Finally: fixing the prison system
Originally published at Jason's Fresh Produce. You can comment here or there.
The prison system sucks. It is a binary operation where you’re either in or you’re out, and the abrupt transition doesn’t do anyone any favors. I have finally figured out a solution.
1) Prison sentence will now be in the form of “points” instead of in years.
2) Each day a prisoner is incarcerated and he meets expectations, he will earn one point.
3) Misbehavior will result in earning no points.
4) Good behavior will result in the immediate and non-retractable award of additional discretionary points (up to some reasonable maximum number of points per day).
5) Education, additional work, charity, and therapy can result in additional points awarded.
6) While in the system, your “prisoner level” will rise with your points, and you will be housed accordingly. “Good” or “high level” prisoners will get the advantage of living with other good prisoners, which will foster a group mentality towards doing good. The best prisoners will get additional privileges and responsibilities which more closely approximate “real life,” which will ease the formerly binary transition from “in” to “out.”
Thus, it will be necessary to “graduate” from prison much like we graduate from school, and the process will be one of growth (or stagnation, for the incorrigibles).
I think the daily reminder of the reward of good behavior will be more of an encouragement than the inevitability of a time-based sentence. And come on, everyone likes leveling up!