Why don't our prisoners work?

Sleeper12

There's a lot of posters here talking absolute rubbish & they seem to ignore other posters that have actually been to prison. They'd rather repeat what some newspaper published on a quiet day.

The governor has less than 5 euro to feed a prisoner per day. Though they try their best they can't really cook decent meals on 5 per day. This includes any tea, coffee, sugar, milk etc. 5 doesn't go far.

There are TVs in all cells but most prisons only provide the four Irish channels (that'd be punishment enough for me to have to watch Irish TV)
They can have a Playstation but not anything digital so I think that leaves only Playstation one.

BTW When a judge sentences someone to prison the punishment is taking his/her freedom away not weather they can watch TV or play games. They get to see family for 45 minutes per week on visits (sometimes with glass between them & their kids) & one 6 minute phone call per day. Not easy having a relationship with your kids IMO.

They are locked in for 18 hours per day. The cell door opens at 8AM. They have 2 minutes to get cereal & are locked in again till 9:30. They have 30 minutes to shave & shower. Between 10& 12 they work or go to school. 12 they have dinner in their cell & stay there till 2pm. Between 2 & 4 they work or school. 4pm locked in with their tea & let out for REC time from 5:30 to 7:30. 7:30pm they are locked in again till 8AM. (12.5 hours)

It costs more money to have prisoners out of their cells rather than locked in. This is why they are locked in for 18 hours per day. It would cost much much more to have prisoners working outside of the prison. The prison service is responsible for them or responsible if anything happened to a member of the public. As things are right now every prisoner is handcuffed if they have to go to hospital. Even non violent prisoners with short sentences have to be handcuffed & escorted with two prison officers to leave the prison.

Each prisoner gets an allowance of 15 per week for the tuc shop. Here they can buy deodorant & other toiletries, Tobacco, water & biscuits & sweets. The guys working in the kitchen get 5 euro on top of this for the hard work they do.

That's it. Not the most comfortable life to live. Not spoilt rotten IMO. I believe prison doesn't work at rehabilitation & it's not what its there for anyway. It's there to take someones freedom away. It's a flawed set-up worldwide but untill someone comes up with a better way to punish someone we are stuck with it

biscuithead

Sleeper12 wrote: »

There's a lot of posters here talking absolute rubbish & they seem to ignore other posters that have actually been to prison. They'd rather repeat what some newspaper published on a quiet day.

The governor has less than 5 euro to feed a prisoner per day. Though they try their best they can't really cook decent meals on 5 per day. This includes any tea, coffee, sugar, milk etc. 5 doesn't go far.

There are TVs in all cells but most prisons only provide the four Irish channels (that'd be punishment enough for me to have to watch Irish TV)
They can have a Playstation but not anything digital so I think that leaves only Playstation one.

BTW When a judge sentences someone to prison the punishment is taking his/her freedom away not weather they can watch TV or play games. They get to see family for 45 minutes per week on visits (sometimes with glass between them & their kids) & one 6 minute phone call per day. Not easy having a relationship with your kids IMO.

They are locked in for 18 hours per day. The cell door opens at 8AM. They have 2 minutes to get cereal & are locked in again till 9:30. They have 30 minutes to shave & shower. Between 10& 12 they work or go to school. 12 they have dinner in their cell & stay there till 2pm. Between 2 & 4 they work or school. 4pm locked in with their tea & let out for REC time from 5:30 to 7:30. 7:30pm they are locked in again till 8AM. (12.5 hours)

It costs more money to have prisoners out of their cells rather than locked in. This is why they are locked in for 18 hours per day. It would cost much much more to have prisoners working outside of the prison. The prison service is responsible for them or responsible if anything happened to a member of the public. As things are right now every prisoner is handcuffed if they have to go to hospital. Even non violent prisoners with short sentences have to be handcuffed & escorted with two prison officers to leave the prison.

