State Induced Suicides And Self-harm,

         Anyone with a grain of humanity knows that prisons are a barbaric relic from a brutal past and have no place in a civilised society. In our not so distant past children at school could receive physical punishment for any misdemeanour, it was eventually recognised that harsh punishment doesn’t have the desired effect and was in fact damaging to the child. Prisons are much the same, as a punishment it doesn’t work, as a reforming process is doesn’t work, most of those individuals who enter the prison system do so again and again. However, the state will hold on to the prison system as a tool of repression, something to hold up as a warning to its citizens that it still has the power to remove you from society should you cease to be subservient.
       One measure of the barbarity of the prison system can be seen in the number of suicides. Over the last five years, 2011/2016, suicides have steadily risen, from 58 to 107, (England & Wales). Any system that sees an almost 100% increase in suicides has to be seen as inhumane and fatally flawed. Another barometer of the barbarity of the whole prison system is the amount of self harm among prisoners, this has seen a 50% rise in the last four years. Our prisons are dark places of injustice and despair, where the human individual is crushed.
        This quote from a BBC article highlights the anguish and desperation that fills the lives of those trapped within our prison system, none of which is of any benefit to the individual or the quality of our society.

       Danny Weatherson was 19 years old when he was given a 13-month IPP for robbery. More than nine years later, he is still in prison. In February, a parole board said his re-offending risk had reduced sufficiently to be moved to an open prison.
      But he cut his own throat last month and the move has been postponed. He is currently recovering in the prison's hospital wing.
       His solicitor, Shirley Noble, says self-harming has become his way of coping with not having a release date. But she is worried it could also hurt his chances of ever being let out.

Read the full article HERE: 

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WOMEN IN PRISON.

     Most people who know anything about prison agree that, in the vast majority of cases, they do not solve the problems they are intended to. A very high percentage of prisoners have mental health problems, addiction problems and other forms of problems that prison does not address. A very high percentage are non violent and no threat to the public, but still we lock them up.

     In the case of women prisoners the case for locking them is even thinner, yet the female prison population in England and Wales has increased 114% over the last 15 years, and now stands at over 4,000. 80% of women prisoners have serious drug problems, and of prisoners that self harm, 43% are women, though they only make up 5% of the prison population. Approximately one third are there for shop lifting or handling stolen goods, and a half are thrown into prison on remand.

     Another feature of the women in prison means that each year 17,000 children are separated from their mother because of prison. Of these children only 5% remain in the family home and 9% are looked after by the father. The children lose their routine, their school friends and because of the few women's prison, their mothers are usually miles away creating problems trying to keep contact with the family. In Styal Prison some of the prisoners were actually born there, becoming part of a never ending cycle. Two children a week are born in prison.

     Looking at the cost of keeping a woman in prison, stated to be £56,415, and being aware of the non violent nature of the offences, the devastating effect on family life and the women themselves, plus the fact that it is help that most need and not punishment, it is obvious that the money would be better spent setting centres to deal with their problems rather than locking them up and perpetuating the cycle of chaotic lives.

     Of course that would require a civilised society where all vulnerable people would receive assistance when required.

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