The Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, made a surprise visit to a women's prison near the south of Ripley nearer Send in Surrey, England. (Photo : Twitter)
The Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton recently made a surprise visit to a women's prison near the south of Ripley nearer Send in Surrey, England.
This visit was not announced by Kensington Palace. According to the Daily Mail UK, Middleton was seen visiting inmates that are dealing with alcohol and drug addictions.
According to People, the palace purposely requested for the visit to be clandestine until after she left the facility for security reasons, and to stay away from the paparazzi.
The inmates were also not informed that the Duchess of Cambridge will visit but were told that they will have a visitor that day. They were only told about their visitor's identity just before Middleton arrived.
Middleton was seen wearing an ivory and gray tweed dress during her visit at the HMP Send. The Duchess' visit was arranged by the Rehabilitation for Addicted Prisoners Trust (RAPt). She also met with the founders of the organization. RAPt has since shared pictures of Middleton during her visit.
Send is a closed prison for adult females and approximately 280 inmates make up the population of HMP Send. In addition, it also houses a 20 bed Addictive Treatment Unit, an 80 bed Resettlement Unit and a 40 bed Therapeutic Community.
The duchess, who is also a patron of Action on Addiction charity, interacted with the prisoners. About a day after the duchess' visit, Kensington Palace released a statement via Twitter. She said that drug addiction plays a negative role in one's life, and failure to do early involvement will lead to severe consequences.
"I am grateful to the women I met for sharing their difficult personal stories with me. It is encouraging to learn how organizations like RAPt are offering specialist support to help people break the cycle of addiction and look forward to a positive and crime-free life," wrote Kensington Palace.