Each prisoner gets an allowance of 15 per week for the tuc shop. Here they can buy deodorant & other toiletries, Tobacco, water & biscuits & sweets. The guys working in the kitchen get 5 euro on top of this for the hard work they do.

That's it. Not the most comfortable life to live. Not spoilt rotten IMO. I believe prison doesn't work at rehabilitation & it's not what its there for anyway. It's there to take someones freedom away. It's a flawed set-up worldwide but untill someone comes up with a better way to punish someone we are stuck with it

Thank you. We have people on this forum who have both served time or worked/work in prisons and they flatly refute the gibberish emanating from a handful of blusterers who claim a monopoly on the truth yet don't have the strength to own up when they are wrong.

If I had my way I'd put them to work alright but not doing something retarded like digging ditches. I'd screen them all for their aptitudes. I stick a top-end workstation in each cell and have them play online games for hours on end. Professional WoW gamers can earn from 25k to 6 figures a year. Think how good the inmates would get if they were playing League of Legends, Hearthstone, Dota 2 all day? If they stream on Twitch they could be earning 50-60k a year. Other inmates might have an uncanny knack for online trading in stocks, Forex, Spreadbetting. I'd set up the prison as a hedge fund. Others could just write e-books and sell them on Amazon.

Kimbot

biscuithead wrote: »

Thank you. We have people on this forum who have both served time or worked/work in prisons and they flatly refute the gibberish emanating from a handful of blusterers who claim a monopoly on the truth yet don't have the strength to own up when they are wrong.

If I had my way I'd put them to work alright but not doing something retarded like digging ditches. I'd screen them all for their aptitudes. I stick a top-end workstation in each cell and have them play online games for hours on end. Professional WoW gamers can earn from 25k to 6 figures a year. Think how good the inmates would get if they were playing League of Legends, Hearthstone, Dota 2 all day? If they stream on Twitch they could be earning 50-60k a year. Other inmates might have an uncanny knack for online trading in stocks, Forex, Spreadbetting. I'd set up the prison as a hedge fund. Others could just write e-books and sell them on Amazon.

Prisoners having access to the internet will not end well, they will use it for more crime as has been evident within the service over the last few years for those that got 3g/4g dongles in to the jails. If the system was setup that they could only access X,Y & Z then it might work.

Samuel T. Cogley

DickSwiveller wrote: »

Surely it would be much more of a deterrent than what we currently do. Can you name these countries where it's been tried and failed? Are you happy with the system as it is?

Pretty much every country in the developing world. The prison systems are extremely harsh, we're talking very likely to be murdered here. Even in countries where it would be possible to eek a living without resorting to crime people still do despite prison being hell on earth.

The US is a prime example though of large prison populations, long sentences and a crime rate higher than ours.

Am I happy with the system as it is No. Do I understand that the CJS as a whole has crime in check in Ireland at a reasonably low level of investment, yes. My point is if you're going to spend hundreds of millions of euro of tax payers money, would it not be better if that reduced crime or at least recidivism?

We use deterrents where they're effective - generally white collar crime. For hardened criminals it's merely incapacitates, but you have to balance that cost against how much crime you're reducing. On a down trend you keep the budget the same or cut back an reduce taxes, on an up trend you throw money at it and hope you stay in power.

Sleeper12

Thank you. We have people on this forum who have both served time or worked/work in prisons and they flatly refute the gibberish emanating from a handful of blusterers who claim a monopoly on the truth yet don't have the strength to own up when they are wrong.

I just hate seeing people making out that prison is too easy cos for the average prisoner it's not. What I don't understand is how the inmates in Arbour Hill have it so easy. These residents are for the most part sex offenders & wife murderers yet it's the softest of all the main jails. A guy serving 6 months in Wheatfield for a small offense is on the same landings as Some of the top criminals & is treated the same as them (all prisoners in any particular prison must be treated the same.) Yet in Arbour Hill the prisoners that most people thing should have it hardest. Sex offenders always have no remorse & they believe that they have done nothing wrong. they believe that they are the victim. Treating them in a softer manor only reinforces this.

