UK Prisons 'nearly full'

Prisons in England and Wales are nearly full, the Ministry of Justice has said.

Last summer's riots prompted a "significant rise" in people sent to jail. New figures show the total number of inmates was 87,668 - filling prisons to 98.1% capacity

Source

Wow... the prisons in England and Wales are supposedly at 98.1% capacity? That's crazy. What will happen once the prisons are full? More of the tax payers money being spent on building more prisons for rapists, paedophiles and murderers...

Should the UK bring back the death penalty to thin the prison population out a bit? What are your thoughts?

what percentage full were they before the riots?

reply to post by Sozen94


I certainly don't think we should be killing people to bring the numbers down. You could probably release a large amount of people who are of little danger to society. We need to have more community service instead of sending lots of young people to crime school.

Many people who are in Jail because the only other option is the streets. The streets are cold and don't come with 3 meals a day, a bed and company.

hi op
this sums up the mood here in the formaly known and state of great britain

Place the elderly in prisons. They will get a shower a day, video surveillance in case of problems, three meals a day, access to a library, computer, TV, gym ... Put criminals in nursing homes. They have cold meals lights off at 9:00PM, one bath a week, live in a smaller room and pay $ 5,000 a month !!!!! Copy and paste if you agree... such a shame that this is true!!

obvious an american wrote this, but still applies here in good old u.k
i dont want to get old in this country anymore
its scary times ahead

Simple solution to me would be removing jail time for white collar crimes, as well as drug related offences such as possession, especially of low-harm drugs, maybe road-traffic related offences, or non-violent offenders.

I may be overlooking something here, but shouldn't prison be for those who are a threat to the society? If you want to punish someone for say speeding or not paying taxes etc, why not give them community service? Why not create some kind of factory or work related opportunity for people to pay their debt back to society rather then sitting in a prison cell with free accommodation and then leaving with a degree in criminology?

There are so many ways for people to 'pay off their debt to society', jail is a simple, yet primitive solution.

my 2c

Yeah because they are putting non dangerous offenders in there when really they need to give those people huge fines to keep them out of there to keep jails vacant. Too many people getting put in there because of weed posession and petty crimes. It costs tax payers more to harbor those type of criminals wen it doesnt even got to be like that. The jail system is messed now days!

The reason prisons are almost full is because there's no real deterrent for commiting a lot of crimes in this country. Commit murder... no big deal, you'd be out in a few years anyway. Rape your way to 3 square meals a day.

Hang the bastards.

methinks the gubbermint may consider outsourcing bird time to other countries. perhaps they will put it out to tender and it will be given to the lowest bidder with stinky gaols full of rusty nails.
f

reply to post by Sozen94

What will happen once the prisons are full?

Well sending them down here is no longer an option.

Guess they're going to have to build more correctional centres then... or possibly the Justice system could honour parole periods - I'd gather that would drop the prison population to sustainable levels.

reply to post by Perhaps


That made me chuckle, nice

I suppose the next step is like the states where they become privatized?

Prisonsers for profit

Watch the corruption begin to mount.

Now Austraila is off the cards I suppose the only other solution (apart from privatization) is as other members have stated; Less sentances for lesser crimes and other means of com. service.

Put the royal family in there along with all the politicians and bankers and release everyone else but murderers and rapists and put the whole thing on TV.

The elite loves to spy on us? Time for us to spy on them while they get what they deserve.

I know the article only refers to England & Wales ... tut tut, OP, insensitive to put "UK" as the descriptor ... but our Edinburgh neighbour has been jailed for 4 yrs for fraud. He embezzled £45,000 from the company he worked for. He spent it on a car, vacations etc. OK that's bad, he ought not have done it. But he was also the nicest neighbour ever, so friendly and helpful ... and he's 72 years old.

He might have been an old rogue, but he was no danger to anyone. What does putting him in jail for 4 years achieve ? If people like him were sentenced differently, "UK" prisons wouldn't be so full.

