To think that prisoners should have to pay towards their keep?

[girlfriend44]

So you commit a crime and go to prison and your kept also for free, no money worries etc.
If you can afford it shouldnt you pay something towards it? it costs country alot of money to keep you locked up why not contribute?
Your not exactly spending your money while your locked up anyway.

Agreed. Sack people who are hospital cleaners and get prisoners in. I can not see any problems at all supervising people being forced to work (this is against international law), and those low paid workers can just find another job.
And if we get low in the number of prisoners to do forced work, maybe we could get a few judges to send more people down.
I particularly like the suggestion of sending criminals who tend not to follow the rules, down the sewers. I can not see any potential issues there at all.

I agree with original post to a degree. If an inmate has had free education/qualifications while imprisoned then they should be taxed on earrings in the future, similar to student loans. But for food and a bed then no they shouldn’t pay for that

What savings?

The vast majority of prisoners have no savings, in fact I'd go so far as to say the vast majority don't have a bank account.

I didn't have savings until 18 months ago! And I've worked my arse off the last 15 years, never been to prison, but I have always been self employed and basically subsisted on what I could scrape by and my disability benefits.

Most prisoners are already on benefits when they go in, they will have no savings, in fact they're likely to have no money at all by a few days before their next benefits day.

These are the sorts of people who when they say they have no money, they mean NO money. Not 'well theres 5k in savings and theres a 10K ISA, and of course I have the credit card plus a 500 quid overdraft...'

No money. At all.

Do people understand that repeat offenders who seem to prefer being in prison are doing so not because prison is lovely, an easy ride filled with x-boxes and tv's and luxury accomodation.

They do it because their REAL lives are SO SHITTY, because real life involves making decisions, being responsible for themselves, it involves things that are for some, really bloody difficult (sorting out housing, paying bills, finding and keeping a job).

Can you imagine not having the skills to live a normal adult life?

Knowing that to stay out of prison you almost certainly need to start that adult life well away from the people you grew up with, because until you change your social circle, you will keep doing the same things over and over.

Just how shitty and hard would life have to be for someone to WANT to stay in prison?

Shed probably fit right into the Tory party on that basis!

YABU OP. This is an incredibly simplistic and unworkable idea which shows you have no understanding the realities of prison or how people end up there.

Prisoners with significant savings are extremely few and far between and those who have made profit through crime should have this taken away through the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Making prisoners pay for their upkeep will make rehabilitation more difficult and increase reoffending rates.

What next? Charge people rent for long term spells in hospital?

Pay their way with what?

Been a while since I read such an ignorant opinion. Well done.

p.s Prisoners aren’t all murderers and rapists. You need to put the tabloids down.

You’re using a straw example of the prisoners we have. That’s two media projected high profile individuals, there are thousands more who are a mix of low level criminals to even higher profile.

How much do think administrating this process of who pays and who doesn’t would cost?

*breath

Ah, do you remember when stooges and media manipulation were less obvious?

no, me neither.

People seem to be assuming this would be a money saver for the state. I'm not so sure. Think about costings.

If we were to bring in this policy, there would need to be some kind of means test. Those always cost money to implement, even with a cooperative population who actually want to be assessed, eg benefits claimants. Prisoners will have a substantial disincentive not to cooperate and are going to include people whose money is made in shall we say creative and less easy to trace ways.

The state would need to fund people who had the skills to not only make assessments of prisoners finances but also who could search for assets, and give them the powers and funds to do so. Otherwise it'd have no teeth. We do already do this to an extent with proceeds of crime stuff, but you're talking about massively expanding it at an inevitable cost, particularly in the middle of a labour crisis, because of a small group of prisoners who have assets on the outside. I'd be worried it would turn into a net loss, and charging Rolf Harris et al as a point of principle just isn't important enough for us to be committing state funds to.

Many prisoners are barely literate, have no formal qualifications, applicable and transferable skills. Which is why many , that should be most, re offend on release.

Have a look at the Clink scheme, which teaches prisoners transferable skills in catering industries and where the re offending rates for prisoners undertaking their courses is tiny compared to other prison stats.

If we want prison to do anything it should be teaching habitually offending prisoners life skills that lead to employment and better lifestyle choices. Why waste time trying to find imaginary hidden caches of wealth , use that time and energy to stop offenders re offending.

I also said second this, by Chris Atkins. It's eye opening and I learnt a lot

You are sent to prison as punishment, not sent to prison for punishment.

plenty of people want to discuss but its not compulsory, no need to attack me because you dont agree.

Plenty of mil/ neighbour/children/affairs threads etc out there for you to comment on instead.

You would’ve thought, wouldn’t you, that after we were all locked in our houses in the pandemic in MUCH nicer conditions than prisoners were in, with our family around us and access to all our stuff, and finding that really hard and depressing and difficult, that all the “prison is too soft, it’s like a holiday damp” brigade would pipe down. Apparently not.

Camp, not damp

Yep. But that doesn't give the same self righteous frothy glow, alas.

YABU, your punishment part of your sentence is the loss of your liberty.
Your sentence is spent in rehabilitation.

Proceeds of crime legislation strips those making financial gain from crime if applicable.

No one should pay towards there keep in prison

The biggest costs to prisoners is their freedom.

They already do, wherever possible.

Yeah… good luck with that OP.

Given most prisoners are totally without funds, debt ridden and have either drug/alcohol addictions or mental health issues, that’s really going to help reduce crime when they are released.

Judge: why did you rob that person?

Criminal: To pay the bill from my last prison sentence!

The sort of person who doesn't mind going to prison tends to be someone with deep problems, frequently due to learning disabilities. They like prison because it is a predictable, known routine, and they get a roof over their heads, food, companionships etc. Do you honestly think that sort of person is going to have savings?

Oh I read a book about this, what was it- oh yeah, Dickens. Plenty of Victorian novels explain what happens to the most vulnerable members of society when they’re obliged to fund their own incarceration