Air firm accused of rendition flights role
"The US government is attempting to halt a lawsuit that could establish whether any of the Central Intelligence Agency's so-called rendition flights have been partly planned on British soil. Lawyers representing a number of men who have been held at Guantánamo are suing Jeppesen Dataplan, a subsidiary of the Boeing Corporation, accusing Jeppesen of involvement in the flights that took the men to secret prisons around the world. Once there, the men say, they were tortured".
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.
Site Meter
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Jail inspector criticises use of truncheons at immigration centre
Jail inspector criticises use of truncheons at immigration centre
"Staff in charge of an immigration centre housing failed asylum-seekers are regularly armed with wooden staves to keep order, despite the fact that such weapons are banned in low-security jails, the chief inspector of prisons has discovered".
Migrant detention centres use staves banned in low security prisons
"Staff in charge of an immigration centre housing failed asylum-seekers are regularly armed with wooden staves to keep order, despite the fact that such weapons are banned in low-security jails, the chief inspector of prisons has discovered".
Migrant detention centres use staves banned in low security prisons
Monday, November 26, 2007
MP quits Oxford Union in BNP row
MP quits Oxford Union in BNP row
"A senior Conservative MP has resigned his membership of the Oxford Union as the pressure mounted on the organisers of tonight's debate on free speech to withdraw an invitation to Nick Griffin, of the British National Party, and Holocaust denier David Irving".
And from the Guardian...
'Awful, abhorrent' - but Oxford insists the debate must go on
and this...
Students need to know what sort of dangerous people are out there
The Oxford Union was after easy publicity when it invited David Irving and Nick Griffin - but the debate can do no harm
The take from the Independent...
Critics line up to attack Oxford Union over 'free speech' debate
Hundreds of demonstrators are expected tonight outside the Oxford Union where two leading figures from the British far right are due to appear as speakers.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Flog it: For sale dead horse
Flog it: For sale dead horse
You would think it was in everybody's interests to solve the prisons crises. There is nothing new in this headline from the Sunday Telegraph "10,000 set free early from crowded prisons". I don't think it is a big deal to point out that only "300 were locked up again after they were caught reoffending or breaking the terms of their licences". Out of 10,000, 300 failures is something of a success story, especially given that we don't know how many of the 300 actually reoffended and what percentage merely were in breach of their licence conditions. It would appear to me that Jack Straw is not really tackling the problems when he promises 9,500 new prison places. Given that he has just had to release 10,000 prisoners earlier than usual, is 9,500 new prison places really going to make any difference? Not that I am advocating we embark upon a programme of prison expansion. For me, a successful Criminal Justice System policy would be based upon a small prison population not how many can be crammed into our prisons.
I don't think that Nick Herbert has anything new or sensible to offer here, again from the Sunday Telegraph, "We need modern prisons with a purpose". Yes, I agree that we need modern prisons with a purpose. However, other than the headline which sounds good, Nick Herbert in his comment fails to state how this is going to be achieved. The idea of selling off the Victorian prisons and replacing them with newer units is not new. And renaming prisons does just that and nothing more. I wonder if the Tory Party's new slogan "Labour's giving criminals a break" will come back to haunt them. Personally, I think it is about time that the poor old criminal was given a break. For too long now they have been the victims of knee-jerking politicians all seeking to get tougher and tougher upon them than previous Home Secretaries. Bottom line, it does not matter how many times you flog a dead horse it remains a dead horse.
The Sunday Times offers this "Tory call to sell off inner-city prisons", I have included it although I don't think that it offers any more to the debate.
You would think it was in everybody's interests to solve the prisons crises. There is nothing new in this headline from the Sunday Telegraph "10,000 set free early from crowded prisons". I don't think it is a big deal to point out that only "300 were locked up again after they were caught reoffending or breaking the terms of their licences". Out of 10,000, 300 failures is something of a success story, especially given that we don't know how many of the 300 actually reoffended and what percentage merely were in breach of their licence conditions. It would appear to me that Jack Straw is not really tackling the problems when he promises 9,500 new prison places. Given that he has just had to release 10,000 prisoners earlier than usual, is 9,500 new prison places really going to make any difference? Not that I am advocating we embark upon a programme of prison expansion. For me, a successful Criminal Justice System policy would be based upon a small prison population not how many can be crammed into our prisons.
