Austerity will unleash mayhem. Prison breakouts are just the start | Owen Jones
"Austerity" is a term so abstract that, during the televised leaders debates at the last general election, the most commonly Googled phrase in Britain was "what is austerity?" That was after five years of it. Yes, workers suffered the longest squeeze in their wages since the 19th century, but the fall in living standards was somehow decoupled from the issue of cuts. Government cuts pursued the following strategy: to target people who were less likely to vote (such as young people) and who preferably were held in low esteem by wider society (such as benefit claimants); or where the consequences would not be felt for a long time. A case in point: the prison system.
Over the last few days, the crisis enveloping Britain's prison system stopped being a warning scribbled in press releases. It become an actuality. This weekend, up to 200 inmates rioted in Bedford prison. Yesterday, two prisoners escaped from Pentonville prison and are now on the run. And on the same day, there were reports of a riot in Exeter prison.
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