Can't stand this attitude re prison attacks

[BySnappyUmberFish]

After the murder of Ian Watkins and the assault and (very possible) death of Ian Huntley, social media and news articles have been flooded with comments such as 'Give that man a medal!!' 'Not all heroes wear capes!!'.
These people seem to forget that the killers are in prison for as equally heinous and despicable crimes as the aforementioned two. They have also most probably not attacked them over what they did, but over debts, drugs or just to gain some notoriety.

I am fed up of hearing comments like this.

Yes and while I'm glad our taxes won't keep Huntley for the rest of his life, I suppose the same amount will be spent on bringing the murder case.

No one has expressed the slightest empathy for Huntley. But a lot of us have expressed outrage at the suggestion that his killer should be celebrated in any way, as he was just another vile murderer (with one of his 3 victims a pregnant woman who he also raped).

I’m glad that the name of his killer wasn’t mentioned on the TV BBC News. Just that Huntley was killed by another inmate.

Absolutely no one is defending Huntley or his crimes. Or defending the actions of any of the monstrous crimes of those in prison.

But I'm not quite sure what people mean he had no right to be safe. Do people want prisons to become lawless jungles where mob violence rules? There are many people who work in prisons. They deserve to work somewhere where it is safe, where they aren't frightened they'll have their head split in two by a makeshift weapon.

Not only that I quite want serious offenders to be kept safe INSIDE. I certainly don't want their safety at risk to a point where there's a chance mob violence could break out and there's a chance they break free and back out on the street.

Two birds one stone.

The alleged killer is already on a life order so he wasn't getting out anyway.

Its not a 'culture' of prisoners taking out prisoners, its just murderers being murderers.

Frankly it shouldn't happen in society at all, but these are the exact people that make it happen, that take innocent people's lives and make the world unsafe. They're not going to suddenly change just because they're in prison.

Toerag?

Murderer
Villain
Convict
Psychopath

You can use words that appropriately describes these men. I'm not going down the "monster" "animal" or "scum" route because that is not helpful.

But toerag ?

Well people like me think that it's not a good enough punishment for the crime.

We really need to have a referendum on the death penalty. Either that or bring back life sentences that actually mean life behind bars.

We really don’t need a referendum on the death penalty. The British public are too stupid for that. See also - Brexit.

So? Tough shit. Thankfully people like you don’t make policy in this country.

I was reading an article earlier about the murder and disembowelling of a prisoner in Frankland. The prison officers who walked in on the scene were diagnosed with PTSD. But being concerned about this is “performative”.

Or "handwringing whataboutery" as I was accused of in another thread.

Totally agree - people would vote for it , then pretend they didn’t if you got another Christie’s/Rillington place miscarriage of justice or a relative was at risk of it -

I don’t understand why Huntley didn’t have a whole life tariff. He shouldn’t have had the slightest chance of some do gooding parole board letting him out

Yes - it must be soul destroying.

And what of those falsely accused - the Stefan Kiszkos of this world? Are they just collateral damage? Is it not bad enough that they're imprisoned for crimes they didn't commit without having them murdered as well?

Generally speaking the people I have seen crowing about the attack on Huntley, and Watkins before him, are not the most intellectually robust people I know. I assume the same is true of the strangers I see doing the same here.

I can’t bring myself to feel sympathy for either man, but as you and others have said @BySnappyUmberFish, this speaks to a far larger issue within our prisons and it is not to be celebrated.

I did say offending pedophiles, not accused.

However when this comes up I would much rather more offenders were incarcerated, even if that means some people falsely accused are in there too. Not quite the same situation but similar.

There are so many vile people in the world, far more than are falsely accused. I don’t give it too much mind.

So you would be happy if an innocent person was murdered in prison because another offender decided to take the law into their own hands?

Do you really think violent prisoners like Russell will distinguish between convicted child killers/paedophiles who really are guilty and those who are not? They won’t care either way, they’ll just attack or kill them regardless.

This is no longer about Huntley, he’s dead and gone now.

And what does this say about you? You have bizarre priorities.

And also I'd like to add, yes, for now we don't but we'll see.

He spent his whole life in prison. The 40 year minimum term, if he’d lived long enough, was just that - a minimum. No guarantee whatsoever he’d have got out. I believe there are strict guidelines for whole life tariffs which the judge would have had to consider

Even so, I was surprised to discover this, as I thought Huntley was on a whole life tariff. He was sentenced over 20 years ago, though, so obviously he was sentenced according to the guidelines at the time. When were whole life tariffs introduced? Maybe they hadn’t been introduced then?

I could have just thumbsed-up this. But I've quoted it so that it appears again.