While I strongly believe that prison should help rehabilitate 
offenders, how should evil lifers like Rose West be treated when they are locked up?
West was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of 10 young women and girls, including her 16-year-old daughter, her eight-year-old stepdaughter and her husband’s pregnant lover.
Her monster of a husband Fred escaped trial by committing suicide. Rose West is the UK’s most notorious woman serial killer.
Today’s Daily Mirror tells us that far from showing any remorse or living a life of deprivation, West has a very cosy set up which includes having a TV, DVD and stereo in her cell and the walls are plastered with posters of cats, while cards and books cover her shelves. She is also allowed a sewing machine and embroidery kit despite safety fears.
She can make daily outside phone calls to family and friends and is also allowed to order beauty items from Avon and Argos. She is also reported to have landed a plum jail job loading and unloading washing machines in the laundry room.
If all this is true, her life sounds far more comfortable than for thousands in our country who are living in poverty, particularly our pensioners. While I do not support the death penalty, surely a mass murderer’s prison sentence should reflect the seriousness of the case. The nation felt revulsion when hearing horrific details about the depravity of the Wests’ murderous spree, we should surely not forget that, and the deepest pity we felt for the West’s helpless victims.
