I just got done watching a Louis Theroux documentary about Coalinga Mental Hospital in California, which houses more than 500 pedophiles. These are people who have been convicted of the most serious kind of child sexual abuse cases. These aren't 19-year-old guys who got busted having sex with their 17-year-old girlfriend. Most of these guys have abused children under the age of ten.

So instead of being sent to a prison, they are sent to a mental hospital where they're free to roam around and socialize with all the other 'patients'. They're even allowed to have semi-erotic pictures of youthful males and females on the walls near their bunks. Watch the documentary and tell me these pictures don't borderline on child porn.

These pedophiles have come to this facility to be rehabilitated and later released. One guy Louis interviews admits to sexually abusing 50 girls. He's currently waiting for the hospital to find him housing and then he's going back out to the real world.

So my question is, why the **** are we so kind to pedophiles? It's one of the worst crimes possible and California puts them in a mental hospital and not a prison? Are you kidding me? Any why, pray tell, would you ever let someone who so violently abused a child go free again? Especially one who admits to doing it to 50 children. Why isn't the judicial system protecting the public from these people?

The pedos in Coalinga have already served the sentence for their criminal offenses. They are civilly committed to the institution on a voluntary basis as opposed to being released back into society.

It sucks that they get treated so nicely given their crimes, but putting them in that facility beats putting them out on the street to continue their predatory ways.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8004064.stm

Wrong. Watch the doc. These guys are being released back into society after they come there. I already stated it but one of the guys in the documentary who is waiting for housing admits to abusing 50 children.

I mean as a society we really, really don't treat them kindly. Mostly they are put in jail where they are highly targeted, which is a ****ty existence. When they get out, they are usually put on some sort of public list and are forced to tell everyone living close to them, again making them an instant target.

The more interesting conversation is how we should treat non-offending pedophiles. Obviously there's the risk of future offense, but by default they've done nothing wrong and are simply born with a preference. Society's view doesn't reflect that imo. I thought this was a very interesting and gripping read:

https://medium.com/matter/youre-16-y...w-e11ce4b88bdb

maybe start with an easier question. Why do we usually treat prisoners so badly?

As many fine people have said in various ways:

“It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones” - Mandela

I don't take it's fair to take the views of a political prisoner and apply it to people who rape children.

I don't think he was referring to political prisoners in particular. His a better person then that imo.

Plus I was addressing the easier question of how we treat all prisoners. No point discussing why child rapists are treated well with people who are happy to see those convicted of lessor crimes being treated very badly.

Castrations and lobotomies for all!

That is an interesting question, and one where there aren't any easy answers. I am not sure it is really possible to do anything but have voluntary treatment centers for them. Having them on some sort of blacklist probably won't do much good since then they won't come forward.

It's not their fault they're attracted to children, obviously. They were dealt a bad hand and should be killed as humanely as possible. Maybe put them on a pedophile island where they're used to manufacture something.

I think the general idea is that a justice system that errs towards 'kindness' has better potential outcomes ( such as rehabilitation) than one that errs towards cruelty.

Interesting article, reaaaaaaaaally long tho

I've had the general idea that even accused pedophiles are being crazy demonized these days. And that even after convicted pedophiles get let out of prison they're forced to jump through a variety of hoops and whatnot. But I'm not interested enough to read long articles about it and whatnot.

As Pink Floyd used to say, leave those kids alone.

Grunch. Because of the awesome candy.

How else am I supposed to get a free huffy?

To scare the **** out of anyone who might consider behaving badly but has a modicum of self-control in the face of expected punishment.

Plus, Australia is already full.

Clearly we need public torture for criminals - that might even work.

I do think "cruel and unusual" encompasses too much. Like, in the name of avoiding these things, I feel the typical prison experience is too comfortable.

It's kind of clear our current system of punishment doesn't work very well if the goal is ending crime and repeated transgression. So how would making more like the harsh past make it work better if it did not work then? If the goal of prison is just to abuse people for committing crimes, then you may have a point. However you are throwing away the offenders who do not want to repeat their past mistakes and incentivizing them to be cruel by example in doing so.

You might be right. I just really want prison to be as much of a deterrent as possible, within reason.

so do I. Also want a few other things like rehabilitation, i assume you do too.

but would we agree that if the evidence showed treating prisoners better had an insignificant impact on deterrence then we should treat prisoners better?

Agreed.

Why is this clear? Hasn't pretty much all crime been steadily decreasing? It's pretty well documented that crime has been steadily decreasing ever since there was a centralised state powerful enough to dish out harsh punishments for crime, and prison is definitely included in that. I'm interested if you can expand on this

You should watch some documentaries about maximum security prisons. They are anything but comfortable. Assault and rape is widespread. That might be true for medium or minimum security prisons.

Anyone watch the recent Frontline on prison?