Stitched Up
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  • Published: 7 July 2022
  • ISBN: 9781529192872
  • Imprint: Transworld Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 320

Stitched Up

Stories of life and death from a prison doctor

Formats & editions
EBook
7 Jul 2022
Audiobook
7 Jul 2022
Paperback
17 Sep 2023
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Told from the inside out, this is a by turns harrowing, humorous and hard-hitting tale of life behind bars as a prison doctor who has literally seen it all.

Dr Shahed Yousaf spends his time running between emergencies - from overdoses to assaults, from cell fires to suicides - with one hand perpetually hovering over the panic button. Being a prison doctor is not for the faint-hearted. An outsider on the inside, in Stitched Up he introduces us to a cast of unforgettable characters, including killers, con men and auto-cannibals. To Dr Yousaf, they are patients first and prisoners second - because any one of us could end up on the wrong side of the law.

Dedicated to caring for people on the margins of society, he tells us honestly and compassionately what it's like to be their doctor in a system that's chronically overcrowded, drastically under-resourced and all too easy to ignore. But while the system is failing, he and his colleagues are doing their very best to prop it up. In stories that are frequently harrowing, sometimes humorous and always hard-hitting, we discover how difficult it is to be locked up - but that there is still hope for all those who dare to care.
  • Published: 7 July 2022
  • ISBN: 9781529192872
  • Imprint: Transworld Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 320
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About the author

Shahed Yousaf

Dr Shahed Yousaf is a GP who works in prisons, substance misuse and with the homeless community. He was shortlisted for the Bath Flash Fiction Prize 2016 and commended for the Faber & Faber FAB Prize 2017. Shahed won a place on to the Writing West Midlands Room 204 Mentoring scheme and the Middle Way Mentoring Project in 2019.

Praise for Stitched Up

A raw and honest glimpse into the frightening but rewarding life of a prison GP. Stories that will curl your toes, make you laugh out loud and break your heart all at the same time. Dr Y is everything we would ever want in our own GP - caring, pragmatic, self-effacing and hugely competent. What a tour-de-force!

Professor Dame Sue Black

Written with wit and humility this extraordinary account of life as a prison doctor is the sort of book that has you reaching for the internet halfway through a paragraph. The detail, the stories, the statistics. 'That can't be true, can it?' Yes it is. Whatever you think you know about prison, a Yousaf's memoir will open your eyes and your heart and make you wish things were different. There's laughter (bright and grim), redemption and much heart on the pages and whatever your view of locking people up, you will come away wiser and more compassionate after reading Stitched Up.

Kit de Waal