Votes for prisoners - Tell them where to poke it.

The government want to give prisoners (serving sentences of four year or less) the right to vote. They say that they are obliged to do so following a ruling by European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg (2004). Decent law abiding people know the difference between right and wrong, I considering myself to be law abiding and I know that this is just plain wrong. It's something I feel in my gut. The only people who should have a say in how this country is run are those who make an honest contribution to it. I also think that due to ridiculous re-offending rate in this country, that there should be a two year ban on voting after leaving prison.

Shadow justice secretary Dominic Grieve said:

"The principle that those who are in custody after conviction should not have the opportunity to vote is a perfectly rational one. "Civic rights go with civic responsibility, but these rights have been flagrantly violated by those who have committed imprisonable offences. "The government must allow a parliamentary debate which gives MPs the opportunity to insist on retaining our existing practise that convicted prisoners can't vote."

If this goes through then 45% of the prison population will have the right to vote. I wonder how many will vote Labour? I would like to think that if the Conservatives win the next election, they will tell the European Court of Human Rights where to poke their prisoner voting rights. This is an issue that should be put to the people.

Police and Prison Officers voice concerns over public safety.

The Prison Population has reached an all time high of 83,000 and concern is again being levelled at the Government for the lack of investment in the prison system over the last ten years.

Colin Moses, National Chairman of the POA said;

“There has been a significant lack of investment in our prisons for many years and the problems are stacking up. We currently have serious staff shortfalls throughout the service and as new places become available they are immediately filled, this is placing the staff and prisoners alike under tremendous pressure. I often ask myself, how many custodial warrants are outstanding because as a prison place is available a prisoner appears. So are the public really safe or are the police only executing warrants dependant on prison and police cell spaces? We are aware that the Ministry of Justice have instructed all Governors to send prisoners to open prisons. It is believed that all open prisons will be operating at around 95% capacity. To the POA that can only mean one thing; open prisons will be dangerous places to work in and the public in surrounding areas will be at risk."

Brian Caton, General Secretary of the POA said:

“The problems of overcrowding are not new; and the problems we face today are as a direct result of the lack of real investment for new prisons over the last 10 years. If things continue as they are we will see more and more unsuitable and dangerous prisoners released early and public safety will be at risk."

Responding to the Prison Officer Association’s concerns that some criminals may be going free because of insufficient prison places to house them, Paul McKeever, Chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales said:

"The Police Federation has long warned that with a rising criminal population and more arrests being made by police, more prisons are needed. The simple fact is that if prison overcrowding is resulting in sentences being cut even further than they already are, then the Criminal Justice System is failing victims of crime and further demoralising frontline officers who see those they have brought to justice out again before the paperwork is even completed.

"The safety of the public is paramount and it is essential that those convicted of crime serve their full sentences. Rest assured, police officers will continue to arrest and charge those they consider a danger to society. We will not, as has been suggested, limit the execution of warrants and arrests to suit a political agenda that wishes to do anything to ease the burden on overcrowded prisons."

Not happy bunnies are they? Should we be seriously concerned about public safety? Given the opinion of what I consider to be "men in the know" I am most definitely concerned.

Jack Straw - Are the government rigging prison strikes?

I would not want be in Jack Straw shoes this morning as he faces the POA (Prison Officers' Association) at their annual conference. Not only are they angry over this year's 2.2% pay deal - they are also worried that the government are trying to induce industrial action. That sounds a little strange doesn't it? - Why would the government want Prison Officers to strike? Well the POA believe that a recent dispute at HMP Lindholme involving the suspension of some of their staff, could have been engineered to validate the reintroduction of anti-trade union legislation. The following is taken from a POA press release:

The leaders of the POA are concerned that the Government, Ministry of Justice and Prison Service have engineered this dispute [HMP Lindholme] in an attempt to justify the reintroduction of Section 127 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 through the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill along with and the recent amendment which was placed before the House of Lords on 30th April 2008. It is morally wrong that individuals should be used as scapegoats to justify the Governments actions in reintroducing anti-trade union legislation.

The 300 Delegates attending the conference voted on Tuesday to work to rule, including turning up to work at the exact start of a shift rather than earlier to change into uniforms. The work to rule will take affect by the end of the week.

