I am still opposed, even when the evidence is like this. He should be locked away, with no access to much of anything. Certainly not typewriters — he should never have a hope of producing anything that might be read by others. Any paper in his cell, such as books or magazines, should be as fragile as rice paper; readily destroyed by trivial means.
He should live a long, long life of hopeless isolation, where the futility of his continued existence is in every waking thought. Death would be an escape I would deny him for as long as possible.
I was reading an article just a couple weeks ago about a nursing home built specifically for released, older prisoners with serious medical problems.
(It even turns out a nursing home that keeps people in relatively good condition is cheaper to run than a prison that keeps people in awful condition.)
As someone who experienced my nephew and 4 of his friends being murdered by the son of a career cop, who eventually found NCR (Not Criminally Responsible), and is now getting unsupervised day releases from his hospital rather than rotting in prison, I can say there’s no justice in our system. We either punish them beyond reason, or say ‘it’s not their fault’ and absolve them of all responsibility. (Of course he has mental issues, he killed 5 people. He should still be held responsible for his actions.)
If Canada had Norway’s system, I’d feel better. As it is here, the murderer gets all the help, doctors and support they need to not go (hopefully) psychotic again. But there’s no punishment and the families are on their own for whatever fucked up psychopathy they have to deal with in their own lives now.
All this is to say that I think Norway has found a better system than the crap we have here.
As someone who’s family friend experienced similar but the other way, where the person was put to death, that really doesn’t help either. Even the ultimate punishment isn’t really much consolation to the family.
To be clear, I am glad he’s getting help - if only for the future of other people’s kids. And I do not want him killed, executed, or whatever euphemism they use these days. I’ve always been against Capital Punishment, and this didn’t test that. (Still hate the kid though.)
It really does feel like Norway has the best solution.
