This is the real rape epidemic we ought to be concerned about, but about which almost no-one gives a shit, making light of it, instead. (HT: Ray Sawhill)
The Justice Department now seems to be saying that prison rape accounted for the majority of all rapes committed in the US in 2008, likely making the United States the first country in the history of the world to count more rapes for men than for women.
Our society does not suffer from insufficiently kind treatment of criminals. At best, a whole lot of other problems will have to be fixed before this one even registers on my scale.
Are all criminals equally loathsome? Are all offenses equally heinous, such that we shouldn’t give a hoot about those incarcerated?
(Of course, a lot of the prison population could be shrunk if certain laws were changed, laws which make commerce in certain goods and services illegal. That would remove the incentive, by removing the profit margins, for criminal gang control of such commerce; no-one worries about criminal control of alcohol, since the end of Prohibition, for example. But I digress…)
I agree, BTW, that as far as official policies, criminals are not treated unkindly, as regards the many perks they have, and so on. But these coincide with lack of supervision, and opportunities for them to take advantage of each other, smuggle drugs in, etc. Those are all problems, and we shouldn’t laugh, as many do, at the predicament of those prisoners who end up becoming ‘bitches’ of other prisoners. As a Christian, I am interested in justice for all, even the unlikeable. (BTW, from the other end, why should certain prisoners get to ‘make’ other prisoners their ‘bitches’? Shouldn’t they be denied the opportunity and ability to do so, with greater supervision, less time alone, etc.?)
Of course, the easiest solution is the costliest; everyone in solitary cells… But if there were a general crime reduction policy by changing absurd laws, in place, then with less prisoners, solitude for everyone – which isn’t a punishment; I should think prisoners put in solitary must welcome it – could be a workable option, IMO.