The other day I was caught evading a single fare from Grove park to Bromley North. The fare would probably cost 2 pounds, but that isn't the point. Should have paid it. Because I am on probation./licence so to speak, if Southeastern take me to court, I am going to jail. Now I have done two years of probation, with only a year to go. It is probable I would get a year in prison if they decide to prosecute. The past two years, I have complied fully with my order and have made good progress. A year in jail would destroy all the good work and I would lose my home and when I came out I would have only the clothes on my back, a few quid and a pain that will never go away. Because I am on probation/licence so to speak, suddenly the peanut of a crime, (Fare evasion) will be put dramatically out of proportion by the Judge and the prosecution would simply spin off of that and he would simply sling me back in the slammer. If they issue a thousand pound fine, I would not be able to afford it as am on jobseekers allowance, have no savings and unemployed. So as default and also because of I am on probation and broken the law, I would simply get put behind bars for what is affectively a year in prison. Six months in prison was enough. If i have to go through that again, I would rather kill myself than experience such a brutal institution again. I accept what I did was wrong, but feel the consequences are out of proportion to what I actually did wrong. In other words, anyone else who wasn't on probation would simply get off with a ridiculous fine or maybe a conviction which would mean, a criminal record but he or she would simply walk out of court. Obviously probation need to know. Guess I blew it this time. I mean we are not all perfect. I had no money to get to programme centre in bromley, so it was either walk ten miles, or not go, not be able to ring up, lose my benefits, or risk taking the train. Either way, I would have been worse off, but going on a train, there was a chance I wouldn't be caught. But I admit I pushed fate, perhaps too far. Underestimated the system and now have become the inevitable own worst enemy of the state of J0hn:bigcry: Damn damn damn!
Shit mate this is a nasty situation to be in!! I would suggest first thing monday find your local citizens advice place and speak to them, as your on the dole you will still be exfected to pay a fine BUT it will be taken out of your money every time e.g if you get £65.00 they will take £2.00. I would also suggest you go to your local charity shop or somewhere where they need volunteers and help them, ask them for a few hours a week - then it shows you still want to do good. If the worst comes to the worst and you end up inside it might not be such a bad thing, yes you will loose your home and things BUT you will be able to start again from fresh and learn things inside like a new skill. Im not saying it will be fun inside but use the people in their to your advantage x
I thought our prisons were like holiday centres. You get lots of privileges in there, but it's hardly a punishment.
Nothing good can be learned in prison. The screws torture and brutalise their inmates on a psychological level. The workshop is of no use. I mean putting a few folders together or screwing bolts onto straps for no more than a few pounds a session. Even education reeks of a dead rat. Meaning the teacher just throws out work sheets of ridiculous simplicity and then she or he buries their head behind a newspaper for two hours. What can be learned in prison is how to take drugs, how to pulverise somebody and how to use sugar and boiling water to affectively disfigure someones face and how to perfect the art of suicide. That aside, once your on the street, it is nearly, nay probably hard to get into council housing. Especially if you don't happen to be from that bourough. This would be because prisoners are transported from one jail to another. This stops them getting the upper hand in one prison and once again the machine wins. I could go into charity shops and maybe do a few hours. Infact I might do that today. It is probable that just maybe, someone in court might have common sense, but in a mad world of today. In court, many sane people lose their sense to hyperbole and suppositions. I have told a good friend of mine the situation. They sounded as grim as death. I hope they have not been overcome with too much saddness. Anyway, Thanks for your advice. If I am sent down, I will be strong. If I squeal or cry, it would mean that the machine has destroyed me completely. I await my fate. Guess you could watch this space for developments of this awful awful situation I have landed myself in. If only, If only. I mean What if? I am now a man haunted by those two most terrible words---What, If?
That is a complete myth. Yes, they have televisions. But you soon get tired of listening to Trisha or one your cellmates tuning into The Bill. Plus daytime Analogue tv sucks after a while. No freeview. Allthough in some prisons, freeview is the norm. But still. Prison life aint no luxury. Prison officers are there simply to lock you up, stick shit down your gullet three times a day and hate you. Society thinks prison works. It comes as no surprise then that many criminals have done porridge before.
The one thing that you do learn whilst you are in prison is, how great life really is on the other side of the Iron curtain. You appreciate that even though on the surface of modern society, we are an unfriendly bunch(Some of us) but even those who don't show friendliness, are perhaps the most hospitable of people you will ever come across. A friendly person in prison is often treated by other prisoners as an Angel. Simply because we all crave love, respect and someone true to their word. Trust is difficult in prison. But once in a while, an unexpected Angel ventures in from the top spur, carrying bedding and basic prison supplies under his right arm. The prison officers jeer him and taunt him and treat him like he is the most evil of persons. The prisoners actions contradict everything thought about him.
I'm sorry, but to me prison should be a punishment. There shouldn't be any sort of privileges....even televisions. It should be there to deter people from offending or reoffending.
I am aware prison should be a punishment. Well it should not just be about that. It should be about rehabilitation. Most people would say, "Fuck prisoners human rights. They broke a law so now we who are in authority over them can do what we like". I believe the saying: Two wrongs don't make a right. Or in Jesus's time, "He who casts the first stone".
I agree it should be about rehabilitation also. However, taxpayers already pay enough towards keeping convicts in confinement. Let alone providing the money in order to give convicts free qualifications.
I mean, I am going to have to pay £3000 a year when I eventually get around to doing my degree. Why should I have to pay, if people can go and commit a crime and get the education and qualifications for free? I read something ridiculous last year about a prison spending something like £25,000 of taxpayer's money providing every inmate with a Cadbury's Cream Egg.
I never said it didn't. There's no doubt that taxpayer's money is wasted on lots of things, however, considering we were on the subject of prisons, this is what I was talking about.
It appears that people who go about things in the right way, are the ones that end up going through life unrewarded.
I disagree, prisons either need to attempt to reform the individual, or else keep them locked away forever. As I see it, there are two reasons why you might want to use prisons. 1) As a means to keep the most dangerous people away from society - in which case they should probably never be let out. 2) As a means of reforming the individual and rehabilitating them into society. If, as in the majority of cases, you're going to punish someone, you must offer them a carrot as well as a stick. If prisons did not allow people to gain skills and a minimum education, the restrictions they faced outside the walls again might make it much more likely they would re-offend. And prison education isn't worth anything compared to a university degree anyway....
in which case... you're just giving people an incentive to go to prison, when it should be used as a deterrent.
It's not an incentive. The fact that prison continues to restrict individual freedom acts as the greatest deterrent. And the crimes with the fewest privileges attached and the greatest punishments are the most serious, most dangerous crimes. What about the cases where kids might get mixed up in the wrong crowd, be led to the wrong place at the wrong time. No hope, no future. Yes the prison would stand to punish them for a crime commited, but it would also attempt to elevate them out of that situation so that when they return to society they might not be returning to their old gangs etc, they might have a foot on the ladder with skills that could raise them out of a life of crime. I'm not saying prison should be an easy ride, or luxurious by any means. But a certain educational/work ethic should be introduced there. And if you remember all the degenerate reprobates from your school - wouldn't that be the worst of all punishments?!
OK, so explain why petty crime goes up around Christmas time then? I will...so that people can get off the streets and out of the cold, eat some free meals and return to civilisation when the weather gets better. Which leads me to believe that prison is as good as being at bloody Butlins or even, in some prisons, Centre Parcs!