Could this be true? Could the government really be devious enough to deliberately cause Prison Officers to strike? I'll leave that to your own judgement. Personally I don't think it is beyond the realms of possibility.

Prisoners won't be getting a pay rise. 10p tax?

The BBC are reporting that prisoners are not going to get a planned pay rise. The rise, which has disappeared off the government website, would have taken the minimum wage from £4 to £5.50/week.

Ministry of Justice said:

"The issue as to whether pay rates should be increased is now being reviewed as part of [prison minister] David Hanson's proposals for a new compact balancing the opportunities we give to offenders to turn away from a life of crime with what the community is going to expect of them in return. "That means meeting certain standards of behaviour whilst in prison and on release, for instance getting off and staying off drugs."

Shocker - another government review. Whenever this government haven't got a bloody clue what they are doing, or they want to hide the truth, or they just want to put off a contentious policy until a more fortuitous time (i.e. after local elections) they announce yet another sodding review. I wonder if this U-turn on prisoner pay has anything to do with the government trying to find money to compensate those who have lost out to the 10p tax rate. Or is it seen as a bad time to announce a pay rise for prisoners just before the local elections. Another vote winner that would be - we're going to rip millions off in tax and give prisoners a pay rise. No wonder it has suddenly gone to review. How much would you bet that we see this pay rise sneaked out on a bad news day after the local elections?

The Government is lying about Prison Population.

The government would have us believe that they have increased prison capacity since they have been in power by 20,000. The Ministry of Justice puts today's prison capacity at 82,205 places (plus 400 places in police cells). That is, to quote the Spectator's Coffee House, a Brownie. Going by the government's own Certified Normal Accommodation (CNA) figures, the actual capacity of our prisons in England and Wales is 72,110. This means that our prisons are not running a couple of hundred places above capacity, they are in reality (i.e un-fudged) running at 112% capacity. Going by the latest Prison population figures our prisons are overpopulated by 9,610 prisoners.

To clear things up, here is the Prison Service's definition of Certified Normal Accommodation:

Certified Normal Accommodation (CNA), or uncrowded capacity, is the Prison Service’s own measure of accommodation. CNA represents the good, decent standard of accommodation that the Service aspires to provide all prisoners. CNA at present is 72,110.

You see, all the government has done is crammed two prisoners into cells designed for one, or three into cells suitable for two. The following is taken from Hansard written answers for the 27th March 2008:
Prison Accommodation

Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners were (a) doubling up in cells designed for one and (b) trebling up in cells designed for two on the latest date for which figures are available.

Maria Eagle: At the end of February, 19,382 prisoners were reported as being doubled in cells certified to hold one person and 1,207 prisoners were reported as being trebled in cells certified to hold two people.

When the government quote capacity figures of 82,205, they are actually quoting is the Useable Operational Capacity which is the operational capacity less 1700 places. The Operational Capacity of a prison is the total number of prisoners that an establishment can hold taking into account control, security and the proper operation of the planned regime. It is determined by area managers on the basis of operational judgement and experience. In other words it is the limit of operational capability, not the recommended level (CNA).

Brian Caton, General Secretary of the Prison Officers Association said;

“The problems of overcrowding are not new; and the problems we face today are as a direct result of the lack of real investment for new prisons over the last 10 years. “If things continue as they are we will see more and more unsuitable and dangerous prisoners released early and public safety will be at risk.

Mobile phones in prison. Jack Straw pull your finger out.

Why the hell are inmates using mobile phones to conduct criminal activity from the comfort of their bloody cells? According to a written parliamentary answer, over 400 mobile phones have been confiscated each month since October 2006. Security in our prisons is now an absolute joke. What is most depressing is that drug usage and mobile phone crime is now seen as the norm. Most of the drugs and phones apparently come over the prison fence, and there's not a great deal you can do about that. However, there are measures that can be taken to stop them being used once they are on prison grounds.

