People are in prison cause they comitted a crime and they have been caught, and this is their punishment.

So why MUSTN'T they be made to pay for the ills they have brought upon socitey?

Firstly, it's exploiation cuz they get paid almost nothing. Secondly, it only helps to contribute to unemployment, as the companies will use people who cant say no to whatever profit induced pay the company is giving. Thirdly, as far as i see it, prison is about rehabilitation - re-intergrating people into society. Forcing people into labour is hardly teaching them a trade, only to teach them to hate the system they discarded in the first place.

Actually around a third of people are in prison are in for things they didn't do. The cops and courts are the corrupt ones. around 2% of people in prison are there for violent offences, the majority these days are in for non-payment of fines etc - and then the prisons are being topped up by drug abusers. ( yeah drug abuse leads to anti-socail crime) and particualrly crimes on the working class - but did we have these huge drug problems before thatcher came to power and decimated communites, work - leaving many people with no hope etc etc??? No we certainly didn't. Why is it some 99%.9 of people in prison just so happen to be from poor communites, why is it a 1/3 of the prison population cannot read and write. It is a myth that prisons are full of criminals.
We are roobbed continually by the rich ( tax exasion, ripped off at work and by energy companies etc etc) we are 7 times more likely to die at work than killed on the street, 6 times more likely to be injured at work than injured on the street I could go on and on.
I don't attempt to excuse crime committed by people in our own areas but we ned to define crime differently - we need to define it as social harm - that is crime - and the crimes of the powerful cause more harm to millions of people than any petty robber etc. And the corporate criminals walk sit in the expensive bars, drives expensive cars and are protected by the police and the judiciary.
Added to the initial comments - The UK is 10 years behind the USA and the prison esablishment in the USA - is run for the benfit of huge corporations. There is a deliberate plan to imprison those who it has no employment for ( the unemployed and get them to work for peanuts - it is for corporporations the perfect workforce. The state pays their keep, they cant join a union and if they try to go on strike the maximun amount of force is used - many people describe it as The Prison - Industrial - Complex that means its all interwined. This is what is happening in this country. And what happens in the prsions is a microcosim of what happens in soceity at large. This is not some weird sci fi future this is our future and its happening now. Lick and kiss arse and let yourself be fucked a thousand times a week or resist - its a choice.

Lick and kiss arse and let yourself be fucked a thousand times a week or resist - its a choice.


Fine words David but resist what exactly and resist how exactly?

If I have to explain why we should resist and against what to someone on indymedia then maybe that someone should be on some bullshit chatline instead of logging onto a political site.

but why are you not protesting about all the attack on muslims? do not you realise that the enemy of the us and uk id not whiyte people who in prison get treated very very well but the muslim? or do yuo hate my people?

/If I have to explain why we should resist and against what to someone on indymedia then maybe that someone should be on some bullshit chatline instead of logging onto a political site./

Thank you for your warm and illuminating reply David.

Well it was adaft question coming from someone - who is tuning in to indymedia.
We should resist becasue anyone with a nounce of humanity and conscience, realises that we are drifting into a corporate and state tyranny - the UK is deffo the 53rd state of the USA - rising crime, lowering of community involvement - prisons being built to house the poor the dispossessed - enviromental destruction, the tightening of laws, surveillence on a huge scale. Out of all this is the hope that people can come together and start fighting for a new world - a better world - were two thirds of the world don't go to bed hungry every night - were health and science is used for the benefit of humanity not corporate greed. Anyway I could go on - we should resist to exist.

And no our muslim friend - the job is about fighting for justice for everyone - and prison is not a good place to be.

i mam relatively new to this site, however i must say i would disagree with the coments of david green. to say that those incarcerated in this country's jails are being exploited is somewhat obscene. just ask any of the hundreds of people who fall victim to the scum who slope around our streets on a daily basis and you will see a very different picture. whilst the thatcher government caused untold suffering, to lay the blame for this country's drug problem at their door is somewhat of a distortion of the truth. during the so called swinging sixties the use of drugs including heroin and other
'class- a' drugs was rife. i deliver around liverpool on a daily basis and have come to see a distinct increase in the attitude of the "youth" of today, even young kids are cheeky, nasty, disrespectful and looking for any chance they can to cause some sort of nuisance of themselves. the answer? well you may not like this but a tougher criminal justice system would be my answer punish people hard enough and they will think twice about commiting further crimes. and when inside let them work and give the money to the parents of the children they have abused/murdered, the pensioners they have battered and the families of those whose lives they have shattered. i agree with some of your coments about the rich getting richer but if this city is not to descend {along with the rest of the country} into a copy-cat of america then we must act now to ensure that the ordinary person on the street is safe to live, because no matter how many rich people drive their big cars into liverpool they will never outdo the real people of this city.