I don't think that Nick Herbert has anything new or sensible to offer here, again from the Sunday Telegraph, "We need modern prisons with a purpose". Yes, I agree that we need modern prisons with a purpose. However, other than the headline which sounds good, Nick Herbert in his comment fails to state how this is going to be achieved. The idea of selling off the Victorian prisons and replacing them with newer units is not new. And renaming prisons does just that and nothing more. I wonder if the Tory Party's new slogan "Labour's giving criminals a break" will come back to haunt them. Personally, I think it is about time that the poor old criminal was given a break. For too long now they have been the victims of knee-jerking politicians all seeking to get tougher and tougher upon them than previous Home Secretaries. Bottom line, it does not matter how many times you flog a dead horse it remains a dead horse.
The Sunday Times offers this "Tory call to sell off inner-city prisons", I have included it although I don't think that it offers any more to the debate.
Row as Oxford Union votes to hear Irving
Row as Oxford Union votes to hear Irving
"The Oxford Union was accused last night of 'promoting anti-Semitism' after students voted to allow Holocaust revisionist David Irving and the leader of the British National Party, Nick Griffin, to address students tomorrow.
Members of the Oxford Union Debating Society voted by a margin of two to one in favour of permitting the two right-wing figures to speak at a free-speech event, despite demands that they be banned".
For me this was a vote for common sense and I am pleased that it prevailed. I agree with the union's president, Luke Tryl, who argued "that it is possible to abhor the views of Griffin and Irving while accepting their right to be heard".
"The Oxford Union was accused last night of 'promoting anti-Semitism' after students voted to allow Holocaust revisionist David Irving and the leader of the British National Party, Nick Griffin, to address students tomorrow.
Members of the Oxford Union Debating Society voted by a margin of two to one in favour of permitting the two right-wing figures to speak at a free-speech event, despite demands that they be banned".
For me this was a vote for common sense and I am pleased that it prevailed. I agree with the union's president, Luke Tryl, who argued "that it is possible to abhor the views of Griffin and Irving while accepting their right to be heard".
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Cabbaged or what?
Cabbaged or what?
I am not sure whether this is an argument that prison works in relation to reform, or whether it is an argument that prison turns inmates into a vegetative state.
Hat-Tip to Norfolk Blogger.
I am not sure whether this is an argument that prison works in relation to reform, or whether it is an argument that prison turns inmates into a vegetative state.
Hat-Tip to Norfolk Blogger.
Oxford votes on whether Irving and Griffin should address Union
Oxford votes on whether Irving and Griffin should address Union
"The issue at stake was whether an invitation to the Holocaust-denying historian David Irving and the leader of the British National Party, Nick Griffin, to address a forum on free speech at the Oxford Union on Monday should be withdrawn".
I am more certain that the Holocaust occurred than I am that there is a God. There are some accounts of history that are not as truthful as they should be. Surely, any historian worth his salts must accept that the Holocaust did happen and that it was a shameful display of mans inhumanity towards man?
Legally, freedom of speech in this country is more limited than in the USA. We do not have the human right to absolute freedom of speech. I do not have a problem with anyone debating what I deem to be unacceptable views, their views could and should be defeated by counter arguments. I hope Oxford University can rise to the challenge rather than cop out by gagging speakers. I think it would be hypocritical to have a debate on free speech if those who pulled out dictated who should not be allowed a voice. Surely the students are mature enough to listen to both sides and vote on the debate rather than vote to silence views they are opposed to?
"The issue at stake was whether an invitation to the Holocaust-denying historian David Irving and the leader of the British National Party, Nick Griffin, to address a forum on free speech at the Oxford Union on Monday should be withdrawn".
I am more certain that the Holocaust occurred than I am that there is a God. There are some accounts of history that are not as truthful as they should be. Surely, any historian worth his salts must accept that the Holocaust did happen and that it was a shameful display of mans inhumanity towards man?
Legally, freedom of speech in this country is more limited than in the USA. We do not have the human right to absolute freedom of speech. I do not have a problem with anyone debating what I deem to be unacceptable views, their views could and should be defeated by counter arguments. I hope Oxford University can rise to the challenge rather than cop out by gagging speakers. I think it would be hypocritical to have a debate on free speech if those who pulled out dictated who should not be allowed a voice. Surely the students are mature enough to listen to both sides and vote on the debate rather than vote to silence views they are opposed to?
