General Chat

It is being said in some papers today, that according to a report published by the National Audit Office (NAO), that new prisons are being built with in-cell telephones and terminals to help inmates to order meals and choose activities.

Thinking maybe I should get myself locked up :-D :-D :-D

Was this in the Daily Mail OFITG :-D

The Times

Having had dealings within the prison system, work & visiting, I can see that in cell telephones could work well, it'd save prison officers going to a cell when a prisoner called, for whatever reason that'd be.

you mean inter com rather than normal telephones, surely?

They are proper cell phones and the prisoners are also going to get en-suite showers.

So phone to order food...Prison officers will be waiters...

And the prisoners won't need to move a muscle only to eat the food they ordered.

Talk about pampering.

Am I the only person who see a far more sinister side to this story!

Prisons with facilities in their cells, to order their food and have en-suite showers etc., do not require constant supervision.

1: Meals ordered over the phone to a central point
2: En-suite bathroom facilities
3: Phone also used to arrange work/activities

All these require at present substantial staffing levels to run and oversee.

To me this smacks of private prison services severely cutting down on staff. Yes the prisoners may have some 'luxuries' but these are to quell their tempers and to help avoid trouble. So there is the need to have far less prison officers.

I have friend who is a prison officer and she tells me that these moves are very detrimental to the safety of the few officers who will be left to monitor far more prisoners.

So to me it is not pampering of the prisoners, but putting the remaining prison officers lives and helath in jeopardy.

I totally agree DC, when I read it I thought shouts cutbacks this does and means the prisoners will be locked up longer, would I call being locked in a cell or even a nice new room with en suite and got to speak to another person through an intercom 3 times a day no thank you.

It all boils down to costs. The initial cost of building will be high, but in the long run the staffing levels which will be far less than at present in older prisons means the personnel costs will be lower. So over time it becomes a cheaper way of running prisons.

All because we now let 'outside' businesses (such as the fantastic G4S) run our prisons.