A PORTLAND councillor who was sent to jail for defying a judge’s ban on speaking about the climate crisis or fuel poverty in court says she stands by her decision to “tell the truth.”

Councillor Giovanna Lewis, 65, is currently serving a seven-week sentence at HMP Bronzefield for contempt of court, after she spoke of her reasons for attending an Insulate Britain roadblock protest at Bishopsgate on October 25 2021.

In an exclusive interview from prison Cllr Lewis said it "should be of concern to everyone that freedom of speech can be outlawed in court" – regardless of whether or not they support environmental protests.

She and other Insulate Britain campaigners had been on trial at a London Crown Court charged with causing a public nuisance, and were forbidden from making reference to their concerns about fuel poverty or the environment in their defence for attending the protest.

Although the jury was unable to reach a majority verdict in relation to the public nuisance charge, Ms Lewis was sent to prison after she defied the judge by telling the court that she took part in the protest as “thousands are dying from fuel poverty every year.”

“We need to rally together and not just accept the situation, rather than sitting back and letting it happen," she said in a phone call to the Echo from prison.

"I’m very clear that what I did in court was the right thing to do – basically the judge was not allowing us our civil liberties of explaining to a jury why we were there – I’m quite resolved and clear about that.”

Cllr Lewis said she was disappointed that there was no commitment to insulation measures in the recent budget announcement, adding: “The government is not going to save us – we have to save ourselves.

“We really have to step up and start thinking about our futures, the futures we want our children to have. We have a duty to find out what’s really going on; we have a duty to future generations.”

She thanked supporters for the “overwhelming” amount of letters and emails she has received since being incarcerated, and said she has met some “amazing” women during her time in jail so far.

Ms Lewis described her cell mate as "lovely" and said prison staff have shown kindness.

She was initially placed on a detox wing due to lack of space, and said that despite initially being slightly nervous about this, feels even more strongly that addiction should be treated as a health condition.

“The women there were so friendly, we had some laughs – I don’t know what I was expecting, but I will look back on it fondly,” she said.

“It’s so clear that the issue of drugs should be seen as a health issue and not a crime – I believed that on the outside, but I believe it even more now. It costs a lot of money to keep people in prison, we should spend that money on drugs rehabilitation instead.”

Giovanna Lewis is due to be released from prison on Monday 27 March.

However she may soon back before a jury: on March 31 the Crown Prosecution Service will announce whether it intends to launch a retrial over the public nuisance charge.