The number of women in prison continues to grow with more than four times as many women currently being held at the Co-ed Facility than trainees (under 21 men). Last week the state at the Co-ed was 36 women and eight trainees. Lifestyle reporter Lawrence Trott and photographer Tamell Simons went behind the gates at the Co-ed Facility to learn about life in prison for women, most of them foreign nationals.

The trend of women being imprisoned for drug importation is similar to a period in the late 1970s when 34 women paid a huge price for their crimes.

However, unlike the '70s when a small cottage in Cedar Park housed them, the needs of Bermuda's growing female population are now more adequately met in the purpose-built Co-ed Facility in Ferry Reach.

There was also a time when women in prison in Bermuda could be counted on one hand. Decades later the women's section of the Co-ed Facility, which opened in 1985, is near full, with foreign nationals outnumbering the Bermudian women. Of the 36 inmates 27 are foreign nationals and all have either been sentenced for drug importation or are awaiting court appearances for such offences.

Of the 36 women, 26 have already been sentenced, while eight are on remand. One is being held on a civil matter while another is in 'safe custody', an alternative to being held at Hamilton Police Station.

About 15 of the women at the Co-ed are mothers, including one foreign national who has six children. Jackie (not her real name) is a 43-year-old serving a six year sentence for drug importation.

While she accepts both the responsibility for her actions and the punishment that has come with it, Jackie admits it has been tough being away from her children who range in age from three to 22. He mother also died while she has been in the Bermuda prison.

"In the year 2001 I had plans to visit Bermuda on vacation," she explained.

"I wanted to have the experience of another country, but regrettably I was pressured into bringing illegal drugs into Bermuda. I now regret doing so."

Unlike the local women, who still have family and friends to visit them, the foreign nationals seldom have visits. As a result they are allowed three phone calls a month - 20 minutes each time - to their loved ones. They also communicate through letters.

Jackie treasures those calls to her children who often ask the question she dreads most.

" Whenever I speak to my children on the phone it is so unbearable to hear them asking 'mommy, when are you coming home' or 'I am sick' or 'I don't have this or that'," she stated.

"For the two years I have been in prison I have felt so much agony, knowing that I must stand punishment for the wrong I have done. My children are suffering in the worst kind of way financially and physically. They are left without anyone to take proper care of them. I felt this could help support my children.

"The only thing I can say to the oldest is keep praying. They are staying in three different places but the people they are staying with cannot afford to send them to school."

Jackie grew up in a Christian family so trafficking in drugs was not something she saw herself doing. She also knew of the consequences, but the temptation of making quick money was too strong to resist.

"My cousin asked me to bring it here," explained Jackie who was travelling on a plane for the first time when she flew to the Island.

"I didn't know anybody in Bermuda at the time. I live to regret it day by day."

When her mother suffered a stroke last year, Jackie petitioned the Governor, asking to be allowed to go home. Before a decision could be made her mother died.

"She was helping with my children, it was more comfortable for my daughter to go and talk to her about stuff," explained Jackie who tried to keep her offence from her mother.

"She's a Christian and all the time I was here I tried to hide it (her offence) from her," she stated.

"Somehow it got out and on her dying bed she kept calling my name. When I understood she was sick I put to the Chief Officer that I wanted to petition. They investigated to see if it was true, only to call me upstairs to say she died two days later."

Jackie, who works in the prison's kitchen, accepts she has to pay for her crime. She is using her time to improve some of her skills through programmes offered by the Department of Corrections.

"I have been equipped with new skills in education which I will utilise when I go home," she assured.

"The skills I learned, like crocheting and making clothes, have helped me to do my time and not to worry about the children. When you are in 'lockdown' and by yourself is when it is most painful.

"I am more educated and equipped to deal with society and my personal affairs. I have also learned about the harmful effects illegal drugs have on society. The more I think about the effects, the more I regret bringing drugs into this country and pray for forgiveness.

"I must say to the people of Bermuda that I am sorry for my mistake. Also I thank the Department of Corrections for the opportunity to be more educated. I will endeavour to deter young women from being used as drug mules."

She added: "Recently I received a photograph of my baby and there were other children in the picture and I couldn't recognise which one was my baby. I cried and I cried. I left her at one year and eight months and now she's three. Some mothers have been down here for four years and haven't seen their children."