If I had my way I'd put them to work alright but not doing something retarded like digging ditches. I'd screen them all for their aptitudes. I stick a top-end workstation in each cell and have them play online games for hours on end. Professional WoW gamers can earn from 25k to 6 figures a year. Think how good the inmates would get if they were playing League of Legends, Hearthstone, Dota 2 all day? If they stream on Twitch they could be earning 50-60k a year. Other inmates might have an uncanny knack for online trading in stocks, Forex, Spreadbetting. I'd set up the prison as a hedge fund. Others could just write e-books and sell them on Amazon.

Prisoners aren't let near the internet in any prison afaik. If you let a prisoner online you would need to have an officer standing over his shoulder imo

biscuithead

jonnycivic wrote: »

Prisoners having access to the internet will not end well, they will use it for more crime as has been evident within the service over the last few years for those that got 3g/4g dongles in to the jails. If the system was setup that they could only access X,Y & Z then it might work.

Johnny...have you heard of firewalls, restricted services, siteblocks?

They don't get unrestricted access. No email, no IRC/ICQ, no chat forums, no social media, no skype, none of that. The traders have access to their trading platform to place trades, stops, cancellations etc. They also have access to financial news feeds and quotes, charts.
The gamers can just play their online games. They can't google "how to make a shank" or "building plans for Mountjoy"

Kimbot

biscuithead wrote: »

Johnny...have you heard of firewalls, restricted services, siteblocks?

They don't get unrestricted access. No email, no IRC/ICQ, no chat forums, no social media, no skype, none of that. The traders have access to their trading platform to place trades, stops, cancellations etc. They also have access to financial news feeds and quotes, charts.
The gamers can just play their online games. They can't google "how to make a shank" or "building plans for Mountjoy"

Yes I have heard of them, they are a large part of what I do in work every day. You do realise that even with blocks in place you can get around them? Remember a prisoner has all the time in the world to think about how to get around blocks, sure you should take a look at some of the items confiscated within the prisons and it will open your eyes up to how inventive prisoners really are with their time.

Boom_Bap

jonnycivic wrote: »

Yes I have heard of them, they are a large part of what I do in work every day. You do realise that even with blocks in place you can get around them? Remember a prisoner has all the time in the world to think about how to get around blocks, sure you should take a look at some of the items confiscated within the prisons and it will open your eyes up to how inventive prisoners really are with their time.

Also given that phones are smuggled into prisons frequently, I'm sure a 4G dongle is much eh easier.
These don't adhere to the firewall rules of the prison as they are not using the local network.

Kimbot

Boom_Bap wrote: »

Also given that phones are smuggled into prisons frequently, I'm sure a 4G dongle is much eh easier.
These don't adhere to the firewall rules of the prison as they are not using the local network.

Yeah we have come across quiet a few of them that were smuggled in alright.

DickSwiveller

Samuel T. Cogley wrote: »

Pretty much every country in the developing world. The prison systems are extremely harsh, we're talking very likely to be murdered here. Even in countries where it would be possible to eek a living without resorting to crime people still do despite prison being hell on earth.

The US is a prime example though of large prison populations, long sentences and a crime rate higher than ours.

Am I happy with the system as it is No. Do I understand that the CJS as a whole has crime in check in Ireland at a reasonably low level of investment, yes. My point is if you're going to spend hundreds of millions of euro of tax payers money, would it not be better if that reduced crime or at least recidivism?

We use deterrents where they're effective - generally white collar crime. For hardened criminals it's merely incapacitates, but you have to balance that cost against how much crime you're reducing. On a down trend you keep the budget the same or cut back an reduce taxes, on an up trend you throw money at it and hope you stay in power.

Please don't tell me you believe the figures given by the Gardaí. Have you not been following the news lately? Crime statistics fall under 'Dick Swivellers law' aka all such statistics are fiddled and massaged.

