Rebel Justice

105. Life After Remand: Rhia Canady on Motherhood, Short Sentences & Building Flygirl Foundation

• Rebel Justice - The View Magazine • Season 2 • Episode 105

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What happens when the justice system asks for a victim impact statement, then offers no support?

In this episode of Rebel Justice, we speak with Rhia Canady, founder of Flygirl Foundation, about life on remand, the shock of release, and the stigma faced by mothers serving short sentences.

Rhia shares how she survived Eastwood Park, why post-release systems fail women, and how Flygirl Foundation is building trauma-informed, lived-experience-led pathways rooted in dignity and prevention.

 Flygirl Foundation website: https://www.flygirlfoundation.co.uk

Instagram: @flygirlfoundation_cic

LinkedIn: Rhia Canady

Rebel Justice Instagram: @the_view_magazines

If you have lived experience and want your story heard, reach out — we’re here to help amplify your voice.

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Narrator:

You're listening to Rebel Justice, the podcast from The View magazine. On this podcast, we center women with lived experience of the justice system, women who have survived it, been incarcerated by it, or are working to transform it from within and beyond. We also speak with judges, lawyers, campaigners, artists, and healers navigating the system every day. Together, we ask how justice might be reimagined with dignity and humanity at its core.

Host:

Thank you so much for joining us today. For listeners who might not know yet, how would you introduce yourself and the Flygirl Foundation?

Rhia Canady:

So my name is Rhia Canady, and I am the founder and CEO of Flygirl Foundation. Fly Girl Foundation is centered around my own lived experience, a company I formed based off my own lived experience. And we work with young women and girls aged between 11 and 35. However, that does seem to be extending recently in the age that we work with. And we work with young women and girls who may be at risk of entering the criminal justice system or who have already entered the criminal justice system and are in need of support for their recovery journey, beginning their new futures.

Host:

Thank you. And perhaps could you share a little bit about what your journey looked like before Flygirl was born?

Rhia Canady:

Yeah, so in 2020, I became a widow to a two-year-old. My partner was killed in a knife crime incident in Bristol. After that, my world kind of turned upside down. I attended a six-week-long murder trial for his murder. During that court case, I was asked to give a victim impact statement on how this had affected us or how it would continue to affect us. And that statement was read out in court. It was clippings was put in the newspaper. But after the trial ended, I was told that I didn't warrant support from victim support due to us not being married, which kind of left me in this bit of a pit where I was a bit confused because you could come to me for the victim impact statement. However, I wasn't deemed as a victim, quite peculiar. So I felt that I was kind of abandoned in this situation and life took a very bad spiral. And I started to drink a lot of alcohol and hang around with people I probably knew weren't the best for me, which evidently, after a few years, I ended up in prison serving an eight and a half month sentence at Eastwood Park. And at first it was a real struggle to even comprehend that this is what had happened to my life and this is where I'd ended up. But once I kind of got my head around that I was there, because I was there on remand, hadn't been sentenced, so I had no kind of idea of when I would be coming home or when the case would be heard. So I was kind of left in a wrap. But I used that time to try and get my head together and kind of work out who I was before I was a mum and who I was before my partner was murdered and what it is I wanted to become and what it is I'd learnt from these scenarios that I'd been placed in. And when I finally was released from Eastwood Park in December 2023, I still was very unsure of what it was I was going outside to do, but I just knew I was coming outside to be myself again, Rhea, as opposed to the lady who lost her partner or single widowed mum. I'd no longer wished to be defined by those labels and the stigma that that carried. People would often introduce me as, oh, this is my partner's daughter's mother. And I now interject that and say, My name's Rhia. Nice to meet you because that's who I am. And that's one of the things that I really took from my prison sentence was learning to identify myself, not the roles that I play, which is something that I feel like women really struggle to do. So yeah, when I came home, I was still really unsure of the journey that I was taking, other than I had a catering business before I went inside. I was planning on picking that back up again, and I knew I could always go back to some parcel work that I used to do for a local delivery company. So I knew I was going to go back to work, but I never knew that it would transform into the journey that I've taken.