Originally posted by davesmart
hi op
this sums up the mood here in the formaly known and state of great britain

Place the elderly in prisons. They will get a shower a day, video surveillance in case of problems, three meals a day, access to a library, computer, TV, gym ... Put criminals in nursing homes. They have cold meals lights off at 9:00PM, one bath a week, live in a smaller room and pay $ 5,000 a month !!!!! Copy and paste if you agree... such a shame that this is true!!

obvious an american wrote this, but still applies here in good old u.k
i dont want to get old in this country anymore
its scary times ahead

Actually that does apply very well here, doesn't it?...plus those that have dementia are often incapable of reporting the physical abuse that they suffer and are all too often left without family to keep an eye on them either. Unlike prisoners who have all sorts of busy-bodies looking out for their welfare and to serve as advocates for them. I doubt very much that Shipman would have got away with it for so long had he been a prison doctor.

Originally posted by LeBombDiggity
I know the article only refers to England & Wales ... tut tut, OP, insensitive to put "UK" as the descriptor ... but our Edinburgh neighbour has been jailed for 4 yrs for fraud. He embezzled £45,000 from the company he worked for. He spent it on a car, vacations etc. OK that's bad, he ought not have done it. But he was also the nicest neighbour ever, so friendly and helpful ... and he's 72 years old.

He might have been an old rogue, but he was no danger to anyone. What does putting him in jail for 4 years achieve ? If people like him were sentenced differently, "UK" prisons wouldn't be so full.

He must have had prior, surely? But then they do lock up old ladies who refuse to pay the council tax too, so it doesn't surprise me overly.

reply to post by Biliverdin


hya
i have not heard shipsons name for a while
i still have mixed feelings of that crime/s
i might have to read a little on it and see how peoples reactions have changed over the yrs
as i remember of the top of my head
he murdered quite a few terminally ill elderly patients
then he got caught for forging wills of the patients he euthanised sorry i mean killed

thinking about it
he probably paved the way for euthanesia
because i remember not long after i think the netherlands adopted a concept from this
i may be wrong but ill search

dave

I wonder how many of those inmates have commited crimes. I mean common law crimes and not crimes against against the govts bank balance?

I got a warrant for my arrest posted through my door last week and it said arrest could be prevented if I paid them £320. Doesnt even say on the letter why I owe the money. So if i ring up to find out why I owe the money I am then consenting to them. If i dont pay they will arrest me when they get me.

reply to post by Biliverdin


heres one that happend here in the midlands (think it was birmingham)
about 12 yrs ago that got very little attention
heres what i remember

elderly lady arrested over ornamental pigs
an elderly birmingham lady was raided a 5am and her 30yr collection of pigs
taken away due to complaints from a muslim populated area that her ornamental pigs
were causing bad feeling in the area


heres another one i remember

A cafe has been told to shut its extractor fans off wen cooking bacon due to..
the smell is upsetting the neighbours that have a cultural difference

my country has become an effing joke the world over
its embarassing hearing immigrants boasting how great and bloody soft the formally known
as great britain is

no wonder so many britons with money bugger of
i dont blame them, i would

There are a lot of people in jail for stupid things like non-payment of fines, which I can understand as a punishment and a deterrent, but community service would be more fitting.

The one that pisses me off immensely is courts sending people to jail for not paying council tax, and they do, I know someone in HMP Butlins Hotel Durham right now because he could afford his council tax bill. A lot of people in low income areas are at risk.

Prison should be for people who are a danger to the public, community service for the rest.

And those who say bring back the death penalty, shame on you.

Originally posted by ThePeopleParty
I wonder how many of those inmates have commited crimes. I mean common law crimes and not crimes against against the govts bank balance?

I got a warrant for my arrest posted through my door last week and it said arrest could be prevented if I paid them £320. Doesnt even say on the letter why I owe the money. So if i ring up to find out why I owe the money I am then consenting to them. If i dont pay they will arrest me when they get me.

edit on 28-1-2012 by ThePeopleParty because: (no reason given)

hya

wen i was 20 i was jailed for 1week in a young offenders prison
because i was stupidly driving with an incorrect liscence no insurance etc
back in them days you got a ticket to produce documents within 7 days
i couldnt make head or tail of it i kept getting a ticket to produce nearly everyday
eventualy court summons to different places where id been pulled over
700 pound fine
missed 3 payments
warrant out, arrested me about 6 am
in court
concurrent and consequtive balls done 5 days
and in all honesty...it was piece of piss
i could hold my head up high because most other inmates
were in for burglary and street crime and fraud
i was just in their for not paying a fine
no excuses though, except i was a stupid 20 yr old