What you're describing in your first paragraph eg. likely to be murdered by other prisoners is an argument in my favor. Prisons are horrible places - but not because the powers that be are ruthlessly authoritarian, but because prisons are drug ridden hellholes.

My argument really encompasses the Gardaí and courts as much as the prisons. There is a complete breakdown at every stage. I mentioned earlier the gang who burgled a home in Tipperary, tying up the occupants and subjecting them to an awful ordeal: The 5 of them had 475 convictions between them. Had they been deterred at an earlier stage they mightn't have done. The problem is that we don't punish these people when they start out as criminals, so they develop in to career criminals.

biscuithead

jonnycivic wrote: »

Yes I have heard of them, they are a large part of what I do in work every day. You do realise that even with blocks in place you can get around them? Remember a prisoner has all the time in the world to think about how to get around blocks, sure you should take a look at some of the items confiscated within the prisons and it will open your eyes up to how inventive prisoners really are with their time.

I believe you johnny. I wouldn't just let them online willy-nilly. there'd be screening, and all that, logging of all activity (which should be limited to the intended use). If they see that they are building up a sum of money for when they are released then jeopardising this might deter them from using their privileged occupation for nefarious purposes. One breach...all bets off. Back to the kitchen or floor mopping.

Kimbot

biscuithead wrote: »

I believe you johnny. I wouldn't just let them online willy-nilly. there'd be screening, and all that, logging of all activity (which should be limited to the intended use). If they see that they are building up a sum of money for when they are released then jeopardising this might deter them from using their privileged occupation for nefarious purposes. One breach...all bets off. Back to the kitchen or floor mopping.

The thing is they wouldn't be allowed on willy nilly. I'll give you one example here, the staff internet is locked down with no access to facebook etc and very limited browsing access. A few years back there was a report that staff were accessing "dodgy" sites. A company was brought in to evaluate and put a system in place. I was given the task of bypassing that system to see if it could be bypassed. Well less than 10 minutes later I had access to everything i wanted, even to this day with stricter access to internet I can still access alot of things that should not be accessed. You can close off most loopholes but you will never close them all off.

Samuel T. Cogley

DickSwiveller wrote: »

Please don't tell me you believe the figures given by the Gardaí. Have you not been following the news lately? Crime statistics fall under 'Dick Swivellers law' aka all such statistics are fiddled and massaged.

I sigh when I read things like this. Let's not even go there. While there is of course bias in statistics then citing the press as any sort of objective measure is well...

DickSwiveller wrote: »

What you're describing in your first paragraph eg. likely to be murdered by other prisoners is an argument in my favor. Prisons are horrible places - but not because the powers that be are ruthlessly authoritarian, but because prisons are drug ridden hellholes.

Not really sure where you've come from or are even going with this but there is a obvious trend in countries that have harsh prison systems and ones that focus on rehabilitation. The former doesn't work, the latter does - to a degree. Ireland actually sits in the middle a bit alone with the UK of 'keeping it just about under control as cheaply as possible'.

DickSwiveller wrote: »

My argument really encompasses the Gardaí and courts as much as the prisons. There is a complete breakdown at every stage.

There simply isn't. There is chronic underfunding at every stage and a majority of hard working people who actually want to make a difference to this.

DickSwiveller wrote: »

I mentioned earlier the gang who burgled a home in Tipperary, tying up the occupants and subjecting them to an awful ordeal: The 5 of them had 475 convictions between them. Had they been deterred at an earlier stage they mightn't have done. The problem is that we don't punish these people when they start out as criminals, so they develop in to career criminals.

I actually support the 'Judge Judy Approach' in regard to first offenders. Absent giving them criminal records there is merit to throwing the book at someone to give them a taste of whats coming. That aside though deterrents simply don't work in the majority of situations. It's counter intuitive but the factors driving criminality out weight the deterrent factor, in many cases it's drug related.

