Do you think its right that prisoners get tv's in their rooms & other luxuries?

PRH1

Humankind can be in a rush to judge and condem sometimes however:

-Have a greater emphasis on rehabilitation to ensure that prisoners actually get something out of prison so that it's not just a revolving door. Also, educate the ones who can't read and write so that they stand a better chance outside. Likewise, do something about the actual causes of crime, such as poverty, lack of positive role models and the world of sink estates to name but a few things.

-Why not even give tax breaks to companies that employ ex prisoners? If they are taken on, give them monthly reviews in the interests of the employer. I would imagine it can be disheartening if you're one of the people who leaves prison, really does want to make a fresh start, but find that no one will employ you because you've been in prison. You end up on benefit and the whole crime - prison - crime cycle starts all over again.

CLIVE H

It would be okay if the prisoners themselves had to pay for watching TV.

There has always been a big problem with employment for prisoners on remand here in UK.

You don't start to notice this until the Unions begin kicking up a fuss about unskilled prisoners taking work away from law abiding Union members.

It's happened in the past here in UK and lead to much strife. The situation for prisoners is they may be able to work sewing mail sacks, but very little else.

In the USA I believe prisoners make auto-plates, what we here in UK call car registrations or number plates.

Here in UK making number plates for cars is a lucrative business for lots of small firms - so prisoners are never going to get such work because it would take away the livelihood of law abiding citizens who pay tax. Prisoners pay very little tax if any.

Governments here in UK always spend our money in a profiligate, spendaholic fashion.

It's not their money, it's ours. Governments do not have any money of their own and have to steal it from honest citizens who are trying to scratch a living from their skills, knowledge and education.

tigerella

i dont think that prisoners should have luxuries like tvs etc.
They have committed the crime they should do the time. They want priviledgs like tv they should earn the right.d It is us taxpayers that are paying foar them to have these little luxuries.
Children at school are being denied things because we are funding prisons. If money was used more wisely perhaps areas needing extra help and funding could be helped.

summer_butterfly

No. They send you to prison to punish you and learn your lesson, not to live a normal life like you did at home.

I'm impressed. You have an interesting imagination.

stung4ever

Nope. All jails should be like the one run by that hardass in Arizona.

jillybird

Definitely, my mum God bless her used to say it would be better to be in the prison than try and exist on a pension.

jay K

its not you, there's something profoundly wrong with this. why do think that people in this country carry out so much crimes. it because they know that prison is easy. its those stupid human rights campaigners that's responsible because if prison becomes harder for prisoners they're gonna start campaigning and causing a scene. and for all you people who say that they have rights don't you think that their victims had the right not to be raped, murdered, robbed, assaulted etc etc, etc. YEP! that's what i thought.

Maggs

Short answer, NO.

daniel b

i think it is absolutely a disgrace that they are better fed than school children and a few months back some prisoners asked for a pool table and at first they did not get it and then they complained that it was against there human rights not to have a pool table but eventually the got one after using human rights as a tool

bert

No, they are supposedly being punished, not at a holiday camp !

Leu

No - I think it is wrong that prisoners get these luxuries. Other than meals, library books and basic exercise anything else should be used as rewards - break the rules takeaway the TV or a ban on using the gym equipment....

.............and I certainly don't believe they should have mobile phones. Good behaviour or not. No. Wrong!

:o)

PATRICIA MS

They pay for their own TV's. If you take everything away there would be riots. Being locked up 24/7 seems kinda' harsh to me. Make them learn something in there to support themselves when they get out!!

suzanne m

No they are there to be punished. Its not supposed to be a Holiday camp. This country is too soft on criminals.

macdelanoche

I look at the conditions enjoyed by prisoners in the UK., and I
compare them to the conditions I had when doing National Service, in the Army. (1950's)
I lived in a tin, unlined Nissen Hut, that had a 2" gap, top and bottom of the doors , at each end, and a flagstone floor.
The only heating was a coke stove at one end, for which we were allowed half a zinc bathfull of coke, once a week, despite the fact that this was Winter.

We had no TV, no radio, and had mostly cold water, in which to wash and shave.
We worked 24 hours on and then 12 hour off, during which we did cookhouse chores.

For this we were paid the princely sum of 14 shillings per week.

Now you know, why there are no spare places in our jails.

Why doesn't the government negotiate a deal, with the badass jail in Arizona, to take charge of some of our criminals, for a fixed price.
It would solve the prison overcrowding problem and also be a lot cheaper.
The Sheriff feeds his prisoners for 20cents a day each, gets paid for the work they do on the chain gang, so this could be a mutually beneficial arrangement.

If you haven't seen it, try to watch, "Brits Behind Bars".

