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| Lynn Hammond |
08/27/2011
By Ross Findon
A child safety watchdog has raised concerns about plans to turn over Island prisons to sex offenders.
Prison sources this week confirmed they were looking to house only sex offenders in the three jails of HM Prison Isle of Wight.
- This is good, IMO. Then their won't be as many assaults on someone simply due to a label.
Currently, Albany is the main sex-offender prison with some others housed in Parkhurst.
Lynn Hammond, of Isle of Wight Parents Action Group, raised fears about large numbers of sex offenders, particularly paedophiles, being grouped together and about offenders staying on the Island after release.
- Come on! Damned if you do, damned if you don't. If it wasn't for these prisons, they'd be in other prisons just as well. So her "fear" is unjustified, IMO.
"They won’t want to go back to their old community. They will be looking for a fresh start."
- Wow, imagine that, a fresh start!
"Saving money should never come into a decision like this, when children’s lives could be at risk," she said.
Nigel Hawley, chairman of the Isle of Wight Independent Monitoring Board, said he believed it was unlikely prisoners would be released from here as most finished their sentences from Category D jails, of which there were none on the Island.
Island MP Andrew Turner said he would be writing to Secretary of State for Justice Kenneth Clarke for further details of what was proposed and the reasons behind it.
"Only those with genuine connections to the Island before their imprisonment should be released here," said Mr Turner, who said he wanted to meet with HMP Isle of Wight governor James Shanley.
