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| Letters: only radical change can halt the tide of prison deaths | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Suicides, self-harm, homicides and assaults may be at an all-time high (“Suicide, self-harm, stabbings and riots – prisons reach crisis point”, News) but deaths have always been endemic in the prison system. | Suicides, self-harm, homicides and assaults may be at an all-time high (“Suicide, self-harm, stabbings and riots – prisons reach crisis point”, News) but deaths have always been endemic in the prison system. |
| This sustained death toll reflects the desperate reality of overcrowded, dehumanising and violent prisons and the failure to protect those in its care. Our organisation, Inquest, has worked for more than 30 years with families bereaved by prison deaths and sees the traumatic impact these have on generations of family members. Inquest after inquest highlights repeated, systemic failures and the inappropriate use of prison for a range of different groups who should simply not be there. | This sustained death toll reflects the desperate reality of overcrowded, dehumanising and violent prisons and the failure to protect those in its care. Our organisation, Inquest, has worked for more than 30 years with families bereaved by prison deaths and sees the traumatic impact these have on generations of family members. Inquest after inquest highlights repeated, systemic failures and the inappropriate use of prison for a range of different groups who should simply not be there. |
| A constant stream of inquest findings, investigations, inspectorate and monitoring reports and inquiries into prisons, from Baroness Corston to Lord Harris, has produced rigorous, evidence-based recommendations to protect the health and safety of prisoners and staff in British jails. Yet the vast majority of these have been systematically ignored and not acted on. | A constant stream of inquest findings, investigations, inspectorate and monitoring reports and inquiries into prisons, from Baroness Corston to Lord Harris, has produced rigorous, evidence-based recommendations to protect the health and safety of prisoners and staff in British jails. Yet the vast majority of these have been systematically ignored and not acted on. |
| Prison is an ineffective and expensive intervention that does not work, as demonstrated by high reconviction rates. It fails prisoners, victims and communities. The justice secretary, Liz Truss, talks about prison reform but her proposals will not relieve the current crisis. | Prison is an ineffective and expensive intervention that does not work, as demonstrated by high reconviction rates. It fails prisoners, victims and communities. The justice secretary, Liz Truss, talks about prison reform but her proposals will not relieve the current crisis. |
| The only way to halt the increasing and morally indefensible tide of prison deaths and violence is to dramatically reduce the prison population, invest in alternatives and transform the nature and culture of prisons, so they become places of last resort, where rehabilitation is more than a rhetorical fantasy. Deborah Coles, director, InquestProfessor Joe Sim, Liverpool John Moores University, trustee, InquestProfessor Steve Tombs, Open University, trustee, Inquest | The only way to halt the increasing and morally indefensible tide of prison deaths and violence is to dramatically reduce the prison population, invest in alternatives and transform the nature and culture of prisons, so they become places of last resort, where rehabilitation is more than a rhetorical fantasy. Deborah Coles, director, InquestProfessor Joe Sim, Liverpool John Moores University, trustee, InquestProfessor Steve Tombs, Open University, trustee, Inquest |
| Orwell against warmongers | Orwell against warmongers |
| I very much agree with the thrust of Nick Cohen’s post-US election column (Comment), including his assertion that for liberals, “thinking about class, not instead of but along with gender and race would be a step forward”. So it may seem pedantic to complain that he surprisingly prays in aid WH Auden’s poem Spain and what he even more surprisingly calls George Orwell’s “uncharacteristically incoherent attack” on it. | I very much agree with the thrust of Nick Cohen’s post-US election column (Comment), including his assertion that for liberals, “thinking about class, not instead of but along with gender and race would be a step forward”. So it may seem pedantic to complain that he surprisingly prays in aid WH Auden’s poem Spain and what he even more surprisingly calls George Orwell’s “uncharacteristically incoherent attack” on it. |
