Cameron's Prison Reforms

[Aggers]

What do you think of the PM's ideas for dealing with prisoners ?

He admits that too many criminals re-offend when released, but hasn't the brains to see
that this is because life in prison is no deterrent. His idea of letting them go back home
on weekdays is about the daftest thing I have ever heard. In my opinion he should move
from Downing Street into a mental home. No-one in their right mind would dream up an
idea as stupid as that.

In my opinion life in prison should be so horrible that anyone who's been there would be
determined, when released, never to re-offend. Do-gooders who think otherwise should
be ignored. People should be made to realise that laws are meant to be obeyed, and that
a horrible fate awaits them if found guilty. God help them if I was in charge. Rant over.

[Workingman]

And if I was your deputy they would all wear uniforms with no pockets in them. Footwear would be plimsolls. TV would be terrestrial only, and time limited. No consoles and no games. Phones would be rendered useless either by jamming or installing Farraday cages. I'll stop there for now.

[Aggers]

You can be my second-in-command, Frank.

[Suff]

Why you softies...

There would be no murderers in my prisons. There would, on the other hand, be a special murderers graveyard.

I do agree, for repeat offenders the system should become more and more harsh to the point that they would never want to return. But, however, the sentences would have to be correspondingly shorter. After all, if you are going to put someone through a life from hell for 10 years, then you are going to get a basket case out the other end.

Personally I'd have the US style system. Forced labour, pay after social contributions (i.e. once they had paid for wife and family they could be paid what is left over), no TV and no recreation or exercise needed. After all if they work physically hard 12 hours a day they won't need TV time, just time to shower eat and sleep, 7 days a week. Plenty of people in the world doing that without prison...

If 2 years of that is not enough, then 10 years won't make an appreciable improvement.

I would also force them to earn a skill which is in short supply and provide them with training references and work experience references.

Prison should not be a dead end breeding ground for more crime.

I would probably also force them to do community service for 2 years after they get out, including a total drinking ban and weekly mandatory drink and drug testing.

For a repeat offender, 16 hours a day work and if they are physically incapable, solitary confinement until they are physically able to work again. No relief and no visitation either. If someone wants to re-offend, then their family loses them until they are out again.

Another 2 years of that followed by 4 years of community service with no alcohol etc....

If they come back a third time they get 4 years of the hard routine and 10 years of community service.

I'm quite nice really I'd give them a comfortable bed and climate controlled accommodation...... No need to make them ill when you want them to work.

However if we chose to do that, then we would have to be careful what we did with the "soft" crimes. It would not help to drive them to crime by over punishing them. But, however, if you come in for a soft crime and you re-offend, you don't get the first 2 years "soft" routine, you go right into the second stage...

[TheOstrich]

I'm all for making prisoners learn a trade, and indeed for the enforced paid manual labour aspect touched on by Suff. But it's all a question of manpower and I wonder if there are too many understaffed prisons out there where the "lunatics are effectively running the asylum" - these are the dangerous "breeding grounds" which need stamping out.

We do also need to take a look at social support for prisoners on their release, which is another area I suspect is understaffed and under-financed.

Finally I think we should greatly expand the number of prison places - perhaps up to 100,000 plus - with more category C type establishments for minor criminals. I've only fleetingly been in a couple of such prisons in my time (as a visitor, I'd hasten to add!) - Sudbury (Derbyshire) and Eastchurch (Kent), both being open prisons - and I was quietly impressed by both of them.

[Aggers]

The real problem, as I see it, is that too many people think that if they can get away with crime, then it's alright. It really comes down to education, perhaps. When I was a child my parents were always impressing on me that laws must be obeyed, and that has been my policy throughout my life. But I can't help noticing that it seems that the policy of a large proportion of the population is that is you can get away with some "jiggery-pokery " to get something for nothing, then that's O.K. Many don't even think it is wrong.
Perhaps if people were educated to be honest and caring people, where greed was undesirable, and being lawful was a fundamental requirement, then we wouldn't even need any prisons.

[Kaz]

I'm not a fan of the US system, they have a HUGE prison population - much higher proportionally than ours - they make huge profits out of their forced labour, so the authorities have a vested interest in keeping the prisons full!

[Suff]

They do that in Sweden aggers. Extensive societal training from cradle to grave.

They still need Prisons and 90% of burglary goes unsolved. ..

[victor]

i'm with Suff on this.

do damn soft that's the problem

[cromwell]

Whenever the government talks about reform of a state function my immediate thought is "How much money is the private sector going to make from this 'reform''?"

Many prisoners are in prison because they are incapable of making a living either by natural inclination or circumstance. So re-offending is a absolute given for the majority of prisoners. Putting them on a six week course isn't going to make any difference whatsoever, so any change to the existing status quo is going to be very difficult.