Prison: It's a good thing

Anyone who has been to an English public school will always feel comparatively at home in prison. It is the people brought up in the gay intimacy of the slums ... who find prison so soul-destroying. ~ Evelyn Waugh, Decline and Fall

Theodore Dalrymple says life in prison's not that bad now that every cell has a TV and the days of "slopping out" are over. Moreover, he says, middle and upper-middle class prisoners may indeed have an advantage over their less educated peers.

There is another advantage that well-educated or highly intelligent prisoners enjoy by comparison with others: they have more of an inner life. Not only are they able to lose themselves, but they are also able to find themselves by means of deep and genuine reflection. Thus prison can be for them a life-defining experience: they come to see what is important in life, and what is incidental or trivial. It is often claimed of prison that it does no good to its inmates, only harm; but I have known quite a few people whom it has changed for the better.

Dalrymple was commenting on Jonathan King, a recently released pedophile and "pop mogul," who apparently enjoyed his time in the big house.

Like most people, I had the view that once the prison gate slams shut, hell takes place, but the reality couldn't be further from the truth.

I have had no complaints at all about my time inside, apart from the food at Broadmoor.

Martha Stewart certainly benefited from her time inside. "The experience of the last five months . . . has been life altering and life affirming," Stewart said.

Plus, Stewart's certainly gained status in the eyes of the media since her prison release.