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Why should we feel sorry for prisoners? Why do people try to make us feel s
I keep hearing from so many people that something should be done about the way prisoners are treated. That they get raped, beat up, treated badly by guard, self harm etc. My question is who cares? These people committed crimes. If they didn't want to go to prison. they shouldn't have committed crimes in the first place. Prison should be a bad place, so they don't want to go back. I don't know why so many people try to make us feel bad for them. I bet if one fo those criminals committed a crime against their family they would feel different
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The answer might depend on how we view penal servitude. Is it punishment? Is it to keep the offender away from society and limit their opportunities to threaten or endanger that society? Or should it aim to rehabilitate and educate the offender? Does a crime entail the criminal effectively foresaking something of his human rights? Or are these rights unalienable, crime or no crime? Personally I believe imprisonment SHOULD be an experience which offenders are extremely reluctant to risk again, meaning it should be tough. If you can't do the time, don't do the crime. Many would disagree. It's a personal choice. The time for mitigation and consideration should be at the trial and sentencing phase in my opinion. Guilty, with no mitigating circumstances should incur a significant punitive experience for the offender.
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You ask a good question; why should we worry about how prisoners are treated?
Let me ask you a question. It is not all that hard to be sent to prison. You don't have to be a bank robber, murderer or rapist. Someone you love could end up in jail or prison for say driving drunk or embezzlement. Maybe they are an unwitting player in a scheme their employer hatched like the Enron Corporation. A lot of little people were caught up in that one.
Would you feel differently about how people in prison are treated if the person in prison were someone you know? If the answer is yes and understandably it would be. Why should it be any different for those you don't know? We are all human even criminals.
In jail or prison being raped, beat up, treated badly by guards, self harm or any other harmful act is a form of torture as the prisoner cannot defend themselves.
Again I ask you, if a member of your family was sent to prison say for a white collar non violent crime; would you care if they were subject to living under the conditions you wrote? IF the answer is yes then you have your answer as to why you should care.
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Most sane, reasonable people - including people who have had crimes committed against them - do not want others to be tortured and abused. Most of us don't take pleasure in imagine the pain of others.
People who commit crimes do not suddenly stop being people. They remain human. Most of them will have families and friends who care about them, they might even have people who depend on them. Many prisoners, will not stay in prison forever, but will leave and be part of society again.
Leaving people in prison is expensive - no matter how badly you allow them to be treated. It's better if people can learn something from the experience and leave prison.
If a person leaves, after being tortured, abused and raped, they are much, much less likely to be able to live in a normal life outside of prison. They are more likely to commit another crime. They are more likely to need expensive social support, like therapy, due to the crimes that the government allowed other people to commit against while they were in prison.
When you abuse criminals, your create more criminals. You make it impossible for those who wish to reform, to do so. Believe it or not, most criminals would like to get out of jail, and not commit crimes anymore. Allowing people to suffer, because it makes it feel good, will create more suffering in the world. It's also the exact opposite of justice. Justice doesn't decide if the victim is 'worthy' of protection. It is there to protect everyone. Even jerks, even criminals. More crime, more pain, more abuse, is never going to solve anything. it's just going to lead to more crime.
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Hi,
There is a saying that you can tell a lot about a society by the way it treats its prisoners. Personally I don't want to live in the sort of society that turns a blind eye to the sort of things you describe and allows then to happen to anyone.
When a person is imprisoned the state, having taken away their liberty has a duty of care towards them. It has an obligation to do the most it can to keep them safe whilst in prison and to look after their physical and mental health. Most people are indeed in prison because they themselves have acted badly (I say most because it does sadly sometimes happen that innocent people are wrongly imprisoned). However if the system in place to deal with people who have done bad things doesn't behave any better itself it becomes in no position to administer justice. If someone is in prison for beating someone up for example - to say 'ok well we will be quite happy for you to be beaten up, raped and so on' means the system in place to deal with their wrongdoing is no better itself. The system in place to deal with wrong doing has got to behave morally and ethically itself.
You say people would feel differently if it was a person who can committed a crime against their relative. Well some would yes. That's understandable human nature. However what about the relatives of the people who have committed the crimes - do you think its ok for someone's mom to know their son in prison is being beaten and raped? Another point id make is that while some people are in prison for sick and dreadful crimes, others (many more) have done far far less serious things - and with these people its worth remembering that people are far more than their behaviour or actions on one specific occasion, that all human beings make mistakes and that forgiveness and understanding are not weaknesses but strengths.
I will just say one more thing. I am guessing you are in the USA as most people on this site are. I live in the UK. The USA has more of its citizens in prison than any other country in the world. The USA gives out some of the longest sentences anywhere in the world. Are you achieving anything with that? Do you have one of the lowest crime rates in the world - no! So as an American citizen id urge you to look at this again. In the UK out criminal justice system is much more moderate. For all but the most serious offences we focus on rehabilitation and trying to help people rather than punishment. We certainly believe people who have been imprisoned by the state should be treated with dignity whilst they are there. I am not saying our system is perfect but I know which one id rather have.
Ashok
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