‘And a partridge in a pear tree’ sounds for the twelfth and final time, and the small assembled crowd whoops and cheers as the prisoners finish singing. Each has represented their ‘day’ of the song through sound and action, particular favourites for the audience having been ‘seven maids a’ milking’ and ‘five go-o-o-ld rings’.
The prisoners, decked out in Santa Hats with glowing baubles, look relieved that the first act of their performance has been so well received. Fathers Inside is a shorter course and the students are still demonstrably more unsure of themselves than those I have seen at Family Man presentations. While prisoners always have the tendency to look rather green beforehand, these students seemed to teeter on the verge of playing up, just to hide their fears. ‘They were a nightmare this morning,’ one of their tutors tells me, ‘they were so worried about messing up in front of their families’. Luckily the approbation of the audience seems to stiffen their resolve and they engage in the second activity without reserve.
However, given that my last trip to a Family Man presentation resulted in the prisoners’ families – and us – being turned away in the snow, the most striking contrast between the two occasions was simply the normality of this one. A proud father sits on the floor with his partner, holding a bottle for the tiny son cradled in his arms; another bounces around, supporting an overexcited child under each arm. One prisoner gently cups the stomach of his pregnant partner. This physical contact would not be allowed on a regular visit, but for today these are families like any other: taking the opportunity to spend time together at Christmas.