Proof that Stand-Up Comics Do Change the World

The President has signed the Prison Rape Elimination Act. Wendy McElroy has the details at FoxNews.com. I think it's safe to say that this is the sterotypical "Study Law Masquerading as a Bold Policy Initiative," but its a step in the right direction. And some study may be required. No problems there.


But a great many folk have been mumbling about this in the past, not just for its own merits, but because of a larger problem within our prison system. I've been thinking on it m'self, and not just because I've been listening to Johnny Cash. It has long been the conventional wisdom that our prisons make criminals worse through years of brutality.


These are my ideas:




1. Seperate the sheep from the wolves. Violent and non-violent offenders should go to seperate prisons. That's common sense, but that's not the way it happens. If this is logistically impossible, maybe we should reconsider whether incarceration is the right penalty for non-violent offenders. I think the usefulness of putting pot-heads in jail, for example, is apparent to all.


2. Let's put the "penitent" back in penitentiary. Prisons should not become a recruiting ground for tribal gangs. There shouldn't be any gangs. There shouldn't be, among violent offenders, any social contact with one another whatsoever. They don't eat together, they don't sleep together, they don't talk to each other. They need human contact? Talk to the chaplain, a psychologist, or an instructor. They need something to do? Give 'em a library. No more gyms, no more cable TV, no more movies. Those are priveleges of free men and women. Their punishment is to spend years alone with themselves and their crime. That's tougher on criminals than dropping the soap in the shower could ever be (while I'm on that subject, seperate bathrooms).


3. Let's get serious about rehabilitation. Say it with me: Education. Technical instruction. If we cut down on the social interaction and the gang life sufficiently, they'll be begging for something to occupy their brains. Let's make sure nobody gets out of prison without a useful job skill. Preferably blue-collar, as such may serve them best in an urban environment, but if an uncovered savant wants to learn something else, let him do so. The point is, time devoted to positive pursuits should not only be encouraged, they should be the only kind of pursuit allowed.




It's been said many times that a society is judged on how it treats its prisoners. I've never agreed that such is the case, and I'm not even sure it should be the case (how about the way it treats, oh, EVERYBODY ELSE instead?). However, when our prisons become savage wastelands, that's not good for anyone. The moral compass of the West demands better.