Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site ttidcc.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!ihnp4!zehntel!hplabs!sdcrdcf!sdcsvax!dcdwest!ittvax!decvax!genrad!panda!talcott!harvard!seismo!cmcl2!philabs!ttidca!ttidcc!hollombe From: hollombe@ttidcc.UUCP (Jerry Hollombe) Newsgroups: net.women Subject: RE: Re: Strip Searches Message-ID: <201@ttidcc.UUCP> Date: Mon, 28-Jan-85 15:44:25 EST Article-I.D.: ttidcc.201 Posted: Mon Jan 28 15:44:25 1985 Date-Received: Sat, 2-Feb-85 14:57:34 EST Organization: TTI, Santa Monica, CA. Lines: 40 >From: mjc@cmu-cs-cad.ARPA (Monica Cellio) >Subject: Re: Strip Searches >Message-ID: <251@cmu-cs-cad.ARPA> > >Prisons exist for punishment, and I think it is actually stated in the law >somewhere (knowledgeable folks, correct me) that when it comes to civil >rights in prison, all bets are off. If there are female guards at the place >(no reason there shouldn't be...), some effort should be made to have them do >the searches. BUT I don't want MY tax dollars being spent to hire SPECIAL >guards just to perform these searches (and women shouldn't be given >preference in hiring just because of this). Prisons supposedly exist for rehabilitation (it's very hard to type that with a straight face). That's where the term "house of correction" comes from. In fact prisons today serve mainly to warehouse criminals and keep them off the streets for a while. The punishment part is an artifact of human nature in that particular situation. (Some very scary psychological studies exist on this phenomenon.) I don't see how having female prisoners stripped and humiliated by male guards is going to help rehabilitate anyone. Being stripped and humiliated by female guards isn't much better (I have that on testimony of a friend with first hand experience). Since no real rehabilitation is going on anyway, your tax dollars are being wasted no matter who they hire. Whether rehabilitation is possible with today's psychology is doubtful in most cases. On the other hand, even an empirical look at recidivism rates shows that punishment doesn't work either. I don't say that prisons should resemble resort hotels, but even a warehouse doesn't have to be brutalizing. Since the law requires the hiring of female guards anyway, I see nothing preventing them being assigned to appropriate locations and duties. -- ============================================================================== The Polymath (Jerry Hollombe) Citicorp TTI If thy CRT offend thee, pluck 3100 Ocean Park Blvd. it out and cast it from thee. Santa Monica, California 90405 (213) 450-9111, ext. 2483 {vortex,philabs}!ttidca!ttidcc!hollombe