Spare the Rat and Spoil the Child

The all-important punitive aspect of the great British prison system has taken on a new dimension with the co-opting of therapy animals to keep the rats down. Management at the country's largest children's prison authorised the use of ferrets, which have hitherto been retained as part of a programme for inmates who are deemed traumatised rather than Just Plain Evil, to help clear out a rodent infestation. At least one inmate witnessed the gory results, doubtless learning some salutary moral lessons in the process, above and beyond those inherent in the institution's high levels of violence and self-harm. Enthusiasts of traditional British justice will of course rejoice that children are being empowered to punish themselves and each other in rat-infested buildings, and that infestations are becoming ever more widespread thanks to efficiency measures by private contractors. With exemplary Britishness, the Prison Service blamed the rats at the children's prison on maintenance workers disturbing a nest. If the place had been left to crumble away on its own, without splurging money on repairs that might better have been used to augment boardroom bonuses and shareholder dividends, the whole problem would never have arisen.