Quote:
Originally Posted by Vulcan
Take a walk down E. Hastings or by the Cecil. To me a lot these people would be better off in jail.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Flash Walken
First, I don't think anyone is better off in jail. No one is better off when they are held against their will and their rights removed.
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Off Topic:
Well, having both spent a fair bit of time down on E. Hastings, and having spent time working in two prisons (paid employment, not residency!) I have to disagree with both of you.
(to get to the point now just skip what follows and read the last paragraph)
I would say that there are certainly some people who are better off being held against their will with restricted rights (people who are genuinely dangerous to themselves and others).
However, social problems such as drug use are very complicated problems, and simply locking people up is not an adequate solution (in the case of chronic drug abuse that is controlling a persons life). The reasons that a person may end up on Hastings and Maine (and the like) are myriad, and I've known that many people end up in situations of desperation for which they can hardly be blamed except for perhaps not having above average levels of determination and resourcefulness to overcome extraordinarily difficult circumstances. However, once these people are in such situations of desperation and addiction they need more than being locked away to get over things. Shame is a difficult thing for many to overcome (more powerful than many would acknowledge), and is just one of many problems of self-identity that people in those situations face (they are, after all, still people who are conscious of their social standing). Furthermore, in order to overcome those situations once they come out of jail they need opportunities for a better environment to return to, though there are often just the same forces as before to push them back into difficult situations.
Now, I'm not going to be a total apologist for people who end up in these situations. I'm not going to say that they should be forgiven for having made some bad choices that others may not have. Quite frankly I think that is a philisophical debate better kept on the side as it is. However people have ended up in a particular situation the primary societal problem up for debate regarding them is how to improve the situation, regardless of blame.
I would say that if society judges people in these situations to have no hope of change, and that they cannot be safely let free, then killing them is probably the most practical solution (as they are otherwise a cost to the community with no hope of return). Fortunately, the spirit of the law holds up the belief that people can be changed, and so are given periods of restricted freedom in order to help them change. But the other side of that is that the community must then take on the responsibility of adequately ensuring the opportunity for change. It's here that I think there is a failure in the disciplinary system.
I know that there are many programs in prison that are aimed at helping people develop self esteem, coping strategies, useful skills, etc. But, from the time I've spent in prison environments, I've seen that the resources are not sufficient to provide these services to anything close to the majority of prisoners needing that help. Instead, most of the prisoners end up in oppressive environments in a condensed community of others suffering from the same or similar difficulties, who (without adequate help) ultimately often become a source of reinforcing the values of the criminal environments that got them into problems in the first place.
There are many who leave prison with no rehabilitation, but a strengthened network of relationships with people who are criminal. Often learning more about how to survive profitably as a criminal or addict from others that have been doing it (as has been related to me by those I have know who spent time in prison).
I don't blame the prison staff. They simply do what they can with limited resources in a very stressful environment, and dealing with difficult cases.
Anyways, the point is that some people are better off in jail, and can find a resource to improve their lives from there, but that the benefit of the prison system is dependent upon there actually being the resources to help people rebuild lives instead of merely containing them in condensed criminal environments. Resources for that are slim however, and so most have to do without.