Natasha Avery
02.11.2011 Natasha Avery has been released today!
Natasha was remanded in May 2007 and sentenced in January 2009 to 9 years for conspiracy to blackmail in connection with the SHAC campaign.
Birthday: 28th December
Letter from Natasha, 1st August 2010
Hi everybody,
Time is really flying and the longer I’m in jail the quicker it goes. I’m really busy and that’s why it goes so fast I think. I’ve always found jail no big deal. I remember the first time I got remanded, Heather and I got carted off to some dump of a jail in Redditch of all places and I thought “Is this it?” Things are so often worse in your imagination than they are in real life, and the years that I spent at boarding school (before getting expelled!) were good preparation, even though the people here are somewhat different it has to be said!
Everyone is different though and there are lots of women in prison with mental health issues and all sorts of other problems who really struggle and the ambulance regularly calls to take women to hospital who have self-harmed very seriously or tried to take their own lives which is really sad. I try to look out for those people, it’s amazing what a smile and a friendly chat can do and for me is part of what prison is all about, sticking together and getting through it.
We’re still very busy in the gardens, it’s non-stop as all you gardeners know and there’s always masses to do. I go to the gym a lot and have been running often which I love – there’s nothing like it for feeling good – well, not in here anyway! I read a lot and spend a lot of time writing to all of you which I love doing, and also to Gregg. We number all our letters to make sure that none get “lost” in the post and I’m on number 2809 – good going in just over 3 years – a record surely?!
The Governor here who is a friendly, approachable man and a breath of fresh air in a system where a lot of people have a permanent scowl on their face (not pretty), sorted out a visit for me with Gregg. It was just heaven to see him (Gregg, not the Governor) and he looked so fit and strong. My heart soared when he walked into the visits hall with a beaming smile on his face, I can still see it now. We are always together usually and I still haven’t got used to us being apart. I never will and miss him constantly. He is my rock and my inspiration, the love of my life and so much else besides, but I’ll spare you the Mills & Boon stuff and save it for him!
There is so much to laugh about in jail and we all do, often! For instance recently I wasn’t allowed to have a clothing catalogue a friend had brought in and was told the reason was in case the pages had acid (LSD) soaked into the paper! The friend who brought it is in her sixties and works at a wildlife sanctuary so is a rather unlikely drugs pusher (unlike prison guards – one in four, according to a recent investigation, is involved in smuggling drugs into prisons, not that I’m casting aspersions on anyone who works here of course!) Can you imagine anything more unpleasant than taking hallucinogenic drugs in jail – definitely not my idea of fun! I also wasn’t allowed to have disposable razors. We have to use the cheap Bic ones they dish out here, the ones that mean you stagger out of the showers slashed to bits and dripping in blood like a character in a low budget horror film!
I’ve been incredibly lucky to have found fellow prisoners throughout my sentence that I get on really well with and have a laugh with. I’ve got some great friends here, in for all sorts of crimes from fraud to armed robbery to murder. They are wonderful, funny, feisty women with loads going for them and we all look after each other and really do laugh all day long. The foibles and absurdities of the prison service really do have to be experienced to be believed!
A lot of you have asked what is happening about my ROTL (Release On Temporary Licence) and the answer is that your guess is as good as mine! Despite the offer of two excellent gardening jobs, I’ve still heard nothing at all from the prison about what the position is, despite being 9 months past my eligibility date now. It comes as no surprise of course, but the blatant discrimination against animal rights prisoners on these issues throughout the prison service really does beggar belief and speaks volumes about what is going on behind the scenes. A lot of prisoners and even prison guards have commented on how unfair it is and their support is great. Yet again the vivisection industry says, “jump” and the powers that be say “how high”.
As always the Vegan Prisoner Support Group and the ALFSG have been second to none in their help and support and our movement is immeasurably stronger because of these two longstanding organisations and the dedicated hardworking, professional people who make them what they are. They make a massive difference to prisoners so please support them if you can.
Of course prison isn’t always a bed of roses and it would be misleading to suggest that it is. Our beloved dog Bonnie dying recently hit me like a sledgehammer – you forget the physical pain and effect of grief till it happens again don’t you? I remember actually gasping for breath as if I’d been punched in the stomach when I read the letter telling me she’d died.
