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Pups In Prison

Pups In Prison published on

In my view the penal system cares very little about its inmates or indeed about the public’s safety.  Here in Australia it seems to be about keeping these guys, and of course guys is what most convicts are, in a place where they can’t commit any more crime. In places like the US it seems to be mostly about wringing corporate profits out of human misery.

What happens with most criminals, even the nonviolent ones, is that the system basically throws them away. While inside very little effort is put into trying to rehabilitate these guys, and when they come out they very often find it hard to get work and on top of that they have to put up with the stigma of being an ex-con.  In a welfare state like Australia the lack of work simply means having a lower standard of living,  in a country like the US it often comes down to a matter of survival, and will often leave the newly released convict with no choice but to re-offend.

There are however, some good programs aimed at rehabilitating convicts and in Australia one such is Pups in Prison. Run by Assistance Dogs Australia, the program uses men convicted of low-level offenses to train dogs that provide aid to the disabled by opening doors, flicking on light switches – the kind of thing that most able-bodied people take for granted. And I should point out that these men are from minimum security, so don’t worry – no one is giving a serial killer a puppy!

Training these dogs helps in the men’s rehabilitation by giving them skills that they may be able to use to get a legitimate source of income once they have left the jail, but the benefits seem to be mostly on the psychological level. As one inmate puts it…

“For the first time in years it will allow us to show softness, tenderness and affection. Caring for these dogs will help us rekindle certain feelings and emotions, help us lighten up and bring a little more humanity into our lives…

Instead of taking from society, it [the Pups in Prison Program] provides us with an opportunity to actually give back. From criminal to contributor.

“It [the Pups in Prison Program] has a win-win-win-win aspect to it. It will help us inmates, it will help Assistance Dogs Australia, it will help people with special needs and it will also help the prison environment, by improving self esteem and empathy levels among inmates, increase positive behaviours and moods, create better relationships between staff and inmates and open up more opportunities for education, training and employment…”

Nothing being perfect, Pups In Prison won’t have a beneficial effect on all of these men but it will on some and that’s good enough for me, so as long as it’s not being used to make life easier for seriously violent offenders and as long as no one decides to give Michael Vick one of these dogs, it’s a piece of good news in an otherwise bleak situation.

Article here

One of the convicts in this video seems to be wearing a pair of sneakers that mysteriously disappeared from my closet a few months ago, I assume however that this is a mere coincidence….

First You Must Learn How to Smile as You Kill.

First You Must Learn How to Smile as You Kill. published on 1 Comment on First You Must Learn How to Smile as You Kill.

A nice summation of what is wrong with class in the western world. Lyrics and music by John Lennon, vocals by Marilyn Manson, because Manson’s sepulchral vocals are much more suited to the bleak and sorrowful theme. The next Pigman Cometh toon is on class in Amerika, so it’s been on my mind.

London Crackdown Continues

London Crackdown Continues published on

In the wake of the recent lame-brained, half-assed, can’t-tell-shit-from-chocolate uprising in London, the politicians are being their usual predictable and authoritarian selves. One man has been charged with trying to start a water fight, another two are looking at terms of four years for trying to start a disturbance, and one man is looking at a jail sentence for looting two – count ‘em – two scoops of ice cream! I suppose the latter should simply have tried to steal the ice cream. Oh no, wait…

Bail is being denied at a far higher rate for these offences than for violent crimes, people are losing their government housing and welfare payments, and social media is being attacked for doing in Blighty what they were cheered for doing in Egypt. Why such a harsh response? Because it sends the message that rebellion, no matter how minor, will not be tolerated by the psychopaths who own your ass, that’s why.

“Holy Scheisse, Mein Merc ist on Fire!”

“Holy Scheisse, Mein Merc ist on Fire!” published on 1 Comment on “Holy Scheisse, Mein Merc ist on Fire!”

In Germany they have actual radicals instead of poor, lame-brained youths who rebel by destroying the lives of other victims of the system, so they don’t loot the local electronics shop, they set fire to Mercs!

In the last two days, over two dozen Mercs and Audis have been torched, making a total of 138 for the year, by what the article describes as “far left extremists.” Funny, I don’t see the bastards that caused the GFC referred to as extremists, nor do I see the neo-conservatives described that way…

These dreadful people, who apparently only carry out their attacks late at night when the cars are empty and there are no innocent bystanders to be accidentally incinerated, are apparently motivated by such ludicrous and trivial concerns as globalization ( corporatist code for “Let’s get everyone to work for peanuts.”) and rising rents, because the unreasonable bastards think everyone should be able to afford a domicile slightly fancier than a cardboard box.

Note the way the article tries to win reader sympathy by pointing out fear not in the doctors and lawyers that own such luxury vehicles, but in two old age pensioners – cos we all know how many pensioners are driving around in Mercs. One of the pensioners ironically tells us that he won’t be leaving the hood, because to do so would be “giving in to the radicals”. You’ve already given in to radicals, granddad, who do you think is running your country?

More here.

British Crackdown On Water Fights?

British Crackdown On Water Fights? published on

As soon as maggots like David Cameron made it clear that the London riots would be used to take England closer and closer to something that will make certain comic books look like a history of the future rather than fiction, you knew shit like this was going to happen.

A young man ( they’re always the most troublesome, hence have to be stomped extra hard) in Essex has been arrested for planning a water fight on Facebook and the BlackBerry Messenger service!

We all know what English weather is like, and maybe the authorities are just a bunch of nice, avuncular types who are dreadfully afraid that someone will catch a nasty cold. Or maybe, just maybe, this is a way of sending a loud and clear message that no matter how trivial the act of disobedience you will be hunted down and locked up. And if you can’t get away with a water fight, you had better not even think of  staging a political riot or we will send some blokes round and you will never be seen again. Not there yet? Maybe not, but authoritarianism by stealth is the preferred method in the developed world.

The English PM actually admits that he wants to investigate whether or not” it would be right to stop people communicating via these websites and services when we know they are plotting violence, disorder and criminality”.

Or for that matter, a revolution against a dirtbag government that treats everyone except the rich like shit.

More here