Our leaders continue to put thousands at risk by trapping them in unsafe conditions. Covid-19 infects in clusters; keeping inmates packed behind bars all but guarantees a mass outbreak. For years, we’ve been saying mass incarceration kills, yet our leaders remain unmoved.
Vulnerable prisoners are already in danger, with the first death of a prisoner in a UK jail last week. The charity law practice, Appeal, is calling for the temporary or early release of prisoners convicted of non-violent offences, those with serious pre-existing health conditions, and all in minimum-security open prisons. We lock up too many people to begin with. If we were extra judicious about locking up people in the first place we wouldn’t now be scrambling to fight for their release.
Ashish Prashar Board member, Leap Confronting Conflict
Editor's reply
Dear Ashish
I’m unconvinced that freeing inmates on the basis of pre-existing health conditions makes sense. We don’t know where they’d live or whether, as rule-breakers, they’d follow social-distancing restrictions, so they might be at greater risk of infection outside prison than in. They would also still present a potential burden to the NHS, but when and where would be harder to predict.
Nor would freeing “non-violent” fraudsters be wise when Covid-19 is presenting new opportunities for scams. The better approach, if necessary, would be to free those near the end of their sentences who’d be at liberty soon anyway.
Martin Bentham, Home Affairs Editor
Fitness bullseye
Alex Lawson mentions Sports Direct increasing the price of “home fitness” items, such as dumbbells and dartboards [“Sports Direct’s Ashley apologises for ‘poor’ behaviour in Covid crisis”, March 27]. Dartboards? Move over Joe Wicks, Alex sounds like my sort of personal trainer.
Steve Smith
