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Prisons | | | Cages | |
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< | During my third year at Cornell, a string of suicides occurred on campus; notably, the kids jumped off bridges. The last suicide that took place before the administration decided it needed to erect fences across all the bridges, was of an acquaintance of mine. In hindsight, there were many signs, despite his very tight group of friends, his stellar grades, the job he had lined up, his very sweet girlfriend. One night a few of us were drinking together, and he burnt each of his knuckles with a cigarette. Since Matt, no students have jumped into the gorges; and three years later, the fences are now removed, replaced with heat-detecting nets under the bridges. The student body has successfully finished its time in prison, and is now only on probation. | >
> | During my third year at Cornell, a string of sensationalized suicides occurred on campus; notably, the kids jumped off bridges. The last suicide that took place before the administration decided it needed to erect fences across all the bridges, was of an acquaintance of mine. In hindsight, there were many signs, despite his very tight group of friends, his stellar grades, the job he had lined up, his very sweet girlfriend. One night a few of us were drinking together, and he burnt each of his knuckles with a cigarette. Since Matt, no students have jumped into the gorges; and three years later, the fences are now removed, replaced with heat-detecting nets under the bridges. The student body has successfully finished its time in prison, and is now only on probation. | | | | |
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< | Matt's actions brought about the first time I contemplated the multiplicity of our person. This young man who appeared to have everything going for him literally threw it all away. The people close to him knew about his struggle with depression and that he had even attempted to kill himself before. But he was so scared of what would happen to him if he asked for help, that he'd be locked up, or anesthetized. He felt there was no safety net, and so he didn't look for safety, even though I'm sure there were conflicting forces within him that yearned for help. His friends didn't think he would ever reach that point, and couldn't look through the facade of unity to see that there was one part of him that could reach that point, which tragically took over that one afternoon. If only the idea of oneness seen as a given, and instead a position we reach through deep study and acknowledgement of the many. | >
> | Matt's actions brought about the first time I contemplated the multiplicity of our person. This young man who appeared to have everything going for him literally threw it all away. The people close to him knew about his struggle with depression and that he had even attempted to kill himself before. But he was so scared of what would happen to him if he asked for help, that he'd be locked up, or anesthetized. He felt there was no safety net, and so he didn't look for safety, even though I'm sure there were conflicting forces within him that yearned for help. His friends didn't think he would ever reach that point, and couldn't look through the facade of unity to see that there were parts of him that could reach that point, which tragically took over that one afternoon. If only the idea of oneness wasn't viewed as a given, and instead understood as the position we reach through deep study and acknowledgement of the many. | | | | |
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< | The criminal justice system puts people inside cages, rather than spending more energy and money on preventing the need for the cages, fences, in the first place. Like suicide, there is a fearful perplexity surrounding the causes of some of our worst crimes, from rape to murder. Watching a documentary about Jeffrey Dahmer recently left
The school has made efforts to improve its mental health facilities. This is a small representation of how society deals with society's most difficult and seemingly impenetrable problems. Throwing them inside a cage instead of dealing with the source. Throw a kid into prison for possessing marijuana, taking away his opportunity for education, for livelihood, for freedom; for harming nobody, except possibly themselves. If the point is to prevent the kid from being harmed, then throwing him into jail sure as hell isn't going to help that goal. | >
> | The criminal justice system puts people inside cages, rather than spending more energy and money on preventing the need for the cages, fences, in the first place. Like with suicide, there is a fearful perplexity which surrounds some of the worst human crimes, from rape to murder. We want to understand, we want to know what causes people to act in ways most people cannot imagine. We need to figure out what causes the seemingly normal Dzhokhar Tsarnaevs of the world to commit nightmarish, unforeseeable acts, presumably so we can pick up on the signs, the behavior, and prevent the worst. When we can't understand the behavior, or logically connect the dots, we are left frightened and disconcerted. Instead of picking apart the plurality of the person, analyzing the many parts to understand why one part won over the rest to control the body's actions, we see the person as a one dimensional actor. Because we cannot understand, we banish them.
What comes of my realization? I can use the knowledge for my own betterment, to improve myself, my relationships, and my work. But what about the larger picture?And what if sometimes the understanding doesn't matter? Watching a documentary about Jeffrey Dahmer recently left me with a sick feeling of confusion. For a while, I have believed in rehabilitation over punishment. Watching this man's story, of seduction, brutal murder, and consumption of his prey, followed by his time in prison repenting and turning to spirituality, made me question how much rehabilitation can really accomplish. How do we understand what creates the monster? Why should we care if he is rehabilitated; how can we ever take the risk of setting him free? | | |
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