A 78-year-old grandmother who was imprisoned for participating in a Just Stop Oil Protest on the M25, shot the circumstances of the female prison in which she spent Christmas and claimed that she was asked to take a pregnancy test upon arrival.
Quaker and artist Gaie Delap were recalled in prison in December last year, because her wrists were too small for electronic tags, after she had previously released from her 20 -month prison sentence.
While he was locked up in HMP Peterborough, Mrs Delap claimed that she was exposed to countless shortcomings in the legal system, including failed medication deliveries, terrible workforce and a complete lack of educational support for prisoners.
Mrs. Delap was one of the four activists who were released early and she was released on November 18 on an evening clock for house detention.
But while the other three early demonstrators were successfully tagged, itThe Electronic Monitoring Service (EMS) was unable to fit a tag on the ankle of MS Delap because of a state of health, so instead tried to suit its wrist.
When they couldn't do this, because her wrists were too small for the tag, an order was issued for her arrest on December 5 despite, according to Just Stop Oil, that her “was” completely compliant with the conditions of release. “
The activist group said that the police arrived in her house in Bristol to guide her to HMP Eastwood Park, which they accurately described as the highest percentage of self -harm of a women's prison in England and Wales, according to a report of 2023.
The campaign group said that Delap suffers from numerous health problems and had a stroke in the run -up to her trial in August 2024.
Quaker and artist Gaie Delap were recalled in prison in December last year, because her wrists were too small for electronic tags
She was imprisoned for participating in a Just Stop Oil Protest on the M25 (photo) JSO occupies a portal on the M25 near Godstone in Surrey as part of the November 2022 protests
Mrs. Delap spoke with the Guardian after her release this month, was anger with anger about her treatment in the legal system.
She claimed: 'At the pharmacy in Peterborough, one day a woman with a colostomy asked for a new bag. She was told that they had no one and instead got one of those little black plastic poop bags.
“Another woman was a wheelchair user who used incontinence blocks. They didn't have the right size for her, so she was rejected without any. '
Mrs. Delap also claimed that when she was booked in prison, I had tried to be able to complete a pregnancy test.
She said: 'I burst out laughing, I said I'm not going to do it, it's an insult. They didn't let me do it. '
The M25 protest caused massive anger among motorists – with long tailbacks on various pieces from the highway – and even prevented a man from missing his father's funeral.
However, there were figures willing to come to the defense of the group, including former newsnight -hostelheer Emily Maitlis, who compared the group to Rosa Parks and the suffragettes.
Mrs Delap was convicted on 1 to 20 August in prison at Basildon Crown Court after violating a national highway order that tried to prevent the M25 to come to a halt.
The retired teacher from Bristol previously told the judge that her 'heart broke' for the future of her six grandchildren.
Mr Justice Soole discovered that she and nine of the others had not been informed of the order by a just stop oil -mentor prior to the protest, describing the omission as a 'considerable failure and breach of trust'.
According to Mrs Delap's daughter, Lily Pridie, the seriousness of the punishment came as a shock to the family.
Friends and family of climate activist Gaie Delap, 78. (Left to right): Gaie's brother Nick, and friends Mike Campbell and Annie Menter
Retired teacher Gaie Delap, Van Bristol, outside the royal courts of Justice in Central London, where she told a judge of the Supreme Court why she climbed to a highway step to participate in a Just Stop Oil protest.
The M25 blockade in November 2022, in which campaigners climb Gantries on the highway, caused 50,000 hours of delays and forced a man to miss his father's funeral
Activists carried out the blockade over different parts of the M25 -fast road in a job around London in a job to
Upon conviction, she said that the family will miss the childcare 'and that the granddaughters of Mrs. Dalep, then both under one, will miss her.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice said: “The prisons that this government has inherited do not work for most women. Many female prisoners are victims and more than half are mothers. That is why the Lord Chancellor has launched a new Women's Justice Board to reduce the number of women in prison and to better support those who still have to be caught. '
A spokesperson for the NHS said: “All patients, regardless of the location, deserve a good care standard – but we know that more needs to be done to expand access, and that is why we have the HMP Peterborough's health care budget by more than 20% in the year with more than 20% raised that they also get the same quality of care to make it into the community.”
