We Could All Learn From This
India has just released their oldest prisoner, who was 108. He looks extremely dangerous as he is carried from jail by his relatives in this story on the BBC web site.
How many prisoners in jails in the UK and around the world should be released as they are ill or demented and well past an age at which they can do anybody harm?
The Anonymous Widower 
Probably quite a lot. deciding who they are would be the problem. Plus danger to the actual prisoners in some cases.
Comment by liz | June 19, 2011 |
If you read Lord Ramsbotham’s excellent book, Prisongate, he says that there are quite a few prisoners in UK jails with dementia and Alzeihmers. Surely prison is the wrong place for them!
Comment by AnonW | June 19, 2011 |
I agree that prison is the wrong place for them, but I am not sure the community is the right place for all of them, especially if they have committed violent crimes in the past. I wouldnt want a relative of mine in the same nursing home as a rapist who now had dementia, because the part of his brain which thinks it is okay to rape someone may not be the part which is hit by the dementia. Perhaps some sort of “secure facility for prisoners with dementia” would better serve their needs.
Comment by liz | June 19, 2011 |