Let He Who Is Without Sin

[Booldawg]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk-news/2013/jul/09/mark-bridger-attacked-prison-april-jones

Didn't think it would be long. Not defending Bridger but personally I do have a problem with the motive for these high profile prison attacks. I don't think a convicted criminal is a suitable agent of punishment.

I would totally get it if this attack had been carried out by a member of Aprils family. Very few crimes are victimless and no doubt the convict that carried out this attack has left a wake of them in his past.

Do you think that these attacks are often carried out to gain notoriety amongst cell mates rather than from a genuine disgust at people like Bridger, Huntley, Sutcliffe et al ?

Maybe less high profile convicts do also get attacked based on what crimes they have committed but it just doesn't make the papers?

[emmie]

pretty sure that no one in prison likes child killers, or paedophiles, but i think it may have something to do with getting kudos, doing the person in a prison, makes them look hard, these high profile cases will always make the papers.. personally i don't care what happens to the bloke..

[albaqwerty]

I agree with Em, that it's done for kudos.
My first reaction when I heard the news that Bridger would sue the Prison Service for failing to protect him.

[emmie]

he could sue, but i suspect that would make his time in prison, bad as it will be, even worse.

[waterboatman]

It may have nothing to do with why he is in there. He may have upset the bloke that attacked him.

[albaqwerty]

If he does sue, I hope the judge throws it out.

[emmie]

from that piece,

The union claimed that there was an average of 43 prisoner-on-prisoner assaults a day and eight assaults a day on prison officers.

[waterboatman]

Explains a lot as to why they are in there doesn't it!

[emmie]

the only to stop the attacks on these people is to have them completely segregated, that may not work of course, but like Ian Huntley, may stop him being hurt again, boiling water thrown over him in one place, then slashed with a knife in another, and doubt truthfully anyone actually cares.

[Octavius]

In 2011 the prisoner population was around 86,000 and 15,500 assault incidents were recorded.

Notoriety in attacks on high profile prisoners are most certainly a factor, but given the general proliferation, it probably comes down to being stuck with a load of people you hate on a daily basis. It would surely happen on Big Brother eventually.

We only get to hear about (a) High profile attacks, and (b) Particularly gruesome ones (throats slashed etc).

[ummmm]

It most certainly is to gain notoriety.

I didn't think it would be long but I'm also surprised it happened so soon.

[LoftyLottie]

Do you think that these attacks are often carried out to gain notoriety amongst cell mates rather than from a genuine disgust at people like Bridger, Huntley, Sutcliffe et al ?

Simply yes.

[ummmm]

Often the attacker doesn't have much to lose.

[Octavius]

Not wrong Ummm. Double murderer Gary Vinter who stabbed Roy Whiting (murderer of Sarah Payne) with a sharpened toilet brish handle in 2011 is one of the men currently in the news over the ECHR row.

[Booldawg]

I saw something on the news about that Octy. Didnt realise how vile Jeremy Bamber was, smirking at the cameras at every opporunity.

[goodlife]

So what do you see. That our prisons are now training grounds for criminals, This is only an echo of similar expressions made in many parts of the world. And there is much truth to this statement, for there is little evidence that prison life really reforms prisoners. Some even argue that violent punishment increases a criminal’s hostility, making his reformation more difficult. Indeed, many criminals admit that while in prison they learn more about committing crime.

[Zacs-Master]

Crickey Goodlife, really! I never knew all those things about prison.

[ck1]

It should be promoted to add to the deterrent of committing crime and going to prison, not only are you going to be locked up, you are also likely to get your teeth smashed in so enter at your own risk