Personally, and among my mates, I have not seen someone who has gone to prison before. But I do know of a man in my area, in fact, not far from where I stay, who has gone to prison despite the fact that he is a family man. Should I say he is a political thug under this current administration that works for all these politicians? Though he was imprisoned by another administration, when the current administration came in, he was set free, and he was even sent to one of these pilgrimage journeys in Mecca.
Should I say this man might have been calculating prison time against potential gain that year he was doing those things? I am not sure because tget always believe that they are covered and untouchable, and he eventually crossed the line that got him sent to prison.
Though I was a bit younger when we moved to that area and when I heard the story, I thought about it for a while. Because the argument for punishment assumes something that wasn't present in that moment. It assumes a clear head sitting quietly and running calculations. If I set my hands on this, this might likely happen. So I will never engage in that. And that is exactly what a rational and logical person would definitely do under a sane and fixed condition. Because from what I have seen, most evil acts or crimes will never happen assuming the condition is stable.
The act of dissuasion will definitely take effect on some people who have made up their minds never to commit the crime, no matter what. Those who have a work they are doing, those who have families and people they care about, people who have reputation or something big to lose.
For some who have those things I mentioned and have built something of value to an extent, hearing the sound of prison alone is a terrifying thought. But to someone who has nothing to leave for again, someone who doesn't care about anything again, someone whose life totality has failed him, this feels like another confinement, and hearing the sound of imprisonment won't have much effect on them than any lawmaker imagines.
I believe that the majority of people always know the consequences of their actions, and this is one thing I have observed over the years. Everyone knows what they are doing. They can obviously tell you what will happen to them if they are likely caught in action. And yes, they have the knowledge, not that it doesn't exist. But one crucial thing I feel is missing is this internal arithmetic that makes that knowledge they have matter. That is why that arithmetic is developed from things outside the law's control. Stability, dignity, privileges, and that task that makes me have that notion to always safekeep my future.
What prison always does to the body after the fact is that it punishes the body. It does almost nothing about the conditions that made the decision feel reasonable in the first place.
Most people who go to prison will eventually continue with what they were doing, but in a more cleaver way and that man I talked about still sometimes does what he was arrested for but due to old age, he has limited it but none is surprised anyways because most prisons are just to punish and not to correct. Some people even gain more knowledge on how to expand what they are doing inside prison and when they are out, they become worse.
Thank you for reading.
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