Prison

[Rory]

What are people's thoughts on prisons? From what I understand, it's a bit of a problem and we have significant overcrowding, among other issues.

Should we send less people to prison? How should we resolve the current prison crisis and how should the system function?

[Brian Johnson]

58 minutes ago, Rory said:

What are people's thoughts on prisons? From what I understand, it's a bit of a problem and we have significant overcrowding, among other issues.

Should we send less people to prison? How should we resolve the current prison crisis and how should the system function?

Are you asking this because you are due to get sent down?😁

[EricHamesis]

1 hour ago, Rory said:

What are people's thoughts on prisons? From what I understand, it's a bit of a problem and we have significant overcrowding, among other issues.

Should we send less people to prison? How should we resolve the current prison crisis and how should the system function?

Are you the Minister of State for Prisons, Parole and Probation?

[headsup]

Despite what they say, prisons in their current form focus on punishment. They should be focusing on rehabilitation which in turn reduces repeat offences. A lot of career criminals are victims of “the system” themselves and should not be villainised the way they are — many have been failed by us as a society and everybody, regardless of crime, deserves some compassion.

We need to take a leaf out of Norway’s book.

[Rory]

Are you asking this because you are due to get sent down?

No, I've been one of the lucky ones so far.

[Powerline]

On 04/10/2023 at 14:07, Rory said:

What are people's thoughts on prisons? From what I understand, it's a bit of a problem and we have significant overcrowding, among other issues.

Should we send less people to prison? How should we resolve the current prison crisis and how should the system function?

I researched prisons at uni. In my opinion we should abolish prison sentences of less than 6 months, to aid with rehabilitation and also address overcrowding . For two main reasons:

1. You’ll commonly find prison sentences for a week or two for a variety of crimes which shouldn’t result in prison, such as not paying a tv license. There are other ways to deal with this that are more cost effective, rather than filling up prisons with people who have committed non violent crimes and are not a danger to society.

2. The people being sent to prison for low level crimes for a period of a couple of months are likely to lose their jobs, and will then find it harder to gain jobs once outside of prison. This then makes it more likely for them to become repeat offenders, as they see themselves as having no other recourse than to continue committing crimes. This then sees them in and out of prison, contributing again to the overcrowding problem, and never giving them a real chance of sorting their life out.

There’s been a lot of research done on this and around 2019 some in politics were looking at pushing this in, but it got quickly shut down unfortunately.

[Warren]

The USA has a very high prison population. But we can't say it helps their levels of crime. 

Back in the UK my view on prison sentences is influenced by the level of completion of non custodial sentences and their measured effectiveness in supporting no reoffending. I ain't got the stats. But I'm only up for reductions in prison sentences if the alternatives are effective punishments and work. 

As an expert in fraud prevention and investigation I don't like to see such criminals get away with it through soft sentencing. Even though max 10 year jail sentences are available. So for these sorts of crime I want to see punitive asset confiscations etc.

[Granville]

2 hours ago, Powerline said:

I researched prisons at uni. In my opinion we should abolish prison sentences of less than 6 months, to aid with rehabilitation and also address overcrowding . For two main reasons:

1. You’ll commonly find prison sentences for a week or two for a variety of crimes which shouldn’t result in prison, such as not paying a tv license. There are other ways to deal with this that are more cost effective, rather than filling up prisons with people who have committed non violent crimes and are not a danger to society.

2. The people being sent to prison for low level crimes for a period of a couple of months are likely to lose their jobs, and will then find it harder to gain jobs once outside of prison. This then makes it more likely for them to become repeat offenders, as they see themselves as having no other recourse than to continue committing crimes. This then sees them in and out of prison, contributing again to the overcrowding problem, and never giving them a real chance of sorting their life out.

There’s been a lot of research done on this and around 2019 some in politics were looking at pushing this in, but it got quickly shut down unfortunately.

I agree here, however serious prison reform will never happen because politicians, as you point out, are keen to shut down any debate, because it points out the flaws in the system they have all at some point contributed to.

Any political debate that doesn't centre around longer sentences for more severe crimes gets shut down as not being "tough on crime". If you sort out stuff lower down the chain which is greater in number than the really serious stuff you can then focus on that serious level of crime with appropriate sentences 

[eh up nah]

I think one of the problems is that we have a baying mob mentality to crime in this country. Everything warrants a hanging or bullet. And the government (whoever is in at the time) appeases this with "tougher sentences, more bars, more walls" although the more stuff clearly hasn't been happening. 

The main focus should be to keep people out if prison. A society where turning to crime is appealing to as few as possible would be a start.

Offenders who are due to be released with a good chunk of their life remaining should be provided with the tools to rehabilitate and contribute when they are released.

Sadly, I don't see much happening to change it soon.  Being tougher on crime is too much of a vote winner in this country. 

 

[For Us All]

Meanwhile,in Norton a fifteen year old boy is among five people arrested after armed police swooped on a S-O-T estate.Staffordshire Police have now confirmed that a double-barrelled shotgun and machete were seized in the raid on October 19th.