Privileged Kate Middleton has confessed to her shock after encountering first-hand the hell many imprisoned women go through on their path to detention.
WATCH: Kate Middleton sweetly hugs royal fan
Visiting Send Prison, near Woking, Surrey, to talk to inmates and former inmates, the royal confessed to her distress upon hearing many of the women’s stories of abuse and addiction.
‘It really shocked me when I came here last time how early the challenges were that you faced,’ the Duchess told ex-offenders, including three she first met in 2015, while they were still inmates.
She remarked on how many of the women had faced tough times and childhood traumas – including abusive parents and addiction – noting with sadness ‘how early you could take it back.’
Many of the women affirmed to the Duchess that their problems had begun in childhood.
One inmate told the Duchess how her downward spiral began when her parents split. She added that the prison’s programs had helped her begin to put her life back together.
‘What they have done here has literally changed my life. It’s a miracle,’ she told Kate.
‘Coming to jail is one of the best things that has ever happened to me.’
Kate said that she had heard such sentiments before, and appeared to voice her support for earlier intervention, to head off spells in prison.
‘It’s so often I hear that,’ said Kate. ‘Why does it have to get to that point before people receive the help and support?’
The Duchess further told the women: ‘I’m hugely passionate about trying to really help get into this crisis trying to help provide that prevention mechanism and that support system in our communities. Particularly that support in the early years of life.’
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
