Most large cities have at least one, they sit there with little or no activity going on around them, most people pass them without giving them much thought, but these silent buildings belie there reality. They are of course prisons, large hell-holes of anguish, oppression, distress, and brutality. Symbols of state oppression, part and parcel of its control system. Among a considerable amount of the public, there is the glib thought that they are places where the “bad people” are sent. However, the truth is far removed from that glib thought.
Since 1900 the prison population in England and Wales has grown by 400%, in Scotland approximately 200%, it is a growing business. The prison population figures for August 2017, for England and Wales is 86,353, Scotland 7,700, and Northern Ireland 1,600, all up on last years figures. The UK takes pride of place in the EU as the country with the highest percentage per 100,000 of its population in prison. England and Wales 148 per 100,000 of the population are in prison, compared with France 98.3 per 100,000, Italy 86.4 per 100,000, and Germany with 77.4 per 100,000. Most UK prisons are overcrowded and thus create inhumane and unbearable conditions, adding to the already existing injustice.
As for these being the “bad people” of society, of the UK prison population, 10% of men and 30% of women have had a previous psychiatric admission before ending up in prison. Of those in prison 25% of women and 16% of men have symptoms indicative of a psychosis, among the general public the figure is 4%. Of the UK prison population, 62% male and 57% female, have a personality disorder, 49% of women and 23% of male prisoners in a Ministry of Justice study were assessed as suffering from anxiety and depression, 46% of females and 21% of males in UK prisons have attempted suicide. Another factor that contributes to the prison population is the fact that many of those who foolishly put on a state military uniform to fight for the corporate empire, end up damaged and unable to adjust to civilian life, so find themselves part of the prison population, approximately 8,500, 10% of the UK prison population are ex military.
So what we have are large buildings, dotted around the country, kitted out with cages, where we dump those with mental health problems. The other section of the prison population is those who dissent, deviate, from the prescribed path laid down by our lords and masters, those who see the injustice of the system and rebel against that injustice, inequality and exploitation.
Prisons are not for the “bad people” they are there to protect a system of privilege for the few, to maintain the power and wealth in the hands of those who control our lives. We can never live in a democracy as long as one prison still stands.
So what we have are large buildings, dotted around the country, kitted out with cages, where we dump those with mental health problems. The other section of the prison population is those who dissent, deviate, from the prescribed path laid down by our lords and masters, those who see the injustice of the system and rebel against that injustice, inequality and exploitation.
Prisons are not for the “bad people” they are there to protect a system of privilege for the few, to maintain the power and wealth in the hands of those who control our lives. We can never live in a democracy as long as one prison still stands.
