Excellent article. It's one of the best I've read at portraying the experience of female prisoners.
The prisoner's testimony is chilling. No wonder the SNP ministers tried to prevent it.
"The witness described a second male prisoner, referred to as MP2, who thrived on “power and control and intimidation”. She said the behaviour reminded her of a past toxic and violent relationship, in which she had been tied to a radiator naked. “A million per cent this was a bloke behaving like a bad bloke,” the woman said. “I felt totally unsafe.”
“I felt I had no privacy from these men. Of course, I felt unsafe. My space was eroded. There was no way I could avoid them. Women have to put up with this. Put up. And say nothing. Och aye, our space was eroded — 100 per cent ....
“I am still disgusted and upset, I felt upset and hopeless. These men should not be with us. Women just have to put up. If we complain, we get punished. The prison don’t care what it’s like to be unsafe and terrified because these men are among you. I can tell you 100 per cent, I am not the only one who feels this way.”
There's more. Poor women. They don't care what happens to the women at all. They're deliberately traumatizing them so the men will be happier. It's haunting.
A former governor of a women’s prison was spot on in her testimony. I hope Lady Ross focuses on this when she makes her decision.
“In my experience … it is simply not possible to negate the risk to women’s mental and/or physical wellbeing that this practice [housing men in women’s jails] poses, and in my view, implementation of this elevates concern for males over the wellbeing of women.”