14 year old Kurdish girl released from detention after health concerns
14 year old Kurdish girl released from detention after health concerns
By Chris Green and Robert Verkaik
Published: 24 November 2007
A 14-year-old Kurdish asylum-seeker who escaped deportation to Germany this week was finally released from detention last night after serious concerns were raised about her mental health. Meltem Avcil and her mother are understood to have left Yarl's Wood immigration removal centre in Bedfordshire before being taken to bed-and-breakfast accommodation in Kent.
The Home Office has been trying to deport Meltem and her mother to Germany, where their asylum application was first refused, despite the fact that for the past six years Meltem has been educated in the UK, and is now fluent in English.
Last week The Independent reported that an attempt to remove the mother and daughter using a private security escort team was abandoned after a British Airways pilot refused to let them fly on grounds of health and safety. In a second aborted removal attempt this week it is believed the Home Office had chartered a private jet.
But doctors who have examined Meltem in Bedford hospital said they were very concerned about her mental health. The Avcil family, originally from Turkey, were visited by the children's commissioner who is believed to have brought their case to the attention of the Home Office.
Meltem, who spent three months in Yarl's Wood, said she was "very happy" to be released and now intended to travel back to Doncaster where the family had lived for six years and where they could be reunited with friends and supporters. "I am so happy I think I will burst. This is my best moment ever. I want to say thank you to the children's commissioner for not forgetting me," she added.
Robina Qureshi, director of Positive Action in Housing, who led the campaign, said: "We welcome and celebrate Meltem's release." She added that 1,583 supporters in Britain, Germany and France had written to express their outrage at her detention.
The release of Meltem and her mother followed criticism of the Government's use of detention in child asylum cases. A group of European MPs visiting three detention centres in the UK expressed concern over the length of time children were detained.
A Border and Immigration Agency spokesman said: "Detention is used only where necessary and this is especially true for families with children. Depending upon the individual circumstances of each case, we will always endeavour to keep families together."
By Chris Green and Robert Verkaik
Published: 24 November 2007
A 14-year-old Kurdish asylum-seeker who escaped deportation to Germany this week was finally released from detention last night after serious concerns were raised about her mental health. Meltem Avcil and her mother are understood to have left Yarl's Wood immigration removal centre in Bedfordshire before being taken to bed-and-breakfast accommodation in Kent.
The Home Office has been trying to deport Meltem and her mother to Germany, where their asylum application was first refused, despite the fact that for the past six years Meltem has been educated in the UK, and is now fluent in English.
Last week The Independent reported that an attempt to remove the mother and daughter using a private security escort team was abandoned after a British Airways pilot refused to let them fly on grounds of health and safety. In a second aborted removal attempt this week it is believed the Home Office had chartered a private jet.
But doctors who have examined Meltem in Bedford hospital said they were very concerned about her mental health. The Avcil family, originally from Turkey, were visited by the children's commissioner who is believed to have brought their case to the attention of the Home Office.
Meltem, who spent three months in Yarl's Wood, said she was "very happy" to be released and now intended to travel back to Doncaster where the family had lived for six years and where they could be reunited with friends and supporters. "I am so happy I think I will burst. This is my best moment ever. I want to say thank you to the children's commissioner for not forgetting me," she added.
Robina Qureshi, director of Positive Action in Housing, who led the campaign, said: "We welcome and celebrate Meltem's release." She added that 1,583 supporters in Britain, Germany and France had written to express their outrage at her detention.
The release of Meltem and her mother followed criticism of the Government's use of detention in child asylum cases. A group of European MPs visiting three detention centres in the UK expressed concern over the length of time children were detained.
A Border and Immigration Agency spokesman said: "Detention is used only where necessary and this is especially true for families with children. Depending upon the individual circumstances of each case, we will always endeavour to keep families together."
A suicide victim and the town that turned on her cyber-bully
A suicide victim and the town that turned on her cyber-bully
By Leonard Doyle in Washington
Published: 24 November 2007
For almost a year, the families that live on Waterford Crystal Drive kept quiet about the MySpace tragedy. Not any more.
