New ITV Documentary Series about Holloway Prison

Following the Inmates and Staff who spend time in this Woman’s Jail

Mar 8, 2009

Holloway is a soon to be aired ITV documentary series that tells the story of the woman who are incarcerated in this prison and the staff who come into contact with them.

Holloway in North London is the largest women’s prison in Europe and, according to figures on the HM Prison Service website, holds up to 500 female inmates at a time. It was opened in 1852 as a mixed prison but became single sex in about 1902 due to increasing demand for females spaces. Those incarcerated range from petty thieves to high profile murderers, many of whom are seasoned re-offenders.

A new three part series, simply entitled Holloway, is to be shown on ITV1 in the coming weeks and will follow the lives of not only the prisoners but officers and medical staff in order you give the viewer an insight into the day-to-day goings on inside the famous prison.

The documentary will delve into the female criminality of today and examine the way in which the management at Holloway serves the lives of the inmates – from the fear of first time offenders to its use as a free drug rehab facility. As it also acts as a holding prison for those on their way to court or are placed there until they move on to other jails the average stay of a Holloway inmate is just 45 days.

Like all documentaries it’s about the people, their personalities and the situation they are in or eventually find themselves in. Some women are violent or self harm and need to be segregated whilst others need all the support they can get to manage their stint. Either way it's about charting personal journeys and their outcomes.

Sue Saunders, Governor of Holloway, says: “Our actual duty is not only to make sure these damaged women are held safely in our custody but it is also to make sure that they are treated humanely and encouraged to reduce their re-offending and successfully reintegrate back into society.”

The series also reinforces the shocking treatment of drug addicts in modern society, given that many repeat offenders want to be incarcerated in Holloway because for them it’s the only way of getting off drugs. It is revealed that most new arrivals go straight to “Ivor Ward” - the prison’s specialist rehab unit - which has success in helping some women stay clean and the programme states that up to 80 per cent of the inmates have drug related problems.

During the first episode one inmate, called May, reveals that she committed a crime on purpose after applying many times for detox treatment for heroin and being told she was not a priority. She is serving a six week sentence and desperately wants to be drug-free before her release so that she can take care of her five-year-old daughter.

She says during the show: “I want to be clean when I get out of here. I don’t even want to be on a tablet, a Nurofen, anything. If you get released when you are still on Methadone you will use. I just want to be totally clean.”

Holloway may or may not turn out to be amazing television but if anything it is good that ITV, despite its loss of revenues, staff cuts and reports of scaling down dramtic output, are still willing to air serious documentaries rather than tacky reality singing competitions or celebrity curling. It should be worth a try at least, as it surely can’t be worse than fictional attempts of entering this world such as Bad Girls and Prisoner: Cell Block H.

Holloway starts on ITV1 on Tuesday, March 17 at 9pm and will run for three weeks.

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