Lifting the vale on life inside

Rosie Kane reflects on her experience of Cornton Vale women’s prison

When you are a political representative, it helps if you can understand and experience the world through the eyes of the people you are supposed to represent.
Last week I had the opportunity to do just that when I was sent to Cornton Vale woman’s prison in Stirling for non-payment of fines in relation to a protest against nuclear weapons.
The experience opened my eyes and will stay with me for the rest of my life.
My distress and concern is not rooted in the fact that I was banged up and found it difficult - it’s more about the whole prison service and the utter hopelessness of the women I came into contact with.
I arrived at the prison on Friday morning with a 14 day sentence of which I was to serve seven days.
The word was out that a new prisoner was arriving, so within five minutes three of my fellow inmates were at my cell to greet me.
They were welcoming and kind. It’s normal to check out a new prisoner to see if they have any tobacco to spare and to ask what they are in for.
The women had heard that an MSP was coming in so they were all keen to talk to me and to ask me to tell their story.
Before long, I knew everything about them and they knew everything about me. You have to be open in prison as not to do so can create suspicion but sadly almost all of the inmates do not think they have the right to privacy anyway.
They have already been stripped of dignity, hope, belief in themselves and self-esteem.
Some never had the opportunity to develop these virtues in the first place.
One described her alcohol problem.
She is 27 and has spent a lot of time over the years in Cornton Vale. She cannot control her drinking but desperately wants to, and begged her trial judge to get her into rehab but there are no spaces and hardly any resources and the judge did not have the power to do that for her anyway.
She is in real danger of killing herself and has already been seriously ill as a result of her addiction. Contrary to the stereotype, she is a very gentle, articulate and well-educated woman who would be a huge asset to society. But society has failed her.
Her problem is that when she goes on a bender, she goes through a huge personality change. She gets angry and often ends up being arrested.
This time she had thrown some candles and a James Blunt CD out of a window during an argument.
And for that, she’s in jail.
A huge percentage of women in prison are dependent on drugs.
They have stolen or gotten involved in prostitution to maintain a habit and they end up inside.


Agony
I watched tiny little women who looked like children go through the early stages of detox. It’s agony, there’s the stomach cramps, the sickness, paranoia, fear, nightmares and terrible hot flushes.
I really took to one of the lassies and felt utterly helpless as I watched her suffer. She had been stealing to manage her heroine addiction.
She had been living on the street and really did not know how to care for herself.
She had spent most of her life in care which had left her insecure and vulnerable.
Three years ago, she started injecting and now she can’t stop. She would love some sort of normal life but she will soon be released and the world she steps into isn’t likely to be any better than the world she left so she is worried about how she will cope.
We should all be worried about how she will cope.
She needs supported housing, far away from the bad influences in her life.
She needs help to overcome her demons and she really needs to get off drugs.
She has it in her to do this but she cannot do it alone.
Instead, she is in prison because there is nowhere else to send her and in a couple of weeks she will be out on the prison doorstep with nothing but a train ticket out of Stirling.
She may get the offer of a place in a hostel but the last one she was sent to was full of drugs and she ended up injecting all over again.
She is desperate to break the cycle and although she will be offered support for some of her difficulties, she needs sustained help and constant encouragement.
This is not available yet it would be cheaper than prison and probably more successful.
The whole ‘lock em up and throw away the key’ attitude is not helping society.


Poverty
It makes more sense economically and socially to sort out the underlying problems which lead people into a downward spiral.
Drug and alcohol addiction are often rooted in poverty, abuse and neglect.
If we spent less on courts and imprisonment, and indeed nuclear weapons, we could supply those rehab and detox beds.
If cash was ploughed into social work, supported accommodation and youth work, our prisons would be practically empty, our streets safer and our communities thriving.
Prisons are under-staffed and under-resourced and morale is at rock bottom. Bruce Wing at Cornton Vale has absolutely no recreation or activity time.
A culture of violence and aggression develops due to frustration and boredom.
Children are separated from their parents and many follow in their footsteps because they know nothing else. Violent and dangerous people should be held in prison but perhaps even some of them could have been directed away from their ultimate crime if the right support had been there when they needed it.
My time in prison was bad. It was cold and lonely, the food was woeful and did not meet the nutritional needs of inmates.
The place thrives on gossip and accusation because there is nothing else to do.
I was lucky because I have confidence, my mind is free even when my body is not.
I have friends and family who support and love me and I am in control of my actions, but the women I left behind do not have these luxuries and many have nothing to look forward to. If they had, then they would change their ways, they would find that motivation and confidence many of us take for granted.
They could, with a little help, repair their fractured lives and we would all benefit from that.
Some readers, commentators and elected representatives may be frustrated by my actions and may disagree with my beliefs and stance but I would ask them to look past this and listen to my experiences in Cornton Vale. The women I met inside have potential, they have courage and intellect.
The difference between them and me is that they have never had a chance in life.
The Scottish Parliament has the power to make those changes.
Many judges, lawyers and police, and indeed many MSPs, would agree that a progressive and sensible approach is long overdue.
It may take a wee bit of explaining to get the message across, but politicians have a multitude of resources available to them and if for any reason they feel they can’t articulate the message fully, then I know quite a few women who could help them - I have their names and their prison numbers and they are more than willing to help.
They certainly have a lot of time on their hands.


Rosie spoke to the Voice a few days later, reflecting on her experience.
“ It’s bittersweet, thinking about the women still in there, knowing the dull routine they live, knowing half of them shouldn’t be there.
“ Yet I’m glad to be at liberty.
“ I did form a strong emotional attachment to the women there, you cannae help it.
“ Some of the women inside were so young, you become quite motherly towards them, as do many women of my age. There is a lot of nurturing goes on between prisoners.
“ As I said, I was with one of the girls going through detox and I worry about her. And I feel guilty, for supplying something - support - that I couldn’t continue.
“ What made me different was that I was not under the influence of anything or anyone, and that made me the exception to the rule.
“ Also, I received masses of support. I got literally hundreds of postcards and letters and people came to see, because they’d heard about all these cards.
“ When I left, they were begging me for the front of the cards, to them that was real gold, which they stuck up on their walls with toothpaste.
I will never take such things for granted now, and never forget what I saw.
“ I would urge everyone who can to find a prisoner to write to, and send them a card, especially in the run-up to Christmas. I’d like to do much more, and I’m just thinking now about what that might be.”



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