Rioting prisoners
Sir,—-The list of prisoners’ complaints printed yesterday must inevitably have provoked the rather heavyhanded irony of the two letters today. But I think the general public would take a rather more charitable view
of the situation if they had heard Tim Shadbolt talking on “Checkpoint.” As a former prisoner himself (for the non-payment of fines) he was able with authority to stress the consequences of overcrowding—in this case three men in a room Bft wide in which everything in the human daily programme had to take place. Solitary confinement on bread and water would surely be preferable. I think he was on less sure ground when he said that the men felt that "nobody cared.” Why should they? Presumably the prisoners have relatives and friends who do care, and help to ameliorate their lot. But all this talk of the "luxury” of prisons and the infantile sarcasm it provokes emanates from people who don’t know the meaning of claustrophobia.— Yours, etc., CARACTACUS. March 23, 1971.
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Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32563, 24 March 1971, Page 20
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167Rioting prisoners Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32563, 24 March 1971, Page 20
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