How A Model Prison Became America's Scariest -
newser.com
Excerpt from this article:
"BOP [Bureau of Prisons] officials have claimed
that the very existence of a place like Lewisburg makes the rest of the
federal prison system safer. But even if this is true, purchasing
safety for the many by brutalizing a few is a devil’s bargain...represents a blunt, cynical answer to the question of what
to do with the federal system’s most troublesome inmates: send them to a
place that is so utterly horrible that, by the time they transfer out,
they will do anything not to be sent back."
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If I understand correctly this is what this writer is saying: "isolating troublemakers" in prison may make "the rest of the ... prisons safer," but it is "a devil's bargain" ... "unworthy of a civilized nation." I may be wrong, but I think that is what this author is trying to say.
If
it is, I totally disagree! I think prisoners should be segregated - not according to race. That's stupid! But according to their conduct
while they are in prison! I think the majority of men and women who fill America's prisons just want to quitly do their time, pay their debt to society, and get back to their families and their jobs and their place as good American citizens.
But there is a small minority in prison who can be labled as "trouble makers." These are people who have little or no remorse for thier crime, and little intention of changing their criminal behavior if and when they get out.
To give you an illustration of who these "troublemakers" are, take a look at the recent fad among teens called "The Knockout Game",
also known as "Point em out, knock em out." In this growing fad strangers (sometimes elderly men and young women!)
are targeted at random and a person will sneak up on them and try to knock them out with one punch.
If a person continues this type of behavior - after they have been arrested, tried and convicted by the courts, and sent to prison - then I think it is safe to call them a troublemaker. And troublemakers in prison should be allowed to do their time with other troublemakers, and let those inmates who want to better themselves (by following the rules, getting their GED and taking vocational classes and programs) do so without worrying whether they are going to be the target of a prison version of the Knockout Game!
I'm convinced that most people in prison can - and should - be rehabilitated and released back into society. Prisons serve two major functions in society: It either convinces a convict to give up a life of crime so they never go back to prison. Or - for those who won't be convinced - it keeps them off the streets. Ann Coulter has written in one of her books:
"Of course prison works. It keeps people who commit crimes off the streets because they are in prison. Let's run the numbers. The recidivism rate of armed robbers behind bars is, hmmmm, looks like zero percent!"
Recommended reading (my posts):
We Need to be better than the people we prosecute
The Knockout Game