Host:

Thank you. I think that's actually a really important point that I've not even really considered before, the way that most women title themselves based on motherhood, partnerhood, even job titles. So yeah, that's really interesting. Talking then, also maybe about what you learn, obviously, we know particularly women serving shorter sentences, quite often there's a heavy period where they're on remand. How did your time at Eastwood Park shape your perspective on women's rehabilitation?

Rhia Canady:

So I was there on remand, and like a lot of women on remand, there's little to no support. So I feel like any rehabilitation I did in Eastwood Park was my own rehabilitation. I didn't have inside probation supporting me. I didn't have a key worker until the last six weeks of my sentence. So there was no engagement with services. Any services you meet in the prison will only work with you once sentenced. Before that, they're not interested in working with you. Or they just don't have the capacity to. It's not that they're not interested, they just don't have the capacity to. I'm somebody in life, even before I went to prison, I have to remain busy. So I like structure, I like routine, I like to know exactly what I'm doing for the day. And in prison, the only routine you have is that your door will be unlocked at eight o'clock and it's gonna be locked at lunchtime and it's gonna be reopened at two and it'll be locked again by 4:30. If you're lucky, it might stay open till seven. So I tried to take control of anything I could take control of. Now I can take control of my time, I can take control of my eating, I can take control of what I'm learning, what I'm reading, and what I'm watching. I quickly got a job in the gym. I love exercise and I love fitness. I use weightlifting as a coping mechanism, I would say, and a way to offload. So I I quite quickly got the job in the gym, and the gym staff were incredible. There's something very special about those three characters because they're completely different characters and they don't take no nonsense whatsoever, but they also are very kind, empathetic, and they give you a lot of encouragement and help you to see new ways of understanding and looking at things. Like things you can't change, don't worry about, just look at what you can deal with. So I learned a lot from those three people, and they will always mean a lot to me because they helped me in probably one of my hardest times in life. Um, so the gym definitely worked for my rehabilitation. I would train six days a week, and I wasn't training, I was in my room reading or I was cooking. I would cook for a lot of the girls on the wing because I was lucky enough to make it to the enhanced wing where at Eastwood Park we have a cooker. So yeah, I would cook and I had the support of my daughter coming in to visit me every week. My mum would bring her for me on a Sunday, and yeah, I think I used that time to work out what makes me happy, individual things that make me happy, and then focused on that. And then I used those so same tools when I came home to deal with being on tag because I found tag being on a curfew a lot tougher than being in prison, and I think it was just solely because that time I was lucky enough to come back to my own home, which I know is not everybody's journey, but I was lucky enough to come back to my own home. But I feel like that put me in a place of I couldn't almost comprehend what I'd left behind when I was in prison and how much I'd kind of detached away from my home to be able to cope with being in prison. And anyone would tell you prison's filthy, it's not a clean place by any means. It's disgusting. But I think when I came home, I was disgusted at myself for being able to adapt to the disgusting environments, and I'd done that to myself by not handling the trauma that I was really going through. That's why I ended up in prison at the age of 32 because I'd not walked that life before or had been through trauma and I didn't cope with the trauma or I didn't reach out for help with the trauma, I was just navigating through. It landed me being in somewhere so repulsive. And then when I came home, I just couldn't really get my head around that for a while.

Host:

No, thank you. So then you've come home. How did the idea for Flight Girl Foundation first come to you?

Rhia Canady:

