It is estimated that each prison place in the UK costs £119,000 to build, then costs an annual sum of £40,000 to keep each prisoner (source Guardian Newspaper, UK). Personally I find this outrageous.
Shouldn't these institutions be self-financing?
May I suggest that they are ALL run on factory lines, and ALL inmates should be made to put-in a normal day's work.
Basic sums of remuneration could be paid (if work was satisfactory) and any money earned could then be exchanged for food, water, electricity etc (don't work, don't eat; like everyone else in the world). The inmates could even contribute towards the prison guards salaries, the prison running costs, and their judge's entertainment fund (ahem). If anything was left over at the end of their sentence, it would hopefully help them set-up a new crime-free life.
It's an old chestnut, but I don't see why criminals should be funded to over double the amount of an unemployed or disabled family.
Priorites, priorities! We need a Ministry of Priorities.
Couldn't agree more.
ReplyDeletePrisons around here used to have farms but they have all gone now. As hauliers we collected the pigs from Norwich Prison and delivered them to market (and also from the Asylum). One of the Suffolk prisons had a dairy herd. The trade unions stopped the inmates working on the Asylum Farm and garden because it was said to be exploitation of their rights. It closed.
ReplyDeleteEVERYBODY OUT..... Oh, they already are!
DeleteThey've run away.
DeleteAgree with your thinking Cro.
ReplyDeleteNo wonder so many criminals re-offend. From what one reads, life on the inside often sounds better than life on the outside.
Certainly a lot better than that of most law-abiding pensioners.
DeleteAgree that self-sufficiency is a good thing - gardens, growing food for their own use and for sale, farming, making goods for sale. All this used to be routine until elfin safety and the unions stepped in. But privatising prisons should be avoided at all costs, that way lies the slippery slope to corruption on all sides.
ReplyDeleteSo true !
ReplyDeleteI'm in arrangement. It would be much more rehabilitative and give prisoners the skills and reinforce values would stand them in good stead in the outside world (where they should be much more supported following their sentence). I often say to the people that I work with that as well as the Devil making idle work for idle hands he also does the same thing for idle brains. This makes sense with criminality as well as depression and anxiety.
ReplyDeleteI'm one of those people who's not happy if not busy, and I would NEED to be doing something. It would benefit all involved.
DeleteI did some work at a prison that used to be completely self sufficient, they said paperwork and rules made it impossible to do now. Seems mad!
ReplyDeleteAgree. Also agree with the idea that beaurocracy has gone mad if that's what's in the way of enterprise and sustainability.
ReplyDeleteI do like the way in which every now and then (with increasing regularity I might add) you drop a hot coal into your blog. Actually I do agree with what you say.
ReplyDeleteWe haven't had a recipe lately though and I rely on your ideas at this time of the year to provide me with the odd meal.
If prisons do cost money, then it should be money from the state. It is a crime in itself that G4 is allowed to make a profit from social punishment here in the UK.
ReplyDeleteWe've had a lot of problems in the last 48 hrs here in Oz with prisoners rioting. Prisons have just gone Non Smoking. I just read they've all been on Quit Programs and been given nicotine patches to deal with craving. Goodness!!! I cannot imagine why they didn't think that a prison full of hardened criminals all suffering from withdrawal might end badly. Millions of dollars damage to property now having to be fixed with tax payers money. Argh.....
ReplyDeleteIt was with amazement that I read this story last year.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2014/11/27/tough-texas-gets-results-by-going-softer-on-crime/
Norway has a low level of crime. This article talks about their system.
http://www.businessinsider.com/why-norways-prison-system-is-so-successful-2014-12
I think that the point is to get prisoners out of prison. I really believe the line about Americans wanting punishment and then complain about the cost. It really is quite baffling.
Helen
The Norwegian idea is more what I was thinking; and it sounds as if it works.
DeleteI completely agree with your idea, bring back the days of old. I don’t think the tax payers should have to pay for any of it. If they chose the life they are living then make them pay to support it.
ReplyDeletePeople in open prisons and also remand prisoners who pose no danger to the public can be seen putting in a day's work for day's pocket money. Violent criminals and psychiatric cases need to be kept away from any tools etc. which they use to attack somebody.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure there's a way around that. Maybe they could be in the pillow stuffing department?
DeleteTalking of right-wing anti-matter...
ReplyDeleteAs opposed to left-wing pro-matter...?
DeleteWe've had prisons here where prisoners had to work, and I think it does offer some benefits. As you say, many prisoners live better inside than some struggling, law-abiding folks outside, which doesn't seem right to me.
ReplyDelete