Rolf Harris prison row: Shamed artist's claims of cushy jail life are rubbished

The paedophile former TV star has written of how he paints murals on the landing of the prison and how he spends his time as an art room assistant.

The 85-year-old's comments, accompanying his vile song lyrics in which he criticised his victims and called them 'slimy little woodworm', come as prison officers raise concerns about discipline in jails across the country.

But Steve Gillan, general secretary of the Prison Officers Association, said: "The POA has had concerns for some time that in general, discipline appears to have gone out the window.

"Prisons are there to be rehabilitative but they are also there as punishment.

"It should not be a place from where prisoners can cause more distress to their victims."

Andrew Neilson, director of campaigns at the Howard League for Penal Reform, said prisons were 'far from being cushy places'.

He said: "Violence in prison is on the rise and assaults against staff are at an all-time high.

"Eighty-four prisoners took their own lives in 2014 as the number of suicides reached its highest level for seven years.

"These are the stark facts that show prisons are far from being cushy places."

In his letter to a friend, who passed it to a national newspaper, Harris wrote: "Prison is no hardship really. I'm in the art room as an assistant to the tutor and basically I'm doing what I like.

"I did a big square picture of a tiger on the half landing of the staircase yesterday and today.

"It looks great in acrylics and about four feet square, and tomorrow I start an image of a Scottish castle on the wall.

"I'm doing lots of two colour and three colour lino cut prints and two animal acrylics on plywood - one of elephants, one of cheetahs.

"I'm well accepted in here and there are a load of people, many of whom are friends."

One of Harris's victims, Karen Gardner, who was 16 when he assaulted her in 1977, said she was angry he 'still didn't get it'.

Ms Gardner, who waived her right to anonymity, said she was upset by comments from people who still supported the shamed star.

She said: "If he had caused physical damage, if he'd bruised us or broken our limbs, nobody would question that he should be punished 40 years later," she said.

"Because he didn't leave physical evidence, they think somehow it wasn't as bad. Yet what he did was damage young women's self-worth, their confidence and, for some of those women, he affected them deeply for the rest of their lives."

Harris was sentenced to five years and nine months for 12 indecent assaults against four girls between 1968 and 1986.