This Week in Google Alerts: Home Fires

Lee Berman · 12 Apr 2012, 17:43 · from 2012-April.txt.gz

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From: severiansola at hotmail.com (Lee Berman)
Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2012 13:43:34 -0400
Subject: (urth) This Week in Google Alerts: Home Fires
Message-ID: <SNT123-W506412ECA023405E80C7BCCF3A0 at phx.gbl>

>Marc Aramini: But this is really not at all about my politics, which are 
>reprehensible to almost everyone.

Not true Marc. I think your politics are pretty closely aligned with most
of mainstream America. My assessment of the problem is that most of mainstream 
America only thinks about prisons and justice etc. on a part-time, casual basis. 
Their perceived goal is a mash-up of punishment, justice, crime prevention and 
humaniatarian concerns which are not clearly delineated.

This mash-up is not a luxury those who have the full-time duty of running a prison
can indulge in. You have to have defined goals and attempt to achieve them. If the 
goal is punishment, retibution and justice then you must build a system which enables 
ease in torture and executions and in reducing the number of criminals. If your goal 
is rehabilitation and corrections then your efforts must be devoted to creating a safe, 
secure envronment and community within prison walls, even for those who will be 
spending their entire lives in it.

You can't do both. One goal impedes the other. So each society must choose which
direction it wants to push its justice system toward and go for it. For whatever,
reason, the USA has chosen to depart from the China-Iran model and has gone the
humane route.

>David Stockhoff: OTOH, who could be in prison for life and NOT brutally murder 
>(or want to) everyone he comes in contact with? Indeed, what more could you do to 
>destroy his humanity?

This isn't the case for most prisons within modern, industrialized nations. A prison
is a living, working community. Prisoners have jobs they have to go to, recreation 
entertainment and educational opportunities, contact with family members, friendships 
and even romantic relationships both in and outside the prison walls (some very 
progressive prisons are now assigning special wards for couples). There are holidays
and special events and creative outlets and opportunity for freedom of expression. 
Hard as it is to fathom from the outside, prisoners have lives.

It isn't the life I would want to lead. But the people who run the prison systems are
human beings.  And if you spend any amount of time in prison you quickly realize that 
most of the prisoners are also human beings and ways must be found to treat them as
such. The stereotyped dungeons with open cells made from iron bars and filthy public 
toilets and perpetual beatings and rapings are a thing of the past in the USA.  It is 
simply a natural progression that must happen, assuming you aren't a sadist. 

(of course a minority of prison staff do lean in that direction but  efforts are always 
made to reduce such behavior. I've seen staff disciplined, fired and even jailed 
themselves for mistreating prisoners)

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