Last summer, we did a tour of the Mansfield Reformatory.
When that prison was up and running, that prison was self sufficient. The inmates tended a farm to produce fruit, vegtables, meat, milk, and eggs. There was a slaughterhouse that was used to slaughter the animals for food. There was a factory that produced furnature used in public buildings. The governor and others used that furnature for desks, chairs, etc. They produced shoes that all the inmates wore. The shoes were such high quality, they had the general public wanting them.
When a man paid his dept to society, he left with a small amount of money he earned in prison, a train (or bus) ticket back to his home county, and most of all, a skill to become part of society.
How much did that prison cost the tax payers?
Nothing, Not a dime!
The prison was closed and a new prison was built. That new prison costs the taxpayers money, lots of it.
Why was the old one closed? It was a burdon for those inmates to work while in prison.
Maybe we should look back and see where the prison system is wrong and correct that.
I do feel, you take a life, yours should be ended. Unfortunatly, the justice system is not just. Judges are able to not allow evidence to free a person. That is wrong, plain and simple. You convict a man for a crime punishable by death and not allow all the evidence to come into court that could prove his innocence, you, as a judge should be punished.
Many people have been wrongfully put to death. An exact number, nobody knows. Why? Once the guy is dead, who cares? You see many cases where someone has been released from prison because of DNA evidence. 10 years ago, that might not have been possible. If that person was put to death within 1 year of being convicted, an innocent man would have died.
Personally, I do not want to pay to keep a scumbag murderer live the rest of his life. Even more so, I don't want to kill an innocent person.
Tom
