This article is from WeChat official account:China News Weekly (ID: chinanewsweekly), author: Huang Xiaoguang (the reporter), photo: Jan Banning, Panos Pictures, head Figure from: “the Shawshank redemption” stills
Kigo Prison on the shores of Lake Victoria in Uganda is a local high-security men’s prison that houses 1,175 prisoners. The prisoners prepare their own meals in the yard, and the food they need is provided by their families.
Prison crowded
This sounds like a fictional story written by a screenwriter, but it happened in the Luchila Women’s Prison in Uganda, Africa. In 2002, 23-year-old Susan Kigura was sentenced to hang on suspicion of murdering her husband. After more than ten years, she relied on her extraordinary will, taught herself high school courses in prison and studied law remotely, and finally changed Uganda’s case law on her own. She was sentenced from death to imprisonment, saving hundreds of people including herself. The life of a death row prisoner.
By depriving personal freedom and isolating prisoners from society, imprisonment has become the most popular punishment in the world. It uses imprisonment instead of indiscriminate killing, and labor reform instead of death penalty. It is quantified by prison terms. It is simple, clear, and fair.The product of Ming progress. However, for Dutch photographer Jane Banning, who has long been concerned about human rights issues, the justice of imprisonment is always questionable. He spent several years visiting 25 prisons in 4 countries including the United States, Colombia, France, and Uganda. “If the detainees are cattle instead of humans, animal protectionists are likely to accuse them of cruelty to animals.” Banning used “cow shed” to describe some of the prison conditions he had personally seen.
“The worse the prison environment and the more inhumane treatment of prisoners, the less likely it is that prisoners will become better.” Faced with the common problem of over-accommodation in prisons and the high number of incarcerations, Banning believes Paying attention to punishment is “not the best idea,” and the experience of Susan and other prisoners in prison allowed him to see more possibilities.
High imprisonment rate
In the “Law and Order” shooting project, photographer Banning tried to answer the question: Is putting people in jail and torturing them is the best way to deal with crimes?
He chose four countries on four continents as the objects of investigation: France has a long history of enforcing statutory laws, Uganda is a former British colony that still uses case law, the United States is the representative of Western countries that still use the death penalty, and Colombia has been half-and-half. A century of civil war torn apart, is one of the countries with the highest homicide rate.
As a violent machine to accommodate criminals, prisons are the “necessary evil” to maintain social order, and a place where social conflicts are concentrated. The story within the high wall is never beautiful, and because it is highly closed, it is difficult for outsiders to know. Banning assigned himself a seemingly impossible task. He applied to seven southern states in the United States that are still implementing the death penalty, but they were all rejected. The French prison authorities only opened four prisons to him after two years of negotiations. .
After a complicated application process, Banning was allowed to take pictures in several medium-security prisons in Colombia, but was monitored and interfered by heavily armed guards: “They took me to an English class or a workshop that was making fine wood products. , Stop me from taking any pictures that have a bad reaction to the prison.” According to Banning, in Colombian prisons, prisoners need to pay protection fees to avoid being beaten, robbed or shot; if they have money, they can bribe guards to smuggle weapons. In 2015, a man who was imprisoned for killing 4 children escaped with the help of prison guards.
In contrast, Uganda, which has a history of dictatorship,’s active cooperation surprised Banning. Uganda opened 10 prisons to it, and the guards did not defend it. “I don’t want to imply that they are hotels, but the good interaction between the prisoners and the guards there once made me think that Uganda’s tortureThe penalty system is quite humane. “Under Banning’s lens, the bright and warm colors of Ugandan prisons contrast sharply with the cold steel and dark gray concrete of American prisons. “I became friends with Uganda’s most famous prisoner, Susan Kigura, and she fully confirmed it. My impression is that the relationship between guards and prisoners in Uganda is very good! “
The criminal case files that have been closed are stored in the Uganda Chief Magistrate’s Court.
However, Banning quickly realized the other side of the chaos in the Ugandan prison. On September 17, 229 prisoners in Uganda escaped collectively, taking 15 rifles from prison guards by the way. This is the third prison escape in Uganda since the new crown pneumonia epidemic. According to local media reports, the incident was caused by prisoners’ panic about the outbreak of mass infection in the prison.
“Being locked up in a cell full of rats and cockroaches, even for poor Ugandans, is a severe test,” Banning said. As one of the “25 Poorest Countries in the World in 2019” announced by the International Monetary Fund, Uganda’s prisons are also among the highest in the world. A civil organization called the “Human Rights Initiative” has investigated prisons across Uganda and found that 247 prisons hold approximately 45,000 people; because of overcrowding, many prisoners can only sleep standing up.
