Dangerous female prisoners offered Gwyneth Paltrow-style treatments and yoga behind bars for 'holistic wellbeing'
Female inmates at the largest women's prison in Europe — the maximum-security HMP Bronzefield at Ashfield — are getting access to 'holistic' wellness opportunities at a center where they can indulge in new age-style activities such as yoga, dance, pilates, tai chi, meditation and breathing exercise - facilities which one source described as "something from actress Gwyneth Paltrow’s lifestyle website Goop".
According to a report in the Mirror, HMP Bronzefield was given the wellness center to give it an overall '“gentler theme”, according to an insider who was quoted. The female prisoners who happen to be serving jail time there are considered to be some of Britain’s most dangerous female prisoners. The source said, "This is like something from actress Gwyneth Paltrow’s lifestyle website Goop. It is certainly a different approach – let’s hope it works." Jail watchdog the Independent Monitoring Board said their new approach is a way of changing directions and concentrating on “holistic wellbeing”.
Three teachers have been hired to teach dance, meditation, and yoga, and the jail that can hold up to 550 prisoners also offers good behavior incentives. The inspector also noted, "The provision of film-night packs containing coffee, chocolate and snacks; extra television channels; and weekly film screenings have been welcomed by the prisoners and were noted positively.” It must be noted here that prisoners at a different location were given access to therapy goats. Last year, prisoners were also provided with virtual reality headsets which they could use to go on holidays to exotic locations such as the Great Barrier Reef.
A spokesperson from Sodexo, which runs the Bronzefield prison, also informed that use of weights and cardio gear, help inmates manage conflict. The spokesperson said, "We also offer qualifications in healthy living and personal training which provide new skills for the women and can help to reduce re-offending after release."
Some of the prisoners who are being held at this privately run prison include 37-year-old Joanna Dennehy, who is a serial killer. She received a full-life term in 2013 for stabbing to death three men. Hailing from Peterborough, Dennehy was branded by a judge as "cruel, malicious and manipulative” in addition to having “sadistic lust for blood”. Dennehy is considered one of the UK’s most dangerous prisoners. In July 2018, it was reported that she was attempting to pen a blood-soaked erotic fiction about a woman who has sex with men before murdering them.
Another prisoner who is reportedly being held in this prison happens to be Shauna Hoare, who is serving 17 years for killing Bristol teen Becky Watts. Watts was killed by her stepbrother Nathan Matthews who suffocated her with his girlfriend Hoare; she was then chopped to bits and stashed in a suitcase. Footage also showed how much Hoare enjoyed lying to the cops right after dismembering Watts.
The list of dangerous inmates also includes 31-year-old Roshonara Choudhry who is serving 15 years for the stabbing of Labour MP Stephen Timms in 2010. The MP survived the attack, but her Old Bailey trial heard that she had a hit-list of MPs who voted for the Iraq War.