Australia is a wonderful country. I've lived in it my whole life, and even though I've only travelled to one other country, I can tell that Australia is easily one of the best places to live.
This got me thinking about our penal system. As you may or may not be aware, Australia was discovered by the British in 1788 and was founded in New South Wales by a shipment of criminals and officers due to overflowing of the British prison, which was caused by the extremely strict laws at the time - such as stealing bread.
Then I started thinking about the condition of Australian prisons. Now before I say this, I issue a disclaimer: I am not trying to convince you that living in prison is better than living with freedom. So don't commit crime.
Through media and various sources around me, I've always thought that Australian prisons - not sure about other countries - were relatively humane places to reside in. So I thought about a hypothetical situation:
If I committed a crime and was sentenced to life in a minimum security prison, exactly how good or bad could my life be?
Note: I don't think its possible to get life in a minimum security prison because the type of crime needed to receive the punishment of life imprisonment won't get you into minimum security.
From what I had absorbed - which I don't claim to be fact - this was what I could expect:
- 3 Round meals a day based on a healthy balanced diet.
- Full dental and medical care available.
- Since it would be minimum security, fellow inmates would be relatively normal, possibly having committed crimes of light robbery, blackmail, white collar crime, some assault etc. Not to the extremes of the stereotypical prison inmate; 250 pounds, 6 foot, extremely aggressive, brain the size of a mustard seed, and likely to bash you up the first day you arrive.
- Library, although probably not extensively stocked, allowing access to improve literary skills and read up.
- Environment forces you to become tougher, both mentally and physically, like a motivator.
- Access to outside world via friends/family.
- Access to newspapers and magazines to inform you of latest going-ons
- Access to computers and televisions - this depends on the facility.
- Sports grounds promoting exercise
- Comfortable beds and laundry services provided
- All for FREE!
Interesting situation. I found that this was backed up by an article:
http://canberra.yourguide.com.au/news/local/general/inside-canberras-humane-prison/1193996.html
If I was penniless and had no reputation to hold up, this would sound pretty good. Do you think so?
