Justin Carter Reportedly Beaten Behind Bars: A Reminder that Imprisonment is a Serious Thing

As noted at Reason 24/7, Justin Carter (who you might recall from earlier blogging by me is is behind bars for making obviously absurd "threats" in the context of Facebook gaming) is being reported by his dad to have "concussions, black eyes, moved four times…for his own protection."

This is worth contemplating and thinking more about: being behind bars in America is a goddamn serious thing with goddamn serious consequences, and it's horrible to be used as a quick general interest problem-solving tool. Especially so for victimless crimes for which one has not even yet been found guilty with a crazy-coocoo $500,000 bail.

Modern penology sucks, and is by no means modern or progressive. A decent case can be made that the stockades were a more sensible and humane crime-punishing method.