John Bowden - A statement from Brighton ABC

John Bowden is a long term prisoner who became politicised after his imprisonment over 25 years ago for what he describes as “a senseless, almost gratuitous killing”, which “reflected the extent of my brutalisation after years of brutalising treatment in state institutions.” Since then he has resisted the repression of the prison system and has made contacts with anarchists outside of prison, including the ABC. John, now aged 50, had progressed through the system to an open prison, has been regularly released on weekend ‘home leaves’, and was being prepared for possible release in June of this year. However the result of his upcoming parole hearing has been thrown into serious doubt after a social worker called Matthew Stillman wrote a report objecting to his release, and John has now been moved back to a closed prison. As part of this report, Stillman claims: “Bowden has written for a self-proclaimed anarchist website called ABC Brighton, and says he supports many of their ideals and actions. A review of this website brings into question the nature of this group. The members of this group appear to be primarily eco-terrorists or para-military members involved in what they see as battles against political systems and principles.” Brighton ABC completely reject these outrageous and unfounded allegations about our group, which are attempts to smear both ourselves and John Bowden with the label of "terrorist" and we call on people to support John at this crucial time. Please send a card or letter to John at his new address (below) and a card reading ‘Hands Off John Bowden!’ to the Scottish Prison Service.

John Bowden, 6729, HMP Glenochil, King O' Muir Road, Tullibody, Clackmannanshire, FK10 3AD. Scotland.


Scottish Prison Service Headquarters, Communications Branch, Room 338, Calton House, 5 Redheughs Rigg, Edinburgh, EH12 9HW. Scotland E-mail:  gaolinfo@sps.gov.uk