Supporting Kim: Embassy Visit Report

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Embassy Visit Report - Feb 14th, 2008

The latest report below from DFAT ...

On 14 February 2008 Madrid Consular staff visited Kim at the Wad-Ras Women's Penitentiary in Barcelona. Kim looked well and confirmed that she was physically very well and in very good spirits.

2. Kim said that she keeps very fit teaching yoga to other inmates as well as practising other sports in the prison such as basketball and participating in dance classes. Kim said she is also learning Spanish. Kim said she also keeps busy reading books sent to her by friends and family and writing letters to her friends and family. Kim said that she has access to the prison's doctor and dentist every Monday and/or in an emergency if needed.

3. Kim said that she was transferred a few months ago (date not confirmed) to a less strict section of the penitentiary and is now sharing a cell with 3 other inmates who are all very friendly. Kim described the penitentiary as being more of a strict boarding school for girls than a prison.

4. Kim confirmed she is in regular direct telephone contact with family (parents) in Australia, Kim said she can telephone them 5 times per week for 8 minutes. Kim said her parents send her money via the prisons inmates account and that she is permitted to withdraw a maximum amount of EUR 65.00 Euros per week. Kim said that her parents are planning to visit her in April 2008 and that her sister and her brother-in-law will be visiting her in May 2008.

5. Post reiterate our invitation to Kim to contact Post at any time should she require further assistance and that we would continue to monitor her case and schedule regular visits to her. Kim terminated our 40 minute visit by thanking Consular staff for our concern for her welfare and our visits as it was heartening to hear an Australian accent. Kim said there are other English-speaking inmates with whom she speaks, but that none of them are Australians.

Scott

1 comment:

Fiona Fiona said...: Hi everyone,

Hope you're all doing well!

I'm so excited to hear that Kim will be getting lots of visitors in late March and April. And for those who are heading over, I do hope you have a fabulous time - not just visiting Kim, but also enjoying the delights of Barcelona - it's one of my favourite cities in the world, and of course, Kim's one of my favourite girls, so I'm rather envious!

Really loved reading the letter, and the latest embassy report - in fact I've read them about 100 times over. So thank you very much for posting these.

I've got a real craving for 'Kim stories' at the moment. Last night the urge got so strong that I rang her mobile, just to listen to her voice mail. Of course, it was disconnected, which was hardly a surprise, but part of me - the really stupid part - harboured a secret hope that she might actually answer.

Some may say that it's unwise to indulge a mad woman's fantasies, but if anyone could help feed my cravings with other tidbits of news, stories, photos from her travels, in fact anything at all - I would really appreciate it!!!!

Lots of love to all

Fiona; March 17, 2008 at 8:08 PM

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Important Information

Sending Letters to Kim

Letters can be sent to Kim at the address below:

C.P. Brians 1
Dones II
APTDO 1000
Martorell
08760
Barcelona, SPAIN
Phone: 937758000

All letters sent need to have the sender's name and address on the back of the envelope. DON'T send packages to the prison. They need to be hand delivered.

Sending Packages to Kim

Kim has recently moved to a new prison so at this we're not 100% sure of the new policies and procedures but Kim's friend David can still act as a conduit.

David has offered to deliver any packages on behalf of Kim's other friends and family. David's address is as follows:

David Sarsanedas Serrat
c/ Josep Pla, 11
17165 La Cellera de Ter
Girona, Catalunya
SPAIN

T: +34 97 242 0781

Vincenzo can also deliver things to Kim. I don't have Vincenzo's postal address but his email address is:

typbex@yahoo.com

Please read the information contained in the Comments section on the following link. It details the things that Kim has already received (and there are also some useful comments from Kirsten about the sorts of things that the prison authorities aren't allowing to pass through):

http://supportingkim.blogspot.com/2007/10/whats-been-sent.html#comments

If you send anything to Kim could you also please itemise what you've sent in the comments section on the link above.

Visiting Kim

The rules with week end or communications through the glass are as follows:-

1. She is permitted to have 10 names on her list at any one time.

2. You cannot ring and make a booking.

3. Saturdays - You need to come at 3.30pm or Sunday at 10.30am and be prepared to wait.

4. At the moment, she has 3 on her list.

Vis-a-vis Visits have to be requested in the month before the intended visit and before the 5th of the month e.g. If you wanted to visit Kim during May you would need to make the request prior to April 5.

These visits will need to be arranged through Kim and you will need to let Kim know your passport number.

Using This Blog

It is the nature of Blogs that older posts get automatically archived each month. You can still access these older posts by clicking on the links in the Blog Archive which is located directly below.

The bulk of this Blog's content is in the comments (attached to posts) that have been left by Kim's friends and family. To see these comments, click on the Comments' link at the bottom of any given post.