I originally posted this to someone in another echo. Then I
 decided to cross post it as it might be of interest to others,
 and it might get more commentary and analysis.

 Submitted for your commentary:

 These are excerpts are from a recent article I read in a
 newspaper I picked up in Ann Arbor Michigan. Ann Arbor is a big
 University town, the U of Mich is there, and Eastern Michigan is
 just outside town, so you can find interesting newspapers and
 articles. I know pretty much nothing of the author of this
 particular article though, I had never heard of him before this.

 The focus was on some crime I had never heard of. The author
 mentioned the event, but with so little info I can only deduce
 it was some white collar crime. There was also a mention of a
 lawyer going to prison, but not really clear enough to even tell
 if it was involved with the same crime. His point was the
 uselessness of prison, not a particular crime or criminal. And
 most of it has to do with common crime, not white collar,
 thought that is mentioned several times.

 He started by saying he family of the victim...no idea what kind
 of victimization... felt it was more about lawyers scoring
 points than about justice.

 And he went on how the defense attorneys pleaded that there
 would be no point in the accused going to prison as they were
 otherwise decent people who were no threat to society. Now I
 don't even know how old they were, boys or old men for all I can
 tell.

 He gets to his main point where he starts off with,

 **************************************************************************

 "This is undobtably true. But, if we are concerned about the
 sheer pointlessness of jailing certain individuals, it raises
 another question: Why are we wending *anyone* to jail?"

 **************************************************************************

 I am using the * where he used italics.

 Skipping down from there...

 **************************************************************************
 " It will be ardued that the like of him must be jailed because
 that's what happens to members of the underclass. And I take
 that point, but I would counter it by asking why we are jailing
 so many members of the underclass."

 "Let's face it, most of them are 'inside' simply for leading a
 normal underclass lifestyol. Jail is just part of that lifestyle
 from an early age."..." It's natural, it's not something anyone
 thinks about, it's just the done thingn."

 "But it still is a phenomenally stupid way to be running our
 affairs. In many other areas of life we have gradually phased
 out osome of the exceptionally stupid things our forefathers
 used to do. But jail remains almost magnificent in its complete
 and utter stupidity. "
...

 "Unfortunately, for most of it's occupants, jail is just a form
 of career development, a refresher course in which one can learn
 new criminal skills, and make new contacts. It is in many ways
 more agreeable than life outside, with the regular meals, the
 freedom from all responsibility, and the almost unlimited supply
 of drugs."

 " In fact, there is almost nothing on earth that is more stupid
 than sending so many people to jail, in the certain knowledge
 that they will come out worse than they went in. And somehow we
 know how incredibly stupid it is, yet we persist with it, and,
 in fact can be heard calling for more people to be sent to jail,
 for 'white-collar' offences."

 ...

 **************************************************************************

 Then it gets into the some criminal I never heard of, but who
 appears to be a significanlty bad actor. He then goes into some
 ideas of alternative sentencing, including retirement and
 nursing home work. I happen to have serious doubts about putting
 old people into the care of criminals. However, that does not
 affect his main points.

 From there he goes into some more less interesting points, and
 closes with:


 **************************************************************************
  "I look as always to Mr. Johnny Cash, who in the song San
  Quentin was right about jail, and remains right: 'May all the
  world forget you ever stood...and may all the world regret you
  did no good.'"
 **************************************************************************

BOB KLAHN bob.klahn{at}sev.org   http://home.toltbbs.com/bobklahn


BOB KLAHN bob.klahn{at}sev.org   http://home.toltbbs.com/bobklahn

... Our ancestors lived in ages of iron and steel,we live in the age of sand.
--- Via Silver Xpress V4.5/P [Reg]