paris and redemption
She looks good, smiling and coiffed. If you didn’t know that she’d just spent the past fortnight in the Los Angeles County Jail, you wouldn’t. Paris Hilton is out and back in front of the cameras.
As a self-confessed cultural illiterate, I’m not exactly sure who Paris Hilton is much less why I am supposed to care, but her image has been dominating my news folders all month. The first series were of a young grief stricken girl, today’s was an exuberant young women. As near as I can tell, Paris is a self-absorbed young woman who typifies the narcissism that dominates our culture. Apparently she was convicted of reckless driving (I’m hoping Officer Ziegler doesn’t start ticketing for this – I’ll be in trouble!); the incarceration a consequence of her violation of probation.
I wish that I believed a few nights in the county jail could cure the selfishness greed that holds our people hostage. I wish that a few nights in prison could solve something, anything. The tragic truth is that though we build prisons, lots of them, our investment is questionable.
Back in the 17th century there was a movement to build ‘penitentiary’. The idea was that rule breakers needed time and space to reflect and repent before reentering society. The ‘holy trinity’ of this system was silence, obedience, and labor. It was a great idea, but it didn’t really work, especially for folks who had no remorse. The ‘reformatory movement’ of the late 19th century appealed to an understanding of individuals and psychology, introducing such innovations as flexible sentencing and parole.
A few decades ago, several cultural forces converged to create the chaos we know call the prison system. A culture shift demanded harsher sentences, the Supreme Court allowed for the reinstatement of the death penalty, and the federal government decided to wage a ‘war on drugs’. The ‘three strikes’ rule and mandatory sentencing have earned for us the distinction of having the highest incarceration rates in the world. We have 5% of the world’s population and 25% of the world’s prisoners. Something isn’t working.
Perhaps we need to decide whether incarceration is about retribution (punishment for its own sake) or about rehabilitation. Do we incarcerate people to get rid of them or to help them change? If the goal is reform, the best of our psychological tools might have some light to shed on how we build our prisons. If the goal is to get rid of people, then all sentences probably out to be commuted to life sentences. In the meantime, what we do is incarcerate people in overcrowded hellholes, teach them how to hate with razor edged clarity, and then we release them back into society. All in all, a disaster.
As people of faith, we find ourselves confronted with gospel imperatives to turn the check and to forgive endlessly. We are charged to deal with our own misconduct before we point to our neighbor’s. We are challenged to not only do justice, but to cherish mercy. Although we can find punitive notes in scripture, specific instructions even for the torturing of women suspected of adultery, the overarching theme of the biblical narrative in the both testaments is one of redemption. Ours is a faith grounded on the belief that people are both capable and worthy of being saved. In our faith story, people are not disposable.
Although I can’t imagine Paris’ few nights in the county clink was truly life altering, it could be worse. Her smiling face as yet bears no witness of the cruel inhumanity that awaits the average prisoner. I can only imagine that a hate-filled Paris Hilton would not be a pretty sight. And my faith tells me that even Paris is redeemable. Maybe so.