Former Eastwood Park inmate speaks about time in 'unsafe' prison

A former inmate at a women's prison that was recently declared as unsafe has spoken about the facility's self-harm problem.

Jasmine York was inside HMP Eastwood Park in South Gloucestershire for ten weeks starting in May 2022.

Ms York described the prison as "horrendous" and said people in prison should not lose their human rights.

A spokesperson from the Prison Service said they were addressing serious issues raised by a new report.

In its 2021-2022 annual report, the Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) highlighted Eastwood Park to be a prison of national concern.

The report found the facility had an extreme staff shortage, high levels of self-harm and numerous women being imprisoned with severe mental illnesses.

"People self-harm in prison in ways that I have never even imagined," said Ms York, who was jailed for her part in the Kill the Bill protest in March 2021.

"No wounds get bandaged, there's no aftercare plan, there's no appropriate response to ensure that these things don't happen again," she added.

She was given a nine month sentence, serving 10 weeks inside HMP Eastwood Park and the rest on a electronic tag.

Ms York was asked to respond to anyone who might say that she had committed a crime and prison is "not meant to be nice".

She said: "I completely empathise with the belief that prison is meant to be a punishment, the taking away of our liberty is the punishment.

"That shouldn't continue in other forms as soon as you get there - you give up your liberty, you don't give up your human rights."

The report follows evidence from a watchdog which found that female prisoners with mental health conditions were being held in cells with bloodstains and scratches on the walls.

Chief inspector of prisons, Charlie Taylor, said an inspector described conditions as the "worst he had ever seen" after an inspection last October.

"Rehabilitation isn't happening - and the punishment aspect isn't working either because people come out and re-offend," said Ms York.

"People are leaving and either re-committing, or they're leaving in a body bag," she added.

Arthur Williams from the Independent Monitoring Board said: "There have been numerous, repeated attempts to self-harm and it is very very distressing, not just for the women concerned but for the staff.

"Many of these women shouldn't be in prison, they should be in mental health institutes."

The Independent Monitoring Board noted the positive impact of the ONE Women's Centre that opened in May 2022.

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said they were "increasing staffing" off the back of the reports findings.

They said: "We are increasing staffing and performing maintenance work as part of our decisive action to address the serious issues raised in this report so that vulnerable women receive better support to tackle the poor mental health and addictions that often drive their offending and self-harm.

"It's also why we are investing millions into community services like women's centres, drug rehabilitation and accommodation support so we can help more women turn their backs on crime."

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