Thursday, November 5, 2009
I Want a Life of Luxury!
How can a man be in prison but not be being punished? Welcome to the wacky world of the life sentence. My punishment ended 20 years ago. The past couple of decades of imprisonment were not meant to be punitive in any way.
Life sentence are split into two parts. The first part is the 'tariff’ - the time to be served as punishment and retribution. In my case, ten years. According to the law, my debt is paid.
Since then, 'post-tariff’, detention has been based on what it is believed I might possibly do in the future. It is preventative detention, not punitive. Please understand that I'm not offering an opinion, or throwing this open to debate -I'm stating the factual legal structure of life sentences, like it or not.
So why shouldn't I have a TV, PlayStation, and hot-n-cold running women if I so desire? Why can I not have every amenity and luxury that I could afford, as long as it didn't undermine security?
Sometimes it may be necessary to detain people after their tariff because they obviously pose a grave public danger. With proper legal safeguards, that may squeeze through the acceptability barrier. Just.
But whilst we are being detained on such a basis, shouldn't the detainee be allowed all the amenities of a free man, save those that undermine security?
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At one prison I remember prisoners were allowed to buy a cage-bird from the aviary to keep in their cells. Out of scientific interest, two inmates put their budgie in a jug and smoked him with cannabis. The experiment left him (the bird) seriously mentally impaired. Do you think women would be safe in this environment? The PlayStation sounds harmless to me.
ReplyDeleteSeems reasonable enough to me ...
ReplyDeleteI doubt he is asking for a woman in his cell! But what of conjugal visits?
ReplyDeleteSo what do you want us to send you if we have a whip-round? I am happy to organise this ...
ReplyDeleteMy mistake, I misread the title as 'I want a wife of luxury'. I imagined Polish escort girls working the landings for the national minimum wage.
ReplyDeleteIs it so wrong to ask to be treated like a human being if you have served your time but not yet deemed to be safe to walk the streets??
ReplyDeleteSome people who are free to walk the streets are mose dangerous than those who are behind bars! And they have the right to be treated as human!!! What a joke our "so politically correct society" is!!