(urth) This Week in Google Alerts: Home Fires

[António Pedro Marques]

David Stockhoff wrote (12-04-2012 19:29):
> On 4/12/2012 1:43 PM, Lee Berman wrote:
>>> 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)
>
> Naturally I bow to your experience. But I assumed we were all thinking of
> max-security or supermax facilities where murderers would find themselves,
> and further, with the privatization of prisons in the US much of the
> progress you describe is being undone.

All we know about prisons we learned from Oz.