Our Prisons are Full

[Dassie]

We are now told that our prisons are full. Does anybody think now is the time to bring back Capital punishment, seeing we now have improved detection methods such as DNA testing?

Also should immigrants that are found guilty be deported immediately for abusing our hospitality and not given the option of serving sentences in the UK at the taxpayers expense?.

[Booldawg]

everything is full - Britain is full. Our schools are full. Our Hospitals are full. Our motorways are full. Everything. This is just yet another reason why immigration should be curbed. We are told that the population in terms of birth is on the decline - how many families do you know that have more than 3 kids? The maths dont add up, is this a result of the baby boom in the 60s? people living longer? Regardless, something needs to be done and curbing immigration, better training and education for those who are already here to help with the skills crisis and deportation of those who break our laws is certainly a start.

[sp1814]

Dassie

The return of capital punishment would have a negligible effect on the prison population, unless you want to make armed robbery, ABH and GBH punishable bny death.

DNA evidence has only improved conviction rates, not detection rates. I think what you're saying is that we can be more 'sure' of someone's guilt than before.

Lasty, I'm not sure how many foreign nationals are actually in jail here...I think the vast majority of 'foreign' prisoners were born here.

[dyli795]

It's somewhere in the region of 10,000 foreign nationals in our jails using our taxes for their keep. They certainly deserve to be repatriated.

[ck1]

maybe the capacity for prisoners would be increased if the snooker rooms, gyms, libraries etc were converted into rooms, as well as putting a few more prisoners in a cell. Might also dissuade people from being so quick to return to the prison system

[flip-flop]

Can't we just double the number of prisoners in each cell???

If there's four already say - can't we just make it eight? OK , some of the them may have to sleep on the floor - well boo hoo...really couldn't give a tinker's cuss for their comfort, and you never know, if the conditions are that awful, it may discourage others from committing crimes!

[admarlow]

Capital punish yes definatly, then we wouldn't have to pay the �37,500 a year to keep them banged up (oh and they can do hard labour before they ''go''

Next question,

Immagrants being sent home, again yes but only if they are going home to prison and not just deported.

[Loosehead]

How about outsourcing to say Turkey, pay them 10k a man per year, they'd bite our arms off and we save almost 30k a prisoner per year, sorted!

[Zen]

Good idea Loosehead. Should let the Japanese run our prison service,just think of the Railway infrastructure they could build,could then do away with Railtrack and all it's taxpayers subsidy............

[anotheoldgit]

flip-flop's idea sounds great, but I would address it this way, so as to avoid over-crowding.

Divide the eight into two shifts a Day shift and a Night shift, while the day shift is out working a 12 hour shift, the others could be sleeping in the cell, and at the end of their shifts they change over.

There would always be a warm bed to move into, so the central heating could also be turned off, this would also save money.

[noxlumos]

Yeah it's a really great idea to dehumanise prisons further by making eight men share a cell and take away any rehabilitation facialities available to them, after all we all want mentally ill,violent, angry men released into society after they've served their sentences don't we, when they only went in there for credit card fraud in the first place?
We need better social education to stop people resorting to crime in the first place, better and more effective community punishments and prison for only violent and extreme crime. We need to up the ante for people who think it's ok to physically hurt and show theives etc there is another way than crime to obtaining what they want in life, that way violent and sexual crime begin to be seriously stigmatised instead of just being lumped into a whole big pot with more trivial crime and by definition becomes less and less socially acceptable, because there are places where violece for it's own sake almost has a sort of kudos ( evident from the happy slaping videos etc) and it's this normalisation of violence that is so very dangerous, and it's this that we must stop.
Harsher jails will not do it, actually it will result in quite the opposite effect.
I have no idea about the levels of immigrants in jail here so without some extensive research that I honestly don't have time to do, I couldn't really comment on it.

[juddlinski]

Capital punishment and sending immigrant s back. Sensible middle-of-the-road policies, Dassie.

[Catso]

Well, why not treat them just the same as the people not in prison, who have to go to work. Remove all the seats and beds, to make more standing room, and you'd get far more in the existing prisons.

[~ vortex ~]

"I have come to the conclusion that executions solve nothing, and are only an antiquated relic of a primitive desire for revenge which takes the easy way and hands over the responsibility for revenge to other people...The trouble with the death penalty has always been that nobody wanted it for everybody, but everybody differed about who should get off."
Albert Pierrepoint 1974

[NJOK]

Capital punishment is the answer.

But, rather than it depending on the seriousness of the crime, it should depend on the age of the offender. After all, there's less chance of them changing their spots and becoming a valuable member of society.

Stay with me on this....

So anyone who commits a crime usually punishable by prison, who is over the age of 60 should be hanged. This will reduce the prison population.

As for hospitals and council housing and road congestion, a painless injection could put to sleep those elderly people who are taking up beds, or not keeping their house clean or are driving too slow.

An exception could be made for Our Boys who have fought in a war?