Freedom for ill Prisoners

So politicians in the UK, being a morally vibrant, have agreed to free the Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs due to his illness and the medical advice that he is unlikely to survive for much longer due to health problems. And it looks like Kenny MacAskill, our enlightened Justice Minister is considering allowing the convicted Lockerbie Bomber Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi freedom due to his cancer and medical advice of little time left.

Well it may be my lack of compassion for convicted criminals, but is Justice as decreed by our judicial system, not being revised by a politican who sees fit to make decisions regarding the revision of a conviction due to his moral code ? Have I, the public at large or most importantly the families of those injured and killed in the Lockerbie bombing or the Great Train Robbery opinions been sought as input into this decision being take by Mr MacAskill? I feel it is morally weak to revise a judicial decision on the grounds of illness of criminals. What happened to do the crime so do the time..?? Call me morally lacking because i think an ill criminal should continue to spend his illness behind bars.? Too bad and I dont care if they are ill or not. Criminals convicted should remain in prison for the term of their imprisonment. This should not be able to be revised by some weak politician appeasing his or conscience or that of other do-gooders. Politicians should be forced to remain outside the realm of decisions taken in law.

This sends out the wrong message to those intent on crime or those in jail with some illness.

They should both remain in jail and serve their sentence.

This has been read 1519 times

Last updated 12 Aug 2009

Good point but ill conceived

Good arguement Fred, but one mistake should not be used to promote another as warranted. And i think its sick that you bring into your point the young daughter of a dead man and use her as a stick to beat the law. If the criminal you mention was freed due to lack of space in our judicial system then that is the fault of this government, and more money needs to be spent on building more pridons or extending those that exist already. And you seem to have missed the point that Ronnie Biggs was resident in hospital and not in prison, so wasnt taking the space of Peter Allan.

What about the case of Claude Donnelly who at the age of 69 years has been convicted of sexual offences against a child. At the age of 69, is he too old to be considered for a jail cell, or should we just slap his wrist and leave the space free for some young hoodie with assault convictions? I dont think so.

Maybe we should consider bringing back the death penalty for old criminals whose sentence expires after the end of their life. That would free space whilst enabling us to spend our hard earned taxes on the important things in life like ensuring politicians like Alan Duncan dont feel like they are living on rations.

Megrahi was convicted of 270 murders and should die in jail. Although i feel sorry for Dr Jim Swire's loss, Megrahi has to remain in jail until it has been proven he is innocent and after 20 years of the law, its unbelievable that we still are unsure of his guilt.

Im for criminals completing ALL their sentence, money spend on more prison space and longer sentences for those who carry out crime.

let's consider

The case of Raymond Black the carluke man who was murdered at the start of the year by Peter Allan. Allan attacked Black with a lamp before stabbing him repeatedly leaving him dead on the living room floor with his 2 year old daughter asleep upstairs. What's got to do with anything i hear you say, well for the ill informed that look at the pictures in the sun rather than read the facts ina qualty paper, what this has to do with anything is his history.

Here's a quote from stv news:

"Just weeks before the attack, Allen had been freed from prison after serving a six month sentence for assault. He had 17 previous convictions in all."

Why was he released - simple, not enough cells. Amy, Jason why don't you explain to Black's daughter why daddy's dead. Or should he have been locked up rather than Biggs?

Fred's attitude stinks of do-gooder

Fred, your attitude is shocking and is so concerned with appeasing the guilty rather than punishment that it defies belief. Get a grip of yourself and grow a pair of balls. If we simply let criminals off due to their age, then what is the point in trying them in the first place. Should ols paedos get away with crimes commited in their youth. No.

Horrendous attitude

Wrong attitude

Fred, I assume you have never experienced any form of sever criminal act against you. If so, like a member of your family being coshed anddying from the affects of said attack, would you agree to having the perpetrator freed while still having sentence to serve? I doubt it. Your arguement is a nonsense as the law should not look at the age of the criminal. This would lead to a break down in law. Should we free Ian Brady because of his age ? What about the Soham killer ? No. Money and space should not be an influencing factor.

I reiterate....... let them rot....

Wrong

How can we possibly justify keeping frail old men in jail? On one hand we talk about elederly people being attacked in their homes and saying that they can't defend themselves, then in the other we talk about these ones still being a menace to society. We can't have it both ways either they can or can't cause mischief.

Why should we still be paying to "protect" society from these people when clearly they can't harm society any more being free than being locked up. The argument here shouldn't be should we show compassion to terminally ill people in jail. The discussion here should be who would we rather have off the streets, muggers and burglars, or these sick people that a stiff wind would blow over? Don't we have a shortage of cells? i would rather be attacked by a pensioner that i could push away without sweating than a mugger who feels invincible because they never got sent down.

Correct

Absolutely. Criminals should remain inside for crimes committed. Trying to appeal to the public at large by freeing sickly prisoners is sick in itself. Let them rot.

Im sick of morals being used. Whose morals ?Not mine, and as above not those of Luis.

Thats why this country is in such a state. There is no respect for the public at large and criminals are seeing more and more ways of reducing their jail term. Makes me sick. we need to toughen up.