Going to jail for, say, second degree murder, or another form of homicide, can be very traumatic. If one is not in the right mental state when they are brought to the prison, it can scar them and never leave them capable of getting proper help, especially when they stay there for a longer period of time, and especially if they ever leave incarceration. They most certainly have trauma when cruel and unusual torture methods are used against them.

As the Oxford dictionary states, “torture is when somebody in an official capacity inflicts severe mental or physical pain or suffering on somebody else for a specific purpose.” Sometimes authorities torture a person to extract a confession for a crime, or to get information from them. Sometimes they do it as a form of punishment, and not to receive anything but the pain of the other person.

According to the U.S. Center for Constitutional Rights, the U.S. imprisons more people than any other country in the world. Many endure cruel and unusual punishments. I believe that this constitution goes out in many ways, as it says “-in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice,” which in many ways does not live up to the current state of our country. Both politically, which I will not get into, but as well as the criminal justice system.

The U.S. Center for Constitutional Rights also states that “They [current U.S. prisoners] suffer beatings, rape, prolonged solitary confinement, meager food rations, and [are] frequently-denied medical care.” This behavior is inhumane and should never happen to anyone, especially if they are undergoing false sentencing, and are not truly responsible for manslaughter or any other crime of which they were accused of. Rape is especially so. Human Rights Watch, in 2001,  estimated that 4.3 million inmates had been raped while incarcerated in the United States. This is a very high number, especially when it shouldn’t be happening at all.

As it states on ccrjustice.org, in 2007, Dr. William Noel investigated medical conditions at Ely State Prison and found the most disturbing things he had seen in 35 years of his practice. He wrote about his findings in a document, and focused on a diabetic patient, Patrick Cavanaugh, who rejected all medications over time due to paranoia and probable dementia. He was taken off insulin for years and suffered without any assistance for that time. The neglect Cavanaugh faced was only one of the many cases that have happened in prisons since then.

Some people believe that torture should be used in prisons because it teaches the incarcerated a “lesson”. I believe that this is incorrect. They are still human beings, and torturing them is inhumane, and not to mention dehumanizing. There are many peaceful ways to teach an inmate to behave properly, that don’t involve violence and torture. I don’t know how guards can live with themselves after they’ve done this to another human being. 

In women’s prisons- and men’s as well, although most commonly females, prison rape is a huge problem. May it be from other inmates, or guards, it is still rape and the person responsible should be held accountable for their actions towards the person they violated. Public awareness regarding prison rape is a slightly recent thing, even though it has been happening for centuries. Rape regarding inmates should be dealt with in a reasonable manner and the person should be held accountable, Just because you have more authority to the victim, it does not justify rape or sexual assault of any kind.

Corporal punishment, usually used for minors but not always, is a very divided opinion in which discipline involving pain is used against the person who disobeyed. This is used a lot in prisons, but usually in a more severe form, such as beatings. Mostly every prisoner endures this form of punishment, and a lot of people think it is justified, and corporal punishments should be continued to be used in jails. I disagree. Like I had said earlier, it is dehumanizing and unfair.

Things you can do to stop torture in jails is as follows:

Spread the word! Put your view on the internet and share it to raise more awareness about the subject!

Overall, I believe that unusual and cruel punishments could definitely be taken away from the criminal justice system. There are many ways that you can teach an incarnated person without torture.