TalkLeft - Pining for Vietnam
With Vietnam circa 1968 being in the news so much lately; TalkLeft picks up on a current policy within Vietnamese prisons.
Can you imagine if every U.S.Independence Day we released all the rehabilitated prisoners--- if our Government put humane considerations above the economic benefits of the prison machinery?
Vietnam has released nearly 9,000 prisoners, including 10 inmates whose cases it says had drawn international attention, as part of traditional pardons granted ahead of independence celebrations on September 2.
What they miss is the obvious, America already has a system like this. It's called Parole. Each year, thousands of convicts are released from prison on this system. In fact, there are so many of them released every year, it can't be celebrated only on our Independence Day, but year round. Every day some downtrodden prisoner is given another chance through this revolutional system.
TalkLeft (one of the blogs I read daily) really misses the point on this issue...
#1. This is Vietnam. A communist country which according to Amnesty International still jails political prisoners regularly.
#2. Records in Vietnamese prisons are shoddy at best, conditions are deplorable. Comparing the Vietnamese prison system to the US system is like comparing a dead parrot to a LearJet.
If Vietnam really wanted to promote rehabilitation, they would release prisoners throughout the year and not on a politically conveinient day. And the NY Times would cover this for what it is, a PR Fluff story for the government of Vietnam.
Comments
There has been no parole in the federal system since 1987 when the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines were enacted. All federal prisoners do 85% of their sentences. Life sentences mean life--you come out in a box.
Posted by: Talkleft | August 30, 2004 2:44 PM
And where do most sentences come from? The feds? Nope, it's in State Court. While I agree there should be a parole system in the Federal Prison System, to compare it to the "enlightened" approach in Vietnam is absurd. Honestly, would you rather be in a Vietnam prison instead of a US one?
Posted by: Brian | August 30, 2004 3:02 PM