Cell phones

Read my first post. Only vetted numbers can be rung and they are recorded and monitored calls.

Whatever happened to bread and water?

Apparently one of the aims is to reduce the criminality of private phones being smuggled in. If everyone has one perhaps less cause of intimidation? I heard a gentleman on TV saying there was regularly a shortage of clean socks and underpants and thinks any 'spare' funding should be channelled in that direction.

Who will have time listen, decode and monitor all the calls??

This is a difficult one.
The aim of prisons is to punish and to reform. Loss of liberty is a punishment in itself, without the loss of every single comfort in life, and treating offenders with utmost severity probably won’t help them to become better people.
Bear in mind that some prisoners have committed heinous offences for which we might consider no punishment too severe, whereas others are in many ways victims of circumstances, mental health problems etc., and are imprisoned because no one can think of anything else to do with them. Provision of some comforts to them might be seen as a good thing
I don’t see any advantage to providing personal phones, but I think adequate access to pay phones as a reward for good behaviour is a step in the right direction as it could help towards rehabilitation.

This is about LANDLINES only. And only allowed to ring pre-vetted numbers. And calls would be paid for.
It wouldn’t allow calls to victims thank goodness! And they would apparently be recorded/listened to.

Illegal calls would still have to be made on illegal mobiles.

I have decided that at aged 80 I am going to commit a crime that will get me into prison for a long time. I can't think of any other way to have quality of life with every care need met, all free of charge. Just got to work out the easiest way of doing it ......

Definitely not! Use the money to pay & train more staff. Pass the inmates a pen and paper instead and let them realise how lucky they are to be allowed even that. Jeez.

Certainly not, it is we taxpayers that subsidise them. I thought prison was supposed to deprive criminals of their liberty. They should use the landlines in order that their calls can be overheard. I know some people who can't afford a cell phone as their pensions are so low.

Bluebell I'm afraid your play on words has confused some folk!

For those foaming at the mouth - they are not getting mobile phones!

Skyweek1
You couldn't have been living in the UK at that time as here you are innocent until guilt is proven beyond reasonable doubt.

I happen to know of someone who's been " banged-up as well as stitched-up " for 33 years for a crime he didn't commit----I know, I know, that's what they all say but this particular inmate would find regular use of a phone an absolute Godsend to his legal team who he could contact as and when there are further questions to answer or indeed to give the man further hope that things are going well.
I have every confidence in this being the worst Miscarriage of Justice that this country has had and will ever see.

You have to earn your top up for the phones they are pre set numbers and it is to keep prisoner intouch with family I know of one man in for three years for a non violent crime who calls his daughter age 7 every night at 7.30 to tell them a bedtime story

Hm999 Pity cons don't think of their own family before committing a crime and do these individuals ever think of families{victims} whose lives will never be the same after what their actions have done to them.?

I used the word cell in my original post, meaning phones in cells Yes it is landlines Whilst I accept the poster who said prison is not a bowl off roses I was listening to a prison officer speak on radio this morning and he was saying in his prison they have en suite showers The mind boggles, I wouldn’t mbe Nd an en-suite shower
I am completely against this they should not have any perks I think it should be a short sharp shock for smaller offences and a longer sharp sort for violent crimes

I say absolutely poppycock to those saying it’s better for them to keep contact with their families Most of them were with their families when they committed their offences and that didn’t stop them

I'd like to see the rationale before I think about this as a negative thing. It may be that the psychological benefit of this will actually make life better for the besieged, understaffed prisons and their staff. My main concern would be that keeping in touch with your family may bring disadvantages rather than advantages. It is quite common for relationships to break down and the repercussions can be self-harm, violence to others, etc. Monitored calls would seem to be the better option.
Basically, it seems like I'm on the fence!

The aim of this is to reduce violence and intimidation inside prisons and to aid rehabilitation. The U.K. has the highest pro rata prison population in Europe, but numbers of prison officers have been cut particularly the more experienced and expensive staff. Training is minimal and many prisons are run by private companies who make a profit by employing as few staff as possible. no wonder in many prisons inmates are locked up for 23 hours a day, there are no staff to take inmates to classes or search cells and violence towards staff is commonplace. If allowing in cell phones and TVs helps staff maintain an orderly and humane regime I’m all in favour, but the government have got to fund the service and staff it properly if we wish to stop the vicious cycle of violence and recidivism.

I worked with prisoners and their families, and think telephone contact, especially with children is a good thing.
Prison is anything but a ‘ holiday camp’, and for most prisoners the loss of freedom ( even to make a decision) is very difficult. Of course there are those who see prison as an occupational hazard of their crimes, but I’d welcome anything which helped the whole family.

