[sarahtheangel]

ok different aproach would you say britians prisons are not tough enough , im jst going on documentrys i have seen on different prison around the world .

[spitfire]

Far far to easy.

[sexy_leigh]

no thier not, it's like if you do a crime you just get a slap on the wrist and thats it, the prison officers need to be tougher, the crime sentences need to be longer and i garuntee you their will be less crime

[Ann]

no there not tough enough with the bad crime weve got in this country i would say they need to toughen up a bit they are very soft with prisoners

[cepb]

They need to bring back corporal punishment in prisons. That would make them think twice abuot commiting a crime again.

[Ann]

and your not blooming wrong either

[Ruth]

I'm going to go against the grain here. I do believe that we have a responsibility to treat prisoners humanely - the loss of liberty itself is the punishment. Prison sentences should definitely be longer in some cases though. There's little point in sentencing someone to life, when we know at the time of sentencing that the chances of them serving life is incredibly low. Time should not be taken off a sentence for good behaviour - good behaviour should be what is expected of prisoners. However, time should be added on for bad behaviour. If they behave themselves in prison, they should serve the sentence they were given in court.

[bananarama]

Prisoners should expect their treatment to be on the same level of respect that they gave their victims. This softly sofly human rights for criminals is why we have so many sadistic violent crimes. Human rights is a two way street. Violent criminals disregard human rights when they turn on their victims and persue them without mercey.....Stop feeling sorry for the criminal. They won't thank you for it.......

Prisoners should serve their full sentence. None of this half term good behavour nonesense. Cold blooded killers should get life imprisonment that means life. The victims cannot go before a parol board and say I have been dead for 20 years now so can I have my life back. Why should the murderer have such a right.

Prisoners should be made to earn there right to watch any TV or listen to any radio....

Those prisoners assesed to have sufficient intelligence should be made to accept educational courses and pass exams before parol or early release is even considered.......

During my time in the civil service I once had to collect seat covers that had been sent to a local prison for laundering. They had sabotaged the fasteners of nearly all covers so as not to get the work given to them again.....The security at the jail was pathetic. No proper checks as to who I was I could have easily smuggled out a prisoner as they were wondering about freely between workshops and out of sight of wardens on the prison gate. No CCTV either.

[spitfire]

Prisons are far to soft.In prison i can go to the gym daily for free,i can play numerous games all day long ie pool,bar football etc,i can phone home daily,i can have a games console,tv,dvd player etc in my room,i can get three healthy meals a day,cups of tea/coffee on demand,with a bit of blagging i can get daily visits,i can get drugs easier than most people on the outside,i can see a dr/dentist quicker than most people on the outside and for free!Prison is a job hazard for most,not a deterrant.

[spacebandit]

Prison should be seen as a punishment and a place of severe detention.

First we need to overhaul the police and criminal justice system and make it the best served and fairest that is possible

We should have two tier prison system, a softer version based on what we have now, though without the perks and allowances and luxuries, for first offenders of lower grade crimes and those on remand and those awaiting appeal

Then the real prison system once convicted

No perks, no tv's, no smokes, no games, locked in single prisoner cells with their thoughts for company, except for meals, showers and a one hour exercise period daily.

We cannot deny them medical treatment - that is a given - but everything else is checked at the door, and they serve the complete sentence, none of this time off for good behaviour rubbish

Prison should be seen as something they do not want to risk going back to.

We should also introduce the "felony" system they have in the United States, a third felony conviction is an automatic life sentence.

Blleding hearts can bleed as far as I am concerned.

[gracie24]

Prison's aren't meant to be tough.
Many Prison Officers/Wardens don't see prison as the actual punishment. This is why they allow TV's, pool tables, etc.
They see the punishment as time being taken away from the prisons. They have a very strict routine, they are told when to wake up, when to eat, when to go to the toilet, when to sleep.

It's the justice system and the judges who decide the sentence who are too soft.

Life in prison should mean life, not 25 years.

[Ann]

Exactly my thoughts too Gracie24

[stacey]

I agree Gracie when people say they have life in prison it doesnt mean they should get let out in 10 years if they behave

[Sunny_01]

I am giving this reponse from a perspective of someone who worked in a prison for a few years.

Prison officers are certainly not too soft, they are bound by restrictions laid down by the Home office, they are only the ones that enforce the rules, they have no part in making them. I hate to think of prison officers being held responsible for the state of today's prison system. They work long, punishing hours in often violent situations for not a huge reward. Many prison officers are injured at work following acts of violence by inmates because of the lax home office rules. Tell an officer at a prison in the middle of a major incident that they are to soft with a prisoner that they are moving using CNR techniques which I can assure you cause real pain for the prisoner if they decide to try and fight you.

Prisoners - well like Ruth said their punishment is a restriction of their liberty, rightly or wrongly that's the way it is. They can not be denied basic human rights. As for playing pool all day, gym all day, freely wandering thats laughable. Many prisons are so full that prisoners get their basic right of 1 hour a day exercise out of their cell and the rest of the time they are locked up, so they spend 23 hours a day in a very small cell that they share. Only open prisons have a culture of more freedom which is where prisoners are on the verge of release.

I think that if anyone should be taken to task it is the home office who decide and lay down the rules and guidelines for prisoners, they are the ones who dictate that they have more rights than the victims not the prison workers.