No Need For Screws
Sunday, May 22, 2005
I read last week that a judge sentenced someone to jail for as long as they live. A scary thought. In the direction of playing God. Cancelling a life. Not quite as utterly as capital punishment, I suppose.
Now assuming there are some incorrigible murderers, rapists and heavy drug-pushers who will never reform, and assuming that an absolute life-sentence is justified, I think something needs to be said about the character of the imprisonment.
In these cases, we have abandoned all talk of rehabilitation, correction, retribution. We have put someone entirely out of the game, out of society. All hope is abandoned. Therefore it follows that we have no moral justification for imposing extra hardships such as involuntary solitary confinement, vexatious cellmates, denial of normal food, exercise, books, work opportunities, visits or the common mass media of the day.
We are playing God enough without turning the screw any further.
Philip O'Carroll