The Student Room Group

Luxury Prisons

Was thinking, this country really should introduce a system of country club prisons


Say a criminal is convicted and gets a jail sentence, there should the option to pay to serve your sentence in a prison where you are treated more like a tenant staying at a hotel where there is a pool, golf course, your own room with bathing facilities en suite and where high quality food is prepared for you, just with your freedom to move outside the prison restricted. Of course should your money run out, then you go back to Wakefield with the other scum. I mean, white collar fraudsters really shouldn't have to spend their time with the rapists, the paedophiles, murderers, low-level gang members etc, let alone having to share living quarters with them.


It would open up so many business opportunities too, these places could be run by private companies and this would free up space in the standard prisons, so it seems like a good idea all round in my opinion.
(edited 9 years ago)
No. It's a punishment, not a holiday.
Reply 2
1/10

Title gave it away right from the start
Original post by yo radical one
I mean, white collar fraudsters really shouldn't have to spend their time with the rapists, the paedophiles, murderers, low-level gang members etc, let alone having to share living quarters with them.


WHAT!

White collar crime is just as bad
Original post by BrownEyedGirl92
No. It's a punishment, not a holiday.


"holiday" made me chuckle


This actually is not true though, I mean most policy makers maintain that the justice system's foremost priority is protection of the public and then rehabilitation, not punishment. So my idea works fully within this framework, of course if you believe the priorities should be shifted towards punishment (and I don't entirely disagree) then this is a valid opinion, but not one relating to my thread.
Original post by Reue
1/10

Title gave it away right from the start


???


I'm not some DM reader claiming that actual prisons are luxury, this is a new idea I am proposing

Original post by tombayes
WHAT!

White collar crime is just as bad


Taking money is as bad as raping a woman or killing a man, not even close in my opinion.
Original post by yo radical one
Taking money is as bad as raping a woman or killing a man, not even close in my opinion.


some people lost their house and all their money as a result of fraud. Others even commit suicide.

So it is pretty bad.
Hmm, I get your idea, but it's not really...um, not sure of the english word so let me explain:

As it is a 'paid' option, then surely anyone with money could afford this, so if you're a rapist/murderer who has money then you would be able to afford this anyway. Therefore ultimately all kinds of criminals would end up in the same place anyway, just depends on how much money they have. It would probably also increase the problem of inequality; as it is like saying the rich gets (legal) special treatment in prison.

Other than this, some of these rich people you're talking about has enough money to pay for their entire stay in the prison, so it would be like a holiday to them.

On the other hand, I think the point you're trying to make is that people who are convicted for different levels of offense shouldn't be in the same living quarters/social area whatever. I kind of agree with this as there have been some good people convicted for minor cases and leave becoming "bad" I think? So it would be more sensible to say something like have different "living" areas for different forms of wrongdoing. But...then there would be more problems to follow...
Norway has a system similar to this, right?
Reply 9
all I can do is roll my eyes.

Posted from TSR Mobile
Reply 10
Hmm... well I guess if prisons could themselves run on a profit from prison customers then that profit could obviously be spent on reducing taxes or boosting prison funding/rehab which I hear is below par...

Original post by yo radical one
"holiday" made me chuckle


This actually is not true though, I mean most policy makers maintain that the justice system's foremost priority is protection of the public and then rehabilitation, not punishment. So my idea works fully within this framework, of course if you believe the priorities should be shifted towards punishment (and I don't entirely disagree) then this is a valid opinion, but not one relating to my thread.


It is partly true I think. You always hear about setting precedence to discourage crime, so accordingly get punishment.
If your aim is punishment, prisoners may as well pay a one off lump sum instead of paying in installments to reside at a luxury hotel.

I doubt it will deter people from white collar crime, and I don't see the rehabilitative aspect either.

The only purpose could be incapacitation. But if that is the aim, why is it necessary for the prison to be so fancy? By giving them basic facilities, you could kill two birds with one stone (punishment and incapacitation).

I agree white collar crime isn't as bad as violent crime. But from what I understand, a murderer is unlikely to share a cell with someone whose only crime is identity theft. There are different security categories, from high risk (category A) to low risk open prisons (category D).
(edited 9 years ago)
.......or we could just seize all of the assets/money of people who commit white collar crimes and put it into a pot for rehabilitation purposes. That way we'd actually be using the money from white collar crimes to help fund the rehabilitation of those that commit violent crimes.

Rather than have a two tier prison system why not bring the current prisons up to an adequate standard?
Original post by moment of truth
Norway has a system similar to this, right?


Yes, however not every prison is that way and in practice you are only allowed there towards the end of your prison sentence as it is for rehabilitative purposes.

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