Archive for the 'prison' Category

Jailbreak

Published on March 9, 2010 in Fully Inclusive Engine Service, assault police, guitar, hair, music, prison, protester and protestor. Closed

written by Area Trace No Search from Area Trace No Search

Thin Lizzy sang: "Tonight there's going to be a jailbreak, somewhere in this town."

I'm going to take a stab in the dark here, and guess... the prison?

Meanwhile, an example of GOOD POLICING. And good protesting, come to that.

The original post can be found http://areatracenosearch.blogspot.com/2010/03/jailbreak.html

Gypsys, tramps and thieves…

Published on January 29, 2010 in General, caravans, convicted, gipsies, guilty, gypsies, gypsys, prison, soap, theft and travellers. Closed

written by kkop from kKop's Blog

Okay, so I’m not going to reiterate what Inspector Gadget and other blogs are talking about – instead I’m going to post something slightly different.

The Sun are running an interesting article on that much-maligned group of innocents, the travelling fraternity.

I for one am not keen to generalise based on very little information. But I have to say, anybody is going to have a very, very hard time convincing me that travellers are anything other than the dregs of society. This one gang were responsible for half of the caravan crime in the entire country. Nice to see the McDonagh’s are still going strong, though – I had lots of fun as a PC chasing them through muddy fields and dark country lanes, for them to ram my police car repeatedly so that I was unable to follow. Nice people, really.

There are always exceptions, naturally, but I’ve yet to meet a decent, honest, law-abiding one.

Four members of the gang – Charlie Ward, 27, Martin Ward, 21, John McDonagh, 31, and Martin McDonagh, 29 – face long jail terms after being convicted of conspiracy to steal at Winchester Crown Court.

I’m sure I won’t be the only one interested in seeing exactly how many years these prolific and indiscriminate offenders get locked away for.

Remember guys, don’t bend over to pick up the soap.

"Where's the soap?" "Yes it does, doesn't it?"

The original post can be found http://kkop.wordpress.com/2010/01/29/gypsys-tramps-and-thieves/

Prison Does Work

Published on January 21, 2010 in commons select committee and prison. Closed

written by Lex Ferenda from The Thinking Policeman: A Police Officer's Blog

The Commons Select Committee report on justice this week announced that the Governments proposed £4.2 billion spend on prisons would be better spent on prevention and rehabilitation. I do not disagree that Probation and the Youth Offending Team, for example, are under funded, but having seen what they achieve with the resources they have I am not confident that throwing money at them will bring about a sea change.

Liberals (with a small l) always espouse the view that prison does not work because those incarcerated more often than not re-offend. They choose to turn a blind eye to the fact that the majority of those given community penalties also re offend. I can suggest a few reasons why. Firstly, by the time an offender reaches prison, unless it is for a very serious crime, they will have been through the justice system an average of 9 times and received reprimands, conditional discharges, fines, supervision order, probation order, community penalties etc. etc. I contend that by the time they reach prison they are so far down the road of criminal behaviour that they are almost irrecoverable. If we sent them to prison the 2nd or 3rd time they appeared in Court then it might be more effective.

Secondly, because of the above, the justice system to the persistent offender is a joke. Go and spend a day in the courts and look at the staff hiding behind a protective screen while the offenders strut around swearing and intimidating everyone. Watch them leave the court laughing at the system and stating they have ‘got away with it’ because they got a fine or supervision order. The only penalty that persistent offenders actually believe to be a punishment is prison and we should not forget that and use it appropriately.

Thirdly, prisons are schools of crime and ineffective in reforming offenders because of a lack of resources, in prison, and motivation for offenders to reform. Let us have separate prisons for those sentenced to prison for the first time. Let us link early release to achievement in education and workplace training. It is obscene that we send people who cannot read or write to prison for 6 months or more and they still cannot read and write when they are released.

