Cell phones

Tend to think they should use a landline where their activities can be monitored.

Great, isn't it ? I haven't even got one myself !

I think the aim of a prison sentence should be to remove all of the usual 'comforts' taken for granted in this modern world and one of those is cell phones.

When we have no veterans sleeping rough or old people afraid to turn the heater on then we can think about spending money on criminals in my opinion.

Well said N&G

A huge NO!
Criminal activity could be continued as well as intimidation etc.

It depends. Whilst prison should be a punishment it also has to try to rehabilitate those incarcerated there ready for return to society.

If the phones are for those due for release, given as a " reward " for good behaviour etc. then there may be a place for them.

How to manage them and control misuse ought not to be beyond the wit & skill of the Home Office.

I thought when you were sent to prison it was to be punished no wonder so many reoffend it is a good life no work no bills to pay and 3 meals a day warm bed the homeless would willingly swap forgot to say own tv etc it is no longer a punishment

Absu

They all have access to phones anyway. There are tiny mobiles that are manufactured to be hidden in a certain body part of the body. If they were given access to phones it wouldn’t make any difference because they wouldn’t want to use a phone that might be monitored.

Wel typical right wing reaction. If the authorities think it will reduce crime then I’m sure there must be something in it. No way are they going to sanction that just for the prisoners benefit. A lot of time is spent trying to stop them from being smuggled in anyway and they still get through. I thought prison was also about rehabilitation. Not much of that happens in our appalling prisons. Regular Contact with children would only have a beneficial effect on the whole family and even perhaps keep families together. Incarceration is the punishment and with the amount of re offending I’m certain our approach of locking them up for 23 hours out of 24 is another punishment on top of the punishment of being there. Who said when you are punished by going to prison then the punishments should continue all the time you are there!

As I understand it, some prisoners already have landlines in their cell and they can only call/receive from pre-programmed numbers e.g. partner, parents etc.

I think the plan is to expand this and it would be landlines only - I would hope that it's a privilege that you have to earn by good behaviour.

Well, I don't know what happened there!
I was going to say, absolutely not!
There are too many comforts for convicted criminals already, so why on earth would we give them one more?

Apparently the prisoners will only be able to ring pre approved numbers and the calls could be monitored. We are constantly told of the shortage of prison officers so who will be monitoring these calls. Monitoring calls from one phone situated on the landing of a wing would be relatively easy and could be done by just one person. Monitoring the calls from individual phones in cells would be impossible with the current level of prison officers.

The powers that be so need reminding that part of being in Prison is supposed to be a removal your everyday rights, it’s not a holiday camp. The prisoners are inside for failing to show respect and decency to others who abide by societies rules. The high rate of reoffenders is proof enough that whatever they are doing in our prisons, is not working .... the whole system needs looking at and bought up to date with today’s problems. We need in my opinion, to be more robust and make the Prison regime a deterrent, not a breeding ground for more hatred and more crime. Their every move should be closely monitored and that should include phone usage. Prisoners are so devious, if only that ingenuity could be challenged into something more productive and useful.

Why not phones ? They get all sorts of other things and treatment that the rest of us don't get.

SIL an amputee of 50 years has been on crutches for the past 5 years because the type of leg she needs is out of the norm and expensive yet a prisoner in her physiotherapy group got one with in months of going into prison.

So £10.000.00 is chicken feed. Bl**dy ridiculous. Makes me so angry.

Despite being an amputee SIL worked from 15 to 57 when she needed a hip replacement that knocked her sideways but can she get the leg she needs Not a Chance. And she is not alone in this.

But be a prisoner and the powers that be fall over themselves to give you more than you had before you were punished lol for your crimes. So So angry

No.

The problem for the family of a prisoner is the breakdown of family life. What about those poor wife and children?

And a prisoner who returns to a family is less likely to reoffend.

NO!

Absolutely NO!! On a (?) lighter note, I read recently someone's idea for 'care for the elderly'. At a certain age, we are to be issued with a firearm. We are then to nominate one useless politician whom we would then shoot. The aftermath of this would be - free accommodation, warmth, regular meals, visiting rights for our families, medical treatment when required, activities, therapies and so on. This would relieve the continuing burden on social care as prisons cost less to run than care homes. Et Voila!!

No

I dont agree with it at all. That sounds like an awful lot of money that could be better spent elsewhere. One of my DD had a partner who was a petty criminal who has been in and out of jail all his adult life. He had telephone access in his cell I was told but it didnt help turn him around to stop thieving. My daughter blocked me because I was not willing to meet him. She even stopped us seeing our grandchildren when we came to England because she chose him over us. A week later he is out of jail and in less than two weeks he is back in jail because he stole and broke his parole. So no I don't think it helps to make a criminal a better person.

They should have no access to phones, tv, internet or leisure activities at all, be given basic food only and have little contact with other prisoners. Instead, they should have plenty of alone time to reflect upon their crimes and be given suitable reading material about people who have made the best of their lives.

No

What a pity, in this upside down society of ours, that there is not the same empathy for the victims, some of whom have, due to no fault of their own, had their lives irreparably wrecked.