Brian Caton, the head of the Prison Officers Association (POA) is calling for greater use of mobile phone jammers in prisons. Brian said: "Many prisoners, we know, run criminal activities, serious criminal activities, from inside prisons by the use of mobile phones "I'm very, very afraid that eventually it's going to get beyond that point and prisoners are going to be able to arrange for prison officers and prison staff to be attacked through using mobile phones from inside the cells. "With the exception probably of firearms, explosives and probably drugs, it's probably the worst thing that can happen in a prison is to have mobile phones on sale to prisoners or prisoners having them".

So I've got one simple question: If we have a serious problem with mobile phones in prisons, and the POA are asking for Jamming equipment to cure this problem: then why in the name of all that is holy are Jammers not being fitted with utmost alacrity? I've looked into this and it seems that this technology is not that expensive (if you compare it to vast amounts this government wastes). You can buy a mobile phone Jammer that will block phone signals within a 300 meter radius for about £,2000. I'm sure that the cost to fit Jammers to every prison will be excellent value for money if it cuts crime, and especially if it protects prison officers and their families.

Jack Straw - Pull your bloody finger out.

Why our prisons are so full - Reoffenders

The following is taken from Hansard Written Answers for 27 November 2007. I was astonished to see that reoffending figures were so high, particularly amongst those that have already been convicted or cautioned at least ten times:

Reoffenders

Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many and what proportion of offenders sentenced to custody had already served (a) a custodial sentence and (b) a community sentence in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available. [168501]

Mr. Hanson: Information on offenders’ previous sentences does not form part of our standard analysis of criminal histories. The most recent available figures for the previous criminal history of offenders sentenced to custody for indictable offences, which detail number of previous convictions and cautions, are given in the “Sentencing Statistics 2005” publication.

Click to enlarge.


Is our playstation prison system a functioning deterrent?

Stab vests for Ambulance crews - What is this country coming to?

It's a sad day when the Association of Professional Ambulance Personnel (Apap) have to demand stab vests for their crews. According to figures released this week 1,006 ambulance workers in England were assaulted over a 12-month period.

Jonathan Fox, a spokesman for the Apap union, said: "Although the majority of public we serve are fine, there is a disproportionate minority of people that we attend who can turn violent and it's this risk we are trying to address by reviewing this initiative."

What kind of person feels that it acceptable to attack those people who have found their vocation in life to be helping others in distress? If this is not a sure indication of the breakdown of our society then nothing is. I bet a pound to a penny that the majority of those idiots that have attacked Ambulance staff have been previously charged with other offences for which they should have been locked up, but weren't due to prison overcrowding.

We are in desperate need of extra prison places, and when (eventually) Labour get around to providing them, we need to take on New York's policy of zero tolerance. They reduced crime in their city when they realised that the same people where committing most of the crime, and that you can't commit crime while you are in prison.

It's a sad truth that we have ridiculous number of violent criminals walking our streets who should be safely locked away. And that is the real crime.

£28m of our money wasted on the asylum centre that never was.

I was going to start this story by going into the background of this farcical waste of our money, but while I studied reports into this idiocy something came to me:

PRISONS. There were to be ten of these detention centres built, but a drop in asylum requests made some of them pointless. For example the one in Bicester that the Home Office spent £28m on but never built, could hold 3000 people. Assuming the other nine sites were to be on a similar scale, then we could possibly accommodate up to 30,000 people.

If we had already spent £28m on this site, surely it would have been quite easy to modify the building plans to build a low security prison (which in effect, is what a detention centre is). Surely to God someone at the Home Office should have thought of this.

The Public Accounts Committee chairman Edward Leigh said the Home Office had to explain why the land was "sitting dormant" he added "No one seems to have any idea what to do with it."

Why didn't anyone think of using this land for building the prisons that we so desperately need? Surely if the land is there, and the money is there, then a kid on work experience at the Home Office could have worked that out.

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Foreign prisoners receive £1500 bribes to go home.

To enable the government to hit their target of deporting 4000 foreign prisoners by the end of 2007, they have almost doubled their bribe to £1500. However the Conservative justice spokesman said that this system will remove only a fraction of our foreign prisoners. Nick Herbert said: "Gordon Brown talked tough when he promised to remove all foreign criminals. Now it appears he is having to resort to larger bribes to beg them to leave."

