4
Prisons are mysterious places to most of us, but these video documentaries shows what goes on behind prison walls.
In the US (aka 'the land of the free!' ) the emphasis of imprisonment is more focused on vengeance for crimes.
Sentences can be extremely long (over 800 years in some cases) and very tough in the US, and there's even some teenagers in the US who are waiting to be executed on Death Row, where they will be fried to death in an electric chair, or paralysed with lethal injections until their heart stops, or given a very painful execution in a lethal gas chamber (quite a painful way to die), or executed by a firing squad.
I saw a documentary showing mental health patients receiving inadequate treatment in a US prison where they were seen laying naked on beds in a room with just a small blanket over them. Prison officers there said a mentally-ill inmate cut-out his own eye, and another inmate cut off his testicle. Prison Officers said there was a problem of inmates being released from prison without being given proper psychiatric treatment after release into society, and then they were reoffending and being brought back to the prison.
In the US a life sentence means just that!
The US imprisons more people than any other nation - even for minor offences.
Violent prisoners attacking staff can even be shot in US prisons, as shown in this documentary.
Faeces have been thrown at prison officers, whilst other officers have been spat on by volatile inmates.
In the UK, the emphasis of Her Majesty's Prisons ('HM Prisons') is focused around correctional treatment and rehabilitation.
However, even if US prisons are tougher than European prisons, UK prisons are certainly no walk in the park!
This documentary shows some horrific things going on inside Wandsworth Prison, where more than half of the inmates are from foreign nations.
Most inmates are reported as being from Romania. Romanian inmates inside Wandsworth Prison were complaining in the documentary that they wanted to go back home - but were unable to until they'd finished their prison sentence, whilst others said they'd already done their sentence and time in prison, but were still waiting in prison until they could be deported.
Over 40 languages are spoken inside the prison and there's few interpreters available. Many inmates were reported as struggling to speak or understand English.
The prisoners (some of whom are incarcerated for minor offences and are supposed to receive correctional treatment) are shown with broken arms and cuts and slashes on them as a result of the daily violent attacks on inmates and staff there. Another inmate had sugar and boiling water thrown in his face.... another inmate was stabbed in his chest...
The Victorian prison is understaffed and overcrowded. The prison officers who work there are shown trembling in fear and reported feeling 'pushed-to-the-edge with stress' as they suffer from daily verbal abuse and physical attacks. They say they feel 'let down' and 'betrayed' by the government for the underfunding of the prison.
A total of Ł300,000 worth of drugs was discovered inside the prison. Inmates there quickly become drug addicts and leave with a drug addiction problem. Corruption has taken place as Prison Officers smuggled in drugs and mobile phones - and even weapons on behalf of inmates.
Extreme self-mutilation and suicides have happened amongst inmates with mental health problems who are not being given the correct medical treatment that they need. Prison officers had to deal with seeing the grim faces of the dead people who'd killed themselves inside the prison.
Screenshot from the video documentary below
Violent and disturbing footage is shown in this 22 minute video documentary inside this violent South London prison.
'Without reform, I don't know how long we can sustain the prison system.' Governor of Wandsworth Prison, 2016 BBC documentary.
Bookmarks