Catholic Prison System?

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WonderAndAwe

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While ideally imprisonment should cease entirely, there are cases where it has some level of necessity, be it keeping remorseless psychopaths away from the rest of us or a safe institutional setting for healthy rehabilitation of wrongdoers.

So using Catholic social teachings on dignity and life and such, what do you suppose a Catholic Prison System would be like? Obviously the Chair would be a thing of the past, but what else would there be?
 
It might be like this.
More like rehab than prison.
Of course, some people can’t be rehabilitated at this stage in our civilization. But IMO the church has no business making prisons, only in reaching out to the people incarcerated in them.
 
WonderAndAwe said:
While ideally imprisonment should cease entirely, there are cases where it has some level of necessity, be it keeping remorseless psychopaths away from the rest of us or a safe institutional setting for healthy rehabilitation of wrongdoers.

So using Catholic social teachings on dignity and life and such, what do you suppose a Catholic Prison System would be like? Obviously the Chair would be a thing of the past, but what else would there be?
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Actually, there has been a Catholic Prison System already. The Papal States had prisons, the most famous being within the precincts of Castel Sant’Angelo adjacent to the Vatican in Rome. Catholic social teachings on dignity of life and such don’t seem to have produced any kind of ideal handling of prisoners. 😉
 
Kaninchen said:
Actually, there has been a Catholic Prison System already. The Papal States had prisons, the most famous being within the precincts of Castel Sant’Angelo adjacent to the Vatican in Rome. Catholic social teachings on dignity of life and such don’t seem to have produced any kind of ideal handling of prisoners. 😉
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Even worse, the Papal States operated a guillotine until 1861.

While it is impossible to operate a civil society without punishing crime, one could argue that neither is the mission of the Church (and, indeed, the Papal States are no more).

Apart from the PS, IIRC, the Holy Inquisition also operated prisons in several of the European countries.

ICXC NIKA.
 
Giovanni Bugatti was the last papal executioner, serving until 1865 - in case you end up on Jeopardy.
 
WonderAndAwe said:
While ideally imprisonment should cease entirely, there are cases where it has some level of necessity, be it keeping remorseless psychopaths away from the rest of us or a safe institutional setting for healthy rehabilitation of wrongdoers.

So using Catholic social teachings on dignity and life and such, what do you suppose a Catholic Prison System would be like? Obviously the Chair would be a thing of the past, but what else would there be?
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The primary purpose of prison is to punish the offender and to ensure justice. I don’t think the Church should be in the business of delivering punishment for offenses against civil laws. The best approach would be for the Church to be more involved in the rehabilitation and reintegration of former prisoners after they have served their time.
 
Corki said:
The primary purpose of prison is to punish the offender and to ensure justice. I don’t think the Church should be in the business of delivering punishment for offenses against civil laws. The best approach would be for the Church to be more involved in the rehabilitation and reintegration of former prisoners after they have served their time.
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I’m curious less about “the Church doing the punishing” and more about “what if prisons followed standards in line with Catholic Social Teaching.”
 
WonderAndAwe said:
While ideally imprisonment should cease entirely, there are cases where it has some level of necessity, be it keeping remorseless psychopaths away from the rest of us or a safe institutional setting for healthy rehabilitation of wrongdoers.

So using Catholic social teachings on dignity and life and such, what do you suppose a Catholic Prison System would be like? Obviously the Chair would be a thing of the past, but what else would there be?
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The Chair as in the authority of Peter. Your utopian Catholic Prison would require the Chair.

On a serious note… a position that imprisonment should cease entirely confuses me. How could that be an ideal?
 
decatholic said:
The Chair as in the authority of Peter. Your utopian Catholic Prison would require the Chair.

On a serious note… a position that imprisonment should cease entirely confuses me. How could that be an ideal?
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I’m referring to the Electric Chair, not the Holy See.

It is ideal because that would mean The Most High has returned to rule His Kingdom forever.
 
WonderAndAwe said:
I’m referring to the Electric Chair, not the Holy See.

