The staff joked that the men were bad and the women mad. As with most clichés, there’s an element of truth. The male prisoners were like big kids that hadn’t yet grown up. Some were pensioners and never would. Master criminals were scarce. Most of them resided behind those walls due to stupidity, greed or violence.
The female inmates, on the other hand, blurred the line between victim and villain. Some argue that most women’s offending is driven by unmet mental health needs. Domestic abuse and coercion are significant factors. In the UK, we lock up few women — only five percent of the prison estate. That’s less than 4000 females at any one time. They have to do something illegal many times or a dreadful act once to be sent down.
Most of those women are mothers. A typical inmate will have been raised in a broken home. Their own life may mirror that. The children she leaves behind could have a father who is absent or useless. Or worse.
If we send Mum to jail, even for a few months, who looks after those children? What will happen to the house? A mother with substance issues or a shoplifting habit will nearly always still be caring for her kids. It may be a chaotic place but could the state provide a better one? A mother is irreplaceable. Even when the authorities take the children away for their security, they still want to go home.
If the family unit falls apart, then the ripple effect can last generations. A safe home is everything, however much money you have. 95% of children are forced to leave their home when mum is sent to prison. Those kids experience shame, anger and confusion through no fault of their own.
The lifers are different. If you commit that most shocking of crimes, then you must bid farewell to your young. They’ll grow up and you’ll barely be involved. Those children will be adults and strangers when you’re released. That aspect of prison life fascinated and horrified me.
I’m an author and a househusband. I hope I’m better at the former as I’m poor at the latter. However, I do get to spend a lot of time with the kids — more than my wife does. Yet, I know without a moment’s hesitation that if we split up and they were given the choice, they would go with her. For me, that’s sad and uplifting. Perhaps that’s the way it’s meant to be. I don’t believe there is a closer bond than the one between a mother and her child. So, imagine how you would feel if, like Katie, you had to say goodbye to your children because of something you did. What would it do to your state of mind?
How would you survive?
Also by Ross Greenwood
This book is a prequel to The Dark Lives series. All of the books are standalone but some of the characters cross over. If you were intrigued by Radic in this book, you can meet him again five years down the line in The Boy Inside.
If you’ve enjoyed Shadows of Regret, you’ll love the first in that series - Fifty Years of Fear.
www.rossgreenwoodauthor.com
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SHADOWS OF REGRET: If your life was ruined, would you seek redemption or take revenge? Page 23
