In order to keep discipline, prison administrators in an English prison have resorted to creative tactics.
Inmates in a category B jail may now use a system similar to “The Weakest Link” to remove disruptive cellmates.
The Buckinghamshire prison HMP Grendon is home to over 200 male convicts, many of whom are serving life sentences for serious offenses, including arson and murder.
The prison, which takes its name from the therapeutic approaches it employs, admits inmates only after they have shown positive behavioral changes and demands that they adhere to stringent regulations if they want to remain.
On a regular basis, inmates get together for something they call “wing meetings,” where they cast a “commitment vote,” which determines if someone is “unsuitable” to stay in the confines.
Reportedly, five offenders have been asked to leave since the meetings were implemented, and those who are voted out are returned to their original prison.
The vote is evocative of the popular TV quiz show The Weakest Link from the 2000s, in which presenter Anne Robinson would infamously say, “You are the weakest link, goodbye,” to the participants who their peers eliminated.
The method has become part of their daily group therapy sessions with medical professionals, mental health nurses, and counselors, and no one wants to be voted out by their fellow inmates.
Prisoners learn emotional regulation techniques in the hopes that they may become productive members of society again.
Inmates are supposedly kept “relaxed and calm” by the presence of fish tanks and potted plants around the prison, which is located in a former noble mansion.
On a prior occasion, the prison was criticized for erroneously releasing an inmate to a hospital due to guards confusing him with another inmate sharing the same name.
The inmate’s “confused” reaction to his hospitalization was the first indicator that anything was wrong.
The prisoner who needed to go to the hospital and left in his cell was also confused.
