The celebrity of the criminally insane

[Ellen Jolly]

"Broadmoor is keeping 'celebrity' patients longer than they should claims former boss who believes Sutcliffe and Brady would be in normal prisons if they weren't infamous" Daily Mail Sunday, Oct 06 2013.

I am ready to accept that those who were convicted of crimes years ago and who remain incarcerated probably stand a lesser chance of being released than those convicted in more recent years, especially if they have 'celebrity' status as a result of public reaction to their crimes.

The question is, should the celebrity patients be moved from Broadmoor to 'normal' prisons, or are there people in 'normal' prisons now who really should be in Broadmoor or an equivalent institution?

[Gavin]

I only have a moment and this is perhaps not quite the right thread, but apparently the famous train robber Ronnie Biggs has died. I say "famous" because the media often treated him as famous rather than infamous, and he enjoyed that a lot - it brought him a lot of money (he squandered all of his stolen money).

Anyway, among the fond remembrances of the criminal today was a clip on the BBC of an interview with Biggs from 2000. He was (to their credit) asked how he could have a clear conscience since he had not served his time. What struck me was his reply: "I don't need to serve my time because we're told that the purpose of prison is rehabilitation and I'm going straight now". I wonder what they liberals would make of that. Maybe they're agree with him!