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Tuesday • May 30, 1995 : *
The Battalion
Established in 1893
Editorials appearing in The Battalion reflect the views
of the editorials board. They do not necessarily reflect
the opinions of other Battalion staff members, the
Texas A&M student body, regents, administration,
faculty or staff. Columns, guest columns, cartoons
and letters express the opinions of the authors.
Contact the opinion editor for information on
submitting guest columns.
Editorials Board
Jay Robbins
Editor in Chief
Rob Clark
Managing Editor
Sterling Hayman
Opinion Editor
Kyle Littlefield
Assistant Opinion Editor
Capping Crime
The University
should work to
Texas A&M has always
been considered to be a rela
tively safe campus. Traits
such as the all-male, military
history and its seclusion in a
small urban area have con
tributed to low crime rates,
but crime is far from absent.
After two rapes on campus
in the last semester, Jan. 30
near Olsen Field and May 4
at Research Park, personal
safety can no longer be taken
for granted.
With last semester’s rape
in the Olsen Field parking lot
and the recent one on May 4
at Research park, it has be
come clear that personal safe
ty can no longer be taken for
granted. Both metaphorically
and physically, dark, unsafe
places exist on this campus.
Students and faculty
should take care to find out
what marks an individual to
various assailants as an
“easy victim.”
Crime prevention groups
list many general safety tips:
talk to an assailant in order to
reveal yourself as another hu-
and its students
promote safety.
man being, rather than just
an object; remain as calm as
possible so any avenue of es
cape can be taken; and fight
back with a plan — aim for
sensitive areas of the attack
er’s body and make the first
blow count.
Apart from individual
self-protection, this Univer
sity could take some posi
tive steps to protect its stu
dents. Additions such as
better lighting in remote
places such as Olsen Field
and Research Park and
more University Police pa
trols could make things
more difficult for potential
criminals.
Another suggestion is the
construction of a well-lighted
path to and from distant
parking lots and dorm areas.
This University has a re
sponsibility to protect the
students who support it.
But, even the most compre
hensive campus security
system cannot protect stu
dents who do not take care
of their own safety.
jV/fAII.
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column policy
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come to submit guest columns to
be considered for publication on
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Guest columns serve as a
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Guest columns are between
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If you are interested in submit
ting a guest column on any topic,
please contact The Battalion
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The Battalion reserves the
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submissions will be accepted
throughout the semester, and as
many as possible will be printed.
Should prisons use chain
* ;.Uj
34*131
ifell
T he chain gangs are back.
After a 30-year absence,
the state of Alabama has
re-instituted the practice of
chaining groups of prisoners
together while they perform la
bor outside of the prison facili
ties. This came about because
of a campaign pledge Gov. Fob
James to take a somewhat
less-compassionate attitude to
ward criminals.
According to a recent article in
the New York Times, Alabama
Prison Commissioner Ron Jones,
known for his tough stance on
criminals, has directed a north
ern Alabama correctional facility
housing 400 inmates to begin
shackling prisoners working on
the roadsides with leg irons.
Only non-violent repeat of
fenders will be candidates for
this duty. In other words, it
treats those who go in and out of
the prison system as if they were
on a merry-go-round.
This duty will last for ap
proximately three months and
will consist of 12-hour days of
hard labor.
Well, it is about time. After
reading and hearing stories in
the media about the frivolous
comforts being accorded to
those who violate the standards
of decency and order in society,
the time is well overdue for
prisoners to once again start as
sociating their loss of freedom
with severe discomfort.
Once upon a time, prison was
a very harsh and altogether un
pleasant experience. People did
not look forward to cable access
and satin pillows. It was a diffi
cult time, and one’s civil rights
were not priorities.
The worthless dregs who will
get to enjoy life in chains can
look forward to long, hard days
and ample scorn and derision
from citizens who pass them by
as they toil on the roadside.
That image is as American as
apple pie.
Unfortunately, the criminals
do have one thing on their side.
It is an insidious organization
known as the ACLU. That is “All
Communist Lawyers Unite,” for
those of you who think gun con
trol is the answer.
Alvin J. Bronstein, execu
tive director of the National
Prison Project of ACLU, has
taken umbrage with Alabama’s
new commitment to positive
rehabilitation. He believes that
shackling men together causes
them to lose touch with their
humanity.
Mr. Bronstein is the one
who has lost touch — with all
common sense and reason,
that is. But that is to be ex
pected of most anyone affiliat
ed with the ACLU.
