Penal harm, an intentionally harsher punishment than "deprivation of liberty", is a range of unpleasant and miserable conditions and injuries justified by a certain ideology
custodial sentence
A custodial sentence is a judicial sentence, imposing a punishment consisting of mandatory custody of the convict, either in prison or in some other closed therapeutic or educational institution, such as a reformatory, (maximum security) psychia ...
s (mainly in
prison
A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correc ...
or
reformatory
A reformatory or reformatory school is a youth detention center or an adult correctional facility popular during the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Western countries. In the United Kingdom and United States, they came out of social concern ...
), inmates should endure additional
pain and suffering
Pain and suffering is the legal term for the physical and emotional stress caused from an injury (see also pain and suffering).
Some damages that might come under this category would be: aches, temporary and permanent limitations on activity, p ...
, not ''just'' having their
basic rights
Fundamental rights are a group of rights that have been recognized by a high degree of protection from encroachment. These rights are specifically identified in a constitution, or have been found under due process of law. The United Nations' Sustai ...
taken away, to make the punishment deliberately harder.
While proponents of judicial harm claim this improves the desirable deterrent effect of detention (this despite the facts first-time offenders are often entirely unaware of prison conditions, many crimes are not premeditated or carried out with deliberative thought that considers being caught and punished), it does form a controversial appendage of a body of theory known as
retribution; its perception as cruelty rather than justice may endanger both internal security and prospects for
rehabilitation
Rehabilitation or Rehab may refer to:
Health
* Rehabilitation (neuropsychology), therapy to regain or improve neurocognitive function that has been lost or diminished
* Rehabilitation (wildlife), treatment of injured wildlife so they can be retur ...
and goes against the humane ideal of most human rights advocates, possibly qualifying legally as
inhumane punishment, an infringement on human rights under the
UN rules.
Although ''internal punishments'', imposed by prison authorities, are not strictly penal harm as such, since they are not independent from the convict's behavior, arbitrary application and choice of cruel modes, including
corporal punishment (in
South East Asia
Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...
n countries this can include the dreaded
rattan
Rattan, also spelled ratan, is the name for roughly 600 species of Old World climbing palms belonging to subfamily Calamoideae. The greatest diversity of rattan palm species and genera are in the closed-canopy old-growth tropical forests of ...
caning
Caning is a form of corporal punishment consisting of a number of hits (known as "strokes" or "cuts") with a single Stick-fighting, cane usually made of rattan, generally applied to the offender's bare or clothed buttocks (see spanking) or ha ...
), perfectly fit the rationale.
Traditional forms include:
*
hard labor
* rationed, unappetizing or even unhealthy food
* various discomforts such as poor hygiene,
small and overcrowded cells, hard bunks, insufficient protection against cold
*
long isolation, even in a dark 'hole'
*
sleep deprivation
* humiliating procedures such as
strip search
A strip search is a practice of searching a person for weapons or other contraband suspected of being hidden on their body or inside their clothing, and not found by performing a frisk search, but by requiring the person to remove some or al ...
es
*
prison rape
Prison rape or jail rape refers to sexual assault of people while they are incarcerated. The phrase is commonly used to describe rape of inmates by other inmates, or to describe rape of inmates by staff.
China
In February 2021, BBC News repo ...
* denial of
visits, correspondence and recreation.
In the 1990s and 2000s, penal harm has taken (among other things) the form of poor
health care for inmates;
[Maeve, Katherine M., and Michael S. Vaughn. "Nursing with prisoners: The practice of caring, forensic nursing or penal harm nursing?." Advances in Nursing Science 24.2 (2001): 47-64.] this includes the denial of medicine for patients diagnosed with
HIV
The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...
/
AIDS
Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...
.
It must be pointed out that many of the physical harms can also arise accidentally, as a result of understaffing, insufficient budget, or even legal considerations (such as delays deemed necessary for appeal procedures).
See also
*
Prisoner abuse
Prisoner abuse is the mistreatment of persons while they are under arrest or incarcerated. Prisoner abuse can include physical abuse, psychological abuse, sexual abuse, torture, or other acts such as refusal of essential medication.
Physica ...
*
Law and order (politics)
In modern politics, law and order is the approach focusing on harsher enforcement and penalties as ways to reduce crime. Penalties for perpetrators of disorder may include longer terms of imprisonment, mandatory sentencing, three-strikes laws a ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Penal Harm
Penal imprisonment
Prisoner abuse