Notes from prison

Abstract

When they visited me in prison they would always emphasise that the case was in their hands, that the judges, the prosecution, the whole system was subordinate to them. Nobody can live on a salary, they said. This is the free market. Everyone has to find other means to survive: bribes, business interests, protection rackets… They were pretty convincing about their unlimited power. When I asked them about the practicalities of controlling the judiciary, the two FSS men rocked with laughter. First you have to ‘work’ on them, they volunteered cheerfully, catch them out when they're not on the level. Then you take them aside and paint their future in the darkest possible terms — if they're exposed. By then they'll be sweating and ready to do anything to ensure that the FSS preserve their reputation. Then you sweeten them up. After that they'll be only too keen to show their gratitude. They'll be under threat of compromise for life. It had taken me a long time to understand why the two FSS men had kept so ‘sweetly’ persuading me to give them information about drug-taking among children of politicians, financiers, and the artistic elite. They laughed, as ever. ‘It's dynamite,’ they said. ‘You can get anyone by the throat if you threaten to compromise their children. After all,’ they said, amazed at my inability to understand these elementary things, ‘the elections are coming.’