Can a person be put in prison for his/her political views.

[Cell17N]

Definitly. Suppose a person commits a crime. And gets 20 years. 10 years are over and he/she is up for parole. Then the prisoner must ADMIT his/her guilt, and explain how evil and sorry he/she is even to hope for parole.

If the prisoner tells ANYONE -- even his/her cellmate that he/she is not that sorry, then the parole will wait for a few years.

Do you think it violates the offender's rights?

[bluestateguy]

1. Well I don't think being a Hitler sympathyzer helps Charles Manson

I don't think it helps Manson every 3 years when he goes up for parole that he is a neo-Nazi.

[Bunny]

2. Um. Excuse me.

But are you for real? Seriously. Ever hear of wrongful conviction?

[Cell17N]

3. Even a guilty person.

> Ever hear of wrongful conviction?

Even a guilty person has a natural human right not to be FORCED to incriminate himself.

[forgethell]

4. Yeah, but the point is

if he is up for parole, it can be, and is, assumed that he is guilty. So he has to make a choice, continue to insist on his innocence and stay in jail, or lie and hope to get out. But this isn't the injustice. If he is denied parole, he will still spend no more time in jail than he was sentenced to. The injustice is that he was convicted at all.

Now I have no problem with this because I believe too many people are released from prison while still a danger to society, i.e., me, my family, my friends. I do have a huge problem with wrongful convictions however.

[Cell17N]

5. The other issue.

> if he is up for parole, it can be, and is, assumed that
> he is guilty. So he has to make a choice, continue to
> insist on his innocence and stay in jail, or lie and
> hope to get out. But this isn't the injustice. If he
> is denied parole, he will still spend no more time in
> jail than he was sentenced to. The injustice is that
> he was convicted at all.

Suppose he did it and admits he did it, but thinks it should not be such a bad offence. THEN he has to CHANGE HIS POLITICAL VIEWS or be in prison for the rest of the term.

Which is REFINED CRUELTY. I can feel sympathy for Offender X, you can feel sympathy for Offender X, but if Offender X feels any sympathy for Offender X he is going to prison.

[forgethell]

9. This is too subtle for me.

If he did it, punish him. Parole is a privilege to be earned, not a right to be given, IMO. I don't know what the law says about this, neither do I care. He, or possibly she, is in prison for something that he did. Any early time off is a gift.

[Journeyman]

6. The Hollywood Ten (1948). . .

Smith Act (1940), Palmer Raids (1919), Haymarket Martyrs (1886), Alien and Sedition Acts (1798). . .

there are more. . .regrettably. . .

[cprise]

7. Do these qualify?

Sherman Austin
http://www.infoshop.org/shermanaustin.html

A list of others on this page:
http://www.defraudingamerica.com/political_prisoners.html

Also, many of the Black Panthers

[WaywardSon]

8. I think you answered your own question with this line...

'If the prisoner tells ANYONE -- even his/her cellmate that he/she is not that sorry, then the parole will wait for a few years.'

Imagine if you were in say, NK, China, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran etc.

How about being a women? Parole? What parole? Can you say firing squad?

America is bad but not that bad.
Changed a question mark to a period.

[Moderator]

10. Locking

Thread originator is no longer around to discuss the issue.