| Turn prisoners into workers | Erwin James We should applaud Ken Clarke's proposal to make prisoners work – and end the culture of idleness in jailIt was good to read George Michael's retort to all the sensationalist guff that has been written about his experience since he was jailed last month.Anyone who knows anything about the reality of prison knows that Michael has had no "special treatment". As soon as he was convicted, he was placed in a holding cell below the courthouse, where he met his first cell mate prepared to sell a no doubt embellished story about how Michael was struggling to cope. Then he was transferred to Pentonville prison, one of the most unpleasant penal establishments in the country, and held in the the Vulnerable Prisoners Unit. Finally he has been transferred to Highpoint prison in Suffolk, a category-C adult male prison holding almost a thousand prisoners serving from a few months to life, including murderers, rapists and paedophiles. Not for nothing was Highpoint christened "Knifepoint" by the prison population.Much to the chagrin of millions of Michael's fans around the world, therefore, there has been no special treatment for this global megastar – neither has he been subjected to the brutality that some commentators predicted. "Please believe me when I tell you," he implored in his statement, released yesterday, "in the last three weeks, there have been no tears, no anxiety, no bullying – in fact, not so much as a sleepless night for me."As a longtime fan, I was pleased to see that he is adapting to prison life rather well. The only possible special treatment he alluded to was from some of his fellow prisoners, who "might be letting him win at the pool table"."Most of my days have been spent reading thousands of letters and postcards of incredible support from people around the world," he said. Playing pool and reading fan letters, eh? That speaks volumes about the state of the prison system at the moment.Which touches on the issue that justice minister Ken Clarke focused upon today in his speech at the Conservative party conference in Birmingham. "'Most prisoners lead a life of enforced, bored idleness, where getting out of bed is optional," he said as he announced plans to introduce a 40-hour working week for people in prison for which they would be paid the minimum wage. Surely that's more like it? Enforced idleness, or constructive and purposeful work with real wages instead of weekly pocket money for chocolate bars and cigarettes?Clarke envisages that prisoner wages will be divided between victims' charities and the prisoners themselves. The prisoners will still only receive a relatively small amount to spend, but will be allowed to save what is left after a sum has been paid to victims and access the saved amount two years after they have been released – so long as they have "gone straight" during this period.This is an excellent idea, though it is sure to create a legislative and logistical minefield, not to mention a backlash from supporters of former Conservative home secretary Michael Howard, who believed that enforced idleness – ie prison as it was when he was in charge – works.But Clarke is determined, and his logic is brilliantly simple. "'If we want to reduce the crimes these people will commit when they get out, whilst boosting the amount that can be provided for victim support, we need as many prisoners as possible to work hard for regular working hours. We have to try to get those people who have the backbone to go straight, to handle a life without crime when they have finished their punishment." And how is he going to achieve this arm of his "rehabilitation revolution"? "We will make it easier for prison governors to bring more private companies into their jails," he said, "to create well-run businesses, employing prisoners in regular nine-to-five jobs."The trouble is, the prison governors are not so sure that Clarke's plans can be achieved. In their response to his speech, the Prison Governors' Association issued a press release in which they wonder how they are going to do it. "Two-thirds of all prisoners are unemployed before being sent down," they say, "half have absolutely no qualifications, and more than a third have reading skills below that expected of an 11-year-old." They also say that prisoners, though captive, are generally reluctant to engage in meaningful work: "Many suffer from the influence of years of substance misuse or mental health problems, both of which severely impact on the delivery of quality work." And finally they ask, "Is it right, at a time of economic crisis, that prisoners should be taking work from law-abiding citizens, many of whom are losing their livelihoods?" Paddy Scrivener of the PGA describes Clarke's plans as "laudable" but adds ominously, "God knows how we are going to do it."Well, I don't know the answer to that. But Clarke must have a plan, and that is as good a beginning as any. As well as incapacitating wrongdoers for a while, prison needs to be a powerful mechanism for reducing reoffending. Pool and fan letters are all very well. But nothing compares to good solid labour and a reasonable week's pay.Prisons and probationKenneth ClarkeUK criminal justiceErwin Jamesguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Labour 'more to blame' for cuts Scots tend to blame the former UK Labour government for forthcoming spending cuts, according to a survey for BBC Scotland. bbc.co.uk |
Fifa officials 'offer to sell 2018 World Cup bid votes' Two senior Fifa officials offered to sell their votes for cash in the contest to host the 2018 World Cup, it is alleged. telegraph.co.uk |
