Another prison-related question

[Jen]

Originally Posted by tank

firstly, those were two different inmates, and I covered my thoughts on the mentally insane in an above post.

secondly, deciding who is and isn't human is exactly the type of thing reasonable people should avoid.

What do you do for a living? How many "humans" like this have you dealt with first hand? How many dead children have you seen? How many rape victims have you spoken to? When is the last time you saw your partner intentionally hit by a car going 90 miles an hour while putting out stop sticks? How many families of Victims have you had cry on your shoulder? Peoples actions speak volumes, including announcing to the rest of the world their own level of humanity (or incredible lack thereof).

[mab54]

If he is willing to chew through his own arm it is obvious he has some form of mental disorder. He should be in a hospital being treated. Yes he did something horrible, but the man is not in his mind if he is as you call "not human". That is like saying we should put down people with mental retardation because they are not quite human. (I'm not saying you said we should kill retards I'm just showing a point.) Who are we as humans to decide who should live and who should die. If you really want him to suffer fix his mental issues and allow him to live the rest of his life knowing what he did. Just don't put down the man for having a disorder.

Oh just saw that top post ^ I have worked with people who have been raped, seen people die, and who have been through a real hell.(intern as a child psychologist) In fact I have people in my family who have been raped and one who has been murdered. I would love to see them behind bars, but as a human I do not wish to see them dead.

[tank]

Originally Posted by Jen

What do you do for a living? How many "humans" like this have you dealt with first hand? How many dead children have you seen? How many rape victims have you spoken to? When is the last time you saw your partner intentionally hit by a car going 90 miles an hour while putting out stop sticks? How many families of Victims have you had cry on your shoulder? Peoples actions speak volumes, including announcing to the rest of the world their own level of humanity (or incredible lack thereof).

I'm in the army and have served 3 yearlong tours in combat in afghanistan and iraq.

[gaspers04]

For the record the inmate that I mentioned is not criminally insane or mentally retarded. He clearly has no regard for life. I have known him for many years, we have an extensive psych dept here and closed psych population as well. Does he have issues, oh yeah. Is he not in his right mind and unaware of his actions, hell no. Just because some one acts out of the "norm" doesn't mean that they are an automatic psych candidate.

[Ryano]

Originally Posted by tank

I'm in the army and have served 3 yearlong tours in combat in afghanistan and iraq.

Tank, thankyou for your service. I applaud you for that, but you are sadly mistaken if you think you can "Make them do manual labor". They just say "**** YOU" and sit down. The individual that I referred to was given a specified sentence. After that time, he will be a free man. He will be old, but free. I arrested an individual that raped, murdered and disembowelled a female. He denied it for hours. By the time I got him to confess, he blamed it on being in Vietnam post traumatic stress. He was in the army, but never left the states. He spent about 12 years in prison and is now walking the streets a free man(or the last I heard). He won't be out long before he reoffendeds. I just hope I don't know his victim.

This is also why I never leave the house unarmed. I see people I've put in prison on a regular basis. Many of them don't think to much of me. Well this is for them....

[Jen]

Originally Posted by tank

I'm in the army and have served 3 yearlong tours in combat in afghanistan and iraq.

I am a veteran, also. And I thank you for your service. I think we will have to agree to disagree on this subject.

[ffemtny]

My personal view on the american prison system is that it reminds me of the definition of insanity, where one does the same thing, the same way time and again and expects a different result. Whatever we are doing has failed and we may need to start from the ground up and model ourselves after countries that have more successful systems.
I believe the offenders punishment should be the time they are serving and the removal from normal society that it entails. While in prison they should get programs that address the issues that got them there in the first place, i.e. drugs, psych issues, and lack of education etc. Obviously there are people that this won't apply to serial killers, rapists, child molesters etc. who I would have no problem with giving the death penalty to or indefinite sentencing.

Btw, not a bleeding heart liberal, Army vet , paramedic to be which has entailed my spending time in the less than spectacular areas of NYC., I have also worked 911 EMS in Boston and surrounding area's some years ago. Also have vollied in 911 EMS for the last 7 years and have met my share of scumbags.
Just feel if something is as broken as the American prison system that those smarter than I should be able to find a better way.

[gaspers04]

The services that you mentioned are offered.

[5kgLifter]

Originally Posted by Tannhauser

There's a cool word.

In the UK, as I understand it, overcrowding means that a lot of prisoners are locked up for 22 hours a day. But this is going on hearsay rather than research. On the other hand, there's quite often complaints about prisoners having Playstation, TVss or whatever (I'm sure there's quite a lot of media s**t-stirring about this, and again I don't know the truth of it).

So in the UK, perhaps we have little deterrent, but little opportunity for re-equippping for life outside either.

I won't comment on the initial post of the thread because I feel the question is more complex if people that have not paid Council Tax etc are imprisoned as opposed to those that have raped or maimed another individual, for the former there may be reasons or excuses, obviously for some, but I think you know what mean about that making an answer to the question a bit more complex than at first appears.


Anyway, to my point of posting; weren't prisoners being released early, a few years ago (or more) in the UK due to the overcrowding issue? I was disgusted when I found that out, at the time because it made a mockery of the initial sentencing.

[glwanabe]

This thread is a testament to members of this forum.

While there have been many different opinions on the subject, the overall conversation has remained cordial.