Climate activist Tim Hewes, a retired dentist and Anglican priest in his seventies, was accused of conspiring to bring the M25 motorway to a standstill in a protest against climate change. On a quiet Sunday afternoon, his home in rural Oxfordshire was raided by eight officers from the Metropolitan Police. Tim was handcuffed and taken to court, then imprisoned on remand for six weeks.
Finding Beauty Behind Bars is the diary he kept during this period. It describes the challenges of life in prison and the unexpected moments of beauty and humanity he encountered – including the support and affirmation offered by prison staff, the chaplain and some of his fellow prisoners, who recognised that he had acted for the well-being of the planet and of future generations.
Tim did not enjoy the privations of prison life – the poor food, the noise, the lack of privacy – but he coped with them, partly by approaching his incarceration as a spiritual retreat. For me, the most disturbing aspect of his imprisonment was the worry that, because of his age and profession, other prisoners might assume he was a sex offender, and attack him.
Tim had been passionately concerned about the climate emergency for over twenty years before he was arrested in 2022. He was motivated by his faith in God as Creator and Redeemer of the world, awe at the beauty of the planet and grief for his grandchildren, that they would inherit a world deeply wounded by humanity’s careless neglect and wilful harm. Taking the step of engaging in civil disobedience was the fruit of obedience to the inner voice of conscience, an act of faithfulness to the call of God. It proved costly. But Tim’s reflections on that cost are an inspiration. May many more of us care enough about the future of the planet that we are willing to leave our comfort zone and follow whatever God calls us to do to heal God’s beautiful creation.
Finding Beauty Behind Bars – a climate activist’s enforced retreat, by Revd Tim Hewes, is published by Darton, Longman and Todd, ISBN 978-1-917362-09-2, £12.99, published 2025.