It was a long process, it wasn't an overnight thing. So um, whilst being on tag and probation, probation ask you to attend certain courses and um centres and things like that. So I was asked to attend the Nelson's Trust Centre to engage with a key worker there, and I met with this key worker and she wasn't sure where to place me, just like a lot of services weren't sure where to place me, what to do with me, which is probably why probation sent me there in the first place because I was working, I was ticking all the boxes as they'd say. I wasn't high risk, I'd got a job within two months of coming home, I'd bought a little run-around car, and I was just trying to get back to motherhood and work in life. So they'd sent me to this centre where they offer a lot of like group work, lunch clubs, and just nice things for women that may be facing disadvantage. And I just didn't feel like I really fit the criteria at that time. Equally, they didn't really either, but I'd had set days that I needed to complete with them for probation. Uh, they asked me to attend a course called Women's Work Lab, which was a six-week course, I believe, on how to help you overcome the barriers women face getting back to work. Not really fit in because I'm already working, however, need to just get it done. So I went along and I feel like for the first few sessions I was quite quiet. They couldn't really get much out of me. And they said, tell me a bit about yourself. I was battling imposter syndrome, which I wasn't even aware of at that point, but I now realize through my journey that I was definitely battling that in the beginning, where I would appear that I was quite happy and I knew exactly what I was doing, but inside I would be like, I just come out of prison, I haven't got a clue what's going on, blah blah blah. So I went to this course and they were talking and I spoke, and the woman was quite shocked at what I had to say because I felt like this information is not preparing women for the realities of coming out of prison. It's not an easy journey. And I just basically voiced that I felt like the course is not realistic and it's not helping anybody, it's actually maybe triggering people and applying too much pressure when they need that transitional time to be able to understand exactly what has just happened and what is now the new walk of life they're about to take. And I think they were quite shocked, but they praised me on my honesty and said to me that I should consider running the course. And I was like, whatever, what are you on about? I'm just trying to survive and cut through getting out of prison myself. But then another lady on the course let me know that she did some work with a group called the National Women's Justice Coalition, and she thought that I would be a great candidate for the work that they do and wanted to put me in contact with them. So she told me that they get paid for the work, blah blah blah. So I was I was definitely interested, but at the time they weren't taking on any new representatives, but they put me in contact with the Triangle Trust, which is a grants committee in London based. They are a charity that give out grants. The focus at the moment is for young women and girls affected by the criminal justice system. That's their focus for the next two years. So they put me in contact with them. They were currently looking for trustees. Now, I didn't really understand at that point what a trustee was. I just thought, yeah, I'd go for the role and see what it's all about, kind of thing. They wanted me to be a trustee and they asked me to come to the House of Lords for a 75th anniversary of the Triangle Trust, and I couldn't get my head around why they wanted someone like me who only just had their tag cut off six weeks ago, just come out of prison, partner's been murdered, been heavily involved in county lines and things like this. I couldn't get my head around why they wanted someone like me to attend. But off I went to the House of Lords, and I definitely had imposter syndrome when I stepped into that building. I had people asking me who I am, what do I do, what have I been doing for the last so long, and all I could think of, I've just come out of prison, but I can't tell them that I'm in the House of Lords. But I slowly realized that I was around a lot of people that either run organizations to help people in my situation or are lived experience themselves. A lady stood up and gave a speech, somebody that had received an organization on behalf of an organization that received a grant. She gave up and gave a speech, and she is the founder of Daddy Less Daughters, Alia Ali, and her speech just sat with me. There was so much alignment in her story with mine, um, her journey before the path that she's now taken, and I just had to meet this woman and talk to her. She said she was around for a few questions after if anybody wants to pop up. I made a beeline straight away, had to talk to her, and we just had like an instant connection. We then went for dinner and I spoke to her about the sorts of ideas that I'd had for women in Bristol, and she told me it's definitely something that's needed, and I kind of just went home, put pen to paper, wouldn't stop sending out emails to organisations or to Avon and Somerset probation services just to try and get recognition for the work that I was trying to push. With that, I've done several projects since March. Um I work alongside the approved premises in Bristol, delivering a workshop to the ladies, a support group slash workshop to the ladies of an approved premises every Friday. Um I'm regularly in Eastwood Park and part of their in-reach programme. So I go in, collect clients' details, and let them know the services available to them when they are released in the community. And that's how I probably get quite a lot of my clients as well through the approved premises. And second to that, I've been working quite closely with a few schools in Bristol delivering empowerment programmes to young girls aged between I'd say with the schools, it's usually around 14 to 20, depending on if a school or college. So yeah, it's been a great journey so far, and I haven't even been home two years yet. It's absolutely amazing.

Host:

Um, you mentioned before when you were attending these workshops, almost the people running them having not really real idea of what was maybe needed. In terms of how FIGO operates, what role does lived experience play in how FIGO operates?

