As the UK decries the often nightmarish conditions in its prisons, a former inmate describes her experience.
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00:00The British government is recruiting prison guards, but reality is different from the
00:06promotional videos.
00:09Physical violence, attacks on fellow inmates or officers.
00:14British prisons are overcrowded, so much so that the government had to release some prisoners
00:18early.
00:21Francesca Fatora spent almost four years behind bars for drug trafficking, some of the time
00:26in this women's prison near London.
00:29Only once a day were women allowed out of their cells, she remembers.
00:33Absolutely chaotic.
00:36You know, you've got all different people from all different walks of life, different
00:40crimes, and as soon as they open the doors, it's like letting the animals out of the zoo
00:45because everyone's so loud.
00:48Her cell had been designed for just one person, but because of overcrowding, she was joined
00:52by another inmate.
00:55Many women around her were suffering from mental health problems, she says.
00:59Across the UK, the rates of prisoners who are self-harming is at a record high.
01:05You're left with your own thoughts, and if you're somebody that doesn't do well with
01:11sitting with yourself, which I didn't at first, it's horrible because once you're locked in
01:17there, and if you're locked in all day as well, you just overthink absolutely everything.
01:23The UK Justice Secretary defends the government.
01:26They were only elected in July and had inherited the crisis, she claims.
01:31This government will build the prisons the last Conservative government promised but
01:35failed to deliver.
01:36But in seeking a lasting solution to our prisons crisis, we must be honest too, in a way that
01:42my predecessors were not.
01:44We cannot build our way out of this problem.
01:48Sentences must encourage offenders to turn their backs on crime.
01:52We need both sticks and carrots.
01:55Because of spending cuts under the previous government, fewer and fewer prisoners have
01:59been given the opportunity to continue their education in prison, and the quality of training
02:04has steadily declined in recent years, according to the government's own analysis.
02:10And employment opportunities are rare.
02:12The London coffee chain Redemption Roasters is one of the few employers willing to give
02:16prisoners a chance.
02:19If you have a job on leaving prison, or within the first six weeks of leaving prison, you're
02:24half as likely to re-offend as somebody who doesn't.
02:28Their coffee roasting is done within a prison.
02:31Convicts are being trained as baristas.
02:34Only 4% of them go on to re-offend within a year, as opposed to over 30% nationwide.
02:41The new government is looking to increase schemes like this.
02:45Rad is still learning in his new job as a barista.
02:49Before he was given a chance at Redemption Roasters, he had spent several years in jail,
02:54mostly having nothing to do.
02:57When I asked whether there would be any positions available for employment, like cleaning the
03:04corridors or anything, I've been told that there's a long waiting list, and we are just
03:11ending up being in a cell, locked up for about 23 hours a day.
03:15All we can do is a little bit of exercise, and we've got television over there.
03:22Rad meets his caseworker Patrick once a week, who is also employed by Redemption Roasters.
03:27A service that other ex-prisoners don't get, as probation officers don't have time for
03:32much individual support.
03:33However, the employees have to keep up their end of the bargain too.
03:38We provide support, but there's also a bottom line where we say we're business, we're not
03:43a charity, and if you're not showing willingness to work with us, then I'm sorry, we're going
03:48to have to move on.
03:49So what was your experience like giving birth in prison?
03:52Francesca Fatora hopes to earn money as a YouTuber.
03:56She's had some success already, with a channel that is dedicated to helping female prisoners.
04:01She advocates for community service instead of jail for those who have committed less
04:05serious crimes, something that the new government is also looking at.
04:10But employment remains the biggest challenge, she reckons.
04:13Give people a chance, because if you'd employed me, I'd work ten times harder than you would
04:18because I'd be grateful for one, you know, and two, I'd want to prove myself that you
04:24made the right decision.
04:27Francesca Fatora considers herself lucky.
04:30In prison, she benefited from therapy sessions that helped her to move on from drug trafficking.
04:35She hopes that in the future, more help and more training will be available for others
04:39too.