tregenza ([info]tregenza) wrote,
@ 2008-04-25 10:31:00
Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
Why oh why oh why...
"Criminals are enjoying such a life of luxury in jails that they are refusing to try to escape"

Call me old fashioned but I don't want criminals trying to escape.

The point of prison is to keep the criminals on the inside away from the general public so Government policy is working fine.

The whole story ( Criminals enjoying "high life in cushy jails" ) is a combination of Daily Mail style idiocy and blatant publicity seeking by the Unions.

"Travis gave an example of a breach at Everthorpe Prison in East Yorkshire, where a dealer regularly used a ladder to scale the fence and supply inmates with drugs and mobile phones."

And why didn't the prison guards simply call the police?

Everything about this story suggests to me that the Prison Service isn't underfunded, it simply employs too many idiots.

(Post a new comment)


[info]littlemissjane
2008-04-25 10:15 am UTC (link)
Prison officers acted when they found out about the drug dealer's break in. It had gone undetected for some while. It's claimed prisoners were locked in the cells at the time, so not so easy to climb the ladder over the wall.

The point being made by Mr Travis is that the prison service is underfunded, there aren't enough prison officers to keep control.

Obviously, somewhere during an interview with someone, he brought up this life in jails is cushy which was pounced on by a journalist as a great story. And it is a great story. Worth all the attention it got this morning. If the prison officers are saying that, it takes it beyond a Daily Mail rant.

Some prisons are more secure than others. Some are open prisons where convicts could walk out if they want to. Some are high security and less easy to escape from. It's just assumed that prisoners would want to escape if given the opportunity.

(Reply to this)(Thread)

[info]tregenza
2008-04-25 11:19 am UTC (link)
The point being made by Mr Travis is that the prison service is underfunded, there aren't enough prison officers to keep control.

This is quite possibly true given the stupidly high numbers of people the Government sends to prisons. But for a senior union official to use the language he did was just inept PR. The message going out is not that prisons are underfunded but that prisons are soft punishments.

Rather than trying to put across the idea that cuts in funding means less prison education for offenders and higher recidivism, Travis went for sensational Daily Mail style headlines. This is not the behaviour of someone whose number one interest is in developing a modern prison service focused on rehabilitation rather than punishment.


(Reply to this)(Parent)

[info]the_magician
2008-04-25 11:20 am UTC (link)
I've always thought it was about the three Rs: Retribution/Retaliation, Rehabilitation and Recidivism.

Retribution/Retaliation - making them suffer so that they won't do it again (or in the first place) because of the fear of what they will go through
Rehabilitation - making sure they are safe and productive members of society before they are returned to it
Recidivism - it's much harder to repeat a crime if you're locked up in prison

But finding the right level of "punishment" vs "cruel treatment" is not obvious ... I believe I read that some Swedish prisons have fire alarm buttons in the cells so that the inmates can release themselves in case of emergency.

(Reply to this)

[info]reverendjim
2008-04-25 02:23 pm UTC (link)
"Prisoners don't escape" really is a crap story isn't it? I was wondering what on Earth that was doing on the news when I heard it this morning.

Still it's a cushy life. Unless, of course, it isn't.
The Prison Service yesterday agreed to pay more than £120,000 to prisoners who said they had suffered beatings and racial discrimination by prison officers

(Reply to this)

Create an Account
Forgot your login?
Login w/ OpenID
English • Español • Deutsch • Русский…