Vicky Price

So they got what they deserved and let's hope we hear no more of them. I won't be buying their prison diaries.

Prison diaries - heaven spare us!

I doubt they'll spend more than about 3 months inside....

Have I said this already? If so I apologise, but I'll say it anyway! I think they should be made to serve their sentences together in the same cell!

Vicious!

If only they had unisex prisons, gm!

Bit punitive but that's the chance they took, eh?

Worrying imagination gracesmum

gracesmum isn't the only one who thinks it would be great to see them share a cell - I posted the same march 5th:

^Fri 08-Mar-13 03:57:14

You know what the best punishment would be? Make them share a cell!!!

Half of me feels sorry for them both, the other half just sees them as the rich and shameless getting what they deserve.

The story is a true tragedy in the Shakespearean sense, the way they've both been brought down by their own character failings.^

If only!!

They'll be out in a few weeks, on electronic tags and supervised by G4S!

Sorry joan didn't mean to plagiarise! It is clearly a case of great minds thinking alike

Its "perverting the course of justice" that is so serious a crime and why they are going to prison.

Yes it is, gracesmum - I just wish the judge thought like us!! The whole sage is better than a soapy any day.

I meant saga not sage!!

bet the two of them are both ruing decisions and actions this morning!

TBH if CH had not had an extra marital relationship &/or announced his affair to VP nothing would have come to light.

wonder how many couples are worried about swapped points today...

I agree with the idea of putting them in the same cell and letting them get on with it.

Yesterday it was said on the radio that they will need special supervision, presumably so the other prisoners don't hurt them. It was also suggested they could make themselves useful by teaching other prisoners to read which would at least mean some good would come out of it. I'm not sure either of them has the right attitude for helping people less able than them though.

I do wish our system could come up with a really good punishment which didn't cost the rest of us so much. Imprisoning them may perhaps act as a warning to others not to cheat the system so perhaps it is a good idea?

I do think there could be a future for my weekend curfew/prison with community service. CH & VP could be clearing fly tipping sites e.g in streams/rivers, motorway litter picking, painting schools/community centres etc etc. We used the Youth Offending Team to lay a bark chipping path at our school and to clear an area for us to develop a wild life centre. They came at weekends so no kids bout!

As long as they are not given anything nice and clean and easy to do nanaej! The tasks you list would be ideal but I wonder if the person allocating the work might be a bit overawed by them? I wouldn't be, they should be punished as much for making the whole thing go to trial as for what they did. An MP and an economist should fully understand the cost of their trials!

indeed..do they get charged costs?? If not why not?

Moved you'd be surprised how many celebrities and high-flyers the probation service has to supervise, and the staff are geared up so that no-one who would be in awe of them go anywhere near them. The majority are humble and ready to get on with it. I remember Eric Cantona doing his Community Service, coaching local Salford boys. He put his heart and soul into completing his hours, and continued to offer them time and support afterwards. Apparently, Jeffrey Archer, who is insufferable at the best of times, was one of the best behaved and most helpful of prisoners and complied with his supervision afterwards!

nanaej

Yes - amounting to hundreds of thousands of quid, according to news reports.

To be fair to Chris Huhne he was considered to be a very good constituency MP and a very competent and committed Minister. I can't imagine that he would shirk community service.
Not excusing what he did for one minute.

That's reassuring when. I temped in Sutton Probation when we first moved to Surrey and there was nothing about those POs to give me confidence! They worked 9-5, took time off to study, and gave their clients money when they asked for it! One of the girls in the office made such a fuss about a particular 'client' that the PO eventually took her to a supermarket to buy the food she kept saying she couldn't afford, She never asked again! That was 20 years ago so things may have changed, I hope so! In my field it is normal to study in your own time, not the company's.

Moved in many fields studying & attendance at training and conferences is considered all part of professional development. If the training /study had nothing to do with the job that is another matter!!

Moved things were different 20 years ago, in terms of how much money we could apportion for offender need, but probation officers have always had to do some of their studying on the job, in practice placements, post-graduate criminological research and for particular projects, all for the benefit of the service in terms of advancing effective work with offenders. What you wouldn't see in the office was POs studying at home, out of hours, and writing their reports so they could concentrate without office interruptions. It was common practice to do home visits after five, when offenders were coming in from work (lots of offenders have jobs). The unions (NAPO and Unison) encouraged staff to work their hours to the clock in those days, as they were campaigning strongly for more jobs, as probation officers don't get paid overtime on the principle that more people could have employment.

You always get the odd slacker, or office with a particular culture, but in general POs are ridiculously hard-working. Before I retired, most of us did very long hours because of staff cuts, which have been savagely reduced even more, to levels that are judged unsafe.