Scenes from Holloway, directed by Daisy-May Hudson and Sophie Compton

ONCE the prison gates have clanked closed behind someone, the chances are they will not want to step back through them inside, whether through coercion or by their own accord.

But for six former prisoners who did time at Holloway, the chance to explore the then-empty and semi-derelict building was an opportunity to come to terms with the experience.

Today, cranes tower over what will one day become Holloway Park.

But the 15-acre site in Camden Road will forever be linked to those who were incarcerated in Holloway Prison, first opened on the land in 1852 and becoming a notorious women-only gaol in 1903.

It closed in 2016 and in 2021, film makers Daisy-May Hudson and Sophie Compton managed to gain access to the empty prison before it was demolished – and they took with them six women who had all served sentences there.

The result is a powerful documentary called Holloway, which tells stories of what life was like behind the prison gates – and explores the contexts that occur when someone loses their liberty and becomes part of the criminal justice system.

It was a topic ripe to explore, explains Sophie.

“We knew the prison was significant,” she recalls. “We had done some work in the criminal justice system and in advocacy. We spoke to women who had been in  Holloway. We heard about life there – and we discussed how it would be to go back, with agency. There was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to do so, before it was demolished.”

The film-­makers canvassed the opinions of a number of people linked to the prison and found six who had served time there, who they felt would be able to contribute.

“It is huge undertaking, not just to go back to the space will bring back emotions and could be triggering – but to also do it on camera,” adds Daisy-May

“We spoke to 30 different women who had been in Holloway and from this we could see who was in the right place for that journey.”

What transpires is a heartfelt, careful consideration of what it is like to be inside, the reasons behind sentencing, and the impact prison terms can have.

The six contributors were asked to also exercise editorial control over the film – helping them take control of the narrative.

“We wanted to emphasise the lived experience,” says Sophie. “We needed their views front and centre – on-screen, but also off-screen.”

This meant the usual roles of director, producer, editor and cast were less relevant to the film’s production.

“We worked really hard to have a non-hierarchical way of filmmaking,” adds Daisy-May.

“Often with a director and producer there is a power imbalance – who is in charge, how the story is formed and told. We did as much as we could to dismantle this dynamic. We were very much led by the women’s voices and what they wanted from the film – they wanted as much context as possible to their stories.

“In the edit we sent a version over and they came back and said they wanted more humour in it. That was really powerful.

“These conversations were our north star.”

Holloway Prison is more than a building or a cog in the justice system. Because of the people who served sentences there, it is of historic importance.

“Holloway has impacted the lives of so many women,” explains Sophie. “It is a space where so many movements have as part of their stories – from the Suffragettes to Greenham Common. Many networks were made there.

“And yes – there was a lot of tragedy, but there was also a lot of lifesaving work based there. There were 30 charities inside the building. And because it was in central London, it was somewhere children could visit.”

There are lessons to take from Holloway’s past that can help shape reform today. This could be by establishing women’s centres for people convicted of a crime that approaches concepts of justice and recovery in a holistic way.

“Women’s centres can address problems in women’s prisons,” says Sophie.

“In most cases prison is not the right place for someone to be sent. So many are primary carers – 17,000 children a year are separated from their mothers because of imprisonment.

“Holloway is symbolic of how we should approach this conversation in the future.”

And while politicians discuss building more prisons to tackle a perceived need for more cell space – and to replace crumbling Victorian prisons that should be closed, and deal with the impact of outsourcing in the prison service – finding a more progressive way to deal with criminal justice, that seeks to rehabilitate the person convicted and follow a Scandinavian model, would be popular.

Politicians’ constant need to sound tough on crime doesn’t actually reflect public opinion, they believe.

“This film proves there is a public appetite for this type of work,” says Sophie.

“Our screenings have been sold out – and that is with no distributor. People care about this.”

And how to best reform a system that everyone involved accepts is in need of urgent improvement?

“We need to hear the voices of lived experience,” adds Daisy-May.

“It is the people who have lived through the system who can help offer answers as to how to solve problem. I find it surprising, for example, that on the newly formed Women’s Justice Board, only one person has lived experience of the prison system.”

Daisy-May has seen her feature, Lollipop, win critical acclaim for its portrayal of the Catch-22s that are built into the welfare state today.

And she says using film – both documentary and fiction – can be a powerful tool to vocalise systemic failures and their impact on the individual.“Having conversations that explain pain and hardship can be difficult to understand – it is hard to put someone into someone else’s shoes,” she reflects.

“But film has that capacity to transport emotion and put people directly into others’ shoes. These women are telling their radical truths.

“The film is about women in prison but it is also about humanity and how we deal with things. It is about bringing a sense of honesty to  how we look at places like prison and family courts, so there can be rigorous and open engagement.

“There are often reporting restrictions, for example, and often we feel unable to engage with what’s really happening. Getting information first hand helps it be truthful and it leads to genuine conversations that go beyond statistics and one dimensional representations of women.”

And as the documentary shows, for all the trauma the contributors have gone through, there is hope, too.

“There are many people doing amazing work, and those in the film are emblematic of using what you have lived through to help others,” adds Daisy-May.

“They inspire us and we hope it offers hope to others – not just enlightening those who have not had these experiences, but people who might be struggling with parts of their journey – seeing these six are role models and they hopefully will help people think: I can do that – joy and love is possible for me.”