to present to court on Thursday. We can not allow this to hold us back and we are praying that the judge sees fit to simply release Steven.

Failing that there could be a further reduction in his sentence which currently, and this is only an guesstimate, he is due to be released on the 5th May 2011.

We are simply praying that Gods will be done!

If you can pray for this I feel this is the most powerful thing we can do and we must trust in God.

The money that we have been giving to Steven has allowed him to buy some new trainers and some new trousers, things he has not been able to get for some time. So we thank God that we have the money to give and we hope that this is providing Steven with a great basis for him to start managing his finances and developing a good way of surviving in prison.

I am due to speak to Steven again tommorow evening to find out how the court appearance went. From there we can make some further decisions as to how best to proceed.

I shall let you all know how this goes.

Many thanks to all who have supported Steven through prayer and financially.

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