1Xtra's Rewind

On Air Now 04:00 – 07:00

Last updated: Wednesday 11 Feb 2009
1XTRA NEWS: THE REAL TALK OF THE STREETS
Locked Out
Prison inmates
Camera
England and Wales send more young people to jail than any other country in Western Europe. Is prison the best way to punish young offenders?
1Xtra News had exclusive access into Feltham Young Offenders Institute.

Listen as Sonny and Jerome talk about their day to day lives in jail.

Hear from Danny who is on a project which encourages young offenders into education and hear from David and Stefan who are part of the Intensive Fostering programme.

And what do MPs, police officers and the Director of the Prison Service think about crime and punishment in the UK?

Is jail really the right solution for offenders under 18 or are there better alternatives to consider?


One young offender's story
Is jail the right answer for people who break the law? How can we keep young people out of jail? Should penalties be harsher? What would you do if you had the power to decide the fate of young offenders?

Justin h
Yo you joker Feltham is nuttin. Bare man been there. It's a holiday camp just like oakhill.

A Youth Magistrate
Although this program was of some interest, it was also somewhat bias.Why is there no comment from a Youth magistrate. We are, after all, the people who actually send these young people to confinement. Our job is to stop recidivism, we try, try, and try again with the resorces that we have at our disposal.We give each young person every chance to get help with education etc. We issue parenting orders to help the parents who just cannot cope with todays children. There is no mention of the fact that unless they have committed a grave or sexual crime, they will normally have had a caution, warning and final warning (ergo committed 3 crimes) before they ever reach a court.I have not met a Magistrate yet, who likes or enjoys sending a youth away. But at the end of the day there is a limit to what can be done. Magistrates work for no remuneration, attend constant training and are assessed regularly and I do resent the implication that all young people are sent to prison at a very early stage in their lives, they are not, it is the last resort.I could go on - the education system seems to exclude very quickly these days allowing young people to have too much time on thier hands, drink is too abundant and cheap, parents give the children too much money allowing them the opportunity to buy drink and drugs.A government who cannot make up it's mind what class drugs should be. Basically society as a whole!



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