Prisoner human rights lawsuits — a growth industry

This is going to end up a Scottish prison rights (or opposition to) bloog at some point. Yet another ‘human rights’ case funded by legal aid is being raised on behalf of a serial armed robber, who thinks that all his outgoing calls being preceded by a recorded message (stating that the call is originating from a Scottish prison and may be monitored) causes “an additional level of discomfort” in his dealings with the outside world.

I’ll just stop there and let you absorb the lunacy of this supposedly legal claim.

If I had a relative who was a criminal (oh wait, I do — he just prefers to be fugitive in China), I wouldn’t be ashamed of it, I would want people to know so if they do ever get to speak to said criminal relative, forewarned is forearmed.

I don’t want taxes I pay to go to funding this serial criminal’s attempt to create a mockery out of what is already a screwed up prison system. Dude, you hold people up. You threaten them with violence. You got caught. You don’t deserve the same rights as people who don’t break the law.

I really hope that the judiciary sees this for the waste of time it is.

• 9 Feb 2007