Must We?

Today there was a Facebook story about the Super Max prisons and the pending law suit against their harsh treatment of those that worked their way there by moving down the ladder with bad behavior.  Let me start with the fact that I am more for justice than mercy and I lean towards the side of do the crime, do the time.

With that said, do we really need to have so many of our population in prison?   If we do, what is the problem that makes us that way.  Do we over promise and under deliver to our population?  Do we make the going so hard that the disenfranchised feel it is easier to make a living through crime?  Surely this is one of the major problems that I think our Government needs to look at near the top of the priority list.

One of the things that concerns me is the word rehabilitation.  Do we owe it to the prisoners and ourselves to spend money on those that are incarcerated for not obeying the laws the rest of us live by?  I would hope that there are ways to let them self educate so that rehabilitation starts where there is hope of it being real and that's inside the prisoners not some external force.

I read that the only true way to change behavior is through a Significant Emotional Experience (SEE).  Ask the Navy Seals if they had a change of attitude when they went through their training.  I can tell you that through the Officer Candidate School system of 26 weeks at Fort Sill's home for cannon cockers we all had some major changes made to our attitude.  I for one would probably go crazy if I was isolated from everyone and the few exchange of words.  I could survive if I was given enough to read, but without that, I would probably shrivel up and blow away.

How would I start to change the world and this problem?  I for one would help decide what it is we incarcerate people for and see if there isn't a way we can make money off it.  I hate that there are people that drink, smoke and do minor drugs to avoid the reality of life.  I for one self medicated my stress and it took a lot of work to realize that it was really easier to face the stress and stop drinking.  I consider myself a drunk, a sober drunk, but I am not an alcoholic because I don't attend those meetings.  I really understand the mentality that if one beer is good, a dozen is better.  Kind of the same thing with food.  If one burger is good, why not a dozen sliders with cheese and bacon.

I guess there is no perfect system anywhere.  One thing I do want is for the government to start understanding the why of the things they do and not just compound the problems by passing new laws to save us.   I think the laws of Unintended Consequence got us to the place we are.  If a little tax is good, a lot of tax is better.  If we start taxing more, we should have programs to start giving it back to the people.  Wrong direction in my mind.

Whatever happens, the last place I want people to see redress of their concerns is out in the streets like Baltimore.  I'll bet that less than 15 % of them voted in the last election and yet they yell that the Current Government doesn't reflect their attitudes and ideals. 

MUD