May elections ( & pirson can vote!

[Forth Bridges]

Yes Scottish election and half the council elections are here soon

are you having one this year anyone?

in Scotland's Prison are taking the goverment to court to be able to vote, ( Uk is one of the last county to still not allow prison to vote)

if there don;t there might get compersanion to a tune a £1000!

[smurfboy]

Surely the point of prison is that you lose your freedom? That should stretch to the vote.

[Forth Bridges]

the Un came up with that Stupid one in 1976!

were last to get round to it!

[oldspice]

Prisoners should not be allowed to vote. Half the buggers wouldn't bother anyway so why waste money on the admin it would involve?

[Forth Bridges]

tell that to the 3 gits that complaining:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/6294973.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4316148.stm

if there were smart enough there could all vote for a crime + canadate¬

[Velvet Darkness]

It seems that some people have forgotten that you're supposed to go to jail to be punished for your crimes against the other members of society and the crown. You are supposed to lose your freedom, your privileges and your right to vote when you break the law and are sent to prison.

I know that it is not a pleasant place, but it isn't supposed to be is it? The thought of it is supposed to put criminals off the idea of commiting crimes isn't it? I suppose I am old fashioned but jail just doesn't seem to mean what it used to. I have heard of prison cells with TV's and menu's for mealtimes and conjugal visits and all kinds of other things that somehow don't seem quite in keeping.

And on the news tonight judges are being advised to only give custodial sentences to the worst offenders, as the crowding in the prisons is so severe already!!!!

Why don't we just hand them all sets of keys to our houses and a list of times we'll be out? I find all this so dis-heartening, it's almost as if in the not too distant future they'll be locking up all the law abiding citizens to keep them safe from the criminals!!

Perhaps a better idea would be........ Has anyone else seen the movie Escape From New York, where the whole of New York City has been converted into an enormous prison with a huge wall and massive gates with guards and the criminals are all just left to get on with it?

[Forth Bridges]

I visit Kilmarnock then its a private prison there have Plays station on suit bathrooms £ hot meals aday Sky tv !

[oldspice]

I visit a local prison that is privately run (to carry out teaching assessments on the teaching staff) and I can assure you it's no picnic.

Prisoners are locked up for a long period of the day and have access to TV on a very limited scale. No Playstations are allowed. Mnay of the prisoners have to attend education classes as part of their rehabilitation plan and a lot of trouble is taken over providing them with courses and counselling to try to ensure they do no re-offend.

Only a few prisoners have luxuries such as TV in their rooms. This is limited to those serving very long terms and even then they can't watch it all day.

I agree that prison should be harsh but mainly directed towards addressing offending behaviour rather than punishing offenders to the extreme. After all, we want them to integrate back into society and if that society is too hostile they will carry on offending.

[Velvet Darkness]

I thought prison was supposed to be so bad that it acts as a deterrent towards further bad behaviour, and although educating the detainees is obviously an excellent idea as it gives them the choice of another road to take when they are released, I find it offensive that the criminals are given all these opportunities and  counselling?? when those they have offended against are given nothing but a crime number and a load of excuses!

Only a few prisoners have luxuries such as TV in their rooms. This is limited to those serving very long terms and even then they can't watch it all day.

I may be wrong but I thought that the people in prison for the longest time were the ones who had either done the worst crimes or had habitually broken the law? So we are rewarding these people by giving them TV's in their rooms? Am I the only person who sees something wrong here?

I am very fortunate to have never been the victim of this kind of serious crime but I know people who have, some of them frail old people who have virtually nothing to begin with. They have been made prisoners by fear and the criminals are the ones receiving counselling?

This situation is just wrong.

[kevvosa]

From what I understand, the counselling thing is to find out what makes them tick and find out why they commit crimes. A lot of them come from bad backgrounds (victims of child abuse, for example) which make them violent and angry. I read once that victims of a paodophile became criminals themselves - it's a vicious cycle.

I'm not defending them or their actions but saying that this is probably the reason they receive counselling. On the surface to most of us it would seem ridiculous that criminals receive counselling (just as school bullies often receive counselling) but it's done for a reason - to try and stop them repeating their crimes, nip it in the bud so to speak.

[smurfboy]

Exactly - if we don't try and find out why people commit these crimes, what hope do we have of stopping them in the future?

[oldspice]

Evidence shows that counselling is the ONLY way to effectively deal with bullies. You can smack them up to teach them a lesson but they will just move on to anotjher victim. You have to address the bullying behaviour to end it.

[Velvet Darkness]

And while the government spends a fortune counselling the bullies the victims are treated with indifference and worse.

Also victims of child abuse and paedophilia use that as an excuse for all kinds of obscene behaviour, it is disgusting!

I am sick of listening to them whining about how the fact that they were abused as a child made them behave that way towards their own children or, even worse, other peoples children.

It is rubbish, they are simply looking for an excuse for their behaviour that makes others believe that they are not responsible for their actions.

Child abusers are entirely to blame for their actions, they know what they are doing and the fact that they were abused themselves as a child is no excuse. It should make them even more determined NOT to behave that way as they know what it feels like.

[oldspice]

Erm - I was talking about school bullies. A fortune isn't spent counselling them - resources that are already there are used. In addition, victims getting counselling too which often involves help with assertiveness so they are less likely to become victims in the future.

[kevvosa]

And while the government spends a fortune counselling the bullies the victims are treated with indifference and worse.

Who says they spend a fortune counselling them? Counselling is, like I said, to understand why they commit crimes and to try and stop it happening again. How can that be a bad thing? Obviously it's more important for the victims to get counselling, and from what I know many victims of crime do get counselling (there's a lot of organisations apart from the NHS who offer free counselling).