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Sin Against the Future describes just that: imprisonment
is a sin against the future. After reading this book
I realised that we can gauge our development and progress
as a race by the way we deal with our transgressors
against the mores of our society, whichever society
we live in.
The book is broadly divided into three sections:
-
the
states of incarceration around the world
-
how
individual countries/communities deal with incarceration
and
-
what
can be done for the future.
Whereas Ifound graphic depictions of prison life uncomfortable
to read, Ithink what affected me most were the revelations
of the attitudes of the private sector getting a toehold
in the incarceration scene as a business.
Veering away from personal feelings (and this is hard,
particularly as Iam writing this while waiting in
Liverpool District Court for my son's sentence to
be pronounced) A Sin Against the Future is a concise
portrait of prison systems, people's attitudes and
possible solutions. It is not an easy read, not because
of syntax, but because of content.
Through reading this book Ihave been truly educated,
educated in the issues underlying incarceration. Iuse
the word `incarceration' to supplant all the euphemisms
for imprisonment.
Firstly, we must understand that `men come to prison
AS a punishment, not FOR punishment'
(Sir Alexander Peterson in the 1920s). `It
should AIM to be rehabilitative, although this in
itself is not a justification for sending people there.
People should never be sent to prison in the expectation
that they will `learn a trade', be `cured of addiction'
or be `taken care of'.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was developed
in 1948 as a result of and in response to the Holocaust.
This book emphasises how two very significant, quite
disparate factors have brought about change:
A Sin Against the Future outlines the poverty factor
in increasing prison figures. And money which could
be spent combating poverty is being spent on punishment.
A self-perpetuating cycle.
Getting back to the Private Sector: if one is in the
business of imprisonment then it is in the interests
of business to increase and prolong the stay. And
we have: `The real enthusiasm for privatisation seems
to be Australia.' Two private prisons in Queensland,
one in NSW, and the state of Victoria has the highest
proportion of private prisons of any jurisdiction
in the world. In 1997 Victoria was set to have 45%
of its prisoners in private prisons. In actual fact,
according to Canadian prison reformers `prisons always
should be in the business of putting themselves out
of business.'
A Sin Against the Future is a tour de force of prison
systems, pros and cons of imprisonments, the advantageous
involvement of community interest and community groups,
and the need for change. Change in public perceptions:
peoples' perceptions change with possession of the
facts/history. Polls are inaccurate reflections of
how people feel because extremes can be affected by
how much background is presented along with the questionnaires.
In conclusion, this book makes it clear that general
imprisonment is a flawed system and discretion and
progress must be applied to our perceptions of incarcerible
misdemeanours and crimes.
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