South Carolina Prison Riot Points to Need for Love in Prisons

   When you are learning from current events, and not just reading about them, you should wonder about the prison riot in South Carolina just days ago. Seven inmates killed, and at least 17 injured. One of the worst cases of prison violence in recent years, and perhaps the worst in modern South Carolina history. And, it wasn't just an isolated case. South Carolina has an inmate-on-inmate homicide rate nearly 12 times the national average.
   It didn't go unnoticed on those breaking down the story that the Lee Correctional Institution is understaffed and underfunded.
   But, don't let the analyst stop there. Underfunded translates into poor living conditions. It translates into poorly paid guards who can be (and reportedly are) disgruntled, and thus grumpy in how they perform their job.
   Which likely translates into gruff treatment of the inmates.
   Love is one of the most important elements -- if not the most important-- you can have in a good prison. Yes, we should treat our prisoners with love and respect and dignity. If these things did not matter, a Lee Correctional Institution would be as good of a prison as any other.
   I will add one more thing. While Lee Correctional might rank low it how it treats prisoners, there probably isn't a prison out there that treats its prisoners with warmth. If every time a guard interacted with a prisoner, he showed warmth and enthusiasm for the inmate, what a difference we could make. I would venture to say, rare is the prison that hires guards with an eye toward those who are naturally loving people. Does any prison at all do this? And, rare is the prison that trains its guards to be warm and accepting and caring in their interaction with prisoners.
   I will repeat: Love is one of the most important elements -- if not the most important-- you can have in a good prison. If this is true, more can be done to improve our prison system by instilling love than by doing any other single thing.
  Oh, this is an nontraditional way of going about prison reform, but it probably is the best way.