As an ex-prisoners wife I take a great interest in reading about prisons & the criminal justice system. There seems to be a lot of books coming out now from Prison Officers, Retired Governors etc and they just seem to be jumping on the bandwagon. Telling stories that will shock and writing what readers expect to read. Mim Skinner is certainly not in that category! Jailbirds is written from the heart, with real feeling and honesty. She really cares about prison reform and mixes stark statistics with genuine knowledge & real life experience. Jailbirds will hopefully leave you thinking about the real women behind those prison gates, the mothers, daughters, sisters who are more than just a prison number. Not everyone in prison is an evil monster or a danger to society. Every single person in prison (just over 82000 at this precise moment in the UK) has a story, and it’s people like Mim who give them a voice.
Jailbirds is not an easy or fun read, but then how could it be? It is however, a wonderful insight into women in prison. Heartbreaking at times but she balances it with real kindness and lots of humour.
I can’t recommend this book highly enough. It really is fantastic.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me pleasure of reading this little gem. Also thank you to Mim Skinner for the book and all your amazing work

Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this book. I saw it reviewed in a magazine and knew instantly I would love it. A real, raw, frank, honest depiction of life within a women’s prison. Skinner writes in such an honest open way that I flew through this book, and found out so many things I had no idea about previously.



Thanks to Seven Dials and NetGalley for the Advance Review Copy in exchange for an honest review.

Although I am not teaching the subject currently, I started my teaching career as a Modern Studies teacher. By far my favourite topic to teach was Crime and the Law and I always found that resources and information relating specifically to women's incarceration were thin on the ground. If only I'd had this book available then. Stats are one thing, but real stories and perspectives are invaluable. I have moved on from Modern Studies teaching, but I'll be sure to recommend this book to the Modern Studies teachers in my school.



In this book, Mim Skinner, an Art teacher relates her experiences and reflections on working within the context of a women's prison. Interspersed amongst her personal anecdotes are statistics and facts about the realities of female incarceration in the UK today.

Skinner has a no-nonsense approach to the subject but her writing style remains warm and engaging and it's clear she genuinely cared about the women she worked with. The book offers a fascinating insight without ever descending into mawkishness. There is humour and warmth, but also sadness and frustration. There were times I laughed out loud but there were also times I gritted my teeth in despair.

I really enjoyed this fascinating insight into the experiences of working in a woman's prison. Interspersed with facts, personal reflections and humour it was an enlightening and thought provoking read.

This is a real eye opener- you will learn so much about women in prison and also about how the prison system works for female prisoners. It isn’t all sweetness and light, it is very raw , very really and heartbreaking.
Thank you to NetGalley for my eARC in exchange for my honest unbiased review

‘Jailbirds’ by Mim Skinner offers snapshot glimpses of what life is really like inside women’s prisons in England today based on her work as an art teacher in prisons and other community programmes. The glossaries are useful and help the reader to become immersed in the language and atmosphere of prison where offenders are known as residents, cells are pads etc. The women themselves and their backgrounds are complex and Skinner weaves their stories in with some sobering statistics, making a passionate case for a system which provides more effective rehabilitation.

Mim Skinner has written an amazing book which I just wish I could get all the people who believe that ‘prison is a holiday camp’ and that ‘all people in prison are bad/ evil’ to read.
The book sets out Mim’s experiences as an art teacher in a women’s prison. She details what she saw and some of the women’s stories (mainly anonymised). Mim has great respect for the officers who work in the system and is not blind to the faults of some of the women in the prison.
The book makes one question whether there is a different way to deal with women who have committed certain offences which lead to say serving six months in prison (Mim details this will lead to them losing their tenancy, may lead to their children being placed in care, but won’t qualify for any treatment whilst inside or any real help upon release).
A very thought provoking, interesting and insightful read.
Thanks to NetGalley for a Kindle copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

We frequently see and hear the media vilifying prison inmates for their actions, but what they fail to do is dig deeper into the stories of these convicts. Prison teacher Mim Skinner has produced a magnificent book in which she tells the stories of female inmates experiences and backgrounds with a crucial, non-judgemental tone. It makes for fascinating but often sad and poignant read, however, the humour throughout is injected into the narrative in all the right places in an effort to provide a balance between the light and shade. Skinner shows that many female inmates are there merely for finding a way to survive, eat, have shelter, warmth and have their basic human needs met.

The old outdated beliefs that someone is either good or bad are refuted here as we read through the individual cases you will see that it is simply not as black and white as some make it out to be. It is the only book to be published about a UK women's prison and it's a powerful, accessible and thoroughly eye-opening work which provides plenty of food for thought, and Ms Skinner treats these women with warmth and understanding. This is a book that shines a light on the complexities surrounding working and living in a women's prison. I thoroughly enjoyed learning about these women. Many thanks to Seven Dials for an ARC.

The author delves into her experiences working as a teacher in a women's prison to tell these women's personal stories.

I learned more about women's prison in this book than in... well, ever! Funny, insightful, heartbreaking. I read this book in a day and I've been talking about it for week.s

In the U.K., 5% of all prisoners are female. That’s over 4,000 women. Of these, 46% of them have experienced some form of domestic and/or sexual violence, and around 53% suffered from sexual, emotional or physical abuse in their childhood*. So why do we know so little about them? In a climate hot on feminism, women’s rights and empowering women, why are our most vulnerable seemingly left to fend for themselves, with decreasing funding and support, in a prison system that does nothing to stop the cycle of reoffending? They’re the forgotten women of our society.

Mim Skinner has done wonders here in exposing what life is really like for these women behind bars. Far from tarring everyone with the same brush, she seeks to show these women for what they are - resilient, forgiving and often the victim of a childhood that no one would wish for. The book is scattered with various accounts from different women about their time inside and what happens after, as well as stories from Mim’s own time working with them as a prison art teacher. There’s some wonderful stories of solidarity here, from the play that almost wasn’t, and the time she smuggled some giant veg out of the prison, as well as the many imaginative uses for tampons.

Mim does an excellent job of really bringing to life these many colourful, brave and brilliant women. I admit that, probably like most of society, I held an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ approach towards them, but I honestly can not recommend this book enough in bringing the needs of these women to my attention, and making the campaign for women’s services more visible. Mim has a passionate voice, and a strong conviction that feels very honest and open within the pages of her book. I also have a sneaky suspicion, that although not openly mentioned within her book, that the prison she worked within is my local one. It just made the women more ‘real’ to me, to realise that they’re within my own community.

Highly recommend to everyone. Don’t let these women stay hidden.



*figures taken from womeninprison.org.uk