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“I was surrounded by people that hated me. And when people hate you [on] a daily basis, your identity is shaken to the point that you think perhaps, ‘I’m not worthy of being loved’.” So said Ingrid Betancourt, French-Colombian politician and author of the memoir Even Silence Has an End, when she appeared in Melbourne as a guest of…

This is an extract from a report by Bridget Chappell in the 85th edition of Voiceworks, the quarterly magazine of Wheeler Centre resident organisation Express Media, out now.

The guards of Sulaimaniya Prison women’s wing wear high heels.

It’s a small wing, homier in appearance than its adjacent counterpart for male prisoners. Glimpses of men, slumped and crowded, sneak past me on the…