So, prisoners have always had the right to vote, and a bill seeking to remove that right was rejected. Good! Regardless of what anyone may think of them, they are still citizens, after all, aren't they? If they are no longer citizens, what other rights should be taken from them? Why stop at the right to vote? After all, why should we spend our hard-earned tax dollars on anything better than dog food for these people who have lost the right to be considered as members of society?
But that's right, they are still members of society after all. And they're coming back, too. I think we would all be better off if we don't brutalize them too much while they're sequestered. Some of them are people who made extremely bad decisions (not
mistakes, please, I'm really not a bleeding heart after all), at times when they were ill-equipped to make any sort of good decisions at all.
I'm not going to get into a rant here (I hope), but a lot of people in prison now are going to get out, and they're not going to go back in. There is some deterrence to being locked up, even with a tv set.
As for drug addicts and how they should all be rounded up and shot or whatever, I'm so tired of hearing this. It's so easy to get runaways hooked on heroin without their knowing it. I knew a guy who used to do this. I assume he's no longer among us, however. Doesn't take long to convert another true believer to your cause. I'm not saying everybody gets hooked on drugs this way, and I've never been addicted to anything either, except grass, tobacco and booze
.
I've never been locked up either, except for a few hours at a time. My point is, these people don't lose their citizenship while guests of the Crown. I know some ex-cons - everybody does. Some of them f*cked up egregiously,paid the price, and rejoined (or joined) tthe mainstream. Some of them are legitimate businessmen now, and employers in their own right. Notwithstanding the occasional Pickton or Olson, they're not animals. They're not idiots[/DIV]
