Kate hears praise for prison nursery from former inmates

The Princess of Wales has sympathised with former prison mothers who suggested their parental support behind bars was better than services in the outside world.

Kate travelled to HMP Styal, a women’s prison in Cheshire, to meet ex-offenders and those still serving who have received support from a mother and baby unit run by the charity Action for Children, which the princess represents as royal patron.

She told staff from the unit: “It is great that you are looking at the mother’s wellbeing as well. The best thing for baby is to have a mother whose emotional needs and wellbeing is met as well.”

The event was Kate’s fifth public engagement in just over two weeks as she continues with her gradual return to official duties since completing her cancer treatment.

When the royal first arrived, she was met by shouts of “we need more funding” and “tell them the truth”, and also a loud wolf-whistle and cat-calls from women leaning out of accommodation block windows.

The princess smiled, waved and said hello to other inmates who were also straining to get a glimpse of the royal guest.

She sat down with two former inmates, one woman who left the prison six weeks ago with her toddler son after serving a 14-month sentence for an undisclosed offence and another woman, who was 30 weeks pregnant when she began an 11-month sentence and gave birth to a daughter in prison.

The former inmate who has a son told Kate how it was only by being sent to prison that she received “so much” help, something that was unlikely to have been available in her local community.

The future queen replied: “It shouldn’t have to take something like this to get access to something like this…”

The ex-offender who has a son said: “I only left six weeks ago and I am just getting rolling with everything again. Thinking about work, nurseries. I have said so many times that I just wish I could take this (prison) nursery and put it in my home town.”

She added: “It’s hands down the best nursery. My son just ran up to the nursery worker straight away and recognised her just now.”

When Kate chatted with staff from the mother and baby unit, she asked about its effects on reoffending, suggesting it was “massive”, and was told normal reoffending rates for women were around 70% but this reduced to just 12% with those receiving parental support.

During Kate’s meeting with the former inmates, the ex-offender who has a son said: “We are both first-time mums and put it this way, we didn’t start the best way, but where we are now is incredible.

“We got the most out of it we possibly could. We made silly decisions and ended up in this position, but you can’t turn back the clock. So we just stuck with it in here and got as much out of it as we could.

“There is so much we have done that I wouldn’t necessarily get access to if this hadn’t have happened.”

The mother and baby unit is one of three Action for Children run in prisons in the north of England, and they provide a separate living area for inmates, who are helped to care for their babies by trained prison staff and early years and family support practitioners.

During the visit, the princess had a private meeting with the prison’s four inmates who are mothers and toured their accommodation and nursery.

Kate has made the promotion of the early years development of children one of the key elements of her public work.

Amanda Taylor, operational director of children’s services at Action for Children, said: “Given the challenges the mums are going through, it is really important to give the babies the very best start in life.

“The princess’ passion is early years and she understands the impact on the outcome of adulthood happens during these critical early years.

“The babies aren’t prisoners, the babies happen to be living in this environment. So it’s really important for us to give them the best start in life. It’s why the environment for them and their mothers is so important.”