The first contact I had with Anna was a telephone call completely out of the blue after a group member had identified how distressed she was and passed on my number. I took over an hour to calm Anna down as she was completely distraught. Her son had been arrested the previous day and had been remanded into immediate custody. She had no idea where he was and the police wouldn’t release any information concerning where he had been taken or the reason why he had been arrested. She had spent 2 hours at the station pleading with them before seeking support online.
Once I had calmed her down we began discussing what would have happened and how to go about locating him. Once I established the area that they lived in it was easy to work out which prison he was likely to be being held. I advised her to go on the government website which is used to locate a prisoner but warned her that this process is not quick and she could be waiting weeks to hear from them. I also advised her that he would be given a reception phone call and that this is only useful if he can remember anyone’s phone numbers, which is unlikely in this day and age. I didn’t want to raise her hopes but due to my experience I was aware that it would be likely that he would have a court appearance within the following days. Whilst it’s not uncommon I was surprised to see it listed the following morning and gave her the information.
She had never attended court before and was incredibly anxious. I talked her through what was likely to happen, advised her to take support with her and some lunch as most courthouses don’t offer canteen facilities these days. I explained that she wouldn’t be able to talk to her son and that if he was taken from the prison to the court that he would be in the dock when the court session takes place.
Neither of us had any idea about what he was in court for but it was clearly a serious matter so I advised her to prepare herself. He had run over an elderly gentleman who had sadly died and he was also over the drink driving limit. She was utterly devastated. On this occasion the officer allowed a very short conversation and gave Anna his prison number to contact him either via email a prisoner or by letter. I spent the next few weeks guiding Anna through the processes of arranging visits, preparing for them, taking his clothing in the prison, sorting out legal representation and dealing with the rollercoaster of emotions that she was suffering. The story was relatively big news in their locality and I supported her through dealing with this intrusion into her and her family’s lives.
He was jailed for 8 years. That was 12 months ago. I still get asked questions from time to time and she knows that I am there to support her when she needs me but she appears to be taking it in her stride and has accepted what happened.