The Madness which is Melanie Phillips

The Madness which is Melanie Phillips

Melanie Phillips is paid good money by the Daily Mail to write opinion pieces. It would appear that this is not because her opinion really matters for anything. Rather it is because she has the ability to string three words together. Clever girl! However, she is not as clever as she would like us to think. She is claiming that she has the moral authority to judge others. Instead of writing about what she knows, she breaks the first rule and blusters through her article hoping nobody will spot how ignorant she really is. For example:

Jailhouse madness

Melanie Phillips

"Sending someone to prison is supposed to achieve various things. It acts as a deterrent, protects the public, and (hopefully) trains inmates for a more lawabiding life.

But at its very core, the purpose of prison is to punish.

Without this central element, imprisonment becomes meaningless and justice itself is mocked".

Does prison act as a deterrent if 70% of released prisoners re-offend? If deterrence is a purpose of prison, it follows that within the concept of deterrence is the element to protect the public from crime and re-offending. Therefore, it is pointless to have the additional concept of public protection. That is like saying public protection protects the public. If a purpose of prison is to train prisoners for a more law-abiding life, it would help if the Ministry of Justice abides by the law and set a good example to follow.

The Criminal Justice Act 1948 abolished the sentence of imprisonment with hard labour. From this point on a prisoner was sent to prison as a punishment and not for punishment. Melanie Phillips has clearly misunderstood the difference between the words "as" and "for". Perhaps, Jacqui Smith can give her sink plug to Melanie Phillips? Those who can write, those who cannot should do the dishes! This is turning into a kitchen sink drama. The core purpose of prison is not to punish.

The central element of Melanie Phillips' argument falters, and she fails to grasp the meaning of prison saying it has become meaningless. A main purpose of prison has to be business. We should be looking at who stands to gain from building more prisons. The motive is profit. I wouldn't call profiting from others misery justice.