SSP Research, Policy & Media Unit
Press Release: 12/03/05
Socialist women demonstrate outside prison
Approximately 200 members of the Scottish Socialist Party’s Socialist Women’s Network today took part in a demonstration outside Corntonvale Women’s prison in Stirling as part of events around International Women’s day.
Attending the demonstration was Carolyn Leckie MSP who was imprisoned in Corntonvale at the end of January for her part in anti nuclear direct action at Faslane nuclear submarine base.
Carolyn came out of Corntonvale with prisoners accounts of strip searching, prison clothes that didn’t fit and communal showers and toilets with half doors you could see over and male prison staff in attendance.
The demonstrators outside Corntonvale today demanded more appropriate programmes and facilities in communities throughout Scotland, with equal access to help and support for women.
Many of the women in Cornton Vale women’s prison should not be there.
The Chief Inspector of Prisons reports that;
“90 per cent of admissions have addiction problems, 80 per cent have a history of mental illness and over 60 per cent have a history of being abused. The question has to be asked: what will the prison do for them?”
Speaking after the demonstration Carolyn said;
“Today was a fantastic event, organised by the SSP’s Socialist Women’s Network.
“I know that women inside the prison will have been heartened by the event and we could see them standing at the windows waving.
“International Women’s Day celebrates the gains made by women but also causes us to recognise just how much we still have to fight for.
“Today we were calling for a change to the prison system, to demand equality for women across the world and for socialist change to a system that produces poverty, inequality and injustice.”
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