Catholic and Enjoying It!
She writes:
I have been reading your thoughts on the Boston Marathon trial (this morning’s article most recently), and there’s a question I’ve been turning over and over in my head since I read this article from CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/13/us/dzhokhar-tsarnaev-supermax-prison/ . I wanted to present it to you and, if you are so inclined to respond, get your thoughts on it.
In short, the question that has been nagging me is: are the conditions of this prison acceptable from the perspective of Catholic teaching? Does a concern for the souls and/or mental health of these prisoners fit somewhere into a consistent life ethic?
Yes, a concern for the souls of prisoners is certainly part of a consistent life ethic. The Christian vision of the human person is that Jesus died for the worst of sinners and its hope is that most terrible human being might yet meet with redemption and eternal happiness. It is human vengefulness, not divine love, that seeks death and, when failing to get the pound of flesh, say, “Then let him be forgotten by God and man.” Divine love always seeks the sinner’s reclamation, no matter how bad the sinner.
In the same paragraphs of the Catechism that limit the application of the death penalty, the Church very clearly states that “punishment, in addition to preserving public order and the safety of persons, has a medicinal scope: as far as possible it should contribute to the correction of the offender” (Catechism 2266).
However, the article above does not seem to describe a situation where punishment is likely to serve as medicine; in fact, quite the opposite. At one point, the article described how the conditions likely contributed to the downfall of those prisoners with mental illness:
“years of isolation, with no direct, unrestrained contact with other human beings” leave some ADX inmates — particularly those with serious mental illness — with “a fundamental loss of even basic social skills and adaptive behaviors.” They “predictably find themselves paranoid about the motives and intentions of others.”
“Once placed into unrestrained contact with other, similarly impaired and paranoid men, the stress on prisoners — even those with no mental illness — can be extreme. Assaults and stabbings are common.”
Many ADX prisoners “interminably wail, scream and bang on the walls of their cells,” the lawsuit said. “Some mutilate their bodies with razors, shards of glass, sharpened chicken bones, writing utensils, and whatever other objects they can obtain. A number swallow razor blades, nail clippers, parts of radios and televisions, broken glass, and other dangerous objects.” “
What concerns me, and probably why this question has been nagging me since I read this article, is that I am no longer entirely convinced that either option for Tsarnaev promoted his sanctity of life and his dignity as a human person. One option disposes of his life, and the other essentially, from what I can see, puts him in a situation which would more likely bring his soul to ruin, rather than provide medicinal benefits from the penalty.
I think you are right. That’s why the pope has also suggested that life in prison may be unnecessary. How many 85 year olds are out committing felonies?
Should this be a concern to us as Catholics, or am I overthinking it? I feel like even these prisoners would be encompassed in the “least of my brothers,” so surely their souls should be a concern to us. But, on the practical side, would it even be possible, given the high security standards necessary for such a prison, to provide these medicinal or correctional circumstances?
“I was in prison and you visited me”. I think you are right. As to what is possible: well, we put a man on the moon. If we want to do something we can. The question is, do we want to?
Thank you for consideration and your work!
And you for reading and for your heart for thinking with the mind of Christ!
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