Craig Bird, who is currently serving a sentence at Chelmsford Prison, wrote to Inside Time, the national newspaper for prisoners....it's easy, just don't commit crime and get sent to prison.
Bird wrote to agree with another correspondent who had complained about detainees being "treated like children". He said: "Even National Prison Radio chop out swear words and violent lyrics from the songs we hear, and what is the point of that?"
"The banning of 18+ games and movies is crazy when you consider what we can see on television. "We are grown adults, not fluffy little munchkins that have to be protected by the prison nanny.
"For god’s sake, National Prison Radio even cut a line from Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody – ‘Put a gun against his head, pulled the trigger now he’s dead’ – why?
"We all know the lyrics anyway; it has been played millions of times on the bloody BBC. It is time the prison system stopped this mollycoddling and treated us like adults."
I followed this advice, and I can listen to 'Bohemian Rhapsody' anytime I want!
The commenters, as you might guess, are about as sympathetic as me:
And equally pertinent - what is the cost of all this bleeping out and why are we paying for it to be done? They could just as easily and more cheaply cut any such songs from the playlist.
ReplyDeleteA friend of mine used to do a spot on hospital radio. We used to enjoy helping him choose his playlist. "The drugs don't work", "Don't fear the reaper". So much fun to be had if you're a bit evil.
ReplyDeleteA constant diet of classical music would mean that no extra costs were incurred by having to censor the music.
ReplyDeleteJust tell the prisoners that music is banned to avoid upsetting the Muslim prisoners.
ReplyDeletePenseivat
"...and why are we paying for it to be done? "
ReplyDeleteSomeone's on a nice little earner from the taxpayer. Again. :/
"We used to enjoy helping him choose his playlist. "The drugs don't work", "Don't fear the reaper". So much fun to be had if you're a bit evil."
Oooh, but it's so tempting!
"A constant diet of classical music would mean that no extra costs were incurred by having to censor the music."
Interestingly, they play this in Tube stations to prevent unruly behaviour. Odd no-one's thought of extending it to prisons for the same reason.
"Just tell the prisoners that music is banned to avoid upsetting the Muslim prisoners."
Heh! Nice one!