If they had been rehabilitated at an earlier stage, the end result might have been what you wanted it to be. Putting them in an extremely harsh prison system would have done very little as has been shown over and over again.

Summer wind

livedadream wrote: »

here:

Address Information Officer
  Department of Justice and Equality
  51 St. Stephen's Green
  Dublin 2
  D02 HK52
   
Phone: + 353 1 602 8202  Ext. 8408/8417
Lo-Call: 1890 221 227  Ext. 8408/8417
E-mail:  foi@justice.ie

their waiting your strongly worded letter.[/quote

Why would I waste my time. It wouldn't change anything.

DickSwiveller

Samuel T. Cogley wrote: »

I sigh when I read things like this. Let's not even go there. While there is of course bias in statistics then citing the press as any sort of objective measure is well...



Not really sure where you've come from or are even going with this but there is a obvious trend in countries that have harsh prison systems and ones that focus on rehabilitation. The former doesn't work, the latter does - to a degree. Ireland actually sits in the middle a bit alone with the UK of 'keeping it just about under control as cheaply as possible'.



There simply isn't. There is chronic underfunding at every stage and a majority of hard working people who actually want to make a difference to this.



I actually support the 'Judge Judy Approach' in regard to first offenders. Absent giving them criminal records there is merit to throwing the book at someone to give them a taste of whats coming. That aside though deterrents simply don't work in the majority of situations. It's counter intuitive but the factors driving criminality out weight the deterrent factor, in many cases it's drug related.

If they had been rehabilitated at an earlier stage, the end result might have been what you wanted it to be. Putting them in an extremely harsh prison system would have done very little as has been shown over and over again.

Well, 475 convictions later, I'm not sure so called rehabilitation has worked.

biscuithead

Summer wind wrote: »

livedadream wrote: »

here:

Address Information Officer
  Department of Justice and Equality
  51 St. Stephen's Green
  Dublin 2
  D02 HK52
   
Phone: + 353 1 602 8202  Ext. 8408/8417
Lo-Call: 1890 221 227  Ext. 8408/8417
E-mail:  foi@justice.ie

their waiting your strongly worded letter.[/quote

Why would I waste my time. It wouldn't change anything.

Stupid suggestions to those who know better rarely do.

Samuel T. Cogley

DickSwiveller wrote: »

Well, 475 convictions later, I'm not sure so called rehabilitation has worked.

What rehabilitation?

There are comments on this thread telling you that there aren't the places for even whats happening at the moment. We don't rehabilitate in Irish prions.

I'm all for sentencing being removed from Judges - it should go to a review panel and all sentences should be for 'as long as it takes'. The problem is who is going to pay for it?

Sleeper12

Samuel T. Cogley wrote:

I'm all for sentencing being removed from Judges - it should go to a review panel and all sentences should be for 'as long as it takes'. The problem is who is going to pay for it?

There are human rights laws in place to ensure nothing like this can happen.

Bowlardo

I always should of thought they should have out a one out west where the were brought out to fields and had to move rocks from the fields....5 days a week...out in the rain...can only use their hands.....

demanufactured

They should be made to do ****e jobs like picking stones in a field.
Digging trenches and then filling them in again.
Building walls, kicking them and then building them again.

Anyone who doesn't want to participate can spend they day in their cell, no TV, play station or Internet... Just the toilet for company.

Anyone who steps out of line gets a night in solitary.

DickSwiveller

Samuel T. Cogley wrote: »

What rehabilitation?

There are comments on this thread telling you that there aren't the places for even whats happening at the moment. We don't rehabilitate in Irish prions.

I'm all for sentencing being removed from Judges - it should go to a review panel and all sentences should be for 'as long as it takes'. The problem is who is going to pay for it?

And another point. You said earlier that deterrent never works. How many people drink and drive nowadays? It used to be rampant until the authorities cracked down on it; now it's very rare. A perfect example of deterrence working.

