Saturday, February 19, 2011

Political Correctness in our Prisons

After two months of blogging silence, I make a one day only return to the medium, to implore you to listen to a six minute chunk of a phone in I did last night on Prisoner's rights. A prison officer called Charlie phoned in. What he said amazed me. No wonder prisoners think they've got the upper hand nowadays. Listen to this and then tell me if we have got our priorities right. I'm about to email Prisons minister Crispin Blunt to ask him to have a listen too - and then do something about the matters Charlie raises.

For those of you who can't be arsed to listen to it, Charlie tells us all the words prison officers are now reportedly banned from using. Political correctness, it seems, is now an integral part of the HM Prison Service.

Click HERE to listen. It will take a moment to download.

20 comments:

Max Clark said...

dosnt seem to work iain?

Iain Dale said...

yes it does. it takes a moment to download.

Max Clark said...

ahh sorry seems fine now thanks... am listening to this, this is a disgrace, it really is. This goes throughout our entire system, in the past if you push authority past a point, you crossed a line and it'd push back, now whether it is in the prisons or in the schools people seem to be able to keep on pushing with no consequences.

James Lock said...

I was totally shocked to hear the caller and all he had to say. In light of knowing a fuller picture, would it be possible to find out at which level these bizarre (at very best) directives - ie central government, the prison itself or somewhere in between - are being issued?

john in cheshire said...

Iain, three points :
1. good to read your blog again
2. i could only access the recording via Internet Explorer; I usually use Opera these days and it wouldn't work on that.
3. I am so depressed at what your guest had to say. I just wish that Kenneth Clark would be given the boot and Michael Howard was brought back to manage the direction of prisons. Socialists have infested every part of our society that without a major purge of them, their destructive attitudes will continue to destroy our nation from within.

Henry Wood said...

Well worth the wait for the download. It is an absolute eye opener and should be played to our "Justice Secretary" at the beginning of every single day.
What intrigues me about stories like this is the way they never, ever seem to reach the mainstream media where they would have a much wider audience. I don't expect the BBC to carry it but I could just imagine the uproar it would cause if the likes of the Daily Mail published Charlie's interview.
Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

Anonymous said...

This is unbelievable! Can you find

out where this directive comes from?

This really should be brought to the attention of the Press.

Elby the Beserk said...

"Political correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a piece of shit by the clean end."

S.B.S said...

I just wish that Kenneth Clark would be given the boot and Michael Howard was brought back to manage the direction of prisons.

Michael Howard, What? are you mad?
He was the worst Home Sec to be hoisted on the British people.
He banned law abiding people from enjoying a sport.
He (was) sorry is blinkered.

S.B.S said...

I just wish that Kenneth Clark would be given the boot and Michael Howard was brought back to manage the direction of prisons.

What? are you mad?
He was the worst Home sec ever hoisted upon the British people, he abused the rights of the most law abiding people of the U.K.
Pistol shooters, by banning a wonderful sport, He is the reason why I, as a conservative have not voted since 1992!

Dave H said...

Please Iain, couldn't you help us yokels with slow connections by compressing it into an MP3 etc?

Iain Dale said...

No idea how to do that I'm afraid.

Faceless Bureaucrat said...

Don't waste your time sending an email to Blunt - he is a waste of space.

Anyway Iain, I knew you couldn't stay away for ever - nice to have you back, albeit briefly...

FB

mad albert said...

for a prisoners view of these matters, try reading prisoner bens blog. The officer may not offer the full story...

Matt said...

Thank God you are back! :o))

Good article on the LibDems, by the way.

Matt said...

PS, Iain, I just listened to this and I think that a meeting with yourself, Crispin Blunt and Charlie would be a very good idea.

Stuart Winton said...

Much the same up here in Scotland, I would imagine.

A recent story in the press concerned a prisoner who was found with a stash of methadone in his cell. (Oops, at least two un-PC words in there already!)

However, he complained to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman on the basis that the suspect liquids weren't tested in his presence.

The complaint was upheld, the prison management apologised to the prisoner, a fine from his prison wages were refunded and the offence expunged from his record, although he didn't seem to dispute having the drug, merely the procedure used to test for it.

Hope the chap in the recording doesn't suffer any reprisals, because presumably it wouldn't be too difficult for the authorities to work out his identity.

Unknown said...

The link is now "404 - Page not found"... has anyone an alternative link for it?

Thanks.

Torontory said...

I have the same problem as GraceCourt. A solution would be most welcome.

Daedalus said...

Hi Iain nice to see you back if briefly. I cannot get to the clip either. I use Opera as well and it goes to the Total Politics page with a 404 error. Same with Internet Explorer (Spawn of the devil) a 404 error. I would really like to hear this.

Daedalus