I can’t remember which of the Rumpole stories it’s in. He’d explains why he doesn’t want to be a judge. Wormwood Scrubs is mentioned, I think.
Considering this thread has the tag ‘liquor-alcohol’ I assume he finished his explanation with, “I’m afraid I was very, very drunk.”
The story “Rumpole and the Tap End” begins
There are many reasons why I could never become one of Her Majesty’s judges. I am unable to look at my customer in the dock without feeling “There but for the grace of God goes Horace Rumpole.” I should find it almost impossible to order any fellow citizen to be locked up in a Victorian slum with a couple of psychopaths and three chamber-pots, and I cannot imagine a worse way of passing your life than having to actually listen to the speeches of the learned friends. It also has to be admitted that no sane Lord Chancellor would ever dream of the appointment of Mr Justice Rumpole.
He also mentions somewhere (probably after not getting named), that he couldn’t face the prospect of “sending him down”.
I mention this because I’ve visited the Old Bailey, and if I’d been young and irresponsible as I once was, I’d have followed the narrow twisting staircase down to see where it lead.