No presents, visits from loved ones or slap-up turkey dinner – but the worst thing is the extra time you have cooped up in your cell to dwell on why you’re there. That’s the reality of spending Christmas Day in prison, former inmates have revealed to the Mirror, who say being banged up on the big day can cause emotions such as guilt, anger and sadness to reach their boiling point.
Sean spent 9 years in prison and tells me: “Getting up in jail on Christmas Day is super sad -feelings of guilt, regret and missing loved ones are very much heightened at special times like Christmas. As the door bursts open on Christmas morning, everybody wants to use the blue box (telephone) first to speak to their loved ones. Then you’re banged up again from midday – I remember really missing my family and being angry at myself for being inside.”
And while turkey and all the trimmings weren’t on the menu for Sean and his inmates, Christmas lunch was more special than the food on offer on other days. “I’m a chef so I would produce the best meal I could with the resources I had,” Sean says. “We had chicken, honey Mackerel, boiled dumplings, rice and peas and seasoned veg.”
Visits from loved ones on Christmas Day aren’t allowed as there is a limited number of staff so there’s a rush to organise visits as close to the day as possible. Neither are presents as it would take a great deal of time to monitor extra packages – however, family members can buy prisoners a small Christmas cake on one of their visits leading up to the big day.
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PACT – the national Catholic charity supporting people in prison – says it can be worse for women prisoners because many of them are mothers who have been separated from their children. Around three in five women in prison have a child under the age of 18 (higher than amongst prisoners who are men) and 95 per cent of children have to leave their home when a mother goes to prison.
Maya spent seven years in prison and while she recalls feeling sad, she also remembers that inmates and wardens made more of an effort to support each other at Christmas time. “Everyone knew that Christmas in prison is a sad day so everyone would make an effort with each other,” she says. “Even the staff would be nice as they are also spending Christmas with us rather than with their families.
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“Doors would open at 8:30am and we’d have lunch about 12pm before being banged up again for a couple of hours. Christmas Dinner itself was rubbish, the meat was really dry and we were given a measly portion. But it was better than lunch on most days – it would come with some roast potatoes, boiled veg, steamed cabbage and gravy.
“At 4pm, inmates would get a cold sandwich or baguette with a packet of crisps, a penguin chocolate bar and a can of fizzy drink. The worst part is not seeing loved ones as there are no visits on Christmas Day. Visits don’t run on Christmas day and even if they did, I don’t think many people in prison would want their families coming – they’d feel guilty for asking their families to do that.”
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Maya said although there were no official presents, at her prison, everyone received a gift bag outside their cell door containing a small bag of chocolate and out-of-date shower gel. Inmates would sometimes buy presents for their friends on the ward or take part in Secret Santa.
The prison she was at would run a competition every year for the best decorated wing where everyone would make decorations out of whatever they could get their hands on. “The winning wing would get a pizza party,” she said. “Although this was just two large pizzas and a couple of sides to be shared between about 40 people. But at least it was something.”
Both Maya and Sean agree that prisoners try and make the best of a bad situation. Sean sums it up perfectly saying: “There’s no distraction from mixed emotions like anger, guilt, resentment, sadness and frustration. The only flip side is that when the day comes to an end you know you’re one step closer to going home.”
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