The organization is so skewed
that it would probably go to court
in order to protect the “civil liber-
JUSTIN
Barnett
Columnists
Mark
Zane
ties” of a pedophile who was de
nied a croissant for breakfast.
Who asked these kooks for
their input?
Our prisons were running
along just fine until someone got
the absurd notion that society
should not treat its undesirables
so unkindly.
Great.
We put our lives at risk be
cause some sociologist told us to
look at the root causes and to not
punish the lawbreakers.
If only academics would stick
to writing esoteric monographs
that no one reads and keep its
nose out of practical matters.
The last thing we need at
this time is to give any atten
tion to a bunch of worn-out
’60s liberals — read “aca
demics” —
still
looking for a
cause. So they care about
human rights?
My only question is, did
Ted Bundy care before he
brutally slaughtered his vic
tims? No. Therefore, I do not
care if some jailbird breaks a
sweat while picking up litter.
The chain gang is a time-hon
ored tradition that should be
continued.
While it may not solve every
problem or rehabilitate every of
fender, it will at least provide a
labor pool to perform the dirty
jobs no one else wants.
Convicted criminals do not
have the right to luxury or com
fort. They have chosen, of their
own free will, to disregard the
rules and laws to which the ma
jority of society abides.
Whether or not they enjoy
forced labor is irrelevant.
The last time I checked, they
were not a strong voting bloc.
So congratulations to Alaba
ma’s governor for bringing back
the antiquated concept that
prison is a punishment, not a
pleasure cruise.
If only more of our leaders
had the intestinal fortitude to
make difficult changes in the
status quo, then perhaps we
could stop fretting about the
crime problem and actually be
gin to make real changes.
Justin Barnett is a
senior English major
M y distinguished col
league seems to be
lieve that shackling
men together by their ankles
is the answer to lowering the
number of repeat offenders.
Unfortunately, he and the gov
ernor of Alabama have forgot
ten that chain gangs did not
deter repeat offenders in the
past, and there is no proof that
it will magically work today. If
this technique worked previ
ously, it would never have dis
appeared.
Gov. James made a promise
to the voters in Alabama in
his November election cam
paign that he would be tough
on crime and would change
the current prison system.
Appointing Ron Jones, a man
known for his harsh treat
ment of prisoners, was a fee
ble way of keeping his
promise. Resurrecting the
chain gang is just another
step back to the so-called
‘good old days.”
I am not against prison
ers working, but the
chain gang is a bit
primitive. The only
jobs the prisoners will
conduct is cutting and
trimming the brush
along the roadsides
and picking
up
litter
in ditches. How
much trash
needs to be col
lected?
Gov. James
talks big, but would
he want to be a prison guard
that might have to deal with a
prisoner rebellion?
Shackling prisoners is very
degrading. Many inmates may
respond to such degradation
with violence, and riots could
ensue.
The state of Alabama is
sadly mistaken if it believes
that shackles will prevent
such occurrences.
Many of our hard-nosed
conservatives fail to consider
the dangers that prison guards
face everyday. Many people do
not realize that "fringe” bene
fits such as cable television
and decent food are more for
the benefit of the prison staff
rather than the comfort of the
prisoners. Content prisoners
are better behaved inmates,
and behavior increases their
chances for rehabilitation.
It seems to have been for
gotten that prisoners are hu
man beings. Putting men on
chain gangs is society’s way of
telling them that they are ani
mals. These prisoners will
eventually lose touch with hu
manity, even if they are only
on the chain gangs for three
months. This will lead to little
chance for rehabilitation.
In fact, rehabilitation of
prisoners, which is supposed to
be the dominant objective of
prisons, has been forgotten in
Alabama. The main focus is
deterring future crime.
This also is an important
objective of prisons, but is rob
bing men of their humanity
and dignity the answer?
Mr. Jones has ordered 300
pairs of chains totalling
$17,000. He states that this
will save money in the long
run, because every time a car
passes and a child looks out at
the prisoners, it will reinforce
the idea that crime has conse
quences.
I did not realize that the
average child can make such
logical deductions.
Of course children will say
that they will never break the
law, use drugs or do anything
that is wrong. What happens,
however, when they grow up
and forget their childhood
promises?
The rhetoric of my colleague
is typical of the recent wave of
conservative crime-stoppers.
“Let’s build more prisons, have
longer sentences, more capital
punishment, etc.”
Yet, with all this in
creased spending on the pe
nal system, our conserva
tive brethren will somehow
magically eliminate the
budget deficit and lower tax
es at the same time.
Does anybody think of the
long-term anymore?
