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A review by alexinwonderland_books
Inside Broadmoor: Up Close and Personal with Britain's Most Dangerous Criminals by Jonathan Levi, Emma French
5.0
I rate this book as highly as I have because it shows a true insight into what life for the staff and the patients is like. With a lot of media coverage calling these people 'evil' and 'inhuman' it alienates them from what they actually are, mentally ill humans. Often people that commit atrocities are deemed as different and not human it is failed to be realised that a human is still a human, a species doesn't change just because they have committed an atrocity.
I really enjoyed this books focus on the staff and patients rather than the victims and the crimes committed. So often the only side looked at is the victims. Whilst understandably the deepest sympathies go out to these people affected by the acts committed by these people, I can't imagine the pain they went through. I also believe it is important to remember that these people in hospitals such as Broadmoor are victims themselves, they're victims of their mind and of their usually traumatic childhood, whilst this, of course, doesn't excuse the actions it does explain them to some degree.
This book did engage me and keep me very much interested in the past, present and future of Broadmoor. Although, it does pose some questions about the prison system in general. It states in the book that statistically patients at Broadmoor are less likely to re-offend, does that mean that the therapy and intensive care programs they have are more effective than the general prison system? Would the number of re-offences be decreased if there was a larger focus on rehabilitation and not just on punishment and locking criminals out the way? Would the prison system be more effective if criminals were given the chance to reflect on what caused them to commit the crime and give them the tools to diminish the chance of re-offending? Of course, these are just speculations and thoughts that came to me whilst reading this book, I cannot be sure if any of this would work or even be able to be implemented.
Whilst this book did a good job of explaining the factual side I also enjoyed the personal aspect, there were a few moments that really made you feel for the people there and also that you could understand what the authors went through whilst there. One moment in particular that stuck out to me as during a paragraph where they were speaking of a patient "Dante" who had been medicated and was coming to realise and have to live with the atrocity he committed and in the end lost that struggle and took his life. It really showed that if you aren't in control of your own mind awful things can happen and that sometimes the help comes a little too late.
Overall I would recommend this book to anyone interested in true crime or psychology. It's quite a short read and an easy one, not necessarily in content but in font size and spacing.
Trigger warnings for this book include mentions of suicide, self-harm, rape, assault, murder and depression.
I really enjoyed this books focus on the staff and patients rather than the victims and the crimes committed. So often the only side looked at is the victims. Whilst understandably the deepest sympathies go out to these people affected by the acts committed by these people, I can't imagine the pain they went through. I also believe it is important to remember that these people in hospitals such as Broadmoor are victims themselves, they're victims of their mind and of their usually traumatic childhood, whilst this, of course, doesn't excuse the actions it does explain them to some degree.
This book did engage me and keep me very much interested in the past, present and future of Broadmoor. Although, it does pose some questions about the prison system in general. It states in the book that statistically patients at Broadmoor are less likely to re-offend, does that mean that the therapy and intensive care programs they have are more effective than the general prison system? Would the number of re-offences be decreased if there was a larger focus on rehabilitation and not just on punishment and locking criminals out the way? Would the prison system be more effective if criminals were given the chance to reflect on what caused them to commit the crime and give them the tools to diminish the chance of re-offending? Of course, these are just speculations and thoughts that came to me whilst reading this book, I cannot be sure if any of this would work or even be able to be implemented.
Whilst this book did a good job of explaining the factual side I also enjoyed the personal aspect, there were a few moments that really made you feel for the people there and also that you could understand what the authors went through whilst there. One moment in particular that stuck out to me as during a paragraph where they were speaking of a patient "Dante" who had been medicated and was coming to realise and have to live with the atrocity he committed and in the end lost that struggle and took his life. It really showed that if you aren't in control of your own mind awful things can happen and that sometimes the help comes a little too late.
Overall I would recommend this book to anyone interested in true crime or psychology. It's quite a short read and an easy one, not necessarily in content but in font size and spacing.
Trigger warnings for this book include mentions of suicide, self-harm, rape, assault, murder and depression.