I read today about the California prisoners who've gone without food for 45 days now to protest the practice of keeping people on solitary for a year or more. A judge decided that the prisons can force feed them. This is barbarism. Their rationale is that some of the fasting prisoners have been mislead. I almost expect to hear the Shrubism: "
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However, I agree with you that they shouldn't be force-fed. One of the most important aspects of freedom is the freedom to screw things up.
And Obama uses "wrongheaded" WAY more than shrub ever did.
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As for whether or not we want to be humane in our treatment of prisoners; I agree that decent treatment does not matter if the only purpose of prison is deterrence. But there is this other idea that criminals might be rehabilitated, might somehow be of value in the future. If there is a chance that a person could be brought back to responsible citizenship and personhood, then doing things that destroy their psyche is counter productive. I would like to think that some people go to prison and come out better, instead of worse, than they were when they went in. I happen to know a few individuals who would say this is true for them....and are grateful. This seems to be increasingly rare....
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And even there, "solitary" doesn't mean "solitary", it means they can still talk and interact with their neighbors, but they don't go to the yard or have a cellmate.
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