Has it occurred to our
leaders that perhaps if 95
percent of America’s wealth
was in more than the hands
of 5 percent of the population
we might have a better-bal
anced society and have hap
pier communities, which
would result in lowered crime
rates.
Imagine that. All this, and
we will not have to put more
money into our prisons.
I apologize to my colleague
for sounding too much like a
sociologist.
Mark Zane is a sociology
graduate student
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Clinton, Democrats continue
M ost of us spend our
breaks trying everything
in our power to do noth
ing. For example, I have worked
my tail off over the past week to
make sure that I did not get out
of bed until after noon.
I am very proud to declare
success.
Others in the country wanted
to use the break to try to do ... something. This
would include our beloved President. In an effort
to overcome his label of “irrelevant,” Clinton de
cided to take a radical, far-reaching course des
tined to change the world as we know it. ]
He threatened a veto (screams, women faint
ing, men glaring with disapproval, children hav
ing nightmares).
For those of you who spent your break avoid
ing politics — I should have — here is the story.
Pay attention, because this won’t make much
sense.
It all started when Bill Clinton pulled the ulti
mate cop-out. Instead of making any kind of an
effort to balance the budget, he sent Congress a
disgusting plan that actually increased spending
by $200 billion.
Clinton’s budget was so bad that, when put to
a vote in the Senate, it went down 99-0. Not
even a Democrat would be caught dead voting for
Clinton’s lame ideas. Now it’s normal
for the President’s budget to be de
feated when Congress is controlled
by the opposition party, but even
during the ’80s no budget was this
unpopular.
Well, next thing you know it was
damage control time. Robert Reich,
Clinton’s secretary of labor showed
up on a Sunday morning talk show
and declared that it has never been the adminis
tration’s policy to balance the budget.
And by the way, if the Republicans are so
smart, why don’t they try to do it?
(sneaky laugh here)
Meanwhile, as Reich’s buddies were all high-
fives and “we sure showed them,” the Republi
cans balanced the budget.
Oops!
Next thing you know, Leon Panetta, Clinton’s
chief of staff, appeared on a Sunday morning
talk show and announces that it has always been
this administration’s policy to balance the bud
get, just not right now. And anyway, it’s not a
great idea to try to balance the budget in seven
years — as the Republican plan does — because
it’s not good policy.
Uh-huh, and Joey Buttafuocco is just a good
guy who keeps getting caught in bad situations.
So the President decided to do an interview
to waffle on balancing bud
with a Northeastern public radio station, and
he declared that, sure. Congress could balance
the budget in seven years, and it might not be
bad policy.
Oh.
Meanwhile, back in Congress, all the Democ
ratic leadership could do was declare, “Death to
the Capitalist” and “Workers of the world unite!”
Actually, that is not all they were doing.
Every time the Republicans cut a program, the
Democrats would scream, “We can’t cut that!”
And they are right: They can’t cut anything ex-
The spending cuts Clinton wants to
veto will have to be paid for by our
generation. The funding for these pro
grams will come out of our pockets.
cept a draft card.
That’s the reason the Democrats are not in
power anymore.
I can’t claim to agree with everything the Re
publicans do in Congress, but at least they are
doing something. Prior to the elections last
year, hundreds of Republican candidates asked
voters to watch and see what would happen if
they were elected.
In almost every case, the Republicans did, or
tried to do, everything they promised. For the
Democrats, it’s just been business as usual, and
they hope the voters haven’t noticed.
Well I have noticed. And I doubt I am the only
one. I grew up in the ’80s, watching Democrats
say whatever they wanted to get elected to Con
gress and then do whatever they wanted once
they got there.
This is a welcome change.
This is our future that is being played with.
The spending cuts Clinton wants to veto will
have to be paid for by our generation. The fund
ing for these programs that “we just can’t cut”
will come out of our pockets.
If we don’t keep a close watch on our elected
officials, these cuts could easily grind to a halt.
Our ignorance is the Democrats’ best friend.
By the way, remember that veto threatened by
the President? When asked why he wanted to ex
ercise his veto — over a $16.4 billion spending
cut — he answered, “We just can’t cut that.”
If the President keeps this up, come Novem
ber, I’m going to have to find another job be
cause the entire government is going to end up
Republican.
At least I know I have a skill, though. Does
anyone know a job with a requirement to sleep
past noon everyday?
David Taylor is a senior management major
The Batt-ajuiont
Editorial Staff
Jay ROBBINS, Editor in Chief
Rob Clark, managing editor
Sterling Hayman, Opinion Editor
GreTCHEN PERRENOT, City Editor
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