Anyone for a Cold Bath?
I’ve not had a bath in some months, as these days I have a shower, when I smell like I need one. But this curious sign was on the wall of a building in Clerkenwell.
Coldbath Square
It must be surely one of the strangest road names in the UK, let alone London. You can read about the area here.
For many years there was a grim prison on the site and this is taken from the article.
The prison, built on a plan of the benevolent Howard’s, soon became a scene of great abuses. Men, women, and boys were herded together in this chief county prison, and smoking and drinking were permitted. The governor of the day strove vigorously to reform the hydra abuses, and especially the tyranny and greediness of the turnkeys. Five years later he introduced stern silence into his domain. “On the 29th of December, 1834, a population of 914 prisoners were suddenly apprised that all intercommunication, by word, gesture, or sign, was prohibited.” “This is what is called the Silent Associated System. The treadmill had been introduced at Coldbath Fields several years before. This apparatus, the invention of Mr. Cubitt, an engineer at Lowestoft, was first set up,” says Mr. Pinks, “at Brixton Prison, in 1817. At first, the allowance was 12,000 feet of ascent, but was soon reduced to 1,200.”
I think it is true to say that our justice system is much more enlightened these days.
Drinks at the Horse and Groom
I read yesterday in the East Anglian Daily Times, that the Horse and Groom pub in Melton is to be turned into three houses.
I’ve never drunk in the pub, but I suspect some of the locals will miss the hostelry.
I remember though a story about this pub that was told to me at a dinner party in the mid-1970’s.
One of the guests was involved in a project with the Borstal at Hollesley Bay, where on a Saturday or Sunday, they took a group of young offenders and got them to do up the homes of elderly pople in Ipswich. He told how after the work, he usually took them into the Horse and Groom, as it was a very quiet pub, to give them half of shandy or a soft drink, to show his appreciation, before returning the youngsters to the Borstal at seven. I have a feeling that the Govenor knew what he was doing, but I can’t be sure.
Anyway one night the landlord says that someone wanted to see him out the back of the pub. He was greeted by the local police Sergeant, who asked if he’d got lads from the Borstal with him. He said yes and the sergeant said that they’d been a complaint. The sergeant then asked what time, the boys would be leaving and the story-teller said they’d definitely be gone by seven. The sergeant then said they’d better be as they were raiding the pub just after the hour.
Of course the complaintent got their satisfaction that something was being done, but the quiet drinks were able to continue.
I just wonder where those kids ended up in life. Did treating them like real adult human beings help? I certainly hope so!
Should Prisoners Have the Vote?
In my view, yes! Read the arguments on the BBC here.
After all, it might just help some to take some of their responsibilities seriously.
But will it make any difference?
It will to us, in that we won’t have to pay any damages to those who the European Court of Human Rights, think we have wronged.
But I doubt that the number who vote will be high!
But let’s wait until we see the statistics.
I think when we do, that this will be one of those stories that got a lot of people very heated, but in truth it won’t matter!
Prison Population Rises Again
It was also announced in Saturday’s East Anglian Daily Times, that the prison population has risen again to its highest level ever.
In other words, prison doesn’t seem to be working!
George Michael Has Moved in up the Road.
It has just been reported that George Michael has moved from Pentonville to Highpoint, which is just down the road.
What a waste of money to look after an aging burnt-out pop star, with more addictions than the whole of London! As I said in an earlier post, we must find a better way to punish celebrities, that costs us nothing.
Celebrity Punishment
George Michael’s sentence of eight weeks for his driving under the influence of cannabis is totally wrong. As he could have easily killed someone, the sentence is not over the top either.
The reason is that it costs the taxpayers a lot of money and actually makes a lot of people feel rather sorry for him.
He needs to be punished and perhaps the best way to do that with celebrities is to take their comfortable lifestyle away for a couple of months.
So perhaps for six months, we do the following.
- His passport is taken away.
- In that six months, he must either use public transport or be driven in something like a Mondeo, by an approved Court-appointed driver. There would definitely be no limos or luxury vehicles.
A punishment like this would be much cheaper on the taxpaper than prison and perhaps he might learn something!
To be fair to George Michael, though he’s probably done so much damage to his body with smoking, drugs and alcohol, that he might not live as long as he should! Now death is truly a punishment,but only when it is self-inflicted by a stupid lifestyle choice!
Should We Licence Cannabis?
I have never taken recreational drugs and probably never will. I also feel that our current strategy against drugs is a total failure and probably just makes things worse.
So it was very refreshing to read the views of Professor Roger Pertwee on the BBC. His views about licensing sales, should be taken seriously. After all, getting criminals out of the loop, ensuring quality and protecting health are probably more important.
But his views will be totally ignored. All we will do is go on building more prisons, so we can lock everybody up!
Jail For Noisy Sex?
Stories like this show why the prisons are full. Surely, there must be a better way of justice, than to give people ASBOs and then sentence them, when they inevitably break them? We need to recreate a decent socety, where people respect each other. ASBOs just seem to give people other reasons to get people they don’t like out of their lives. There must be a better and more cost effective way! In the end, we have a small island with limited space and housing and we can’t all behave selfishly!
Clarke Gets Tough On Prisons
It would appear from the BBC, that Kenneth Clarke is going to get tough on the costs of prisons.
In a speech later, he will say he is amazed at the growth in the prison population and he will demand a radical new approach to cut re-offending.
It will involve paying private firms and voluntary groups according to how many prisoners they rehabilitate.
Prisons must focus on “education, hard work and change,” Mr Clarke will add.
He is absolutely right, as it is not humane in this day and age to just lock so many people up and do nothing to stop their pattern of reoffending.
I have for many years advocated an on-line database of all prisoners, that can be read on-line. It would obviously not identify individual prisoners, but it would enable serious research to be done. We must reduce the cost of criminal justice and punishment.
For instance, the database might contain things like :-
- Sex
- Age Group – 25-35 etc.
- Nationality
- Country of Birth
- Literacy
- Health State
- Smoker/Non-Smoker
- Has father been to jail?
- Married/Single/Children
- Drug User/Clean
- Last Crime
- Sentence
- Number of times in custody
Whether you put race and religion in would be very controversial and would probably be best left out, as people like the BNP would use it to their advantage.
But the database must be able to answer questions like how many of those serving over 20 years in jail have conditions like Alzheimer’s. According to David Ramsbotham’s excellent book, Prisongate, there are a large number and they are a large drain on resources of the Prison Service. Surely, they should be somewhere else.
i also live near a large prison and in the local area, those who keep large numbers of horses also complain they can’t get staff to do manual work, so many bring in temporary workers from all sorts of places outside the EU. Couldn’t some of the inmates fill this gap? This has been done successfully before in places like New York State.
additionally, why not use prisoners to pick seasonal produce and other jobs for which there are a shortage of workers? Any money earned would go to their victims or to support their own families. Remember that supporting prisoner’s families is quite a drain on benefits and if they are not supported in some way, we’re just creating the conditions for a whole new generation of career criminals.
The Anonymous Widower 