Prison gives peeping tom ‘better bed’
Friday 4th June 2010, 11:33AM BST.
A peeping tom who is serving a jail sentence at Shrewsbury’s Dana Prison has been given a new bed after moaning that his bunk was not comfortable enough, it has been reported.
Farmer David Sturgess, who secretly filmed women and schoolgirls undressing at a remote rural holiday cottage in Mid Wales, was jailed for two-and-a-half years in November last year.
While at the Dana, it is reported that he demanded a specialist orthopaedic mattress for his bad back. The Ministry of Justice refused this but did give him a more supportive mattress, according to the reports.
A Prison Service spokesperson said: “HMP Shrewsbury only issue standard mattresses to prisoners.”
Shrewsbury MP Daniel Kawczynski today said he was disappointed that priority was being given to prisoners rather than those ill in hospital.
He said: “I wish the State was as responsive to the needs of the patients in hospitals as it seems to be to convicts in prison.
“There have been lots of times over the past five years where we have tried to get more appropriate beds or other things and it’s taken a long time, yet this man complains and gets a new bed. It’s just wrong.”
Last year Swansea Crown Court heard Sturgess, 53, rigged up an array of high-tech cameras hidden inside fake smoke detectors at his rural retreat in Llandysul.
He then filmed women in various states of undress. Among his victims were girls aged 14 and 17 holidaying with their families.
Sturgess was found guilty of 12 counts of voyeurism and three counts of making indecent images of children in a two-day trial in October.
At his sentencing Judge Keith Thomas branded Sturgess’s action a “gross intrusion” after being told that his victims had felt “violated and angry”.
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I can see the bait dangling above but I really shouldn’t rise to it, it brings out that little bit of Daily Mail reader in me, and I know I ought to try to fight it. I’m more interested in how this information is leaked/fed out and why.
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Is this news?
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I hope he’s finding the sheet of corrugated iron more comfortable…..
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Quite right too. Why should this man have to sleep on an uncomfortable bed just because he is in prison, after all, he’s not there to be punished,is he?. There was a discussion here a few weeks back about prisons being too soft, this incident proves the point. When I was incarcerated at Shrewsbury prison we had steel frame beds with flat metal straps and a 3 inch thick koya mattress, very very uncomfortable. If we had dared to complain we would have been told to sleep on the floor. This peeper probably got his bad back from spending too much time creeping around the undergrowth taking his perverted pictures, so, tough luck. Crime and punishment has been replaced by crime and pampering, no wonder there’s so much of it. Perhaps he should ask for a 42 inch flat screen TV while the authorities are in such a benevolent mood.
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Who Cares ?
What a waste of time reporting this nonsense!
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At the end of the day a prisoner is locked up 24 hrs, 7 days a week punishment being given ,with a few hours in the excersise yards . I for one could’nt care a jot.
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I imagine that the alternative mattress was supplied on the basis of medical advice.
Presumably the Star would prefer that the prisoner’s pre-existing back problem became worse, necessitating further medical treatment, and thus even greater expense for the taxpayer.
A complete non-story…
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When he comes out and needs expensive treatment from the NHS you might think that it would have been cheaper to provide him with a better mattress Andrew.
Don’t people think that being locked up with a lot of dysfunctional people (and that may not just be the other prisoners) is quite an ordeal.
The point of prison is in part punishment but the longterm aim is to prevent re-offending, create more usful people who can contribute to society and not cost us the taxpayer yet more money.
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The man is a human being. He is being punished by his incarceration. The prison has a duty of care to the prisoner and every effort should be made to ensure his stay is comfortable.
How can we ever hope to build a better society if we have such absurd and bigoted views as expressed in these comments.
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I agree with colin i also have stopped at the dana, found the beds ok but what i am wondering is what is he going to do when he gets to a more strict prison? he’s in there for a reason not to be spoilt, just treat him like they treat evryone else and no favours.
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I’ve heard that a couple of nights sleeping on a hard floor is good for a bad back.
I wonder how much sympathy Peasbody would have if he’d been caught watching your daughter undress..
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No 9. How can we build a better society, when wrongdoers get pampered? I have a back problem, I had to buy a new mattress myself. He is not in prison to be pampered, but punished. We treat prisoners better than we treat our pensioners.
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Having a bad back is a medical problem are you saying that giving people necessary medication is spoiling them?
Daniel K wants to do the sums. One way or another this guy is going to cost the taxpayer.
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In my opinion, prisons are there to act as a deterrent, not to reabilitate, hospitals do a great job of that. If people knew what conditions were like in a prison, some may think twice before offending. His desire to break the law took precedent over his health. He should have thought about that before he offended.
Once inside and he realised the state of the mattress, the prison officals should have said to him, ‘tough luck mate, what yo see is what you get’. Once he is out of prison, the NHS should not give him any support for his bad back. He brought in on himself.
How is giving into his human rights going to stop him re-offending. He knows if he cant help his urges and he re-offends, he knows he will get the same good treatment. If he was forced to sleep on a not so comfy mattress or if he complained, sleep on the floor, do you not think this may make him think somewhat as to re-offend, knowing he would have to sleep like that again.
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Roger, the primary objective of the Prison Service and the regimes that it manages in all our Prisons is to imbue in the individual, the will to lead a good and useful life on discharge. This principle of “rehabilitation” underpins everything that they do and “good” and “useful” should be interpreted in their widest possible meaning, ie, not to commit further offences etc.
I firmly believe that based on the principles of humane rehabilitation policies and practices – which would include proper medical provision and concerns for both mental and physical well being, prisons should be harsh, firm and disciplined places where offenders would not wish to return.
Humane treatment is not incompatible with a harsh regime. All the genuine medical needs of criminals in prison should be met because to do otherwise, demeans all of us in our society.
The Prison Service also has the common law “duty of care” over those in their custody, failure to properly provide that care may well render the Service liable to a civil suit against them, this I would think figured largely in their decision to change his sleeping gear.
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Glad you agree for a change Stu!
#11 Spencer it is not a case of Peasbody being sympathic, we are all glad this guy was caught, prosecuted and is being punished.
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No problem with him having a special mattress as long as
1) He is sharing a cramped cell with 4 other inmates
2) He has no access to leisure activities ie TV, Radio, Game machines, book,s etc for the duration of his sentence
3) Food should be a lot worse than fare served up in hospitals and school’s
If all those 3 conditions are met than he MAY have a mattress for his back
If not then let him suffer on a normal mattress
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