Mental illness, women in prison

This week marks Prisons Week, when churches across UK will be praying for prisoners and all those involved in the criminal justice system.

There is much in the Bible about justice. Jesus was crucified as a criminal as a testament of the salvific power of love and sacrifice. He is our saviour, but the authorities of his time marginalised him as a law-breaking criminal and had him put to death. A loving God resurrected him, so that he became the gateway to life for all of us.

Justice and mercy go hand in hand in Christianity, but this is still not always the case when it comes to the practise of enforcing the law.

With more than 70% of people in prison suffering mental health conditions, those who commit crimes are very often suffering trauma and mental illness. This leads to boundary breaking, and illegal behaviour which wreaks havoc - on the lives of victims and the perpetrators. Prisons, rather than offering rehabilitation and treatment, can make a person more ill.

Grace Spear (not her real name) suffers from depression which eventually contributed to her breaking the law and being arrested.

On Women Matter, Grace talks bravely about her experiences: her mental illness, the isolation it inflicted, the arrest it led to, and how friendship with others and God's forgiveness led to her healing. She went on to lobby for reform and changing the law and now manages a peer support group for a large national mental health charity which helps prevent reoffending. You can read her testimony at: https://medium.com/@women2matter/victory-together-d0c922f182dd

Women Matter is an online forum gathering together different experiences of women from spiritual to financial to psychological. Past contributors have included Simoney Kyriakou, editor of Financial Adviser, Christian Aid, Tearfund's Sabine Nsuzi, professional violinist Bex Sewell, mother and NHS professional Claire Williams, pensions expert Henry Tapper, and Christian journalist Anita Boniface.

If you would like to comment on or contribute to Women Matter, please email Anita_Boniface@yahoo.co.uk

To learn more about Prisons Week, visit: https://prisonsweek.org/