Redesigning the Prison Regime - A Female Perspective

ulyssescohen

How should prisoners spend their time? There are obviously differ views on this, but what should be the balance of activities that optimizes the need for punishment, deterrence, and rehabilitation.

What proportion of the day should be devoted to activities designed to rehabilitate? What types of activities should be involved?

What proportion of the day should be devoted to punishment? What activities?

The_Thing

Depends on the crime.

I think scumbags like those who abducted and murdered the romanian girl and dumped her body in the Wicklow mountains should be put to death.

ulyssescohen

ulyssescohen wrote: »

How should prisoners spend their time? There are obviously differ views on this, but what should be the balance of activities that optimizes the need for punishment, deterrence, and rehabilitation.

What proportion of the day should be devoted to activities designed to rehabilitate? What types of activities should be involved?

What proportion of the day should be devoted to punishment? What activities?

What do you think?

GalwayGuy2

So I can't give my view:(

ulyssescohen

Of course you can - but from a female perspective;)

meeeeh

I know way too little about the subject to have an opinion. And so do most of other people and I have a hunch we wound have a lot less problems in prisons if we would let people that actually know something about the issue deal with it.

Arawn

They have their own kettles, gym,tvs and playstations. How about making it a prison and not a holiday camp?

GalwayGuy2

Well, I'd rather not discriminate between women and men in the prison system, but I'd just give a bit of a spiel.

I can't really think of anything women or men should have in place of the other, besides tampons or different vaccines or medication. If either sex has a child they should both have the same rights and time.

Personally, I think we treat prisoners like animals and then act all surprised when they come out and don't act like members of society. There should be an environment of giving a damn about your surroundings, yourself and other people around you. Rehabilitation rather than revenge.

Also, this is more based on prison films, there should never be any kind of sexual violence towards males or females by other inmates, since it's the whole teaching people to respect their surroundings.

PhysiologyRocks

I believe prisoners should each have their own sleeping quarters and (at the very least) privacy in relation to toilet and shower facilities.

They should have a strict daily routine, incorporating strenuous exercise and basic, yet healthy, food.

A certain amount of time per day should be dedicated to silent reflection. The likes of playstations shouldn't be allowed in bedrooms.

Some form of therapy should be mandatory and regular (from a rehabilitation point of view and NOT because people with mental health issues are criminals).

They should have to work daily - some countries have schemes whereby prisoners work in factories etc. and return to the prison at the end of the day. If this were difficult, maybe a company might be willing to have a branch within the prison (this may require more thinking through!).

At least one day a week should be based around education.

Prisoners should be more closely supervised, but in a more humane way than is commonly reported. Security levels should fit the crime where practical.

There should be proper access to medical care.

If possible, the actual prison should be reasonably habitable, but not a hotel.








All this might be difficult to work from a practical perspective, but I'd like to see such a system in place.

Arawn

PhysiologyRocks wrote: »

I believe prisoners should each have their own sleeping quarters and (at the very least) privacy in relation to toilet and shower facilities.

They should have a strict daily routine, incorporating strenuous exercise and basic, yet healthy, food.

A certain amount of time per day should be dedicated to silent reflection. The likes of playstations shouldn't be allowed in bedrooms.

Some form of therapy should be mandatory and regular (from a rehabilitation point of view and NOT because people with mental health issues are criminals).

They should have to work daily - some countries have schemes whereby prisoners work in factories etc. and return to the prison at the end of the day. If this were difficult, maybe a company might be willing to have a branch within the prison (this may require more thinking through!).

At least one day a week should be based around education.

Prisoners should be more closely supervised, but in a more humane way than is commonly reported. Security levels should fit the crime where practical.

There should be proper access to medical care.

If possible, the actual prison should be reasonably habitable, but not a hotel.






All this might be difficult to work from a practical perspective, but I'd like to see such a system in place.

There are plenty of courses prisoners can do.

They do have have access to medical care.


I really think people in Ireland have a very wrong idea of what our prisons are like

Edit: Sending prisoners to work in factories would take jobs away from law abiding people??

Wibbs

Candie wrote: »

What do you think?

Indeed. This thread looks more like a research thread than anything else, so ulyssescohen, please provide your opinion or this will be closed. Thanks.

daenerysstormborn3

I think a lot of people have a very skewed idea of what goes on in prisons.

In Shelton Abbey for example, prisoners do hard manual labour such as tree felling and lighter labour like tending the gardens, those are just two examples. All prisoners work. They are fed 3 meals a day only and these would be very minimal meals. Strenuous exercise after 3 basic meals a day, as well as a full day's work, would be fairly tough going. They are given a small weekly allowance which can be used for soap, deodorant, toothpaste, cigarettes (if they smoke) and treats like chocolate, biscuits etc. Yes, some do have access to a tv and a playstation, they can have games and dvds sent into them but there isn't a playstation in every room and a flatscreen tv as some people seem to believe.

Shelton Abbey is a prison which allows weekend release for some prisoners and it would certainly be far more relaxed than Limerick prison so if the above is the situation for Shelton Abbey prisoners, I highly doubt Limerick prison allows their prisoners more luxuries.

What I believe prisons like Shelton Abbey do is set up prisoners with a routine and goals for when they are released. The work and courses (mainly trades) that prisoners do may not necessarily have been available to them in the real world because they were more interested in crime so I think that in itself is a form of rehabilitation.

ulyssescohen

It looks like a hotel Pixie

pixiebean22 wrote: »

I think a lot of people have a very skewed idea of what goes on in prisons.

In Shelton Abbey for example, prisoners do hard manual labour such as tree felling and lighter labour like tending the gardens, those are just two examples. All prisoners work. They are fed 3 meals a day only and these would be very minimal meals. Strenuous exercise after 3 basic meals a day, as well as a full day's work, would be fairly tough going. They are given a small weekly allowance which can be used for soap, deodorant, toothpaste, cigarettes (if they smoke) and treats like chocolate, biscuits etc. Yes, some do have access to a tv and a playstation, they can have games and dvds sent into them but there isn't a playstation in every room and a flatscreen tv as some people seem to believe.

Shelton Abbey is a prison which allows weekend release for some prisoners and it would certainly be far more relaxed than Limerick prison so if the above is the situation for Shelton Abbey prisoners, I highly doubt Limerick prison allows their prisoners more luxuries.

What I believe prisons like Shelton Abbey do is set up prisoners with a routine and goals for when they are released. The work and courses (mainly trades) that prisoners do may not necessarily have been available to them in the real world because they were more interested in crime so I think that in itself is a form of rehabilitation.

daenerysstormborn3

ulyssescohen wrote: »

It looks like a hotel Pixie

Is that the total of your contribution to your own thread? Looks can be deceiving.

ulyssescohen

Wibbs: This is not a research thread. And I didn't realize that I needed to weigh in so early. I was waiting to get a few opinions before I impose my own view on the thread.

Pixie: No, this is not my contribution. I'll share my own views shortly. There is no real need to be snippy about it.

meeeeh

Well I guess we'll all have to wait for grand entrance.