[lbo-talk] Close the Prisons Re: Irish priests beat, raped children

[Itamar Shtull-Trauring]

> At 09:21 PM 5/21/2009, Sheldon wrote:
>
>>However, nobody who advocates "abolishing prisons" seems to come up
>>with a good answer to what to do with the truly violent predatory
>>personalities that do indeed exist out there.
>
>
> I think that's because they consider this a false dilemma.
>
> Angela Davis and Christian Parenti are two of the best and most
> knowledgeable critics of what's going on with prisons in the
> U.S.  They both say what we need is to focus on better and more just
> ways to deal with the millions, or many thousands if you want to
> quibble, who are caught up in the criminal justice system and who are
> not violent and predatory.

A random article I read by Parenti certainly convinced me of that. Beyond
the horrendous conditions and abuse, the *really* scary stuff was the
explanations of how the local economy has come to rely on the prison, e.g.
local juries that rule on felonies for existing prisoners in the prison
for minor infractions. Which means longer-staying prisoners, and therefore
more jobs for locals as prison guards.

But I still don't think "abolish the prisons" is a good slogan for an
attempt to fix the system.