No good is served by incarcerating an illiterate drugs “mule” in Holloway for 14 years for a first offence when she had no clue what she was doing and has left four children on the streets of Jamaica. She will be sent back in seven years, after Britain has spent £250,000 turning her into a drug addict and a wreck. Not since deportation for poaching has British penal policy been so heartless and so stupid.
You may think drugs are awesome fun or unspeakably evil, but either way it’s difficult to deny Mr Jenkins’ point. The really weird – and mildly encouraging – thing, if you ever read the comments on Commentisfree, is that none of them object to the article…
As usual Jenkins misses the point and displays his idiocy in his first four words "No good is served". Prison is not meant to be a "good". It is meant to be a punishment. The fact that the lady concerned will probably live better in one of our gaols than she would back home is merely an indication that the same sort of idiocy with which Jenkins suffers is shared by the ninnies who run our prisons.
Lest you suppose I am too harsh on Jenkins, then please take a stiff drink and ponder these words of wisdom: "she had no clue what she was doing". That would have your local drugs squad falling about helpless with laughter, but then, they inhabit the real world not the rarified atmosphere of The Guardian.
Finally, if we simply provided this woman with a few nights in a hostel and a return ticket to the West Indies, they would have to lay on extra planes from Jamaica to cope with the crowds of drug mules. Poor old Terminal Five would have to close down again!
Why doesn't the man stick to what he's good at, supporting the building of another millenium dome?