When Megan Meier's family moved to the neighbourhood, a brand new family-oriented development near St Louis, they hoped that their troubled 13-year-old would make friends.
Like millions of teenagers marooned amid the malls of suburbia, Megan turned to the online networking site MySpace for friendship. When "Josh Evans" started to exchange messages with her, Megan, a 13-year-old suffering from depression and attention deficit disorder, was elated.
Their friendship lasted about a month. Then "Josh" brutally ended it, telling her that he had heard she was a bad person. That night, 16 October 2006, Megan hanged herself in her room.
When the truth about "Josh" emerged six weeks later, her devastated parents suffered another blow. It turned out that an adult neighbour called Lori Drew who had fallen out with her daughter had pretended to be the 16-year-old Josh to gain the trust of Megan.
Megan's parents, Tina and Ron Meier, asked their other neighbours to not to discuss what had happened, while waiting for the police to take action. But nothing happened: there is no law against being cruel and immature. Local papers refused to identify the Drew family, to protect their teenage daughter.
But now, bloggers have taken on Megan's cause, with an outburst of virtual vigilantism. The Los Angeles Times reported yesterday that dozens of people have apparently been calling local businesses that work with the Drew family's company, which prints advertising. The Drews' home address, phone numbers, email addresses and photographs have also been posted on blogs such as RottenNeighbor.com and hitsusa.com. And there are reports that people are driving through the once tranquil neighbourhood in the middle of the night, screaming, "Murderer!"
To protect themselves to from vigilantes, the Drews, have placed security cameras on the roof of their house. They have also refused to talk to the media.
Megan's parents want to see the Drews prosecuted, and they want changes to the law to safeguard children on the internet. With cases of cyber-bullying being reported all over the country, their cause has the potential to become a nationwide movement.
Mrs Meier doesn't believe that anyone involved actually intended for her daughter to kill herself. "But when adults are involved and continue to screw with a 13-year-old, with or without mental problems, it is absolutely vile," she said.
Described as a "bubbly, goofy" girl who loved fishing with her dad, Megan struck up a friendship with "Josh" who told her that he was born in Florida and had recently moved to a nearby community called O'Fallon. Then he dropped her, telling her on 15 October last year that he had heard she wasn't nice to her friends.
The following day, Mrs Meier was taking another daughter to the orthodontist, and asked Megan to log off MySpace, where users must be at least 14. Megan called her mother, saying that messages were being posted about her saying: "Megan Meier is a slut. Megan Meier is fat."
After a row, Megan ran upstairs. Her father tried to reassure her that everything would be fine. Twenty minutes later, she was found dead. Mr Meier said he found a message the next day from "Josh", telling her she was a bad person and the world would be better without her.
Now police cars are patrolling Waterford Crystal Drive and prosecutors are trying to reopen the case.
By Leonard Doyle in Washington
Published: 24 November 2007
For almost a year, the families that live on Waterford Crystal Drive kept quiet about the MySpace tragedy. Not any more.
When Megan Meier's family moved to the neighbourhood, a brand new family-oriented development near St Louis, they hoped that their troubled 13-year-old would make friends.
Like millions of teenagers marooned amid the malls of suburbia, Megan turned to the online networking site MySpace for friendship. When "Josh Evans" started to exchange messages with her, Megan, a 13-year-old suffering from depression and attention deficit disorder, was elated.
Their friendship lasted about a month. Then "Josh" brutally ended it, telling her that he had heard she was a bad person. That night, 16 October 2006, Megan hanged herself in her room.
When the truth about "Josh" emerged six weeks later, her devastated parents suffered another blow. It turned out that an adult neighbour called Lori Drew who had fallen out with her daughter had pretended to be the 16-year-old Josh to gain the trust of Megan.
Megan's parents, Tina and Ron Meier, asked their other neighbours to not to discuss what had happened, while waiting for the police to take action. But nothing happened: there is no law against being cruel and immature. Local papers refused to identify the Drew family, to protect their teenage daughter.
But now, bloggers have taken on Megan's cause, with an outburst of virtual vigilantism. The Los Angeles Times reported yesterday that dozens of people have apparently been calling local businesses that work with the Drew family's company, which prints advertising. The Drews' home address, phone numbers, email addresses and photographs have also been posted on blogs such as RottenNeighbor.com and hitsusa.com. And there are reports that people are driving through the once tranquil neighbourhood in the middle of the night, screaming, "Murderer!"
