Lucy Connolly, the woman jailed for a single social media post, has told GB News she now wants to campaign for "urgent reform" of Britain’s "broken prison system".
Speaking to Nigel Farage, Mrs Connolly described the "sheer panic" that led her to post the message following the murder of three young girls in Southport in July 2024.
Her tweet read: "Mass deportations now, set fire to all the f****** hotels full of the b****** for all I care.
"While you’re at it, take the treacherous government and politicians with them. I feel physically sick knowing what these families will now have to endure. If that makes me racist, so be it."
Within hours, she deleted the post, saying she had calmed down and realised it was wrong.
But police arrested her days later, and prosecutors charged her with a category A1 offence. She ultimately pleaded guilty after being refused bail twice and was sentenced to 31 months in prison.
Mr Connolly told the People's Channel: "It wasn’t my finest moment. I was emotionally charged and distraught.
"I’d lost a child myself, so I know what that pain feels like.
Lucy Connolly said that the British prison system is 'broken'
|GB NEWS
"But I deleted the tweet within three hours without anyone prompting me. I knew it was wrong. Yet that didn’t matter."
She said she felt she had been "backed into a corner" by the justice system and said: "They refused me bail twice. The only alternative was going to the High Court at a cost of £10,000, which I didn’t believe I’d win.
"Realistically, if I’d pleaded not guilty, I could still be sat in prison now on remand."
Nigel pressed her on life behind bars, asking what prison was really like. Mrs Connolly said the experience had changed her view of the system entirely.
She explained: "It is like nothing you’ll ever experience. There are so many women in there who simply shouldn’t be.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
"Sentences are often harsher for women because the attitude is, ‘you’re a mother, you should know better’.
"There’s no rehabilitation, no resources, no time, just paperwork and box ticking.”
"But the reality is very different. People are going in for short sentences and coming out worse than they went in."
She added: "Rehabilitation? There’s no money, no staff, no time. Mental health waiting lists are in the hundreds. The system is broken."
Lucy spoke to Nigel Farage in an exclusive interview
|GB NEWS
Nigel agreed and said: "I’ve always said short prison sentences can make people worse. You’ve seen that first-hand."
She responded: "Absolutely. Especially with gangs. Prison just makes them stronger."
Now back at home with her husband, who is a Conservative councillor and their daughter, Mrs Connolly said she wanted to use her experience to campaign for change.
She explained: "I’d love to work on prison reform. The system isn’t working. We need big change. And I think the Reform Party could deliver that."