Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Cuts

Ten days into the month and the nick is out of toilet roll, bin liners and the amorphous "green liquid" disinfectant.

Probably of greater structural significance - except to those with upset stomachs - is the fact that some 28 staff from here are being slung out on their ear. This is to be a mix of screws and civilians. The details are quite murky as staff are keeping all this as secret as possible, lest we mock their inability to get a job outside.

Of course, those modern deities - psychologists - are seemingly immune from this cull. Fifteen years of peddling 'offending behaviour courses' at a cost of hundreds of millions, with scant evidence of any benefit, seems to come without any consequence. Ho hum.

There will be severe ramifications for the whole system if these staff cuts are reflected across the prison estate. Fewer staff means a reduced regime - increased bang up, less association, disrupted work and education. All of the allegedly positive gains made in prison regimes over the past 20 years could be about to go up in smoke. It's even possible that a few prisons will as well...

5 comments:

  1. There are many demonstrations today ( 20th October) around the country against the Condem cuts, including one in London, 6pm houses of parliament. We don't have to take this sh*t

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  2. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/breakthrough-in-britains-war-on-drugs-and-crime-2096792.html?emv_mid=8024022&emv_rid=17063634033



    Ed can you get a copy of this to Ben? I'm not saying it's a magic bullet but just that some of the offending behaviour courses are starting to show results...

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  3. anon, alas, drug treatment is in no way an "offending behaviour course". This study may be good news but is unconnected with the psychological treatments forced upon prisoners.

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  4. @ Sophie J

    I thought you ZanuLabourites made protesting illegal?

    The last government made the public sector so large, it was hoping to bribe its way into government for ever; the so called 'client-state'. It was a close run thing, because if the state leviathan reaches critical mass, that will be the end of our democracy, since the state will be big enough to vote itself in power in perpetuam.

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  5. In terms of cost, the items missing are fairly cheap (in terms of a prison size budget) as well as being completely essential. In addition to the fact that not one penny has been cut from any budget (won't happen till the budget in the new year) this seems to be someone trying to blame their own incompetence on a higher authority.

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