A woman in her 50s approaches me. In one hand, she is carrying two, slightly torn black bin bags bulging with clothes, while the other hand rests on a pram where a little bundle of joy lies asleep. It is January and despite only just coming inside from the cold street, her forehead is shiny with small droplets of perspiration. Her face is drawn, her body vibrating a little. Her mouth does not move, but she speaks to me. I feel her eyes desperately search my face for an indication of hope, and this tells me that she needs my help.

One bus, two trains and a 40-minute walk later, Linda has arrived. Linda is not her real name of course, but she is a real person. Linda has not been to a prison before. Then again, neither has Linda's daughter. She tells me this while scanning the room suspiciously. I explain that we are sat a little outside the prison in the prison visitor's centre and that I work with the prison family support team. We drink a cup of tea together, and I try to answer her questions: “Do I have the right ID for the visit?”; “Who do I give the bin bags of clothes to?”; “Is she safe?” I learn that Linda is proud to be Nana to the bundle of joy still asleep in the pram, as well as to two little blonde-haired boys – one aged seven and one aged five. Fighting back tears, she tells me that the children have not seen their mum since Thursday morning. She tells me that the teachers had phoned her and asked her to collect the boys from school. Linda had been confused and worried but she went, still wearing her bright green ASDA T-shirt, and was perspiring much like she is today – except today is Tuesday.

Linda said that her daughter had been summoned to court on Thursday, but until the school had phoned, she had thought nothing of it. She explained that the solicitor had reassured them that a non-violent, first-time offence like her daughter's – and especially a sole carer to three little boys – would not result in a custodial sentence. Since Thursday, Linda had spoken to her daughter once: a telephone call lasting no more than six minutes.