2 PARAGRAPHS 4 LIBERTY: 227 "HOW WE TREAT OUR PRISONERS"

Between 10 p.m. and midnight Pacific time last July 4, I was interviewed by George Noory on his “Coast to Coast” national radio program about the criminal justice system.  During the interview, we discussed the failed policy of Drug Prohibition; the inappropriateness of people having to have money to make bail pending trial if other reasonable alternatives are available; Community Courts for the homeless, veterans, drug addicted and more.  Thereafter, I received through my website of www.JudgeJimGray.com letters from four inmates incarcerated in various places around the country.  Three of those letters argued that they had been falsely convicted, and one of those I forwarded to the FBI for possible investigation because the letter purportedly enclosed a sworn declaration from the principal witness against him that recanted that testimony.  But I also responded to three of the four asking if they would agree to help me write a magazine article about what life in prison is like.  Why?  Because I think we all should know.  And if their treatment is inhumane, or below certain standards of decency, health, nutrition and safety, we should, as citizens of our great country, work to improve those conditions. 

Of course, prisons should not be “country clubs,” but even if that were to be the case for low-risk prisoners, they would all still fully realize that they have been deprived of their liberty.  Of course, now many people are focusing hard upon the recent jail death of Jeffrey Epstein, and if there was foul play, we certainly want it exposed and those involved held responsible.  But to me, it doesn’t matter if we have “Bill Cosby” in our custody or “Jack the Ripper,” reasonable efforts should be made to keep all people in our custody safe and at a reasonable standard of health.  In fact, I still haven’t gotten over the brutal killing of James “Whitey” Bulger, who was an 89-year-old gangster from Boston who was killed within hours of being released into the general prison population in a West Virginia federal prison well known for being one of the most violent prisons in the country.  Bulger was bludgeoned to death with a sock that contained a metal padlock – or, as is said in prison, “He died of natural causes.”  Fyodor Dostoyevsky once famously said that "you can judge a society by how well it treats its prisoners.”  So how will we be judged?  Join me in helping that judgment to come out as being humane.  (And I will send you a copy of our article once it has been published.)

Great name for a yacht: “Seas the Day!”  

Judge Jim Gray (Ret.)

2012 Libertarian candidate for Vice President, along with

Governor Gary Johnson as the candidate for President

Please listen to our weekly radio show entitled “All Rise! The Libertarian Way with Judge Jim Gray” as we discuss timely issues, and show how they will be addressed more beneficially by employing Libertarian values and approaches.  You can hear it every Friday morning at 7 Pacific/10 Eastern by going to www.VoiceAmerica.com, clicking on the Variety Channel and then upon the word “live.”  You can also hear past shows on demand as well.  And, by the way, these 2 Paragraph columns are now on Facebook and LinkedIn at judgejimgray, Twitter at judgejamesgray, and wordpress at judgejimgray.wordpress.com.  Please visit these sites for past editions, and do your part to spread the word about the importance of Liberty.

2 PARAGRAPHS 4 LIBERTY: #222 "RESTORATIVE JUSTICE"

                Yes, lots of bad things are happening in the world, and we seem to be hit in the face constantly with that reality in our media and elsewhere.  But there are also lots of good things that are happening, and this edition will discuss one of those, which is the movement called Restorative Justice.  The fundamental basis for this approach is to bring the victim(s) of an offense and the perpetrator together, face to face, in a meeting monitored by a therapist.  The emphasis is basically to show the offender what effect the incident had upon the victim(s), on the one hand, and to explore the concept of forgiveness by the victims, on the other.  The intent is both to humanize the act in the eyes of the offender and to begin an important healing process for the victim(s).  And we are seeing success a great amount of the time in both of those areas.

                The idea of the criminal justice system is not to punish the offender, but is instead to reduce crime.  A big example of this is in the area of domestic violence.  If the batterer (mostly but not always a man) is forced to focus upon the position of the victim, as well as the physical and emotional trauma he has inflicted, statistics show that he is not nearly as likely to re-offend.  In addition, the healing and self-esteem process often get a jumpstart with the victims, which enables them more fully to get on with their lives.  But, all importantly, the victim is consulted by the court at time of the sentencing of the offender and, if leniency is being considered, this almost always requires the consent of the victim(s).  Happily, the approach has also been found to work well with burglaries and even assaults and batteries.  (But it doesn’t seem to work with tax offenses. . . .)  The lesson?  Like in many other aspects of life, humanizing the interactions among different parties can go a long way toward reducing friction and harm, and increasing empathy.  So progress is being made in the criminal justice system, and I thought you should know. 

Quote for the week:  “Between stimulus and response there is a space.  In that space is our power to choose our response.  In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”  Viktor E. Frankl

Judge Jim Gray (Ret.)

2012 Libertarian candidate for Vice President, along with

Governor Gary Johnson as the candidate for President

Please listen to our weekly radio show entitled “All Rise!  The Libertarian Way with Judge Jim Gray” as we discuss these and other timely issues, and show how they will be addressed more beneficially by employing Libertarian values and approaches.  

You can hear it every Friday morning at 7 Pacific/10 Eastern by going to www.VoiceAmerica.com, clicking on the Variety Channel and then upon the word “live.”  

You can also hear past shows as well.  And, by the way, these 2 Paragraph columns are now on Facebook and LinkedIn at judgejimgray, Twitter at judgejamesgray, and wordpress at judgejimgray.wordpress.com.  Please visit these sites for past editions, and do your part to spread the word about the importance of Liberty.