Tycoon to offer words of wisdom to inmates

A MOTIVATIONAL businessman guru is about to offer his recipe for self-help to inmates of Britain's prisons.

Tycoon Ron Holland has teamed up with a prisoner's charity, The Prism Project, to talk to inmates about how they can cope better with life on the inside and after their release.

Mr Holland, who has worked with the homeless, says prisoners will relate to him well. In 1990, after a business of his collapsed, he lived rough on the streets of New York for six months, where he spent time with ex- offenders.

Yet, he may cut an unlikely figure when prisoners meet him, dressed in a three-piece business suit and sporting a three-and-a-half-carat diamond ring.

Prisoners attending the seminars - which will kick off at Swaleside high- security prison on Kent's Isle of Sheppey - will listen to Mr Holland explain his philosophy for dealing with life's ups and downs, and achieving your goals. He describes himself as a non-denominational Christian and wants to bring about two changes for prisoners - fulfilment and peace of mind.

As well as motivational books, aimed mainly at a business audience, Mr Holland has produced an audio tape, "Escape From Where I Am", that could have special resonance for his latest audience. It describes the experiences of a Vietnamese man who was held captive by the Viet Cong for 14 years, before he was able to organise an escape, taking 77 prisoners with him.

Audio tapes are useful in prisons, where up to half of inmates may be illiterate. Mr Holland's message will focus on visualisation, meditation and spirituality. "A lot of people don't find their spirituality until they hit the absolute bottom, which is where I've been," he said.

The idea of visiting prisons was put to him by The Prism Project, run by Michael Newsome. It specialises in sending self-help literature and audio tapes to prisons around the country. One of its directors, Mark Sampson, is an ex-offender who started a sentence for armed robbery at Swaleside. He has since returned to the prison to help prisoners in rehabilitation.

Mr Sampson first came across Mr Holland's books when he was serving his sentence. He said: "They try to turn your experience, however bad it is, into a positive thing, and that means life can go a lot more smoothly on the inside. That's exactly what they did for me, and I have found a lot of his material very useful, it's got such impact."

But can hardened offenders respond to this sort of material? Mr Sampson believes they can. "Guys in prison are more receptive to change - many of them are already at the bottom and they're looking for any way to get out of that situation." He says Mr Holland ought to be given a chance. "The system hasn't worked for years and this is an attempt to do something different for a positive effect."

After Swaleside, Prism hopes to tour prisons in London over the summer, including Wandsworth, Wormwood Scrubs and Pentonville. The Prisons Service said that the purpose of prison was rehabilitation, and anything that helped that was welcomed. A spokesman added that outside agencies were vetted by individual governors for suitability.