Corrections
The “correction” system is less about rehabilitation and more about breaking the human spirit. If someone steps out of line all are punished. Sent to their “room” and locked up, losing privileges arbitrarily and most certainly without a true appreciation of what went into triggering that behavior. This is no longer high school; the consequences of that type of enforcement can be far more serious, and deadly.
This type of control propagates despots and engenders an atmosphere of fear, loathing, a fulminating atmosphere waiting to erupt. Inmates walk on eggshells, constantly on high alert. Fearing not only their fellow residents, until the culture can be fully understood; but also waiting for the guards to pounce and flex their power.
There’s no hearing or appeal process. There’s no Arbiter. There’s no sober second thought into what might have occurred. You are judged and convicted as guilty on the spot even if it were someone else’s misstep, but you were in the wrong place at the wrong time. I’m not saying that all guards are vindictive or intentionally cruel but with no hearing to hear or find out or discover the entire story. There is no recourse. You have no power. You are voiceless, you have no rights, you have no justice. Guards are Gods; they have all the power and all the control. “Absolute power corrupts absolutely”1
This style of punishment has been the preferred style of control for most of human history. “An eye for an eye”2 . Institutions in our country and in fact in most countries strip individuals who have broken the law of their humanity. It is made very clear who is in control. History has clearly shown that over time this kind of dehumanized behavior incubates the very behaviors it is trying to remediate.
This Us Against Them mentality teaches no lessons, builds no bridges. It is fuel for discrimination, justification for violence and misuse of power. In Health and Mental health research it is viewed as dangerously unhealthy behavior to be overcome3. This polarized atmosphere becomes dangerous and creates an environment waiting for a spark to ignite a battle. It breeds unhealthy loyalties. It is the psychology used to build loyal armies, political support, and loyal fans. It does not create cooperation, or insight into creating a better life.
We have stripped these individuals of their rights, placed them under a microscope, given a small army the authority to give or take away privileges and invade their privacy and/ or person at any time. We have told that army their service is noble. They are protecting the gentile from the savage. The “savage” are then perceived and treated as such. We take away their rights, their freedoms and consign them to stables and treat them as animals to be broken, because they are the savage and all savages come from the same place all savages just need a strong hand. We then expect the imprisoned to have an epiphany and recognize the fork in the road and choose a different path. Yet we fail to offer a map it is supposed to be instinctual.
We offer no opportunity to experience a different road, just methodical dehumanization, and a spirit crushing existence monitored and judged by a small army trained to believe they are a moral authority and the defenders of the righteous. “Because to take away a man’s freedom of choice, even his freedom to make the wrong choice, is to manipulate him as though he were a puppet and not a person.” 4
In any other circumstance this type of epiphany would be referred to as “Stockholm Syndrome”5
The rates of recidivism in Canada have remained consistent since 1955. As has been the style of punishment. There have certainly been minor tweaks and changes made over the last century, loosening here and tightening there. There has not been no ground breaking jaw dropping changes to the “Us vs Them” polarizing philosophy of crime and punishment.
- Lord Acton – Speaking again the monarchy to Bishop Creighton in a letter 1888. ↩︎
- Hammurabi’s Code, which was created by the Babylonian king Hammurabi between 1792–50 BCE. ↩︎
- https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/finding-new-home/201908/the-psychology-us-vs-them?msockid=063cde8eed6c6c6b0739cdb2ecd46d86 ↩︎
- Madeline L’Engle ↩︎
- a coping mechanism to a captive or abusive situation. People develop positive feelings toward their captors or abusers over time. This condition applies to situations including child abuse, coach-athlete abuse, relationship abuse and sex trafficking. ↩︎
Shouting into the Abyss 
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