1. Books can only be sent from a book seller, such as Blackwells, Amazon. EDIT: Each prison has a list of approved vendors so ask which are approved. For Edinburgh, for example, it is only Blackwells.

2. One batch a month, per prisoner (at least at Edinburgh). So ask the prisoner when he can next receive a batch of books.

3. Soft cover only.

I added personal and political motivations to the pinned post.

Vincent received the postcard which I signed only with my first name and he told me that it is OK to send postcards and letters with no return name or address, or whatever you want to put on it.

However, I would avoid edgy content as that could cause it to be withheld. I'll find out more on this subject.

So feel free to drop him some cards and letters!

He tells me that he has enough money.

His case is to be decided on the 6th of April and he will be released if it is favourable, If the decision is to extradite him he will lodge an appeal.

I may soon have Charlie Big Potatoes' prisoner number. According to a newspaper article he is in HMP Chelmsford. He is the former fitness training officer for PA. I hadn't known that he has been in prison for almost a year because PA said nothing.

Here's the thing: In England and Wales it is not so easy to get the necessary information about a prisoner, in particular his prison and prisoner number, which are required in order to send mail, books, e-mail and canteen money. Then there are the prisoners we don't even know about unless we happen to see a newspaper article about their conviction. But as the number of subscribers grows, they will become a funnel for prisoners' names and details to be added. With enough of us, someone will either know or know of someone who knows, the information. Thus we can work around the system.

Alison Chabloz lodged the appeal against her prison sentence on Friday and I suppose the decision will come soon. I hope she succeeds, of course, but if she doesn't then I shall add her details as soon as I have them.

I added further info on the Kris Kearney case in the comments. Nothing in it impacts the purpose of this channel.

Update: I received an e-mail from Vincent summarized as follows:

Book requests for this month are in hand.

France lodged a second arrest warrant with additional charges, and request for extradition, and the next hearing will now be 8th June.

His cellmate does not watch television which means that Vincent has a quiet cell in which to read, draw and write.

Thanks to Thomas Sewell for the shout-out. which has more than doubled the channel's subscribers and got Vincent's contact details more than forty times more views.

Would anyone like to handle next month's batch of books for Vincent? It would be for delivery around 25th April. You would need to open an account at Blackwells - who are the only approved vendor for his prison. Their delivery time within the UK is about a week. You would need to ask him what he wants. The last batch was £50 for four books.

Or I can ask him on you behalf, if you prefer.

I wrote to Julian Assange in HMP Belmarsh, a "category A" (maximum security) prison.

The thing is, from everything I've read, is that the operation of Belmarsh is completely capricious and unpredictable, with communications taking months to receive a reply. I sent the letter by recorded mail over a week ago, including my (mobile) phone number, and have received no reply. I got his date of birth from Wikipedia, so the letter follows all the rules. It was signed for by "Belmarsh" the day after posting. But i have no idea whether the prison administration or Assange's mental state is to blame for the lack of reply. His medical interviewers state that his intellect has declined from high to below average, reportedly having trouble recalling his name in a court hearing.

Why Assange, you might ask? Why not! He passes the test of the channel, especially given that most of us might agree that anything that embarrasses the people that run the US government is quite OK.

I also sent a letter over a week ago by recorded mail to Kris Kearney (Charlie Big Potatoes) at HMP Chelmsford (a category C prison, a men's ordinary prison). No reply. That letter's addressing did not include his date of birth (DOB, nor his prisoner number); I sent it anyway because we know that mail sometimes gets through despite not having such items in the address. That letter was signed for by someone in the prison administration. I don't know if it was delivered to the prisoner.

I've been contacting private investigators for quotes to find out his DOB, and it's been a mixed bag, of excessively high, to one that was quite reasonable but he chickened out because of the nature of the charge. I should have a couple more replies of quotes on Monday.

As we grow, this process of information-gathering will get easier, because one of us will have it or will know someone who has it.

I've been absent for medical reasons for three weeks but I have now returned.

I got the latest batch of books to Vincent, a month late.

Anyone know where Sven Longshanks AKA James Allchurch is imprisoned?

I have Kris Kearns prisoner number but there is a systematic communications problem (not just with him) that needs to be aired here (to keep people up to date):

1. Mail and e-mail to and from Vincent always arrives and with a delay of about one day extra over normal mail transit times. He is in the Scottish prison system, which is a separate organisation from the English prison system.

2. There are two cases of prisoners in the English prison system that I know about as regards their ease of communication with the outside world. Both situations are terrible: no mail or e-mail was/is passed on in a timely manner. everything either takes many weeks, in either direction, or is lost altogether.

It's a stark contrast! That's why I call it a systematic problem. It's not some local issue.

I don't know why this happens, but it needs investigating. It seems wildly at odds with high-sounding statements that I've come across in system documents to the effect that communication between prisoners and their families and friends is important to the prisoners wellbeing and should be facilitated.

To be continued.

On this week's PWR, in the intro, Mark Collet says:

"We [PA] do not throw under the bus anyone who goes down for a speech crime, or there's some form of infraction of justice, we stick by them 110%. So if somebody has been wrongfully charged, if it's a speech crime or if it's self-defence, then we stick by these people 110%."

That is an untrue statement, Mark! If it were true then this channel would not be necessary. Counter-examples include Alison Chabloz (no mention by PA, ever), Kris Kearns (no mention for a year and still no publication of his contact details), and Vincent Reynouard (no mention ever).

If PA has already managed to raise £2k for Sven Longshanks/James Allchurch then those three might reasonably anticipated a similar response.

Here is the contact information for Sven that Mark refers to: https://gab.com/MarkCollett/posts/110383398486318129

UPDATE I received no response to my letters over a month ago to Kris Kearney and Julian Assange, so I'm making a fresh start of testing communications, but with greater attention to doing everything properly.

Today I sent postcards to Sven/James and Kris as well as an e-mail to each including a reply sheet. I simply asked them to let me know if they get the card by say this coming Friday.