... I heard Ricky Vance before I saw him. He was strumming his guitar and singing alone in the prison's "multi-faith" room as I was walking past on my way to the exercise yard one Saturday afternoon late last year...

Intrigued, I stopped by the opaque glass-panelled door and listened. "I'll be free/one day you'll see/you don't know me/oh baby, don't lie/come on and rescue me..."..

The lyrics were simple but powerfully delivered as he strained his vocal cords with a passion reminiscent of a grunge musician unplugged...

Suddenly the music stopped. Before I could step back and carry on my way the door swung open, making me jump...

"Hi!" he said, smiling. His fair hair was cut short at the back and sides and his eyes were as blue as cobalt...

"Er, hi," I replied, a little guiltily. I felt as if I'd been caught eavesdropping on a private conversation. "I was just passing when I heard the music," I said...

"I could see you through the glass," he said. "What did you think?"..

"It was good," I said, "You've got talent. What the hell are you doing in prison?"..

The question was rhetorical, meant only as a compliment, but his response made me wish I hadn't asked it...

"I shouldn't even be in here," he said, his face darkening instantly. "I'm innocent."..

It was the perfect conversation stopper...

He asked me if I'd like to go in the room and listen some more. The song he'd been singing was one he'd composed himself and he had others he'd like me to listen to. "I'd really appreciate your opinion," he said, his face bright with enthusiasm once more...

"I'm sorry, but there's someone waiting for me out in the yard," I said retreating. "Another time maybe."..

As I walked away I felt another twinge of guilt. I was in no hurry. There was nobody waiting for me. But the young man's manner was unsettling...

A few days later I was walking around the exercise yard with Stu (known in here as the Guru) and the young musician was jogging alone...

"Who is that kid?" I said to Stu as he passed us by...

"That's Ricky Vance," he said. "On the out he was a singer with a promising career ahead of him apparently - until he was convicted of rape - now he is doing five years."..

"Christ," I said...

I'd never heard of Ricky before, but Stu told me that his case had been high profile. "It was in all the papers," he said. "That's why he gets so much grief."..

Over the following weeks I became acutely aware of the grief directed at Ricky Vance...

Sometimes it was verbal, and sometimes it was physical, particularly from a little crew of "plastics" (wannabe gangsters) led by a man called Moser. But Ricky stood his ground and refused to go "on the rule" (rule 43: segregation for own protection)...

Eventually he latched onto the Guru, who asked me if I'd help Ricky to write a letter to his MP requesting support. "The guy's really struggling," he said...

A couple of days later Ricky turned up at my cell door with several sheets of spidery longhand. I was struck by its sincere tone. "But you'll have to take out all the references to God," I advised. He left an hour or so later, seemingly pleased with my efforts...

The next time I saw him was in the hospital wing where I was working temporarily as the "orderly". He'd been brought in after having been ambushed by Moser and his gang wielding PP9 batteries in socks...

Crying with rage, he had tears streaming down his bruised and bloody face...

"Why - won't - they - listen?" he said, his words punctuated by sobs. I had no answer...

That night he was shipped out to another jail and no more was heard of him until the other week when I picked up one of the wing newspapers. The headline on page three drew my eye immediately: "Rape case man cleared"...

Sure enough it was Ricky Vance, exonerated by the court of appeal. In the piece he recounted the violent assaults he'd suffered whilst inside and said that he'd often feared for his life. "Christ," I whispered...

Word quickly spread and the next day Big Rinty "fae Dundee" confronted Moser in the exercise yard. "I hope you're ashamed now of the way you treated that boy," he said, loud enough for all to hear...

The yard went quiet and still...

"Not really," said Moser, looking around uneasily. "He deserved it anyway, for being so arrogant."..

"Well maybe he had a right to be," said Rinty..

As Moser turned and walked away, the yard resumed its industry. The drama was over.

*Erwin James is serving a life sentence. See also his article on seeing in the new millennium in prison - Auld lags inside