Michael Howard criticises Ken Clarke on prisons
June 30, 2010 5:37pm
by Jim Pickard
Former Tory leader Michael Howard has been on the PM programme criticising Ken Clarke’s new, more liberal stance on prison populations (which is, of course, driven in part by cost-cutting concerns). His concerns are shared by many Conservative MPs.
“If persistent and serious criminals are in prison the public is safe from their activities. And I believe the most important objective of the criminal justice system should be to protect the public.”
A problem with Michael Howard's stance is that crime may well continue inside prison, and that if nothing is done to address the offending behaviour then the public is not being protected in the long run because of the re-offending rate.
Precisely. Howard's logic only works if you never let them out.
ReplyDeleteIt's the stats that make the case. As a taxpayer (well, sort of) I'd be interested to know what return I'm getting on my money.
Put it another way, if the prison service ran the NHS I think people would soon take alarm at the mortality rate.
Howard is too bright to swallow his bullshit. What's this all about? Keeping people stupid?