To protect themselves to from vigilantes, the Drews, have placed security cameras on the roof of their house. They have also refused to talk to the media.
Megan's parents want to see the Drews prosecuted, and they want changes to the law to safeguard children on the internet. With cases of cyber-bullying being reported all over the country, their cause has the potential to become a nationwide movement.
Mrs Meier doesn't believe that anyone involved actually intended for her daughter to kill herself. "But when adults are involved and continue to screw with a 13-year-old, with or without mental problems, it is absolutely vile," she said.
Described as a "bubbly, goofy" girl who loved fishing with her dad, Megan struck up a friendship with "Josh" who told her that he was born in Florida and had recently moved to a nearby community called O'Fallon. Then he dropped her, telling her on 15 October last year that he had heard she wasn't nice to her friends.
The following day, Mrs Meier was taking another daughter to the orthodontist, and asked Megan to log off MySpace, where users must be at least 14. Megan called her mother, saying that messages were being posted about her saying: "Megan Meier is a slut. Megan Meier is fat."
After a row, Megan ran upstairs. Her father tried to reassure her that everything would be fine. Twenty minutes later, she was found dead. Mr Meier said he found a message the next day from "Josh", telling her she was a bad person and the world would be better without her.
Now police cars are patrolling Waterford Crystal Drive and prosecutors are trying to reopen the case.
Friday, November 23, 2007
A Low Point for Craig Murray as he seeks to highlight a case of injustice
A Low Point for Craig Murray as he seeks to highlight a case of injustice
Jahongir Sidikov is still in detention at Heathrow, having offered passive resistance to the attempt to deport him today. Next time they will use staff authorised and equipped to use force.
I urge readers to support this cause in any way they can.
Jahongir Sidikov is still in detention at Heathrow, having offered passive resistance to the attempt to deport him today. Next time they will use staff authorised and equipped to use force.
I urge readers to support this cause in any way they can.
Inmate fails to cut cost of calls
Inmate fails to cut cost of calls
An inmate has failed to use human rights legislation to force a prison to charge him less for phone calls.
I think it is difficult to justify charging prisoners who earn wages which amount to children's pocket money more for their phone calls. However, I suspect that the legal challenge should have instead been mounted at private law and argued that prisoners are subject to an unfair contract term.
Businessman's killer found hanged
Businessman's killer found hanged
A killer who took part in the murder of a man he was sent to threaten by property tycoon Nicholas van Hoogstraten has been found hanged.
I suspect that it would not have taken very long for some wag in prison to announce the news that Croke has croked it...
Brazil shock at woman's jail rape
Brazil shock at woman's jail rape
Authorities in Brazil are investigating reports that a young woman was left in a police cell with some 20 men for a month and repeatedly sexually abused.
The governor of the state of Para, where the reported case took place, has promised a full inquiry.
Governor Ana Julia Carepa said the age of the woman, put variously at 15 and 20, was irrelevant as she should not have been jailed with male prisoners.
Women's rights groups in Brazil say it is not an isolated case.
According to reports in the Brazilian media, the number of men in the cell with the young woman varied from between 20 to more than 30.
Public anger
Media reports suggested that the girl was placed in a police cell in the town of Abaetetuba on suspicion of theft.
But human-rights groups say there is uncertainty about what offence the girl was accused of and she was not formally charged.
They say that she was raped relentlessly and forced to have sex in order to obtain food.
The girl's father has now alleged that he has been threatened by police who tried to force him to provide a birth certificate showing that the girl was 20 years of age - a document which he said did not exist.
The police are said to have believed at one stage that the girl was not under age.
Gov Carepa said the girl's age did not matter.
"Whether she was 15, 20, or 100 doesn't matter. A woman should never be left in a jail with men," she said.
"I am shocked and indignant, as a woman and as a governor," Gov Carepa said, promising that those responsible would face "exemplary punishment" and that such an incident would not be allowed to happen again.
Jails in Brazil are notorious for overcrowding and appalling conditions, and this is not the first time that there has been a controversy over a female prisoner being detained alongside men.
However, on this occasion, the seriousness of the allegation has caused shock and considerable public anger, the BBC's Gary Duffy in Sao Paulo says.
