Text 16937, 119 rader
Skriven 2006-01-03 12:15:00 av TIM RICHARDSON (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av ALAN HESS
Ärende: Bootlicker special
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On 01-02-06, ALAN HESS said to TIM RICHARDSON:

TR> Not only was he executed for murdering several people.....the
TR> gang he started are responsiple for hundreds of deaths over the years.


TR> The governor refused to pardon him at the last moment, and the
TR> execution took place on schedule.


TR> There was a funeral and celebration of his life that would equal
TR> that of a person of governor or ambassador rank!


TR> And the celebrities! Gang members. Motivational speakers. The
TR> `revrund' Jesse Jackson spoke out strongly against the execution
TR> (what else) and called Williams `a healer'.


AH>Despite his apparent reformation in prison, Williams earned his execution.


I am not what you'd call *pro-death penalty*, so much as I am of the opinion
that, until something better comes along, the death penalty will do.


AH>But it isn't just the left that goes to bat for convicted murderers on
AH>death row who "changed" behind bars (though they may do so more often) -
AH>the religious right has been known to do the same.


I would go to bat for a societal doctrine that included `equality for all',
and the elimination of povery altogether.


We aren't talking about a complete ban on firearms, etc; all the tired old
things that have mostly been shown not to work, in fact only make the problems
worse.


What we need is a society where `all boats float at a decent level of life'.

Where nobody has to live in public housing, or rent housing. But can own their
own house and property.


And not some `government give-away' either. People who want to `have' should
be expected to work and be self-supporting, their children expected to attend
school regularly, pay attention to the teachers, and strive to excell.


The highest goals someone should have are the ones they set for themselves.
That isn't always the case, but it starts in the home, with two functional
parents, good parental examples, good role models.


Those who choose to be lay-abouts, taking their existence from government
handouts and not working for their own keep, should be made to do community
service work for their money and food.


Those who take up a firearm and try to rob for their gain, should be able to
know that, at any given time they are among citizens who are carrying guns
themselves, and they are quite liable to be shot for their trouble. Maybe even
killed.


New, modern prisons should be of the type used to handle wild animals, like
large, dangerous cats. Doors open and close, lights come on or go off, each
animal is housed in their individual `cage'. The cells should be ten or twelve
feet square, to allow moving around room...the beds comfortable....TV screens
behind unbreakable transparent plastic windows, etc. The closest the staff
ever actually come to an inmate is a TV monitor or `gunwalk' in front of the
individual cellblock tiers. The only physical contact staff have with an
inmate is at the recieving end when they are first strip searched, for medical
purposes, and paroled.


Other than that, an inmate comes into physical contact with nobody, their
entire sentence. Inmates do not co-mingle, do not use gym or weightlifting
equipment, play no sports, are in fact, never out of their cells except for
medical emergencies. They eat, sleep, shower, read, write, watch TV, exercise
by walking up and down the ten or twelve foot cell, or doing pushups, etc.


Meals are served by a staff of trustees, three times a day, by placing a tray
of food on the floor in front of the cell door and sliding it under to the
inmate. The inmate eats, and when finished, pushes the tray back out the same
way.


I think that after about the first ten or twenty years of such a system, the
idea of the life behind bars would have been brought to a focus where it began
to have a strong impact on crime.


AH>Karla Faye Tucker was
AH>one example, again one who wound up executed (by our current President
AH>when he was governor of Texas.)


In the end, she herself seemed to agree with the fairness of her sentence.




TR> They even sold t-shirts with Williams' photo on it (I wonder if
TR> it was a photo from one of his mug shots).


AH>And profits did not go to his victims' families.  *adh*


Of course not........Jesse Jackson would have scoffed at the very idea!


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