Once upon a time, long, LONG ago, and in a different world than this, crime was not a social problem. It wasn't a sociological problem, an economic problem, not a geographical or racial or cultural problem. No, the problem of crime rested in one place, and in one place alone: squarely on the shoulders of the criminal.
In sixteenth century New England, if you committed a crime, you weren't sent to gaol at all. No, you dug your own gaol--shovel provided free of charge. Your gaol was as deep as you could make it, digging from sunup to sundown. Once you'd finished that task, down you went. Some bars were thrown over your hole and there you'd sit. You were equipped with a single all-purpose bucket that served as your privy and your plate both. Stale bread and brackish water made up your diet, augmented perhaps with some gristly meat on Sundays.
Mind you, this sort of punishment wasn't for your murderers or rapists. No, those were summarily hanged. The "Hole-iday Inn" treatment was for thieves, blasphermers, adulterers, and the like. I believe the record was something like eight months.
Fast forward to today, in this world. Crime--even murder--is nobody's fault. It just is. Victims of crime are either disregarded (bad enough) or treated as if they were asking for it. And criminals get to go off to Shangri-La-de-dah, a place with most of the rights and few of the responsibilities that you and I have. Indeed, in some cases there's more freedom in jail than there is out of it.
For instance, those sentenced to solitary confinement in Canadian prisons can now bring their television along with them. Or, if they're unlucky enough to lack a television (it being such a necessary rehabilitative device), the State will provide one. With satellite hookup.Wouldn't want the Paul Bernardos of the world to feel lonely, would we?
It seems that AIDS is of some concern in the prison system. Apparently, our inmates are neglecting to sterilize their needles before they shoot themselves up. Corrections Canada understands. They're talking about a needle exchange program (because illicit drugs are almost as important as television to the process of rehabilitation). Nobody has even thought to ask where the drugs are coming from, ha-ha.
You've got your pizza parties, your panty raids, your porno nights...all this and weekends count as double time towards the fulfillment of your sentence. It is possible, if you have the correct, uh, racial characteristics, to murder three people and serve three years for the crime. Or you can rape someone and be sentenced to house arrest.
And...you can vote.
I think, all in all, I prefer the sixteenth century New England penal system. Civil libertarians would undoubtedly scream bloody murder were it around today--but if they didn't commit bloody murder, then they'd have nothing to worry about, would they? Cruel and unusual punishment, for sure...just like the crimes perpetrated by the convicted criminal, whom everybody nowadays seems to pity. He did it because he was poor, they say, insulting millions of law-abiding poor people. Or because he was black, they say, and denigrate a whole race of people for the actions of one man. He did it because his parents were total screwups, they allege, and at that I wonder why I'm not resting in a cell somewhere.
I bet, if you survived 'the hole', you thought twice before you re-offended. In that sense, the correctional system back then was pretty damned effective.
What is our 'correctional' system trying to correct?
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