BOOKS AND PRISONERS
POLITICIANS AND POWER
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| Chris Grayling |
Politicians are rarely as
dishonest as when they speak of devolving power. ‘Power to the people,’ ‘localism,’
‘decentralisation,’ ‘local decisions made by local people,’ the slogans and
promises come out at election time like daffodils in spring and last just about
as long. As to giving away power this is the one thing politicians resist with
a fervour and passion worthy of the great causes of any age. For a politician
power is the very stuff of life, it is the one thing that gets them up in the
morning, it’s what turns them on, it is there very raison d’être.
Now of course there have
been instances of politicians surrendering power; two recent instances in
particular involved substantial surrender of power and control, Freedom of
Information and devolution to Scotland
and Wales
Whilst respecting FOI Tony
Blair tried to blunt the legislation by imposing Jack Straw, that political equivalent
of a wet Monday in March, on its legislative progress. Even with Straw’s
attempts to blunt the legislation however FOI has proved a valuable tool in the
hands of the media and public. So much so that Tony Blair described the
legislation as his worst decision in
government. At this point irony grips it heart, topples and falls down dead.
But for all their blather about ‘localism’ and
the small state it is the Tories who most love to centralise and control from Whitehall
The inevitable drift to
control and micro management could not be better illustrated than by the
Justice Minister, Chris Grayling, who has now decided to centralise control of
prison discipline. Gone the discretion of governors, gone too the right of
prisoners to receive packages from family, gone the right of prisoners to
receive books.
That a policy like this
will lead to a steady build up of rage amongst prisoners that is likely to result
in a bloody explosion, is simply secondary to this obsession with control. Feelings
of impotence and disaffection amongst prison staff and those seeking to support
and rehabilitate prisoners will also be a consequence, which, combined with
prison overcrowding acerbated by poor quality of prison staff, a consequence of
outsourcing, is a recipe for disaster. Should such riots take place Chris Grayling
and his ilk will of course deny any culpability.
I have consequently written
to Mr Grayling, yet again
Dear Mr Grayling,
I see that you have now
centralized all powers related to prison discipline. Decisions once subject to
the discretion of individual governors are now concentrated in Whitehall
And yet once again you are
being dishonest; you state…"Prisoners' access to reading material is not
being curtailed." Can I provide a definition of curtailed ‘reduce in extent or quantity; impose a
restriction on.’ Under the new regulations prisoners will no longer be able
to receive books as presents; consequently
prisoner’s access to reading material is being curtailed.
You could have said, we
are not preventing prisoners from accessing books and this would be true, but
the amount of that access is now to be much more restricted. Prisoners can only
now access books from the prison library service, those they can afford to
purchase from prison earnings or money sent in to them, # though in the latter
two circumstances books can only be ordered from a catalogue approved by the
Ministry of Justice. How can I access this catalogue, is it available online?
You will be aware that
prison libraries are now themselves being subjected to local authority
cutbacks, and that access to libraries within prison can often be severely
restricted.
I can think of nothing
more damaging to prisoner rehabilitation than restricted access to reading
material. This policy represents the most short sighted and mean spirited
dogma; this crude carrot and stick philosophy emerges only from those who know
how to control and punish but not how to engage, empathize and rehabilitate. It
will end in tears, though I doubt they will be your own.
#Though I am not sure that
this last point is correct, perhaps you could clarify?
Yours truly,
AT *
If you wanted to create a
cocktail of mean spiritedness and inhumanity mixed with deep stupidity,
restricting prisoner’s access to books would be it. Just when you thought this
government could sink no lower they constantly trump you.
At the heart of this
dreary and rather sinister little saga there is a moral. At all costs try to
avoid falling into the clutches of the state, either as a consequence of poverty or by
falling foul of the law. If you do you will fall into the hands of the likes of
Mr Grayling who enjoy exercising power over those over whom they exercise control.
Believe me this is not something you want to happen.
*Previously Mr Grayling
has responded to my e mails, I doubt he will do so this time.
