Attention whore-ing to a whole new level

[ZZoMBiE13]

Prisons, at least in the US, may be full of thieves, murderers, whatever. But there's an unwritten "Don't fuck with little kids" taboo. It's not uncommon at all for criminals who committed a child related crime to end up beaten, shived, or straight up murdered in jail.

You can investigate the prison all you like, you're not going to find the perp. And what would you do if you did? Put them in jail harder? These are not nice people to begin with and many of them are serving life sentences without possibility of parole. They really have nothing to lose so they figure if they can rid the world of a child abusing offender, why not?

Giving these people their own blocks would be a good start. Don't put them in with the others. Just keep them in smaller prison communities comprised of people who committed similar offenses. It may sound silly to say this, but prison should be a safe place. Inmates are under the care and protection of the wardens and guards, so if they're harmed, something isn't being done right and action must be taken. Prisons are fucked up places as it is, without it being even worse.

I personally, don't think this woman should be sent to prison, but I do consider it inevitable. So..

I appreciate your compassionate view on the matter.

Being a parent though, I don't know if I share it. I'd like to always take the high road and hope we could help the offenders to rehabilitate, but there's also that outraged dad part of me that says they gave up their right to be safe and comfy when they hurt that child. Hurting another adult is bad enough, but a child is still growing, learning, and becoming. And damaging that should be given heavier weight when considering punishment.

Mental health issue or not, they did do the crime and were convicted and sentenced and likely appealed and eventually incarcerated. The offender could have sought help, the offender didn't have to give in to compulsions, and they likely had years to work it out before they took that first step toward hurting that child. And I'd say they had more opportunity to change the outcome that the victim ever did.

Not saying they deserve to get shived with a sharpened toothbrush handle or anything. But I don't know that increased spending to insure their safety is going to ever be on anyone's priority list given the severity of their crimes. And again, not saying it's right. Just that it happens and stopping it would be a difficult proposition. Prison populations can be huge. And no matter how many big burly guards you have on staff, no prison can have one to one guard/prisoner ratio.

 

[BathorysGraveland2]

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Well, I myself aim to never allow emotion to cloud my judgement and reason. I can understand why a parent would feel outraged at such a case, but it's important to retain composure. It's why I dislike the notions of "justice" or revenge. It makes it too personal and emotional, and that only leads to mistakes and consequences.

At any rate, the tone of this discussion is turning this woman and what she did irrelevant, and moving onto something much larger in scale: we do not have control of our prisons. If inmates can affect the fates and livelihoods of fellow inmates, then the guards and wardens do not truly run the place. Not completely. And that is the heart of the issue. How it could be resolved? I don't know, but I do know it's a problem, and people should not be getting shivved or bashed in prisons. Obviously, changing the idea of who gets sent to prison or not is one step in this. People who commit serial traffic offences, or are caught in possession of drugs. Such people probably do not belong in prison, yet they are among the large populations. Take them out, give them more fitting sentences, and you now have room to work with for the people who are in prison. The people who commit crimes that have victims. You free up that space, and you can have blocks strictly for sex-related criminals. You can have blocks strictly for child-related offenders. In America, and I know this is a huge thing in your country, you can even have blocks designated for specific gangs so that there aren't rival gang members intermingling.

These are just ideas, of course, and I'm not sure how effective they would be. But I am passionate in the belief that something must be done. Despite what someone's emotions are regarding the crimes committed, these people are not animals to be caged up and abused. They are not monsters, no matter how often that word is thrown around. They are human beings. Horrible? Some can be, yes. But they still must be cared for, and adequately at that.

 

[ZZoMBiE13]

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Snip Hard 2: Snip Harder

Well what you're describing is "checks and balances" to a degree. Most prisoners don't just go directly to jail like a Monopoly token. There are 3 strike laws, rehab programs, community service programs, probation, and a host of other things to keep one-time offenders out of these kinds of places.

But in a society, sometimes there are habitual rule-breakers who constantly put others at risk with their behavior. I'm all for a compassionate view on the matter, but not at the expense of those who haven't broken the rules. Not at the expense of those who are innocent of any crime but would be their victims. That's not emotional revenge, that's just pattern recognition.

And again, I'm not saying what we have is perfect. Not even saying any of it is right. But humans are emotional beings. We are not Vulcans who operate from a place of pure logic and reason. And sometimes things have a way of happening no matter how hard you try to prevent them. Be it a child molester getting shived or a child getting poisoned by someone who should be protecting them rather than victimizing them. To borrow a line from MovieBob; "we don't live in a perfect world, we live in the real world... a shitty world".

I know I sound apathetic and I truly don't mean to. While you're right about something needing to be done, I don't know that there are really any easy answers. And certainly not regarding this situation where it starts at a place of total wrongness with a poor child suffering at the hands of a person clearly in need of some form of mental health support. But that's the crux of the matter isn't it. Since you can't identify it externally until it happens, you're always in a reactionary state with this kind of thing. And reactionary is always a place of weakness rather than a place of power to prevent. It's a scary situation any way you slice it.

 

[Headsprouter]

To her mother, that girl seems to be nothing but a means to an end. I hope she pulls through. Some cancer patients disregard chemotherapy because it's so awful that they'd rather live their final hours without it. It's terrible that somebody went through this without any need. I hope her daughter realises that she can never fully trust this woman again.

 

[darkcalling]

that assumes she gets out of prison alive in the first place
they will never give her custody back

Well I should certainly hope she does get out alive. If any harm happens to her inside, that prison needs some serious investigation.

How can you be so sure? I'm quite ignorant on the subject, but is there no way for her to undergo mental tests or et cetera in the future that could possibly lead to her being able to see her child again?

As far as getting out alive I don't know how things work in Brisbane (or in women's prisons in general really) but my dad worked as a prison guard for several years and he conformed to me at least one thing that you see a lot in movies. People that harm or exploit children in some way DO NOT have an easy time of things. Even considering that they're in prison. Most try to claim a different crime. Those that get found out often are tormented and beaten among other things.

The guards do their best to keep order but the simple truth is that they are vastly outnumbered by the inmates.