# hmp brixton prison solidarity demo



## janis joplin (May 25, 2012)

jubilee bank holiday tuesday 5th June, meet 3pm outside Brixton tube to walk up to the prison together and make noise in solidarity with all prisoners.

called by London ABC https://network23.org/londonabc/

from their flier:

Her Majesty’s Pleasure?  Stuff that!
A noise demo to show solidarity with prisoners at HMP Brixton, because frankly we don’t feel like celebrating 60 years of having a queen, especially a queen who takes pleasure from imprisoning our mates, comrades, and other fellow human beings.
What kind of a sick mind takes pleasure from locking people up in prison?
Prisons destroy people.  They destroy familes, friendships, and
communities too.  Putting somebody in prison is an act of violence which contributes nothing real or positive and only brutalises those who are already struggling.
We don’t believe that prison is the answer to any question we have ever asked.
We want to show the people inside HMP Brixton that they are not alone, that they are not forgotten, that queen liz and her government have not succeeding in hiding them away from us, that we support them and give a shit about them.  That we think prison is a crime.
So, please join us on 5th June, part of the so-called “jubilee weekend”
for a noisy and spirited demo at HMP Brixton.  We’ll meet outside Brixton underground station at 3pm to walk up to the prison together. Please bring things to make noise with, your mates, and your righteous rage.


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## albionism (May 25, 2012)

I agree that prison brutalises human beings and we need to think about alternatives,
but i have always wondered, what do we do with rapists, child molesters, murderers ?


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## HST (May 25, 2012)

albionism said:


> I agree that prison brutalises human beings and we need to think about alternatives,
> but i have always wondered, what do we do with rapists, child molesters, murderers ?


Psychiatric hospitals. I'm old school on this.


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## albionism (May 25, 2012)

Yeah, i have often thought about what we would do if
we did away with prisons. Could, for example, a serial 
rapist or serial murderer be treated in the community
instead of being jailed? Would the community _want _
such an individual in their midst? Can such a person be
"treated". Prison clearly does not work, in terms of cutting
crime and rehabilitation. But what to do with the lowest 
of the low, the child killers et al ?


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## Blagsta (May 25, 2012)

HST said:


> Psychiatric hospitals. I'm old school on this.


What makes you think all rapists, child molesters and murderers are mentally ill?


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## purenarcotic (May 25, 2012)

Some people kill others, rape others and fiddle with kids because they derive a sick pleasure out of it.  A psychiatric unit is of no use with these people; they aren't mentally ill.  They are in full capacity of their senses, they feel no remorse for their actions.  Pills and potions are of no use here.


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## lizzieloo (May 25, 2012)

I would have thought that a fair few convicted rapists and child molesters are safer on the inside.


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## ska invita (May 26, 2012)

UK prison system is archaic compared to somewhere like Denmark... ridiculous reoffending rates by comparison... if anyone knows some stats source im sure they'll back me up. Nevermind, Ill google it. Here we go:



> hough they are both members of the European Union, the gloomy clang of a prison gate is a sound you are half as likely to hear in Denmark as in the UK.
> 
> While British judges lock up 139 people per 100,000 of population, in Denmark the figure is just over 60 - less than half.
> 
> ...


 
HMP Brixton


> HMCIP REPORT
> Last Inspection by HMCIP: 1–10 December 2010 - unannounced full follow-up inspection
> Report Dated: February 2011
> Published: May 2011
> ...


Built in early 1800s
http://www.insidetime.org/info-regimes2.asp?nameofprison=HMP_BRIXTON


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## mrs quoad (May 26, 2012)

HST said:


> Psychiatric hospitals. I'm old school on this.


Forced rehabilitation can be far more punitive than prison will ever be. 

Start with automatic indefinite sentences (until you can adequately perform compliance) & work backwards from there. Psychiatric hospitalisation can be utterly insidious, dishonest & nasty. Particularly for people who genuinely aren't - in any meaningful sense - conventionally mentally ill.

AND pathologising the individual arguably takes away any context from their actions. If crime is a mental illness, it's a problem of the individual. Not a reflection of structural inequalities, or any kind of structured, intentional, meaningful process.

Tbh, you'd also need to find psychiatrists who think that all such crime is the result of (treatable?) mental illness, too. And I'm not sure there are many of them around. 

Prison is used way, way too much, though.


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## fogbat (May 26, 2012)

Blagsta said:


> What makes you think all rapists, child molesters and murderers are mentally ill?


Not all rapists, child molesters and murderers are mentally ill, but all mentally ill people are rapists, child molesters and murderers.


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## Deareg (May 26, 2012)

albionism said:


> I agree that prison brutalises human beings and we need to think about alternatives,
> but i have always wondered, what do we do with rapists, child molesters, murderers ?


I don't think too many people will deny that we need prisons,or that we need police, but it is the type of prisons, just like the type of police that is the problem.


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## biggus dickus (May 26, 2012)

Countries like Scandinavia which have shitloads of natural resources and money and can afford to be apart from the fray treat their rapists and thieves as people who are also victims of society and spend lots of money on that minority and once they get out of their prison they don't want to do any bad
Countries like China who have too many people just take their rapists and thieves out the back and shoot them in the head. 

If China had enough money they would probably treat them like victims as well but you know, there isn't enough money to not shoot rapists for people who don't own fish and oil


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Jun 5, 2012)

Slightly more than last time then.  Taken a few minutes ago


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