would someone please pay for my isolation?

the christian science monitor is reporting that the u.s. government broke terror suspect padilla by using three and a half years of isolation including two years where even his lawyer could not see him.

first, i’m outraged that we would treat anyone - even someone we feel is murderous - in that way. independent of how little respect we feel he might deserve, what’s important is that we respect our process of law. that all accused receive the same standard of decency and dignity. in doing so we honor our own decency and dignity. but i guess this case had too much public propaganda riding on it, that we could not extend that same standard to mr. padilla. this is again failed logic, that the desired result out weighs the method. and in doing so we diminish our own dignity and we should be embarrassed.

but then i have to say i’m struck that isolation is a kind of torture. i paid good money for the solitary, isolated meditation retreats that i’ve done. to see no one and yet have food arrive is quite a luxury when doing intensive meditation. i even met a gentleman last month who completed a four year long retreat in isolation and silence, longer that mr. padilla, and paid good money for it. so i find this quite odd that for some it would be a debilitating form of torture and for others it’s worth enough to pay for!

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