Stuart Arnold talks to prison chaplain The Reverend Paul Tyler whose parish is high security Frankland jail in Durham.

THERE can’t be many clergymen who have played in a rock band with some of the country’s most dangerous prisoners, but then The Reverend Paul Tyler is not your regular man of the cloth.

The 58-year-old worked on a building site after finishing a theology degree at Durham University and for the past eight years has been a prison chaplain at Frankland jail. He is one of four full-time chaplains – the others serving different denominations – but there are as many as 17 religious representatives from every faith who visit the jail.

So what about the rock band? “Yes I ran a rock band made up of prisoners – we played any rock music with a message or meaning about making the world a better place,” says Mr Tyler.

Wisely the chaplain does not give away the names of his fellow band members, although he does confirm he was on vocals and bass guitar. The band is now no more, but a reunion is on the cards at an upcoming event being held at Cambridge University. Mr Tyler, who is speaking at a seminar, plans to perform Bob Marley’s ‘One Love’ with two former members – both Rastafarians.

“It’s somewhat surreal,” he says, before adding: “You have to co-operate to be in a band and it’s not easy at all when you have five or six people with big egos in the same room.”

Mr Tyler was an Anglican parish priest for nearly ten years, serving areas such as Hartlepool, Craghead, Annfield Plain and Langley Park. But after working what he describes as incredibly long hours, rarely seeing his wife and children, and subsequently going through a divorce he quit the church completely to go into teaching, where he spent 16 years.

However the chaplain, a Sunderland fan, says he came “back to faith” and the church and after support from his former wife and then Bishop of Durham, The Right Reverend Tom Wright, he secured the job at Frankland.

Explaining the decision, he says: “I have always worked in very hard areas. I’ve also worked with young offenders through Durham Diocese years ago when I was a curate in Hartlepool. Frankland Prison just feels like home, when I go away I miss it.”

Mr Tyler runs groups for inmates and also carries out regular services. He’s conducted services when prisoners have died in custody and has organised weddings with a registrar. But there are lots of things he does which aren’t strictly religious and more to do with prisoner welfare.

“We visit people who have self-harmed or tried to take their own lives and I have meetings with other professionals such as psychologists and wing staff to see what we can do to provide support,” he says.

“For me the prison is like my parish, a lot of the time I am just walking about and knocking on the door of cells and speaking to people. There is a huge amount of one-to-one welfare stuff that goes on.”

For safety reasons Mr Tyler, who has two grown-up children and is also a successful amateur cyclist, has to follow a strict protocol before he visits a prisoner in their cell and he requires the permission of prison officers first.

“I carry an alarm with me all the time,” he explains. “I also make sure I can’t be locked in just in case a prisoner tries to attack me, but I’ve never had such an incident. You just have to be sensible about these things.”

Mr Tyler admits the work he does is emotionally draining, but he makes sure to set aside half-an-hour each day for morning prayer in order to “bring before God the things I am bothered about”. He describes the chapel at the prison where he spends much of his time as the “most pleasant bit of the prison” and a “good space”.

Mr Tyler, who will retire from his post in just under two years, also says he feels there is respect from prisoners for the chaplains and a high level of trust. But does he feel he is making a positive difference?

“Sometimes you see some remarkable differences and immense changes in people’s lives,” he says. “They become thoughtful, respectable, decent people and you think ‘That was worth it’.

“You have to bear in mind that the vast majority of people who go to prison do eventually get out. If you lock a man up and treat him with no respect and the treatment is purely punitive he will probably come out a damn sight more dangerous than when he went in.

“The hope is that if you show people respect and kindness that will change them. There is never an excuse for extreme violence or sexual criminality, but these people are all human beings and it is not good enough to say throw away the key.

“It’s not easy to shake the hand of and show respect to someone whose crime you find distasteful, but then I’m aware of my own failings and ability to mess up. None of us is perfect.”