Category Archives: Prison

Britain’s incoherent drug laws

Posted on August 31, 2018 by odeboyz

The British government’s rhetoric about drug use is facile. Heroically misplaced aspirations are paraded with the premise that positive action will be decisive. A so-called Drug Tsar was appointed as long ago as 1998. Why, one wonders, would a British … Continue reading →

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Book review: Anonymous ~ The Secret Barrister: stories of the Law and How It’s Broken

Posted on August 7, 2018 by odeboyz

The Secret Barrister quickly establishes his non-traditional background. He was educated at a comprehensive school and isn’t a high-flyer. His post-2000 career has been blighted by reductions in legal aid payments. He offers many examples of stellar legal work but … Continue reading →

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One for Theresa ‘Hostile Environment’ May’s scrapbook

Posted on August 2, 2018 by odeboyz

“Kurdish refugee who fled to Britain from war in Iran wins mathematics’ highest honour” The Guardian 2nd August 2018 p3 Chris

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Chris Grayling: A Tory extremist

Posted on July 27, 2018 by odeboyz

…. Chris Grayling MP, Secretary of State for Justice between 2012 and 2015, announced his populist plans to make prisons, already hideous tombs of violence, death and terror, ‘less lax’ and more ‘spartan’, introducing severe restrictions on prisoners’ ‘privileges’ – … Continue reading →

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Bertrand Russell in Brixton prison, 1918

Posted on July 20, 2018 by odeboyz

For the first two months of his sentence, life at Brixton prison suited Russell perfectly. Freed from the demands of both political campaigning and romantic attachments,* he was able to live precisely the kind of cloistered, contemplative life he craved. … Continue reading →

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Traditional forms of punishment: Britain* 1700-1900

Posted on April 2, 2018 by odeboyz

Traditionally, British judges sentencing criminals had five principal options: capital punishment, corporal punishment, exile, imprisonment and torture. Judges sentencing criminals to ‘savage’ sentences were using proportionate and appropriate punishments according to the expectations of the time. The sentences were anticipated … Continue reading →

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Film Review ~ The Death of Stalin (Steve Buscemi and Simon Russell Beale)

Posted on October 24, 2017 by odeboyz

The court of Stalin was populated with cringing, bullying, mediocre psychopaths. Psychopath-in-chief Beria (Simon Russell Beale) moves from a boozy, jocular meeting with Stalin straight to the torture chambers of ‘his’ prison. Throughout the film he jokes about torture. Lists … Continue reading →

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Rudolf Hess, Rolf Harris and humanitarian sentencing

Posted on August 19, 2017 by odeboyz

“There is to my mind no justification for keeping Hess in prison any longer. He is 88. He has been in prison for 40 years. He has been without the company of other prisoners for over 16 years. Humanitarian reasons … Continue reading →

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Solitary Confinement: US style

Posted on May 2, 2017 by odeboyz

Bruce Ward , imprisoned in Arkansas since 1990, has been in solitary confinement through-out that period i.e. 27 years. “He spends all day and night in a cell measuring 12 ft by 7.5 ft (3.6 metres by 2.3 metres) with … Continue reading →

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American capitalism at its amoral best

Posted on April 18, 2017 by odeboyz

You can buy prison-cell upgrades in California for $82 a night and purchase the right to immigrate to the United States for $500,000. Susskind, Richard; Susskind, Daniel. The Future of the Professions: How Technology Will Transform the Work of Human … Continue reading →

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