The experts are clear on how David Kelly died | Vikram Dodd Not a single forensic pathologist has challenged the conclusions of the Hutton inquiryAnd so it goes on. Despite the release on Friday of the postmortem and toxicology reports into the death of the weapons inspector Dr David Kelly, the claims will continue.The Hutton inquiry into the factors leading to Kelly's death heard expert evidence and then concluded the weapons inspector had committed suicide.Not one single party to the inquiry, which was more thorough than any inquest would have been, offered any evidence to the contrary. The inquiry into the death in 2003 was vitriolic at times, and ended up with the BBC and Kelly family joining together in a savage battle against the government.I sat through Hutton's inquiry, and have sat through many inquests.Despite Hutton's baffling conclusion that the government bore no blame for pressurising Kelly, his was a more rigorous inquiry into the death than an inquest.But none of this has satisfied those determined to suggest something more malign was behind Kelly's demise.Over the years, as new claims have emerged, I have gone back to a group of experts who would be best placed to spot anything untoward, namely forensic pathologists. They are the experts in determining causes of death.What is striking is their consistency in saying the scientific evidence points to Hutton's inquiry having reached the right conclusion.The Hutton inquiry found that Kelly, 59, died after cutting an artery in his left wrist, had taken an overdose of Coproxamol painkillers and had heart disease which left his coronary arteries "significantly narrowed".The doubters, who some call conspiracy theorists, have failed in all the years to produce one single fact to support their claims.Experts in forensic pathology say that the doubts raised, including those by doctors, were based on partial knowledge or misconceptions.The critics have claimed that bleeding to death after cutting the ulnar artery was unlikely, and that evidence of large-scale blood loss at the scene was absent.Dr Andrew Falzon, a consultant forensic pathologist with the Forensic Science Service, said Kelly's heart disease and overdose of Coproxamol meant a smaller loss of blood could kill him than that required to kill a healthy person: "You are going to succumb to a smaller volume of blood loss than if you were a 20-year-old with a healthy heart."The heart vessel is already deprived of oxygen because of the blockage of the vessels. With the loss of blood [caused by cutting the ulnar artery], there is less oxygen to the heart. Throw in the toxic level of drug, that makes the heart more sensitive to cardiac arrhythmia [an electrical disturbance] which causes sudden death."I'm sure bleeding from the ulnar artery can kill you."Falzon also said the views of those not trained in forensic pathology, even if they are medically trained, needed to be treated with caution: "People who are not trained to look at causes of death will perceive things differently. It's hard for them to believe certain things can happen."Professor Peter Vanezis, senior consultant in forensic medicine to the armed forces, said: "These people are more clinicians and are obviously surprised that a person can kill themselves like that." Vanezis said the lack of large amounts of blood in the wood where Kelly was discovered could also be easily explained: "It was outside – it could have gone into the soil."Dr Andrew Davison, a forensic pathologist at Cardiff University, agreed: "You only have so much blood going around. If you have a heart condition you can't afford to lose as much blood as a healthy person."Professor Derrick Pounder, head of forensic medicine and forensic pathologist at the University of Dundee, said: "It may be that there are several factors in a death. In this case, we know he had taken more than a therapeutic dose of drugs, and that he had some pre-existing heart disease. We have three factors in the death that are known to the public. The cause of death is likely an interplay between the three."Professor Chris Milroy, now working in Canada, was a pathology professor at Sheffield University. He said: "I've seen nothing yet that proves anything other than Dr Kelly took his own life in the way the Hutton inquiry concluded, by cutting his wrists and taking an overdose."Kelly's heart condition made him unable to withstand loss of blood to the extent that a fit person could. The death was "multifactoral": due to the cut to his wrist, a toxic dose of drugs and heart disease. The Dextropropoxyphene he took was itself toxic to the heart.Milroy added: "It is difficult to estimate blood loss from looking at the scene."Paramedics have claimed there was a lack of blood at the scene where Kelly's body was discovered. Professor Guy Rutty, of Leicester University, said: "The blood could have gone straight into the ground."Both said paramedics were trained in saving lives, not in the forensic examination of scenes of death, which required a wholly different set of skills and expertise.The forensic pathologist who examined Kelly's body, Dr Nicholas Hunt, gave the formal cause of death as: "Haemorrhage due to incised wounds of the left wrist", in conjunction with "Coproxamol ingestion and coronary artery atherosclerosis".No expert in the field of forensic pathology has to date come forward to doubt that claim. Not one.David KellyForensic scienceHutton reportVikram Doddguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Nurse 'switched off life support' An agency nurse working for the NHS switched off a Wiltshire patient's life support machine in error causing brain damage, it is revealed. bbc.co.uk |