CLAIMS that women get a rough deal from Britain's justice system don't shock Joy Mawby.

She says she's seen it at first hand as a visitor at Styal Prison.

"Some of the girls in Styal are so young and I think they get tougher sentences than boys because they are expected to behave well," said Joy.

"Society finds it difficult to handle girls that commit crimes so they receive a harder punishment."

Last month a report by pressure group The Howard League for Penal Reform showed that 802 girls, aged 15,16 and 17 were jailed in 1998 compared to 79 in 1992.

Joy has been a prison visitor for nine years.

It can be a distressing experience - for her and the inmates but she says many prisoners look after each other.

"Bullying is a problem in any prison but the women I went to visit told me how they looked out for one another," she said.

"On one occasion a woman I was visiting nursed a fellow inmate day and night for weeks after she was badly burnt."

Joy has also gained an insight into the heartbreak that prison can cause families.

"I've watched grandmas take children to visit their mum," she said. "They are dressed smartly for the occasion but the children tend to get restless and start to misbehave which is heart-breaking for their mum."

"Some of the prisoners are only children themselves and it is easy to see that they don't want the visiting time to end."

In 1995 a report claimed 453 prisoners had killed themselves while serving sentences.

"Prison is not a holiday camp for offenders," said Joy.

"They do not just lose their freedom. Many of them also lose their privacy, dignity and self-confidence."

None of the toilets or showers have locks and the new arrivals are strip searched.

Joy became a prison visitor after leading a drama class at Styal in 1991.

She was worried about her first visit to the prison and nearly cancelled it.

"I was nervous because I wondered what on earth I would have in common with the prisoners," she said.

But it did not take long for her to relate to the women in the drama group.

"I used to look at the women and wonder 'What are they in for?'" she said. "But as I got to know them I realised they were ordinary women and their convictions became less important."

The drama classes helped to rebuild the prisoners' self-confidence.

Among the first women she befriended was a Nigerian woman who had been jailed for drug smuggling.

"The African prisoners have no possibility of seeing their families and that's why I began to visit Olive," she said.

Many of those Joy has befriended over the years still keep in touch.

"I have stayed in touch with women I have visited since their release," she said. "And I have received many gifts from them as a sign of gratitude."

But the most valuable lesson learned has been a simple one.

"There is no doubt that going into the prison has made me appreciate the outside world," she said.

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