One of the things that has given me incredible strength and resilience throughout my time in jail is the superb support from all of you. I am constantly struck and moved by the warmth and love in your letters, the thought that goes into the things you send me and the effort you go to to come and see me. A dear friend in very poor health recently took a taxi all the way here and back from Sussex to visit me because she didn’t want to let me down. As always actions really do speak louder than words – now where have I heard that before! All the notes and visits, cards and letters and everything you all do to make us feel cared for and supported make us invincible and that really is what prisoner support is all about. Don’t ever underestimate how powerful it is, and how much it gets up the noses of the powers that be. They’ve arrested us, made sure we got totally disproportionate and excessive sentences and separated a lot of us into different jails across the country in a vain attempt to isolate us and break our spirits. Thanks to all of you they have failed completely and utterly.
A dear friend recently sent me this poem. It was Nelson Mandela’s favourite poem when he was on Robben Island and I wanted to share it with all of you and with prisoners everywhere:
Invictus by William Ernest Henley
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
Love, respect and solidarity to everyone and to all my fellow prisoners. We’ll all be free again one day and one thing’s for sure, we’ll have plenty of stories for the pub!
Natasha xxx
Letter from Natasha, 29th October 2009
Hi everybody,
First of all I just want to say that everyone’s support has been absolutely amazing. I adore mail times and everyone always comments on the big piles of post I get. Thank you too to everyone who visits. It is such a joy to sit down for an hour and a half with friends, to laugh, hear all the news and talk about what’s going on in the world. Thanks to everyone who sends stamps, stationery, books, cards, money and computer research, and the people who contribute to our dogs’ upkeep. You make us all feel 100% supported and cared for. To those of you we mither with requests and shopping orders, you go way beyond the call of duty and we love you! A special Christmas mention to George and Shirley who have got all our dogs, look after them so brilliantly and keep us constantly updated with photos and news: thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
I’m blissfully happy working in the gardens here and doing lots of exercise, including 5 or 6 mile runs every week. Those of you who run regularly will know how amazingly laid back and relaxed it makes you feel. Lots of exercise has definitely contributed to me sailing through this sentence. I can’t wait to run outside in the forest with Gregg and the dogs again. Treadmills don’t come close – I long to be covered in mud!
Since the last ARPS newsletter, I’ve had 2 visits with Gregg, the 1st one, me going there, was a complete shambles and to cut a long story short, we didn’t get there till 3:30, when their visits were due to end at 4. They let us stay a bit longer but it was rather fraught, though it was still so amazing to be together. As soon as they took the handcuffs off when we got there and let me through the door, I ran across the visits room to him – eh, it was like something out of one of them romantic films!
The second time I was going to work when a guard said I had a visit. I was surprised as you usually get a slip under your door telling you you’ve got a visit unless it’s a private detective – yes we’ve had one of those in since the last newsletter too! He came to serve us with a Scottish injunction from Fidelity Investments – as if a 9 year prison sentence and indefinite ASBOs isn’t enough! Funnily enough I didn’t feel like going on a visit with him so he had a wasted journey! I went up to the visits hall and Gregg was there. It was a complete surprise and just the most brilliant visit in every way, so loving, great fun and also an opportunity to talk about important things like where on Earth we are going to live when we get out! He looked incredibly fit and healthy and is as strong as ever. I’ve seen prison smash so many people’s relationships to pieces, but with Gregg and me all they have achieved is to make us love each other even more. He is such an inspiration to me and the source of so much strength, and I can’t wait to be back with him where I belong.
He and I reached our FLED date on 2nd November this year, 2 years before our release date and the date where technically you’re meant to be able to go out for the day locally with friends, go away for the weekends and work in the community. Guess what though? Neither of us has been cleared yet – now there’s a surprise. We will of course do all we can to ensure we are treated the same as other prisoners though we blatantly aren’t. None of this comes as any surprise and I’m sure it won’t to you either. Caring for animals and fighting to stop their suffering seems to be the greatest crime going in these people’s books.
Everyone is always amazed at the sentences we got. Gregg and I got 9 years and were told by the judge that if we hadn’t gone guilty, we’d have got 14 years, the maximum sentence for blackmail. Heather got 11 years,Gavin 8. I constantly see cases in the media of violent assaults and child abuse where people get less than we did. The government’s support of HLS was undoubtedly a factor, bearing in mind they are the lab’s bankers and insurers to this day because no bank or insurance company in the world will do business with them. The 40 companies in our case claimed they had lost 12.8 million pounds in criminal damage and security costs because of the SHAC and ALF campaigns against them, and the police operation apparently cost 4 million pounds. In a day and age where big business rules and money is more important than anything else, these sums were definitely taken into account when we were sentenced.