Rhia Canady:

It's at the face of what we do. So I connect with the clients because I'm able to understand them instantly. I can share pieces of who I am and my journey, and we we're instantly on the same page. I understand the hurdles because I've lived them and I'm still facing them now, even though I am on a new path. There's new issues that come about all the time. So I guess with Flygirl, not only is lived experience the key, but also trauma-informed practice because a lot of ladies, including myself, when engaging with services, we've not often had the best experiences. Like I mentioned earlier, asked to be give a victim impact statement, then told you're not a victim, even though we use the victim impact statement. So there's a lot of trauma and barriers when it comes to connecting with services. But if you're asked to work with a service and the lady that's coming to meet with you is somebody that's been through similar traumas to you, but has can show you paths to come out the other side, you're much more likely to engage and feel encouraged and empowered by somebody that's led a similar path to you.

Host:

Absolutely. And then you spoke about some of the programs you've got Empower Her, some the mentorship programs. What typically happens in these sessions with clients?

Rhia Canady:

So I'd say what's good about the work that we do is it's very adaptable. So sometimes you could meet with a group of ladies that you met with last week that were full of joy and they wanted to do great things and felt very positive, but this week they might not be feeling that way. So we kind of work on the client's need. Our empowerment sessions can range from anything from positive affirmations to safety circles. We do a lot of like unpacking the baggage, so it could be who you were when you went to prison. If we're working on a workshop centered around release, it could be like who you were before you went to prison, the baggage you've carried out of prison, and who you're trying to be now you've been released. And it's just a great way for the ladies to kind of offload, as well as like stepping away from the labels, because we believe that labels are for jars and tins, not people, as well as like unpicking the mask, because you'll find that a lot of us walk with this really strong mask where we try and push the trauma all the way to the back. A lot of us make jokes out of it or just not even prepared to even engage in the trauma. So it's around unpicking the masks and feeling confident in who you are.

Host:

Thank you. That sounds great. I think it sounds very unique to anything I've heard before, and really actually putting these women first. So that's amazing. So, as you mentioned, you're a trustee for the Triangle Trust and part of the National Women's Justice Coalition. How has it felt to move from being in the system towards influencing the system?

Rhia Canady:

So there's always still barriers. You're always still met by people that kind of try and keep you back because of you were a part of the system. So I feel like that's probably been one of the toughest points. However, when I am in these rooms, I can see that these people are learning from me. They don't even understand what the crime is, let alone the effects of the crime. So I take a lot of pride in myself because actually I feel like I'm very knowledgeable in terms of before and after. I can see it all. Whereas I haven't got tunnel vision when it comes to working with victims or people in recovery. Yeah, anyone in recovery, you don't have you're not necessarily a victim, but anybody in recovery, I don't have tunnel vision because I've lived it. Like I mentioned before, I had a lot of imposter syndrome, but now I actually walk quite highly knowing the journey I've taken and the route that I'm still on.

Host:

Absolutely. And then through your work and your own personal experience, what changes do you believe are most urgently needed in how we support women who are leaving prison or facing trauma or realistically both at the same time?

Rhia Canady:

So I just feel like we've got a lot of old legislation in place. For example, again, I'll speak on my situation. When my partner was murdered, I could get support for my two-year-old child who can't comprehend what's happened, just has no clue. But I can't get support for myself as the person left to parent the two-year-old who's lost their father. So I just feel like there's a lot of old legislation in place. We need to look at so many different things. Second, there's absolutely no support for women who are on remand. Um, I feel like we're just placed in prison and then we're picked back up and put back outside. Um, women go into prison for short sentences, losing their homes. Now, I'm not to say that if you commit a serious crime, you shouldn't be punished. However, a lot of women I met in prison are usually there because they were seeking something, seeking love, seeking shelter, seeking food, trying to fund an addiction. So I feel like there's a lot of work that could be done within the community to support women before it even leads down that path.

Host:

Absolutely. I think we've spoken on the podcast previously about the number of women that have served really short sentences for shoplifting, similar to what you said, because they need something that isn't available to them. And then they come out of prison quite often, they've lost accounts at home, they've lost access to their kids, and realistically, what is a three-month sentence.

