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

[Sheldon]

On Fri, May 22, 2009 at 12:47 PM, Dennis Claxton
<ddclaxton at earthlink.net> wrote:
> 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.
>
> The simple answer to what to do with violent predatory personalities is keep
> them locked up.  In fact, if we did what Davis and Parenti suggest, then
> more investigative and preventive resources could be focused on them.

Dennis,
So am I to take what you say above and what Angela Davis is quoted
saying below to mean"  Let abolish the prisons, except for those who
are the truly violent and predatory?

As Davis say:
>>I want us to think about the possibility of getting rid of the prison
>>as the major institution of social control in this society.\\\\\

With the implicit and unstated caveat that this doesn't apply to those
who have committed very violent offensas?  Well in that case, lets
abolish the prisons!  ;)