Our execrable prisons

One item of infrastructure that government after government in this country has ignored, neglected and failed to address is the construction of decent detention facilities. That mistake is now staring us in the face.

Look at the overcrowded, inhumane and indecent jails that this country shamelessly uses to crowd in detainees without a care for their rights to decency and basic services. Whether they are convicted criminals or people on trial and under detention, these are fellow human beings entitled to humane treatment, attention and care as persons. After all, the primary thrust of jails and prisons is to rehabilitate more than to punish. And even if punishment is warranted it cannot be the cruel and unusual way of dirty, crowded, conducive to sleeplessness conditions, poor nutrition, lack of basic privacy that we inflict on felons and persons awaiting trial.