How a person can return to a cell without committing a new crime Day 3 of 43 in The Punishment Machine Most people assume that prison is the punishment for committing a crime. Paperwork sounds harmless. That is part of its charm. A form has never looked particularly threatening sitting on a desk. It looks…
Category: Series: The Punishment Machine
The Sentence After the Sentence
Prison may end. Punishment often does not. Day 2 of 43 in The Punishment Machine A courtroom sentence sounds definite. A release date is a wonderfully tidy thing. Human life is not. The date can mark the end of a cell while saying very little about how much government follows a person home. The judge…
The Punishment Machine: A Six-Week Series
What happens when punishment stops being a sentence and becomes a permanent system? Day 1 of 43 in The Punishment Machine Most people understand punishment as something visible. A judge announces a sentence. A prison door closes. Time passes. Eventually, perhaps, that door opens again. We are taught to believe that this is where punishment…