Women's rights groups in Para state quoted by the Globo website say there have been at least three cases of women being put in cells with men.
Authorities in Brazil are investigating reports that a young woman was left in a police cell with some 20 men for a month and repeatedly sexually abused.
The governor of the state of Para, where the reported case took place, has promised a full inquiry.
Governor Ana Julia Carepa said the age of the woman, put variously at 15 and 20, was irrelevant as she should not have been jailed with male prisoners.
Women's rights groups in Brazil say it is not an isolated case.
According to reports in the Brazilian media, the number of men in the cell with the young woman varied from between 20 to more than 30.
Public anger
Media reports suggested that the girl was placed in a police cell in the town of Abaetetuba on suspicion of theft.
But human-rights groups say there is uncertainty about what offence the girl was accused of and she was not formally charged.
They say that she was raped relentlessly and forced to have sex in order to obtain food.
The girl's father has now alleged that he has been threatened by police who tried to force him to provide a birth certificate showing that the girl was 20 years of age - a document which he said did not exist.
The police are said to have believed at one stage that the girl was not under age.
Gov Carepa said the girl's age did not matter.
"Whether she was 15, 20, or 100 doesn't matter. A woman should never be left in a jail with men," she said.
"I am shocked and indignant, as a woman and as a governor," Gov Carepa said, promising that those responsible would face "exemplary punishment" and that such an incident would not be allowed to happen again.
Jails in Brazil are notorious for overcrowding and appalling conditions, and this is not the first time that there has been a controversy over a female prisoner being detained alongside men.
However, on this occasion, the seriousness of the allegation has caused shock and considerable public anger, the BBC's Gary Duffy in Sao Paulo says.
Women's rights groups in Para state quoted by the Globo website say there have been at least three cases of women being put in cells with men.
We lock people up with no thought and to little effect
We lock people up with no thought and to little effect
Appetite for vengeance coupled with political expediency has led to an overcrowded prison system that doesn't work
Ian Loader
Friday November 23, 2007
The Guardian
On Wednesday Jack Straw delivered a speech on the future of penal policy to the Howard League for Penal Reform. It was widely expected that the secretary of state for justice would say something significant, partly in response to the lord chief justice's recent acknowledgement that sentencing policies are placing an intolerable strain on our prisons. In fact, Straw's speech was benignly neutral. In the midst of the Northern Rock crises and the Revenue & Customs discs scandal, the risk of being depicted as "soft on crime" was too great and had to be avoided. Word from the Ministry of Justice was that "the political landscape has hardened".
Once again, political expediency foreclosed much-needed public debate about penal policy. We live in a society that punishes a great deal but thinks rather less about why it does so. As a result our prisons are bursting with 81,547 inmates, an outcome that few in government planned and fewer have a tenable strategy for resolving. It is an issue the Commission on English Prisons Today, established by the Howard League, is determined to do something about.
The question of why we punish brings forth a standard menu of justifications. We do so in retribution for past wrongs, to deter future crimes, incapacitate the dangerous, rehabilitate offenders or repair broken bonds. Yet this age-old scrutiny is today disconnected from the decision-making that determines the size and operations of the penal system, and from public sensibilities towards punishment. The result is a high-minded debate about ideals that exercises little purchase over penal culture and practice, and justifications which decorate rather than guide the system.
It may be better, instead, to start with public philosophies of punishment, locating the debate in places where citizens, professionals and politicians are, rather than where one might wish them to be. The noisiest such philosophy wants a system that does harm, in response to the harm offenders have inflicted on victims, or to signal that the behaviour being punished is not to be tolerated. The overarching rationale here is public protection, the dominant emotions crime-related anger and fear, vengeance towards criminals and, lest we forget, audience pleasure at the punitive spectacle. Offenders are typified as dangerous, set in their ways, not "one of us"; their interests stand in a zero-sum relation to those of victims and wider society. This is the philosophy that has in recent years underpinned spiralling incarceration rates, the criminalisation of young people, indeterminate sentences and public distaste for parole - indeed, for any disposal deemed "soft". It may be no accident that this punishment-centred vision of a safe society captured the imagination of our rulers at precisely the moment when they lost faith in political utopias of a more socially inclusive and generous kind. Safety has become the ideology of the post-ideological age; prison its modal institution.
