Prisons

[CityFan94]

A few people have mentioned Norway's system and they're bang on.

I don't understand the idea that prison should be "bread and water, no tv, etc". For murderers and rapists, maybe, but how would that benefit somebody serving a small sentence for a minor crime? Would they come out of prison a better person and somebody who can be a positive to society? No way.

In my opinion, prison should almost be like a big college. Prisoners should learn skills and gain qualifications so that when they get out, they actually stand a chance. Prisoners should be doing 9am-5pm days of education. When you strip everything away; you're putting people in a building for a few years, why on earth isn't there more of an effort to improve them? Rotting in a cell; how does that improve someone exactly? Norway has got it absolutely spot on.

Regarding drugs; there's going to have to come a time when certain drugs are legalised, controlled and taxed. People are really suffering because of drugs and nobody really cares. The government isn't recognising the huge drug problem this country has. You can't put your fingers in your ears and cover your eyes forever.

The prison system at the moment is broken and it's no surprise that many prisoners are re-offending very quickly after release.

 

[Chippy_boy]

I wonder what percentage of prisoners in the UK are there - directly or indirectly - because of drugs. Possession of class A's; dealing; thefts of various kinds; gangland stuff etc etc. I would imagine the prison overcrowding problem would be solved at a stroke if all of these people were not there.

Clearly making the most addictive and harmful drugs available through legal channels would not fix this overnight, but it would be a step in the right direction imho.

 

[BrianW]

Drugs are a massive, massive problem. Probably the best option is some sort of controlled decriminalisation, as the present policy clearly doesn't work.

Another biggie is mental health, and that's often linked to drugs. Many people in prison should really be in mental hospitals, being treated. It would cost, but in the long term it would be better all round.

For the rest, bar the small percentage of utter animals, there should be more focus on education, training and rehabilitation. Again, this would cost, but evidence from more enlightened countries shows that recidivism goes down, which is a huge benefit.

 

[Zin 'messiah' Zimmer]

I bought up the drugs thing purely because of the fact that about 35% of the prison population are addicts. take that 35% out of the prison system and the over crowding goes away.

It's disproportionate to start with, the figures for prisoners is nothing like the actual!!

 

[hilts]

Save Our Smackheads

 

[aguero93:20]

Save Our Smackheads

 

[Two Gun Bob]

Did anyone watch the programme on sky tv last night at 11pm.
It was about prisons and entitled Prison First and Last 24 Hours
It will focus on prisoners' experiences as they first begin their sentences and then follow them as they prepare for life on the outside.
It is an eight part series and intense viewing

Sky telly said
The first and last days of a jail term are the definitive moments in a prisoner's sentence with new inmates preparing to face life behind bars, while prisoners preparing for release are tasked with adapting to the world outside.

This hard-hitting new series will examine crime and punishment by looking at the lives of our prisoners as they go through the most intimidating days of their jail sentence.

 

[hilts]

All cleaned up now thanks to the Sterling work done at strangeways

 

[Why Always Ste]

Did anyone watch the programme on sky tv last night at 11pm.
It was about prisons and entitled Prison First and Last 24 Hours
It will focus on prisoners' experiences as they first begin their sentences and then follow them as they prepare for life on the outside.
It is an eight part series and intense viewing

Sky telly said
The first and last days of a jail term are the definitive moments in a prisoner's sentence with new inmates preparing to face life behind bars, while prisoners preparing for release are tasked with adapting to the world outside.

This hard-hitting new series will examine crime and punishment by looking at the lives of our prisoners as they go through the most intimidating days of their jail sentence.

Thanks for this Taxi, will source this show on eztv and have a watch.
Technically committing a crime by watching it ;)

 

[cibaman]

I don't know mate - I'm not a doctor and would have to leave that stuff to the experts. I would imagine that in return for free, high-quality heroin the quid-pro-quo would be the addict would have to take administered doses in some kind of supervised way and agree to a program that tries to get them off it, or at least keep it under control. Perhaps not everyone would sign up and I'm sure it would not work in all cases. But surely a large proportion of addicts would want to take part. I know for sure, my cousin was *desperate* to get off the stuff and hated himself for his burgling, stealing, robbing etc. I would image many feel the same. I can't think that many prozzies do what they do because they like doing it, for example.

From a laymans perspective (i.e. mine), it seems to me that the harm the drug itself does, is relatively minor compared to the harm that goes with it. i.e. becoming homeless, the crap mixed in with it that you end up injecting, the stealing, prostituiion, gang wars, prison overcrowding etc. When heroin was legal some decades ago, many heroin addicts were able to lead relatively normal lives.

Anything must be better than the status quo at the moment.

Many of the addicts who currently appear in court are on supervised methadone programmes. But they top up their methadone with illegal drugs, often acquired through crime. I'm not sure why it would be much different if they replaced the methadone with heroin.

I agree that most addicts desparately want to kick the habit. The problem is that its so difficult. Most addicts who start a drug treatment programme today will still be taking drugs in 12 months time. When addicts finally kick the habit its usually after several failed attempts. The problem facing the criminal justice system is that there isnt an effective means of dealing with them when they going through those years of either not trying to give up, or trying and failing and committing crime. Legalisation might be better than the current system but it certainly wouldnt resolve all of the problems.