Don't get me wrong, my sense is the vast majority of people in jails deserve to be there and are there by their own actions. We are a society of laws and expect those laws to have consequences. Much like the elderly using too much of the national budget for their own good and doing so because they vote as a block with self interest, I see prisons are one of those places where we could be doing something completely opposite of what we are actually doing and accomplishing something far greater.
First, the elderly. I think a great injustice is done in our society because we allow voting blocks to control the debate. Because children under the age of 18 do not vote, they do not get to control how funding is appropriated. Thus you get shitty schools and decent retirement villages. You get socialized medicine for older people and a discount on the medications developed to keep them alive way past their expected life cycle, and yet schools and yes prisons are filled and suffering. I know we want to reward the older people because they built this great country and all that, but at some point we have to realize that it is the non-voting children who will be sustaining and rebuilding this great country and it will be hard to do that when you were raised malnourished, deprived of even a basic education and never given opportunity that the riches of this country should be able to afford.
That said, prisons piss me off. We already spend way too much on prisons, some states are being bankrupted by the huge costs of locking up criminals. I think prisons could be a much better place to put people who do not respect the laws of the land. First though, we should get real about the laws of the land. I think we jail way too many people for crimes against nothing. Probation would be a good place for drug offenses, or rehab. A junkie does not need prison, he/she needs care. A pot salesman in Seattle needs taxing, not jail time. A pain killer abuser needs less radio time and more time in a facility to deal with the issues that force people to medicate themselves.
In short, clean out the prisons with non-violent lawbreakers. Sometimes we can change laws to fit reality. We are by far the most drugged society in the history of the world and at some point we need to step back and figure out why that is. Go to a pharmacy if you want to see junkies cue up for their fix.
I do think prisons should be filled with violent people. Killers, molesters, rapists and the like should be secured behind gates and fences and barbed wire. What I would also suggest is a reality check for these people too. Again, we could have prisons that are designed for lifers. If you kill someone, expect to spend your life in jail. No parole, nothing. If your crime is such that you spend 20 years in jail, and we all know that at some point you will be released, isn't it smart for society to work to make someone who is going to be released back into our law filled society the skills to survive? At this point it seems like we lock people up in boxes, feed them terrible food, do not allow any way to better themselves and expect by some sort of miracle that after serving time in such conditions a person will return to society and just be happy to be free.
Back to todays visit. I have interviewed people in jail before and it is never pleasant. Jails are scary places, populated by scary people, from the authorities who run places like that (what makes someone want to do such things?) to the people living in jails (same question.)
I'll write about my experience at some point.
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