Tributes in honor of Jack Merritt and Saskia Jones, who were killed in a terror attack on 2 December 2019 in London.

London Bridge Terrorist Attack Questions Prison Reform

By Elena Chernov

A Saturday afternoon on London’s Bridge quickly turned into a horrific scene of terrorism. Another terrorist attack gripped the nation once again. Two victims of the attack Cambridge graduates, Saskia Jones, 23 and Jack Merritt, 25 were killed and three others wounded.

Jack and Saskia were making a difference for prison reform. Jack was a course coordinator and Sasksia a volunteer for Learning Together a prison rehabilitation program.

The bystanders showed great heroism and courage as they wrestled the attacker to the ground. One man used a fire extinguisher. Another a whale tusk from the wall of Fishmongers’ Hall. One of the bystanders who helped was a convicted murderer and was on day’s release. He was attending Learning Together.

ISIS said, “the attacker had carried out the attack in its name.” Also saying, “That he had done so in response to calls to target alliance countries.” The attacker was wearing a fake bomb vest. He was convicted of terrorism in 2012.

The attacker was a former prisoner. Usman Khan, 28 of Stafford, England released from prison last year. He was at the prison education program Learning Together created for former prisoners, by Cambridge University.

Furthermore, in 2010, he was part of a terrorist group that had planned to set up bombs in bathrooms in the London Stock Exchange. They also threatened to attack Boris Johnson, other public figures, and landmarks of London.

Questionable Election

The U.K. has a monumental general election about to take place in two weeks. The attack raises many questions concerning prison reform. Mr. Johnson, the prime minister said on Saturday, “I have long argued that it is a mistake to allow serious and violent criminals to come out of prison early,”

Chris Phillips, a former head of England’s National Counter Terrorism Security Office made a statement. He said, “We’re playing Russian roulette with people’s lives.” He added, “We are letting convicted, known, and radicalized jihadi criminals walk about our streets.”

The Parole Board overlooks risk assessments of prisoners. As a result, they decide who is released. They said, “Mr. Khan was released automatically on license without ever being mentioned to the board.”

Therefore, the Ministry of Justice has begun an extreme overview of all license conditions that released convicted terrorists from prison. The attack raised serious questions of the high risks in trying to rehabilitate convicted terrorists.

Furthermore, David Videcette says, “Britain must look at sentencing and rehabilitation.” He adds, “We have a huge problem with terrorist prisoners that are being released.

Homeschooler in the Real World

Emma Folts, a sophomore at Wheaton College, shares her experience about her transition into college and how homeschool has both helped and hindered her.
How has your homeschool experience benefitted you, especially in your transition into college?
I think the one thing that homeschooling did that was really helpful as I entered college was that it taught me time management. As a homeschooler I had the same freedom as a college student has to put things off during the day and go see a friend instead. Since I had that experience, I knew the cost of that.
Also, personal responsibility and accountability with assignments. I feel like a lot of the other students had more expectations for gentler grading and that the professor would give them retakes or extensions, but that wasn’t something that ever happened to me in school. That learning curve wasn’t added because I never had it the other way. I think another thing was that because I was homeschooled, I was familiar with the format of teaching and then studying on my own.
Did you see any issues with your transition socially?
I think that homeschooling had two ramifications for me socially. One was helpful, one was hurtful.
It was really helpful because as a homeschooler, I had spent a lot of time realizing and developing who I was as a person and learning to recognize people who were being themselves, and those were the people I sought out as friends. Friendship as a homeschooler takes a lot more investment. I knew I was choosier with my friends which made me a lot less anxious and a lot more content.
The only real negative impact of the social bit was that I was really used to getting to choose the time I got to spend with people. As a homeschooler I spent a lot of time with people, but that time was controlled by me. As a college student, I found that you can’t really control the time you spend with people and alone time is not really available. Learning to deal with that was a lot harder than anticipated.
Any last comments on homeschool and how it has affected your college experience?
I think homeschooling is really helpful, however it does take a slightly increased amount of advocacy with your peers when you’re entering into college. I think a lot of people come in with certain assumptions about homeschool, especially students. You’re going to get a lot of, ‘oh my gosh, you don’t seem like a homeschooled person!’ [You can’t] take that too personally and explain your experience so that friends can understand it’s an important piece of you, though it might not look like the homeschooling that they’ve seen.
My encouragement to anyone who is a homeschooler transitioning into college is to realize the benefit that you have having been homeschooled, and to realize that the bit of advocacy and explaining that you need to do with your peers is totally normal and that it’s not a big deal. Once they understand your experience, it’s not something I’ve experienced being looked down on for.