Why can't we build new prisons in the outer Hebrides?

Question

If prisons are over crowded , why not.? I bet the prisoners won't be too keen to swim to freedom in the icey waters of Scotland.
Question is should we?

Answer 1

Seen it suggested before - remote island, too far to swim, no boats or prison guards, RAF airdrop supplies weekly (basic food rations) - no TV, drugs, or soft touches.
Don't suppose our Scottish politicians (inc the PM) would ever agree to having extra prisons in their country.

Answer 2

Why ruin one of the best parts of the world? That's my immediate gut reaction.

But there are other considerations. You are thinking only about the prisoners themselves and their escape prospects. You are forgetting the many people employed in the prison service, who may not want to live in such a remote spot. You are forgetting the families of those people, the children who need to get to school, the spouses who would like to continue to work. You are also forgetting the families of prisoners, who are punished over and over again for what they did not do. They find it hard to make ends meet, they are despised by the neighbours and yet they have to make a supreme effort to turn up at the prison on visiting days, looking their best, so that their spouse/parent does not lose face among his peer group. How could they manage the fares to do that, let alone the long journey, which would surely entail having to spend a night or two in paid accommodation on the way?

Last, but not least, you are forgetting that if prisoners were isolated from their families in this way and deprived of family visits, it would be against their human rights. Isn't that what it comes down to every time nowadays?

Answer 3

Why build new prisons at all? Especially in the beautiful Outer Hebrides. Why not evacuate the Isle of Man or the Isle of Wight and deport persistent offenders there and let them create their own society? If people want to live outside the rule of law why not let them. Then we could use the resources saved to set up genuine, high quality rehabilitation programmes for those who can be rehabilitated.

Highly utopian perhaps, and never likely to happen. But if it did I suspect that within a couple of years the persistent offenders would develop a highly authoritarian society that would make Stalinist Russia look like the most liberal regime in the world.

Answer 4

No.

Prison was created so people who commit crimes could spend solitary time to think about what they had done.

This evidently doesn't work. People need to be rehabiltated, trained and educated on how to become citizens.

Whilst being a law abiding citizen may come naturally to some of us, others who perhaps do not have strong morals instilled in them at a young age, or who are below average intelligence, or just get caught up in the wrong crowd, need to be taught how to live in society successfully.

Lockinging people away without offering them any escape from a life of crime is an outdated idea. Prison and reform is one of the few things that has not advanced in the last 100 years.

Just as Victorians used to lock away mentally ill people, we too are now guilty of such a thing.

So what do we do with a growing prison population?

We could lock them all away in deepest darkest Scotland. But what would that achieve? Inmates miles away from their families, the court system and justice. It would breed resentment and anger, two things which makes rehab into society increasingly difficult.

Why should anyone respect a society that does such a thing to them? That's what inmates will start to think.

I'm not saying no one should be put in prison. I'm not saying that prisoners should be allowed to mill around all day playing pool and watching tv.

We need to educate, train and accept ex criminals, else they will never change.

Its easy for me to say, but much harder to put in practise.

Answer 5

The Outer Hebrides are beautiful. Why would you want to spoil them by building a prison on them?

If prisons are overcrowded, then send only violent criminals to prison.
Non-violent criminals should pay fines, do community service, or work on a prison farm.

Answer 6

What a cheek!! What have the Outer Hebrides done to deserve that!!

Answer 7

You pose two questions and should pay 10 points!
But well... there's no reason why you can't build prisons on the outer Hebrides.
Should you? Not per se, but there's no reason why not.

Answer 8

Because sheep don't make very good prison guards

Answer 9

We should do but we won't because it will cost too much.

Answer 10

Yes, we should.Let us try the GITMU camps.