I've served a prison sentence

[NCforAMA]

I've seen a few threads on here recently where the OPs have basically suggested prisoners are the scum of the earth and are all like the likes of Ian Huntley ect.

I've read the comments and seen a few prison officers defending the prisoners and most posters also defending them, but I thought maybe I would answer some questions so people can understand what it's really like to be inside a prison cell.

Ive name changed for obvious reasons.

Il list a few points that I think would be the first questions;

I'm female.

I'm 33 and I was in jail in 2012.

I received a 12 month custodial sentence. I served 13 weeks in jail, 13 weeks on a tag and the remaining 6 months were served on license at home.

I don't want to say exactly what I was in for as I don't want it to be outing. I will clarify though that it was not a violent offence, not a sexual one before I get abuse from posters. To summarise, I was with a boy who wasn't very well behaved and was basically guilty by association. I was young, stupid and naive. And I absolutely paid the price.

I wish I could change the perception of how people see prisoners.

Anyway, ask away.

Without disclosing what you did, it seems like this isn't a straight up guilty/not guilty due to the way you described the association. But did you accept responsibility of the crime that was committed. Do you feel the boy/police put on more blame on you than what was fair?
12 months is a long time for an associate unless it was a big crime or over a substantial amount of time. Do you feel 12 months was the right amount of time.
You spent 13 weeks in prison, do you feel if you had to serve the full 12 months your experience woulld have been less positive. (Falling into fights, drugs and all the cliche prison stereotypes)

Sorry for all these questions. Well done for being brave to make this thread.

Ooh another question..not that sorry really. In Starting this thread, do you feel YOU will get anything out of it? Closure, mapping out what and why it all happened, clearing your thought etc?

drake hall by any chance @NCforAMA ?

Did you meet any prisoners in there who claimed they were not guilty and you believed them?

You mentioned the drama ‘Time’….I know an ex prison guard who watched it and said it was the most true to life programme that he had seen, the sound of the door banging etc.

When getting to know other women were their any patterns in their backgrounds? Like did more come from unstable families or anything? Was there anything that was more "typical" in the women's backstory before they were convicted?

Low Carb Bootcamp's out then 😛

Great thread and huge thanks for sharing, OP. I'm so glad that you're back on track now. It's put a big smile on my face 😍

Styal ? With the houses

We're there any good parts about being in gaol? I. E. No housework or cooking?

Is it necessary to identify the jail?

Hey,

I didn't benefit financially from what I did no. I just ended up with no job for a while and a £3000 solicitor bill.

If you do benefit financially you'll have a POCA (proceeds of crime act) and they'll claim back what you gained. If you can't pay it back you'll have to serve more jail time.

I thought exactly what you thought about the jail time, but there was a girl there who got 4 years for counting some money (her bfs car was bugged so they heard her saying how much there was), someone got 6 for having their fingerprints on a bag containing drugs, she was adamant she'd used to bag for the gym and it was reduced to 2 on appeal but I appreciate you only know one side of the story. And loads more for not doing very much.

Sorry forgot the second question, no I haven't ever taken drugs! I don't even drink.

It’s called ‘ask me anything’

Thanks for starting the thread and replying to the questions.

1. It comes across that in a way you still see yourself as an ex-prisoner. That's particularly interesting as you were only in prison for 3 months about 10 years ago. Can you say something to that?
2. Do you think you'll always see yourself as an ex-prisoner, or will the experience fade so far as to become background noise? Do you want it to?
3. Not goady or sarcastic in any way, and I fully believe you that you're not minimising your crime but it really was victimless etc. My question is in general for people in prison, did you find mostly prisoners tended to minimise their crimes and see themselves as 'I'm really a good person who made a mistake'?

Yeah none of your bills on the outside get paid so you'd have to default on your mortgage if you couldn't pay it.

A girl I know who was in there rang the bank, explained the situation and they changed it to interest only for 12 months so she had more of a chance to keep up with the payments using savings / help from family. You don't have to pay council tax whilst you're in prison so at least that's one bill less to worry about haha.

Oh you wouldn't like it! They're always short staffed to the regime gets changed at the last second, gym will be cancelled, work will be cancelled ect.

This is really interesting OP, well done on turning your life around.

My question is - who manages your affairs when you're in prison? So if you live alone how do you pay your mortgage/rent etc? What if you can't and need to sell/move? Can you appoint someone to deal with it all like a temporary power of attorney?

Stop troll hunting. The female prison estate is different. Not enough Cat A prisoners to have separate gaols. Google is your friend. This from Wikipedia

"HM Prison Bronzefield is currently one of only two prisons to house Category A prisoners in the female estate (female and juvenile category-A prisoners are called "restricted status" prisoners). The prison is staffed by about 140 prison custody officers, in a ratio of 50% female and 50% male officers. Bronzefield is also a local prison, taking prisoners directly from the courts. Bronzefield holds a wide range of female offenders, including remand, sentenced and restricted status women.[citation needed]

Accommodation at Bronzefield is divided into four main residential units, each holding approximately 135 women. The prison also has a 12-bed Mother and Baby Unit, accommodating children up to 18 months old. Bronzefield has a Level 4 Healthcare provision with in-patient facilities for 18 women, as well as a smaller 10-bed Help & Direction Unit"

How would you reform the system based on your experience?

Thanks for sharing your experience with us.

It has always been my assumption that a lot of women are in prison due to the poor behaviour of &/or the manipulation by bad men. Is this true?

This is not to diminish the women of responsibility but had they never got involved with these men, would they be in prison at all?

Were there any truly evil women in there? I suspect the child abusers would be pretty close

@Countyforever
Well in that case, why not just ask OP what her name is? It is AMA after all

Was there a ‘Top Dog’?? (Sorry, I know I’ve gone all Wentworth).

Some of us might have a connection to certain prisons and be interested - that good enough for you ?

Yes I was interviewed by 2 male detectives.

I had just been to asda for my weekly shop when a few police turned up at my house, arrested me, searched my house and took me to the police station. 10 hours in a cell and then I was questioned for hours! Then I was released on bail. It took 2 years for the CPS to decide weather or not to prosecute me which was the worst two years of my life. I was worried sick every day.

I had a solicitor, I paid for him and he was adamant nothing would happen and that the charges would be dropped. Then when I was charged he was adamant I'd get community service at the worst, or a suspended sentence. He told me not to take a bag or anything to sentencing because I'd get a slap on the wrist and be able to go home but thankfully I took one anyway.

Yeah I was encouraged to 'grass' on him but I (stupidly) kept quiet and made it worse for myself. The police came to see me before I was released too to ask me again for any info I might have on him and his associates. I shit myself when two police were there to see me!

What an inspiring story, I hope you've given people some food for thought. Your story shows that anyone can make a mistake, or a bad choice and the consequences can be terrible.

Your mum must be so proud of how you've managed to not only survive, but thrive.

I am not troll hunting. Its called ask me anything. I'm asking. I don't need to Google stuff on prisons. I spend a day every week in women's prisons. Including cat As - and there are very very few solely cat A prisons/ facilities for either gender. So if you Google that you'll know at least one of the prisons I spend a lot of time in.

But thanks for asking.

Op, fascinating thread. And I think you've done a great job managing so many questions, and like a pp, I'm grateful for the quote being used so I know which question you're answering!

My question is: how do you take a bag of clothes with you? I can understand perhaps if you're not on remand (were you?) But do you turn up with a suitcase to court? What are you allowed to take in with you, do you get a list?

Did you post about it before?

I remember an AMA ( I think) on this topic and a poster asked "why are you boasting?" 🙄

Great thread, thank you for sharing.