Rhia Canady:

So women get sent to prison for safety purposes. I know that the magistrate and the judge and chambers judge that I had both said I needed to remain on remand for my own safety. Now, I went to prison for a drugs charge, possession of drugs. I had a co defendant who was also in prison at the time, and I was in prison on remand. In terms of safety, I'm not sure why I wouldn't have been safe in my home. Until I was sentenced. Now, when I was sentenced, I did 10 days and I left prison. So I could have served my sentence within the community because it was under the time. So I just feel like there's a lot more preventative measures that could be taken in place to help and support women and avoid children being without their parents, mothers losing homes. Because it's a constant cycle. We put a woman in prison, her children get taken away, she loses her home, she comes out of prison, she's got nowhere to stay, so then she needs to be housed, she can't get housed, or she's sleeping in a tent, but she wants to get her children back. It's a constant swing. Yeah. And then what happens? They can't cope, so they'll commit a crime again and end up back in prison. And it's just a like a revolving door.

Host:

Yeah, absolutely. I think even generationally, you can see quite often the kind of taking away from their mother, particularly, it just continues the cycle of imprisonment. So yeah, I think absolutely that is something we at the forecast will read personally that there are so many better ways that justice could be performed for women with short sentences. And then, kind of based off of that, what would you say the biggest misconception people have about women who have been through the criminal justice system?

Rhia Canady:

I feel like there's this like black fog that follows you when you mention that you've been involved with the criminal justice system. And I feel like women are deemed a lot worse for being involved in the criminal justice system. I think that if you hear of a woman going to prison, especially a mother, oh, she couldn't have cared about her kids or she's not a good woman, whatever they say. I just feel like there's a lot of stigma and it's quite hard to get rid of, actually. It's quite hard to brush it away. I'll be honest, now I use it as like a shocking tool for people when they because I feel like now people I've kind of stepped away from my mugshop, if that makes sense. So now people meet me, oh you're Rhea, the founder of Flygirl Foundation. Now, if you don't know much about what that is, that just sounds like you work for a charity, sounds great. But when I actually tell them no, I I went to prison, I was in Eastwood Park, it's almost like a shock factor, and they're like, Oh, you don't look like anyone that's been to prison. I hear that a lot. Well, what does somebody that's been to prison look like? Because people come in all different shapes and sizes, so yeah, I feel like there's definitely a stigma, and I'm not sure there's definitely a stigma. I feel like people want to understand it, but it's still so taboo for a woman to go to prison that it's just a bit, it's a touchy subject. So I feel like a lot of women hold it close to their chest because it's not anything to be ashamed of, but women hold a lot of shame when it comes to it, and that's what Flygirl's about helping women unpick those layers and not feeling shamed and be proud of the journey that you've taken because it's gonna help you evolve and get stronger to be an even better woman for yourself. That's the most important thing as well. Because women talk about I need to do it for my boyfriend, I need to talk do it for my kids, I need to do it for my family. No, you need to do it for yourself so you can be the best person for your family, for your friends.

Host:

Absolutely. That kind of actually perfectly takes off the next question of how you personally balance being a mother, a leader, an advocate, whilst also still protecting your own healing and peace.

Rhia Canady:

You know, I think it's something that I'm still learning to navigate. I feel like healing is a it doesn't end. It never ends. Like I like to think of it as like you you just reach new heights on the healing journey. Um, there could be times when we're talking about things within a workshop and it it could hit me in a way that I'm not even I wasn't even prepared for and I brought the topic up. But that's okay because I like to sit, take time after and reflect on that and work out why that was doing that for me and how how can I work through that so I can understand how I can help the girls work through that. So I feel like the healing part, I'm still always learning to heal because life throws new hurdles at you all the time, so you know you could be getting over one thing, and then boom, got something else to try and get over. So I try and look at it always like learning scenarios now. I like to do a lot of reflecting and life's about balance. So I recently came off license in August the 5th, and I planned a nice holiday for me and my daughter because we hadn't been able to go away for a while, two and a half years. So I think I try and always have something to look forward to, whether it's small or huge, I try and have something for me and something for me to enjoy with my family as well. But the key is you've got to look after yourself, you can't be out here trying to empower a world full of women and you're not feeling strong enough within yourself. You've got to love and nurture yourself.

Host:

Absolutely, that's a great message. So, since setting up FireGirl, you have returned to Eastweb Park as a leader. Can you describe what that felt like?