Before I started my current job I had never been inside a prison and my views were inline with many of the posters on here. My information had been gleaned from the more sensationalist newspapers such as the Mail, Express and Sun/Mirror. Since visiting prisons I realise that this type of reporting is almost universally unmitigated tripe!
Prisons are most definitely not luxurious/ like holiday camps and other incorrect descriptions. They are uncomfortable, noisy, terrifying places. Many of the inmates are ill educated, mentally ill young people ( not that this is an excuse for their crimes but can be a reason) who spend their time doing nothing to help them not to reoffend. It has been proven that to treat inmates in an inhuman way leads to more reoffending not less.
The deprivation of liberty is the punishment and they should be treated in a safe and kind manner. Many of them have never been treated with any kindness as children and so have learnt to pass that on. Surely it it better to teach a different way of behaving?
Better staffed and safer prisons are the way forward. En-suite showers can help to reduce the sexual assaults which occur in communal showers, brutalising young men through rape and violence is not the way to stop them reoffending but instead re-enforces the idea that the person who can inflict the most violence is the one that wins.
Allowing prisoners to keep in touch with children, providing that is safe, keeps the relationship alive and stops innocent children being punished and potentially following the same criminal pathway. Being nasty for the sake of it dehumanises us and then we reap what we sow.

EllanVannin
An inmate's legal representatives have much more frequent access to their clients than their friends or relatives, both by phone, email and post so your 'friend' would not be able to have incoming calls unless they were taken in the wing officer's office.
If he's spent 33 years inside without a sniff of freedom, you can bet your bottom dollar he's guilty.

I think there are more pressing issues that the money could help address. More staff, for example.

And I do know families who would not welcome contact with their relatives in prison. I hope their rights are given as much weight as the prisoners’.

Views on here remind me of the bad old days (not so long ago) when everyone actually believed that immigrants were given houses and benefits ahead of the Brits.
Not so.
Now the long held belief that prison is a holiday camp.
Not so.

There is always anecdotal evidence of prisoners having colour tv in their cells, a super equipped gym to play in and Sky TV. And now phones in the cell? Good grief! Whatever next.
A pp asked whatever happened to bread and water ( presumably in place of steak and chips)....

I have no idea what happens in all prisons, but i actually was one of those scum of the earth, should be living in a dark cold cell people.
I served 6 months, about 20 years ago now, in Risley.
For about 50% of the time, i was locked in a cell. There was a communal tv which was switched off at 8pm - bedtime. I went to the library once a week, walked outside for 20 minutes or so perhaps twice a week. Saw the inside of the gym once. It had 2 exercise bikes and some yoga mats (cannot honestly remember).
I was told when to eat, when to sleep. I worked in the machine room, sewing chamois for window cleaners.
I got to see my husband and children once a fortnight and rang them once a week.
Many of the women had mental health problems, two committed suicide whilst I was there.
A phone could be a lifeline for many of yhem. Just to know that you can speak to a loved one when you can afford the call coild be the differnce between making it, and sliding into a depression that you could never climb out of.
The women i knew in there were women you would chat to everyday in the supermarket or bus queue.
Yes, we were there for breaking the law, we deserved to be punished.

We were.

Even prisoners want more prison officers, then both the officers and the prisoners would feel safer.
They do have tv and playstations if they pay for them and the whole purpose of that is to keep the prisoners calm and quite while locked up for many hours a day. They earn around £12 a week cleaning or serving etc. Apart from that they rely on friends and family paying money into their 'canteen'. That money has to pay for clothes, toiletries, snacks etc. If they are lucky they will be allowed a parcel to be sent in (rarely) 3 times in 10 years. that contains 7x boxers, 7x socks, a couple of t shirts. everything else is bought via a certain catalogue at catalogue prices and paid in full in advance. Without families sending money they'd have to rely on prison issue clothing and toiletries, regardless of allergies etc.
Mostly there is no rehabilitation, education is almost non existent and training courses are rarely available and then disappear on a whim.
Prisons are not comfortable let alone luxurious, they are noisy and horrible places to dwell.
I speak to someone in prison most days, he's just coming to the end of his sentence, well he's actually done longer than he should have and has never put a foot wrong, he wants to go home but he's not complaining, he just wants his life back. So far he's a year over tariff and if all goes well should be home in the summer. He has a job lined up with his previous employer and has held on to his flat thanks to family and friends who have kept it going, redecorated it and kept tenants in it to pay the mortgage. How anyone manages without friends and family supporting them I can't imagine.
He doesn't think phones in cells would be a great benefit tbh he manages with the landing phones, we sometimes get disturbed by noise but not very often so not sure what he'd gain by having one in his room. He's now in open conditions but doesn't have an ensuite he uses communal showers. He tells me there's far more aggro in the gym than anywhere else.
Those who thinks prisoners should have the key thrown away are very small minded, treat people with respect and you'll most likely find it reciprocated, treat them like crap and stand well back when the shit hits the fan.
People make mistakes, not everyone has a great start in life, a little empathy can go a long way.

Advocating humane treatment of prisoners does not mean I have no empathy for victims. Far from it. Locking people away is the punishment. Surely it is better to aim to avoid repetition of the behaviour which got people imprisoned in the first place, thus reduce future victims. Better mental health care, education and training are ways of avoiding repeat offending and surely that should be part of the sentence.