Fourthly, and possibly most important, prison works because it stops people offending. A burglar or car thief cannot commit offences when they are in prison and we must not forget that means thousands less people waking up in the morning to find their car broken into or stolen or coming home from work and finding their house broken into. I wish as much consideration were given to these victims as is given to the persistent offenders.

The original post can be found http://thethinkingpoliceman.blogspot.com/2010/01/prison-does-work.html

Sentencing

Published on October 4, 2009 in Feral youths, Sentencing, Youth Justice Service and prison. Closed

written by Lex Ferenda from The Thinking Policeman: A Police Officer's Blog

It’s an old chestnut, but there have been a few sentences of offenders recently that have made me stop and think, what the hell is going on. I am sure I am not the only one who has been thinking about sentencing and the fact that crime and consequences seem to be out of kilter.

For too many years we have taken a softly, softly approach with drugs, theft, anti social behaviour etc. and a culture of toleration and understanding and trying to ‘help’ the poor offenders that perpetrate these crimes. In particular I would single out the Youth Justice Service and their weak and watery staff and policies that do nothing other than put barriers in the way of addressing poor behaviour and the concept that such behaviour must have negative consequences.

I fully understand that feral yobs and the like are the product of their upbringing and this is often the real cause of the problem. YJS workers telling me that it is pointless forcing parents to attend Parenting classes and that they must be persuaded to does nothing to give me any confidence that they are achieving anything other than pandering to the wishes of those responsible for criminality.

We are failing to address the poor behaviour of too many young offenders who are escalating into more and more serious offending. I had started to seriously wonder how our prisons were going to cope with the dozens and dozens of out of control young men and women who, after years of lackadaisical and ineffectual supervision, punishment and rehabilitation, eventually commit such serious offences that they are sentenced to life with recommendations of minimum sentences of twenty or more years. I thought we must start building more prisons now or there won’t be any room.

Now I see how our masters are going to deal with this problem. These young men and women that should be behind bars for a very long time are no longer being given long sentences. Even the judges have given up or been directed to stop sending serious offenders to prison for long periods. Here are a few examples.

July 2009, Colt Wesley Welch was in a vehicle that police tried to stop. He fired a sawn off shotgun at the officers. He later ran off from the vehicle and threatened other officers with the gun. He was eventually arrested. The gun was found to have been stolen from a burglary and later sawn off. We are supposed to be getting tough on gun crime. The sentencing guidelines are supposed to be 5 years just for unlawful possession of a firearm. What did Welch get for not just possession but firing the weapon at unarmed officers? Five years!

September 2009, Adrian Lee Taylor’s address is subject of a drugs search warrant. He threatens police with a gun. He is subsequently charged and convicted with possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear and possession of cocaine with intent to supply. His sentence? Four years!

The yobs with numerous convictions for violence, breach of ASBO etc. who beat a man to death with a hammer because he dared challenge them regarding their behaviour. The hammer wielder got life with a recommendation of minimum sentence of 9 years 2 months. The rest of the gang got between 12 and 28 months.

I do understand that in the longer term Government policy and strategy must change and do more to remove this cycle of behaviour and address some of the social ills and irresponsibility their policies have partly brought about. In the meantime, sentencing must reflect public distaste and provide a proper deterrent to this criminality.

The original post can be found http://thethinkingpoliceman.blogspot.com/2009/10/sentencing.html

Prisoner’s Voting Rights

Published on June 2, 2009 in Human rights, Law and prison. Closed

written by Inspector Leviathan Hobbes from The Thinking Policeman: A Police Officer's Blog

I could count on no fingers the times I have been present at court to see a defendant receiving a custodial sentence, only to hear them lament, "Oh my fortune! 'Tis to my great dissatisfaction that I shall now have my right to vote taken from me. Is the deprivation of my liberty not enough!" It never happens and, let's face it, the majority of prisoners would think that Gordon Brown is a derogatory term for low-grade heroin. You know, something that promises much but is without substance and ultimately fails to deliver. Quite apt.

