chaos in our prisons

[AliasAggers]

i can't understand what the problem is in the running of our prisons.
It is obvious that something is radically wrong, and the solution is pretty obvious, in my opinion.
The fact that there are so many re-offenders is due to the fact that prison life now is far too cushy.
Prison life should be so damned tough that when a prisoner is released, he will be determined not
to ever have to return. The 'do-gooders' who have transformed our prisons into holiday camps must
be told to shut up. If prison life was tougher, the length of sentences could be reduced, which will
relieve the over-crowding problem. In the meantime, the obvious solution is to keep the inmates
locked up in their cells.
What's wrong with politicians today? Is their problem that they are worried that one day they might
find themselves in prison? It makes one wonder.

[Workingman]

I am a bit torn on this.

Brutal prisons do not work. If they did there would be no prisoners in Mexico, Turkey or Pakistan, but nor do holiday camps. We need to find the line between the two that works for us and we seem to have missed the mark.

[Suff]

Not sure about the brutality aspect WM. Mexico, Turkey and Pakistan have a huge amount of brutality in day to day life. Therefore many of the inmates are used to it and just endure it.

In our society, a level of brutality in Prison would be a huge short sharp shock for those who come in for softer offenses. Driving, soft drugs, basic plain stupidity. Those are likely to come in and never want to come back.

The others, though, who have been brutalised all their lives; that is never going to work for them. They'll never change and they will just go out and visit that brutality on all and sundry around them once they are released.

As with everything else there needs to be segregation and different regimes for different establishments. But that requires a very large investment in our prison system, before we can see any benefit in falling numbers of entrants.

[cromwell]

Part of the problem is that governments have "contracted out" in many cases. A lot of new prisons have been built and are run by private companies. Their goal is (has to be) profit.

So how many prison guards are these companies contracted to supply to run the prison? My guess is they want to provide as few as possible, and there's your problem.

[medsec222]

I couldn't agree more with you Cromwell. Contracting out the prison service was a huge mistake. I seem to remember that the job of a prison officer was at one time pretty much in line with the job of a police officer, perhaps slightly lower pay. I would be surprised if this was the case under the contracted out prison service.

[cromwell]

It has to make the job more dangerous, doesn't it? You really need the right number of people doing it or we're going to end up with even more violence in the jails.

[cruiser2]

I can remember when I was working, going to the first private prison, near Worcester, before it opened.
Can't remember who was going to operate.
Soon after the first prisoners had arrived there was a riot.
So things have not improved.
I can understand having modern toilet facilities, but why should they have other services which are denied to pensioners in care.
An example is the amount of money provided for food.

[TheOstrich]

It's a complete mess. Firstly, another example of privatisation not working. Secondly it appears to be way understaffed (although one prison officer interviewed on the BBC a number of weeks back, when asked how things could be improved, immediately took the line of "give us more pay", which was a tad unfortunate to saw the least). Thirdly, they must get to grips with the drug and phone smuggling .....

[AliasAggers]

There is a lot of truth in the points that have been made here, but I am still of the firm
opinion that those who break the law should be punished so that it hurts. Obviously we
are not doing it right here, for several reasons. Perhaps we should educate our youngsters
to understand that there is an obligation to obey laws, and that not doing so will result in
severe and painful punishment.
During my lifetime I have spoken to two men who confessed that they had been birched
for lawlessness, and both expressed the view that it had convinced them to never break
the law again. Hence my opinion on this subject.