Criminally Punishing the Criminal

Personally, I do not think that you should have to become the criminal in order to punish a criminal, and I think that this is exactly what happens in White Bear. In the White Bear Justice Park, the administrator and actors are psychologically torturing Victoria as punishment and, in my mind, they are just as bad as Victoria. I understand the reason for what they are doing and I could maybe see justification for doing it once, but considering that they had been doing it for almost and month and did not seem to be stopping any time soon, the punishment was extremely inhumane and I honestly wouldn't wish that kind of treatment on my worst enemy because that would be one of my worst fears: waking up, not having a clue where you are, and having to run for your life. Literally nightmare fuel.

With that being said, I also see solitary confinement as torturous, especially the fact that they can literally keep you locked up in solitary confinement for months. Humans are social creatures and taking away social interaction from someone is basically denying them their humanity. The fact that the United States still allows for solitary confinement to exist is horrific and disgusting. It also obviously doesn't work because the U.S. a crazy high incarceration rate compared to other countries. Take Sweden, for instance. Sweden's prison system is rehabilitative rather than punitive; in Swedish prisons, prisoners have their own personal cells with TV's, desks, and windows, they are allowed to cook with actual kitchen ware, including knives, and they have recreation areas with things like pool tables and ping pong tables. Surprisingly, Sweden has a very low recidivism rate because if you are found guilty of another crime, you will not go to these "luxury" prisons, but you will go to more traditional prisons like the ones found here in the United States. Here is a link in case anyone wants to look further into this.

Actual Swedish Prison Cell

It's obvious that the American prison system needs a massive overhaul, but I DO NOT think that the answer is doing something similar to the system implemented in White Bear. I feel like that would NOT work and it is definitely NOT humane. Not to mention, according to prison systems like those in Sweden, treating criminals humanely and in a rehabilitative way actually improves society and criminal behavior whereas prison systems that are punitive like those in the United States do not. In short, the White Bear system is horrific, torturous, and inhumane; it's definitely not the type of prison system that any country should have, and it definitely isn't justified no matter the person's crime.