“My object oh sublime, I shall achieve in time, to make the punishment fit the crime, the punishment fit the crime.” - from The Mikado, by Gilbert & Sullivan.
America is overrun, not only with garbage people, but jails. States are continually building new jails, and filling them. No matter how many new cells are built, they always seem to be filled immediately. They cost a lot of money to build, and most have wonderful facilities such as color TVs, VCRs, law libraries, well equipped gyms, and all that one might want to be comfortable. Prisoners receive excellent health care, and aside from being imprisoned, they have a full, even exciting life, while serving time. This is the problem. Prisons cost a fortune to build and maintain with all their goodies, and do not punish, as they should. A person committed to jail has done something wrong, and is supposedly being punished. How is it punishment for prisoners to have a soft bed, radios, cigarettes, TV, movies, gymnasiums, and health care?
Think this is an exaggeration? The November, 1994 Reader’s Digest has a piece titled, “Must Our Prisons Be Resorts?”In it we find out about the Mercer Pennsylvania Prison. “In his office, Superintendent Gilbert Walters explains that Mercer’s 850 convicted felons “aren’t evil, by and large. Many just did not have good life circumstances and have reacted inappropriately.” Walters refers to his inmates as “clients” and tries to make the prison experience “as much like the street as I can.” It’s hard to imagine that for most of Mercer’s “clients” life outside could be this good. One of the three full-time “activities directors” shows me the recreation building. “Nothing cheap here,” he says proudly, pointing out the full-sized basketball court, handball area, punching bag and volleyball net. There are enough barbells to “bulk up” 15 criminals at a time; others can use weight lifting machines. Nine electronic exercise bicycles and four stair-type aerobics machines face a TV, all part of the Leisure Fitness Program. Outside, the men can play softball and sharpen their tennis skills. Emotional problems? Five psychologists and ten counselors are there for Mercer’s “clients.” Housing about a third of the inmates are two dormitories with eight-by-ten foot “rooms” (not cells) equipped with desks and bookshelves. As we enter one room, a chubby, middle-aged man turns down the volume on his TV set. This housing unit, the guide says, shelters a “peer group” with “special needs”: largely rapists and child molesters.”
The article goes on to tell of conjugal visits, theatre groups, closed circuit TV studios, virtually unlimited visitation, cable TV with premium channels, music rooms with electric guitars, amplifiers, drums and keyboards. Picnics, banquets, and in general, nothing seems to be too good for America’s prisoners. Not just in Mercer, but in other prisons in America, including even the penitentiaries such as Attica.
“Therapy for mental health, aggressive behavior, domestic violence, sex offenses and substance abuse has grown into a prison cottage industry. Yet, after decades of attempting behavior modification, the overall results of rehabilitation and therapy are meager. When asked by Reader’s Digest how many sex offenders he has rehabilitated in his years on the job, one New York State Prison counselor bluntly responded, “None.” In 1993, prisoners filed nearly 33,000 civil suits in federal courts, a stunning 14% of all federal civil lawsuits. “One inmate, (of the California Department of Corrections) who tortured and killed his own infant daughter, wrote sadistic stories in exchange for pornographic photos of women being tortured. When the prison staff confiscated and destroyed the photos, he sued in federal court. California taxpayers ended up paying the prisoner compensation.” But enough! The point has been made…I think!
The consequence of prisons that are not prisons in the old fashioned sense of the word, are that incarceration costs far too much, and its purpose is not served.
Many years ago, a prison sentence was a dreaded thing. It was so excruciating, that potential criminals were deterred from committing a crime, because of fear of having to serve time in a jail or prison. Old fashioned jails had cement slabs on which to sleep, and no appurtenances such as radios, TVs, movies, well equipped gymnasiums, telephones, cigarettes, law libraries, excellent medical care, and comfortable temperatures. Prisons were horrific, violent, brutal, and a literal nightmare. This began to change after the Attica, New York riots in 1971. Civil rights activists now insist that prisons be made comfortable and healthy. The opposite should be true.
You have to admire Joe Arpiao, the Maricopa County Arizona Sheriff, who, when faced with a shortage of cells, bought army surplus tents, and surrounded them with a barbed wire fence. Cold at night, hot in daytime, bathrooms down the path, no cigarettes, no coffee, no nude magazines, and no electricity. Hooray for Joe Arpiao! A place of punishment should not be a place of comfort and convenience. And glory to the states that have re-instituted chain gangs. Why shouldn’t prisoners cut weeds, repair roads, and do manual labor? A chain around their ankles is a wonderful way to keep them from running away. Sheriff Joe Arpiao has a volunteer citizen's posse consisting of every professional group and income level in the Phoenix area, and they are delighted to help him anytime. His popularity rate is close to 90%, and he is a prime candidate for governor.
