Prison Sentences.

[MWB]

I used to work with an ex policeman. Lovely chap he was.
We got to talking one day about prison sentences. He believed that sentences should be in total, total isolation. He said for there to be no one to talk to, no radios, no TV, no books, no window, no nothing. He said the sentence wouldn't be anywhere near as long & the crims would never want to come back.
He also said the sentence should only be for a few months; not for it to send them mad or break them.
I've thought about this for a long time & I now agree with him.
What do ABers think?

[terambulan]

jake-the-peg - Lack of support/jobs sends people into crime.

Drugs are a different issue requiring specialist care.

Would a sentence working in 3rd world (less distraction) help?

[MWB]

You think just like me Docspock!!! Brilliant!

Use flame throwers & grenades on rioters & football hooligans too!

This isolation sentence would work after a while. And be much cheaper too.

[MWB]

Are you serious terambulan!!!!

I don't have a job right now but I'm not going to do a crime. I don't have much support but I'm not going to do a crime.

CHOICES! It's the choices one makes.

[terambulan]

Of course I dont mean everyone MWB. Just the re-offenders.

[123everton]

No, I agree with the need for more austere surroundings but good prisons don't come cheaply and that's why politically it'll remain a hot potato.
Prison does work in so much as anything else is a cop out for all but the most minor misdemeanours, I'm all for rehabilitation just so long as it's done inside.

[terambulan]

There's a wealth of untapped labour & skills in the prisons that could be utilised for the welfare of street beggers & kids in India/Pakistan/China/S.America.

[carrust]

Guess what, I'm going to visit my nephew in prison tomorrow. Please feel free to ask any questions on prison life that I've gleaned from him.

[MWB]

Nail em up I say. Nail some sense into into em!

[MyJolly]

Terambulan, if you were living in some grotty little rat infested bed sit why wouldn't you want to re-offend. Free accommodation, three meals a day, free healthcare, drugs, and all your neighbours are as selfish, ignorant and lazy as you are. It's not lack of support/jobs, it's lack of brains, self esteem, work ethic and pride.

[MWB]

And they probably all gingas.

[MyJolly]

Perhaps Terambulan has the right idea after all. Send the lot of them to serve their sentences in Pakistan or India. A one way ticket to some third world slum has to be cheaper for the poor old taxpayer than keeping the ******* in jail for years on end.

[MyJolly]

The problem is that you never know where crims are going to pop up. They could live right next door. I myself live next door to someone. That person could say to his friends, Mr Jolly lives next door.

[MWB]

How very interesting.

Does he borrow your fairy liquid?

[MrJolly]

Only when his lager is flat

[Quinlad]

If only things were as monumentally simple as you all think.

Ignore the thousands and thousands and thousands of pages of reports into punishment - the stuff that statistically, psychologically and sociologically analyses the effectiveness of different forms of punishment - and just go with dunderheaded reverse psychology instead.

[Teddio]

There are two very clear advantages for keeping criminals locked up for a very long time: they will be punished and they will be unable to re-offend.

[pinktwink]

as a social worker this view is humanely cruel and sick. It is totally in contravention of all forms of human rights.

At a most basic level you will strip people of all aspects of their identity leaving them less able to reintegrate into soviety. The lifelong effects of such brutality would be to overpopulate our psychiatric services given the effect of such a harsh regime. A week in a regime like this could be enough to turn some people insane. What about those inmates who already have mental/ emotional needs they would need to be on suicide watch there fore having human contact.
There is also the effects on staff wherby morale would be low and effects of implementing regime lifelong
Typical response from an ex garda

[GraemeC]

I hate the human rights bill BUT i do believe everyone is entitled to have them up UNTIL they have committed such a crime whereas they forfeit their own human rights,
for example
if you murder someone = fail....no human rights
if you rape someone = fail....no human rights

Once you have comitted such a crime then you should be locked in a very dark room and be made to think about what you've done for a very long time!

So in answer to the original question, I think it's a bloody brilliant idea......for those who deserve it!

[trish432]

Totally agree, prisons the way they are now are no deterrent whatsoever.
Not absolutely certain, but I believe prisons in the fifties allowed no talking, no radios, 23 hours behind the door,with an hour out for excersise, and there was much less reoffending then.