The poison in the prison system
Currently 79,412 people are in UK prisons. That is over twice as many, per population , as the Netherlands, Norway, or Finland, though only one-fifth the rate of the USA. The number is likely to increase with an increase in the sentencing powers of magistrates’ courts and laws such as the Police and Crime Bill that will criminalise more people. The government aims to imprison more people and new prisons are currently being planned. The media and government portray prisoners as monstrous people. We are told that the purpose of prisons is to lock up dangerous people, to keep us safe that prisons...