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ARTICLE SUMMARY

Prison offers inmates pole-vaulting lessons

THEY may not be quite the bars prisoners dream of leaping over – but offenders at one jail are jumping for joy at being taught how to pole vault.

BREAKING ROCKS

13.11.07, 2:20pm

You've obviously never spent any time near a prison. Televisions aren't there so that prisoners can have a good time. They are there because everybody (especially the guards) find it easier to control the prison when people are occupied by television.
Breaking up rocks... jesus, what good is that going to do anybody?
if you are angry about the poverty level in britain, don't get angry at the fact that prisoners are given a basic human standard of living, get mad at wealthy corporations that avoid paying a fair share of taxes. Get mad at a very expensive military budget.

• Posted by: VinceReport Comment

NEVERTHELESS

03.11.07, 11:14pm

Prisoners still hold a better standard of living in compared to those most vulnerable in society; more so the millions of children are suffering horrendous Poor, Damp and Overcrowded housing.
That is a fact and not fiction, for which the Government and righteous bodies should bow their heads in total disgrace and shame.
Bring back the days when prisoners had to break up rocks and didn’t have luxuries of televisions, not to mention there drug supplies etc. Prisons should be a place of punishment and flaming holiday day camp.

• Posted by: nickisplightReport Comment

UP AND OVER

03.11.07, 10:09pm

Go ahead and make negative comments about these people in prison, but have you ever visited a prison and spent time with the inmates to get to know them? The inmates in this case are just kids 18-21 yrs that have made big mistakes. If people had bothered to help these kids earlier in their lives they may not have found themselves in this situation. Sport is a positive way of challenging energy and builds team spirit. Most of the inmates can relate to sport even if they are not academically inclined. Some of these inmates will have low self esteem and confidence which stops them from trying something new. Have you got the confidence to stop smoking, drinking, etc whilst your friends continue?
You can't get a more difficult discpline than pole vault to help push your own limiting boundries! The confidence that athletes gain from having a go and succseeding is amazing to see.
I used to think having a roof ,bed and three square meals a day must be easy time! But until you stand there behind bars looking at concrete floors and walls away from loved ones, you won't know what your talking about!
The walls are 2 metres higher than the world record with razor wire on them. Not a chance in hell of them escaping!

• Posted by: VaultingmanReport Comment

PUNISHMENT OR REHABILITATION?

03.11.07, 6:11pm

It's pretty sad to see the kind of self-righteous and vengefull attitudes on display here. Prisons are supposed to be as much about rehabilitation as they are about punishment. Teaching kids new skills and giving them a sense of accomplishment are ways to build character, and that is a way to lessen the chance of re-offending. Treat people like animals, they become animals.
At some point these kids will be back on the streets, and i for one would rather see them out with an education and some skills, most of you would seemingly prefer to see them embittered by 'hard time', so they can come out and take revenge on a society which couldn't care less about them.

• Posted by: VinceReport Comment

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LABOUR SHOWS CRIME PAYS!

03.11.07, 3:21pm

It never ceases to amaze me and numerous others, the mollycoddling criminals get in, so-called, prison. Meanwhile, we, the law-abiding folks, are robbed blind by a government whose sole intent and purpose is to keep criminals, social malcontents and misfits warm and fuzzy.
It is proof; crime pays in the contemptuously cynical eyes of Labour.




• Posted by: misanthropeReport Comment

GOODNESS SAKE

03.11.07, 3:06pm

Haven’t we heard enough about prisoners?

I ask you, it's not a prison at all, it's a holiday camp.

Prisoners have a better standard of living than thousands of law abiding citizens.

Take those thousands of CHILDREN in OVERCROWDED housing. Prisoners have a better sense of freedom and space than over 3 million CHILDREN.

nickisplight.co.uk

• Posted by: nickisplightReport Comment

POLE VAULTING

03.11.07, 2:34pm

Just how high is the perimeter fence??????????

• Posted by: SRMReport Comment

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AND A HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYER

03.11.07, 2:10pm

Ready to sue the Government for negligence when one of them hurts himself on landing on the other side of the wall

• Posted by: Jay_RReport Comment

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AND A PRINTING PRESS

03.11.07, 4:34am

To make counterfeit money, and a trampoline lessons for those who do not make the grade at pole-vaulting!

• Posted by: sunshineyday01Report Comment

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WHY DON'T THE PRISONS

03.11.07, 2:07am

give them cobbling and key cutting lessons as well.

Cut their own keys, then use their newly cobbled shoes to do a runner....

Whose are these ideas???

They obviously don't have a bloody clue!!!

Wasting money on the toerags in prison, and our old people are living in shitty conditions in old peoples homes.

You couldn't make this stuff up.

• Posted by: SandieLReport Comment

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