Society Without Prison

Torah has no concept of prison as a punishment. Why?

Because prison is a futile place.

A place where you are told,
“You will continue to age, but you must not take charge of your life.”

“You must be here, but you must not change what this place is.”

“You will live, but you must not give life.”

“You will keep your head down. While you are here, you are somewhat less than a human being.”

But you are a living human being, the divine image in this world.
You are here to take charge of your life,
to make change in the world,
to give life to others.

We cannot make you a better person by robbing you of that divine image.

But we can lift you up by treating you with the respect and dignity that every sacred human life upon this earth deserves.

We can make this no longer a futile place.

18 Elul 5710:3; Purim 5736:4; Tzav 5736: 2.

« Previous

Go to Yourself

Prison Juice

By Tzvi Freeman

From the wisdom of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, of righteous memory; words and condensation by Rabbi Tzvi Freeman. Subscribe and get your dose daily. To order Rabbi Freeman’s latest book, Wisdom to Heal the Earth, click here.

Browse Book

Wisdom to Heal the Earth »

By Tzvi Freeman

Buy Book

Wisdom to Heal the Earth is a revolutionary new look at Tikun Olam based on the teachings of the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory.

In this Book

Join the Discussion

Sort By:

NewestOldest

12 Comments

Paula July 6, 2020

Societies have, and still do, through inequalities, suppression and many other types of injustices, created circumstances that have greatly fostered “criminals”. Rabbi Freeman, I really get what you express and glad you go there. I’ve the Rebbe’s book Social Vision as well. I agree that the systems which deal with the “end-product”, i.e. the “criminal”, are broken and don’t work, but we very much need to address how/why various social structures are greatly responsible for many individuals becoming “criminals” in the first place, otherwise even with better “criminal” systems, we’d just be treating symptoms and not the cause. Reply

BA Kress Austin July 6, 2020

I like many of Torah’s alternatives to prison. Where the offender can be rehabilitated and the victim can be made whole, Torah-like remedies make a lot of sense. And, in many ways, they’re being used increasingly these days. But other Torah punishments, including death for so many offenses? Not so sure there’s much regard for human dignity in them. Plus, there are many offenders in our world who appear largely incapable of being rehabilitated and who would be clearly dangerous to the innocent. What would you do with them? Prison is not a perfect system. Hardly. But in certain cases it’s a lot easier to criticize its imperfections than it is to propose solid and likely-to-be-successful alternatives. Reply

Tzvi Freeman July 6, 2020

in response to BA Kress:

The death punishment in Judaism was abolished about 2,000 years ago. Why? Because, in the words of the Talmud, "there was an increase in murder." In other words, the threat of capital punishment was no longer effective and therefore had to be abandoned. (See Talmud Avoda Zara 8b)

As for alternatives, please see our article on the Criminal Justice Summit at Columbia . Judges are well aware of many effective alternatives to prison sentencing.

The Rebbe's suggestion of prisons in which guards and prisoners are treated almost the same has been put into practice in Norway with tremendous success. Search: Norway incarceration Reply

BA Kress Austin July 8, 2020

in response to Tzvi Freeman:

Thank you for the response. But just as the times caused our leaders to render the death penalty essentially nullified, they’ve likewise given rise to the need for new thinking about prisons. The effectiveness of alternatives to prison is not as promising as it was in the cohesive community that the Torah understood.

You are absolutely right on this: there are alternatives to prison that are worthy and are indeed being implemented in many places, with great success. But, in my view, as a person who has been very active in social policy, I think it’s just wrong to believe all prisons should be abolished. It would be irresponsible and unjust. The United States is not Norway, and there’s no basis for thinking its policies would work entirely well here. It’s just reality that there are certain criminals here who could not and should not be treated “as their guards” or placed in settings other than prison. This is NOT to say that prisons shouldn’t be humane or that they should be cruel. Reply

David Chester Petach Tikva, Israel July 6, 2020

Obviously Rabbi you have never been in prison. I have and its not all bad. In fact I had a very interesting and thankfully short time when I was in jail. I encountered a man from a religious family who still remembered some of the psalms and sung them so perfectly and well that my life changed! To a small degree we are all slightly in jail through the limitations we have through ourselves of our relationship with society. "The mind is its own place and in itself can make a heaven of hell--a hell of heaven." John Milton. Reply

Tzvi Freeman July 6, 2020

in response to David Chester:

David, I think we must be speaking of two different sorts of prison. I've visited many, from white-collar crime low-security hotels to high-security fortresses.

Not far from where I live is one of the largest prisons in America. I know people that work there. If hell has a hell, this is it. It's run by the gangs, everyone has a weapon, and the wardens are effectively employees of the gangs.

The system is beyond broken. It's a crime-generating machine eating away at America. Reply

Shannon LOUGHBOROUGH January 7, 2019

The modern day psychopath and sociopath must be incarcerated. Maybe the many Torah statements about death penalty (but the restriction on Mankind not to kill) could be construed as a prison sentence option. If prison=death by its imposed futility. Maybe prison should be a place of Torah study to sow seeds in these hardened hearts for HaShem to grow? Byt certainly dangerous offenders must be restrained from continuing to harm others. Reply

Anonymous Eretz Yisroel October 14, 2018

Prison Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Freeman Oct.2018 parshas נח That was great. The way a ring's imprint shows how to truly be. Reply

Anonymous November 4, 2014

So what do we do with adults who violate and abuse children or those who murder? Reply

Steven Lezak Orlando, FL January 7, 2019

in response to Anonymous:

In the Torah... The punishment is death Reply

zak San Diego November 4, 2014

When on a time-out, reflect. A prison exists in thoughts of no purpose, but thoughts animated become purpose. For the nights repairs the day’s actions so they may both add everlasting purpose. We should always smile to see our shadow, for this is truly a remainder of who the image is made from. Reply

Nataniel NJ December 11, 2006

prison This is exactly right. We leave heaven and the wonderment of G-d to come to this earthly time and place for one purpose - to change darkness to light, to change the world around us for good. When we do not do this, we have imprisoned ourselves. Reply

More in this section

You may also be interested in...

Join the Discussion