Just wondring about our prison systems compared to other countries because there are so many people from the UK, and Europe involved with US prisoners.

Are activist from Europe also involved with their home country or is thiers run much more humanely?

I just noticed so many from across the ocean so involved and wondered why?

thanks

I think that prisons in Europe might be a little better. Of course not all of them, but I think that (in general) the prisoners are being treated more humane then in the US. I also believe that the system is better thought off, juveniles can't end up in adult prisons (talking about Holland and Belgium). For more information, check www.gevangenis.nl...and click the British flag for an English version

Our prisons aren't great by any stretch of the imagination. The reason I am interested in the US is because a) my husband is American and b) I don't agree with the death penalty - something we abolished years ago.

Here, we have a prison governing body and if it is found that a prison is way below standards or the inmates are being mal-treated (over crowding, high suicide rate) the Governor (that's what we call Wardens here) are suspended or sacked. They are not allowed to get away with it. Also I don't believe the Guards (COs) are allowed to go around bullying and belitting the inmates either, although I am sure some must. Our system is all about rehabilitation - although I guess its up to the individual if they want to be rehabilated or not. Schooling is allowed as well and inmates can study for Open University Degrees and Dipolmas.

The longest sentence is 25 years which is life, although sometimes Judges do rule that you can serve an indefinite amount of time, like Hindley and Brady. You can also be given multiple life sentences but these don't mean life like they do in the US. Sentences can and are often reduced after good behaviour.

The UK is also trying to stop over crowding in prisons, so there is talk of doing electronic tagging on those that are in for minor offences to free up the spaces for those who committed more serious crimes. This raises issue though because in an experiement, some 'repeat' offenders who have been sentenced for stealing / joy riding etc were coming out and committing their crimes all over again. So we are far from perfect as you can see.

Gun crime is just becoming more serious over here. We are not allowed to bear arms but some how guns are becoming more and more a part of our culture. Stabbings are on the increase too and other violent crime is on the increase. I myself was attacked 2 minutes from my door in broad daylight. No-one helped me even though the street was busy.

If I had someone in the system over here I would be just as vocal as I am towards the US. Here to my knowledge, we treat the inmates medically as well but then we have a thing here called the Natjonal Health Service which means no-one has to pay for health care unless they want to go private.

This site should give you more information about how our penal system is run. Joolz


http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/hmipris/hmipris.htm

oh yeah, I know from a friend who has been in prison in Belgium that you can get in like a soccer team or whatever and when you show good behaviour you can play tournaments with the co's or with a team (of prisoners) from another prison. but it's not all good neither. some co's really get a kick out of their power and try to assault and mentally abuse the prisoner as much as possible :(

Rehabilitation?? the DOC in the US has no idea what that word means. Maybe I should send them a printout from the dictionary,lol.
Michelle

hahahah, I think you should send them a hole list!

I don't think the prisons in the U.S. are the worst in the world, the prisons in Asia def. have that honor. They are real hell holes. We get a lot of info. about them because there are a lot of Australian in them waiting to be hanged for drug offences. They don't mess around over there! The thing with prisons in the U.S. is that it's supposed to be a civilised country. I know it's not my place to be critical, but prisons over there are much,much worse than they are here. And that is in part because they are run completely by the Govt. here and business is not involved like it is there.Try to get hold of a book called The Perpetual Prisoner Machine by Joel Dyer and it explains how business over there profits enormously from prison labor.

I know of a max.security prison in South Africa. This prison is run by gangs. When you arrive as a 'new kid', you have to kill someone first, as a sort of welcome. if you refuse, you will be the one that will be killed.
when you killed someone, you then need to let the leaders of the gang you're in rape you and you're not allowed to scream or fight. if you scream, they'll take it as a sign of weakness and kill you anyway. guards aren't doing anything about it

I found this article this morning and it reminded me of this post. Just thought you'd like to see it.

http://www.hrw.org/wr2k2/prisons.html

thanks, was interesting

If asked if US prisons were the best or worst, I could not agree with either. There are glaring problems in our prisons, but there are clearly worst places. We call ourselves the most civilized country, and we have rules that all should follow, even inmates are protected to some degree with laws after going to prison. In many countries, no rules is the rule in prison. At the same time, there are prisons in other countries that are better. Hope that helps...

That's the thing: we claim to be the Leaders of the Free World. IMAO, if everybody was really following, we'd be leading straight off a cliff at the moment.

It is not the worse as many arabic and asian prisons are a lot worse ...............