Jonathan Bellamy heard John Chadwick's life story.

John: Funnily enough, not all that frightening, because you were with your mates and you were all biggin' each other up and having a laugh. We all went to prison together. I was in the same cell as one of the other guys and it was no big thing at the time.

Jonathan: So did that become a cycle?

John: Yes.

Jonathan: How long would you generally be in prison?

John: It was six months to start with and then it was 18 months, but later it jumped up to four years and six years.

Jonathan: Was that because you were a repeat offender?

John: Yes. The charges got more serious as time went on. I was on a road to destruction that lasted up until recently.

Jonathan: Did you ever want to get out of the cycle you were in?

John: To start off we were with friends in prison and we got out of prison with friends and it was no big deal to start off with. I flew through my sentences with no trouble, but then the cycle kept falling into the same old pattern time and time again.

Jonathan: When you look back, what did impact you?

John: My family, me mum especially. The effect it's had on her, with the stress and worry over the years and my gran before she died as well. That's where all my thoughts were, about all of the bad things I put my mum through. I did want to build a relationship with my stepfather, but because of the prison there's never been any chance of that and I don't think I've grown up a lot myself. I've always covered everything with drink, so I wasn't mature enough to build that relationship. It's just all this time in prison and my mum stuck in the middle trying to keep everything calm and the upset for her.

Jonathan: Did she say anything to you about what was happening in your life?

John: Yeah at times. You know Jon, she's told me about how upset she is and everything, but you forget. You get out for a while and things go well and you forget about the bad times. They don't become as bad as you thought they were at the time, because you're in that moment and things are good then. It's always the next time that I have gone in to prison, the effect on my family and then get out and then things go well for a while. It's just that repeated cycle.

Jonathan: You were in Strangeways at one point. What was that like?

John: Very grim, but once again, you were with your mates. You weren't lonely, which you can be a lot of the time outside prison, but you were never lonely in prison. There was always something going on and you had your mates around you. It was a very grim, harsh environment, with three people sharing a cell, with a bucket to go to the toilet in at night. You were locked up for 23 hours sometimes and it was hard, but you got through it.