However, the European Court of Human Rights has determined that this law, stemming back to the 1870 Forfeiture Act, is unlawful and that Parliament must do something to correct it. The issue came to the fore when an inmate called John Hirst (he killed his landlady with an axe when she asked him to bring in some coal) began a legal campaign on the grounds that because prisoners are deprived of the right to vote, they cannot affect change. What change could he wish to affect I wonder? Voting for a party that will make it legal to go around killing people with an axe?

He felt somewhat aggrieved when complaining about prisoner's conditions that the officers would reply, "Oh you're a prisoner, you're less than human." To which he would counter, "No I'm not, I'm a human being, I've got rights." So did the poor woman he brutally murdered. He thinks that if prisoners are given the vote, then politicians will come knocking on their cell doors asking them what they think, offering "incentives or privileges" to vote. So there it is, the crux of the matter, prisoners being offered "incentives or privileges" to do so. Hardly such a noble cause after all but then again, are you surprised?

In any case, what more incentives could they wish to receive other than the two early release schemes currently being offered by the Government? Maybe the Government will recognise the prisons as constituencies themselves? We could soon be seeing the Robbery and Theft Party, the Never Be Worker's Party, or the It's Okay to Kill Someone Party. At least if this did happen and one of them should be elected to Parliament, there would be no eyebrows raised if it was to later come into the public domain that they were claiming expenses on Cell 443 at HMP Belmarsh as their second home.

Where does all this stop? They've committed a crime, depriving others of their property, liberty - or as in the case of Mr Hirst's actions - their life. Yet the ECHR believes that they should have the right to vote on issues that will affect the lives of ordinary law-abiding citizens. Even if they do get the vote, how long will it be before a legal challenge is raised over these prisoners having to mark a voting card with an 'X'? For 90% of them, that's their signature, and they'll say that using an 'X' therefore makes them identifiable, thus removing the anonymity required for voting. It will happen. You know it will.

Let's hope some commonsense does prevail, which could be achieved by following Eire's lead. There, prisoners are not deprived of the right to vote. However, prisoners have 'no right to be given physical access to a ballot box by way of temporary release, by postal vote, or any other way.' Genius.

The original post can be found http://thethinkingpoliceman.blogspot.com/2009/06/prisoners-voting-rights.html

When Will I Stop?

Published on May 27, 2009 in police officer and prison. Closed

written by Inspector Leviathan Hobbes from The Thinking Policeman: A Police Officer's Blog

My new posting has been published on Police Oracle today. Please click on the link below if you'd like to read what I've complained about this week. You know, I get many e-mails and comments enquiring about where I find the time to write so often and so much. There are two reasons: the first is 'Britain's Got Talent'. My wife watches it. I hate it. I like spending time on the computer. My wife hates it. The trade-off is she can watch what I hate and I can do what she hates, uninterrupted from either of us telling the other how much we hate having to participate in what the other does and which we hate so much. Fortunately, for me at least, 'America's Got Talent' begins shortly after the final of 'Britain's Got Talent', so I can continue doing what I like and what my wife hates, because my wife can continue doing what I hate and she likes, and vice verse. I'm sure there is an easier way of explaining this, but I can't think of it.

The second reason is 10 years of pain caused from being a police officer. 10 years of not actually being bothered to do something remotely constructive about what pains me, which is to at least write about it. I suppose some psychologist would say this is a cathartic process and that there is some Freudian motivation behind all of it, an Oedipus complex perhaps. However, I would like to categorically say right here, right now, I would never sleep with my mother.

Once was enough. Never again.

In any event, and to swiftly change the subject, the answer to my posting on Police Oracle regarding the lack of prison spaces has been quite succinctly summarised by Dominic Grieve. "First as Chancellor, then as Prime Minister, Gordon Brown blocked the prison-building required to ease overcrowding and promote rehabilitation. Now the public are paying the price."

I must go, 'Britain's Got Talent' has finished.

