Report and Community Awareness – Visit to Gattree Gate Prison in Leicester
We would like to inform you that members of SOCOPA recently paid an official visit to Gattree Gate Prison in Leicester, where several Somali inmates are being held. During the visit, we were able to meet with 5 out of 8 Somali prisoners currently held there and had the opportunity to engage in meaningful conversations with them.
Gattree Gate Prison is a Category B facility, meaning it houses prisoners serving long-term sentences of 20 to 40 years. It’s important to highlight that the inmates have access to a range of educational and developmental opportunities:
• Each prisoner has their own private cell.
• There are opportunities to pursue education, including vocational training and university-level studies.
• Prisoners can also work inside the prison and earn up to £2 per day.
• They have access to facilities such as the gym, sports, and other recreational activities.
However, the main need expressed by the inmates was the lack of visitation and contact with the outside Somali community. They emphasized how disconnected they feel and asked for:
• Regular visits to stay updated about the Somali community outside.
• Cultural and entertainment materials such as Somali songs, poetry, stories, and folk tales.
• Messages and greetings on special days like Eid, Somalia’s Independence Day, and other major community celebrations.
They shared that during their 15–20 years of incarceration, we were the first Somali organization to visit them, which they deeply appreciated. As a token of goodwill, we brought Somali sweets (xalwo), biscuits, and dates. They were overjoyed—one of the inmates said, “I haven’t tasted xalwo in 20 years.”
They urged the wider Somali community to take responsibility for visiting Somali prisoners across the UK, pointing out that even the deceased are visited and prayed for, while they are alive and in great need of social contact and support.
The inmates also explained that UK prisons operate differently from one another, each with its own rules. They mentioned there are prison magazines and services like GemaRecords and Amazon for Prisons, but they do not provide Somali-language books or media. They estimated that there are over 700 Somali prisoners across various UK prisons, which presents a huge potential for Somali content creators and businesses to reach this underserved audience—especially through digital cultural and literary products.
On the religious front, they expressed no major concerns, as they have access to a regular imam for Friday prayers and four annual visits from Muslim organizations that bring food and deliver sermons.
Acknowledgements and Conclusion
We would like to sincerely thank Ms. Paaya Femida, a staff member at Gattree Gate Prison, who was the one to contact us upon learning that some Somali inmates in her facility were longing to see fellow members of their community. Her outreach made this visit possible.
We also express our heartfelt gratitude to the inmates we visited, who shared their feelings and their hopes of staying connected with the free Somali community. They advised that community unity is essential, and that both children and adults should be educated and made aware of the consequences of crime, to help prevent them from ending up in prison—whether for a short or long sentence.
Finally, we are looking forward to continuing this work with the support of Ms. Paaya, who promised to provide us with more information about Somali and East African prisoners in East Midlands and West Midlands facilities.
Community Awareness Message:
We call upon the entire Somali community in the UK to:
• Reconnect and maintain contact with our brothers and sisters in prison.
• Organize regular visits and moral support.
• Establish networks or community groups to support Somali prisoners and help meet their needs.
Compassion and unity are the foundation of a strong and resilient community.