This is nothing new, Gordon makes a crowd pleasing speech, and then quick as a flash, nothing happens.

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

12 City protest for the release of Burma's democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

According to the BBC, worldwide demonstrations are planned to take place today in protest against Burma's detention of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. They will held in 12 cities, one for each of the 12 years the Nobel Peace Prize winner has spent in detention. Protesters will congregate outside Chinese embassies in the hope that China will put pressure on Burma's junta to release Aung San Suu Kyi. London is to be one of the cities on the protest list. If you are in town and can spare the time, I'm sure they would appreciate your support.

Time: 12-1pm
Place: Chinese Embassy, 49-51 Portland Place London W1B 1JL
Nearest tube: Great Portland Street

Jack Straw is actively considering a ban on Prison Officer Strikes.

I understand that the Prison officers are up in arms again. Jack Straw has told them he is actively considering going back to court to make it permanently illegal for them to go on strike. The Prison Officers Association (POA) are calling for urgent meetings with the Ministry of Justice.

The leader of the Prison Officers Association, Colin Moses, said: "This is a disgraceful act by a Labour government who promised to remove anti-trade union legislation whilst in opposition. Yet now they are looking to re-introduce legislation that will criminalise POA members for trying to exercise their human rights as workers. We will not allow a Labour government to use the courts to resolve its problems."

Our Prisons are bursting at the seams - Record High.

Just a quickie to point you in the direction of this story from the BBC.

I think you will find this more than a little shocking considering how in control Labour claim to be.

Labour - tough on crime, tough on manipulating the statistics of crime.

Prison Officers go on strike.

As of 07:00 this morning thousands of prison officers went on strike "after two years of frustration and two years of below-inflation pay awards" Prison Officers' Association (POA) chairman Colin Moses said.

87% of the prison officers said they were willing to strike when asked in a POA national ballot of members two weeks ago. The government are saying that the strike action is illegal and that police officers may be brought in to ensure the safety of the prisoners. The prisoners are being kept in their cells - I say good, but no doubt they will be successfully claiming compensation for restrictions to their "Human Rights".

Colin Moses went on to say: "These are professional men and women who every day look after those committed by the courts to our prisons. Surely we should be treated as well, if not better, than the prisoners we look after."

I know for a fact that when I served in the Royal Navy, our budget for food was less than that of a prisoner. No doubt it is still the same five years on. Some prisoners have said that they wouldn't mind sharing cells to overcome the shortage of spaces, but they are not happy about having two to a cell when there is only one control for the Play Station.

Another Man (Brent Martin) Is Beaten To Death By Kids On Our Streets.

Brent Martin, a 23 year old man with learning difficulties, described by police as vulnerable, was beaten to death by a gang of youths on Thursday. Brent was taken to Sunderland's City Hospital where he died from his injuries on Saturday.

According to the police, Brent had received a "sustained and brutal" beating. Det Supt Kay Blyth, said: "I would appeal to parents in the area to think about what their children were doing last night. Did they come in late and were acting out of the ordinary? Did they fail to come home at all?"

If these kids are capable of acting like savage animals at such a young age, what are they going to be like as adults? Let's get something clear, 12 months in PlayStation prison will not rehabilitate this scum - They need locking up for a very long time. If they are allowed back on our streets any time soon they will without doubt re-offend and it will send the worst kind of message to those of the same mentality.

Our prisons are full because we keep sending the same scum back there, we could save ourselves a lot of time and money by not letting them out in the first place.

Lord Falconer - Early Release of Prisoners.

Another master stroke by Lord Falconer. With approximately 70% of prisoners re-offending within the first two years of their release, shouldn't we be keeping them in, rather than letting them out early only to re-offend? This overcrowding problem has been going on long enough now for any reasonable government to have provided more prison spaces. Even temporary, but secure accommodation would have been an improvement over prisoners being kept in police and court cells. The Mayor of New York realised that the same people were committing the majority of the crime in the city. His answer to the problem was this: "you cannot commit crime while you are in prison". He reduced crime in his city by about 70% in the last decade and I think he may have been onto something.

