Women offenders: after the Corston Report - United Kingdom ...

Ev 86Justice Committee: Evidence— “They’ve got a crèche at the place where I do my course and that’s great, because it means I don’thave to worry about the kids, especially during school holidays. Also, it’s really good for me as itmeans I get a break myself. I have them all day and I actually enjoyed sitting with the staff and theother women and just being able to talk about stuff.”— “I was having problems getting to the course. My fella always kicked off when I was going and italways ended up in a big fight. In the end I stopped going because I couldn’t be doing with all theaggro. I started to get breached all the time, but in the end I had to tell my support worker becauseI was worried that I would end up going inside. She told my probation officer and they got it allsorted. It was like a massive weight off my mind that they actually listened to me and knew I wasn’tjust trying it on.”— “There’s a Support Worker attached to my course. She’s not part of Probation and so you feel likeyou can tell her anything. She’s sorted out loads of things for me. She got in touch with the CouncilTax for me and sorted out my bill and also got me a free buggy when the baby was born. She’s great.”3.3 Housing and other provision post prison— “I rang you last week and you said to write about my experience on ‘HDC’ and my ‘Recall’ andhow I didn’t cope.So I thought I would put pen to paper and write it all down.I was sentenced to three and a half years on 1/4/2011 after spending months on remand. I spent 11months of my sentence at Eastwood Park and moved on to ‘Send’ and did a remaining seven months.I was an enhanced prisoner and had good jobs and had done a lot of education.I would like to thank you for my Diploma you funded in Drug, Solvent and Alcohol, CounsellingLevel 4 as I passed it on 8/5/12 with a Distinction. I also did an NVQ2 in Business Admin in 11weeks at Send.I was living on the resettlement wing at ‘Send’ and worked cleaning the visits centre, outside thegate and volunteered in the tea bar. I had a good prison record.I got my ‘HDC’ eight weeks late and due to this missed my grandad’s funeral and had problemswith probation which I had to get a solicitor to help me with.I was released from ‘Send’ on ‘HDC’ on 2/7/12. Probation had arranged for me to stay in a ‘SB’hostel in Plymouth during my HDC. I arrived at Plymouth and on first sight, the flat was lovely andmore than what I expected. The hostel was meant to be ‘low risk’ and there were three othergirls there.The first night ‘S’ introduced herself as my neighbour. She seemed ok, but I was later to find outthat she was a big problem. She latched onto me and I could not even eat a meal alone. She wasspending her money on drugs, so was looking to free load. She was stressing me out. I couldn’t goto the Key worker as the Key worker thought she was brilliant, but she was far from that as sheshowed me she was storing her meds to take into her Bf prison. I began to feel really unsafe. Myanxiety attacks were through the roof. I went to the doctors begging for help and told probation howI felt, but I had three different probation officers in three weeks that did nothing. I went to otheragencies for help and self-referred and was put on waiting lists, in three weeks I got no real help formy mental health. I could not sleep and felt very alone and isolated in Plymouth as it is not my area.I also did not like the people who were trying to hang around me and didn’t know what to do. As a‘MAPPA’ I have to be so careful as a I had so many licence conditions put on me. I felt stressed,alone, isolated and unsafe.On top of the anxiety I had other issues I was trying to resolve.Due to the Jobcentre lady being away when I was released I had to put my ‘care grant’ in late andmy benefits ran late as I had to deal with it myself. I had to get £56.00 crisis loan to eat and pay myservice charge for two wks and the benefits gave me grief for asking for that, they have a very rudemanner. I had loans before and I have always paid every penny back!I was trying to sort my bank account out and housing. I had my licence with my photo, but everythingwas an ID problem. I felt I was hitting my head against a brick wall. I’m not allowed abroad, sohave no passport and I don’t drive so have no driving licence, due to this I had ID issues. Afterbeing inside for 18 months I didn’t realise how hard it was outside and wasn’t prepared.The hostel wasn’t working out, trouble was starting as there was a lot of police attendance on ourstreet, fights, dealers, drunken brawls. Yes, probation put an alcoholic in the middle of three pubs,two off licences and a street known to the police for prostitution and dealing.I felt unsafe in the hostel and couldn’t sleep. I had probation on my back, hounding me. My oldprobation from Cornwall kept ringing me, even when I was shopping in ‘Sainsbury’s’ at 9 am askingif I felt like drinking. Well, I hadn’t and didn’t until that point. I felt more imprisoned than in prison.The next few weeks probation wouldn’t let me write each week to my partner as agreed with thesolicitor and were stressing me out, I felt I had no life on the out or support.