question does with the Abu Ghraib Prison Scandal?
If you agree that the nature of the prison, rather than the personalities of the prison guards, was at least partially responsibility for the cruelty inflicted on the prisoners, how could the prisons be restructured to reduce the likelihood that future abuse will occur?
Notice what happened in respect to what happened elsewhere, even in the same prison before we Americans took over. We used passive humiliation. Others actively induce pain.
I spoke with a legislative representative years ago after another prision scandal (in an American prison) took place. I suggested that everyone be kept in solitary confinement (picturing the individual cells of one of the Alcatraz movies) for their mutual protection. He insisted that such a scheme would be "cruel and unusual punishment".
No matter how you take bad and dangerous people out of public circulation, for crimes real or imaginary, there will be opportunities for abuse or dangers. The guards are in peril from the inmates, the inmates in peril from the guards, the inmates in peril from inmates.
There is no way that humans can keep other humans, and have all the rest of humanity happy about it at all times. Human nature is such that prisoners will always try to menace guards and guards will always find moments where they want to "teach lessons" of subjugation to prisoners.
After the Americans began their occupation, there were accounts of buried prison cells, one filled with children from politically problematic parents that Saddam’s regime were keeping to control the adults. Another was film of Saddam’s people rolling bound prisoners off of building roof tops "to soften them up" for further interrogation of aggressive natures. The humiliation in Abu Ghraib was nothing compared to what Saddam’s sons did for kicks when they picked up girls or punished athletes for losing a game. We are essentially ignoring a playground beating while focusing on a kid who gave a wedgie to the kid in front of him on the lunchroom line.
I assume this is in relation to Zimbardo’s experiments? I guess they have to be accountable for their actions. It’s hard to strike a balance between giving guards authority and still having them treat prisoners with humanity. If there were a definitive answer then it would already be in practice. If you have prisoners see guards as human then the more aggressive or deviant prisoners are likely to take advantage of this. I think that counselling for guards and fairly extensive probing into previous experiences of power and authority are important in the recruitment process. If some guard has been bullied and forced into submission throughout their lives then I imagine the control would most likely go to their heads and they would be more likely to be cruel.
References :
Notice what happened in respect to what happened elsewhere, even in the same prison before we Americans took over. We used passive humiliation. Others actively induce pain.
I spoke with a legislative representative years ago after another prision scandal (in an American prison) took place. I suggested that everyone be kept in solitary confinement (picturing the individual cells of one of the Alcatraz movies) for their mutual protection. He insisted that such a scheme would be "cruel and unusual punishment".
No matter how you take bad and dangerous people out of public circulation, for crimes real or imaginary, there will be opportunities for abuse or dangers. The guards are in peril from the inmates, the inmates in peril from the guards, the inmates in peril from inmates.
There is no way that humans can keep other humans, and have all the rest of humanity happy about it at all times. Human nature is such that prisoners will always try to menace guards and guards will always find moments where they want to "teach lessons" of subjugation to prisoners.
After the Americans began their occupation, there were accounts of buried prison cells, one filled with children from politically problematic parents that Saddam’s regime were keeping to control the adults. Another was film of Saddam’s people rolling bound prisoners off of building roof tops "to soften them up" for further interrogation of aggressive natures. The humiliation in Abu Ghraib was nothing compared to what Saddam’s sons did for kicks when they picked up girls or punished athletes for losing a game. We are essentially ignoring a playground beating while focusing on a kid who gave a wedgie to the kid in front of him on the lunchroom line.
References :