What 'rehabilitation' would you suggest for people who are willing to tie up an innocent family and cause havoc in their house? I'd be very interested to know.

Mark25

DickSwiveller wrote: »

Proper punishment. No weasley sentences. Hard labour everyday for a number of days, no televisions, Playstations etc. That's how you deter someone. What do you propose? The same policies that have our prisoners packed?

Seriously if you took TVs and playstations (for people who have them) away things would be much worse in prisons for both prisoners and the officers. And even if it was allowed hard labour isn't going to happen with the way prisons are. I'm not sure what you even really mean by hard labour?

DickSwiveller

Mark25 wrote: »

Seriously if you took TVs and playstations (for people who have them) away things would be much worse in prisons for both prisoners and the officers. And even if it was allowed hard labour isn't going to happen with the way prisons are. I'm not sure what you even really mean by hard labour?

I know it won't ever happen - because there's no will to change the pathetic system as it currently exists. The excuse industry will keep profiting from these career criminals and the decent, law abiding people will have to put up with it. I have to say that I've noticed from discussing this issue with people, that the ones who make excuses for these criminals generally live in areas that don't suffer from lawlessness, vandalism etc. Very interesting.

Samuel T. Cogley

DickSwiveller wrote: »

And another point. You said earlier that deterrent never works. How many people drink and drive nowadays? It used to be rampant until the authorities cracked down on it; now it's very rare. A perfect example of deterrence working.

Fecking loads of people drink and drive. That aside I didn't say deterrents never work, they work in all sorts of cases. White collar crime (where we actually follow through - Garlic guy anyone?) and in motoring where we don't follow through - unfortunately.

Drink driving has been 'dealt with' through enforcement, not deterrent.

DickSwiveller wrote: »

What 'rehabilitation' would you suggest for people who are willing to tie up an innocent family and cause havoc in their house? I'd be very interested to know.

Well I thought you wanted to address this before that happened, as would I. However as for the violent criminals I'd want them locked up until the risk was reduced considerably. I'd want them studied both physically and mentally and I'd want to use that knowledge to to understand what the earlier signs were and how people could be diverted. I'd want them medicated and closely monitored on release.

I'd want a much smaller prison population with those who can't be fixed kept in. What I wouldn't want to do is a continual cycle of locking up and releasing people with the added effect of making it so bad that they'd rather kill the family than risk going back into prison. As for the obvious alternative of just locking them up forever, we simply can't afford to do that, it's the most expensive option of them all.

Mark25

twowheelsonly wrote: »

Community Service and Community Release Schemes (CRS) do exactly that.



Personally I think the 3 strikes rule should apply to Free Legal Aid. In the event that someone unexpectedly needs it then they'd be covered, in the event that someone routinely needs it they can pay for it themselves.



:rolleyes: All I can say to that is 'Never Say Never'. Plenty of people in jails that never expected to end up in there.

BTW, if "we shouldn't have to pay for them..." how the hell is the system supposed to paid for ?





Where I work there's one 3 course meal in the year - Christmas dinner.
Well fed ? That's subjective, but if you consider a bowl of shredded cheese and a tomato at 4.30 pm with nothing again until cereal at 8am then you're entitled to consider that well fed I suppose.

Yes they have TV. IMO nothing wrong with that as they spend 18 hours a day in cells, suicide and attempted suicide rates have dropped massively since their introduction, as has in cell vandalism. BTW, contrary to popular opinion they don't have Sky Sports etc and they don't all have Playstations either.

IMO nothing wrong with Gym equipment either if it keeps their minds and bodies occupied. 370k equates to about 30k per prison which isn't massive either considering that Mountjoy and Cork were both being refurbished about this time. Most prison gyms in the country only accommodate around 20-25 prisoners at a time maximum so it's not like they're massive state of the art gymnasiums.



Back on topic, most prisoners want to work whilst in jail but there's not enough work for them and there's regularly not enough staff to open the workshops that are there. Prison Officers want to see them in workshops or otherwise occupied. Far better that than 200 prisoners walking around a yard.

