Being in jail

Date: 5/2/2019

In Sickness, In Health … and In Jail. What jail is really like Well I can tell you it’s nothing like a walk in the park. It affects your mental health greatly, I know people are put in there for a reasons Can be small to major . you can be first timer or a harden criminal You’re not even treated like a human being. Guards are dreadful so are the police. I know they are only doing a job (let’s argue people broke the law I get it) I use to think the same way until I lived it. The problem is women are being punished far worse then men. See I was sent to jail for something I’m not even responsible for (My daughter and her friend )threatened the local school and the school went into lockdown twice . ( I get it people were scared) as a parent I would had petrified but school did allow my daughter to feel unsafe and not take care of her they dismissed all her concerns she was angry 😡 this school has a bullying epidemic ❗️ My daughter had ADHD and high functioning autism and now suffers major anxiety. I took the fall for my daughter. I was sentenced to 4 months imprisonment. 4 months of hell is not even close to describe what I went through. My mental health went down the drain as well. You don’t ask for anything not even a Panadol. I’m going to give you a run down 1. Listen with your ears 2. Don’t talk crap about anyone to anyone 3. Everything that happens inside of your jail cell or unit stays there 4. Don’t start arguments with long termers 5. Don’t ask favours 6. Don’t lend 7. Don’t steal 8. Keep busy 9. Don’t share anything with anyone 10. Become strong and independent 11. Make a alliance When I was first sent to jail on remand my daughter breached my bail conditions and I was not given anymore bail and was a risk to the community. The judge was unforgiving I was sent directly to jail with no pass. I was sent to Southport watch house for 14 days and what you get is food delivered at 7am, lunch at 1pm, dinner, 6pm and some fruit only if your lucky but if someone annoys workers you don’t get anything (don’t buzz or annoy the workers over times or food or you get nothing) in fact don’t ask them anything❗️ All you do I lay or go to the toilet or for amusement by drug or drunk in mates will scream and barley any sleep happens . On weekends, prisoners were barely able to sleep in cells often filling with screaming drunks and drug-affected people. You are not allowed toothbrushes you must use your finger. You are not allowed razors. You are not allowed fresh undies or clothing by family. You are only allowed a 2 minute shower at 6am each day. No exceptions. So a list of what you can’t have is 1. No change of clothing 2. No tooth paste 3. No tv 4. No windows 5. No free time 6. No soap only (A piece of soap cut in 4’s ) 7. No water only a cup to get water from back of the toilet 8. You will get diarrhoea from filthy water 9. No medical care 10. No pillow or bedding 11. Don’t ask to call anyone it’s not allowed conditions were so bad we lose track of time and dates no clocks or calendars. many inmates in the watchhouse did not know what day it was when they see their lawyers or doctors at the watch house. If you need immediate treatment your handcuffed and chuckled then transferred via police handcuffed to a hospital bed You’re just waiting for your name to come up to go get on a bus that goes to BWCC You get no heads up about when you go to prison just your going get ready. Your often excited to go to prison. as you get your own mattress on the floor to sleep on and you can walk around. You get prison Clothing you usually get four sets. They must be clean at all times. You also have to do head count and musters and strip searching. You get one free call with the councillor . You must share food and this is often where fights start. You can call And write to family but you need money sent it and applied to your accounts or you can’t call or write. There is medication parade and if you need treatment your told to fill a request form out to see medical centre or nurse who will refer if needed onto mental health if needed. This can take up to 6 weeks at a time. jail in general is usually Overcrowding. At least in prison you can make calls, buy yourself some underwear, some shoes and all those sorts of things but you can get them stolen as well. So be cautious. But when you get to jail your sent straight to: Secure 1 (or S1) is a block of four units. Three of these contain six smaller units each housing six prisoners. All newly–arrived prisoners and immigration detainees are initially placed in Secure 1 unless they are assessed as requiring additional protection for their own safety. Women inmates, who are housed in S1 or S6, are allowed limited private property, wear prison issued clothing, and are provided with plated meals that are prepared in the main kitchen of the facility. After about two weeks you get reviewed and usually sent to : The other main accommodation in BWCC is residential housing units for 118 inmates. The units are clustered four to a block and house six prisoners per unit. Campus style, they consist of a communal living area, a separate cell for each inmate and access to a shared bathroom, kitchen and laundry. The individual cells in residential are larger than those in secure and inmates are permitted to have more private property than those in secure accommodation. Residents do their own cooking and share cleaning responsibilities. but in the watchhouse you can’t even talk to anyone. I had to beg for the legal aid lawyer to ring my husband from my phone. When I had court on the day. If you talk to each other your told to shut up or you don’t get to stay with each other they confined you from one another. Once you’ve been sent to jail things are better but it’s still complicated and extremely hard, it’s not called a correctional facility for no reason! But what you don’t hear about are the PRISONER bashings, officer assaults and attempted suicides are just some of the serious incidents happening inside a maximum security jail. if I had to use a term, or state my thought it would probably be one of the most nastiest and corrupt prisons I've been in ever in mate or not. I have been eating my dinner and the next thing I have seen someone get sliced from the back of their ear to the front of their jaw and bleed in front of you and there is nothing you can do,". if you want to bash someone you can. Just drag them into the toilet and off you go," I saw prisoner barricaded herself in a cell, so they took off the door. "Then they dragged her out into the hallway and beat the absolute f**k out of her until she became unconscious." radio for an ambulance because she stopped breathing." She later took her life as I later woke in her blood as I sat up. But Incarceration is only one of many sentencing options available to the courts. Non–custodial sentencing, including community–based orders or fines, are more common penalties for both men and women. Once sentenced to a term of imprisonment, prisoners are assigned a security classification, when I first was sentenced I was classified as high risk not even having any prior history. Many women entering prison have a history of poor physical and mental health. The DCS conducted a health survey of female prisoners in 2002. That survey found that: * the three major issues pertaining to the health of women in prisons were drug abuse, mental health and childhood sexual abuse; * 57.1% of women reported having been diagnosed with a specific mental illness, the most common being depression. 9% of female prisoners had been admitted to a psychiatric hospital and 17% had been prescribed counselling or treatment. Women prisoners have a much higher incidence of mental health problems than male prisoners. * more than a third of women consumed alcohol at hazardous or harmful levels prior to incarceration, with harmful drinking highest among Indigenous women from north Queensland; * half the women had a history of injecting drug use and 40% tested antibody positive to hepatitis C; * poor nutrition, low levels of exercise, unprotected sex, unplanned pregnancies, drug use and needle sharing were issues impacting on the health of many of the women entering the prison system. Many female prisoners have a history of sexual or physical abuse. The Queensland Women Prisoners Health Survey found that: * 42.5% of women reported being the victim of non–consensual sexual activity before the age of 16; * 37.7% reported having been physically or emotionally abused before the age of 16; and * 36.5% experienced actual or attempted intercourse on one or more occasions before the age of 10. The likelihood of having been sexually abused is much higher for women prisoners than for other women In a representative population survey, 8.8% of Queensland women aged 18 years or more have reported being the victim of rape or sexual assault. We all know what goes on in prison. Or do we? Your also at greatest risk for sexual harassment and abuse or assault while in jail . Officials ignore your complaints and move on with their day!