Inspector Leviathan at Police Oracle

The original post can be found http://thethinkingpoliceman.blogspot.com/2009/05/when-will-i-stop.html

Jox Vox – Vol. 2

Published on January 2, 2009 in Blogroll, Police, alcohol, beer, courts, crime, football, jox vox, motorists, prison and scotland. Closed

written by Noddy from Welcome to Toy Town™

My winter festival celebrations start.... now!

Thanks to UHDD for the pic by the way. I wonder if this place would have looked the same?

Since Xmas Eve I have been carrying out duties as what might be described as a Custody Corporal and there has been one common theme transcending most of the 'customers', a theme it will take you hopefully less than a goldfish's memory span to deduce, but here's a clue....

As can be surmised from the www address of my site, I like my whisky and beer, but for some unknown reason, I do not end up fighting, spitting, caterwauling etc. after a few refreshments. It is my opinion that excess drink can, I say CAN, bring out the worst in folk, but I firmly believe the spark of evil must already be there to be lit, burst into flame and envelop all around in its incandescence.

I have been known to 'binge' drink, but somehow I always make it home safely and don't end up squaring up to folk or thrashing her that has to be obeyed on my return home.

It seems some folk are just disposed to violence and anti-social behaviour and drink is not an excuse for their behaviour, merely a catalyst.

This hogmanay our SMT described the city centre celebrations as a success with few arrests. They are right. The absolute vast majority of the considerable throngs enjoyed themselves without incident. It was the few that failed to heed the equally considerable tolerance of my colleagues, with warnings about extended stays in the suites we provide abounding given that our Sheriffs like their time off (although to be fair the Courts sat last Saturday and will sit tomorrow), that passed through my door mostly, as I said before, horizontally. They were quite simply the dregs. How often and how simply do the Polis have to explain to these vacuous eejits how to be civilised?

I can assure the SMT that down in my little world it was not quiet, but I can accept, having seen the state of the folk in the custody suite that these were the folk that no-one can mitigate against.

DRINK DRIVING?

Added to those were the other clowns (or I could put it more succinctly - potential killers) who, despite warning after warning and campaign after campaign, arrived after blowing positive roadside breathtests. I have no sympathy for them either and I hope their bans are extended and fines increased to show how ignorant and inconsiderate they are particularly at this time of year.

Anyhoo, must stop moaning.

Back to the news from Alba.

Down in the Central Belt there's folk who obviously haven't been to Torry.

In the wonderful world of disputes over nothing, this one takes 2008's special prize. At least his sentence was long enough so that he didn't 'get off' with community service.

Here's a festive turn suited to the Special Branch.

If you ever visit the Gordon Highlander's Museum be sure to give the cafe staff a nice tip. That made me proud of my country folk.

This didn't ... In the Polis we are regularly faced with violence. Unwarranted as it is, we at least have some protection. These folk don't and the level of violence shown to them is a disgrace.

There has to be one festive entry regarding political correctness gone mad and this is it.

Having trawled the news for snippets for you to savour, it's back to drink again! I'm told it's a national pastime.

Drunk driver or driven to drink?

Polis spoilsports?

I posted about this and this a while back and I am delighted with the common sense result. However, there may be problems with other names that have been suggested for some of Scotland's brews.

Mind you there's folk down south who don't even need a drink to make a tit of themselves.

The Value of a Drink

"Sometimes when I reflect back on all the wine I drink I feel shame. Then I look into the glass and think about the workers in the vineyards and all of their hopes and dreams . If I didn't drink this wine, they might be out of work and their dreams would be shattered. Then I say to myself, "It is better that I drink this wine and let their dreams come true than be selfish and worry about my liver."

~ Jack Handy

WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may leave you wondering what the hell happened to your bra and panties.

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"I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the morning, that's as good as they're going to feel all day. "

~ Frank Sinatra

WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may create the illusion that you are tougher, smarter, faster and better looking than most people.

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"When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading."

~ Henny Youngman

WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may lead you to think people are laughing WITH you.