These people operate under a premise which many people, thank goodness, refuse to accept, that Nature with all its wonders and wildernesses is there to exploit and destroy as they see fit. Look at the Yangtze dolphin and so many other creatures driven to extinction, and the Brazilian government prepared to sell off 75% of the rainforest and wipe out the indigenous populations who live there. No-one gave these people the right to abuse the world for their own profit and greed.
My fellow prisoners and all of you out there who fight for the animals are the kindest and most compassionate people I have ever met. We are all driven by deep caring for the animals and horror at the abuse they are forced to endure. Look at the jobs people now in prison have done: Sarah was a geriatric nurse for 30 years and Heather was a riding instructor for the disabled. It says it all: decent, caring, compassionate human beings who care about animals and people too. I have seen them and the others moved to tears at the horrors inflicted on animals, horrors that will haunt every single one of us in this movement until the day we die.
We are all locked up, yet those who terrify, abuse and murder animals and destroy the planet are never held to account. I think so often too of activists who have paid the greatest price, including Mike Hill, Tom Worby and Jill Phipps. Were their murderers ever bought to justice? No, of course they weren’t. We as a movement carry on their struggle and stand in their place. What are a few years in jail compared to their deaths? We know that the cause that we love and believe in is a just one. We will never be broken by arrests and prison sentences and our spirits are stronger than ever.
For the animals, lots of love, Natasha
Letter from Natasha, 9th August 2009
Thanks so much for the brilliant support. The longer I’m in jail, the more mail I get, and it’s so wonderful to hear from you all.
I’ve been at HMP Send for 4 months now and as jails go, it is great. I’m working in the gardens, which I love. I used to do gardening as a job before I started campaigning against animal cruelty and to have my hands covered in mud again is brilliant. I’m security cleared to go all over the prison planting, pruning, weeding and mowing. Mrs Green Fingers eh! All for £11 a week too!
This prison caters for vegans well thanks in no small part to an excellent Head of Diversity. I can order from Holland & Barrett every two months and Honesty Cosmetics every three months where I get vegan toiletries and cleaning products. The weekly packs are excellent; 14x250mls fortified soya milk, walnuts, dried fruit, Provamel yogurts and best of all vegan cheese which never last very long! The Vegan Prisoners Support Group continue to provide us all with excellent help, advice and support.
I’m still doing lots of exercise, running, cycling and lots of circuits. Gregg is a constant inspiration as his times have got faster and faster since we were imprisoned in May 2007. I just had an interprison call with him and it was heaven and the highlight of my month by a million miles. He is such an incredible human being and husband in so many ways and I constantly long to talk to him and be with him.
I miss Heather as they have ‘shipped her out’ as they say in prison jargon to Foston Hall. Apparently we’re not allowed to be in the same jail as we’re co-defendants, even though every jail I’ve ever been in has had co-defendants galore in them. What they fall to realise is that by separating us all (Gregg and Gavin are only together because of Gavin’s failing eyesight) and preventing Gregg and I from having an interprison visit – we have had one in 27 months of being apart even though the prison order states that they should be every 3 months- they just make people support us even more and rally the movement behind its prisoners, so what an own goal.
I remember writing to prisoners when I first got involved in animal rights. I wasn’t really sure what to write about and wrote long and no doubt unbelievably boring letters about all the cats at the local CPL rescue I volunteered at! I just knew though that I wanted to get in touch with people who had given up their liberty fighting to save animals’ lives and let them know that I supported them and was thinking of them. Never ever underestimate the difference that your letters and support make. They make our day and we love getting them, so keep them coming. We are all part of one movement and we all play the part we can.
When 7 of us in the 1st SHAC trial were sentenced to a total of 50 years in prison, we launched the Sponsor A Year Appeal for Greek Animal Rescue and it has raised £3,200 so far. Thank you so much to everyone who has sponsored us. Vesna from Greek Animal Rescue sent me pictures recently of the dogs GAR have rehomed, dogs that had been starved, beaten and abused are now rushing about playing or snoozing on sofas, well-fed, safe and loved, and those pictures express better than a million words ever could what we all long for with all our hearts for all animals.
I know that as long as animals are tortured in labs, have the fur ripped from their bodies, are hunted, terrified, abused, murdered and butchered for man’s profit and greed, we will all do all we can to save them.‘Good is never accomplished except at the cost of those who do it. Truth never breaks except through the sacrifice of those who spread it’.
Cardinal Newman
Lots of love
Natasha xxx