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Is This The Way To Discourage Rebookings At Hmhcs?

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ToraToraTora | 15:19 Tue 30th Apr 2013 | News
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22341867
Justice Secretary Chris Grayling said: "I want the arrival in prison for the first time to be an experience that is not one they'd want to repeat."

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Arrival for the first time, by it's very description is unrepeatable, so he's talking nonsense (no surprises there - he's a politician).
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why? because arrival for the first time is not repeatable, derrr, congrats on missing the point so impressively! Ok I'll spell it out, Is it a good idea that a new prisoner is so discouraged by the first experience that they are put off crime for life?
Yepp! that sounds good to me.

I hope it works.
As is so often the case, this is an exercise in headline-grabbing rather than in actually creating a prison system that encourages inmates not to return.

With the exception of institutionalised long-term inmates who simply cannot cope with life outside the prison system, it is hard to imagine any inmate has a return visit uppermost in his or her mind when they return to civilian life.

The curtailment of freedom is the essence of the punishment, and the so-called 'luxuries' that everyone with no experience of prison gets so get up about are not really luxuries at all.

If the government, and right-wing commentators seriously imagine that depriving inmates of television - and therefore giving them hours upon hours to contemplate their situation (remember a lot of them lack the basic literacy skills for alternative distractions like reading) is going to improve the attitudes of the incarcerated, then that shows naivity at a breath-taking level.

A little escapism to prevent obsessive consideration of home and damily life carrying on without the individual serving a sentence cannot be seen as unreasonable - part from which, television provides a valuable link to the outside world in terms of news and cultural input.

Where do we draw the line? let's not give them clothes, or bedding, or baths and toilets - that should reap a host of right-wing votes at election time.

But will it address fundamental issues about education and social interation, and the chance of pointing out some alternative life choices that don't involve crime and punishment? Unlikely.

Oh, and anyone who starts a reply to this post with "So you think ..." will, as previously advised, be receiving a sharp rebuke by return!
A lot in that BBC report is just plain wrong. I have worked in a prison and have seen the reality.
Prison uniform is standard in the vast majority of jails just for a start.
Chris Grayling is also talking total rubbish, how can you 'repeat' a first time arrival ?
This if it goes ahead is going to cause far more problems than it cures.
The huge problem is that the prisons are so overcrowded that very few prisoners will even get a chance to partake in 'work or training' .
I can see it already, prisoners who can not be offered a job or training to earn the privileges will be suing the Prison Service for the loss and getting £1,000s compensation. The prison lawyers will be rubbing their hands with glee at this . Expect a U turn in a few weeks time.
^ Indeed

I too thought one of the main problems in 'reforming' prisoners was a lack of resources and productive activities.

I assume that in the current overcrowded situation, the easiest solution for hard pressed warders is to lock people up with a TV for 23 hours a day and hope they keep quiet
Zeuhl, Absolutely true, the warders will be tearing their hair out over this.
It is going to make a difficult job near impossible. The prison service is understaffed as it is, there will be a lot of resignations if this daft proposal is not binned.
I'm wondering how much influence an unpleasant prison would be once you've got over the initial shock and settled in to the routine. I suspect one would need to expect to be caught again for it to be a large deterrent.

And there is a risk that if one has to suck up to the Governor to get what used to be considered basic leisure time stuff then might the thought be that there's no point in just keeping one's nose clean, may as well see what the bad guys are into ? Could well polarise and lead to less rehabilitation.

I think it's a bit of a risk, but I guess we'll see what the result has been once the experiment has been going a while.
So you think ...
What do they do to prisoners who refuse to work..............put them on the naughty step?
Eddie Mair has just spoken to a former prison governor on PM who said in effect that this is a sound bite exercise and the majority of proposals are already in place.
He didn't seem at all impressed by politcians as a group either.
I'm sure it'll be on i-Player sometime soon.
well, the thought of going without satellite TV has deterred me from crime for all these years. Surely it would do the same for others?
Her Majesty's Holiday Camps, by any chance?

You ought to use your frequent sabbaticals from the site to get together some new material.
jack, perhaps the experience of being banned from AB should be made so unpleasant that nobody would want to repeat it?
Get Chris Grayling onto it, lickety-split, jno.........it could be a vote winner. :o)
In most closed prisons the inmates are already locked up for 23 hours a day. There is just no facility to offer work or training.
I'll never forget my first arrival in prison, and I can tell you I definitely didn't want to repeat it and did my best not to.
Unfortunately I got caught.
andy-hughes - You have obviously not been a victim of crime.
TTG. Are you new to the site?
Any and every suggestion put forward to cut crime, improve education, cut the benefit bill etc,etc is met with a storm of protest,derision & scorn from the same old faces on here.
After a while you'll come to know who they are and the type of drivel they spout. Again & again & again, ad infinitum. ;)
TTG - actually I have - but feel free to make sweeping assumptions.

For the record, I have never been murdered either - but I have a view on capital punishment.

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