s/o: Prison Violence

[arborgold]

Short answer (damn, this board can drag me away from just about anything) is that I think anything in prison other than actually being confined goes to far. Being confined IS your punishment.

If you do other bad things while IN prison, then I can see other punishments being meted out.

But I'm not okay with the attitude that "anything goes" in prison because those are "bad" people who deserve what they get.

Oh, and yes I feel differently when the violence involves state actors, precisely because of the power differentials and increased lack of accountability.

/arbor out

[curmudgeon]

How do you feel about the extreme and deplorable levels of non-sexual violence in prisons?

Evidence that prison is not about rehabilitation and that our system is seriously fucked up.

Do you feel differently about violence committed by prisoners against each other versus violence committed by the correctional officers against prisoners?

By correctional officers is unspeakably evil. Rape of child rapists is a-ok. Also I'm not the least bit upset about Dahmer.

Do you feel differently about violence committed in juvenile facilities (by either prisoners or officers)?

Nope, except the rape bit obviously.

Do you feel differently if it is a prison with female versus male inmates? Female versus male officers?

Nope.


Violence in prison should be prosecuted (is it now? I honestly don't know, but it seems not), however I would rather pay for a system overhaul in lieu of a dramatic increase of court cases.

[teflep]

I am not okay with people being harmed in prison, but am okay with them being in a dark hole if it was very bad (DP type of offenses). I do believe, though, taht we imprison too many people and do not offer enough rehabilitation.

[eclaires]

I can't even think about this b/c it reminds me of the worst book I ever read... Sleepers.