IPP.By Judge Dennis Challeen TO Michael GoveJustice Secretary !

A message to the new Justice Secretary Michael Gove

We want them to have self worth, so we destroy their self worth
To be responsible, so we take away all responsibility
To be part of our community, so we isolate them from the community
To be positive and constructive, so we degrade them and make them useless
To be non violent, so we put them where there is violence all around
To be kind and loving people, so we subject them to hatred and cruelty
To quit being tough guys, so we put them where the tough guy is respected
To quit hanging around losers, so we put all the losers under one roof
To quit exploiting us, so we put them where they exploit each other
We want them to take control of their own lives own their own problems
and quit being parasites, so we make them totally dependent on us
Author By Judge Dennis Challeen -

Queens Speech: Biggest prison shake-up in England and Wales “since Victorian times”

Six new ‘reform’ prisons are to house 5,000 prisoners by end of the year. The designated reform prisons are: HMP Wandsworth, HMP Holme House, HMP Kirklevington Grange, HMP Coldingley, HMP High Down and HMP Ranby.

 

These prisons will give unprecedented freedoms to prison governors, including financial and legal freedoms, such as how the prison budget is spent and whether to opt-out of national contracts; and operational freedoms over education, the prison regime, family visits, and partnerships to provide prison work and rehabilitation services.

 

A new regime of transparency will hold governors to account, with comparable statistics to be published for each prison on reoffending, employment rates on release, and violence and self-harm.

The government will use legislation to extend these freedoms much further – enabling prisons to be established as independent legal entities with the power to enter into contracts; generate and retain income; and establish their own boards with external expertise. The proposed changes amount to the biggest structural reform of the prisons system for more than a century.

 

“Nowhere is reform needed more than in our prisons,” said Prime Minister David Cameron. “For too long, we have left our prisons to fester. Not only does that reinforce the cycle of crime, increasing the bills of social failure that taxpayers must pick up. It writes off thousands of people. So today, we start the long-overdue, long-needed change that our prisons need. No longer will they be warehouses for criminals; they will now be places where lives are changed.

 

 These new freedoms sit alongside the government’s commitment to replace decrepit, ageing prisons with modern establishments suitable for the needs of prisoners today – to be built with £1.3bn of investment announced at the Spending Review. More autonomous reform prisons will follow later this Parliament. And the 9 new-build prisons announced at the Spending Review will be established with similar freedoms.”

 

Responding to the Queens Speech, Justice Secretary Michael Gove said: “Prisons must do more to rehabilitate offenders. We will put governors in charge, giving them the autonomy they need to run prisons in the way they think best. By trusting governors to get on with the job, we can make sure prisons are places of education, work and purposeful activity. These reforms will reduce re-offending, cut crime and improve public safety.”

 

Penal reformers welcomed the proposed reforms but with caution. Frances Crook, Chief Executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: “It is hugely encouraging to see that prison reform is at the front and centre of today’s Queen’s Speech. There is no public service in such disarray as the prisons, and the rising number of assaults, deaths by suicide, and incidents of self-injury show that the need for change is urgent.

 

“Ultimately, the success of these reforms will depend on whether the government introduces positive measures to tackle overcrowding by driving down prison numbers.”

Juliet Lyon, Director of the Prison Reform Trust, said: “It’s good that prison reform is at the top of the government’s agenda – for far too long prisons have been our most neglected, least visible public service. The most pressing priority is to restore prison safety and stem the catastrophic rise in suicides, violence and disorder.

 

More freedom for governors, long overdue access to modern IT, sensible plans for release on temporary license and constructive use of tagging to curtail liberty should all be part of a modern justice system.

But reform will run into the sand unless government is prepared to tackle prison numbers and introduce major sentencing reform as part of its groundbreaking Prisons Bill.”

 

http://insidetime.org/a-message-to-the-new-justice-secretary-michael-gove/