I've been in prison and in Young Offenders before that. Despite what people think it is not a holiday camp and it is tough being there missing your normal life and friends and family. It's not easy but overall there is less violence and fights than people think. Think of having maybe 1000 youngish lads in the same place with not much to do and what would happen. The only reason why there isn't more riots is that the prison officers have to deal with prisoners in a humane way and give privileges to keep control of things. There are different regimes and the fact that you want to keep your privileges keeps things in control mostly. There are many more prisoners than officers so things could kick off any time. The fact that these new drugs are getting in and that it is Christmas and most lads are going to be away from their families doesn't help.
I saw enough fights but never any riots or anything like that. But if something kicked off and everybody was getting involved I don't know if I wouldn't have too.
Originally Posted by anais32:
“Actually most would love this. (Prisoners aren't paid minimum wage anyway, they are paid around £5 per week if you are fully employed in the prison). That's £5 extra they get to spend on things like phonecards, coffee, ciggies and the £1 per week it costs to 'rent' a TV.
Some trusted prisoners are given better jobs and paid more. (And by more I mean about £2 extra per week) but it's not the money they want jobs for. A prison job will mean more time out of cell. A full time prison job can mean you are out of your cell 9 am - 12 pm and 2 pm to 4.30 pm. But they are pretty much a rarity and reserved for trusted lifers (if the are in the prison) or other long-termers. The cherished ones are things like library orderly, education orderly. But these positions require a certain level of intelligence and, frankly, most prisoners are not really up to it. They are also highly trusted positions (library and education staff are not prison officers so there has to be no issues around safety - they need to be able to be left alone with non officer staff and trusted).
The problem is, there simply are not enough jobs to go around. There's a huge waiting list for most prison jobs and by the time a prisoner finds himself at the top of it, he's (it's usually 'he') is often shipped out to another prison and has to start the application process all over again. There are also some stupid rules. You have to have entry level 2 in literacy to get any prison job (even working in the laundry). Given the poor reading skills of most prisoners, this is a pointless rule. It's designed to encourage people to learn to read but guess what? They don't have the literacy skills to even get into a classroom.
Result - probably 60% are banged up in their cell doing FA for 23 hours a day. That's what our taxpayers money is going on. 30% probably have a part-time job which allows them out of their cell for a morning or afternoon session. I'd say only around 10% are properly employed full time within the prison.”
That's exactly right. In Young Offenders I had to do courses and that kept me busy. In prison you can do courses as well. But as you said it is very hard to get work. The long timers get all the best jobs like being in the kitchen, gardening. You might get a job likebeing a wing cleaner - I did - and it was good to get time out of the cell but it was a shitty job. I still preferred being out of my cell as much as possible. I got paid a bit extra - not much but it gives you something to do. You end up working for maybe 30p an hour or something like that.
Originally Posted by speigel:
“put them on bread and water, turn off the heating, ban all tv/radios etc. thorough search and remove all weapons and drugs. And NO smoking!”
Yeah that will really do good. If we didn't have TV and radios and were still in a cell for 23 hours (like at the weekend) there would be much more trouble. Any officer would tell you that TVs are thebest helpthey have in doing their job.
And 90% of prisoners smoke. If tey banned that there really would be riots. I gave up smoking for a while but when I got back to prison I started again. It's one thing that helps with the boredom.
Originally Posted by Resonance:
“They are. When you first go in you don't get them. You're on a basic regime. If you behave you receive some privileges, do something wrong and they are removed. The whole point of giving prisoners TV's etc is to get them to behave. Carrot and stick.”
Yeah that's exactly how it works. You go in on standard regime and then you can get improved to enhanced and super enhanced with more privileges. You can get busted down to basic - lose TV and some visits - nobody wants that to happen to them.
Originally Posted by Galaxy266:
“They should house them in tents inside a 15ft perimeter fence, patrolled by armed guards.
When they are sitting in the tents freezing cold due to the lack of heating then perhaps they'll think twice before smashing up a prison ever again.”
They tried that somewhere in America but that Sherriff got thrown out of office and now they are having to close it down. That's the one with chain gangs and pink underwear as well. Crazy guy!
Originally Posted by andydylan:
“Whats your point ? Back then it was an "us and them" thing. Prisoners loathed officers. In the 60s-70s officers were known to give a disruptive prisoner a kicking, no denying that at all.No prison riots either. I am not saying that todays prison officers should hand out a kicking but the prisoners have it way to easy. They have zero respect for the prison officers.”
Some officers are sound enough - fair and some are pretty strict but want to help you. There are lazy b*****ds and some on a power trip. There are all different sorts.
Originally Posted by Jenny_Sawyer:
“Prison officers are over-worked & under-paid - needs addressing. All the prisoners involved in this riot should have 5 years added to their sentences - possibly with 'hard labour' if that can be organised. Prison visits should be stopped - no seeing family/friends (how else can all these drugs & other contraband be getting in to prisons....?)”
Prison visits are real inportant. You have no idea how much it means to get a visit and get out of your mind where you are for that hour. People get worse when they don't get visits. For me having my family stay in touch with me meant alot and they also helped me get back to normal when I got out of prison. Pushing families away doesn't make any sense if you want to keep people from going back to prison
.”
). " The majority of prisoners on remand have not been convicted of a criminal offence and are awaiting trial following a not guilty plea" 
