About Daniel Hockey: Why Prison Guide Exists
Last reviewed: June 2026.
Prison Guide is written from lived experience. Its founder, Daniel Hockey, served a prison sentence himself — moving from closed conditions at HMP Wandsworth through to the open prison HMP Ford — and wrote about it in his book The Secret Prisoner (2021), drawn from a diary he kept inside. He started Prison Guide to give prisoners and their families the honest, practical information he wished he’d had: what really happens, what to expect, and how to cope. Every guide combines that first-hand experience with facts checked against official sources.
Who Daniel is
Daniel Hockey is the founder and author behind Prison Guide. He went through the criminal justice system from the inside — convicted at trial and sentenced to a custodial term — and experienced the reality of prison life first-hand, from the shock of reception and the first night to progressing through the system and eventual release. He kept a diary throughout, which became the basis of his book.
The Secret Prisoner
Daniel self-published The Secret Prisoner in 2021. Written from his contemporaneous diary, it gives an honest, unsensational account of what serving a sentence is actually like — the routine, the people, the small humiliations and the practical realities that official guidance rarely captures. That perspective is the foundation of this site.
Why Prison Guide exists
When Daniel went into prison, he found that the information available to prisoners and their families was scattered, out of date, or written by people who had never been inside. Prison Guide exists to fix that — to be the resource he wished he and his family had had: clear, calm, accurate, and grounded in real experience as well as the official rules.
| What Daniel brings | How it shows up on the site |
|---|---|
| Lived experience of custody | Practical detail on reception, the first night, daily life and progression that only someone who has been there knows. |
| Experience of moving through the system | Insight into categorisation, transfers and the route from closed to open conditions. |
| The family perspective | Understanding of what visits, calls and the wait are like for those on the outside. |
How we keep guides accurate
Lived experience tells you what prison is like; it does not replace the current rules, which change often. So every Prison Guide article is checked against authoritative sources — GOV.UK, the Sentencing Council, HM Inspectorate of Prisons, the Prison Reform Trust and official statistics — and pages carry a “last reviewed” date. Where rules vary or are changing (for example release rules or a specific prison’s policy), we say so and point readers to the official source.
Our editorial principles
- Honest and unsensational — we explain, we don’t dramatise.
- Accurate — facts are checked against official sources and dated.
- Practical — written for stressed people who need answers, not jargon.
- Respectful — of prisoners, families, victims and staff alike.
Frequently asked questions
Who writes Prison Guide?
It is founded and written by Daniel Hockey, who served a prison sentence himself and wrote The Secret Prisoner.
Is the information just personal opinion?
No — it combines first-hand experience with facts checked against GOV.UK, the Sentencing Council, HMIP and other authoritative sources.
Which prisons did Daniel experience?
He moved from closed conditions at HMP Wandsworth to the open prison HMP Ford.
Explore the guides
Start with going to prison, what to expect, prison survival and contacting someone in prison.