It is ideal because that would mean The Most High has returned to rule His Kingdom forever.
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I hadn’t considered that ideal that far in the future. But even there, a prison exists- HELL
 
decatholic said:
I hadn’t considered that ideal that far in the future. But even there, a prison exists- HELL
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Well, an eternal prison would exist, but my initial question was about what temporal prisons would be like if they followed Catholic social teachings in the respect of life, basic human dignity and the Corporal Work of Mercy “Visit the Imprisoned.”
 
WonderAndAwe said:
Well, an eternal prison would exist, but my initial question was about what temporal prisons would be like if they followed Catholic social teachings in the respect of life, basic human dignity and the Corporal Work of Mercy “Visit the Imprisoned.”
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So it is temporal or eternal? I always consider your argument and ideal as temporal. And I hope it is evident my “chair” post was a play on words.

I don’t believe the ideally we won’t need prisons. We live in a world where prisons exist. We live in a world that has laws. If you change laws and make as an example murder legal than the ideal of no prison is much more likely. I’m not in favor of changing laws and therefore will continue to visit. If ideally there were no prisons, then we could not practice the works of mercy.
So what would you have in the ideal- no prisons therefore no chance for the works of mercy or something else?
Thanks.
 
decatholic said:
So it is temporal or eternal? I always consider your argument and ideal as temporal. And I hope it is evident my “chair” post was a play on words.

I don’t believe the ideally we won’t need prisons. We live in a world where prisons exist. We live in a world that has laws. If you change laws and make as an example murder legal than the ideal of no prison is much more likely. I’m not in favor of changing laws and therefore will continue to visit. If ideally there were no prisons, then we could not practice the works of mercy.
So what would you have in the ideal- no prisons therefore no chance for the works of mercy or something else?
Thanks.
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I suppoesed there was a play on words, but I wanted to clarify just in case. 😉

The ideal is no temporal man-made prisons because Jesus would have returned to rule His Kingdom. Hell would still exist, but its existence in this proposal is irrelevant because it is eternal and not entirely man-made (Hell is self-imposed state that can be experienced by either Demons or Humans, hence the “not entirely”).
Since Christ will come again and rule the Kingdom of Heaven and Earth, the need for human prisons would cease as Christ would handle all wrongdoings perfectly and justly and the nature of His Kingdom makes it a perfect world free of evil so there wouldn’t be any crimes to commit, judge and sentence and the Final Judgement would already have happened.

A temporal man-made prison in the now (say, one where construction starts next week) that followed Catholic social teaching would permit visitations, it would ban executions, and it would not deprive inmates of their dignity and basic human rights such as to nourishment and sunlight. But what else would it be like? What would the average Joe Criminal be imprisoned for robbing the Piggly Wiggly? How would you imprison those beyond human means of rehabilitation (like criminals that have absolutely no remorse for their actions due to a clinical mental condition or something and who could only be fixed through Divine Intervention. Obviously you’d pray for and over them, maybe an exorcism, but since they still pose a threat to everyone else, how would they be held in a moral and just way that does not go against Chrich teachings in regard to Life and Human Dignity and any other teachings I’m not aware of)?
 
:dancing::clapping:I like the idea. One should or could be able to request a certain prison for ones safety. Many prisons I hear kill, torture, and have many gays probably trying to rape new prison mates. Hopefully in this ideal prison they won’t have guards that turn their heads away when violence occurs in the jail.
GREAT IDEA. Try pushing this idea to UCCB. I like this new idea and prospect for the innocent and those who are truly wanting to repent from their sins.🙂
 
I picture a cloistered monastery with lock-down cells. There would be no need for television, commissary or outside contact.
 
Prisons are called “pentitentiaries” for a reason. Protecting society and rehabilitation are important aspects, but so is retribution and expiation/penance/satisfaction for one’s crimes. Ideally, a prison system would incorporate all of these aspects.
 
On the plus side, the guards could play “Gather Us In” when its time for the prisoners to come in from the yard, and “Table Of Plenty” at chow time. 😃
 
pnewton said:
I picture a cloistered monastery with lock-down cells. There would be no need for television, commissary or outside contact.
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Seems a little harsh but if you cut down the jail time then it may be worth it…then again throw in a gym and that will make it better:D
 
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