I think Moskos’s proposal is light, but his proposal is one lash (on bare skin with a nasty whip or cane which will cut the skin with each stroke) per six months of prison sentence. One stroke of the lash per three months of normal sentence strikes me as a better trade-off. Of course, his main point was to get us to think about what “penitentiaries” have become, not places where any penance typically take place, and far less humane than the punishment they replaced for most crimes: flogging.
Of course, considering that the courts are giving out six-month sentences for “fleeing and eluding” to folks (at least black folks, or maybe folks with an eight-year old DUI as their only previous brush with the law) with the temerity to not instantaneously realize that the patrol car’s flashers coming on was directed at them before they’d driven 100 feet or so (yes, I have an example), maybe in some cases his proposal might even be harsh.
Sorry, I don’t agree with any of that - if you said that a prisoner could knock off a day or two for every lash once the minimum was already served, then I can see the argument - One lash is a joke.