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"24 hours in a day, 24 beers in a case. Coincidence? I think not."

~ Stephen Wright

WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may cause you to think you can sing.

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"When we drink, we get drunk. When we get drunk, we fall asleep. When we fall asleep, we commit no sin. When we commit no sin, we go to heaven. So, let's all get drunk and go to heaven!"

~ Brian O'Rourke

WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may cause pregnancy.

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"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."

~ Benjamin Franklin

WARNING: The consumption of alcohol is a major factor in dancing like a retard.

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"Without question, the greatest invention in the history of mankind is beer. Oh, I grant you that the wheel was also a fine invention, but the wheel does not go nearly as well with pizza."

~ Dave Barry

WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may cause you to tell your friends over and over again that you love them.

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To some it's a six-pack, to me it's a Support Group. Salvation in a can!

~ Dave Howell

WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may make you think you can logically converse with members of the opposite sex without spitting.

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And saving the best for last, as explained by Cliff Clavin, of Cheers.

One afternoon at Cheers, Cliff Clavin was explaining the Buffalo Theory to his buddy Norm. Here's how it went:

"Well ya see, Norm, it's like this... A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo. And when the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular killing of the weakest members. In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest brain cells. Excessive intake of alcohol, as we know, kills brain cells. But naturally, it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first. In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine. That's why you always feel smarter after a few beers."

WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may make you think you are whispering when you are not.

Slainte.

The original post can be found http://uisgebeathaagusleann.blogspot.com/2009/01/jox-vox-vol-2.html

Hundred Acre Hood and other tales

Published on October 28, 2008 in Police, courts, crime, kids, prison, religion, scotland and snippets. Closed

written by Noddy from Welcome to Toy Town™

A wee round-up of happenings north of Watford Gap.

Lost and Found.

A Toy Town™ Polis spokestoon commented, "We are glad to see the wee bear back with Piglet, Eeyore and the gang. Winnie has a serious pot habit (honey that is- ed.) and he was persuaded by some clever but unscrupulous types to venture into Toy Town™ to source his stash. Fortunately, we combed the city and in the bees nest that is Hundred Acre Hood, during a co-ordinated intelligence-led sting operation our colleagues traced Winnie. Toy Town™ Polis would like to take this opportunity to reiterate that it will not tolerate the kidnapping of toons."

PC Milne (no relative) added, "I'm glad he didn't come to a sticky end."

The local paper reported that, "After a hive of activity in the north of the city, Pooh was rescued."

Jacquelyn Liddell, Managing Director of Storybook Glen, originally told BBC Scotland when Winnie was reported missing that: "It's shocking. I just wish parents would see where their children are at night."

Wise Owl responded last night by stating, "Sometimes people jump to conclusions."

Eeyore, never one to be serious, said, "Here's some more Poo."

When asked to comment, Piglet merely said, "Oh, d-d-d-dear."

Bad day at the Office - Part 1

Some days you just wish you'd been elsewhere. Horrendously bad luck all round, for the bereaved, the other car driver and the poor Polis.

Bad day at the Office - Part 2

Every custody officer's and force's nightmare, but whatever the reason it's even more of a nightmare for the relatives. However, after the loon's last two exploits, I do hope he'd asked for forgiveness for his sins before his untimely death.

Note to Northern Constabulary - I'd start crossing your collective toes if I were you.

What a silly Hunt

Well clearly the digit curling up North isn't working. Read the article's comments to get the full flavour of the 'story'.

Judge Dredd

I have to admit I had to read this article twice. Well that's because the first time I fell off my chair in shock. Without wishing to add my support so freely to the vigilante system in Prison, it should at least make those who commit the more dastardly of crimes think twice, because despite it all there is still a moral code amongst some of the pros amongst the cons!

That's enough jox vox for now.

© Mr Plod
Published by Toy Town™ Times

The original post can be found http://uisgebeathaagusleann.blogspot.com/2008/10/hundred-acre-hood-and-other-tales.html