Elish ‘Labour’ Angiolini leads bid to cut female prison population, should I write her report for her, more community sentences, duh!

Dear All

Here is a laugh.

Former Lord Advocate Dame Elish Angiolini has been asked to chair a commission charged with finding ways to cut the number of women who re-offend and end up in prison.

‘Labour’ Angiolini who was recently the head of the Crown Office, which has a track record of human rights denial isn’t an appropriate choice to head this Commission.

So, what does Angiolini bring to the table?

Credibility!

A background in prisoner welfare!

An understanding of social work in deprived areas!

No, Angiolini has none of the qualities that you would expect as a benchmark to chair this Commission.

The announcement to appoint this dud comes after HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, Brigadier Hugh Monro, issued a damning follow up to his hard-hitting report on overcrowding and poor conditions at Cornton Vale.

Cornton Vale is the women’s prison and young offenders’ institution/

Monro wrote of his follow-up inspection:

“Despite the warnings raised in my full inspection report in late 2009, Cornton Vale remains an unacceptably poor establishment with significant failings across all key areas of provision.

“Overcrowding is the root cause of many of the issues I have highlighted. I believe there is an immediate need to both reduce the prison’s population and review the design capacity of the establishment.”

The Scottish Government to set up the Angiolini Commission to tackle the roots of the problem, stating:

“The commission’s remit will be to find a more effective way of dealing with women offenders with a view to reducing reoffending”.

Would it not be better to go on a quest to find the ‘Ark of the Covenant’ or the Holy Grail?

Dame Elish commented:

“In my 28 years as a prosecutor, I saw at first hand the tragic impact of women offending and re-offending”.

Since when did Angiolini give a shit about prison reform?

She continued:
“Although some women are violent and need to be in prison to protect communities and themselves, many are deeply vulnerable people for whom offending is a result of chaotic lifestyles, mental health difficulties and severe addiction problems. Many will have been the victims of abuse physical, sexual or mental in their childhood”.

But she still locked them up.

And she further stated:

“Although this does not excuse breaking the law, we must be able to find better ways of addressing their behaviour than merely resorting to locking up more and more of them, particularly when that breaks up families and affects the life chances of children. We have a real opportunity to address the issue, and I am delighted to be able to lead this important work.”

‘Labour’ Angiolini couldn’t find her arse in the dark with two hands, a map and a flashlight.

And as to this reinvention of ‘caring sharing’ Angiolini, there are far better people to draw upon to undertake this important work.

This will have to be done again in future ‘Angiolini 2’ without Angiolini.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University