Prison Kindergarten
Prison is a great place for Children with Attention Deficits
More info on the Liam Ashley case, apparently Liam had an Attention Deficit Disorder. His Mother had already been in the media previously complaining about how difficult it was to have a Son who lied all the time and stole all the time.
Hmmm, now I’m no psychiatrist BUT – why would ANYONE think that putting someone with A.D.D. in prison would, could or should get better? I’m sick of people saying the parents shouldn’t blame themselves, THEY asked the Courts to give him a custodial sentence, THEY could have scared him with the Court process, but no – THEY wanted him to serve time – A 17 YEAR OLD! Do you know what they call 17 year olds in prison folks? Fresh Meat – the parents ARE responsible and the only good thing that will come out of this is that NZers will drop the bullshit idea that the prison environment is a hotel.
I wonder if the family were Christian, you know the sort of ‘spare the rod’ happy clappers?
Oh and to add even more weight to concerns he was in prison at all, it now turns out that Liam was picked on in custody and that he relayed these concerns to his lawyer.
posted by Bomber @ 7:24 am
16 comments
16 Comments:
So the parents screwed up and now they're serving a life sentence for their mistake. Forever after they will know they killed their own kid, not directly of course, but as good as - in your eyes anyway. But they deserve that don't they? Lets all ram it home to them to make sure they really get the message.
Gee, such a hard line coming from you. Reading your blog, I would have thought that it was the fascist majority who considered life sentences as appropriate for first offenders. But maybe it's just that you're a complete hypocrite and an insensitive cunt to boot - could that be it?
What was your name again Anonymous?
THE BUCK STOPS HERE!!!
New PPS General Manager
Harry Hawthorn.
THE Public Prisons Service's (PPS) new General Manager Harry Hawthorn is looking forward to working with staff at
all levels to make PPS as effective as possible.
"Standing still is not an option. I want to engage both staff and stakeholders in strategic and tactical planning to identify
priority areas and a strong vision for PPS," he says.
"The right people need to be in the right positions with the right resources to do the right things." Harry stepped into the position in early July, bringing 10 years of PPS regional management experience from both the Midland and Waikato/Central regions.
As General Manager Harry will be overseeing the country's 19 prisons and is responsible for providing prison services that ensure the safe, secure and humane containment of prisoners,
and help to reduce re-offending.
PPS is also responsible for managing the sentence plans of each offender including rehabilitation and reintegration. Harry looks forward to working closely with regional and prison teams to create a
service in which staff and the public can take pride. Harry Hawthorn.
www.bentcops.org
......
Hold on Anon, of course we feel for the Parents, but they made a stupid call, just like a parent who buys their kids a keg and the kids go kill themselves drink driving. What I am particularly critical of though is the mindset that Prison is easy which is sold by the conservative voices in this country – and Liam’s death is proof of that. Making that point is hardly fascist or hypercritical, I wonder if your animosity is because you were one of those conservative voices.
Of course they made a stupid call. Isn't that dead obvious to them and everyone now? Do you really need to rub their noses in it to make that point? The tragic result speaks more about that than you'll ever achieve by spelling it out - IMO.
Do I sound worked up? You're right. Was calling you a hypocrite excessive? Ok, perhaps it was. I *am* worked up over the whole wretched, tragic thing. I just think you should give the parents a break. I don't think there can be anyone out there who's suffering more over this than they are.
Probably saved our country a lot of money down the track.
This is truly tragic and I feel for the parents (the kid didn't get to prison so we don't know if it would have been easy for him or not). The bullshit about whether they are Christians is fucking low though. You are coming across more and more as an intolerant wanker Bomber.
The phrase "spare the rod, spoil the child" refered to the rods shepards used. They used the rods to guide the sheep, not beat them. Children need guidance, not beatings.
I don't believe that Christians are more likely to beat their kids than non-christians do.
Why is this blog updated when I use Internet Explorer but not when I use Mozilla? The same thing seems to happen on Newzeal when I win arguments against that Act party stooge Trev.
My Mum practiced tough love on me after my father had died when I was a teenager. It DIDNT help me at all. If only she had actually bothered to listen to me she would have discovered her how alone and heartbroken I was after losing the only parent I had who told me he loved me and who listened. She would also have discovered HER fathers paedophilia towards her two daughters. Tough Love does NOT work. It makes a teenager feel alienated and unloved. All parents have to do is listen. Take the time to sit down and talk, find out feelings, learn something new about their child and give them tons of love and positive comments. If you go through your entire life like I did only hearing 'your stupid, your a slut, i wish you had never been born' not to mention never getting a hug or a kiss, then you too would turn out slightly emotional and uncommunicative. On a brighter note my mother had the balls to apologise to me and tries her hardest now to rectify what she did wrong as a parent but it is in no way easy to fix what was left broken for so long. It takes forgiveness from teh child and the parent and a lot of courage to put the past behind you and move on. My Mum also left me in a policstation for a night 'to teach me a lesson'. All it did was confirm how little I thought she loved me, which at that time was true.
Initially I felt the same way about this story - the parents deserve no sympathy, they brought this on themselves. Fuck there are some lazy reporters out there. If you just read the court hearing transcripts you'll find out this kid had a string of charges against him, was basically uncontrollable, and his mother wouldn't have him living in the house. I'm sorry, but what are you supposed to do with a kid like that? You can't give him a hug and make it all better. Nope, this is not a story about the evils of "tough love", it is the story of a kid out of control and parents who could do nothing more for him. The parents should not be blamed for this tragedy.
Blair is right. This kid was out of control. The method they used to try to 'scare him straight' may have had tragic consequences, but they are not to blame. They had his best interests at heart despite the fact that he was already a serious criminal. They put him in jail- well, guess what, he was going to be there soon enough. As to his death- that is the fault of the killer, and perhaps the guards for lack of supervision, but not the parents.
When some years ago I visited this old prison which is now closed and a "tourist attraction", an ex-prison guard there told me a story about a teenager who went to it for a week because he couldn't afford to pay some unpaid fines and his parents decided he needed to be taught a lesson. Reportedly he was repeatedly raped in the overcrowded cell (they broke his arm while holding him) and he was put in solitary confinement after three days for his own protection. Wish I could remember the details, but I don't even remember what country I was in now. Australia probably - maybe. Sorry.
Like in Liam's case, you have to say the parents bear some of the blame, but I don't think they deserve to be vilified. There's a lot of bullshit from the moral majority on how tough you have to be on your kids, and from the political right about how cushy the prison system is, and many people just don't know any better. Well Liam's story is a wakeup call, and I know any parent who reads it will think twice about doing the same thing.
They just wanted what was best for him....
Any one esle ever heard the saying "The road to hell is paved with good intentions"?
Excellent again, Bomber. And oh so true.
I am wondering about accountability though. Accountability from the boy's lawyer? Accountability from the corrections department staff whose job should have been to supervise this transportation, not to just "fob it off" to Armourguard? Accountability from the Justice department who caused this to happen in the first place with their silly, unworkable, policies?
I guess the parents are already facing their "demons" as they must know that they really CAN blame themselves, despite what people say.
As much as I hate to say this - That family deserved to loose their 17 year old son. They paid very dearly for the evil and very stupid decision they had made. I hope this tragic death serves a purpose and sends a very valuable lesson. It also looks like this family needs to learn how to be parents instead of being Section 59 floggers and bigots.
How heartless can you be? No loving parent deserves to loose their child. Liam had ADD and was uncontrollable. The only person responsible for Liams' death is his killer. The security of our prisoners should perhaps be evaluated after this tragedy to prevent this happening again. However we should also give our condolances to Liams family at this terrible time.
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