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Joe Giltrap : Jail sentences just don’t fit the crime  THE
SPIN-DOCTORS claim crime is falling yet the prisons are full to breaking-point
for the first time ever.
Did I miss something or is there not a bit of a contradiction there?
This is indeed a crisis and the Government wants magistrates to impose
fewer jail sentences to ease the pressure.
This situation has been looming for years and yet nothing was done.
Magistrates are predictably furious as they don’t like being told
what to do by interfering politicians.
We already have early release for prisoners who probably should not be
released at all never mind early.
It is called End Of Custody Licence. It sounds lovely doesn’t it?
What it actually means is that prisoners can be released 18 days before
they even reach the half-way stage of their sentence.
Only politicians can come up with titles like this. Now they want to move
the goalposts again and let them out 30 days under the End Of Custody
Licence to free up more space.
With all this in mind I would love someone to explain why 76-year-old
Richard Fitzmaurice from Norfolk was jailed for non-payment of council
tax in protest at the cost.
It goes to show once again that you can do what you like against its citizens
but if you mess with the State itself you will pay the price.
Well all is not lost because help is at hand. Yours truly has given this
some serious thought and may have come up with a solution.
We can call it prison share or PS for short.
It would work a bit like job sharing. You could have a day in and a day
out. Flexi-prison in fact. What do you think?
If you had to stay in overnight then perhaps you would get time off in
lieu.
That would give you enough time and freedom to continue in your chosen
profession of thieving and burgling etc without any great disruption to
family life.
This is important because we all know what family means to criminals.
I hope the Government does not see this because it might just think I
am serious and give it a shot. |
