Prisoner Rights

[peacetraveler22]

Criminal psychology is a fascinating area of study, at least to me. This week, news spread that 79 year old Charles Manson filed for a marriage certificate to marry "Star," a 25 year old woman from Illinois. She was only 16 when she first discovered Manson on the Internet and immediately became attracted to his environmental philosophy, at least that's the story she tells the press. They speak almost every day on the phone, and she's permitted to visit him on weekends. However, conjugal visits are prohibited, so technically sex is not permissible unless they find creative ways to engage in the act without security guards noticing. Entirely possible! People are always finding clever ways to engage in sex in public places or under tight scrutiny.

I started thinking recently about what rights the most evil and heinous prisoners like Manson should have. Should he be allowed to marry? Have sexual visits with his soon to be wife? Some American prisoners have access to TVs, Internet and books on occasion. The most notorious of killers receive thousands of emails from women interested in pursuing romantic relationships with them. What makes a woman attracted to such a person? I can't understand it, maybe there are some psychologists amongst my readers who can explain? As you can see, Manson's soon to be wife is not some ugly duckling. She's quite attractive and well spoken, yet drawn to a prisoner who committed some of the most horrific murders in American history. Future husband with a swastika tattooed on his forehead? Apparently it's attractive to at least one person. You can hear her explain the relationship in this interview.

I know nothing about the Russian prison system, or how inmates are treated there. What rights do you think prisoners should have? Internet, TV, books, privacy for sexual relations if they're married or have a girlfriend? I'm torn on this subject, not sure how I feel...

Comments

[peacetraveler22.livejournal.com]

Even someone like Charles Manson? Yes, rehabilitation should always be the focus, esp. in juvenile situations but some criminals are beyond all hope of rehabilitation. I think it depends on the seriousness of the offence. I would never want him to be back on the streets and I support the death penalty in some cases.

[creaze.livejournal.com]

It's about what idea you put behind penalty. Life term appears as an emotional ruthless punishment, which i see no other meaning behind than to soothe public's feelings for righteous revenge, safety and sense of humanism (we could electrocute him, yet we keep him alive). Ask me, i'd prefer being shot at once, rather than spending decades behind bars.

All this makes no sense if you look at it from a pragmatic point. You don't want the convict to suffer, you want to make sure, he never does it again, right? Well, i could propose the gulag method, enhanced. Hard labor, in large amounts. Leaving no time for any self-analysis, cell-mate debates or escape plotting. Only to sleep.

Have the perpetrator work his way out. Put him into an army-like discipline environment, which will forcefully adjust him to work well and take care of all his necessary requirements. With a system of promotional bonuses for good behavior and penalties for acts of anti-authority.

And have him do something like road-work. I think modern security equipment would allow that.

Thrust me, by working 12–14 hours a day, you'll become a completely different individual in a year. And that year will look like eternity to you. With proper nutrition and medical oversight, this won't take of you anything but a year of time and some bad habits.

Five years for murder would seem a fair term here. Maybe less, if you demonstrate or turn of attutude by acquiring higher responsibility positions in the team. I know, Americans are very good at inventing such systems.

Anybody is a screwed up lunatic who took lifes by dozens? (Is that Manson?) Throw him at the unthinkable — 20 years. With restricted promotion options. That's 20 eternities.

But after that he'll still have a huge portion of life in front of him.

After that, when he gets out, he'll probably be surprised, that he once was killing people. That he ever did anything other than streets. And even if he does try to backslide, his hand won't allow him. They'll be only used to work the shovel.

And as a by-product you'll get some streets fixed in the mean time.

[peacetraveler22.livejournal.com]

"the perpetrator work his way out. Put him into an army-like discipline environment..." this is a good idea but there are not enough State or Federal resources to manage all of this. About road work, some criminal offenders are assigned to these tasks, but usually those on probation because there's such a high probability of escape. To sit and rot in solitary confinement, with no interaction to other humans or social settings is definitely a good punishment, but it still requires a lot of money to maintain the prisoner. Some people are just recidivists, it doesn't matter how much torture or punishment you put them through, they will repeat the behavior once they are free to do so. The Gulag/military type regime for prisoners might diminish this, but not entirely. In the end, I don't know what the answer is, but it's good to hear different ideas. So, thanks for contributing yours. :)

[creaze.livejournal.com]

> it doesn't matter how much torture or punishment you put them through, they will repeat the behavior once they are free to do so.

Well, my idea is that an complete work immersion might break this. The point where you stop perceiving the regime as punishment and instead it becomes part of your nature.

Think of how special op units in the army are trained. I've heard stories that almost all of them suffer from severe PTS after duty — they find themselves unprepared for anything other than sneaking and hiding and whatever.

So at a certain point, i think, how ever deep you have a freakery sitting inside, that regime will wash it out.

> because there's such a high probability of escape

Well, we are in the 21st century arent we? What about gps equipped bracelets, what about all those cameras?

Ударный труд - путь к свободе.

[andrey-kaminsky.livejournal.com]

The idea is very old, there is a need to refresh it. How about the slogan "Slavery fixes and exalts the soul" or something more well known: "Arbeit macht frei"? Sure, slavery is the strongest way of education, we need to apply it not only in prisons but also in schools;)

[creaze.livejournal.com]

Whooh, that was a sheet!

Anyway, been thinking about this for a while.

[peacetraveler22.livejournal.com]

Btw, maybe I already asked but how did you achieve such a high level of English proficiency? On your own or through formal studies? Because you express complex thoughts in English in a perfect manner, both word choice and grammar wise.

[creaze.livejournal.com]

By my own.

Well, some ten or twelve years ago i was attending those "business English" classes at a university, and the tutor suggested that i might wanna watch movies with subtitles, to improve my english.

Years passed, i've abandoned that university soon after, but kept watching movies. And since i'm a nerd, i can't those stupid russian actors and interpretors ruin the movie (which they do, overlaying their "translation" with their voices), so i stick with the tutor's advice and every time select the original soundtrack for the movie, which is usually in english.

Because nobody can come close to Hollywood in making good movies!