The conclusion that must be drawn is that the very concept of “imprisonment” needs to be reconsidered. This well known experiment suggests that the institution of imprisonment itself bears the roots of the high crime and violence rate in prison. The Stanford Prison experiment 7 demonstrated that there is a high violence potential in everybody, regardless of whether or for what reason one is convicted and whether one is a prisoner or a prison officer. However, violence in prisons is a problem that should be addressed other than by merely robbing the inmates of their consciousness. He claims that “our warehouse prisons are animal factories” that are “affirmatively dehumanizing and brutal.” 6 He spends a considerable amount of space in his article describing the repugnant and violent conditions of American warehouse prisons, with frequent torture and rape, high rates of suicide, and even killings committed or initiated not only by prisoners but even by prison guards. Oleson wants to solve two major problems of modern prisons, violence and high operational expenses.
The prison as an institution of punishment was thus born. Second, the object of punishment shifted from the individual’s life and body to his 5 property and personal liberty. Two changes characterize modern penology: first, the public nature of punishment was replaced by secret and private executions. It not only served as a general deterrent but demonstrated the power of the state. 4 The kind of corporal punishment was supposed to reflect the crime and its cruelty. Later, when the state claimed the monopoly over violence, individual body punishment was introduced, mainly in cruel public executions and mutilations. The offender or his clan had to compensate for the damage and, in more serious cases, revenge was sought in feuds. In Europe until late medieval times, crime used to be a private matter, which was solved in a civil law case. Although prisons can be found early in most civilizations, they were usually used only to keep the accused in custody until trial. The idea of imprisonment as punishment is quite modern. Therefore, I hold it necessary to give a thorough account of various moral, legal and social objections to the replacement of conventional prisons with the permanent state of an artificial coma. Second, the public might find his proposal very tempting because it promises to make prisons much safer and especially much cheaper. First, I think Oleson’s proposal is such an indication of the degradation and dehumanization of prisoners that it should not be published without any reaction from a criminal lawyer. However, I consider it very important to respond to this unusual suggestion for the following reasons.
Many people would argue that the proposal to comatose prisoners is such an unacceptable idea that it is not worth dealing with.
Oleson claims that “the punitive coma is an enlightened form of punishment, as it is more efficient and compassionate than the legitimized methods of punishment currently in use.” 3 He argues that this form of punishment neither violates prisoners’ constitutional rights nor the Eighth Amendment prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment and outweighs any other moral threshold. Moreover it would be virtually impossible for the inmates to commit any crime against the other inmates or the correction officers. He argues that suspending a prisoner’s consciousness would make it possible to pack each one into a limited space with a minimum level of staff and thus a minimum of costs. Indeed, he advocates putting prisoners into a narcotic coma for the duration of their sentences.Īfter presenting his idea of punitive coma, the author then outlines the technical possibilities of placing a person into an induced coma, describing precisely the technical and medical requirements as well as the potential risks and the ways to reduce them. Nothing more.” 2 The author nevertheless proposes a system that goes further than this in his suggested facility, efficient storing would be made perfect.
Like its medieval predecessors, the modern warehouse prison is built to contain society’s unwanted souls. Oleson proclaims: “The warehouse prison doesn’t incapacitate prisoners from committing further offences it merely insulates them from the respectable taxpaying public. Oleson presents a radical solution to the burning issue of overcrowded, violent and expensive prisons in the United States.