Prison Riot: Smashed windows, burnt buildings as inmates ram

Ford-prison in West-Sussex

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Td12dtnC ... re=channel

You have a friend as an inmate?What relevance has this incident have to do with us? I thought I was going to read about a Thai prison!:confused:

Now this in a more appropriate topic heading it makes sense and some of us may be interested , as I am .The thing that caught my eye first was that only two warders were on duty to supervise 500 inmates .As this occurred over the New Year one must presume that this was to save money in not paying the premium rate overtime . Looks a very suspect decision now. However anyone who knows Ford prison will know it is a category C prison , which means all inmates are classed as low risk either by the type of crime they committed or by virtue of having served long periods in more secure institutions and are now being prepared to resume a , hopefully, crime free life in society.Most of the inmates are free to go out to work during the day and return only at night so it isn't hard to smuggle say, alcohol back in , although the punishment is likely to be back to what the prisoners call" A slammer" jail. ie; one where you spend most of the time locked in a cell, so most obey the rules. In fact you would have to be stupid not to. On that point. It appears the buildings they burnt include
the snooker room, the gym, post office and the swimming pool, yes I know, more like a hotel, nether less, it is the other inmates who are going to suffer, no one else .So sheer stupidity on their part.Maybe now the government will get the message I have continually preached.To make prisons work they must be places of real hardship for the inmates. A place once they have experienced it, makes them say, never again, not for me . This current trend of mamby pandering them doesn't do anything to deter them from re offending, in fact, a lot of them live better inside than they do out.Its got to stop.Make prisons work.

It wasn't so long ago that prisons were exactly as you are calling for now.

Did it prevent recidivism?

trubrit wrote:Now this in a more appropriate topic heading it makes sense and some of us may be interested , as I am .The thing that caught my eye first was that only two warders were on duty to supervise 500 inmates .As this occurred over the New Year one must presume that this was to save money in not paying the premium rate overtime . Looks a very suspect decision now. However anyone who knows Ford prison will know it is a category C prison , which means all inmates are classed as low risk either by the type of crime they committed or by virtue of having served long periods in more secure institutions and are now being prepared to resume a , hopefully, crime free life in society.Most of the inmates are free to go out to work during the day and return only at night so it isn't hard to smuggle say, alcohol back in , although the punishment is likely to be back to what the prisoners call" A slammer" jail. ie; one where you spend most of the time locked in a cell, so most obey the rules. In fact you would have to be stupid not to. On that point. It appears the buildings they burnt include
the snooker room, the gym, post office and the swimming pool, yes I know, more like a hotel, nether less, it is the other inmates who are going to suffer, no one else .So sheer stupidity on their part.Maybe now the government will get the message I have continually preached.To make prisons work they must be places of real hardship for the inmates. A place once they have experienced it, makes them say, never again, not for me . This current trend of mamby pandering them doesn't do anything to deter them from re offending, in fact, a lot of them live better inside than they do out.Its got to stop.Make prisons work.

If you read the article on BBC News you will find that Ford HMP is infact an OPEN prison cat D, not C.
The idea of an open prison is to get the inmates to live as near a normal life without bars and for the past 20 years it has worked.
Ford prison does not have any lock up cells for inmates in fact they have their own keys to their rooms.

jackspratt wrote:It wasn't so long ago that prisons were exactly as you are calling for now.

Did it prevent recidivism?

Well Jack . First let me say my involvement has been purely with the UK prison system so I am unable to comment on the Australian or any other system .However as regards your comment appertains to the UK. The Criminal Justice Act of 1948 was the first attempt at rehabilitation rather than punishment of prisoners. As this was considered by some to be still, shall we say , Victorian, it was replaced in 1993 by a complete change in which the prison service became the responsibility of the government. Thus you have the whims of politicians, with the mixed bunch, including, as we now know, many of a very liberal mentality, outweighing those of a more hard line approach, deciding how these outcasts of society were to be treated .This has according to the statistics available, led to an increasing incidence of re offending , since that time .
So as you say, not long ago, just 20 years, but in that short space of time we have seen the effect of a softer approach, not only on those re offending, but on the deterrent effect of those committing crimes who haven't yet been inside .Off topic I know but it is also obvious in other areas of society as well .
Jack . If you have a different viewpoint to mine it would be nice if you could write your views and the reasoning for them into an articulate post as its very difficult to debate with your one liners .
Letigger. Thank you. I should have said cat D.It doesn't alter the context of my post though .

Sifting through all that, it seems your answer is "No".

As soon as my internet link is fully re-established, I will come back to you with the stats and observations relating to Oz.

You have a friend as an inmate?What relevance has this incident have to do with us? I thought I was going to read about a Thai prison!:confused

nkstan.

If you read the other post, Then you know, A lot off all the things the post here, Have nothing to do with Udon nor Thailand.

Seems you will have a lot off work to post your remarks

Trubrit.

Yes indeed, A other appropriate topic heading would be better, But you know, I'm not a British inmate, I'm not even British.

Frans.

Overall crime rates in Australia have decreased dramatically since 2000/01, and are lower than 1995:

http://data.aic.gov.au/aic16/#view=vict ... 8,10,11,12

Overall violent crime rates have followed a similar trend, with the exception of assault, which has risen:

http://data.aic.gov.au/aic16/#view=vict ... 1,12,13,14

There appears to be little change in the overall recidivism rates, except Victoria which has shown a marked downward trend - and surprise, surprise, has the lowest rate of imprisonment.

http://www.sentencingcouncil.vic.gov.au ... ho-retur-0

So my crude take on all this is that:

- these new "soft" prisons haven't seen a rise in recidivism, but have coincided with an overall drop in crime, including crimes of violence

- the alarmist, populist media has got it wrong again

- those calling for harsher prison regimes have also got it wrong.

But I guess as a last resort, the UK could revert back to hanging handkerchief thieves.

Or even transporting them - oh! no....... history has proved that was counterproductive last time, wasn't it.

nkstan wrote::lol: You have a friend as an inmate?What relevance has this incident have to do with us? I thought I was going to read about a Thai prison!:confused:

Stan, the topic is clearly headed under "World News", not "Thai News" or "Udon Thani News"

This event reminds me of a previous incident at HMP Northeye, which I had the misfortune to visit several times. I can remember looking along the Sussex coast from my garden one evening and seeing the flames light up the sky some 10 miles away. Shortly afterwards the prison was closed.