Desperate to get back home

In the last 6 weeks, over 130 people in Scotland have been brought into prison for the first time. This number does not reflect the people who have been in prison before but have been brought back into prison. Forgotten - people who because they have been in before aren’t “worth” counting again.

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These people are parents, children, brother and sisters.

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130 people in 6 weeks when the government tells us: we live in a country that strives to keep people, especially women, out of jail; that jail isn’t the best place for people, especially women; that prisons are full and we need to keep people in the community as much as possible.

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I have been rejected bail and sent to prison for 7 days before I can ask for bail again - despite being told I was the perfect candidate for bail by the court social worker. Yet here I am.

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Every female I have met in here is a female who has a story. Many of them should not be here. They have an addiction, mental health problems, children who depend on them - yet our system, instead of supporting them, punishes them.

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Why are we so eager in our courts to lock people away?

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When are we going to realise that it makes the cycle worse. It doesn’t help people to break the cycle.

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From a mum desperate to get back home to her daughter.