I was reading an old paper today at work and there was a double page spread in the Daily Express regarding Shock Prisons.
Basically a 6month, extremely strict boot camp for law breakers.
Did anyone else read this?
What are your thoughts?
:Ace: Sat 02/08/08 21:03
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I didn't read the article but it sounds like a good idea.
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The Thatcher government introduced the "short, sharp shock" treatment at detention centers for young criminals (advertised as part of the 1979 Conservative Party Manifesto).
by the then Home Secretary Willie Whitelaw.
It was a failure. Chiefly because prison should be about re-educating people rather than about revenge and retribution.
The Express 'idea' is just "short, sharp shock" under another name.
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Short, sharp shock'
Then, as now, the politicians' tough rhetoric was out of all proportion to the likely impact of the policy.
Like Mr Blair, Tory home secretary Willie Whitelaw wanted to make life uncomfortable for young offenders.
The idea was to subject them to a harsh training regime to shock them out of a life of crime.
But the four experimental centres failed to have any impact on re-offending and were criticised for simply turning out fitter criminals.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3617278 .stm
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I did'nt read the article but I'm slightly with Gromit on this one, prisons do need to focus on education to try to stop reoffending but at the moment it appears the environment is just too cushy.
I feel beter results could be gained with a slightly more austere surroundings.
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Question Author
Yes, these Shock Prisons do re-educate.
They prioritise English and Maths education for the prisoners, and once the prisoners are freed, many employers favour them.
I couldn't find a link to the story because I realise that I don't make the best argument for it, but I think it's a really good idea.
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I think making them workworthy, routine like the army, making them work and study and have to live by the rules, making them learn to budget and save and do things properly to condition them into getting ready for the real world when they come back out.
Teaching literacy and numeracy skills and computer skills to make them more employable.
Rewards (in proportion) for progress. Teach the the pride in earning something rather than just taking it.
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Paul Goggins (Minister of State, Northern Ireland Office; Wythenshawe & Sale East, Labour) says
Wider research in the UK suggests that approximately 60-70 per cent. of prisoners have some mental health problem and
assessments on committal show that around 70 per cent. have literacy and numeracy skills below level 1, which is comparable to that of an 11-year-old.
So is the best way to treat the 60-70 % of inmates who have mental health problems, a shock of some kind. Will it involve intensive education that actually does improve the abilities and skills of these people? Sounds a bit Victorian to me.
I am old enough to remember the DC,s that Gromit refers to and worked in the early 80's with many young men who went through that system. Following their custodial sentences these joyriding 15 year olds were fitter, able to pack their clothes with military precision and somewhat more skilled criminally than when they went in. They were not reformed long term.
An expensive way of pandering to public hysteria. It didn't work then and unless radically different, will not work now.
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