Letter: Prison doesn’t work
Saturday 23rd January 2010, 8:01AM GMT.
Letter: You can always tell when the Shropshire Star has run out of useful things to print — Peter Rhodes gets a column.
In his latest rant on January 16, he advocates more prison sentences on the grounds that “prison is the only sentence that frightens villains”. In most cases, this simply isn’t true.
Many criminals view prison as an occupational hazard, and many more are merely convinced that they will never be caught (regardless of what the current arrest rate is).
Curiously enough, on the letters page opposite the column, Trevor Mytton gives good reasons why just banging people up is not necessarily a good idea. I expect Mr Rhodes would prefer we transport them to the colonies.
Sean Bayley
Donnington
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Mr bayley is sadly correct in many of his thoughts – prison doesn’t work for a few very simple reasons:
1) It is no longer a deterent – many, many regular visitors to Her Majesty’s hotels will openly tell you they offer a much higher standard of living to that the offender is used to at home – single room cells, Playstations, mobile phones and drugs a plenty !!!
2) There is no form of punishment for the offence/s committed – I’m not suggesting we go back to the stocks or daily flogging (although some may successfully argue this is a viable option) – but the offenders must be made to pay back for what they have done.
3) Rehabilitation is inadequate – we are regularly told the major source of criminal activity is to fund drugs habits – where addiction is identified, sentencing should include that the offender cannot be released until shown they are off the gear – come back a second time and the sentence is doubled – simples !!!
4) All of the arguments banded back and forth though, alwys focus on the needs of the offender – the simple matter is whilst criminals are locked up they are not out on the streets breaking into more houses or stealing little old ladies pensions – thereby allowing the rest of us to sleep a little better at night !!!!
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The Sean Bayley’s of this world are directly responsible for the present anarchic state of our society from a “crime” and penal policy aspect. For every one person who advocates the liberal, bleeding heart, soft approach, there are another eight who believe in a totally different approach where criminals are made to face up to their abuse and attack on the norms of society by sustained punishment and “pay-back” in austere conditions.
I know a person who has experienced one hanging and has sat with another condemned prisoner and the same man has experienced a prison flogging given to a prisoner. Needless to say, the two didn’t come back to murder again and the one that was flogged was reduced from an evil, foul, strutting “hard case” to something approaching a “cry baby” when his back was healed. That same man has never changed his views from the day when hangings were the norm for murderers and prison flogging was still being awarded to extremely violent prisoners. Those days will never return but things have gone to far the other way and some form of harsher “punishment” (and that word in itself is unusable to the liberal soft hearts) must be brought back if society is not to descend into an unholy hell where decent people live in fear – and we are not far from that now. The liberal “do-gooders” have had their say and we see the result all around us. Let our voice prevail for once and see the difference.
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Shropsman ~ Agreed.
Prison needs to be more of a deterrent. At the moment, it isn’t.
Cutting prison budgets by 50% and making life harder for inmates would be one easy way of saving this country a fortune whilst punishing those who deserve it most.
The needs of the criminal have been prioritised for too long now.
Prison should be a place of hardship in order for the sentence to fully reflect the crime.
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The truth of the matter is that if prison sentences were much longer and conditions in prison much harsher then we would eventually have less crime and need fewer prisons, costing honest people less, it’s easy to work it out.
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What kind of country allows brave ex-servicemen to sleep rough on the streets or old folk freeze to death in their homes during winter – while criminals are treated like guests at holiday camps?
I say make prisoners repay their debt to society with plenty of hard physical labour.
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Well the thought of offending and going to prison frightens me if not the author of this letter!
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Mr Bayley and Shropsman are right on so many points. Shropsman’s need addressing individually:
1. Prison has always been a dterrent for the law abiding, but not for the criminal fraternity. For most who commit crime regularly the risks of capture and punishment do not register. That prison offers better living conditions is not so much a sign of hotel life as opposed to an indication to consider what conditions have the majority of offenders been living in before.
2. Punishement is available through unpaid work but the general public feel that offenders are “getting off” even if the evidence suggests that community based penalties are the most effective in changing behaviour.
3.
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For me the worrying thing is how many times offenders are let off before ending up in prison, get away with 50 offences in court serve one prison term – a fair swap for the offender, then its an easy life when they do go behind doors.
I ran a military nick, believe me, they only went in once.
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It may well be true that prisons do not work in the accepted sense that people will re-offend when released. It does not rehabilitate to the degree that is desired by society. They are not harsh, and the inmates may well have too much luxury.
BUT what is interesting about prison is that whilst the offender is inside, he is not committing crime on the outside. The longer that person is “away” the better. So they may not work sufficently but having criminals off the street and out of my area is a great bonus.
Prisons dont work? Just keeping them locked up works for me.
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My computer gave up on me mid flow but still managed to send a half finished post. I’ve lost the flow 24 hours afterwards but would simply observe that punishment generally is only a deterrent for the law abiding. Those of us who experienced corporal punishment will well recall the lads who got caned week, after week, after week. It didn’t work. For the recidivist offender prison is often ineffective because punishment alone is no solution. As a society we need to be more imaginative and to see beyond simple black or white problems and solutions. In Yorkshire we have just had two brothers convicted of a dreadful assault on two other boys. We can adopt the simplistic “they’re evil” approach – but please offer a legal or scientific definition of evil – or we can ask questions as to how the hell two children developed to behave in such a way. Punish of course, but do something constructive to prevent them from similar behaviour in the future. As I say; it requires imagination.
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I like Nelson’s roundabout suggestion (no. 5) that the prisons should be emptied so that servicemen and old people should be housed in prisons. I like it! What a superb idea!
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The hard truth is that many social misfits and inadequate people end up in prison, often for alcohol and drug offences.
Until people have experienced the indignity and fear that having their liberty removed can instil, it is easy to make simplistic judgements.
Being at the mercy of prison officers and even worse other prisoners who have unstable peronalities or psychopathic tendencies is the true deterrent.
This is why suicide is so common with younger people who may have not encountered the garbage that society can produce.
Exposure to neglected and impressionable young people of violent and pornographic imagery is a worrying and dangerous aspect of the world today.
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Prisons are not hotels, you do not get playstations and such like. you shair a cell with at least one other person. if your very good you get your own cell. in order to get items such as tv radio you have to get a job inside the prison which pays £10 a week. yes prisons are more confortable these days they are not as comfortable as some may make out. not all people in prison are low lifes some of them are normal people with loving familys and they are taken away from them by a moment of madness
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