Sentenced to read
Photo: British Museum
Novel approach: reading courses as an alternative to prison
In Texas, offenders are being sent on reading courses instead of prison. Could it work in the UK?
With one of the highest incarceration rates in the world, and the death penalty, the US state of Texas seems the last place to embrace a liberal-minded alternative to prison. But when Mitchell Rouse was convicted of two drug offences in Houston, the former x-ray technician who faced a 60-year prison sentence – reduced to 30 years if he pleaded guilty – was instead put on probation and sentenced to read…(Full text in the Guardian).
What is more amazing, the fact that people in power have realized that reading can turn people into human beings, or the fact that this reading program was introduced in Texas?
While I love the idea of the program, I have doubts about its application. It would probably work for offenders who have hit rock-bottom and have no options, who have some self-awareness and admit that they have done wrong.
Reading courses as an alternative to prison would definitely not work for corrupt government officials who loot the public treasury. Those subhumans not only lord it over their countrymen but they have too many options, thanks to the funds they have stolen and stashed. They will not admit to their crimes because they do not believe they have committed crimes—they feel entitled to that money.
Not even Crime and Punishment and all the novels of Dostoevsky will do in such cases. First they would have to be taken down from the heights and stripped of their dignity, then maybe the reading cure would take.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
July 30th, 2010 at 08:53
Hmm…
Somewhat in relation to this: it’s actually ironic that those applying for government employment have to take the Civil Service exam to test their eligibility, while I doubt that those who are currently elected in authority were required to take this. Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t they supposed to be the ones who should be taking the exam first?
July 30th, 2010 at 14:55
Yes, the fact that Texas actually implemented it is astounding. After all, they’re the state who, in an attempt to ban gay marriage, accidentally banned ALL marriages.
July 30th, 2010 at 15:59
I’m already thinking of what crime to commit in the (unlikely) event this alternative gets implemented locally…. Can they incarcerate me in the Library of Congress?
July 30th, 2010 at 19:56
Agree with your point on gov’t officials. I propose forcing them to write “I am an asshole who steals from the people.” for 16 hours a day, everyday of their incarceration.
If they do that for 20 years, it might finally sink in. But I’m not holding my breath.
Anyway, now I know what to do when I feel too busy to read. Commit a crime in Texas.
July 31st, 2010 at 00:20
You might be interested in this:
http://www.newsweek.com/2010/07/29/salinger-like-you-ve-never-seen-him.html
July 31st, 2010 at 18:09
But this is short of selling to us, serious readers trapped in the corporate treadmill, the glorious idea that there’s hope yet for that reading backlog. Now if only I were in Texas…