Even Sheriff Joe isn’t as severe as God was, when he threw Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden. “To the woman he said: I shall greatly increase the pain of your pregnancy; in birth pangs you will bring forth children, and your craving will be for your husband, and he will dominate you. And to Adam he said: Because you listened to your wife’s voice and took to eating from the tree concerning which I gave you this command, ‘you must not eat from it,’ cursed is the ground on your account. In pain will you eat its produce all the days of your life. And thorns and thistles it will grow for you, and you must eat the vegetation of the field. In the sweat of your face you will eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For dust you are and unto dust you will return.” Genesis 3:16-19. Makes Joe sound like a pretty nice guy, doesn’t it? Isn’t that a Biblical treatise on how to treat a criminal? Note that there was no parole or “good time” for Adam and Eve!
As an aside, because this isn't a Biblical treatise, notice the first words of the Genesis account above, when it says, “To the woman he said: I shall greatly increase the pain of your pregnancy; in birth pangs you shall bring forth children..." This could well be true, as it is my belief that animals have little pain when giving birth...only humans have excruciating birth pains...something to consider isn’t it?
Parole is a critical item, because it is the most common way a prisoner is released. Parole is so entrenched in our so-called “justice” system, that no one ever thinks of simply abolishing it. Why should parole exist in the first place? If a person has committed a crime, been caught, found guilty, and sent to prison, why should he be turned out before he has served his full term? If he deserved less time, the judge should have sentenced him to less time. Diminution of punishment is a way to make the criminal think maybe he wasn’t too guilty after all, or that society is pretty stupid, both of which thoughts must not exist in the mind of a scofflaw. I won’t take space regaling the reader with the hundreds of thousands of parole violators who have resumed their criminal careers while on parole, like the famous Willie Horton, who brutally raped while on “release” by an ignoramus Massachusetts governor, Michael Dukakis.
Parole gives us incidents like the one reported by the AP on June 18, 1997. “Barstow, California—: A 9 year old girl who had stopped at a McDonald’s with her family for some ice cream was killed in a gun battle that broke out between a holdup man and an off duty police officer waiting in line. The masked gunman was shot to death in the crowded restaurant Monday afternoon. A bullet fired by the gunman...hit Amanda Marie Robertson. Kenneth Harold Lemond, 25, a recently paroled convict with a long criminal record, including robbery....” Rodney King was on probation when police chased him at 100 miles per hour through residential neighborhoods. There should be no parole at any time, for any reason. Parole boards, officers, and the entire expensive system should be abolished.
In every major newspaper, every day, there is usually an account of a parolee gone amok. I randomly picked two consecutive days of the Denver Post, and found the following stories. First day is of an Oakland California coach named Tony Ransom, who raped repeatedly after being paroled from a 35 years to life sentence. The next day, the Post reported that Christopher Mask, on parole, “Hit a girl on the head at least five times during the attack in a back room at the Subway Sandwich Shop at 2008 S. University Blvd.” There were additional similar stories in both days' editions.
‘Megan’s Law,’ is a poor solution for a disgusting problem. Megan’s Law requires registration of all released child molesters, so neighbors will know who has moved into their neighborhood. What seems fine upon first examination, often isn’t. First of all, most released felons disappear, and no one knows where they went. Second, the Justice Department statistics are that child molesters serve but an average of 37 months in the slammer, far less than other law breakers, and only 20% of child molesters do their dirty work on total strangers; the rest assault relatives, parents, or others known to them. Why not make the molesters serve long terms? Why not execute them, as their recidivism rate is enormous. Why not register ALL released criminals, rather than just molesters? I’d love to be informed of a felon who has moved in next door.
The so called “insanity plea” must also be abolished. Is a victim any less dead or injured because the perpetrator is nuts? If a raving, babbling maniac commits a crime, is there any reason why his mental condition should preclude his execution or punishment? Think about the consequences of endless “insanity” pleas and parole violations. It is logical that neither of these should exist.
With the new wave of school shootings and assorted heinous crimes we hear of daily, it might be prudent for local National Guard units to have a firing squad, and when a murder or shooting was witnessed by four or more, just shoot them on the spot. I know, that is radical, but wouldn’t that set an example and be a deterrent? Think of the time and money saved. And furthermore, is there any reason why all inmates of maximum-security penitentiaries shouldn’t be executed? They are worthless, violent, unrepentant, and a severe drain on budgets. Just get rid of all of them. Yes, I do speak my mind, and I am not ashamed of it. It’s time someone says it like it really is.