Dr Jarrod Gilbert Sociologist
  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Research
  • s27 Reports
  • Contact

The Death of a Prisoner - the beginning or the end of violence?

28/3/2015

2 Comments

 
PictureCorrections staff will be on high alert.
After days on life support and a little time breathing by himself, a prisoner taken from Christchurch Men’s Prison died in Christchurch hospital. He was beaten to death.

It has been whispered that three Mongrel Mob prospects were present during the assault that lead to his death. A homicide inquiry is now underway. But it’s not just the state that is looking to exact justice. On many levels prisons run on their own rules.

Jails are full of violent men, but not full of violence. Those on long lags want to get on with their time with as little fuss and tension as possible. Prison leaders help enforce informal codes of conduct to ensure this happens. Then there are the exceptions.

Pride, small disputes that escalate, and gang rivalries are some of the many reasons violence can erupt. Often these events are small and go nowhere: a clean fight, a deserved hiding. Other times, back-up is a certainty. Utu becomes all-consuming. The prison becomes a place heavy with violence. In the small confines, its threat lingers like a thick mist and reverberates around the walls.

Sometimes violence is contagious. Most famously the devastating Mt Eden prison riot of 1965 sparked copycat, though comparatively minor, events around the country. Gang violence can similarly spread.

It is said that in the days following the fatal attack two prisoners connected with the Mongrel Mob were beaten up. The potential for snowballing violence is partially being realised.

Corrections staff will be taking every precaution to ensure the situation does not escalate further. As required, monitoring, long lockdowns and careful segregations are the order of the day.

Despite the rhetoric of some, prisons are not holiday camps. At times like this, that is only too clear. For prisoners and for staff.

In all of this, too, there is a grieving family. If they are lucky – and many are not – criminals, like non-criminals, have those who love them. These are people who often suffer through a prisoner’s crimes and who love them anyway. 

In this instance, a close member of this man’s family has spent time in prison, too. One can only hope, perhaps, that grieving does not lead to more tragedy. And that justice is served by the courts and not in the prisons. 

But again, prisons often run on their own rules.

2 Comments
grademiners link
27/5/2019 03:31:07 pm

If we will settle with the idea of violence, it's like we are teaching people to resort into violence every time we are having a huge problem with other people. That's not a good practice because we live in a society wherein violence should never rule out the place that we live in. It's sad to know that there must be death before the end of each violence that's why people have to make a debate about this. It would be a great idea to do this!

Reply
Jeffrey link
21/6/2022 08:17:30 am

Thank yoou

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Disclaimer

    I reserve the right to change my mind in the face of superior evidence.

    Sponsored by

    Picture

    Picture

    WINNER: BEST BLOG

    Archives

    April 2022
    October 2019
    March 2018
    February 2018
    August 2017
    June 2017
    September 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly