I have ever read the news of judgement in China for many times; however, “Could Bo Xilai be housed in China's 'luxury' prison?”(2013, BBC News) is the most remarkable article because it demonstrates the another perspective of neutrality in this country.
The sentence of former shining star politician, Bo Xilai who was charged in corruption, embezzlement and abuse of power, is on processing and he probably will be imprisoned in Qincheng prison where political and official prisoners are immured. For ordinary prisoners, ‘Scary and depressing’ is definition of Qincheng; nevertheless, the meaning of this prison is different for high-level party official prisoners who are treated better than ordinary inmates because they receive better conditions such as enjoying luxury meals, wearing their own clothes, and having more leisure.
I trust the standard of judgement in China because I heard the sentential news for many times in the past and many cases are the sentence of abusive politicians so I was surprising when I read this article. I think that it is good to treat prisoners in the appropriate ways. They should have a clean room, enough food, and leisure. However, it seems strange that the prisoners who were in high-raking party before they were imprisoned can enjoy meals from luxury restaurant or wear clothes which their families give them in stead of a prison uniform. Moreover, they can watch TV for long time and spend a time in the prison grounds by themselves without custodian for six times a week. I think is not good to have double standard for the prisoners because they are all broke a law. Although, some people argue that they have the different mistakes so they should also be treated in the different way. I do not agree with them because I think the judge sentence on each prisoner mistake. Therefore, I think prisoners got the sentences that depend on their mistake. This is the season why should not have double standard in the prison.
In addition, I think double standard is a bad thing not only in the prison case, but for almost case also. You can consider many examples of double standard case in this country and you will realize that it is so disgusting. It causes a lot of problem in Thailand when the government and official use double standard idea for manage the country. They treat and give a lot of budget to the area where they got the deputy and leave the people in other area. The people who are rich or related with the official can escape from the sentence when they violent while the other that do the same violence were arrested. This is the cause of the weakness in law because people believe that when you have a lot of money and strong relation with the official you can do everything you want thought it is illegal.
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I agree with both of Oor's thoughtful comments in his response: that prisoners should all be treated decently whilst in prison, when the state that put them there must accept responsibility for their welfare, and that all prisoners should be treated the same way. I can't think of any good reason why famous prisoners should get special treatment, nor should they be allowed to buy special treatment such as luxury meals and the like.
ReplyDeleteIf the law does such unjust things, how can people respect it?
It reminds me of cases like the recent one of the Red Bull heir, where is looks like the court judges let the man who killed a policeman escape by easily granting bail, while poor people who commit a very minor crime like stealing something worth very little, or even "crimes" that are not even wrong like having a few drugs in their pocket are locked up in awful conditions with no hope of bail. If the judges are making such decisions, it looks like the law is unjust and immoral, so why should it be respected?
Oor is right. These double standards are wrong, and I think reflect a sickness in society.
I do not agree that every prisoner should be treated in the same way because they commit different crimes. If they do really bad thing, they deserve to receive something very bad but if their fault is not that bad, it might be fair for them to get something better than the worse one. For the corrupted politicians, I think they deserve the worst sentence because they money that they take is not theirs, that money are taxes from people. It is not just the problem between two or three people but it is the problem for the whole country.
ReplyDeleteSo, what is the justification for prison?
DeleteWhat purpose or other consideration makes it morally acceptable to lock some up?
I think we need to discuss this before we can settle the question of whether prisoners should be treated differently according to their crimes.