The difficulties that beleaguered prisons face are well documented in numerous official inquiries alongside a plethora of books by famous, and infamous, former prisoners. In light of this, is there anything new or interesting to be said? Fortunately for Denis MacShane, and his readers, there is.

Prison Diaries is an engaging account of the former member of parliament’s life in HMP Belmarsh and then HMP Brixton. On (almost) the night before Christmas, he begins his seven-week-long incarceration. MacShane A7367DC – or, as he is incorrectly monikered, Ian McShane – has an authentic interest in the people around him. He recounts their stories as they are told to him, fascinating vignettes leaving many unanswered questions, and details many random acts of kindness, invariably involving food and stamps. Correspondence and condiments become luxuries, a regime of deliberate austerity, exacerbated by budget cuts and the policies of this administration.

MacShane details a never-ending list of intentional and unintentional deprivations. A few of the staff he encounters are humane and go the extra mile to be helpful or pleasant. Generally, though, the impression is of a demotivated, deskilled workforce without the interest or initiative to make anything better. Ultimately MacShane is physically, emotionally and financially healthy, on a short sentence and far more resilient than many in prison. Even with his capabilities, prison remains an administrative mystery, leading to despair. Getting information about visits from loved ones and release dates is a near-impossibility. This is the system where submitting a request, complaint or letter to prison authorities is ‘an act of hope’ so slim are the chances of a response.

Possibly the most poignant sections describe the obstacles that he faced trying to maintain contact with his family. He waits in queues for the phone for ages only to be connected to an answerphone and then having to return to the end of the queue. He sometimes has to choose between eating an evening meal and calling family because the time out of cell is not sufficient to do both. Letters come in dribs and drabs, weeks after receipt by the prison and randomly and inexplicably censored. Family contact can reduce the risk of reoffending by 39 per cent but is still not a priority for the prison service. MacShane recounts the story of a man waiting in the visits room for a wife who does not show because her employer needs her to cover staff sickness.

MacShane asks why so few MPs are involved in prisons, a topic that he himself did not take sufficient (or any) interest in until having personal experience of them. MacShane does not dig deep into the situations of those around him nor does he come up with new insights about a better system. But he does come away with a clear empathy with those behind bars and a strong sense that our current overuse of imprisonment is not the answer. Halfway through Prison Diaries, a fellow inmate, Darren, remarks: ‘everyone leaves here worse than when they came in’. Paradoxically, that may not be true for MacShane.

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Francesca Cooney is advice and information manager at the Prison Reform Trust

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Prison Diaries

Denis MacShane

BiteBack Publishing | 400pp | £20