Prisoner Facebook pages removed after victim taunts
Thirty Facebook pages have been taken down because prisoners were using them to taunt their victims, Justice Secretary Jack Straw has said.
Mr Straw was speaking after a meeting with victim campaigners to discuss prisoners using social networking sites to taunt families.
"This is horrible, profoundly disturbing... and it's deeply offensive to public morality," he said.
It is one thing to post on Facebook etc, and quite another to post deliberately offensive content. Some victims are so pathetic that any media attention at all given to offenders they deem to be offensive and a slap in the face. Only if content is genuinely offensive should it be removed.
I think Jack Straw has got some nerve talking about offending public morality. What with his involvement in the illegal war with Iraq, and the sanctioning of torture of suspected terrorists when he was Foreign Secretary. Then there is his breach of human rights of prisoners denying them the vote.
"He said it might be possible to change the rules under which prisoners are freed on parole and temporary licence, to make it "explicit" that they cannot make use of sites in this way". I notice he did not say that they will be prevented from posting full stop. This is an impossibility. Those who abuse the system will face the consequences like any other user of Facebook. I would be very strongly against any measure which sought to censor prisoners just because they speak out.
A mixture of law, politics, autobiography and humour. Once described as "The Devilish Advocate" (Guardian), I do have the ability to provoke a response. Sometimes it comes from someone who uses a thought process, and sometimes from jerks usually associated with the knee.
Well I agree completely that it's the right move. We over at Prisoners Families Voices use our page to raise awareness alongside the public on how children are effected by parental imprisonment. We average roughly 30 new supporters a day and are nearly reaching 1,800 members. Maybe some of the charities that represent prisoners families should take a leaf out of our book instead of hiding behind their walls. We feel it is important to get the message in to the public eye, which in our opinion, is the right way to raise awareness.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, Straw Man described open-air cremation as 'deeply offensive' and it's just been made legal. Ha!
ReplyDeleteThere are already laws to stop this. This is just a pretext to smear that congenitally nasty sub-group, 'prisoners'. Like politicians, apparently, they're all the same!
Jack 'Jacksy' Straw on the incorrigibility of the criminal classes (from the Guardian account of this story);
ReplyDelete"I'm afraid we're dealing with crooks. Devious, manipulative people who actually have no respect for their own bodies so they push these mobile telephones into their body orifices."
Yes, you've got to be pretty manipulative to get a phone up your jacksy. Could you get the above statement up yours, Mr Straw? Go on, one last push!