Porridge and Passion

Jonathan Aitken is a former MP and cabinet minister. He is now an author, biographer and broadcaster. In 1995, the court found him guilty of perjury in a celebrated case against the Guardian newspaper and he spent 18 months in Belmarsh Prison. He subsequently studied theology at Oxford and in 2019, he was ordained an Anglican priest. He is now a full-time prison chaplain in London. He is the author of an award-winning biography of President Richard Nixon and has written a number of critically acclaimed books for Bloomsbury Continuum – including a bestselling life of Margaret Thatcher (2013).

'A rich collection of humorous tales of prison life... Aitken seems to have found a new vocation as both a funny writer and a serious prison reformer.' Tablet

• 1. Sentencing Day at the Old Bailey 2. The cage, the sweat box, the induction 3. First days with the blaggers of Belmarsh 4. Amanuensis and Agony Uncle 5. Carry on Fleet Street 6. An open prison run by closed minds 7. Famous Visitors 8. Drugs, Escapes, Juggings, Cell Deaths and other Dramas 9. Carry on Fleet Street 10. The Cell Group, The Godfather and the Baptism 11. Holding a Family Together 12. Christmas Cheer 13. The Aitken Drugs Plot 14. Back in High Security 15. Thoughts on Prison Reform 16. Released on a Tag 17. Adjusting to the world of freedom with old friends and new 18. Grappling with the coils of bankruptcy 19. An undergraduate again 20. Two years of theology and happiness at Oxford 21. meeting and courting Elizabeth 22. Fighting for the Persecuted Church (China, Laos, Indonesia, India, etc) 23. Prison Ministry across the world 24. Audiences great and small (White House, Alpha) 25. Engagement and Marriage 26. A new life