We have people breaking ASBOs multiple times without going to prison, what kind of deterrent is that? It is a fact that making threats does not work, ask any headmaster. Discipline and order are maintained by immediate action, not threats. Discipline works, if it didn't the armed forces would fall apart. Why is their so little crime committed by members of the armed forces? the answer is that they understand that they will be immediately punished, not warned several times and then let off for promising to be good. Zero tolerance is the tool the mayor of New York used - if you commit a crime worthy of a prison sentence then you will go to prison, no ifs no buts. This saw New York's prisons rapidly fill, but over a few years it also saw them rapidly empty as criminals realised that their activities would not be tolerated, and that they would no longer receive warnings.

By making empty threats and releasing prisoners early we are only making things worse for the future. If we do not build more prisons and start filling them with people who deserve to be there, we will never have enough prison spaces.

Ten steps to win the next General Election

1) Promise a referendum on the EU Treaty (for Treaty read Constitution).

2) Promise an English Parliament. Or at the very least (as a start), English votes on English matters.

3) Promise to remove the UK from the Human Rights Act and draw up a constitution.

4) Promise to offer incentives on Green issues, not just use those issues as an excuse to tax us more.

5) Promise to give the running of Schools, Hospitals and Police Stations back to the Teachers, Doctors and Police Officers. Bureaucracy is strangling this country.

6) Promise to Scrap the Barnett Formula.

7) Promise to stop the Nanny State. Let us make our own decisions about smoking, drinking and eating.

8) Promise to scrap the ID Card. This will be a European ID Card, meaning that all member states will have access to the information held on that card. This fact is not widely known, and that is because it is being kept quiet.

9) Recognise England as a country in its own right, i.e English Anthem and a Bank Holiday on St George's Day.

10) Last but in no way the least, promise to build more prisons. At least 20,000 places (yesterday, if not sooner).

There are more, but I think promising any five of these will win the next Election.

Do you disagree with my suggestions? Can you think of any more?

Shoplifting is as easy as ABC - Acceptable Behaviour Contract.

A short while ago I posted the following:

I'm off out to do a bit of shoplifting, apparently you only get an £80 fine and you don't even get a criminal record! Thanks to the introduction of fixed penalty notices, if I nick anything worth more than £80, I'm going to make a profit even if I get caught now and then. What's even better, I can do it again and again and again without an official mark against my character, never mind going to prison, bonus or what!

Alan Gordon, vice-chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, says: "Let’s look at the reality of fixed penalty notices. Currently a third go unpaid and those who receive them get no criminal conviction. The Sentencing Advisory Panel suggestion that shoplifters could avoid jail no matter how many times they commit the offence is a disgrace. It sends out the wrong message at a time when the police and the public alike are sick to death of a criminal justice system which is far too lenient on those who break the law. The term shoplifting is misleading. It is stealing, and stealing is a crime and should be dealt with as such. The ultimate deterrent to any criminal is a prison sentence. We need more prisons, not a short term fix which will only encourage crime, not tackle it.”

Fixed penalty notices, what a joke. 32,000 notices were handed out last year, which is a massive increase on previous years. And this is supposed to be a deterrent? What this is, is an invitation to walk into any shop and steal what you fancy. Idiots.

Now it seems that if you promise to be a good boy or girl you will have the fine written off! This is where I pause from typing to turn the air blue. Please someone tell me that this report from BBC News is some kind of sick joke.

If the offender (Thief) agrees to be bound by an Acceptable Behaviour Contract (ABC) they will be told that they have been very naughty and get a slapped wrist. Actually I'm exaggerating, if they were to get a slapped wrist the officer involved would be sacked and had up for assault.

Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said: "It is bad enough such serious crimes are effectively being punished with a glorified parking ticket. Now we learn the government won't even bother to collect the fine."

A Home Office spokesman said: "Deferred PNDs sit alongside Acceptable Behaviour Contracts. They are both tools for police and local authorities to use to promote a change in an individual's behaviour. Breaching the terms of an ABC can have serious consequences. The next step may be the issuing of an ASBO for example." Oh no! not the dreaded ASBO? What are these people on. I think the home office should follow the armed forces example and carry out random drug tests.

