A former MP who resigned after he admitted watching porn in the House of Commons has gone behind bars for a new Channel 4 programme.
Neil Parish, 64, viewed adult content twice in Parliament, arguing the first time it happened he stumbled across it while searching for tractors on a website with a similar title.
The former MP for Tiverton and Honiton is back in the spotlight, joining six celebrities to spend eight days in decommissioned jail HMP Shrewsbury for the documentary series, Banged Up.
It aims to show what life is like behind bars with famous faces living in the same tough conditions as prisoners.
The celebrities are paired with ex-convicts in tiny cells and overseen by former prison officers, having to follow strict prison rules and routines as well as life among “dangerous” criminals.
Mr Parish, who lives on his family farm near Highbridge, Somerset, told Devon Live life inside was far from easy, but he wanted to take part to find out what it’s like behind bars and raise awareness of penal reform.
He said: “When I went in, I had to knock on the door. I was then strip searched. I had to squat and do everything a prisoner would have to go through. The production crew certainly said it was going to be authentic, but there were times when it was almost too authentic.
“Prisoners go in and they can have small mobile phones in parts of their anatomy for example. They didn’t do a full search of me, but I certainly had to squat, and squat with no clothes on, which must be a shock to all of them I would think.”
He was handed prison clothes and taken to his cell where he met cellmate, Chet Sandhu, an ex-drug dealer and extortionist who served 14 years in jail, including four in Spain.
Mr Parish said his cellmate soon started ranting and raving at him, adding: “That was pretty frightening. He blamed me for everything, even what the Empire did in India. I was taking all these verbal punches.
“I thought Channel 4 wouldn’t let me be killed, so I took solace from that and by the end we got on like a house on fire.”
He explained he also had to deal with other ex-prisoners who came to his cell to intimidate him, including anti-vaxxers who accused him of killing more people with Covid vaccines.
The farmer said: “They pile all the pressure on you and you’re sitting there listening to all this. It’s a bit like a fight. You take all the punches to start with and then you gradually fight back.
“I did worry it was going to go on for five or six days and I may as well leave.”
Sandhu told his cellmate about jail beatings, drugs, sex inside and how to make weapons for protection against other inmates using a can of tuna, razor blade and toothbrush.
Mr Parish said: “The whole idea of these weapons is that if you think that you are being targeted by an individual or a group, you attack first. You attack from behind and you slash their face.”
After making such weapons for the show, they were discovered during a search of his cell and he was sent to the governor.
His “punishment” was 45 minutes in solitary confinement with just a foam mattress to lie down on and no toilet.
Mr Parish described prison food as “awful” with even the ex-prisoners saying it was worse than the food served in real prisons.
He said the most emotional part of his stay was when he had to talk about what happened in Parliament and how it affected his wife, Sue.
The former MP said he also cried when he saw his wife for the first time after his release.
On what lessons he learned inside, Mr Parish said he discovered criminals have different sides and he vowed to campaign against young offenders going into adult prisons, which he described as the “best school of crime”.