Overcrowding is a common problem in several national prisons. The total capacity of prisons in France is 58,670. As of 2017, there were actually 70,000 prisoners in prison, and the accommodation rate was 120%. The United States has more than 6,000 prisons with more than 2.2 million prisoners. The number of prisoners and the percentage of prisoners in the total population rank first in the world. According to Banning’s analysis, the incarceration rate in the United States is 707 prisoners per 100,000 inhabitants, about 250 in Colombia, and about 100 in France and Uganda.
Under the high imprisonment rate, the prisoners who escaped from prison are not “underground worrying”. A study showed that the risk of contracting the new coronavirus in American prisons is 5.5 times that of the general population. As of July 30, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons has conducted 36,894 COVID-19 tests in prisons across the United States, with at least 10,527 people confirmed.Diagnosis.
If you look at the crime rates of these countries over the years, the world seems to be safer than before. Although violent crimes such as murder and robbery are perennially entrenched on the news page, according to Banning, the majority of imprisonment charges are non-violent crimes such as theft and drug dealing. Take Uganda as an example. Due to the high unemployment rate and extreme poverty, property-related crime is the most common in the local area. However, the crime rate in the country has been declining since 2006. In 2013, economic crime fell by 10%. Robbery-related crimes fell by 14.7% and 15.8% respectively.
Lille-Annouulin Prison Center, France. The person sunbathing in the distance is J.M., a member of the Corsican gang “Sea Breeze”. He has served 14 years in prison.
The paradox is that more and more prisoners are being imprisoned in several countries. There are currently approximately 10.35 million prisoners in the world. According to the International Criminal Law Reform Organization’s 2018 review of the world’s incarceration status, “The overall level of crime is declining, but the number of prisoners is increasing, and detention conditions are degrading.” strong>
Penalties for Industrialization
The increase in the number of prisoners is not entirely due to the increase in the crime rate. It is also the result of too strict sentencing policies and stricter release standards.
The most severe and irreversible penalty is the death penalty. Among the countries Banning visited, the death penalty exists in the United States and Uganda. When Banning visited the Lukira prison in Uganda, he learned about the death row prisoner Susan Kigura’s “change of fate”. Susan was accused of murdering her husband in 2002. At that time, according to Uganda’s case law, all homicides were sentenced to death. However, Susan’s death sentence has not been executed. Later, Susan collected the signatures and confessions of 417 death row prisoners in prison, and submitted a petition to the Supreme Court, declaring that the death penalty was unconstitutional and demanding its abolition. The case opened in 2009 and caused aA sensation, the court ruled that the death penalty is no longer mandatory, if the death sentence is not executed within 3 years, it should automatically be converted to life imprisonment. Since then, Susan’s case was retrial, and her sentence was changed from death to imprisonment.
Banning is a staunch supporter of the abolition of the death penalty and a constant critic of the abuse of imprisonment. “The way crime is handled has played an important role in the politics of many countries. How we punish the people will determine how we reduce the crime rate.” Banning mentioned that the criminal justice system in many countries is politicized and politicians are eager to promise. Fighting crime and eager to let the people see the results, so the punishment is abused, people are easily jailed for minor mistakes.
As a typical case, American people are imprisoned for many non-violent crimes that are not sentenced to imprisonment in other countries, and the sentence is longer. According to a 2018 statistic by the non-profit organization “Prison Policy Initiative”, if the 50 states of the United States are regarded as 50 independent countries, they will all enter the top 60 countries in the world’s total imprisonment rate rankings.
Relevant data show that the high imprisonment rate in the United States began in the 1970s: the Democratic and Republican parties competed to show a tough attitude towards criminal behavior, emphasizing the necessity of establishing “law and order”, and believing that imprisonment is a crime against crime The best way. Since then, a severe punishment “experiment” that lasted for decades has transformed the American criminal justice system into a punitive one. Imprisonment has become the default result of most criminals after conviction. Approximately 70% of the convicted persons were thrown into prison. Among them, drug crimes, robbery, theft, disrupting public order, illegal use of weapons, and illegal immigration were the main reasons for detention. In this context, the number of detainees in American prisons has increased significantly.
Banning believes that the two systems of crime rate and sentencing policy are independent of each other. Increasing the imprisonment rate will not only help reduce the crime rate, but will also plunge the US prison system into a vicious circle. “In the United States, more than 50% of prisoners will return to prison within three years after their release.” Prisoners frequently enter the palace for the second time, exacerbating the inadequacy of prison facilities and contributing to the cross-state “exile” of American prisoners and private individuals. The scale of setting up prisons continues to expand.
Banning criticized American prisons for being too “industrialized”: “They obviously focus on efficiency, such as replacing meetings with video when visiting relatives. This is convenient for management but extremely inhumane.” What’s more, “a kind of bypass A new form of court that has gone through the democratic decision-making process has added a second verdict”-the name, portrait, and criminal information of the offender are posted online. Most U.S. employers conduct criminal background checks on potential employees, which makes it difficult for prisoners to resume their normal life after being released, thereby further increasing the recidivism rate.
