Floating Prisons

Toward the end of February Sean made plans to travel to press ahead with the Floating Prisons. Our pilot model off the Kenyan coast succeeded, whilst it had been a huge learning curve.

My brother Andrew, a retired Naval Radio Officer, when hearing of Morgan Steel's plans to dismantle and scrap a former luxury liner, suggested there must be better uses.

"Listen, with prison over-crowding around the world, it would make better use of redundant liners to convert them into prisons," he said.

"I'm not sure it's financially feasible," I said. But Morgan Steel found steel imports were competing so fiercely with our business that margins were stripped to the bone. I gave Sean the green light to investigate the scheme, using his many security contacts.

He stated, "Anyway if it didn't work and a riot broke out, we can always sink the buggers!" His humour on that occasion did not allay my fears, it rather increased them.

The prototype was a success in that, after several meetings, the Kenyan government secured our services to house 150 prisoners in our Floating Prison secured by eight huge anchor chains half a mile off the Kenyan Coast, but still in Kenyan waters. The original cruise liner "The Freedom of the Seas" had accommodation for 525 passengers. The prison had a fully-equipped galley, restaurant, cinema and recreational area, and accommodation for 80 prison staff, which worked seven days on three days off shifts; ferried from the mainland in dinghies.

Sean said, "The prisoners and staff have a steep learning curve adjusting to life at sea. In the event of natural disasters as tornadoes, man-made disasters like fire, or infectious diseases on board would be coped with as and when they occurred. Evacuation plans were thorough; the "Freedom of the Seas" had lifeboats for 570 passengers, crew and entertainers, drowning unlikely."

The Kenyan minister had argued, "The major consideration of the Kenyan government is what happens if the prisoners rioted and took control of the ship? A Floating community of 150 dangerous and probably armed convicts would not be welcome at any port."

Sean reasoned: "The inmates are going to be happier on the liners than on the mainland. Their accommodation, the facilities, and meals are superior to most that the prisoners have encountered. They have never had en-suite shower and toilets, and rooms with a sea view."

We finally won the argument. Sean's rescue of two prison officials, a magistrate, and a charity worker from kidnap by Somalis, convinced their Prison Minister that they should award the contract. A long road from idea to completion, but Morgan Security had a prototype: a demonstrable working model. Fortunately for Morgan Security, but not for holiday-makers, there had been a number of cruise liner disasters in the past decades; some had sunk with considerable loss of life. Potential passengers were having reservations about cruises; insurers with Lloyds grew nervous,

"Of course," Sean said, "I'm keen to get back home by April 2nd so I can thrash you on the race track."

"OK, OK, I know you're faster than me. But how did you do with James and Aly's IT training?" I asked. Sean huffed.

Prior to Sean's departure he and I were given, along with Liz, Becky, Rachel and Tony, a lesson in computer literacy by James and Aly. The Morgan Group key personnel would be supplied with the latest laptops complete with software.

"We're also looking at a back office procedure that will enable all key personnel to log in anywhere anytime to share documents, contacts, diary and financials." James said.

"Haven't we seen recently how that causes trouble?" I said, referring mainly to Caleb's diary.

"Don't ya'll worry," Aly said," we have our friends testing the system before we go live. It'll be awesome, trust us."