Re the article by Deborah Coles and Jessica Pandian (In Britain, a jail sentence is often a death sentence. What’s going on in our prisons?, 31 October), at the turn of the century I received a ridiculous five-year prison sentence for allegedly allowing heroin into a homeless project that I ran. Local police and some vociferous local residents didn’t like my ideas about expansion of provision.
Luckily I am a middle-class woman who was supported by some good people and was released after seven months. I came out with a tumour, but I have survived, so far.