Strange for me to be agreeing with a prison officer but everything he said there is right especially about the food and there not been enough work/workshops for everybody. It's good getting outside on the yard but it's better to be doing something to keep busy

MRnotlob606

A Battered Mars Bar wrote: »

Yes and 3 strike rule while we're at it. Be far better off for Irish society if people with 90 convictions are locked up for life after 3 and made to work so they can some use to us.

and the 3 strike rule has worked greatly hasn't it??:rolleyes:

pilly

Samuel T. Cogley wrote:

Drink driving has been 'dealt with' through enforcement, not deterrent.

Enforcement is the deterrent. Don't be silly now Samuel. You're just digging further.

Samuel T. Cogley

DickSwiveller wrote: »

I know it won't ever happen - because there's no will to change the pathetic system as it currently exists. The excuse industry will keep profiting from these career criminals and the decent, law abiding people will have to put up with it. I have to say that I've noticed from discussing this issue with people, that the ones who make excuses for these criminals generally live in areas that don't suffer from lawlessness, vandalism etc. Very interesting.

Areas that do suffer from lawlessness need to develop solutions locally. They need to involve the authorities and stand together against the small number of people that wreck an area. It's extremely hard to do, it's impossible for the CJS to do it where no one will cooperate with them.

That's a larger issue than the one being discussed here.

Mark25

Sleeper12 wrote: »

There's a lot of posters here talking absolute rubbish & they seem to ignore other posters that have actually been to prison. They'd rather repeat what some newspaper published on a quiet day.

The governor has less than 5 euro to feed a prisoner per day. Though they try their best they can't really cook decent meals on 5 per day. This includes any tea, coffee, sugar, milk etc. 5 doesn't go far.

There are TVs in all cells but most prisons only provide the four Irish channels (that'd be punishment enough for me to have to watch Irish TV)
They can have a Playstation but not anything digital so I think that leaves only Playstation one.

BTW When a judge sentences someone to prison the punishment is taking his/her freedom away not weather they can watch TV or play games. They get to see family for 45 minutes per week on visits (sometimes with glass between them & their kids) & one 6 minute phone call per day. Not easy having a relationship with your kids IMO.

They are locked in for 18 hours per day. The cell door opens at 8AM. They have 2 minutes to get cereal & are locked in again till 9:30. They have 30 minutes to shave & shower. Between 10& 12 they work or go to school. 12 they have dinner in their cell & stay there till 2pm. Between 2 & 4 they work or school. 4pm locked in with their tea & let out for REC time from 5:30 to 7:30. 7:30pm they are locked in again till 8AM. (12.5 hours)

It costs more money to have prisoners out of their cells rather than locked in. This is why they are locked in for 18 hours per day. It would cost much much more to have prisoners working outside of the prison. The prison service is responsible for them or responsible if anything happened to a member of the public. As things are right now every prisoner is handcuffed if they have to go to hospital. Even non violent prisoners with short sentences have to be handcuffed & escorted with two prison officers to leave the prison.

Each prisoner gets an allowance of 15 per week for the tuc shop. Here they can buy deodorant & other toiletries, Tobacco, water & biscuits & sweets. The guys working in the kitchen get 5 euro on top of this for the hard work they do.

That's it. Not the most comfortable life to live. Not spoilt rotten IMO. I believe prison doesn't work at rehabilitation & it's not what its there for anyway. It's there to take someones freedom away. It's a flawed set-up worldwide but untill someone comes up with a better way to punish someone we are stuck with it

That's the best post I read telling people exactly what it's like.

biscuithead

Bowlardo wrote: »

I always should of thought they should have out a one out west where the were brought out to fields and had to move rocks from the fields....5 days a week...out in the rain...can only use their hands.....

And if you refuse to do this dumb task? Then what? A beating? So you advocate forced labour camps?