Despite the rather amusing nature of this story, it hides a deeper and extremely unpleasant Orwellianism.
"A Florida inmate convicted this week of masturbating while alone in his jail cell is reportedly only one of eight targets—along with state taxpayers—of what a Miami Herald columnist describes as "a spectacular case of selective prosecution."Yes, it is a waste of money to prosecute for it. But the issue goes deeper. First of all, the female deputy who complained was watching him on a monitor - he was alone in his cell - and has done the same for seven others. It sounds almost like she was channel-surfing for Onanists - and must pay quite a deal of attention to them wanking, since in court she "managed to describe [the] offence in startling detail, eight times, once with... approximating the action with arm motions."This deputy definitely seems to be on some sort of crusade against bishop-bashing, money-spanking, etc.
Given the likely prevalence of such commonplace behavior in state prisons (not to mention boarding schools, seminaries and military barracks), criminally charging any Broward County inmate with masturbation represents a major waste of prosecution dollars." (ABA Journal)
That it is - or could be - illegal to masturbate whilst alone is quite disgusting. Had the deputy been visible to the prisoner, then that would be a different story, but since he was alone in his cell, then why should he be prevented from pleasuring himself? It is natural, after all.
This story does give me a great opportunity to post this hilarious video though...
[Warning: Mature content]
via Iain Dale, Tim Worstall, and Caroline Hunt
