Sitcom blamed for prisons crisis

The root cause of Britain's decaying, overcrowded prison system has finally been found: Ronnie Barker's sitcom Porridge.

Academics have blasted the popular Seventies comedy for an unrealistically sanitised portrayal of jail life that has deceived a generation of viewers.

The image of HMP Slade it portrays has lulled the public complacency over the state of prisons, stifling debate on reform, according to criminologist Sean O'Sullivan.

He told the Independent: "Porridge is one of the main ways that people get their ideas about prison.

"In Porridge nobody gets seriously hurt or damaged. It's just a game between the screws and cons to put one over on each other. Protests and riots are there, but in such a sanitised, British way."

Frances Crook, the director of the Howard League for Penal Reform, described the sitcom as "anodyne and soporific".

The academics are among the organisers of a season of prison films to be shown at London's National Film Theatre next year.

Published: 14 Jul 2003