Was just reading a post by a solitary confinement prisoner, William Blake(Voices from solitary: a sentence worse than death). He was convicted of murdering 2 police officials in an attempt to escape and was sentenced to 77years of imprisonment, of which he's spent 25 years in solitary confinement and has quite a few decades more to go! He goes on to describe in chilling detail the life in solitary confinement, deprived of all friendly human contact, completely cut off from everything in the world...left only with the mind-numbing emptiness of your cell and worse yet inside you. How the author has managed to hold on to sanity and hope for so long is incomprehensible to me!!! Reading his essay was so difficult, I can't even imagine living a day of his life....even if i knew that it was just for a day. Knowing that this was a life sentence, never-ending, would have driven me crazy and bereft of the will to live. What manages to drive the writer to get through each day is just beyond me!!
He points out, quite justifiably, that what he has been through is far worse that any number of death sentences in any form!! That no matter how horrible his crime, this form of cruelty was unacceptable. It got me thinking about this whole system of punishment in itself. I can understand that nothing can take away from the severity of the crime he has committed. The loss of their loved one is something those police officials' families are gonna have to live with for the rest of their lives....living out a life sentence of their own in a sense. Snuffing out a life and saying "sorry...it won't happen again" just doesn't cut it. If i were in their place, I'd probably be screaming for revenge and retribution....that the killer should suffer as much as he made his victims suffer. I get all that....atleast theoretically. But that isn't truly what the justice system is about is it?
While its true that the system ensures that we are accountable for our actions, and that we pay for our crimes, its also in essence trying to instill a sense of responsibility in the criminal in the hope of reforming him/her. While noble in intent, I am not so optimist as to think that every criminal can be reformed. Whatever might have been the motive, whatever might have happened in the criminal's past to drive him to such cruelty....there comes a point where you cannot forgive...where you say that no matter what...this is unacceptable!!! I guess that is when you hand out a death penalty to someone....not only with the hope that of reform for that criminal or for the peace of the victim's family but to ensure that you deter anyone else from committing such a heinous crime. In that sense, I can accept the existence of a death penalty!! But when I read about things like solitary confinement....that too for such prolonged periods, it just seems so pointless!! Something so inhuman couldn't possibly have any justification could it?? It sounds more like something entirely born out of hatred and anger!!! I wonder if it gives any comfort to the victim's family knowing that the killer is suffering such hell every moment....or whether the criminals out there even know that such a punishment exists or how bad it actually is. Most of these prisoners probably just go mad in there and die a horrific death. or else come out as irreparably broken men. Does anyone gain anything of measure from the existence of such a punishment?? Or is it just the sadistic pleasure that a few get out of subjecting someone to unimaginable torture....because we can?? Nothing very noble about that! In fact, practically speaking, precious tax-payers' money is probably being wasted on feeding and housing these men for life....who are no good to anyone alive, rather no one wants or hopes of any good to ever come out of them!!!
Maybe there is some important point that I'm missing here....maybe there is a side of this story I just haven't heard yet, a reasoning that would make some sense. It would be easy to write such an account and play on people's sentimentality to win popular sympathy and support. I would be glad to stand corrected but until I know better, I continue to say that this just isn't right!!
He points out, quite justifiably, that what he has been through is far worse that any number of death sentences in any form!! That no matter how horrible his crime, this form of cruelty was unacceptable. It got me thinking about this whole system of punishment in itself. I can understand that nothing can take away from the severity of the crime he has committed. The loss of their loved one is something those police officials' families are gonna have to live with for the rest of their lives....living out a life sentence of their own in a sense. Snuffing out a life and saying "sorry...it won't happen again" just doesn't cut it. If i were in their place, I'd probably be screaming for revenge and retribution....that the killer should suffer as much as he made his victims suffer. I get all that....atleast theoretically. But that isn't truly what the justice system is about is it?
While its true that the system ensures that we are accountable for our actions, and that we pay for our crimes, its also in essence trying to instill a sense of responsibility in the criminal in the hope of reforming him/her. While noble in intent, I am not so optimist as to think that every criminal can be reformed. Whatever might have been the motive, whatever might have happened in the criminal's past to drive him to such cruelty....there comes a point where you cannot forgive...where you say that no matter what...this is unacceptable!!! I guess that is when you hand out a death penalty to someone....not only with the hope that of reform for that criminal or for the peace of the victim's family but to ensure that you deter anyone else from committing such a heinous crime. In that sense, I can accept the existence of a death penalty!! But when I read about things like solitary confinement....that too for such prolonged periods, it just seems so pointless!! Something so inhuman couldn't possibly have any justification could it?? It sounds more like something entirely born out of hatred and anger!!! I wonder if it gives any comfort to the victim's family knowing that the killer is suffering such hell every moment....or whether the criminals out there even know that such a punishment exists or how bad it actually is. Most of these prisoners probably just go mad in there and die a horrific death. or else come out as irreparably broken men. Does anyone gain anything of measure from the existence of such a punishment?? Or is it just the sadistic pleasure that a few get out of subjecting someone to unimaginable torture....because we can?? Nothing very noble about that! In fact, practically speaking, precious tax-payers' money is probably being wasted on feeding and housing these men for life....who are no good to anyone alive, rather no one wants or hopes of any good to ever come out of them!!!
Maybe there is some important point that I'm missing here....maybe there is a side of this story I just haven't heard yet, a reasoning that would make some sense. It would be easy to write such an account and play on people's sentimentality to win popular sympathy and support. I would be glad to stand corrected but until I know better, I continue to say that this just isn't right!!
