Dr. Jamie Bennett is a civil servant and academic who is currently Deputy Director for Security, Order and Counter Terrorism in HM Prison & Probation Service. Before this role, Dr. Bennett was in charge of a number of prisons. Strangely for someone in this role, he has a strong and consistent history of anti-prison management activism. In an article entitled “against prison management”, the former prison manager suggests replacing prison management with a “politics of love”.
Bennett spends his time online retweeting Zarah Sultana, expressing “delight” that a project on envisaging prison abolition through science fiction in 2021 was funded by the Government, and presenting “police abolitionism alternatives“ as well as what “everyday police abolitionism” involves.
In 2016, he told an event at Oxford University that “the choice reformers have between working within the system and challenging it“, going on to say that “revolution is not a very British way of changing things; rather, change is usually slow and there are ways of influencing change from within the system.” Guido is pretty sure there is a word for those entering into a system to subvert it…
In August of this year Dr. Bennett appeared on a podcast again advocating “against prison management” where he explained he is trying to
https://twitter.com/drjamiebennett/status/1352964418020249600“… wrestle with the organisation and to kind of also through academic work and other kind of public engagement to try and bring a different voice to the debate about prisons and society.”
Sadly for Dr. Bennett, not even his own family seem to buy his loopy abolish prisons ideas…
Some might welcome a manifestly reluctant jailer as a sign that Britain is humane and liberal society. Guido does not think the Home Secretary will be one of them…
This morning Matt Hancock voiced for the first time that after the 13.8 million most vulnerable have been vaccinated, the UK will need to have a national debate about who should then be prioritised, suggesting policemen, teachers and shop workers. Loony left MP Zarah Sultana has different priorities: vaccinating incarcerated criminals.
Sultana, who must be intent on trying to lose her 401 majority, asked Nadhim Zahawi:
“Prisons are a high risk setting for transmission… and vaccinating detainees is both good for public health and a humane approach to a completely disenfranchised population, so has the government considered prioritising detainees as well as those who work in prisons?”
She mustn’t have got the memo from Labour HQ – the new official newspeak directive from Southside is “prison users”…
Shadow Justice Secretary Richard Burgon piled into into G4S over prisons yesterday, an easy target after Labour boycotted the security firm over its links to Israel. ‘Farting commie‘ Burgon slammed G4S for “making profit from prisons and from society’s ills”, what he didn’t mention is that he accepted hospitality from the firm just last month. G4S held a bash at the Southbank Centre in November showcasing art in prisons. Burgon attended with his girlfriend, a cheap date night. Guido hears he and his missus enjoyed the wine and several bowls of the hot pot on offer, though never raised any concerns about G4S running prisons when he spoke to their Head of Prisons. Burgon instead told his G4S hosts how he’d love to visit one of their prisons, but has he actually been to one yet? Guido has asked Burgon if he has visited a G4S prison since becoming Shadow Justice Secretary, he has not replied. This is all a bit Cathy Newman all over again…
