Posted by Kevin Bates on November 29, 2005, 7:46 pm, in reply to "Re: Van Nguyen - I wonder What we all think!" It is true too that many are locked away in prison who should be allowed to re-establish life in other ways. It's too easy to lock them up and throw awya the key - again a sign of a culture in need of transformation. Here at home we have a long way to before we "get it right" if you like - I supose that will always be the case. I know a man in another State who is a prison officer, and my sense from him when he speaks aobut his work, is that he treats the inmates with considerable respectg - and he works in a maximum security facility. While there is undoubtedly profound dehumanisation in all our gaols, there are some opporutnities for re-integration when inmates choose to take that path. --Previous Message--
Good on you Caty - nice to hear from you. You make good sense about the deprivations of people in prison. I don't know about Asian prisons but have done bits of owrk over the years here in ur prisons in Sydney and generally they are tough places, but places where the prisoner sare treated with a degree of humanity and respect. It's a respect they have to earn in the context of the prison system it seems from what I've observed, and if they earn that respect then they are treated well.
: I totally agree with you, Kevin. However,
: since the alternative to capital punishment
: is usually to lock people away for a long
: time - maybe for most or even all of their
: lives - I think we also need to be concerned
: about what sort of a "life" they
: will be left with when a death sentence is
: commuted. From what we hear, it seems that
: conditions in Asian prisons are pretty
: horrible, and of course foreigners have the
: added agony of being far from family and
: friends.
:
: Even in Australia, from what I've heard and
: read, prisons are overcrowded, violent
: places where people are treated as if they
: are barely human. I don't know about
: elsewhere, but here in South Australia the
: current public mood seems to be one of
: "lock 'em up and throw away the
: key"- and of course politicians are
: only too eager to jump on the band wagon!
: When a person who committed a serious crime
: (e.g., sexual crimes or causing death by
: dangerous driving) receives a gaol term of
: say, three or four years, there's invariably
: a public outcry that this is too lenient.
: Well, of course, this may not normally be a
: big slab out of anyone's life, but it is an
: awfully long time to be deprived of almost
: everything that makes life worthwhile for
: most people!
:
: Of course, from a moral
: perspective,imprisonment under any
: conditions is preferable to the death
: penalty. However, let's not forget that no
: matter what some-one has done, they are
: still a beloved child of God, and they still
: deserve a chance at repentance. As Jesus
: showed us, you can best bring people to
: repentance by letting them experience God's
: love and mercy, not by treating them as if
: they were less than human!
:
: --Previous Message--
: Today New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark
: had the courage and the compassion to
: confront Singapore's Prime Minister on the
: issue of Van Nguyen's upcoming execution.
: Our own Government has been wringing its
: hands in an impotent kind of impersonation
: of Uriah Heap as it claims that we can do
: nothing.
:
: This is the same mob whose leader only two
: years' ago suggested that we might have a
: discussion on the possibility of
: reintroducing Captial Punishment in
: Australia!
:
: Drug trafficking is of course an awful crime
: and deserves to be punished accordingly.
: Nothing however is worth the deliberate
: taking of another person's life. The trauma
: experienced by the witnesses to the hanging
: of Ronald Ryan in Melbourne's Pentridge Gaol
: in 1967, and the enduring damage done to the
: families of at least one of the judges
: involved in that case, attest to the fact
: that it is not just the excecuted person and
: his or her family who suffer.
:
: The whole of society is demeaned by such
: barbarism, and the existence of a death
: penalty is surely evidence of a society that
: is yet to mature to the point where it can
: deal with serious crime with justice and
: with real wisdom.
:
: Eighty countries, and thirty five U.S.
: States still employ the death penalty, with
: Singapore having the highest per capita rate
: of executions each year.
:
: I pray that we can do better and that our
: leaders can somehow grasp the enormity of
: their mealy-mouthed excuses for not doing
: more to save the life of Van Nguyen.
:
:
:
:
:
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