David Blunket Sanctioned The Machine Gunning Of Rioting Prisoners
John Bowden | 27.10.2006 10:52 | Repression | Social Struggles | London | Sheffield | World
The true mentality of former Home Secretary David Blunket and his political supporters within the government was chillingly revealed in October of this year with the revelation that he had ordered an ex-Director General of the prison system to sanction the machine gunning of rioting prisoners at Lincoln jail four years ago.
Former Director General Martin Narey and a prison governor claimed that during an uprising at Lincoln jail in 2002 during which prisoners held part of the jail over night, Blunket contacted Narey and ordered him to call in the army and massacre the rioters. Blunket is said to have “shrieked” down the telephone to Narey that he did not care about the loss of life when re-taking the jail and promised Narey absolute political cover for dealing with the uprising. Narey refused Blunket's order and was accused by him of “dithering”, while describing his own behavior as “bold and decisive”.
The prisoners who Blunket wanted slaughtered Attica-style were for the most part short term petty offenders or untried prisoners who had revolted over intolerable conditions at Lincoln. In Blunket's twisted view however, they had forfeited the right to life by challenging the system and should have been eradicated as a consequence.
Blunket's credentials as a racist and extreme right winger are well established, but his response to the Lincoln jail uprising reveal the true extent of his fascist mentality and show just how far he was prepared to pursue state repression in the interests of the system. The critical point, however, is that Blunket wasn't some maverick right-wing lunatic whose opinion of how the rioting prisoners at Lincoln should be dealt with was an isolated one in the Home Office. The truth is that Blunket's reactionary, brutish views regarding prisoners are sentiments representative of a whole mindset within the Home Office and absolutely consistent with the treatment of “unmanageable” prisoners for years. Blunket, always fearful of another protracted Strangeways-like revolt whilst Home Secretary was simply giving verbal expression to a view of how such revolts should be put down in future that is keenly subscribed to by a whole core element within the Home Office and prison officer movement and a view absolutely central to the New Labour project of viciously crushing resistance and defiance amongst the poor and oppressed wherever it manifests itself.
The prisoners who Blunket wanted slaughtered Attica-style were for the most part short term petty offenders or untried prisoners who had revolted over intolerable conditions at Lincoln. In Blunket's twisted view however, they had forfeited the right to life by challenging the system and should have been eradicated as a consequence.
Blunket's credentials as a racist and extreme right winger are well established, but his response to the Lincoln jail uprising reveal the true extent of his fascist mentality and show just how far he was prepared to pursue state repression in the interests of the system. The critical point, however, is that Blunket wasn't some maverick right-wing lunatic whose opinion of how the rioting prisoners at Lincoln should be dealt with was an isolated one in the Home Office. The truth is that Blunket's reactionary, brutish views regarding prisoners are sentiments representative of a whole mindset within the Home Office and absolutely consistent with the treatment of “unmanageable” prisoners for years. Blunket, always fearful of another protracted Strangeways-like revolt whilst Home Secretary was simply giving verbal expression to a view of how such revolts should be put down in future that is keenly subscribed to by a whole core element within the Home Office and prison officer movement and a view absolutely central to the New Labour project of viciously crushing resistance and defiance amongst the poor and oppressed wherever it manifests itself.
John Bowden
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