| Orwell actually wrote in Inside the Whale that the poem was “one of the few decent things that have been written about the Spanish war”. But he did indeed have a serious – and extremely coherent – criticism of it: that Auden’s phrase “necessary murder” could “only be written by a person to whom murder is at most a word”. Orwell was tilting at the “warmongering to which the English intelligentsia gave themselves up in the period 1935-39” and that he believed “was largely based on a sense of personal immunity”. | Orwell actually wrote in Inside the Whale that the poem was “one of the few decent things that have been written about the Spanish war”. But he did indeed have a serious – and extremely coherent – criticism of it: that Auden’s phrase “necessary murder” could “only be written by a person to whom murder is at most a word”. Orwell was tilting at the “warmongering to which the English intelligentsia gave themselves up in the period 1935-39” and that he believed “was largely based on a sense of personal immunity”. |
| Perhaps it is uncharitable to say that by leaving for the US in 1939, Auden managed to maintain that “immunity”, unlike Orwell who, having fought in Spain, remained in London, while persistently but vainly applying to serve in the armed forces, despite his ill health. But I know, out of Auden and Orwell, who most sensible people, liberals included, would rather go into the jungle with.Donald MacintyreOxford | Perhaps it is uncharitable to say that by leaving for the US in 1939, Auden managed to maintain that “immunity”, unlike Orwell who, having fought in Spain, remained in London, while persistently but vainly applying to serve in the armed forces, despite his ill health. But I know, out of Auden and Orwell, who most sensible people, liberals included, would rather go into the jungle with.Donald MacintyreOxford |
| Home-schooling hang-up | Home-schooling hang-up |
| I wholeheartedly agree with Sonia Sodha’s comments (6 November and Letters) on the lack of supervision of home-educating parents. I would like to petition for a change in the law that would allow local education authorities to reach children who do not attend school. | I wholeheartedly agree with Sonia Sodha’s comments (6 November and Letters) on the lack of supervision of home-educating parents. I would like to petition for a change in the law that would allow local education authorities to reach children who do not attend school. |
| Parents doing a good job with their offspring would surely be allowed to continue, but those parents who seem to be satisfying their own opinions and disregarding the needs of their children could be challenged about the benefit of their offerings. Why is every recent government so hung up on parental rights to the detriment of every child’s education?Sheila ChaseHuddersfield | Parents doing a good job with their offspring would surely be allowed to continue, but those parents who seem to be satisfying their own opinions and disregarding the needs of their children could be challenged about the benefit of their offerings. Why is every recent government so hung up on parental rights to the detriment of every child’s education?Sheila ChaseHuddersfield |
| Scottish university roll-call | Scottish university roll-call |
| In “1,000 years of world-class universities” (Special Report), the gap between 1096 and 1878 should have been filled with the University of St Andrews (1413), the University of Glasgow (1451), the University of Aberdeen (King’s College) (1495) and the University of Edinburgh (1593). A second University of Aberdeen college, Marischal College, was founded in 1593, prompting Aberdonians to boast that for several hundred years they had as many universities as the whole of England.Harry D WatsonEdinburgh | In “1,000 years of world-class universities” (Special Report), the gap between 1096 and 1878 should have been filled with the University of St Andrews (1413), the University of Glasgow (1451), the University of Aberdeen (King’s College) (1495) and the University of Edinburgh (1593). A second University of Aberdeen college, Marischal College, was founded in 1593, prompting Aberdonians to boast that for several hundred years they had as many universities as the whole of England.Harry D WatsonEdinburgh |
| PR and the ballot-box paradox | PR and the ballot-box paradox |
| Your editorial (“A victory for rage and fear. Trump will let down his supporters and the world”, Comment) refers to the peculiarities of the American electoral system: “Hillary Clinton won a majority of the popular vote [actually 47.79% compared with Trump’s 46.30% at time of writing] but was handsomely beaten in the race for electoral college votes.” True, but, compared with the UK parliament’s electoral system, where the Tories won an overall majority of seats with only 36.9% of the vote, it doesn’t seem so “peculiar”. A suggestion: why not promote PR?John SmithsonHuddersfield | Your editorial (“A victory for rage and fear. Trump will let down his supporters and the world”, Comment) refers to the peculiarities of the American electoral system: “Hillary Clinton won a majority of the popular vote [actually 47.79% compared with Trump’s 46.30% at time of writing] but was handsomely beaten in the race for electoral college votes.” True, but, compared with the UK parliament’s electoral system, where the Tories won an overall majority of seats with only 36.9% of the vote, it doesn’t seem so “peculiar”. A suggestion: why not promote PR?John SmithsonHuddersfield |