What is the purpose of prison? I thought there were three or four possible reasons for imprisonment. First, to punish the perpetrator for a crime. Secondly, to rehabilitate the criminal. Thirdly to prevent the prisoner from committing any further crime and last but apparently not least, for revenge. Oh yes, and “Justice” fits in somewhere between all of these.
I don't understand the Government's stance on Ronnie Biggs. The great train robber and criminal ‘celebrity’ of our time has certainly been punished. Does anyone disagree with that? Unfortunately he's past rehabilitation (I looked it up in the dictionary.... rehabilitate: restore to normal life by training, etc, esp. after imprisonment or illness; restore to former privileges or reputation or to proper condition) and can’t be restored to normal life by training or anything else because allegedly, the poor bloke can no longer speak, walk or talk as a result of several strokes and other health problems. Ergo, we don't need to prevent him from committing further crimes because he couldn’t even get himself out to nick a newspaper at this stage. Justice has been served and I really think that all of us, with the apparent exception of Jack Straw, have had our revenge.
Mr Straw’s much quoted reason for keeping Biggs banged up is that “he remains wholly unrepentant”. That may be so but where in the prison manifesto does it say that repentance is one of the pre-requisites for release? You can call me a cynic but I’m willing to bet that of the hundreds of prisoners released back into society over a year or two, one or two of them may possibly remain “wholly unrepentant” and may even be planning their next crime as we speak.
The original sentence was excessive; the time simply didn’t fit the crime. Ronnie Biggs has now surely paid his dues? His life is all but over, the man is clearly on his last legs and, my fellow tax payers, we’re funding him in prison when he could be back in the bosom of his family who would have the pleasure of funding his remaining few weeks, months or possibly even a year or two.
Let him out for goodness sake. What harm could it do?
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