Prison apologises to woman visitor locked in toilet for almost a day

Wednesday 27th July 2011, 11:30AM BST.

Geoff MahyA FEMALE visitor was locked in a prison toilet for 23 hours last month, Home minister Geoff Mahy (pictured) officially confirmed yesterday.

It is the first time the Home Department has publicly admitted the incident took place.

When the Guernsey Press made enquiries last month deputy chief officer Mark Lempriere would neither confirm nor deny the report – he would only say that an ‘incident’ was being looked into.

Now the minister has confirmed that the woman, whose identity has not been revealed, was trapped in the prison visitor’s toilet for nearly a day after visiting her prisoner husband. He blamed it on ‘human error’.

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  1. 1
    vic gamble

    …yep there is such a shortage of prisoners let’s lock a few visitors away to boost the numbers….

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  2. 2
    A.J.

    Perhaps she will sue for wrongful inprisonment!

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  3. 3
    Martino

    Perhaps the department should give her some financial compensation in lieu!

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  4. 4
    Nobody

    Is it possible she got locked in on purpose to try and get compensation ? I mean how was she found 23 hours later ? did she not shout to try and alert someone. I fully admit I have never been prison visiting so have no idea how it works.

    But I think I smell a rat on this one, surely the warders count people in and out don’t they ?

    So could it be a prisoner and a prison worker trying it on ?

    Just speculating of course, as is so easy to do t’nternet

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  5. 5
    Sugared Brazil Nut

    She spent longer in there than some paedophiles might have to do if Sumption gets his way.

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  6. 6
    Chris P Bacon

    This is a complete lack of attention to detail by the prison service who should really have rather stringent checks in place to stop this from occuring. I fully believe she should be compensated hansomely for any distress. Whats next prisoner visits to schools.

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  7. 7
    slep

    They got well bogged down trying to flush out this matter!

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  8. 8
    Hello

    It is probably safe to assume that prisoners clean the visiting area out of hours as is common in UK prisons. Therefore one would expect that prison staff checked these areas after visiting hours to ensure that no contraband is left ready to be collected by inmates later?

    If they miss a grown woman what hope is there of finding a mobile phone or bag of smack?

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  9. 9
    Mr G

    This has got to be one of the funniest stories in quite some time, I had a chuckle.

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  10. 10
    Gsy Gal

    At least She wouldn’t have had the problem of being caught short …. Sorry its not funny

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  11. 11
    gbc

    Joking aside, the poor woman was stuck in a room for 23 hours and clearly they don’t check visitors out (or even clean the toilets). I believe they take all your belongings from you when you arrive, therefore she couldn’t call anyone, and there are whole sections of the prison they don’t even check… I dread to think if it had been an elderly person, or someone that needed medication!

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  12. 12
    Ray

    The Shawshank Redemption or any other prison film would have shown the lady how to get out of that situation (I don’t mean dig a tunnel with a teaspoon)just tap on the pipes and it would be heard all over the prison

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  13. 13
    Internee No 73658402

    I wish it to be known that I have no connections with this lady and she was not coming to visit me.

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  14. 14
    kat

    This is sending out a wrong message .how can they not see that a certain amount went in and not the same came out
    It is a disgrace .why was this woman not report as missing from her own family?
    I know the area is secure but a prisoner could have also gone out to keep the numbers up to the amount that went in.
    Someone somewhere is not doing their job properly as this toilet had to be unlocked for her to get into why did not the same officer notice she did not come out
    shoddy work indeed!.

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  15. 15
    sarnia expat

    What I thought was the best bit of all about this story was the additional note being put in the GEP the next day – to say that she was NOT (repeat not) visiting her ex-husband, but visiting a friend. My advice would be – get new friends and widen your horizons!!!!

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  16. 16
    A.J.

    Ray

    Scream and shout,that, may have worked!

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  17. 17
    Internee No 73658402

    Perhaps she was happier in there than at home tidying up the garden.

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  18. 18
    Zab

    I can just imagine it on the block, the officer doing the rounds the soft melody behind them “Oh dear what can the matter be……..
    Ronnie Barker couldn’t make it up.

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  19. 19
    sarnia expat

    Actually – this story brings to mind a certain “care home” who regularly used to take calls from the landlord of the nearest hostelry who would say “Sister? Have you lost ones of yours again….” To be honest, we never really kept a decent head count up to date…

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