By: Doublewhiskeycokenoice
Anyone ever read I, Lucifer by Glenn Duncan? There's a part in the book where the Devil is addressing the reader and talking about where he sows his seeds of evil. He points to a shot from the evening...
View ArticleBy: l33tpolicywonk
An astounding piece, and one that really makes me fear. Torture is an objective standard: it doesn't matter what horrible things you've done (been accused of doing) to someone else. We preserve moral...
View ArticleBy: new and improved buzzman IV
That was a lengthy and well written article; and it is nice to see more than the same thing in different words for page after page as a change. With prisons as they are, and the 'professionals' that...
View ArticleBy: Uther Bentrazor
I'm surprised this thread has gone on so long without a chorus of "What's so bad about solitary? I'd LOVE to be all by myself. sounds like my apartment lol!" On preview: well... more or less.
View ArticleBy: Mavri
It's entirely possible to end up in solitary because of vindictive guards with scores to settle. You were arguing that nobody goes to solitary without some reason, or a broken rule; but in fact you can...
View ArticleBy: palliser
I don't know if he's just trolling; I think there are a lot of people who think this way, judging from the comments on major newspaper sites when some prisoner-abuse incident makes headlines. Anyway,...
View ArticleBy: fatbird
but in fact you can end up in solitary for looking at a guard the wrong way. Then you shouldn't have done that. Why is personal responsibility so difficult for you to grasp? You're being deliberately...
View ArticleBy: jokeefe
And don't you dare lecture me about personal responsiblity. You have absolutely no idea.
View ArticleBy: jokeefe
but in fact you can end up in solitary for looking at a guard the wrong way. Then you shouldn't have done that. Why is personal responsibility so difficult for you to grasp? I don't expect to change...
View ArticleBy: jokeefe
palliser-- I got caught up at work and didn't finish a comment I intended to post, noting that Yeah, I think you're right. Correction accepted.
View ArticleBy: palliser
Is it really the case that most liberals - or 'liberal writers,' at least - reject outright the notion that lawbreakers deserve punishment for their crimes? Palliser, I think I read it correctly, if by...
View ArticleBy: misha
Thanks, Joe Beese, for posting this thoughtfully written, well-researched article. After perusing what passes for a newspaper around here this morning (don't know what I was thinking, I know better), I...
View ArticleBy: rtha
bepe, he's not. He just likes to stir shit up. At some point, it may result in a banning, and hey - the consequence is all up to him, isn't it?
View ArticleBy: bepe
Eel, on the small chance that you're arguing in something approaching good faith, and with some general approximation of human empathy, perhaps you'll share with us how "everyone" is "better off" when...
View ArticleBy: Hovercraft Eel
By the time you get out, you have no life skills and lots of rage and no greater knowledge of impulse control. If you haven't grokked impulse control by the time you get out of grade school you'll...
View ArticleBy: Hovercraft Eel
but in fact you can end up in solitary for looking at a guard the wrong way. Then you shouldn't have done that. Why is personal responsibility so difficult for you to grasp?
View ArticleBy: jokeefe
Is it really the case that most liberals - or 'liberal writers,' at least - reject outright the notion that lawbreakers deserve punishment for their crimes? Palliser, I think I read it correctly, if by...
View ArticleBy: jokeefe
You don't just happen to end up in solitary, you do something to get put there. It's entirely possible to end up in solitary because of vindictive guards with scores to settle. You were arguing that...
View ArticleBy: Maias
If we want a humane prison system we would need to put aside a lot of the satisfaction of vengeance. We would also have to live with the fact that a humane prison isn't as effective a deterrent as an...
View ArticleBy: sio42
autarky - i recently read a report about prison violence. guards (unfortunately) are often not the just human beings we expect them to be. they are sometimes expected to keep an eye on 120 people at...
View ArticleBy: mannequito
it's not like perfectly good, upstanding citizens were turned into zombies by itThis guy has spent quite a bit of time in solitary..
View ArticleBy: sio42
wow. that did not end the way i thought it would. i seriously got tears in my eyes. i'd like to know more about the system England has going on, that sounded interesting. wonder it how works recidivism...
