A THOUGHT FOR TODAY - OPEN THE PRISON GATES AND LET THE PRISONERS OUT?!

This has now meant that these private contractors - and, yes the government - have a vested interest in keeping prisons full and even overcrowded, so that the unit cost of keeping each inmate penned, can be as low as possible. It is also the reason why it would be more profitable for the government and the private contractors to maintain as low as possible, the 'staff:inmates' ration. Something against which the prison staff are now taking industrial action. Action which the judiciary has now adjudged to be 'illegal.'

And so it was to my amusement, that, today I heard a government minister with responsibility for resolving the current problem, telling Radio 4's audience that he does not care about what had gone on before, including the discussion between the prison staff and Offender Management Service. But that his responsibility was to ensure that there are sufficient places in prisons for people whom the court convicted and sent to prison. 

I was amused because, it is the government and its policies which the courts implement, which is responsible for the increased incarceration and overcrowding rates; not the other way round. 

The courts interprets the laws, they do not make them, so the current situation is directly a result of government's policies.

And so it is clear that, if countries such as the United Kingdom, do not want the kind of overcrowding  which their prisons are having to cope with, then they should reform their 'criminal justice policies and laws.' 

They need to have policies and laws which make it the exception to incarcerate people convicted of offences, so that it is mainly used for convicted persons properly assessed as posing a high risk of harm to the public, which cannot be effectively managed without a specified period of incarceration.

As Kenneth Clarke, the former Justice Minister, has told his successor, Elizabeth Truss, her prison reform is impossible to achieve, unless she addresses the  "prison works" sentencing policies of the past 20 or more years. Kenneth Clarke, like many others, clearly believes that prison does not work, except to protect society from those convicted persons who pose a high risk of harm to the safety of the public. Unfortunately, he was not able to address, or complete his attempts to address these policies during his time in government.


To be continued