40 Days in Mayfield Women’s Prison; Chapter 25 Teacher Diary: the final day

On my last day of working at Mayfield for some reason I had a feeling of foreboding when I woke up, even more so than usual. This feeling turned out to be quite accurate.  I was due to have three classes today. The two classes in the morning turned out to be quite easy, but …

40 Days in Mayfield Women’s Prison; Chapter 24 Teacher Diary: titty bank trouble

I go back to the scruffy staff room and have a cup of coffee. I look out for another teacher to latch onto to take me down to the canteen for lunch. This sounds like it should be a relaxing interlude but it is in fact quite an odd and stressful experience. The canteen is …

40 Days in Mayfield Women’s Prison; Chapter 23 Teacher Diary: the coffee break

Three days a week the women have hot drinks at 10:15 AM. The drinks are supplied by the staff including the teachers who, somewhat incongruously, take on the role of canteen staff. I have already mentioned how Richard makes up the little packs of coffee etc. in preparation for the serving of tea and coffee.  …

40 Days in Mayfield Women’s Prison; Chapter 22 Teacher Diary: starting the day

I am going to write a summary of my brief spell working at Mayfield. Prison life is all based on routine, so a description of the daily routine will encompass the whole experience more or less. Any noteworthy incidents will then have their place in the context of the routine, or as exceptions to it. …

40 Days in Mayfield Women’s Prison; Chapter 21 Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons Report into Mayfield Prison Extract 11

Purposeful Activity Time out of cell was reasonable overall. There were sufficient activity places available and the allocations process was sufficient. The range of vocational training had improved and women developed good personal and social skills. More needed to be done to address weaker aspects of the provision. The quality of teaching and learning was …

40 Days in Mayfield Women’s Prison; Chapter 20 Prison Officer Diary: don’t listen to the voices

Tomorrow I go on holiday for a week and boy did I pay for it today at work. Was on all day today so got into work and was walking to the wing when I got the call most people hate, which is to go to the medical wing for a constant watch. This is …

40 Days in Mayfield Women’s Prison; Chapter 19 Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons Report into Mayfield Prison Extract 10

Education Women could follow mixed programmes combining part time education and work. Improving their skills in English and mathematics was our priority, but the approach had only recently been introduced. Staff had not explained this to the women and a minority were disgruntled at not having classes in these subjects. In addition to English and …

40 Days in Mayfield Women’s Prison; Chapter 18 Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons Report into Mayfield Prison Extract 9

Residential units Women live in a safe, clean and decent environment within which they are encouraged to take personal responsibility for themselves and their possessions. Women are aware of the rules and routines of the prison which encourage responsible behaviour. The prison grounds were well maintained and living conditions and the overall design of the …

40 Days in Mayfield Women’s Prison; Chapter 17 Prison Officer Diary: doing it by the book

Today I was on first response. Each senior officer has their preferred officers to react to situations and today the senior on duty was the one who usually picks me. A few false calls, but the one call that was real could have been a lot worse. I was called to the medical wing and …

40 Days in Mayfield Women’s Prison; Chapter 14 Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons Report into Mayfield Prison Extract 7

Equality and Diversity Around 24 per cent of prisoners are from black and minority ethnic backgrounds. They were positive about equality and raised similar concerns to white prisoners. Women from black and minority ethnic backgrounds participated in forums and received good, individual support. The equalities officer saw gypsy, Roma and traveller women individually. These women …

40 Days in Mayfield Women’s Prison; Chapter 13 Prison Officer Diary: when the shit hits the van

Four on four off shifts were hard to get used to. I am into my third day of a 4-day 14-hour shift and it’s knackering. Even if there is 4 days to look forward to being in here for this number of hours in a short time frame is not good. Today we had to …

40 Days in Mayfield Women’s Prison; Chapter 12 Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons Report into Mayfield Prison Extract 6

Escorts and transfers to and from prison Long waits in court in the large catchment area meant too many women arrived late at the prison. Women were not consistently provided with written information either in court or in transfer to Mayfield. In our survey 39 per cent of women said they spent over two hours …

40 Days in Mayfield Women’s Prison; Chapter 11 Prison Officer Diary: the first day

Today is the first day of my new endeavour. Six weeks of training, learning how to be a Prison Officer was being put to use. Due to me already been able to read court paperwork I was assigned to the reception. First day was an afternoon shift and up to about fourish it was pretty …

40 Days in Mayfield women’s Prison; Chapter 10 Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons Report into Mayfield Prison Extract 5

Victimisation, Abuse and Vulnerability The prison survey found that 56% of women had experienced domestic abuse and that 31% were experiencing it at the time they came into custody. The prison adopted a supportive and sensitive approach to helping women deal with abuse. This included a well thought out process for asking women during induction …

40 Days in Mayfield Women’s Prison; Chapter 9 Teacher Diary: the first class

I took a class today.  It turned out to be not very demanding. Only four women turned up. The teaching assistant Ruth was there assisting me and told me that she was in for drugs related offences, though she had now been clean for nine months. She said she was interested in qualifying as a …