In the Media

The old debate: punish prisoners, or rehabilitate them?

PUBLISHED December 18, 2013
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Debates over how to treat prisoners have gone on since imprisonment began: should the prison system leave inmates to fester in cold cells, with punishment and deterrence as the goal of incarceration? Or should it let them wander from classroom to games room, preaching rehabilitation into society as its main aim? Alan Weston, currently serving his second rape sentence at HMP Frankland, complained to prison newspaper Inside Time this month saying he couldn't access National Prison Radio (NPR) on his new digital system. Mr Weston's complaint raises the age-old question - should we give criminals the same basic luxuries we take for granted, or would that be spoiling them?

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