High among the costs of this penal utopianism is its cost. There are here no limits to the size and scope of the system, no resources to prevent 81,547 inmates becoming but a station on the track to US-style mass imprisonment. This is the jumping-off point for an alternative public philosophy - one that wants the penal system to make good.
This perspective pinpoints the fact that the population under penal supervision is disproportionately from poor family backgrounds, with little education, and typically with drug and mental health problems - in other words, "troubled" as well as "troubling". On this view, the penal system should be a site, not merely of punishment but for providing the educational, health and related services that improve the chances of an individual leading a "good and useful life" (to cite prison rule number one) on returning to society.
Sometimes this philosophy is premised on the idea that society bears some responsibility for the breakages that have resulted in offending and has an obligation to repair the damage. In today's climate, it more often claims the mantle of public protection, contending that without remedial intervention the prison doors will keep revolving. The relationship between offenders, victims and wider society can, after all, be positive sum. The former may lack the material and psychological ingredients of a law-abiding existence, but they remain amenable to programmes that can enhance their life chances or change their behaviour. There is, in short, hope.
This has a powerful appeal. Yet it is not without pathologies. It can license interventions into the lives of offenders that are intrusive and disproportionate and deny rights. A benign system can also, paradoxically, encourage greater resort to penal measures, inflating expectations and leading it to deliver services that are better provided elsewhere.
Here the way is open for a third public philosophy. This rests on the observation that the penal system in general is a perennially failing institution. The watchword here is parsimony. We are wise to treat the penal system as a control agency of last resort. Better also to limit its necessarily damaging effects by creating institutions that treat inmates with dignity and respect. Offenders are, after all, citizens, and should have their human rights protected.
One variant of this position comes with a Treasury mindset: we should spend no more of the public purse than strictly necessary on a system that routinely fails to meet its crime reduction goals. Another highlights the truism that penal institutions play an important but ultimately peripheral role in the maintenance of social order, and that secure societies are sustained by wider processes of inclusion and regulation. In either case, the task has become one of talking people down from their attachment to a prison solution to crime. And in the current climate, it is a hard sell.
Yet this is the task that confronts us. We need to think much harder about the benefits of, and how to create the conditions for, a minimum necessary penal system. More than ever, we need to reflect on how - and how many and how much - to punish, so as to stimulate debate about the expansive penal system we have so carelessly created. For the way we treat offenders communicates a great deal about the kind of society that Britain is, or aspires to be.
· Ian Loader is professor of criminology at the University of Oxford and a member of the Commission on English Prisons Today
ian.loader@crim.ox.ac.uk
Appetite for vengeance coupled with political expediency has led to an overcrowded prison system that doesn't work
Ian Loader
Friday November 23, 2007
The Guardian
On Wednesday Jack Straw delivered a speech on the future of penal policy to the Howard League for Penal Reform. It was widely expected that the secretary of state for justice would say something significant, partly in response to the lord chief justice's recent acknowledgement that sentencing policies are placing an intolerable strain on our prisons. In fact, Straw's speech was benignly neutral. In the midst of the Northern Rock crises and the Revenue & Customs discs scandal, the risk of being depicted as "soft on crime" was too great and had to be avoided. Word from the Ministry of Justice was that "the political landscape has hardened".
Once again, political expediency foreclosed much-needed public debate about penal policy. We live in a society that punishes a great deal but thinks rather less about why it does so. As a result our prisons are bursting with 81,547 inmates, an outcome that few in government planned and fewer have a tenable strategy for resolving. It is an issue the Commission on English Prisons Today, established by the Howard League, is determined to do something about.
The question of why we punish brings forth a standard menu of justifications. We do so in retribution for past wrongs, to deter future crimes, incapacitate the dangerous, rehabilitate offenders or repair broken bonds. Yet this age-old scrutiny is today disconnected from the decision-making that determines the size and operations of the penal system, and from public sensibilities towards punishment. The result is a high-minded debate about ideals that exercises little purchase over penal culture and practice, and justifications which decorate rather than guide the system.
