Growing old behind bars

Lsungsvorschlag Growing old behind bars

A.I.1.hot (and humid)

2.arrived

3.weak

4.need

5.watched carefully; controlled

II.1.He gave/handed out his weapon voluntarily.

2.He maintained to be mentally ill.

3.They insult you.

4.These prisoners form/are only a minority in the jails.

5.It is not very probable that such prisoners commit another crime.

B.1.I would not say that Quenton Brown is a hardened criminal. Being a homeless, simple-minded tramp of 50, he robbed a store (which of course is a crime and must be punished) more or less only to survive. But as soon as the police arrived he gave up voluntarily. And what is more, his behaviour in prison clearly shows that he is anything but a dangerous criminal. In my opinion he is a very poor man.

2.There are 20,000 prisoners older than 55 in American jails. 400 of them are even over 85. The number of aging prisoners becomes twice as great every four years. Old prisoners, like all elderly people, are very likely to become seriously ill, thus causing huge costs to the taxpayer.

3.They would face enormous problems. They might have no more relatives to care for them, there might be no place for them to go, so that they would be really homeless. A lot of old prisoners lack job experience, which would make it almost impossible for them to find work. These prisoners have no money to make a new start outside the prison and they don't know how to benefit from welfare programmes. All in all, they would be in a very desperate situation.

C.In my opinion, Quenton Brown has been treated extremely unjustly. It is far beyond my comprehension how that judge could sentence him to 30 years without parole. What must this man Quenton Brown feel when he sees murderers and other violent criminals walk out into freedom while he has got to stay without any hope of being released. I think there is absolutely no reasonable relation between crime and punishment.

From a more general point of view there is no meaning in keeping persons like Quenton Brown in prison for the rest of their lives. After a certain time of serving a sentence a society should be prepared to acted mercifully on criminals who constitute no obvious danger to that society when released. (118 words)

D.Die Entlassung von lteren Gefangenen in die Freiheit verursacht mehr als (nur) politische Probleme.

Viele von ihnen haben ihre Familien verloren oder sie berlebt.

Sie haben mglicherweise keine Heimat (mehr) und keinen Beruf.

Sie haben keine Ersparnisse oder Krankenversicherung, und sie wissen kaum, wie man Sozialhilfeprogramme nutzt.

Einige Staaten haben reagiert, indem sie ltere und behinderte Gefangene in eigenen Teilen/Flgeln des Gefngnisses oder im Gefngniskrankenhaus gesondert unterbringen.

Es sollte ein System von sicheren Pflegeheimen geben, wo die Bewegungen der Insassen (lediglich) durch/mit elektronische(n) Armbndern berwacht werden knnten.

Die zentrale Frage (jedoch) ist: Worin liegt der Sinn, einen gebrochenen alten Mann wie Quenton Brown im Gefngnis sterben zu lassen?

Ungeachtet dessen, was mit Brown passiert, ist dies eine Frage, der sich die Justizbehrden frher oder spter stellen mssen.

Landeskunde USA Criminals and society (/((

hm-abo Januar 1990