Re:The Norwegian prison where inmates are treated like people
by rfrey on Tuesday September 17, 2013 @10:30PM
(#6403071)
I think what JackFR is saying you don't believe, is the thing you said "many" people believe, that people are in prison because of an essential quality of badness. Obviously you think it's a widespread belief, JackFR is saying he doesn't hold it, and apparently you don't either, so who are the 'many'?
Just look at how the word "thug" is carefully used in rhetoric. The implication is that someone is a criminal simply for being who they are, not because of any particular infraction. Further implied is that people who are "thugs" deserve whatever "punishment" they end up getting, regardless of guilt or even whether they were accused of a crime. The Trayvon Martin controversy brought quite a bit of this to the surface for all to see.
You can find plenty of instances where there was resistance to letting an innocent person out of prison, start by Googling "innocence project".