just go ahead and tell you this. One: That is outright and literal torture. It is full-stop worse than flogging them until their bones break, and any other number of viciously cruel punishments. Two: That will literally drive most human beings completely insane. It will fuck them royally up both psychologically and physiologically. It is a really damn bad idea.
They can do things in their cells. Write letters, read something educational and possibly be released on occasion to do compensated work details. The point of the physical and social isolation is to remove power from the prisoners and protect them from themselves and any abuse by or to the guards. With the system we have now, prisoners have entirely too much freedom and rec time, to socialize, form gangs and abuse each other. They have
power in their little microcosm, more power then the prison staff, even because the guards are often powerless to stop the worse of what prisoners do there. Allowing them to interact with other criminals gives them freedom to abuse and it simply reinforces a criminal gang mentality. They need to be deterred and rehabilitated from criminal behavior, not simply thrown into a cesspool even more demented, threatening, violent and savage then the outside world, which basically makes criminal behavior a requirement of survival.
This, however, is pretty solid. It's seriously needed and seriously under implemented, currently. For most recidivism risks, it's the simple fact that crime is pretty damn close to their only choice once they get out of prison that leads them right back into it. Getting rid of the felon issue after a time would probably help, there, because felons are currently almost completely frakking unhireable. Job training, education, etc., would (and does, where it happens) also help.
I think it'd help alot, but what really puts people back into prison is, without other options they simply go right back home to their old neighborhood and their old friends. Ultimately they end up doing whatever they were doing before in being reintroduced into that enviroment. America is a pretty dynamic country and people move often, I think I'd make it requirement that former prisoners should be disincentivsed or forbidden to return to the city they lived in for a few years after they get out, at least. Their rehabilitation might take place in another state or city altogether.
This point has actually been brought up in the past, maybe in this thread, maybe not. Turns out that prisons are actually already pretty fucking shitty, to put it bluntly. It's just a lot of people, especially folks that are at risk for recidivism, are living in situations outside of prison that are worse. Frankly, if a person has to choose between a living slice of hell and freezing to death (Because they have no home, no good clothes, no steady and sufficient source of food), well, a lot of people are going to go for that little bit of hell.
Prisons are shitty for the wrong reasons. They are shitty because prisons are full of shitty prisoners. The only shit they should have inflicted on them are by legal authorities in response to offenses to the law, not have shit inflicted on them by other prisoners for whatever offenses they invent in their prison culture. I also don't buy the idea that people have it worse off on the street then they do in prison. People can generally take care of themselves, people survive homelessness for decades at a time as a lifestyle choice. I really doubt many people are willing to commit some grave crime against somebody else and completely sacrifice their freedom just so they can get their nutraloaf and a heated room to sleep in. There are better options.
How does keeping the lights on 24/7 and requiring constant monitoring by staff or microphones to prevent talking cut costs?
I thought somebody might point that out. I imagine they'd just cover up the light if they really wanted to anyways, so I guess they don't need to be on all the time unless they deserve it. I imagine they can talk all they want in their cells, so long as nobody can hear them. On work details or whatever, they'll be monitored by guards anyhow and prevented from communicating with other prisoners and only speak when spoken to by a guard. This really isn't too different from military-style camps and prisons.
Not to mention that kind of solitary confinement causes semi-permanent psychological damage. Not quite the brief period of extreme discomfort followed by abundance of second chances that you're aiming for.
I'm not sure solitary confinement really produces any real psychological damage when other factors are taken out of the equation. Some prisoners intentionally seek solitary confinement even at the expense of being ineligible for parole for not serving "good time". Any psychological changes it might cause are probably for the better, not worse when you're talking about deterring criminal behavior. Solitary survivors on shipwrecked islands don't try to bite people's noses off when they are rescued. Prisoners bite people's noses off to get
put into solitary confinement.
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Topic: Chill and Relaxed Progressive Irritation and Annoyance Thread (Read 853978 times)