View ArticleBy: Autarky
Never known anyone who's done time, huh? I have. They committed a crime. Which is the point I was trying to make. I'm not saying that solitary isn't inhumane, only that it's not like perfectly good,...
View ArticleBy: palliser
Douthat misreads the objection to this attitude (an objection which he ascribes to liberals) as being that criminals don't deserve punishment at all. (He argues that punishment should be incremental,...
View ArticleBy: jokeefe
it's pretty simple: if you keep your nose clean and stay out of trouble you will not end up in solitary confinement in some prison (in the US). Granted some of the people described in the article...
View ArticleBy: Mavri
Granted some of the people described in the article ended up in in solitary simply for breaking some small, insignificant rule--but they still broke a rule, which could have been avoided. I suppose...
View ArticleBy: mannequito
Poor widdle man went cwazy, and it's all America's fault. Look, I know McCain can be a douche sometimes, but he's not 'cwazy' in any sense that I know of.
View ArticleBy: metagnathous
This desire explains a lot of what's wrong with prisons. It explains why our culture seems to find prison rape amusing. Yeah, 'They had it coming to 'em' sounds just fine and dandy to a lot of people....
View ArticleBy: I Foody
Why do we have prisons? We have them for two reasons so far as I can tell probably a couple other reasons but two big reasons. The first is to keep us safer. There are some people that are dangerous to...
View ArticleBy: Autarky
I'm not saying the article doesn't do a good job of making solitary confinement sounds like hell--and something we should probably avoid doing if at all possible--but, really, it's pretty simple: if...
View ArticleBy: Xurando
A couple of comments at the end. There is a whole class of prisoner who are placed in solitary from the start as punishment for their crimes, E.g. Aldrich Ames, Ted Kaczynski. This has nothing to with...
View ArticleBy: aeschenkarnos
There are a vast variety of ways to keep a person unable to physically harm others without also keeping them socially isolated. It seems to be the consensus that even one-way social access, like the...
View ArticleBy: PeterMcDermott
Poor widdle man went cwazy, and it's all America's fault. Big meanypants America. We're Number One! We're Number One! (Especially when it comes to locking people up.)
View ArticleBy: PeterMcDermott
One of the things that I think is really interesting about prison reform is that by and large, most people (and particularly politicians and other right winger types) don't give a shit about it until...
View ArticleBy: jokeefe
the injustice of comfortable UK-style rehabilitation Injustice? Really? So, do you want justice or revenge? There's a difference. One of the questions raised in Douthat's piece is this: a large part of...
View ArticleBy: exlotuseater
Jesus. I know everyone has already said it, but that was a really engaging, well-written article. I knew isolation was bad, I mean, really bad, but this explores the whys-and-wherefores and sheds light...
View ArticleBy: bepe
Thanks, Joe, great article. You know, I don't think it's soft-hearted to see widespread use of solitary as a pretty basic violation of our common humanity. And if you can read that article and still...
View ArticleBy: captaincrouton
Poor widdle man went cwazy, and it's all America's fault. Yes, in fact it is America's fault. Americans could have demanded that their justice system be pragmatic. They could have demanded that it...
View ArticleBy: Pope Guilty
the injustice of comfortable UK-style rehabilitation, and the public hand-wringing sparked by summary execution. what in the fuck is wrong with you
View ArticleBy: magic curl
Fine article, thankyou joe Beese. If only there were a treatment for pathologically aggressive criminals that avoided the futile cruelty of solitary confinement, the injustice of comfortable UK-style...
View ArticleBy: jedicus
c.f. Carthusian monks, solitary since 1084. Yeah, the monks can leave whenever they want without any legal penalties. Voluntary seclusion is completely different.
View ArticleBy: Joe Beese
I once worked as a legal secretary in a metropolitan public defender's office. One of the three lawyers I served was their senior felony attorney. I don't think she actually did march on Selma - but...
View ArticleBy: fatbird
c.f. Carthusian monks, solitary since 1084.The Carthusian monk leaves the cell daily only for three prayer services in the monastery chapel, including the community Mass, and occasionally for...
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