Reducing the severity of punishment and making punishment more effective has gradually become a consensus and realistic trend in some countries. 2018On May 22, the US House of Representatives voted to pass the “First Step Act” of Trump and the Democratic Party. Some commentators believe that this bill gives judges greater discretion to avoid enforcing the minimum penalty, and helps the prisoners rebuild their lives and reduce the recidivism rate. When Trump signed the bill, he said: “The bill will encourage those released from prison to find work and start a new life, making the United States safer.”
“Reintegration Program”
Banning tried to avoid taking stereotyped prison images. Under his lens, the prisoners’ bright clothes were stringed to dry, and the white and tall statue of the Virgin was placed in the cell. In the colorful venue, the leader of the French Corsican Mafia was sunbathing.
“I have strong doubts about the use of the prison system. I know that in some cases it is necessary to isolate prisoners from society, but most of them are just bad luck.” Banning believes that they should be corrected rather than punishment. It is a better idea to give them the opportunity to “live a life that contributes to society”.
Since the beginning of the 19th century, the function of prisons has included deprivation of liberty and reform of people. Correction is the meaning of the question. In countries with low recidivism rates such as the Netherlands and Norway, the ultimate goal of imprisonment is to enable prisoners to become better citizens after they are released, thereby increasing public safety; where possible, sanctions such as fines, probation, and community services can be used instead of imprisonment. .
Bois-d’Arcy(Bois-d’Arcy) Prison The staff of the internal central monitoring tower. This prison in Yvelines, France was built in 1980 and was designed to accommodate 500 prisoners. It currently accommodates 770 people, and like many other French prisons, it is overcrowded.
Of the four countries Benning visited, France was the one that treated prisoners more humanely. France has 189Correctional facilities and 103 probation and reintegration offices (SPIP), the implementation of the “reintegration plan” and the prevention of recidivism are clear Functional goals. In the specific implementation path, it tries to create living conditions similar to ordinary citizens in prisons, and to promote the prisoners to eventually return to the community.
The cells are equipped with refrigerators, TVs, shower facilities and toilets. Long windows allow more sunlight to enter. There are also small kitchens on each floor for prisoners to cook in order to “create a family atmosphere.” According to the “European Prison Rules”, prisons for women prisoners also include fully equipped nurseries and laundry facilities. Contrary to the practice of restricting family visits in the United States, France believes that it is important to keep inmates in contact with their families during the period of imprisonment. Prisoners have three visits before and after conviction, respectively.
In addition, France also has 25 separate detention centers for long-term prisoners who are considered to have a greater potential to return to society. In a detention center that Banning visited, more than 400 of the nearly 600 prisoners were employed. The goods produced included wood products, furniture, garbage bins and even aviation equipment. “The degree of freedom given to prisoners by this center is amazing. Prisoners do not need to wear uniforms, they are unsupervised at work, and can use public telephone booths at any time during the day.” Banning mentioned that prisoners in the detention center earn up to 1,000 euros a month , Part of the income will be used to compensate victims of crimes.
Protection after prison is equally important, and the “Reintegration Program” thus extends beyond the walls. “Re-offenders are usually in jail for less serious non-violent crimes. The behavior of recidivists is usually related to drug abuse, mental illness, and lack of work skills. To this end, the government pledges to do everything possible to ensure that released prisoners receive housing when needed. , Employment, education, medical care and addiction treatment.” Help prisoners become better citizens, avoid re-offending, and reduce the prison population. Banning emphasized that although the treatment of prisoners in France, Norway and other countries is often ridiculed by the United States, the low recidivism rate shows that the “normalization method” is effective.
Susan Kigura, who was imprisoned in Luzilla Prison, applied to establish her own school in the prison in 2008, and got the support of Warden Johnson Biabashia: “She inspired me Transform the prison from a correctional institution to a correctional institution.” In August 2014, Susan received a law diploma from the University of London, becoming the first prisoner in Uganda’s history to obtain a law diploma. After being released from prison in 2016, she worked in the “African Prison Project”, an organization dedicated to improving prison conditions in Africa.
Lukira Prison is located on a hill in the suburbs of Kampala, the capital of Uganda. Neat bungalows, trimmed hedges and grassThe prison looks very clean. Banning said, “If it weren’t for the women in uniform bright yellow prison uniforms, it looks like a school here.”
This article is from WeChat official account:China News Weekly (ID: chinanewsweekly), occur in 2020.11.2 total of 970″ China Newsweek “, author: Huang Xiaoguang (the reporter), photo: Jan Banning, Panos Pictures