Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Why the old, brutal and controversial prisons should be closed

The next in line is Camp 1391 which was built by British to imprison Jews and Lebanese. It now serves Israeli interests and is known more as Israel’s Guantanamo. Detainees, mostly from Palestine and Lebanon, are imprisoned in small cells with walls painted black or red with one small ventilator and a light. And then there's the Black Beach of Guinea. It is said that incarcerating someone in Black Beach is like ‘a slow but gradual death sentence’. Prisoner torturing through beating, burning, limited food rationing make life as good as hell for detainees. The Vladimir Central Prison in Russia too can be safely called the Gitmo of Russia. There, in normal circumstances six captives are locked in one cell and are often subjected to violent torture by guards and suffer from deadly diseases like HIV, tuberculosis and malaria.

Closing litigious Guantanamo prison is a good start but not enough. Punishing and imprisoning criminals is very important and relevant but prisons all across are losing their credibility on ground of justice, fairness and basic facilities to be served to any human on any situation. But shutting them down would not guarantee the eradication of crime from the world. Thus it isn't about closing prisons but about making efforts to make them look similar to earth and not hell. This change would serve mankind more while keeping crime at bay. Let's not the hatred of civilised world be the reason for giving birth to a new breed of terrorists.....Continue