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> Are U.S. citizens routinely arrested and placed in re-education by labor camps for a year without a trial? No. But US citizens are routinely arrested and pla
by mcherm 13y ago
> Are U.S. citizens routinely arrested and placed in re-education by labor camps for a year without a trial?
No. But US citizens are routinely arrested and placed in solitary confinement (widely held to be worse than a labor camp) for decades without a trial (guilt is nearly always resolved via plea bargains using the threat of even more years). And by "routinely" I mean the highest incarceration rate in the world: about 0.75% of the population.
- mpyne 13y agoUh, no to "decades without trial". And, for that matter, to "solitary confinement" as a routine, since we simply don't have that number of empty jail (not prison) cells anyways. It's funny how you mention having a jail cell with no one to bother you as worse than a labor camp though. I think those who have survived gulags or Nazi labor camps might disagree with you on that.
- euroclydon 13y agoThere's a lot of evidence to suggest that solitary confinement is a form of torture. See this highly discussed recent thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5796790 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5796790
- mpyne 13y agoI didn't say people don't find solitary confinement to be a form of torture. I did say it's still better than labor camps, especially for the types of "solitary confinement" usually being discussed, which are "cells or prison wings without other prisoners" and not "dark holes with only a slot on the door". Should I ever go to prison I would greatly prefer the "prison wing without other prisoners", though I understand that's only a personal preference.
- euroclydon 13y agoDepends on the labor camp I guess. Gulags were meat grinders, especially during the war and famine years in Russia.