I got the train back from work tonight with Sandra White one of the SNP's Glasgow MSPs. She was telling me about a visit of MSPs including Sandra herself, to Cornton Vale Prison on Tuesday. One of the saddest things she discovered was that many of the women said prison was the only place they felt safe. Many come from abusive backgrounds (I think 50% of women in prison have been sexually abused in the past.) and many more are in abusive relationships "on the outside". It has to be one of the saddest things I've ever heard that they are relieved to be in prison because they feel safer than they do in their own homes. And I could have wept when she told me of one woman inmate who confided that being in prison was the only time she'd ever had time for herself. I want to explore the whole issue of women in prison, it's something that interests me greatly, but it will have to be another day I'm afraid.
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