Inmates 'sleeping in toilet area' due to jail overcrowding
- added July 22, 2008
- 7 responses
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- JanaPokana
- added this
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Some prisoners are living and sleeping in toilets because of jail overcrowding, a report says.
HM Inspectorate of Prisons found Doncaster jail held almost 200 more inmates than it had been intended for. Two-man cells had been turned into three-man cells by putting an extra bed in the toilet area. The Chief Inspector of Prisons, Anne Owers, said using the toilet area as accommodation was "unacceptable" and called for the practice to end.
In its report, the justice committee called ministerial pledges to build more cells a "risky" strategy that had failed to address deeper issues over crime. Its chairman, Liberal Democrat MP Alan Beith, said: "Changes in sentencing policy and practice leading to longer sentences have been a significant contributor to the unexpected and unplanned increase in both prison and probation populations. We urge the government to address sentencing policy in a more considered and systematic way and to reconsider the merits of this trend."
The report said: "There is a contradiction in stating that prison should be reserved for serious and dangerous offenders while not providing the resources necessary to fund more appropriate options for other offenders who then end up back in prison. Short custodial sentences are very unlikely to contribute to an offender's rehabilitation; in fact, short custodial sentences may increase re-offending." Community sentences, instead of replacing short jail terms, were being used in place of fines, adding to the "inexorable rise in sentences".
(Excerpts / BBC News)
HM Inspectorate of Prisons found Doncaster jail held almost 200 more inmates than it had been intended for. Two-man cells had been turned into three-man cells by putting an extra bed in the toilet area. The Chief Inspector of Prisons, Anne Owers, said using the toilet area as accommodation was "unacceptable" and called for the practice to end.
In its report, the justice committee called ministerial pledges to build more cells a "risky" strategy that had failed to address deeper issues over crime. Its chairman, Liberal Democrat MP Alan Beith, said: "Changes in sentencing policy and practice leading to longer sentences have been a significant contributor to the unexpected and unplanned increase in both prison and probation populations. We urge the government to address sentencing policy in a more considered and systematic way and to reconsider the merits of this trend."
The report said: "There is a contradiction in stating that prison should be reserved for serious and dangerous offenders while not providing the resources necessary to fund more appropriate options for other offenders who then end up back in prison. Short custodial sentences are very unlikely to contribute to an offender's rehabilitation; in fact, short custodial sentences may increase re-offending." Community sentences, instead of replacing short jail terms, were being used in place of fines, adding to the "inexorable rise in sentences".
(Excerpts / BBC News)
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- JanaPokana
- 2 months ago
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I've slept next to my toilet on numerous occasions, normally after copious amounts of tequila.
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Would it kill to get a couple more rooms.. even though toilets can be pretty comfortable sometimes..
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- Eri_Soulja
- 2 months ago
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Do you mean to imply that all of Prisons are not toilet bowls. But seriously, If they didn't commit crimes? They would not be in that situation.
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Set all the marijuana offenders free and each prisoner could have a cell to himself.
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- TopScruffy
- 2 months ago
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The bathroom must be petty spacious if it can accommodate a bed.
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- EclecticBadger
- 2 months ago
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I have spoken to previous inmates who claim to prefer jail to the "free-life" simply because it is "much more" difficult to take responsibility for yourself in "free-life" while rent, television, food, clothing, etc is provided for you in jail.
This person is currently back in jail after persuading two minors to rob an elderly woman who frequented his last place of employment.
Perhaps if jail was a scary place, a place where people did not want to go, there wouldn't be so much overcrowding. -
According to a current inmate, the jail in Roanoke Virginia operates in this fashion...putting a mattress on the floor next to the toilet for a third cell mate to sleep on. It has caused some to have severe anxiety and revert to medication, to avoid panic attacks. They have also had frequent suicides at this facility.
I believe in punishment, but lets be humane here.....-
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- sallyde1ta
- 2 months ago
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