Red Cross Blogs

Why I went to prison

By Julie Linter
April 24, 2009 at 3:55 pm

I went to prison this week.

It was a lovely sunny day and the gardens were looking lovely. But when I looked up at the high walls and the razor wire I knew I was lucky to be going home again at the end of my visit. What was I doing there?

You might well ask if you have read my job title. In fact I also manage two other services that we offer at the British Red Cross: therapeutic care and skin camouflage. British Red Cross volunteers have been visiting Eastwood Park (women’s) Prison near Bristol for more than eight years. Every week they give therapeutic care to the women, reducing stress and helping them feel better about themselves.

One woman told us “The hardest thing about being inside for me is the not knowing. We have to be in our rooms for about 5 hours a day, which doesn’t include the nighttime.

“I saw a poster in the chaplaincy the other day – it said that 1/3 of what you feel is psychological, 1/3 of what you feel is physical and 1/3 of what you feel is emotional. I think it’s really useful to try to sort out which bits you’re feeling at the time so you can sort yourself out – ask yourself ‘is what I’m feeling anger, fear or what?’ You just have to plod along, but even just talking about it, you can feel your chest tighten.

“The massage makes me feel really relaxed – I could go to sleep!”

As well as therapeutic care, each month skin camouflage volunteers visit the prison to help women cover scars from self-harm or other skin disfigurements helping women regain confidence.

A woman who received the service told us “I found out about the Red Cross clinic here because I’m seeing a psychologist to stop self-harming and he told me about it. It’s a nice service for the girls here because it’s embarrassing having the scars, especially on my arms because I have to keep washing the same tops because they have long sleeves, which cover them.

“When people see the scars it’s hard because they ask me why I do it and lots of questions. It’s none of their business and it’s a pain to have to tell the story, so now I can just lock that part of my life away.

“The cream will help me to sort out my physical marks – and I can look forward to them healing now – it just helps you get your confidence.

“I have two little girls – Ashley is three and Grace is 1 ½. They’re my saviours basically; if I hadn’t had them I would have been in prison years ago. They ask me ‘what’s wrong with your arm mummy?’ I just don’t like my kids to see the scars when they come to visit.”

So yes, I was glad to be going home again but pleased that the Red Cross services are helping people who need all the help they can get. The good news is that Pat (service co-ordinator) and I visited the juvenile unit this week to look at the possibility of extending our service to the younger girls. The unit manager was very keen so its looking hopeful. So that’s why I went to prison!

Photo: © Lloyd Sturdy (BRC)

---

Comment (0) »

---

Tags: Health and social care, Skin Camouflage, Therapeutic Care, volunteer

The Red Cross values comments both complimentary and critical. However, we will not tolerate the following: aggressive or personal criticism of the blogger, breach of copyright, obscene, defamatory, profane, sexually oriented, racially offensive or likewise objectionable comments.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 24th, 2009 at 3:55 pm and is filed under Health and social care. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

---