Rhia Canady:

So, at first, when I first got invited, I was quite excited just to be able to like walk back through again. And then when I actually got there, I realized like, whoa, this is this is the prison that I was in. This is where I was, and I couldn't leave, and now I can leave. It was very overwhelming at first. I've realized that a lot of the prison staff were looking at me, but they weren't sure who I was, but they knew they recognized me. And it wasn't until somebody asked, Where do I know you from? And I said, When you lock me behind the door every night, and they were like, What? And I was like, Yeah, I was a prisoner here a little over a year ago, and they embraced me, they gave me a huge hug and said, 'Wow, you look amazing!' But I promise you, the relationship with that officer when I was being put behind the door was a completely different relationship. The treatment, I couldn't believe it. As the day went on, I went back into the gym where I used to work for £2.40 a day. And I had a stool set up in the sports hall with all my fly girl promotional stuff to hand out to the girls. And that's when I think I really understood the journey I've just been on, like the almost the full circle, going from £2.40 a day cleaning the gym to now being a representative not only for a company, but a company that I'd built based on my experience of Eastwood Park and my trauma cycle. So yeah, it was an incredible moment, something I'll never forget. And now I go back there regularly. I just was there two weeks ago for the Holloway screening, which was the first premiere within the prison system. Uh, that was amazing to sit with a group of girls plus the producer in The Trapulancy and watch such an incredible film. And again, I think I mentioned earlier that I'm part of their in-reach group, and I'm currently in talks with them about setting up a programme to support girls preparing for release, whether they are on remand or already sentenced. Hopefully, that's something that's coming within 2026. So, yeah, Eastwood Park is a strange place for me because it's almost special, but in a peculiar way. There's bad moments. I can tell you when I hated it there, and I just couldn't wait to get out. I could tell you all the bad things about it. All the bad things. Wearing flip-flops in the shower, in a room. I'm an only child, I'd never had to share a room before. You've got to sit on one side of the room where your padmate goes to the toilet, and just like all these little things. It's it's disgusting. But when I think about it, I think about all the laughs that we had and the girls that I met, the some that I still speak to. I always think about the gym staff because they'll always be a huge part of my journey. So yeah, it was terrible, it was awful. I never want to go back, but it also helped me so much.

Host:

Definitely. Um, I was actually going to ask about the future of Flygirl, but it kind of sounds like from what you just said that you've already started carving out the path for the next um Yeah, so the future of Flygirl right now.

Rhia Canady:

So we're working on a program to work directly in Eastwood Park, working with women, preparing for a release. That's we're trying to put in place for next year. We're also working with Care, which is a construction company that supports women in prison to find work. So that could either be while you're sentenced, you can come out on Rottle and go to work five days a week, but they'll also support you after prison. We're working with them to build a mentorship program, like a collaboration. Yeah, I won't say too much, but yeah, we've got quite a few things coming up.

Host:

No, a lot of things. So thank you. And then finally, how can listeners support or get involved with the Flygirl Foundation?

Rhia Canady:

So I'm on Instagram, Flygirl Foundation. I've also got a website, flygirlfoundation.co.uk. I've got referral forms on there, also got email addresses on there, so you can just pop us an email. We take open referrals at present, uh, self-referral or through organization. We take donations as well. We've currently got a crowdfunder setup, which is just helping to support the workshops and groups that we do with the young women. Um, and most of our information I keep up to date on our LinkedIn. Well, my LinkedIn, Rhia Canady. Yeah, that's where you can keep up to date and definitely the Instagram.

Host:

Absolutely thank you. And for anyone that can catch that, all of those will be listed in our show notes below. Thank you so much for joining us today. I've really enjoyed this conversation, hearing your story. Oh, that's great. Thanks so much for having me.

Narrator:

It's been a real pleasure. You've been listening to Rebel Justice, a podcast from The View magazine. If you'd like to support our work, you can subscribe to The View for just £20 a year and receive four digital editions and one print issue. Follow us on social media. You can find us on Instagram at the underscore view underscore magazine and on LinkedIn, X and TikTok. For press or general inquiries, email press at theview magazine.org. And if this episode mattered to you, please share it.