Anna Holland, 22, was one of two young people from Just Stop Oil who threw tomato soup over a sunflowers painting by Vincent van Gogh – one of the highest-profile climate protests of recent years. The painting was not damaged, although there was damage to the frame. Holland was sentenced to 20 months in prison. They sent this letter to the Guardian about their experience behind bars.
It was a shock at first that the judge had gone to the extreme of our sentence. The first few days and nights in prison were hard but also such an education. So many of the women I have met here are in prison because they were not properly protected by the state, so they have taken me under their wing. I have been looked after, taught the ways of prison, not by the staff but by the other prisoners. It is like nothing I had expected and it is completely overwhelming – but also surprising how quickly I found myself falling into the daily routine.
My family and friends were completely shocked by my sentence but have all been so supportive. It is such a privilege to be surrounded by such a strong community. Even those who didn’t agree with or support the action initially can’t ignore the injustice of this sentence and have gone above and beyond to make sure that I am doing OK in here.
The shock of being in here has quickly been followed by an even stronger feeling of power. In sentencing two young, peaceful people to prison, the judge had made it abundantly clear how far the UK has fallen from the democratic state it claims to be. Our imprisonment is not a symptom of the broken system but a sign that the system, fuelled by dirty oil and arms money, is working exactly how it was intended.
Our cells are unlocked at 8am on a weekday morning. Breakfast is always cereal. I have classes in the morning before lunch, our only hot meal of the day, which we take back to our cells, and work in the prison garden from 1pm until 4pm. We get one hour a day outside in the yard and some days we get to go to the gym. We are locked in our cells at 7pm every evening. During the weekends, the prison system moves much slower, so most of the time is spent in our cells.
Christmas is going to be hard in here – it will be my first one away from my family. However, the other prisoners and I have decided to make the best of it and I’m sure there will be some good Christmas movies on the TV.
I have plenty of time for reflection, and however difficult this is I do think that my action and the state’s response are exactly what is needed to fuel our fight for a better future. It has sparked so many conversations and now this overreach by the state is absolutely key to turn those conversations into action. I grew up reading about revolutionaries who did not let imprisonment break them and I feel proud to join that tradition.
That said, there is no denying that prison is hard. It’s scary. But the idea of us giving up, of letting people all around the world suffer from floods, wildfires and droughts that our emissions created, is scarier. Prison is used as a deterrent but we must not allow it to deter us. We must not allow fear to win over hope. We must not lose the dream that we can create a better world together.
Every day in prison is an uphill struggle and it is exhausting. But I have learned that I am so much stronger than I thought. To have made it this far and not lost myself or my sense of fight is my proudest achievement.
Watching the outside world has been strange but one thing is very clear to me – we are too consumerist. I have found myself not missing any thing, but rather people and my freedom.
The absolute failure of most of the mainstream media to do its job and report the news objectively and in proper detail has also hit me hard. It’s no wonder that people aren’t out on the streets when they aren’t being told all the facts. The sheer corruption of Cop29 glossed over, Palestine forgotten, Malibu wildfires ignored. It isn’t fair to us and it’s so shameful that the main news channels on TV value their income over the truth.
This whole experience has taught me that our laws and our legal systems are no more based on morality than our climate policies are on science and the good of humanity. You won’t find the real criminals behind these walls, you will find them in the seats of parliament, running our country.