Dr. Hermoine Jackson, Clinical Psychologist for both the Co-ed Facility and Prison Farm, has seen how difficult it is for the foreign mothers to cope with being away from their children. She urges them, in group or individual sessions, to take responsibility for their actions.

"I provide comfort on two levels, whether on remand status or as an inmate when I do their assessment, or if they request to see me with concerns about their family and if they have children," explained Dr. Jackson.

"I listen and I try to tell them to be as much support as they can be from where they are.

"Lots of times I get questions like 'what do I tell my child?'. One lady's child was four or five years old and asked 'when are you coming home and why are you here?' They have to explain on their (child's) level.

"On the treatment side, I believe you have to treat the whole person, not just look at psychological or emotional behaviour. I try to empower them and give them what they need.

"If someone needs education to do better I try to help them find whatever resources that is. One lady in a group that I have now came to me after the group and explained that it wasn't that she didn't want to read, but that she didn't read well. So I found out about a tutor for her."

A number of classes are offered to the inmates in such areas as computer skills, maths, sewing, bookkeeping and hairdressing. It helps pass the time as well as equipping them with new skills.

The female prison population is made up of women from the United States, West Indians, Canada, England, Holland, as well as one from Guatemala who speaks no English and needs the assistance of an interpreter.

"I tell them to look at their choices," said Dr. Jackson.

"The foreign nationals complain a lot, 'if I were home my sentence wouldn't be like this, I wouldn't have to go through this stuff, they treat us differently'.

"But do you expect people to feel sorry for you? You brought drugs into somebody else's country. You had a choice and can't blame it on someone else. I always say if you don't figure out what is is that contributed to the way you behave then you are doomed to repeat the same mistake.

"They don't like to hear that initially. I let them know I do not look down on them and that I treat them the person, not the behaviour, because I believe there is no such thing as a bad person, but the behaviour you do is what is bad."

The Co-Ed Facility opened in 1985 to replace the women's prison in Prospect and the Senior Training School in St. George's.

Assistant Commissioner Randall Woolridge recalls that at one time in the late 1970s up to 34 women were crammed into the old female prison as a result of a number of Jamaicans being caught smuggling drugs into the country.

"We had a room towards the end and five sets of bunk beds in there," Mr. Woolridge remembers.

The old prison bears no resemblance to the current facility which has a total of 36 cells, some with double bunks. A total of 26 cells are for those women who have already received a sentence, while 11 others are for remands and two for discipline purposes.

"We are putting more things in place to assist them because women come in with unique problems," said the Assistant Commissioner who notes that women are not usually repeat offenders.

"Their rehabilitative skills are much easier met today," he says.

"We are finding the increase in the foreign nationals again like when we had the spate of it in the 1970s."

The longest sentence is one of 14 years for drug importation.

"Women seem to express more disappointment in themselves," said Dr. Jackson who noted that in the last two months six or seven women have been sentenced to terms of imprisonment.

"Their concern is about explaining it to their children. Although we have females who commit crimes it is not a societal norm. Women are not expected to be criminals, they are supposed to be the soft one.

"Sometimes you'll find that the female inmate portrays a harder image than the male inmate. That's just the way they cope and it is used as a defence mechanism against their real feelings, to protect their vulnerability."

Dr. Jackson, who is also a qualified Sex Offender Treatment Provider, is responsible for the needs of about 120 inmates at the Co-Ed and Prison Farm with various programmes. Women's needs differ and in the year since Dr. Jackson joined the Department of Corrections two women have given birth in prison. The new-born baby is allowed to stay with the mother until a certain age.

"Working with females is more comfortable because I can put my arms around them if they are in pain," said Dr. Jackson.

Just ten minutes after that statement was made, Dr. Jackson was called out of the interview by a prison officer to deal with a distraught foreign national who had just returned from court.

She had been sentenced in March to four-and-a-half years for importing heroin but the Crown successfully appealed against the sentence on the grounds it was too lenient. She ended up with an eight-year sentence which means it will be even longer before she can see her children.

Such is the price to pay for the crime of importing drugs into Bermuda.

In Friday's Lifestyle: Two local women, one 48, the other 23, talk about their crime - drug importation - and life in prison.