Richard Madeley: Inside the World's Mega Prison

[purpleme12]

Did anyone watch this?

It was really unsettling watch. For loads of different reasons.

Hearing about what those people did was awful ☹️ and Richard actually watched the video of it!!

Do you think they do torture/punish the prisoners and that's how they're kept in line?

They're very compliant from what we saw.

It was an enlightening watch because I had no idea about all the things in the programme

Plus I think thats part of the ‘appeal’ ( not that I think it’s appealing!) of the programme - the juxtaposition of a presenter who you associate with lighter topics in one of the worst places you can imagine.

El Salvador’s homicide rate has plummeted by over 98% during the last 8 years, dropping from 38.18 per 100,000 people in 2018 to an estimated 1.3 per 100,000 by 2026.
That's so many people's lives saved from terrror and misery, that's 2,426 people who would have been murdered per year!

To turn it around maybe a deterrent was needed, to break the cycle. It is the first duty of a government to protect law and order.

It does need to be a deterrent - I agree it’s brutal and I’m sure much more goes on than we are aware of but if they had even basic privileges other criminals wouldn’t fear being sent there.

I watched the full thing last night, I was reluctant as I don’t like Richard Madeley. I have a slightly different opinion. I don’t feel sorry for them and when one of them said they’d go back to doing it, there’s your answer. We can’t imagine (unless someone grew up there) the terror that ordinary people lived in. Imagine if you had a son and they decided that he had to work for them 😓

Yes very good point
One did say that they've not really changed didn't he
Or whatever words he used

I watched it in horror like a lot of people. The conditions do need to be very harsh but the conditions they are kept in are beyond harsh!

They need to dim the lights at night and give them some kind of mattress and blanket. Having nothing at all to do is torture in itself. They all looked so thin and there was something about them not getting enough vitamins. I wondered if it would be better to get the prisoners to grow their own veg. It would give them something to do each day.

I’ve got no issue with them being sedated if that’s what’s happening. If they’re torturing them on top of the conditions they’re kept in, they might as well just kill them, it would be less cruel!

Yes, I remember a coffee advert a while back that was explaining how they worked with local communities to prevent young boys becoming gang members. The graphics added those facial tattoos ( skull, guns etc.) to the faces of little boys and it really was chilling.

I believe that the we (the state/the people) should treat people better than the way criminals treat people. Which means I think the lights should be off at night, and they should have some kind of occupation.

I don't disagree with you but imagine if you had a son and they decided he had to be in the gang. Now not only was he forced to join a gang and do whatever terrible acts he did he is now in that jail and you will never see or speak to him again. It is probably a necessity to break the cycle but for individual families a living nightmare.