Prisoners and the media (Part 2)
Should the prison authorities punish prisoners who blog?
Or, is banning prisoner bloggers just denying society access to information?
Iain Dale linked to Ben's Blog in his Daley Dozen yesterday. He is fast becoming an internet sensation, cutting through the bull issued by the authorities.
Personally, I prefer to be told as it is than given a false picture. If the public are misled only the public suffers.
The blogging issue aside, I am really curious as to why the sentence has been extended so much!
ReplyDeleteCherrypie: A commenter on my blog has referred to the similiarity with whistleblowers. The prison system is very inward looking and feels attacked when criticised and as they are in power they exact revenge. You have the right to complain but if you do you will be punished.
ReplyDeleteI hope that Ben will be allowed to share those experiences with his blog readers so that they can understand what really goes on.
ReplyDeleteCherrypie: I cannot speak for Ben as his case may be different. But, in theory, a lifer can expect to be released on tariff provided the risk to the public is satisfied. A factor which might come into play is perceived dangerousness. In my day this hampered my release. In addition, the department prepares a Life Sentence Plan to stage progress through the system. But because of my security category, no such plan was drawn up for me until I was 14 and a half years into a 15 year tariff. This meant that the system wanted extra time to progress me. It amounts to incompetence by the authorities. Then there was the legal challenges and the added time for daring to challenge. The problem is that nobody looks behind the risk to the public to see whether it is actually genuine or just an excuse.
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