Are prisons too pleasant to be a deterrent?
October 12th, 2006 Written by barry
Something that has always troubled me in recent years is the prison system. Hopefully, I will never have the pleasure of visiting such an establishment but if I did, then it wouldnt be the end of the world to me. Why is this?
Well, lets start with the coloured TV’s, Pool tables, Table tennis, hot meals and all the “rights” I have as a prisoner, including the ability to earn money whilst inside. Lets face it, its not rocket science to understand why hardened criminals really arent too fussed about going back inside. Most of them dont have a life outside of prison and if they were released, they would have to actually work for a living, not just play pool and watch TV all day. In fact, I would chance my arm that many of them have better conditions in prison than they would on the outside.
Of course, you lose your freedom whilst locked away. And so you should. But the things that prisoners are allowed to do these days, its not tricky to see why prison isnt really the deterrent it used to be. Imagine being locked in a damp, smelly, dingy dungeon and being fed when the guards remembered you exisit. Wouldnt that put people off being locked up? Its no wonder the prisons are overcrowded! Its like a big long holiday to some of these people.
Why not clamp down a bit and make the prisons a little harsher than they are. Perhaps take away a prisoners rights to certain things. Afterall, the “polically correct” lobby would complain that im un-human for even suggesting it…. but my answer would be that these people are given a choice… offend, and you will be punished. So they dont HAVE to offend do they? Imagine what a great deterrent it would be if when condemned beyond doubt, you were beheaded…. yes, sounds harsh… but wouldnt it stop crime overnight? Not entirely no…. but it would stop the people who commit crime because they know they will get a slapped wrist and released a month later.
Make prison a punishment… not a longterm holiday at taxpayers expense. We have enough to pay for as it is, without funding criminals too.
Entry Filed under: Rants & Views
Calendar
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| « Oct | ||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |||
| 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
| 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
| 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
| 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | |
Most Recent Posts
- John Lochrie - Galashiels
- Carbon Offsetting, Motor Racing and a Change of Opinion.
- Looking forward
- Boundary dispute…with the dead
- Saving for the future
- Zis is forbidden
- Keeping the home fires burning
- Chinese on the menu
- Model behaviour
- Paradise lost
2 Comments Add your own
1. yagster | October 13th, 2006 at 2:19 pm
here here…prisons are more like butlins now a days…another way to free up spaces is to send immigrants back home shouldn’t be here by rights, especially when they commit crime!!. send em packing to fill the jails in their own country’s.
2. John Sheldon | January 6th, 2007 at 2:03 am
I believe not only are the prisons cushy but the sentences are very light, you can do just a few weeks prison for crimes like burglary.
Now if the prisons were bread and water, dungeons shackles etc. I suspect it would act as deterrent.
The sentences should be years instead of months, as for their civil rights…. they forfeit them when they offend.
I have a solution for Mr Reid the home secretary regarding prison populations in the UK,
Send the worst offenders to other countries like Vietnam or Singapore to deal with. Of course local customs and practises should be observed. We could pay those governments handsomely for taking care of our prisoners yet save ourselves a fraction of the cost here.
Why they haven’t thought of this I don’t know as certainly the prisons in Singapore are relatively empty.
Leave a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Trackback this post | Subscribe to the comments via RSS Feed