'Holiday camp' at Les Nicolles

A section in this report stated all the qualifications and other wonderful opportunities prisoners have in order to ‘rehabilitate’, with the end goal being for the convicts to make a positive contribution when reintegrated back into society.

This revelation was followed by another article in the Press (Tuesday 9 June) of an individual being convicted and sent to prison for over a decade due to the seriousness of the crimes perpetrated. Moreover, since lockdown regulations have eased, criminal behaviour has increased and more people are being sentenced and sent to prison.

However, this author used to think that going to prison was bad, that it was meant to be a horrible experience to ensure that the convicts, when freed, never wanted to go back.

Since reading the article and listening to people who have enhanced knowledge of the system, this author has concluded that our local prison is more akin to a holiday camp.

The individual who has been sentenced to a decade in our prison must be laughing.

With the opportunities available, this individual, when freed, could potentially have a PhD in a particular subject and many other qualifications that could then be utilised to land a high-powered, influential job. Come to think of it, all prisoners, no matter their sentences, will be able to gain qualifications that law-abiding citizens can only dream of and, to top it off, they do not need to pay a penny for it. I have even been told upon release that all individuals get £500 or more, ‘depending on their circumstances’.

Surprisingly, some of the qualifications or other financial incentives, such as the one above, are financed by the law-abiding taxpayer. Who would have thought that, eh? To add insult to injury, these criminals, some who are serving sentences for extremely serious crimes, also have other privileges, which include TVs and internet in their prison cell and access to other wonderful recreational activities, not to mention reduced sentences due to ‘good behaviour’. At least this author now fully understands why being a ‘career criminal’ is now viewed as a viable way of making a living and obtaining a career.

Yet there are people scratching their head wondering why the figures relating to reoffending have risen or why the word ‘rehabilitation’, in this context, is another buzz word used by the prison system to justify their misinformed methods.

Perhaps, if they have not done so already, the newly crowned governor of the prison would like to supply unedited statistics relating to how successful their ‘rehabilitation’ programme is, how many reoffend when leaving prison (no doubt due to the cushy life provided within prison), how much these qualifications actually cost the taxpayer for these people, and why all individuals freed from prison obtain money or other incentives?

It does not take a genius to work out that something must be seriously amiss with Guernsey society when it seems you are getting punished more for being a decent, law-abiding citizen compared to a criminal.

NAME AND ADDRESS WITHHELD.