{"id":217890,"date":"2025-05-02T01:24:07","date_gmt":"2025-05-02T01:24:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/som2nypost.com\/alabama\/why-does-alabama-choose-cruelty\/"},"modified":"2025-05-02T01:24:07","modified_gmt":"2025-05-02T01:24:07","slug":"why-does-alabama-choose-cruelty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/som2nypost.com\/?p=217890","title":{"rendered":"Why does Alabama choose cruelty?"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Alabama\u2019s prisons aren\u2019t tough enough.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s the opinion of Rep. Chris Sells, a Republican who has introduced a bill that would allow Alabama\u2019s Department of Corrections to contract with foreign governments to house Alabama\u2019s incarcerated citizens in foreign prisons.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This is, of course, absurd on every possible front. Let\u2019s just start with the fact that it would be illegal. We could then move on to the utter insanity of anyone on this planet who didn\u2019t fall off a turnip truck last night believing that Alabama\u2019s prisons are \u201ctoo soft,\u201d as Sells told al.com.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But there\u2019s no need to argue the finer points of this, because Sells didn\u2019t do this for serious consideration or because he\u2019s a serious lawmaker looking to make a real difference in the state. He did it for attention, and because he watched Fox News a few times and saw the prison porn segments on El Salvador\u2019s mega prison and the idea of treating humans terribly as a form of corrections was appealing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Because 100 years of operating the absolute worst, most cruel prisons in America has apparently taught us absolutely nothing. Such as we can\u2019t cruel our way out of crime.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For the life of me, in this Christian-dominated state, I will never understand why so many people cling to cruelty and meanness as the most effective forms of punishment and corrections when everything we know says it isn\u2019t true. You\u2019d think such measures would be employed reluctantly and only because they\u2019re the ONLY things that work.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The opposite is true, though.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Our people seem to relish the thought of being cruel to criminals. We do it when there\u2019s no need for it. We turn a blind eye to it when we know it\u2019s happening.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And through it all, there\u2019s a better way. There always has been. It\u2019s been sitting right in front of us, year after year, for decades now. But we can\u2019t get the Fox News cameras to Norway, apparently.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Or maybe it\u2019s that there aren\u2019t many cool photo ops for politicians to stand in front of miserable non-white prisoners in Norway.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Instead, Norway has adopted a system of incarceration that makes rehabilitation a priority. The system focuses on education and reducing recidivism, with a goal of turning incarcerated people into contributing members of society who never return to prison.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

They accomplish this by removing the stigma of incarceration through an open-prison system, and through educational and work training programs. They keep prisoners as part of society, allowing their rights to mostly remain intact, including the right to vote.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The difference is easy to see. Alabama\u2019s recidivism rate (the percentage of released prisoners who return to prison within two years) is around 30 percent.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Norway\u2019s is less than 20 percent.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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If you actually stop and think about it, remove the machismo from it all and consider the basic facts, you know that Norway\u2019s approach is what\u2019s best for everyone. What other goal should we hold besides rehabilitation?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But that\u2019s not the way we think. And if you doubt this, you needed only to tune into Wednesday\u2019s hearing of the House Judiciary Committee, where members were considering a bill that would overhaul the Alabama Pardons and Paroles Board.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The bill is sponsored by Republican Sen. Clyde Chambliss, who isn\u2019t exactly known for his liberal ways. It would expand the board from three to five members and allow board members to vote on the chairman of the board (instead of allowing the governor to choose the chair).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Between the lines, though, the bill seeks to address a number of lingering issues that have plagued the the parole board \u2013 but primarily the fact that it wasn\u2019t paroling very many people. A couple of years ago, it paroled just 8 percent of eligible prisoners.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Those numbers have improved, but the board is still falling well short of meeting even its guidelines for paroles.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Experts, family members of those incarcerated and those who are incarcerated have spoken repeatedly about the chilling effect that those failures have had on inmates in Alabama\u2019s prisons attempting to use the programs available to better themselves. After all, why learn a skill or break a drug habit if you\u2019re going to be locked away in a hellish prison with no hope of parole, even if you should be out?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Chambliss\u2019s bill made it out of the committee, 8-7, despite opposition from the Alabama AG\u2019s office. A spokesperson for that office argued that there just weren\u2019t very many people in the state\u2019s prisons who deserved parole. A fine argument if not for the fact that the parameters established for parole by the Pardons and Paroles Board actually indicated that around 80 percent of those denied parole qualified under those parameters.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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But again, we chose cruelty. We chose meanness.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Even when doing so runs afoul of the law. Even when we know it doesn\u2019t work.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Why is that? <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alabama\u2019s prisons aren\u2019t tough enough.\u00a0 That\u2019s the opinion of Rep. Chris Sells, a Republican who has introduced a bill that would allow Alabama\u2019s Department of Corrections to contract with foreign governments to house Alabama\u2019s incarcerated citizens in foreign prisons.\u00a0 This is, of course, absurd on every possible front. Let\u2019s just start with the fact that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":217891,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11763],"tags":[12750,27335,3036,5796,58449,16799,50978,25169],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-217890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alabama","tag-alabama","tag-alabama-department-of-corrections","tag-choose","tag-cruelty","tag-el-salvador","tag-maga","tag-rep-chris-sells","tag-republicans"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy does Alabama choose cruelty? - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/som2nypost.com\/?p=217890\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why does Alabama choose cruelty? - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Alabama\u2019s prisons aren\u2019t tough enough.\u00a0 That\u2019s the opinion of Rep. Chris Sells, a Republican who has introduced a bill that would allow Alabama\u2019s Department of Corrections to contract with foreign governments to house Alabama\u2019s incarcerated citizens in foreign prisons.\u00a0 This is, of course, absurd on every possible front. 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