I wholeheartedly agree that prison officers are under extreme duress and in fear for their lives. But threatening to close down the prisons is as reprehensible and dangerous to life and limb for officers, the prisoners and members of the public.
Creating utter chaos to gain a point here or a point there, is inexcusable and down right uneducated. The only comfort would be a greater loss of life, if one could be comfortable with such a choice. Nothing will be achieved by stupid, gratuitous behaviour.
The urgency to ease the overcrowding in the Remand Yard should take precedence. Where are the proposed monitoring ankle bracelets that would allow remand prisoners with minor charges to be sent home to await their cases? Where is the legislation that would allow this to happen?
It is possible as we all know, to rush legislation through if it is wanted, so why not do something about sending out every single person with marijuana possession charges and detainees who have not committed crimes using deadly weapons?
Alternatively, why not set up a special court that could convene every week day until the back log of remand cases have been settled? These are not pie in the sky solutions. Prisoners may be more inclined to actually comply with restrictions if they are in their own home environment. It is arguable that a problem of monitoring these temporarily free people would arise but if handled by a combination of police and soldiers, it could be done.
I totally agree that it would be a good idea to house prison officers in safer locations where possible. This cannot be a smooth transition as houses, when last I looked, did not get built in three or four weeks. Trying to strong-arm the housing minister is just plain silly. It is unreasonable to expect the present government to fix an existing 50-year problem in three months.
Lynette Joseph