French ex-president Sarkozy begins jail sentence

He is a former boss of french police. It is not possible to throw him in one of these overcrowded prisons.

Article 3 ECHR should prevent the prison authorities from putting any prisoner in a position where they know he's going to "get roughed up". You and I both want that right for ourselves, so surely we should also extend it to Sarzoky?

And he could also take this opportunity to clean the cells using his much loved Karcher!

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No high horse here, I promise you. I'm not French and I didn't know much in detail about Sarkozy before this, but being convicted of taking political campaign donations from the architect of the Lockerbie bombing is more than enough to make me think he's not a good guy. If you tell me he did a lot of other bad stuff as well, I believe you.

I'm just pointing out that the golden rule requires us to offer human rights even to people who we might think are scum. Because that's the only way to secure those rights for ourselves.

I understand, I do believe in the golden rule. I would not wish physical punishment on the guy, I am merely wishing for him to experience the same terrible living conditions he helped create. Let a man savour justice, for however long is lasts. He'll probably get to go home in a few weeks with an electronic bracelet anyway, and then move in and out of his home freely, as no one enforces these rules on the powerful.

How is calling for equal and humane treatment of prisoners high and righteous? You are recommending targeted abuse for certain prisoners that goes beyond the sentence imposed by a court. Maybe a better way of stating it is that you are low and unjust.

OP's point is that French prisons are famously derelict. They are overcrowded, dirty, dangerous. Regular prisoners do not enjoy the luxury of a VIP cell.

Sarkozy played no small part in making this happen.

We should absolutely wish for all prisoners to be treated decently, and it is a terrible thing that the matter is only brought up when someone like Sarkozy has to ensure a portion of what regular prisoners endure.

And worst of all, his political followers are all lamenting about the conditions he is in while remaining hardliners for the rest of the prisoners. You are right that OP should not wish ill on Sarkozy, whose distress is real and painful to see. But OP's frustration is understandable to anyone who cares even a little for the welfare of regular prisoners in France.

I think the OP is in fact calling for an equal treatment of prisoners. Sarkozy isn't getting the average prison treatment here.

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No, I am calling for Sarkozy to experience exactly what he helped create, nothing more, nothing less.

Sarkozy ran a right wing populist campaign promising "zero tolerance" and being "tough on crime". He helped, through the policies passed under his term, create a huge overcrowding issue within our jail system. It would be only fair for him to experience all of that for himself, after the many heinous crimes he's committed.

I have been opposed to these policies in forever, and advocate for the humane treatment of prisoners. Now that Sarkozy is finally facing some retribution for his crimes, we should all feel sorry for him and bend over backwards to make his life more comfortable. Fuck that. He should reap what he sowed. I don't believe in that "they go low, we go high" bullshit.

So you don't think that increasingly violent populist right wing rhetoric has any impact on the current surge of political violence, that is provably committed by mostly right wing individuals? I'm telling you to include these quotes because they're incredibly relevant. You remaining blind to this is in very bad taste.

Sarkozy is at the root of much prison violence, but we should feel sorry for him now that he's facing prison himself? I won't. I am merely wishing for him to get a taste of his own medicine, not to be subjected to senseless, uncalled for physical violence.

I'll link you aaplok's comment, somewhere else on this thread, that summarizes my viewpoint with much more verve than I: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45667285

Could you please stop posting in the flamewar style to HN? You've been doing it a great deal (I'm not just talking about the current thread, but a clear repeated pattern with your account), and we've already asked you not to. It's not what this site is for, and destroys what it is for.

If you'd please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and stick to the rules when posting here, we'd appreciate it.

Could you please stop posting in the flamewar style to HN? You've broken the site guidelines very badly in this thread. Comments like https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45669994 are the kind of thing we ban an account for.

If you'd please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and stick to the rules when posting here, we'd appreciate it.

Okay, my apologies. I wasn't intending to post in a flamewar style, but I see what you mean.