Rams N

Give the prisoners nothing but isolation and when their time is up they'll be worse than when they got locked up. remember that ideally people are supposed to leave jail/prison capable of returning returning to society rehabilitated.

~Jen~

I completely agree with you! Its bad enough that our tax dollars feed them, cloth them, and educate them, but why on earth do we have to provide them with luxuries? In my opinion, they should bring back the chain gangs, and make them work for what is provided to them. HA! some of them complain about how bad it is in jails/prisons,,well good! I think it should be worse.Make it so miserable so that they would never want to go back.

Lady Freyja

Absolutely not!! It is beyond wrong. It's criminal. Why should my tax dollars pay for them to live the good life?

Devon S

something is extremely wrong. i believe that the prisoners should get bread and water for every meal. and maybe once in a great while the good inmates will get a week old hamburger. that should be their reward. as far as a tv, that is extemely rediculous. they shouldnt get anything in their cell except a toilet and a bed. but they dont deserve a pillow with that bed. their arms are ther pillows

blissman

Because of all the human rights and civil liberty groups prisons have become more comfortable places to live in.
Twenty years ago three prisoners would share a 8 foot by 6 foot cell with a barred slot in the wall as a window. They would have to wee and poo in a bucket in one corner of the cell and then take it in turns to 'slop out' (take the full bucket out of the cell, down the wing and empty it into a communal trough). They were 'banged up for nearly 23 hours a day, unless you were lucky enough to have one of the jobs in the kitchens or cleaning.
Washing in the mornings in luke warm, if not cold water, was probably done to wake you up. A razor blade was given to you then taken straight back as soon as you'd shaved.
Card games were not allowed and tape recorders were a big no no..let alone a TV in your cell.
One hours exercise was allowed per day which consisted of circling a cold,windy exercise yard with many eyes watching you.
Prisons then were designed to punish with the intentions of making a prisoner never want to return on his release, thus making them not re-offend.
Todays prisons are en-suite holiday rooms with room service on tap. Prisoners are treated with respect and have more rights than they deserve.
This is why people are no longer afraid of prison as it is just a place for them to catch up with their friends and learn the latest tricks of the trade.
Prison should be like in Bangkok....twenty or more to a cell, serving bread and water unless your family/friend bring you extras, simply treating prisoners how they should be treated...like the scum they are.

poikjmL@~#

I think that people in prison should work to get luxuries. They should be allowed to do community service or something and when they have done enough hours then they can have a small television. The fact that their meals cost more than school dinners is absolutley ridicuolous. How can more money go towards CRIMINALS, than the future of this country!? There are some people who don't get the luxuries that some criminals have. The government should find the poorest people in society and make sure that criminals live just below this level.

news hound

Blimey mate, that's what you pay your taxes for didn't you know.I can tell you this my friend, it isn't you that's wrong. Send all the foreign prisoners back to their country and, deport also their families/ That would send the message, "We no longer are the soft touch of the world enough, is enough".

Xenie X

I agree with you, I always used to think prisons were like holiday camps but I think the TV etc are used a lot as a way of keeping inmates calm and under control - while they are being 'relaxed' with TV they are not causing problems for the guards from boredom/frustration etc Just think you have a lot of nasty pieces of work in a confined space and thats going to be a flammable situation unless well managed.

Tammy

I agree. They commit crimes like murder, rape, theft, assault etc. and the tax payer has to pay for them to lead the life of Rilrey. No, let them have the basics, a sink and a loo, but no tv, games room, gym or any other form of entertainment! It is disgusting that prisoners get better treatment than our pensioners, they are well fed, and kept warm. Not on!

Mr_realist

Yes sure. They need to be entertained. They're still "humans"! They have "rights"!.... In fact, more rights than we 'the victims' have. Isn't that what the law of the country says ? Isn't that what Human Rights people keep saying? How do you send a message to the would-be criminals that it's ok to commit a crime because there's really nothing you should be worried about ? It's by telling them that prison is actually a nice place to spend time in, especially if you have no place to sleep and it's cold outside. Just commit a crime and you're welcome to a warm place with tv, weight room, free good meals -that some working people can't afford. Prison is tough ? Not for the hardened criminal.

bagpuss

I think they lost there right to luxuries when they broke the law.

Human rights has gone mad.

Maybe if doing time was harder then they might not want to break the law....

K-jO

i absolutely think they should get TV's.... you people that are saying absolutely not have obviously never been to jail. i was there for 10 and a half hours... worse 10 and a half hours of my life, despite having the TV across the hall to watch from a little square window in the door. i can't imagine being locked up 24 hours a day for years, away from my family and friends. people make mistakes, i'm not saying it was a mistake for serial killers and rapists to do what they did, but others... put yourself in other people's shoes and quit being so selfish.

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