Children laugh and shriek as they play gleefully in the primary school playground, a few yards from the church and Glastonbury thorn that they adorn with ribbons each summer. Over the road, a black barn with large tinted windows like hollow eyes watch the flitting figures behind the hedgerows.
Thorn Cross Category D open prison nestles in the bosom of the tiny village of Appleton Thorn. Take a turn from the church, pub and bustling village hall, past the playground, and the road suddenly opens out, ironed flat: A car park on one side and prison gates and a guardhouse on the other. Navy blue metal signs all along the straight, narrow stretch read ‘HMP Thorn Cross’.
Ria Reed, 37, picks her son up from the primary school each day. She lives within walking distance, but other parents use the prison car park during the school run.
