Kate looks mischievous as she’s searched by prison guards before entering HMP High Down
The Princess of Wales has sat down with serving prisoners at HMP High Down in Surrey ahead of Addiction Awareness Week.
arrives for a visit to HMP High Down in Surrey (Image: PA)
Princess Kate arrived at HMP High Down in Surrey this morning to learn about how The Forward Trust – which she is a patron of – is supporting those in the criminal justice system to manage and recover from their addictions.
The royal, who shadowed the experience of a family during a normal visit – heard about the work that the charity does inside the Category C jail to support prisoners to manage their addiction and to help break the trauma of addiction.
She heard about the impact the security procedures visitors have to go through have on families and will learn about the recent efforts HMP High Down has put into making the experience a more positive one for children in particular – which coincides with the royal’s pioneering work into early childcare, having launched her Shaping Us campaign at the start of the year.
She also went through the security protocol herself, sitting down as a specially trained sniffer dog checked her over.
It comes as Princess Anne’s courtiers are understood to be reviewing her security arrangements for prison visits following Daniel Khalife’s escape from prison.
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The Princess will shadow the experience of a family during a normal visit (Image: PA)
Serving prisoners working with the charity, who have previously suffered from addiction, also got the chance to chat with the Princess of Wales about the current programmes provided to them and the support they are receiving to manage and recover from their addictions
Princess Kate also visited the prison’s on-site gourmet restaurant – The Clink – where prisoners train in hospitality.
The visit comes ahead of Addiction Awareness Week, which will take place from 28th October to 4th November.
Last year, Kate – who has supported addiction charities since the beginning of her royal life – marked Addiction Awareness Week by releasing a video in which she described addiction as a “serious mental health condition” whilst also urging sufferers to “not let shame hold you back from getting the help you so desperately need”.
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Kate is patron of a number of charities focusing on mental health support (Image: PA)
She added: “Attitudes to addiction are changing. But we are not there yet, and we need to be. Still, the shame of addiction is stopping people and families asking for help and people are still tragically losing their lives.”
A lot of the Princess’s work over the past decade has been aimed at a greater understanding of mental health challenges and how these can be linked to the earliest years of a person’s life.
She is also patron of a number of charities which are focused on promoting and providing mental health support to those in need.
In 2017, Princess Kate championed the Heads Together mental health campaign.
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Princess Kate will also visit the prison’s on-site gourmet restaurant, The Clink (Image: PA)
Along with her husband, Prince William, they lead a coalition which unites eight mental health charities and aims to change the national conversation on mental health.
The charities include Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families, Best Beginnings, CALM – The Campaign Against Living Miserably, Contact (a military mental health coalition), Mind, Place2Be, The Mix and YoungMinds.
This year’s Addiction Awareness Week’s theme is “Everybody Knows Somebody”, which aims to highlight the vast array of people across society who are affected by addiction.
