Labour's early prisoner release programme and why it's (still) a terrible idea

[musicalfrog]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0ejwedl1gno

The family of PC Andrew Harper have rightly come out today to criticise this policy. My heart breaks for them - it really is the biggest insult.

If prisons are getting too full then build new ones - why this wasn't initiated two years ago when it was already a big problem I have no idea.

The police and CPS have gone to a lot of time and effort to get these convictions - and that ain't exactly cheap! A good number of these criminals will re-offend upon release and the process starts again - sooner than it would have if they'd served their full sentence. Not exactly saving much time and money there.

Plus the blindingly obvious fact that a larger general population will naturally bring with it a larger prison population.

You let criminals out early, the general population suffers more, you put the police and CPS under additional pressure, nobody wins except the criminals who think they have even less to fear from the process than ever before.

What exactly are Labour trying to achieve here because I can't see it?

Build the bloody prisons!

Apparently, it’s been delayed or it’s being looked at or something

They also financially supported Ukraine and let their citizens come over with open arms.

I’ve found the BBc don’t always give the full picture, I find that so frustrating because they should do. They seem to be aiming for an “angle” on a story rather than all the facts.
I knew about the additional places after listening to The NewsAgents pod cast.

This made me curious, actually

That and a comment made by someone I work with - I was enquiring about a case from her home country and she said “ oh but we are a civilised country - that guy has been tried and executed since I told you about it”. Wow.

Anyway, I decided to have a look at prison stuff from here, Singapore, Taiwan, USA - just asking AI - and it’s really interesting

Singapore’s reoffending rate seems to be about half of ours.

I wondered if there was a thread on this. In principle I am not against the idea because I think it's silly to lock people up who aren't dangerous.

But in what world are these killers not dangerous? What on earth are the criteria for release and how do they meet them compared with the thousands of other prisoners?

AFAICS they released the nonviolent ones in the previous batch of early release (to deal with overcrowding)

So they’re left with the violent ones

This isn’t quite true as I’ve been asking AI for figures - looks like journalists have been doing the same. So for example, if you were in for a white collar fraud, if there genuinely is an emergency about prison places those are people who I would say should be released first. I can’t remember what the numbers were, but there’s enough to be helpful. What was it? 7000 roughly? Sorry, I’ve been staring at AI with all these questions and can’t remember half of what I read.

Turns out women only make up about 4% of the prison population, so even though that’s mostly non-violent offences, it doesn’t free up enough space. And also I’m reading some crap about how the facilities aren’t appropriate.

Which is so funny when you read about prisoners in other countries. I appreciate the safety of prison guards is paramount. But again, I know they’ve been reducing a number and treated badly for a long time.

Honestly, if you had told me years ago that I’d be wondering how some of these Asian countries handle drugs and crime, I’d not believe you. But here we are. Making sure prisoners have good television.

I just do not understand. And all the bleeding heart who talk about how prison doesn’t work and how we shouldn’t be sending people to prison - I imagine they’d just cry if I suggest that we look at other countries models.

@wizzywig yeah I know, ridiculous the virtue signalling this government and previous governments do to try and look morally superior in the eyes of the global elite. Charity should begin at home but no, not with this sham of a government, need to keep up appearances while their own people and infrastructure crumble. Great plan!