In some places it's just not working like it should. There are too many innocent people serving life or very long sentences. Solitary Confinement should be banned. Life sentences without parole should be done away with. According to the Innocence Project's estimates, between 2.3 percent and 5 percent of all US prisoners are innocent. The American prison population numbers about 2.4 million. Using those numbers, as many as 120,000 innocent people could currently be in prison.
If the project’s estimates include those who cannot afford bail and are awaiting their day in court, yeah, I can easily see how those numbers could be correct. Dunno but if they are not included, the number seems rather high but I’ll do my own research and get back to you. Now, as far as solitary confinement, there are some people who would still be alive today if they had been in solitary confinement. Sometimes confinement is for the good of the prisoner and sometimes it is for the good of the population and then again, as a punishment, it’s far better than being beat or tortured such as is practiced in other countries. Life sentence without parole? There are some very, very bad people in max security prisons whom I would not unleash on society for any reason.
It has been deemed that Solitary Confinement beyond a certain number of days is Cruel & Unusual Punishment that alters the prisoners mental capabilities. Repeated confinements to solitary should be banned. Proper Parole Requirements could make releasing very bad people practical.
Innocent people in prison? Don't be concerned about it..... it's our good fortune and their bad! Solitary Confinement and Life w/o Parole are deserved punishments. The Judges know what they're doing! Harry
Hal You sound like the guy who says "He Must Be Guilty or They Would Never Have Arrested Him" Only Competent Judges know what they are doing. The Criminal Justice System Needs To Be Reformed. Agree /Disagree?
Yes, I agree that continued solitary confinement could be a torturous ordeal. With that though, I believe that any person admitted to “special housing” for over say, 15 days be reviewed by a board unless of course, sending an inmate out into general population is a death sentence rather than an issue of freedom to move about. Example: Everyone here has heard or read that inmates who are charged with child molestation generally do not survive in general population. Now, allow me to submit a theoretical scenario regarding a very bad man. Let’s just call him a serial killer for all intentional purposes. A man rapes and kills his female victims and in a space of maybe, 3 years has killed 4 women and then with DNA as evidence, the man is caught and sentenced to natural life in prison in a state with no death penalty. What, if a law were to be passed down which eliminated the natural life sentence, would you recommend be done with the serial killer if he came up for a mandatory parole hearing? You’ve already written that maybe some sort of restrictions or “parole requirements” be put into place so what restrictions would you recommend so that this “bad man” will not hurt another female or anyone else for that matter?
Which goes to prove what I wrote in another thread. If it happens to others, you’re fine with it but if it happened to you, it is a totally different thing. Sad, very sad not to care about other human beings who have been prosecuted for something they didn’t do or have been overly and/or unduly punished for something they did do.
Have you always been such a compassionate and understanding soul? How do you feel about Thumb Screws? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thumbscrew_(torture)
Although I am morally opposed to the death penalty, I can understand that there are people whose actions are such that I can't think of another reason, other than an opposition to the death penalty, to keep them around. Then again, I do believe that even Jeffrey Dahmer became a Christian before he was stabbed to death in prison. Even so, Christians are known to backslide so, even then, I don't know that he would be a safe man to have walking around free. I am also opposed to mandatory sentence laws because, while they may serve to reduce the harm that might be done by a judge who makes a habit of being too lenient or too strict, I think these laws are more likely to prevent judges from using common sense in sentencing. Judges should be free to evaluate each case on its own merits and pass sentences based on the facts of each individual case. Not all murders are alike and for that matter, there are circumstances that might suggest that some cases of child molestation are more horrific than others. Rather than mandatory sentences, I'd rather that it would be easier to remove a judge from office. As for releasing people from prison, I don't know how accurate an assessment someone can make as to how well someone might have reformed while in prison. In prison, otherwise good people might be forced into doing things they wouldn't do otherwise, just to survive, just as truly evil people aren't necessarily subject to the same temptations that they might have on the outside. I mentioned Dahmer earlier. While I believe he became a Christian, he wasn't in a position to kill and eat people in prison as he was on the outside, so you might say that he has become a Christian and he hasn't eaten anyone since he's been in prison, but that wouldn't necessarily mean that young men would be safe around him if he had been released from prison. Plus, of course, becoming a Christian shouldn't be a get-out-of-jail-free card. I'd prefer that sentences be reasonable, to begin with, but that people be released earlier than the amount of time they were sentenced to only under extraordinary circumstances. In Maine, if you are sentenced to 25 years in prison, you will be in prison for twenty-five years unless you can establish innocence on an appeal. I think that makes sense, but only when the sentence was reasonable to begin with, and not unreasonably harsh because of the publicity surrounding a case.
To explore another vein, de Blasio turned some 300 inmates loose just the other day. Now he’s surprised that after such a benevolent move, 40 of those inmates almost immediately went out and committed crimes which landed them back in the jail system. What I am thinking is that those freed inmates were turned out sans money and / or without checking if those people had someone on the outside to house and feed them. If it’s anything like here, the rescue missions and food lines are closed and the homeless are left to their own devices so what does a x-convict do in New York when there is no where to go and no other way to feed themselves other than rob someone? The halfway houses are closed, even if an employer would except an x-con, they aren’t hiring because they’re closed for business. Now, it’s a given that these aren’t normal times and mass releases from prison do not normally happen but it is a huge eye opener concerning how the prison system or rather, exiting the prison system can be a dangerous situation particularly if there is no real working program by which a man or woman can re-enter and be a productive member of society. A prison is a city within a city and by no means is it Mr. Roger’s neighborhood. Its citizens have adapted to a different set of rules and ways of doing things and eventually, will adopt that way of life as an integral part of what he or she knows to be normal. Without a REAL exit plan based on the individual’s ability to leave behind what he or she has adopted, many who leave the prison system will not be able to cope. And even if they can adapt to society’s rules, if there is no spring board to help them learn the finer points and given the ability to help themselves, they will still go back to prison.
I think a lot of people are doing a lot of time in prison because of political pressures to be tough on crime. The more of a sensation a crime makes in the news, the greater will be the pressure to pass long sentences that aren't always justified. Too much of the time, I think long prison terms are given as a feel-good measure for those who can rest assured that society is tough on crime.