“I WAS NEVER in trouble and I don’t even understand why I went [to prison]… The judge looks at you in a different way. They think that when they see a Traveller, that they’re going to be always in trouble.”
The justice system as a whole has let her down throughout her life, with Wilde saying the gardaí treated her unfairly and like she “was an outcast”. “I wasn’t treated at all like I was a human being.” The majority of the offences male Travellers were serving sentences for related to theft, burglary or robbery. Equally, the majority of the Traveller women in prison on that day – 11 out of the total of 16- were serving sentence for theft.
Maria Joyce, coordinator with the National Traveller Women’s Forum said consideration also has to be given to the role of policing and the poor relationship that has existed between the community and An Garda Síochána for many years. Recent workshops conducted by the Travellers Equality Justice Project and Cork Traveller Women’s Network had similar findings, with the majority surveyed reporting “that they had experienced prejudiced or racist remarks from the bench during their interactions with the Court’s system”.
“The Probation Service is now looking at a new tool that is more sensitive to ethnic minorities and in the meantime we’re asking them to change the way they interpret those assessments and the way they are presented to a judge. “Even when the K-word is being used, there sometimes isn’t an understanding of how problematic that is… People don’t realise that they only use that word with negative connotations, even if you’re not using it to describe a Traveller, it is still offensive.”
She said that while some prison officers are doing their jobs well, those who hold openly negative views of Travellers in women’s prisons can “make life difficult” for the women.Source: Photo - Oireachtas TV The reported added that “in most cases, the women involved did not feel safe to make complaints in writing to the governor for fear of further penalisation from the staff involved”.
The training also encourages prison officers to “invest additional time in communicating with and supporting Travellers to engage with service providers, avail of entitlements or apply for privileges”, according to a spokesperson.Because Wilde didn’t feel comfortable around other inmates due to their harsh treatment of her, she was place on a protection regime.
noteworthy_ie Here’s an idea maybe act civilized don’t break the law avoid prison
noteworthy_ie I'd suggest avoiding criminal activity as a great starting point.
noteworthy_ie Isolated and traumatised 😂 I'm pretty sure no one working at the has lived anywhere near a traveller. The country is traumatised from putting up with the criminality that comes from travellers. I swear, Irish media and NGOs are f*cking useless.
noteworthy_ie Why don’t the Journal go out around the country and speak to the innocent people who have been attacked by Travellers in their homes etc or do the ultra left Journal think that would be racist?
noteworthy_ie I find this a bit confusing - is it being implied that the state should not imprison people who break the law because they’re travellers?
noteworthy_ie Do the crime(24/7) do the time🤠
noteworthy_ie Blind journalism more like. Media afraid to report on traveller crime. They don't even say traveller in crime reports anymore. Making travellers the victim whilst ignoring victims of their crimes and disparaging gardai isn't journalism, its activism.
noteworthy_ie always the victim
noteworthy_ie I've been a victim of them multiple times when I lived in a rural area. They were a nightmare, and the Garda could do nothing!. The people who write this nonsense have probably never had to deal with them in anyway
noteworthy_ie Wow the Journal has hit a new low. Such gutter journalism. Traveller crime is off the scale in rural Ireland. Spare any thoughts for the victims of Traveller crime?
noteworthy_ie 'If you can't do the time, don't do the crime.'
noteworthy_ie Travellers are a different race? And here I was thinking it was a cultural thing? Odd.
noteworthy_ie If they cut down on the thieving they wouldn't be locked up in the first place no?