Lesson Learned
That paragon of virtue, Pete Doherty is due to be released from Wormwood Scrubbs this week after serving just 29 days of a 98 days sentence for possession of drugs.
The papers often describe him as having "fought a battle against drug addiction". If he is any example of fighting a battle you sure as hell wouldn’t want him in your army.
His sentence is reduced by half automatically, because it makes the judicial system seem harsher if you sentence to double what they actually serve. He also gets 18 days knocked off because the government have repeatedly failed to make arrangements to imprison people & haven’t got room despite being in power for years & the overcrowding problem not having crept up on them. He gets another two days off because of time in police custody.
So despite having a four month suspended sentence for a similar offence last October & re-offending so soon, he still manages to serve less than a third of his latest sentence.
That’ll teach him then.
I was amazed to find a discussion forum dedicated to this waste of space. It’s described as "The best Pete Doherty discussion on the net", you mean there’s more than one?
blueknight says:
Local prisons would be a good idea. They don’t need to be highly secure. They would take the pressure off the main prisons by dealing with the likes of Pete Docherty and any other druggies,shoplifters, diqual drivers and other non violent nuisance offenders.
May 6th, 2008 at 11:58 pm
Grumpy Old Biker says:
Hang on a minute…
May I refer you to your excellent article entitled ‘The Biggie’. It strikes me that it’s almost by chance that people aren’t in prison for possession of 20 Silk Cut or for having a bottle of vodka shoved down their trousers. And those using drugs would be happily swaning about on the outside, tutting at these naughty people incarcerated for their evil doings.
Okay, this man is a tosser, but is that reason enough to feel he needs punishing?
Yeah, probably.
May 7th, 2008 at 9:20 am
200 says:
GOB,
Ah, but I’m advocating the legalisation of drugs, not the breaking of current laws.
My criticisms on the Doherty case are really based around futility of the current prison & justice system in that there seems to be absolutely no point in sentencing someone to 3 months and letting them serve just one.
I was brought up to believe you don’t threaten someone with something you’re not prepared to carry out. If I ever said to someone, do that again & I’ll arrest you, I made sure if they did it again they were nicked, for the same reason.
May 7th, 2008 at 11:06 am
Grumpy Old Biker says:
That’s fine and I’m right behind you there, but hasn’t 50% remission been around for donkey’s years? It’s only the extra bit tagged on to ‘ease jail overcrowding’, which is new.
This remission thing always seemed arse-about-face to me. Why reduce for good behaviour rather than extend for bad? But to extend would mean further court appearances, so I guess it makes sense.
Everyone knows the remission rules so it probably works. It’s a bit like taking away all your child’s sweets when you both know half will be returned if they toe the line.
Of course, if someone receives a fine rather than a prison sentence, there’s little chance of a rebate if they behave themselves.
May 7th, 2008 at 2:18 pm