71–80 of 166 posts
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It also exists to make people compatible with society again. Or at least should be.
Not in the US. The US prison system is for punishment first. A system that focuses on rehabilitation does not treat people this poorly, in general.
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Holy shit I didn't know that. Those guards belong in jail themselves, what they did is torture. Prison exists to remove from society people who are incompatible with it, nothing more and even that must be constantly questioned and re-evaluated. Nobody deserves to have their dignity stripped away like that.
It also exists to make people compatible with society again. Or at least should be.
What is the alternative to solitary confinement? There are some people who are a persistent threat and menace to others. There are 3 ways that society has dealt with them: Execution Banishment Imprisonment We are trying to do away with execution, so that is not a real alternative. Banishment really doesn't work in the modern, connected world. That leaves imprisonment. However, within prison, you also have a society,…
FWIW, I am not against the death penalty. It makes much more economic sense than life in prison (it costs ludicrous amounts of money to house prisoners per-annua) and as someone who has done prison time my personal opinion is I'd rather be killed than face the mental agony of living the rest of my days in there. I'm not sure why so many people are against it or think it's inhumane. I think it's a bit silly considerin…
Currently, the death penalty costs more than life in prison due to legal costs. We still have a significant non-zero number of innocent people who are executed.
If you want to make the death penalty cost effective, you will have to lower the appeal costs and this means more innocent people will be executed.
So the question really becomes: "how many innocent people are we willing to murder to reduce our costs?
Many people accept the number of innocent people we murder as justified to save other innocents via disincentive. It seems much harder to justify killing purely on the basis of cost reduction.
You are correct that we don't seem nearly as bothered by all of the innocent people who are serving life sentences rather than death penalties and don't have the same appeal rights as those on death row.
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> they would quit Most prisons exist in places that are economically depressed with few if any other jobs. In some cases, the entire existence of a town revolves around the prison. Quitting is hardly an option when it’s the only real option for putting food on your table and a shelter over your head.
They could leave town. There's always another option.
Collectively and individually, the United States must “be better”, though.
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Can you summarize the experience in thirds? For example, what was the first 30 days like versus the last 30?
The first two weeks were very difficult. You have to sort of mentally come to peace with the fact that you're shut in this tiny room and you can't leave. It feels very claustrophobic and if you're the type that has anxiety disorders you will probably have to ward off panic attacks. After the first two weeks, time started to slowly speed up, and the days all sort of blurred together. Thankfully I was able to get a new…
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> Those guards belong in jail themselves... The guards are just the product of a system/culture.
Don't make apologies for people who choose torture and who chose to participate in said system / culture. It's a job; if they had morals they would quit, whistleblow, or punish colleagues for this behaviour. I can't believe the pay would be THAT good. There's clearly no adequate chain of command or repercussions for this crime.
The US prison system is so brutal and things like solitary confinement, which is torture, totally normalised. We need to call attention to these things.
Well one issue is that people who have been in prison often cannot ever vote again, so the only people left to make decisions about the prison system are those who have never experienced it firsthand
https://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/felon-...
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I find it interesting when folks look at themselves as different than others. I don't have any first hand knowledge of what is going on with these guards, but I do know that I am not better than them. I am just as human and have all of the same frailties so I cannot say what I would do in their situation. At best I can say I hope I would do better.
Most people fail to understand the psychological impact of jobs continually interfacing with some of the worst people in society. I say this not as an apology or excuse, but simply as a statement of fact and a challenge that needs to be overcome. It happens to prison guards, Police, EMTs, and many others. A portion of the people you work with want to kill you or each other given the chance. Over time this leads you t…
Political prisoners tend to be treated as badly as others, if not worst.
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Do solitary confinement help in correcting illegal/bad/wrong behaviour among prisoners in your opinion? Seems to me that it can only breed resentment and detachment.
No, not at all. The thing I think most law-abiding/normal people don't understand about the types of people in prisons is that they are almost exclusively habitual offenders. Even in the US, which is heavily punitive instead of rehabilitative, you have to have run-ins with the law a number of times before you are sentenced to serve time, rather than probation or a halfway-house etc. From my experiences, ~90% of peopl…
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Most people fail to understand the psychological impact of jobs continually interfacing with some of the worst people in society. I say this not as an apology or excuse, but simply as a statement of fact and a challenge that needs to be overcome. It happens to prison guards, Police, EMTs, and many others. A portion of the people you work with want to kill you or each other given the chance. Over time this leads you t…
It is more about power then about working with bad people. Political prisoners tend to be treated as badly as others, if not worst.