Lord Neuberger : Tue Nov 26, 2013 8:58 am  

Just watching an item on Sky, regarding his change of views following a visit to a women's prison, and how a short term prison term can cause a great deal of disruption to their lives, and is maybe not the way to deal with these prisoners in the future.

Surely a senior Judge would have realised that any prison term, would drastically curtail your social calendar, and cause a rejigging of the school run/childminding/shopping etc? It isn't the length of the sentences which is the problem, but the lack of facilities and treatments available, once they are in there. Many of the short term prisoners have drug and mental problems. Is it beyond the wit of the Courts to ensure that these prisoners are directed towards a NHS facility, possibly even in a closed Ward, with the provisio of attend, or face a doubling of your sentence within a HMP?

And perhaps, Mi Learned Friend could spend a moment or two to hear of the disruption visited upon the victims of these people's actions.

Re: Lord Neuberger : Tue Nov 26, 2013 9:31 am  

Since most institutional care for those with mental illnesses have been closed, and with the NHS under massive strain - something like 5,000 nurses have been lost to the service since 2010, A&E departments closed, wards closed - the infrastructure is not in place to look after such cases.