hmp brixton prison solidarity demo

[janis joplin]

jubilee bank holiday tuesday 5th June, meet 3pm outside Brixton tube to walk up to the prison together and make noise in solidarity with all prisoners.

called by London ABC https://network23.org/londonabc/

from their flier:

Her Majesty’s Pleasure? Stuff that!
A noise demo to show solidarity with prisoners at HMP Brixton, because frankly we don’t feel like celebrating 60 years of having a queen, especially a queen who takes pleasure from imprisoning our mates, comrades, and other fellow human beings.
What kind of a sick mind takes pleasure from locking people up in prison?
Prisons destroy people. They destroy familes, friendships, and
communities too. Putting somebody in prison is an act of violence which contributes nothing real or positive and only brutalises those who are already struggling.
We don’t believe that prison is the answer to any question we have ever asked.
We want to show the people inside HMP Brixton that they are not alone, that they are not forgotten, that queen liz and her government have not succeeding in hiding them away from us, that we support them and give a shit about them. That we think prison is a crime.
So, please join us on 5th June, part of the so-called “jubilee weekend”
for a noisy and spirited demo at HMP Brixton. We’ll meet outside Brixton underground station at 3pm to walk up to the prison together. Please bring things to make noise with, your mates, and your righteous rage.

 

[albionism]

I agree that prison brutalises human beings and we need to think about alternatives,
but i have always wondered, what do we do with rapists, child molesters, murderers ?

 

[HST]

I agree that prison brutalises human beings and we need to think about alternatives,
but i have always wondered, what do we do with rapists, child molesters, murderers ?

Psychiatric hospitals. I'm old school on this.

 

[albionism]

Yeah, i have often thought about what we would do if
we did away with prisons. Could, for example, a serial
rapist or serial murderer be treated in the community
instead of being jailed? Would the community want
such an individual in their midst? Can such a person be
"treated". Prison clearly does not work, in terms of cutting
crime and rehabilitation. But what to do with the lowest
of the low, the child killers et al ?

 

[Blagsta]

Psychiatric hospitals. I'm old school on this.

What makes you think all rapists, child molesters and murderers are mentally ill?

 

[purenarcotic]

Some people kill others, rape others and fiddle with kids because they derive a sick pleasure out of it. A psychiatric unit is of no use with these people; they aren't mentally ill. They are in full capacity of their senses, they feel no remorse for their actions. Pills and potions are of no use here.

 

[lizzieloo]

I would have thought that a fair few convicted rapists and child molesters are safer on the inside.

 

[ska invita]

UK prison system is archaic compared to somewhere like Denmark... ridiculous reoffending rates by comparison... if anyone knows some stats source im sure they'll back me up. Nevermind, Ill google it. Here we go:

hough they are both members of the European Union, the gloomy clang of a prison gate is a sound you are half as likely to hear in Denmark as in the UK.

While British judges lock up 139 people per 100,000 of population, in Denmark the figure is just over 60 - less than half.

Are Danes naturally so much less criminal, or are British criminals so tough they need locking up twice as often as the bad guys in Denmark?

Comparing justice systems from one country to another is tricky, because there are so many other cultural and social factors affecting criminal behaviour.

But one figure does seem to stand out in comparisons of prison populations in Britain and Denmark.

While 55% of British prisoners will re-offend and come back to jail, in Denmark the re-offending rate is just 27%.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3036450.stm
differences include:

Shorter sentences
Women guards
More family visits
More education
Anger management courses

HMP Brixton

HMCIP REPORT
Last Inspection by HMCIP: 1–10 December 2010 - unannounced full follow-up inspection
Report Dated: February 2011
Published: May 2011

They said:
“HMP Brixton is an overcrowded, Victorian, local prison on a small, inner London site. Its certified normal capacity is just over 500 prisoners but, at the time of this follow-up inspection, the average number of prisoners held was between 725 and 775. Many men doubled up in cells built for one.

Built in early 1800s
http://www.insidetime.org/info-regimes2.asp?nameofprison=HMP_BRIXTON

 

[mrs quoad]

Psychiatric hospitals. I'm old school on this.

Forced rehabilitation can be far more punitive than prison will ever be.

Start with automatic indefinite sentences (until you can adequately perform compliance) & work backwards from there. Psychiatric hospitalisation can be utterly insidious, dishonest & nasty. Particularly for people who genuinely aren't - in any meaningful sense - conventionally mentally ill.

AND pathologising the individual arguably takes away any context from their actions. If crime is a mental illness, it's a problem of the individual. Not a reflection of structural inequalities, or any kind of structured, intentional, meaningful process.

Tbh, you'd also need to find psychiatrists who think that all such crime is the result of (treatable?) mental illness, too. And I'm not sure there are many of them around.

Prison is used way, way too much, though.

 

[fogbat]

What makes you think all rapists, child molesters and murderers are mentally ill?

Not all rapists, child molesters and murderers are mentally ill, but all mentally ill people are rapists, child molesters and murderers.

 

[Deareg]

I agree that prison brutalises human beings and we need to think about alternatives,
but i have always wondered, what do we do with rapists, child molesters, murderers ?

I don't think too many people will deny that we need prisons,or that we need police, but it is the type of prisons, just like the type of police that is the problem.

 

[biggus dickus]

Countries like Scandinavia which have shitloads of natural resources and money and can afford to be apart from the fray treat their rapists and thieves as people who are also victims of society and spend lots of money on that minority and once they get out of their prison they don't want to do any bad
Countries like China who have too many people just take their rapists and thieves out the back and shoot them in the head.

If China had enough money they would probably treat them like victims as well but you know, there isn't enough money to not shoot rapists for people who don't own fish and oil

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Slightly more than last time then. Taken a few minutes ago