tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578343158425987632.post6490304916223563648..comments2024-03-28T07:32:23.397+00:00Comments on On Probation Blog: Observations Of a PrisonerJim Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00258147767051200157noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578343158425987632.post-81963465899882548282016-08-10T22:59:25.412+01:002016-08-10T22:59:25.412+01:00300 sodexo passes suspended for airside staff due ...300 sodexo passes suspended for airside staff due to a suspected scam & security risk. Seems its causing major distress to Virgin Airways customers flying 'upper class' because it's affected availability of some food choices in their 'Clubhouse'. Some dickwad with more money than sense has posted a comment elsewhere referring to the food 'crisis', ending it with: "you get a £10 voucher for hot food on top of what you are allowed to have in the clubhouse, problem is you have to queue with all the poor people in the main terminal which I avoid."<br /><br />#we're all in it together. #doncha just love the english way of lifeAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578343158425987632.post-55226429990862180442016-08-10T21:25:54.553+01:002016-08-10T21:25:54.553+01:00Sodexo
http://news.sky.com/story/heathrow-alert-30...Sodexo<br />http://news.sky.com/story/heathrow-alert-300-security-passes-suspended-10530608Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578343158425987632.post-4974138390667500452016-08-10T19:21:32.854+01:002016-08-10T19:21:32.854+01:00Well said 15:22. It's so sad and frustrating t...Well said 15:22. It's so sad and frustrating to hear (and indeed to observe at first hand as a TTG caseworker) the realities of prison life and the degrading conditions that both prisoners and staff endure in the drive to ever greater efficiency. Things will only get worse I fear as we continue to see imprisonment and the revolving door of constant recalls (whoever thought the ORA was a sensible piece of legislation!!!) as being the panacea for societies ills. CRC POnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578343158425987632.post-76597330779792856852016-08-10T17:15:24.358+01:002016-08-10T17:15:24.358+01:00Lets see how Fayling Grayling copes with a truly a...Lets see how Fayling Grayling copes with a truly active & militant union as opposed to the relatively genteel resistance he's had to face thus far. His lunchtime warcry was pretty feeble; I'm now looking forward to the RMT kicking him to death - politically speaking, of course.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578343158425987632.post-91501583527005792562016-08-10T15:42:45.281+01:002016-08-10T15:42:45.281+01:00Thanks for putting this up Jim, I did write it as ...Thanks for putting this up Jim, I did write it as a comment to yesterday’s post by the prison officer and you didn’t have to go the effort of retrieving it, so thanks for that.<br /><br />Unfortunately Grayling wasn’t as unpopular with the general public as he was with those of us who lived / worked in the CJS. When the Tories came to power in 2010 and Ken Clarke was in charge of the MoJ, his initial observations were that the UK was imprisoning far too many people at great expense, and set about dismantling the IPP and making loud noises about how too many people were needlessly remanded, or serving prison sentences as a result of a dearth of MH facilities in the community. This wasn’t very popular with the right-wing press, and Clarke was often fielding ignorant questions about how he planned to deal with dangerous offenders without the IPP. The necessary removal of the atrocious IPP system was seen in many circles as being a ‘soft’ move. Grayling’s attack-dog rhetoric about austere prisons has a tabloid appeal, and if a government ever needs to make swingeing cuts, the CJS is the place to do it – it’s an invisible cut, a system which isn’t noticed by wider society unless you are in the tiny minority who are caught up in it.<br /><br />I remember watching an episode of Question Time when I was in prison, and an exceptionally moronic audience member frothed about how prisoners were given a PlayStation, and if they smashed it up it would be replaced at taxpayer expense because of the emphasis on ‘human rights’ in prisons. Rather than shout this ignorant baloney down, the panel took turns to address this as a serious question, and each pontificated on how their law and order stance would be a strict one, and that such non-existent luxuries would be removed from serving prisoners under their watch. So long as the public remain happily ignorant about the realities of living and working within the prison system, and these myths are happily promoted by mainstream media, there will always be a place for dull-witted blusterers like Grayling in British politics.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578343158425987632.post-19114262086818011042016-08-10T13:29:52.788+01:002016-08-10T13:29:52.788+01:00Whilst Grayling was the justice minister solicitor...Whilst Grayling was the justice minister solicitors went on strike. Lawyers went on strike. Probation officers went on strike.<br />Now he's transport minister and Southern rail have gone on strike, and Eurostar have announced strike action over two weekends including bank holiday weekend.<br />Recurring theme syndrome?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578343158425987632.post-36467234832439083282016-08-10T12:50:22.977+01:002016-08-10T12:50:22.977+01:00Grayling is a PR man like Cameron and Priti Patel,...Grayling is a PR man like Cameron and Priti Patel, they can stay on focus when under the harshest attack from Journos and they have friends in the media who ask them soft questionsAndrew_S_Hattonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09115192522317353139noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578343158425987632.post-12576587226253571752016-08-10T12:16:09.389+01:002016-08-10T12:16:09.389+01:00I'm still puzzled as to why Cameron thought pu...I'm still puzzled as to why Cameron thought putting Grayling in charge of the MoJ was any kind of sensible move. The man is an idiot who has messed up every official post he's held to date. Chasing headlines is no way to run a judicial system and prison service b ut apparently that seems to be Grayling's modus operandi. Also still not sure why Michael Spurr is still in postr let alone getting a 10% payrise considering he's presided over the creation of the current mess in our prisonsAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578343158425987632.post-29600990627216348612016-08-10T08:05:38.049+01:002016-08-10T08:05:38.049+01:00Well said and thanks to that former prisoner for w...Well said and thanks to that former prisoner for writing, what was I presume originally a response to a Guardian article from a prison officer a few days ago, that Jim Brown republished here.<br /><br />http://probationmatters.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/penny-wise-pound-foolish.html<br /><br />I hope these observations get national media exposure and that other blogs republish, as I think Jim Brown has an exclusive, and not for the first time. Thanks to Jim for making it possible for this stuff to see the light of day.<br /><br />I take issue with one small point - which has major implications and is probably why we end up amidst blogs not the BBC etc.<br /><br />it is this phrase: -<br /><br />"Everybody knows it’s failing"<br /><br />I would rewrite that as - Everybody (with close understanding and experience of the English & Welsh Criminal Justice system) knows it’s failing. -<br /><br />Sadly most simply do not care, as long as they are not affected - maybe that is another reason why so much effort is going into demonising Jeremy Corbyn and his followers because there is a fear that if such as him get closer to power, there is a possibility of revealing many deep dark secrets at the heart of the UK which prevent our nation functioning to the benefit of all.<br /><br />I would remind folk of (for example) the Jeremy Thorpe affair - which has hardly had wide exposure since it was made public with a broadcast of details after his death - why do we still not have such secrets exposed to the same glare as such as the front page of today's Daily Mirror "Cliff's last goodbye to dying sister" etc. ad nauseam?<br /><br />https://www.facebook.com/AndrewSHattonPublicMiscellany/posts/948990118556835Andrew_S_Hattonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09115192522317353139noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578343158425987632.post-4263719878472929402016-08-10T07:46:50.672+01:002016-08-10T07:46:50.672+01:00Very true and well said!sadly the current governme...Very true and well said!sadly the current government are more interested in pushing their political agenda than doing what is right!Tontohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13217829504604790968noreply@blogger.com