Chernobyl kids get a holiday... in Midlands prison!

Sep 8 2008 Exclusive by Ben Goldby

CHILDREN poisoned by radiation from the Chernobyl disaster are being offered a holiday in the Midlands – at a maximum security PRISON.

Every June dangerous lifers at HMP Gartree in Leicestershire put on a Christmas show for the young victims of the nuclear tragedy.

Killers, rapists and drug dealers dress up as Santa Claus, hand out presents and sing Christmas carols with the visiting kids.

Youngsters from the former Soviet state of Belarus, one of the areas badly affected by the nuclear disaster, have been coming to the Midland jail for the past 15 years as part of a scheme to improve their health.

According to medics, regular travel away from the nuclear disaster zone can help increase their lifespans, and cons at Gartree say the arrangement benefits both them and the children.

In a letter to lags’ magazine Inside Time, one inmate wrote: “For the past 15 years, lifers here at Gartree have had the privilege of entertaining visiting sick children from the former soviet country of Belarus, the country most affected by the radiation fallout from Chernobyl.

“Four weeks of unpolluted water, food and air can increase their lifespan by two years.

“Every year since 1993, the men of Gartree have somehow managed to raise enough funds to pay for presents, sweets, drinks etc.

“Considering there are usually 22 children plus escorting adults, it turns out to be an expensive day; however, when one sees the look of surprise when they enter the chapel and there before them is a room bedecked with Christmas trees and decorations, all our efforts pale into insignificance.

Enthralled

“And when Santa arrives, you can imagine the sheer joy on their faces. To say it brings a lump to your throat is an understatement.

“One little girl, who was only two, was completely enthralled by Santa and through her mother, who could speak English, asked him question after question before finally, without prompting, asking to give him a kiss.

“I don’t care what he says but Santa did shed a tear, but then again who didn’t?”

More than 20 years after the Chernobyl disaster, the children of Belarus are still suffering from the deadly affects of radiation poisoning.

Thyroid cancer claims 900 young lives a year and doctors predict that thousands more cases will come to light.

Seventy per cent of the spillage from Chernobyl was carried northwards on the winds to Belarus, affecting two million people, including about 500,000 children.

Last night a spokesman for the Prison Service confirmed that they were aware of the scheme to bring victims of the disaster to the Leicestershire jail.

He said: “Every June, prisoners use their own money and raise funds for visiting Chernobyl children to have a party and presents at the prison.”

And Gartree is not the only jail where lags have pitched in to help the children of Belarus.

In 2005 convicted drug dealer Pat Scanlan, 48, was let out of Mountjoy prison in Ireland to go on a 52-mile fundraising run in Limerick, earning sponsorship of more than £60,000 that was given to the families of the Chernobyl victims.