Extraordinary lives
HAVE you lost a relative or friend in recent months whose life you’d like to celebrate? Our Friday column tells the stories of ordinary people who lived extraordinary lives. Email your 350-word tribute to: lives@ dailymail.co.uk or write to: Extraordinary Lives, Daily Mail, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT. Please include a contact phone number.
BORN on Boxing Day, Dave was a much-wanted only child of his mum Betty and dad Eddie. He had an idyllic childhood in Leigh, Lancashire, next door to his auntie and uncle and a few doors away from his grandparents. Family was everything and folk lived their whole lives near where they were born. Dave’s school pals were lifelong friends. From an early age he had a passion for trains. Dave worked at British Insulated Callender’s Cables (BICC) in work study time and motion, where he monitored workers to determine how quickly they completed tasks and so work out their wages. We met at Leigh’s Beachcomber Club, where bands such as The Walker Brothers performed. It was Easter Sunday 1965 and playing on the jukebox was The Beatles song Yes It Is — the B-side of Ticket To Ride. It became our song. We married in 1969 and had two daughters. Dave was ambitious and applied for a job at BICC Wrexham. Moving away was a big thing for our family, but turned out to be the best thing ever. Dave was positive about the move, but I admit, without his get-up-and-go, I would never have left Leigh. Dave
HAVING watched the ITV documentary Welcome To HMP Belmarsh, presented by Ross Kemp, I am sadly not surprised by the terrorist attacks perpetrated by two former inmates, Usman Khan and Sudesh Amman. The environment within the prison appears to be a volatile hotbed of aggression, a breeding ground for spontaneous violent acts, alienation, rebelliousness, self-harming and extremism. I fear for prison staff, who seem to be doing their best under difficult circumstances, but clearly lack the resources to implement robust rehabilitation programmes. I also feel sorry for the inmates because they can’t possibly feel safe in such a highly charged environment. They must be constantly on alert and on the defensive, a combination which encourages animosity, acts of selfpreservation and radicalisation. This state of affairs does not benefit society. Irrespective of the length of an inmate’s sentence, if nothing is done in prison to alter their thinking and behaviour, and to encourage integration, they are likely to re-offend. There also needs to be proper provision for inmates leaving prison. One prisoner filmed on the day of discharge had no accommodation, job or income. If inmates are left to fend for themselves, after release they can flounder. The Government bears the responsibility of keeping us all safe and I hope it will do much more to strengthen security than simply increasing the length of terrorists’ sentences. Staffing levels within prisons and the probation system are of paramount importance, as well as the implementation of more effective deradicalisation programmes. Terrorists have been brainwashed into extreme views, so we need to effect changes in their thought patterns and behaviour.
EFROSYNI HOBBS, London SE9. IT IS obvious that locking terrorists up is no guarantee they will not reoffend. A terrorist who enters prison is more likely to still be a terrorist on release. Longer prison sentencing and deradicalisation does not work. The public is more at risk now than ever before. The only deterrent would be to amend human rights legislation when it comes to convicted terrorists. The thought of losing their human rights could be a greater deterrent than any prison sentence.
M. R. GRIBBLE, Bristol.