It may be better, instead, to start with public philosophies of punishment, locating the debate in places where citizens, professionals and politicians are, rather than where one might wish them to be. The noisiest such philosophy wants a system that does harm, in response to the harm offenders have inflicted on victims, or to signal that the behaviour being punished is not to be tolerated. The overarching rationale here is public protection, the dominant emotions crime-related anger and fear, vengeance towards criminals and, lest we forget, audience pleasure at the punitive spectacle. Offenders are typified as dangerous, set in their ways, not "one of us"; their interests stand in a zero-sum relation to those of victims and wider society. This is the philosophy that has in recent years underpinned spiralling incarceration rates, the criminalisation of young people, indeterminate sentences and public distaste for parole - indeed, for any disposal deemed "soft". It may be no accident that this punishment-centred vision of a safe society captured the imagination of our rulers at precisely the moment when they lost faith in political utopias of a more socially inclusive and generous kind. Safety has become the ideology of the post-ideological age; prison its modal institution.
High among the costs of this penal utopianism is its cost. There are here no limits to the size and scope of the system, no resources to prevent 81,547 inmates becoming but a station on the track to US-style mass imprisonment. This is the jumping-off point for an alternative public philosophy - one that wants the penal system to make good.
This perspective pinpoints the fact that the population under penal supervision is disproportionately from poor family backgrounds, with little education, and typically with drug and mental health problems - in other words, "troubled" as well as "troubling". On this view, the penal system should be a site, not merely of punishment but for providing the educational, health and related services that improve the chances of an individual leading a "good and useful life" (to cite prison rule number one) on returning to society.
Sometimes this philosophy is premised on the idea that society bears some responsibility for the breakages that have resulted in offending and has an obligation to repair the damage. In today's climate, it more often claims the mantle of public protection, contending that without remedial intervention the prison doors will keep revolving. The relationship between offenders, victims and wider society can, after all, be positive sum. The former may lack the material and psychological ingredients of a law-abiding existence, but they remain amenable to programmes that can enhance their life chances or change their behaviour. There is, in short, hope.
This has a powerful appeal. Yet it is not without pathologies. It can license interventions into the lives of offenders that are intrusive and disproportionate and deny rights. A benign system can also, paradoxically, encourage greater resort to penal measures, inflating expectations and leading it to deliver services that are better provided elsewhere.
Here the way is open for a third public philosophy. This rests on the observation that the penal system in general is a perennially failing institution. The watchword here is parsimony. We are wise to treat the penal system as a control agency of last resort. Better also to limit its necessarily damaging effects by creating institutions that treat inmates with dignity and respect. Offenders are, after all, citizens, and should have their human rights protected.
One variant of this position comes with a Treasury mindset: we should spend no more of the public purse than strictly necessary on a system that routinely fails to meet its crime reduction goals. Another highlights the truism that penal institutions play an important but ultimately peripheral role in the maintenance of social order, and that secure societies are sustained by wider processes of inclusion and regulation. In either case, the task has become one of talking people down from their attachment to a prison solution to crime. And in the current climate, it is a hard sell.
Yet this is the task that confronts us. We need to think much harder about the benefits of, and how to create the conditions for, a minimum necessary penal system. More than ever, we need to reflect on how - and how many and how much - to punish, so as to stimulate debate about the expansive penal system we have so carelessly created. For the way we treat offenders communicates a great deal about the kind of society that Britain is, or aspires to be.
· Ian Loader is professor of criminology at the University of Oxford and a member of the Commission on English Prisons Today
ian.loader@crim.ox.ac.uk
Thursday, November 22, 2007
If you ever wondered why America celebrates Thanksgiving Day...
If you ever wondered why America celebrates Thanksgiving Day...
This is definitely cause for celebration.
This is definitely cause for celebration.
Why am I not surprised?
Why am I not surprised?
Concern over prison overcrowding
"Scotland's jails are more overcrowded than ever, according to the chief inspector of prisons".
Man 'attempted sex with fence' in London park
Man 'attempted sex with fence' in London park
"A drunken man broke into a central London park and attempted to have sex with a fence, a court heard.
Daniel French, 24, made "sexual motions" towards metal railings in Leicester Square Gardens after being challenged by police in the early hours of Sunday morning, Westminster Magistrates' Court was told.
"He said words to the effect of: 'I'm going to have sex with that fence'," said Philip Lemoine, prosecuting".
Recently, we have had man has sex with a goat, man has sex with a pavement, and man has sex with a bike. Is there some kind of sexual revolution going on?
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