More repression needed (I'm not being sarcastic)

Take a look at this:

"Clarke proposes 'community jails'"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4258968.stm

And this:
"Clarke shifts focus to prison policy"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4261666.stm

and if, like me, you prefer your news straight from the source without it being filtered by the BBC, here are his actual words:
[Home Secretary's speech to the Prison Reform Trust, 19th Sept 2005]
http://www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/pdf%20files/Where%20Next%20for%20Penal%20Policy.pdf

Charles Clarke proposes that prisoners serving short terms should be housed in prisons close to home if possible, to better enable them to maintain links with friends and family. He also says that we need to provide educational services in prisons. Not just to give the prisoners basic literacy and numeracy skills, but to allow prisoners to be educated to a "higher level". Apparently we must move away from the idea of prisons being "universities of crime". Hello? Who ever thought that was what prisons were supposed to be? And how exactly does Mr. Clarke think that, by giving so many benefits to prisoners, he is doing anything to counter this commonly held assumption.

I would venture to argue that there is a link between how tough the prison regime is and the attitudes of the people towards criminal behaviour, and how much the criminals, or potential criminals, fear prison.

Let's suppose I were a teenage boy, fresh out of a bog-standard comprehensive without a single GCSE, having a predilection for binge drinking and regular bouts of violent and anti-social behaviour. In short, a fairly typical young man from a poor background. Suppose also that, since gangs of criminals are prominent and well-known on the council estate on which I live, it would be very easy for me to start associating with the bad boys and thus begin a life of crime. In fact, it might better be said that for many poor young men, taking a route towards a life of crime is an easy decision to make. Resistance to it, which usually requires qualities such as self-esteem, willingness to work and politeness, doesn't come easily these days because the old working class values are no longer taken up by the younger generations.

For the young man on the council estate, given the choice between a life of crime, with the associated risk of imprisonment, and a life of hard work and self-restraint, it's no wonder that so many choose to become criminals.

Surely we ought to make them fear prison more, not less. I don't advocate bringing back corporal punishment (except perhaps in schools), but why not deny the prisoners contact with family and friends (many of whom might well be criminals or ex-cons themselves), deny them televisions and radios, deny them fancy exercise facilities and make life in prison a bit more undesirable but without treating them inhumanely?

Of course, longer sentences would also be required, and we're told there is overcrowding. Well, excuse my blinding stupidity, but why can't we build more prisons? They don't have to be expensive apartment-block style things with gyms and swimming pools. In fact they should be the opposite. Small, cramped cells. Tiny windows with bars. I suppose, since this is the twenty-first century, we might be kind enough not to require slopping out. Anyway, the point is, these prisons would be unpleasant places to be. And who knows, perhaps when our hypothetical young man is deciding whether or not to steal a car, he might decide not to if he feared the prospect of a few months (or years) behind bars.

Thus, more repression is needed. A sense of shame needs to be instilled within society. It ought to be shameful for anyone, regardless of their class, to be sent to prison, and the prisons themselves ought to be places that young men fear, not because of the savage behaviour of the inmates but because of the boredom of being stuck in a cell for years and the opprobium of the whole of society being heaped upon them.

I left work at about quarter to six, and made my way to the tube. Once on the central line from Bond Street, I found a seat where I was sandwiched in amongst other people who, from their age and dress, were clearly office workers on their way home.

Next stop and the lady sitting on my right left the train. Her space was immediately filled by a teenage gangsta wannabe. He was a hooded South Asian young man who, by the look of him, was about 16 years old. He slumped himself into the seat, but soon the urge to converse with his chums who were standing by the doors needed to be satisfied.

"I had a hard days work. 'free 'undred quid me got today. Lootin', lootin' man. I used me 9 mil."

"Yeah right man, you can fuck right off and suck your father's testicles"

[other youths giggle]

"Wot! You sayin' I'm lyin'? Come 'ere you fucker, le's sort this out"

"Fuck off."

"You suck testicles."

Of course, by this stage, the surrounding adult passengers were burying their heads in their newspapers and books. I particularly enjoyed watching the grimaced and awkward response of the 50-something Guardian reading male sat opposite me. His chubby face went through a wonderful spectrum of contortion and relaxation for the 10 minutes he was present. Were the youths going to mug him? Or maybe they were just walking the walk and trying to be gangsta whilst enjoying the fearful response of the respectable members of society.

What were we to do? There were ladies present. Now, you might object to my fuddyduddyness and say that in this day and age such language is normal, even in the presence of the fairer sex. Well, perhaps. But that doesn't mean that it's right. And even if no ladies were present, would such language be acceptable? No it wouldn't. Being a citizen of London and an occasional visitor to building sites, I can appreciate that when groups of men are talking, they often like to engage in a bit of bawdy chat, foul language and jokery. But this conversation had none of the charm that the banter of the working man has. There was nothing light-hearted about it. It was more like being a fly on the wall, listening to a young man desperate for the approbation of his peers protesting that his stories about violent mayhem were real. Forgive my bourgeois naivety, but would his yearning for a sense of belonging and self-worth not be better satisfied by him joining the boy scouts, going to university, getting a job, or doing something productive which doesn't harm the rest of society?

So, although I was eager to stand up and say in my most imposing voice "language, young man!", I did as any normal Londoner would, and effected a look of intense concentration on my book, although I'm sure I wasn't the only one in that carriage who really had their mind on the youths.