The Gitmo Prisoners Have Gone Too Far
I represent prisoners in my job as a public defender. I sympathise with them. I try to get them their freedom. I engage them in conversation. I identify with them.
But . . . if a prisoner defies the gaurds, the prisoner has to sufer the consequences. If a prisoner throws urine on a guard, the prisoner must be punished. And the punishment must be immediate. If a prisoner tries to harm a guard, the punishment must be immediate and severe. If you are going to keep prisoners and keep them secure (for their own safety as well as that of the guards and the public), you can't let prisoners get away with some of the defiance that has gone on at Gitmo. If you do, the prisoners will break more and more rules and take more and more risks. Someone, perhaps a prisoner, will eventually get hurt. The rules are not just for the safety of the guards. And, even if the rules were just for guard safety, isn't that a good thing???
Frankly, this idea that there is prisoner abuse is absurd. Prisoners abuse themselves by defying guards. Guards are trained to use restrained, but they are human beings, too. It would be a fairly extraordinary human being who would be able to use restraint after having urine thrown on him.
Yet, the military is disciplining some of these guards who were clearly provoked. I fear that we are getting too soft. Some think that if we just show respect that we will change the minds of the prisoners at Gitmo and guards and prisoners can coexist peacefully. There are two things wrong with that. One, the prisoners at Gitmo would like to kill their guards and a lot more Americans if they could. Second, in any prison or detention facility, freedom is taken away. That automatically causes tension. People are hardwired to react with defiance when imprisoned.
What will we do with the terrorists? I do not know. But as long as they are imprisoned, the gaurds there must be given a free hand in the discipline of the prisoners. No torture. But the prisoners cannot be allowed to get away with punching or throwing urine at guards.
But . . . if a prisoner defies the gaurds, the prisoner has to sufer the consequences. If a prisoner throws urine on a guard, the prisoner must be punished. And the punishment must be immediate. If a prisoner tries to harm a guard, the punishment must be immediate and severe. If you are going to keep prisoners and keep them secure (for their own safety as well as that of the guards and the public), you can't let prisoners get away with some of the defiance that has gone on at Gitmo. If you do, the prisoners will break more and more rules and take more and more risks. Someone, perhaps a prisoner, will eventually get hurt. The rules are not just for the safety of the guards. And, even if the rules were just for guard safety, isn't that a good thing???
Frankly, this idea that there is prisoner abuse is absurd. Prisoners abuse themselves by defying guards. Guards are trained to use restrained, but they are human beings, too. It would be a fairly extraordinary human being who would be able to use restraint after having urine thrown on him.
Yet, the military is disciplining some of these guards who were clearly provoked. I fear that we are getting too soft. Some think that if we just show respect that we will change the minds of the prisoners at Gitmo and guards and prisoners can coexist peacefully. There are two things wrong with that. One, the prisoners at Gitmo would like to kill their guards and a lot more Americans if they could. Second, in any prison or detention facility, freedom is taken away. That automatically causes tension. People are hardwired to react with defiance when imprisoned.
What will we do with the terrorists? I do not know. But as long as they are imprisoned, the gaurds there must be given a free hand in the discipline of the prisoners. No torture. But the prisoners cannot be allowed to get away with punching or throwing urine at guards.
posted by Defender at 9:23 AM
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