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Great point. In a way there's a kind of "monsterization" of prisoners. They obviously hurt someone and broke the social contract to end up there right? As child

Great point. In a way there's a kind of "monsterization" of prisoners. They obviously hurt someone and broke the social contract to end up there right? As children our immediate response to wrongdoing is violence because that's the only way we know how to deal with it; she took my toy, thus I will hit her for taking it. However as adults we learn that punishment isn't always apt, hence the decreased popularity of corporal punishment. It's asking a lot of people to make them separate their personal feelings from policy changes, and as the article shows, in America there isn't really a buffer between informed decision-makers and the general public. Imagine we let citizens replace the FDA, instead of controlled studies we'd get people reporting how something makes them feel or how a relative of a relative said so-and-so is good for them. Lastly the whole image of a criminal and the prison system is wrong: they're often portrayed in media as tattooed scumbags and there are constant jokes about "dropping the soap" and getting raped in the ass. It points towards a huge dehumanization; imagine we talked about others like that, saying things like they're getting what they deserved. Prison itself has replaced rehabilitation and it entails immoral treatment from guards and fellow inmates.

d357r0y3r 11y ago
> Lastly the whole image of a criminal and the prison system is wrong: they're often portrayed in media as tattooed scumbags and there are constant jokes about "dropping the soap" and getting raped in the ass. It points towards a huge dehumanization; imagine we talked about others like that, saying things like they're getting what they deserved. Prison itself has replaced rehabilitation and it entails immoral treatment from guards and fellow inmates. There was a time when this was more or less my sentiment. Then I went to a prison and met some inmates. Turns out, most prisoners are decent enough men that fucked up, usually because of desperation or drug induced mania. Almost all of the inmates I spoke with at length feel a deep sense of shame and obligation to right their wrongs. Many inmates, when given the opportunity, would like to leave prison in a better state than they arrived, i.e. with marketable job skills and the ability to resist their old ways (drugs, alcohol, crime, etc).
Thriptic 11y ago
I agree that prisoners are unfairly stereotyped, and that we employ systems in the US which set up negative feedback loops which almost guarantee recidivism. These should be dealt with. We should have better job training and counseling while inside, better education programs, better control over violence (if this is possible), and possibly wipe public records clean when certain criminals are released. With that being said, I personally believe that prison needs to have some sort of punishment aspect to it or people won't buy into it. If the general perception is that "justice" is not being served when crimes are committed, my guess is that extra-judicial reprisals will start to occur.

d357r0y3r 11y ago

> Lastly the whole image of a criminal and the prison system is wrong: they're often portrayed in media as tattooed scumbags and there are constant jokes about "dropping the soap" and getting raped in the ass. It points towards a huge dehumanization; imagine we talked about others like that, saying things like they're getting what they deserved. Prison itself has replaced rehabilitation and it entails immoral treatment from guards and fellow inmates. There was a time when this was more or less my sentiment. Then I went to a prison and met some inmates. Turns out, most prisoners are decent enough men that fucked up, usually because of desperation or drug induced mania. Almost all of the inmates I spoke with at length feel a deep sense of shame and obligation to right their wrongs. Many inmates, when given the opportunity, would like to leave prison in a better state than they arrived, i.e. with marketable job skills and the ability to resist their old ways (drugs, alcohol, crime, etc).

Thriptic 11y ago

I agree that prisoners are unfairly stereotyped, and that we employ systems in the US which set up negative feedback loops which almost guarantee recidivism. These should be dealt with. We should have better job training and counseling while inside, better education programs, better control over violence (if this is possible), and possibly wipe public records clean when certain criminals are released. With that being said, I personally believe that prison needs to have some sort of punishment aspect to it or people won't buy into it. If the general perception is that "justice" is not being served when crimes are committed, my guess is that extra-judicial reprisals will start to occur.