The Philosophy of Punishment

In our supposedly free and civilized western countries, criminal offenses against the State are dealt with by means of incarceration. The idea behind this, apparently, is to create order by giving victims justice (so they don't have to resort to personal vengeance), and also to deter further offenses either by the original criminal or by society. But is this really the most just and cost effective way to create an orderly society?

When our "civil" society incarcerates people, the whole point is to separate them from society and rehabilitate them so that they can be fit to return to civilization. In theory, this doesn't sound too bad. In practice however, it results in the exact opposite of the original purpose (the State always seems to suffer this problem).

Firstly, most people don't accept arbitrary punishment as a means of determent. For example, we don't torture people for stealing to deter theft. This, of course, would lead to innocents and thieves alike being transformed into psychologically unstable people with a much greater chance of committing a (probably violent) crime. Certainly, we don't want to promote crimes as we try to defeat them.

But, this is effectively what happens with today's "justice" system. Not necessarily the torture (although one can find many cases of torture in prisons), but the government cages have become institutionalized criminal factories. Unless you join a gang in prison for the purpose of self-protection, you are liable to be targeted because you are weak. If you weren't a criminal before you went to prison, then you will certainly be one if you ever get out. On top of that, you are much more likely to become violent since you will have either been forced to commit violence yourself (as a decree from your gang), or will (as a result of not following gang rules) encounter violence acted upon you from someone else. And let's not forget the natural tendency of guards to abuse prisoners. Every so often I hear someone rejoice at the "raping" or mistreatment someone will receive in prison because that person is such a horrible criminal. But one doesn't have to be compassionate to understand that having institutionalized crime can only hurt society and lead to further crime and disorder. Of course, not everyone can be rehabilitated, but what point is there in promoting crime, or constant dehabilitation?

Just like Diego says in Blow, "You arrive here with a Bachelor of Marijuana, but you will leave with a Doctorate of Cocaine."

Of course, I would say that drug offenders shouldn't even be in jail in the first place. I won't get into the hoax called the War on Drugs a whole lot right now, but it does relate intimately to the problems of State incarceration. How? Some have argued that the internal jail environment is simply a reflection of gangs on the outside, and that this is unavoidable. This is where the War on Drugs becomes a topic of discussion. The "evil" inner city gangs that the police endlessly battle can only arise from the black market. Put another way, a necessary condition for the arising of gangs is the prohibition of drugs. Why? The gangs require funding if they are to continue existing and paying for their street wars, and this is only possible because black market prices are artificially high (you are essentially paying someone to take a big risk for you). By ending prohibition on drugs, gangs could not make enough money to survive. Drug users would either make their own stuff, or they wouldn't be forced to pay today's outrageous prices. As such, gangs would simply dissolve, more order would arise from inner cities, and we may actually see a recovery from their constant poverty and suffering. Furthermore, even though gangs arise unnaturally due to State intervention, they eventually create order through understood "territories", gang leadership, codes, etc. The police only have the effect of continually agitating this order by removing leadership (thus creating power struggles) and perpetuating violence through raids.

Fact: Today drugs are more widely available and cheaper than ever before.

So why do we continue fighting this War on Drugs if it achieves none of the stated objectives and only has adverse effects? Well, it does achieve objectives, but not the ones we are told about. This will have to wait for another post, however, because there is too much information. I'll give you a hint though: it has a lot to do with the drug and war lords who run this country, and also the medical-industrial complex.

Back to prisons though. So, if incarceration does nothing but produce more criminals, reinforce the inner city culture of violence, promote injustice, and cost taxpayers boatloads of money, then why do we have this system?

Firstly, understand that America has the highest prison population per capita in the world (and this does not include all of the CIA's secret prisons). That's right, the "land of the free" has a higher rate of incarceration than oppressive regimes like Iran, China, or North Korea. Since 1980, the US prison population has tripled, mostly thanks to the costly War on Drugs. But, as I claimed previously, if this just costs a lot of money and creates criminals, why do policy-makers continue these activities?

You guessed it, the correctional-industrial complex. Corporations like CCA (Corrections Corporation of America) lobby Washington for privatization of prisons. While I love private property, this cannot be good. The prisoner neither pays for his time in jail, nor chooses which jail to be housed in. Prisons are fundamentally involuntary, and so privatization (while it probably creates more cost effective prisons) only has the effect of giving corrections corporations incentive to see that the US prison population expands steadily (California alone has built around 20 prisons in the last 20 years, with 10 new ones under construction!). Also, there is the problem of using prisoners as labor (this is why they love non-violent drug offenders, they make for good slave labor). According to this article, 80,000 Americans in prison are being used by commercial enterprises for labor. All of these enterprises and private prisons, who are deeply connected with Washington policy-makers, love stricter laws, more sentencing, the War on Drugs, and the police state. What better way to exploit Americans than by criminalizing everything they do and forcing them into labor? And, the lucky citizens who don't get incarcerated are forced to foot the bill for this insanity.

So, next time you hear someone praise our prisons, remind them that these monstrosities perpetuate crime through dehabilitation, house innocent non-violent offenders, continually exploit citizens (both those incarcerated and those paying taxes), and ultimately represent our new militaristic attitude. Order in society can easily be had through natural law, and it would prevent all of the negative effects of prisons (since there is no reason for them to exist). At some point I will take the time to further elaborate on the benefits of a society with no prisons (and how this is possible), but for now exposing the corruption in our current system will suffice. And here is a little ending quote for you to munch on....

"The penalty for laughing in a courtroom is six months in jail; if it were not for this penalty, the jury would never hear the evidence." - H. L. Mencken