| Anne Owers |
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| Anne Owers: Chief Inspector of Prisons
Good morning sir. Hello girls
Anne greets me in a bright and spacious office. She is wearing a dramatic black jacket, looking very elegant, but my eye is drawn to some pencil drawings which have a feel of Hogarth about them. "Done by prisoners", she says and enthusiastically explains about the art work done by prisoners and the exhibitions which are held of their work. It is clear that she values their talents. She shows me a lovely piece of embroidery. It looks like a church kneeler of a mythical seahorse figure. Many male prisoners have taken to embroidery. Even more so than the women. A large and luridly red painting is the view of a closed prison courtyard: the red is the sun reflected. It might well have the title 'Hell', but in fact it is called 'Xmas Morning'. |
What was the most memorable event of your career?
My first unannounced inspection. One of my first inspections. Dartmoor has an impressive presence even before arriving. It is on the open moor. Built of grey granite with a Latin (parcere subiectis - spare the vanquished.) inscription over the door. A relic from the Napoleonic wars in more ways than one. Inside a wire 'cage' for potential suicides. Some of the 'vermin' as the prisoners have been referred to. Thought of as a hard place for hard men. When I arrived at the prison gate with two of my inspectors, a man and a woman, there came a cheery greeting from the gate: "Good morning sir! Hello girls". I thought "there's a bit to be done here", but it was an iconic moment. I was proud of my report. It was open and honest. Telling it like it was. My predecessor cast a long shadow, and they thought that a woman coming in from the voluntary sector might be a pushover. When the report came out it was front page news.
But the greatest satisfaction was to have the prison service put their hands up and admit that things needed to change. It established me, and the report was spot on. So I was fortunate that my first report was of such a bad prison. I called it 'the prison time forgot'.
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Three Role Models?
I think the one that drives me hardest is family and community. I grew up in a coal mining village. Amongst people who 'didn't matter'. My grandfather was a coal miner all his life, except that as a teenager he fought at Gallipoli and on the Somme. His first time out of the country, and he went straight to Suvla Bay. I used to go for long walks with him when I was young. He had, as many others had, a huge amount of talent that was never used in his day-job. He read all his life, and after he retired he read Voltaire and Gibbon's "Decline and Fall". My grandfather's qualities were continuing intellectual curiosity; a refusal to remain in the box where others put you. But also you were conscious of a huge and consuming trauma, never spoken about, but you could guess around the edges.
My father was similar. He was a joiner, worked at the colliery and the shipyard, he loved music and opera. He won prizes for singing, conducted and wrote both music and opera, and wrote short stories. He conducted a number of local choirs, and I sang.
But that all sounds very patriarchal.
My grandmother is a different kind of marker for me: she was a quiet woman. Quiet all her life, yet she was the important gel in this family. For me she is a bench mark for fairness: How does the system, or the prison, treat a person like her? A person who doesn't want to make a fuss.
So it's about people who didn't matter to the system. A sense of people easily marginalized and written off. But a strong people and talent in that community. I think that my belief systems came from my mother. She was my role model. She had very strong views about what's right and wrong.
If you came from the North East, you did not identify much with those 'down south'; in a mining village it was rather like a colonial experience, where you perceived they were the ones doing things to you. The role models my mother held up to me were people who also stood up against the system: Back to top |
What was the most surprising event in your life?
When I realized that actually people thought of me as a role model, when I felt I was chuntering along, getting it not quite right. What I wish I'd known earlier is that we (women) never think that we get it quite right. I have a friend, a quite senior legal figure, highly thought of, and she said, "I always think that tomorrow will be the day that they find me out". I have never heard a senior male legal figure say that. I am sure they think it but they never say it.
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Different For Women?
Do you see a difference being the first woman to hold this office?
Yes and No, you are the totality of what you are including gender. But of course it affects the way people relate to you. In terms of this job, a woman is seen as non-threatening. When I speak to prisoners or staff I'm often seen as a non-threatening woman and I'm not threatening their masculinity. So they sometimes feel that they can talk to me, and tell me things they would otherwise not say. But, you work with what you've got. It doesn't affect my approach to the job. Interestingly, though, there are many women in the voluntary sector.
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How is prison different for women?
Women have a big sense of responsibility for home and family. Women react very badly to inactivity, and to having no responsibility for themselves and others. Women generally need social networks, and the lack of social networks affects them badly. Also, when a woman goes into prison mostly she loses her children, she may be moved miles from home. She probably loses her partner, she often loses her home.
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I hope you enjoyed this interview. Please check out others that may be of interest to you in our archives.
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| Christina
Woman on a Mission
To inspire, delight and empower.
Motivational speaker, NLP Master Practitioner, Counsellor and Coach
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