Doing Porridge
Norman Stanley Fletcher, you have pleaded guilty to the charges brought by this court, and it is now my duty to pass sentence. You are a habitual criminal, who accepts arrest as an occupational hazard, and presumably accepts imprisonment in the same casual manner. We therefore feel constrained to commit you to the maximum term allowed for these offences. You will go to prison for five years.BBC Sitcom Porridge
A report on Pentonville prison mentioned on the BBC site noted yesterday that HMP Pentonville is infested with rats, cockroaches, has inmates who feel bullied and victimised by the staff and that the prison is unfit for purpose.
You’d probably describe it as a fairly damning report.
Now, I tend to think of myself as being liberal and left-wing, but…
Sorry, that was just the teaser to make you think that my next line should be “but we should string ‘em all up” or “bring back the birch, it’s the only language they understand”, or maybe as I was memorably told by a Londoner, “the problem today is that there’s no moral backbone. They should bring back subscriptions for 18 year olds”. Certainly, I’ll have one every month…
However, I’m certainly not in favour of criminals living in “the lap of luxury”. And plenty of them do — they run big companies that flout environmental legislation, and they, personally, get away with it. For these people I’d make an exception to my normal rule and suggest that we should consider adding “lynching” to the statute books..
But as to the people actually in prison, it’s my belief that by committing a crime against society they have forfeited some of their rights, such as liberty, and we are under no obligation to provide them with access to things such as books, magazines, the TV etc. They have been sent to prison as a punishment, don’t forget. Now I’m not saying I’d automatically take these away, but I would expect these to be dependent on good behaviour and doing some useful work to reduce the cost of them staying at Her Majesty’s pleasure. Incidentally, why does it please the Queen that these people are locked up? I doubt she knows many of them personally…
However, just because they’ve been correctly deprived of their liberty does not mean that they are deprived of the right to be fed; to be free from fear and the right to live in clean and secure accomodation. In fact, I’d suggest the security of the accomodation is quite a key feature! It’s also beginning to look like they ought to have the right not to be housed at HMP Pentonville.
It’s simply an appalling state of affairs that a prison can be in such poor condition that it is described as being unfit for purpose. Possibly we need more prisons. Possibly we need newer prisons. Possibly we need to get rid of bullying prison officers. Possibly we could do with a fair and equitable society where we’re not disastrously plundering the environment, everyone’s nice to each other and nobody commits any crimes. Probably I could do with a pint…
Hello. I am 
