Stay Woke Saturday: Are Prisons Actually Useful?
You might think that for our first Stay Woke Saturday, I would go all out and attack the police and the government, but surprisingly, I'm not!
Today we aren't discussing the implementors, we're discussing what's being implemented and that's the prison system.
Where do I start? Do I talk about how the idea of prisons is beyond inhumane? How prisons are present in our daily life without us noticing?
Let's start with the basics; the dictionary definition of "prison":
prison nounpris·on | \ ˈpri-zᵊn \Definition of prison (Entry 1 of 2)1: a state of confinement or captivity2: a place of confinement especially for lawbreakersspecifically: an institution (such as one under state jurisdiction) for confinement of persons convicted of serious crimes— compare JAIL
Now, let's focus on the word "confine" and what it means:
confine verbcon·fine | \ kən-ˈfīn \confined; confiningDefinition of confine (Entry 2 of 2)intransitive verbarchaic: BORDERtransitive verb1a: to hold within a locationDikes confined the floodwaters.b: IMPRISON
To confine is to keep someone in one place - in this context jail - for a specified period of time - in this context time that is measured by the severity of their actions. Prisons are used in this way as a way of, not only punishment but also, coercion.
Yes, coercion! Punishment should be something one learns from to correct their mistakes, but coercion is when punishment is too scary that one simply avoids doing the mistake in the first place. You might think that this might sound good if you were training your dog or cat perhaps, but when you think about it.... anyone would consider it inhumane to confine your pet as a punishment, yet we do that to humans.
Which brings us to our next point, normalising prisons as a punishment for lawbreakers has normalised confinement of children to some parents and teachers as a way of punishment and coercion, too! Living in Egypt, I have heard a lot of stories as a kid about how my friends' parents would lock them up in their room just doing nothing or even to "think about what they did wrong," alone in there, and let's not forget the infamous "odet el feran" (the rats' room) which some schools use as some sort of punishment/coercion for their feral student, and it was basically locking them up in dark rooms alone. All of this and more stemmed from the idea of prisons.
I'm not saying that we should abolish all prisons, that's not it at all. In fact, I do believe that prisons are a necessity and that some people do deserve confinement, even solitary in some cases. But, these are really rare cases where the lawbreaker poses a threat to the society, like those charged with first-degree homicide, serial killers and rapists, people who have committed crimes that are dangerous to those around them
However, criminals with crimes such as theft, harassment, bullying and whatnot should not go to prison; they should go to rehabilitation centres! Places where - sure, they are locked up at, but - they can learn about what they did wrong, learn about how to make it right, learn about how to be better and actually think about what they did wrong in a space that encourages growth!
I understand that most prions offer libraries, gyms, jobs, a social life and more, but prisons should also offer therapy session and human resources lectures about how to become a functioning member of the society that has a positive impact.
That being said, let's encourage the idea of implementing rehabilitation centres in prisons and offer those who did wrong a chance to better themselves and in return help us all.