Of the 3,500 Asbos (Antisocial behaviour orders) handed out in England and Wales in 2004-05 (a 60 per cent rise on the figures for 2003-2004) 55% are broken. Each Asbo issued costs the tax payer £3100, which means, of the £10,850,000 spent on Asbo administration £5,967,500 is being wasted.The NAO (National Audit Office) questions the effectiveness of the policy, saying that more than half of all antisocial behaviour is carried out by: "a hard core of perpetrators for whom interventions had limited impact". The NAO figures show that the average offender breaks the conditions of their Asbo four times, with one offender breaking the conditions of his order 25 times.

The chairman of the Commons Public Accounts Committee, Edward Leigh, said: "Instead of being startled into bringing their behaviour into check, too often offenders respond to an Asbo by sneering at the authorities and continue to make life miserable for the rest of their community. We're not talking about high jinks from a few mischievous youngsters. We're talking about yobs whose persistent criminal activity and intimidation are making our city centres no-go areas."

There you go then, if a Thief steals from a shop they could be fined £80. If they promise to be good they will get an ABC and will not have to pay that fine. If they fail to be good (and statistics show that they won't be) they could get an ASBO, which are about as much use as a snooze button on a smoke alarm.

If your are caught thieving you should go to court, and if you are found guilty you should go to prison. As they have proven in New York, you cannot commit crime while you are in prison. This simple rule of law enforcement has cut crime in New York by over 50%. It's not hard is it?

Four Belmarsh Prison Guards Hopitalised over a Laptop.

Four Guards were hospitalised yesterday after being attacked by terror suspects in Belmarsh Prison. A witness said: "the staff were up against some heavy individuals, who were really trying to let rip. There were suspects fighting while others were urging them on."

The Governor said: "I am really proud of the bravery displayed by my staff, whose courageous response brought this incident to an end quickly."

The reason four Guards were attacked and hospitalised? A Guard tried to take away a prisoner's Laptop!

What the bloody hell is going on? I'm absolutely sick of the way this country is being run. I hope the Conservatives will sort this stinking mess out when they get in power, otherwise I'll be doing what many others have done: voting with my feet.

David Cameron - Responsibility

As for enforcing Parental responsibility, that is impossible under current legislation. Recent events have made me fully aware that I have absolutely no legal powers to protect or discipline my children.

My 14 year old daughter and all her friends smoke grass. There is not a damn thing I can do about it, because the Police can't do a damn thing about it (or won't). She left home two weeks ago and went to stay at a friends house. I went to bring her home and she refused to get in the car. I realised that the only way I could get her in the car was to knock her unconscious. Obviously I would not want to do this to my daughter but also I would have been arrested. I called the Police hoping they would bring her home. Two hours later the Police rang back to tell me there was nothing they could do. I rang social services to see if they could help, they told me that they couldn't help but would (after 28 days) send someone around to the house that my daughter was staying at to see if was suitable.

The reason my daughter left home?

I tried to stop her taking drugs.

Luckily she returned home after 13 days with her tail between her legs. The question is what can I do if she decides to walk out again? Sadly the answer is nothing.

I'm sure when I was a child the Police would have taken me home, legal or not. Now the Police are worried about being sued by 14 year old girls. The right’s of the many have been taken away to protect the few, that is why our society is crumbling.

I could go out now and start a car crime spree, safe in the knowledge that I would not be caught. I could smash my way into several cars and steal whatever I liked because the Police would not come out to investigate. The only way to cut crime is to adopt the Zero Tolerance approach that New York took (click on New York you will be amazed at the figures). You investigate and charge people for the small crimes. If people are locked up for minor crimes they are not free to carry out the major ones. That lets criminals know from the start that crime will not be tolerated.

If people were worried about being sent to prison for their first offence they would think twice. Now kids know that they have to run up a list of offences at least in double figures to warrant any serious action to be taken against them. We have made excuses for far too long for people coming from broken homes and deprived backgrounds. People know the difference between right and wrong no matter what their circumstances may be.

I come from a broken marriage does that mean I have more of a right to commit crime than someone who doesn’t?

It’s time to give back trust to the Police, Teachers and Parents. The law has always been in place for those who abuse that trust.