564,200,000 pairs of PJs

Some of my friends that read this Blog have spent time in Prison. In fact many from Prison have looked in on what their friend Murray writes about. I suppose they are checking to see if I tell any of their stories or not. I know too much. And also please note I said they have spent time in prison… they are not there now.

Well this story appeared in the Taiwan newspaper “Taipei Times”.

The story is about France… and its new decision to help curb the high rate of suicide in France’s prison system.

It is reported that France has more than 62,000 inmates crammed into facilities that should have a maximum of 51,000. That is serious over crowding.

On top of that the Prison facilities are in terrible shape.

A quote by the Taipei Times states…
"The government yesterday said 81 prisoners had killed themselves in jail this year. But non-government organizations say the figure is higher. Suicides in prison have largely been men, with around one in five aged under 25, but also including teenagers. More than half are on remand, often it is their first time in prison. "

81 people have killed themselves since the beginning of this year.

France has 188 prisons in their country and overseas territories.

Simple math shows that there have been almost 3 per week since January 1st.

That is staggering to say the least. 81 families were told that their sons had died in prison. More than half of the men were on remand – meaning that they were not yet found guilty – still waiting for trial.

Now the solution… what is it? They have issued all the men Paper Pajamas. No kidding.. the guys will be wearing paper PJs to solve the problem. You cannot hang yourself with one time worn PJs.

But in Canada one prisoner that I knew in my early days of working as a volunteer in the Ontario Provincial system tried to choke himself by swallowing Bible Pages. When we asked the Chaplain where the Bibles disappeared he told us that the Admin had taken them all out – because some one tried to kill himself by choking on Bibles pages.
Something is seriously wrong with the thinking process of the authorities in France. Paper PJs will not improve the horrible living conditions in the prisons.

Horrible prisons are not only hard on the Prisoners… but also hard on the Guards. They work in it for long hours with the angry mob of inmates that are suffering. Coming into work cannot be a joy – like other people might sometimes feel. You just have to cringe in the morning when you wake up and thing “Whoa… another day of work!”

Now add to the fact that at least four guards would be there to take the dead man down and out. Four families are deeply affected when dad has to look at that scene in his mind over and over again.

Have you ever witnessed the worst nightmare possible – then tried to shut it out with closed eyes that night.

Just give them Paper Pajamas and that will solve the problem. And give them a new pair each night.

Let see… 62,000 pairs of Paper Pajamas times 7 days a week times 52 weeks a year times an average of say 25 years = 564,200,000 pairs of PJs are needed. Or that is 22,568,000 pairs a year. Talk about a Tree Hugger’s time to step in. When all the world is Tree Sensitive – France is bundling its tree products up to wrap up their inmates.

I wonder who is related to the PJ maker? What lucky politician is connected some how? Is there a system in place like there is in Canada where conflict of interest is highly cared for in everything our Government takes care of?

Now I know for most readers of this Blog – this caught them off guard. Why write about it?

Well for one thing I hope that Canada’s leadership doesn’t get any ideas about making changes like this. Our politicians can come up with some pretty strange ideas.

It points to some simple problems that most human problem solving comes up with. Then when they are absolutely convinced that their way is right… they act on it.

I have been studying the Lace Industry and Lace Making that took place over the many years. Britain became known for its beautiful laces over the years. Starting at about 1568 and then again in 1572 the Lace in Britain improved tremendously. It became the best in the world at the time. Then again in 1685 it happened again… more improvement… more wonderful designs.

In 1568, 1572 and 1685 the French Monarchy, highly controlled and influenced by the Roman Catholic Church issued edicts that made being a Protestant in France impossible. The Flemish and the Huguenots were murdered by the thousands… even the hundreds of thousands. If you were not a Catholic then or if you would hide someone that was a Huguenot; you were also murdered.

These people fled across the English Channel and found refuge in England. They settled in different areas across southern and western England. With them came their abilities and craftsmanship.

Now I am not linking the present decisions in the Prison system of France with the Huguenots.

But once people make up their minds that their way is the only way – reason or other ideas will not be possible. In 1568, 1572 and 1685 some really stupid decisions were made and acted on.

All over the world today consistently stupid decisions are made regularly by perfectly normal people. Their decisions are anything but normal… for the end result is anything but normal… or humane.

Most of the guys in prison in Canada acted on really dumb decisions they made at one tragic point in their life.

I simply offer a finger to point at Dumb Ideas – and ask people to think better. Who knows French Bloggers may be reading English Bloggs… and may be someone will ask better questions.

564,200,000 pairs of PJs must be worth about the price of one new Prison – that will be just that … NEW. I don’t know – but that only seems to make some sense when you stop and think about it.

What do you think?

~ Murray Lincoln ~
www.murraylincoln.com/

Source:
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2009/08/20/2003451543
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huguenot
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prison
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Prisons_in_France