Call me cynical, but has he pleaded guilty to get a diminished sentence?

Whatever his rationale for his plea, I hope that the judge remembers that, in a gross breach of trust, Elliot Morley stole over £30,000 from the British public. And I hope that prison awaits Mr Morley.

Chaytor; Guilty, sentenced

Of course, there's still some debate about MPs expenses, with a number of people - including intelligent people whose opinions I normally respect - arguing that there was nothing particularly wrong with those MPs who rinsed a system that was so clearly open to rinsing. To them I say "shite", but I accept that not everyone agrees with my view that anyone who uses the public purse to enrich themselves is a total cunt who, at the very least, is not fit to hold public office.

But surely not even those prepared to give those scummy MPs an easy ride could argue that this isn't very welcome. Chaytor's sentence is, in my not at all humble opinion, richly deserved. Not only did he commit fraud, but he chose to steal from the very people he was elected to represent. I couldn't give a flying fuck whether he's been left a broken man by all this - after all, what broke him was not a realisation that what he did was wrong, but rather being caught and punished for his wrongdoing. He's a thief; he deserves to be punished. Cue the old cliche - don't do the crime if you can't do the time.

I fully expect there to a virulent outbreak of rage against Chaytor on the interweb, and no doubt someone right now is typing out the sentence "prison's too good for him". On that, I'd have to disagree. Prison is exactly right for him.

A Radical Way to Reduce the Prison Population

It is a curious thing when you have a Tory calling for a reduced prison population and a former Labour Home Secretary - in The Daily Mail of all places - arguing that prison works. I guess, if nothing else, that this just goes to show how lost the Labour party has become: some of its leading lights are now on the right of the incumbent Con-Dem government. But hey ho - that's Labour's problem, not mine.

But since this is now clearly on the agenda, I have an idea that could substantially reduce the prison population. It is a radical (if you are deeply unimaginative or an unthinking reader of tabloid newspapers) policy, and one many people won't like. But it is this - reduce the prison population by legalising drugs.

From that point on, you are going to be sending fewer people to prison - users, addicts and pushers. If drugs cease to be criminal, then those involved with them cease to automatically be seen as criminal as well. So fewer people will end up going to prison.

And, of course, there are other benefits as well. The Treasury would make more money through taxing drugs. Addicts might be more willing to come forward and seek treatment since admitting to a drug problem would no longer be the same as admitting to criminal activity. Drug related crime would also fall. Furthermore, we wouldn't be in the ludicrous position as we are now where we send drug addicts into confinement in places rife with drugs - namely, prisons. So to Ken Clarke - and any other politician who wants to reduce the prison population - I say do it. Legalise drugs, and then not only will the numbers of those in prison start going down very quickly, but a whole host of other good things could happen as well.

Of course, this won't happen; no professional politician would dare. But one of the reasons why drugs remain such an emotive topic in this country is because of the media inspired frenzy around them, which provokes an unthinking level of rage and fear in many people as soon as the topic of drugs comes up. But that is something that politicians could rectify if they were courageous enough. There are clear benefits to legalising drugs - now all we need is a politician with the backbone to start making the case for legalisation.

Quote of the Day

From one Ken Clarke, talking about the rise of the prison population under Nu Labour:

David Blunkett and John Reid had a chequebook in one hand and a copy of the Daily Mail in the other.

Prison and Facebook

Few would be able to argue that this isn’t a good thing:

Thirty Facebook pages have been taken down because prisoners were using them to taunt their victims, Justice Secretary Jack Straw has said.

It is good that these pages have been taken down, and would be even better if, y'know, it never happened again. Perhaps this could be a good example of government working in conjunction with business. Certainly, Jack Straw wants Facebook to do their fair share:

He said: "I'm sure Facebook is a massive organisation and there's lots of money floating around. If you have to spend a bit more on monitoring, then you have just got to do it."

Now, I’m sure that Facebook does have some spare money and could spend it on monitoring. It was my understanding that Facebook already had policies to prevent, or at least deal with, abuse on their website, but if this sort of abuse is occurring, than further work to stop it can only be a good thing.

Yet I can’t help but feel that the government could be doing more themselves. Possibly they could do more than Facebook. On the grounds we are dealing with those who are detained at her Majesty’s pleasure:

"We are getting much tougher about people smuggling telephones into prison and using them.

"I'm afraid we're dealing with crooks. Devious, manipulative people who actually have no respect for their own bodies so they push these mobile telephones into their body orifices."

I mean, seriously, what the fuck? Yes, these people might well be devious and manipulative. After all, they are in prison. And this really shouldn’t be a revelation to Jack Straw, for Christ’s sake. But think about it for just one moment. These people are in prison. Yes, they might shove a mobile phone where the sun don’t shine, but they are in a secure prison 24-7 surrounded by guards! Surely the logical thing to do would be to search these people effectively? To guard them, to stop them from doing shitty things whilst serving their time in prison, would seem to be one of the key reasons for imprisoning them.

Yes, maybe Facebook could police its site better. But surely to fuck it isn’t too much to ask the government to police its own prisons a little better first?

Sleeping in the Shitter

A new method of looking after prisoners:

"Prisoners are having to sleep in toilets because of overcrowding at one English jail, the chief inspector of prisons revealed today."

No doubt this story will provoke the normal, well-rehearsed debate about prisoner rights. They'll be those who harp on about human rights and treating prisoners fairly fighting against those who believe that a prison sentence should be pretty much like going to a torture party in the lower bowels of Hades. I'm not going to go through those arguments here; my advice is try to avoid going to prison in the first place.

But this comment, from a prison inspector, did bring a smile to my lips:

"Resettlement provision had continued to improve and, in the context of a busy prison with a transient local population, was among the best we have seen"

Well, that's hardly surprising, is it? Most people would be open to a little resettlement, if it is a straight choice between that and sleeping in the shitter.

Prison is too comfy! *Yawns*

According to some bloke from a union (and, Lord knows, we should believe everything we hear from union officials) prisons are now some comfy that prisoners don't want to escape. I'm going to avoid the knee jerk, Daily Mail esque reaction of "nrrgggh, burn the prisoners! Burn them!" and instead note that it is actually a good thing that prisoners want to stay in prison. Seriously, one of the reasons why they go to prison is so they can't get back out into society. Yes, it would be nice if they were kept in prison because it was so secure and they can't escape, but if the best we can do is keeping them so comfortable they don't want to escape, then I'll take that.

However, I'm not convinced that prisons are environments people want to be in, even if they are really comfortable. After all, even if you were staying in the Savoy, it wouldn't be that comforting if there was someone at the end of the corridor who wants to *shank* you with his *blade*. Likewise, even if prison is like a suite at the Ritz, it ain't going to be that much fun if you are sharing a cell with a Glaswegian thug who goes by the *handle* of Gripper, who wants to make you his *prag* and bum rape you every single day of your stay.

So in summary, prison could be very comfortable. It is the company that bothers me. And if I was inside, I'd want to get out ASAP.