"A hidden death penalty"

Many Catholics and others against capital punishment have often suggested life in prison without parole as an alternative for dangerous criminals such as murderers. Some, however, have noted that life without parole is problematic as well. I have had "lifers" write to me about how they are merely warehoused, without any sense of hope or meaning or purpose. In short, as I saw someone put it on Facebook, it is "execution by calendar."

Yesterday, in an address to a group of representatives of the International Association of Penal Law, Pope Francis called on all

Christians and people of good will...to struggle not only for the abolition of the death penalty, whether it be legal or illegal and in all its forms, but also to improve prison conditions, out of respect for the human dignity of persons deprived of their liberty. And this, I connect with life imprisonment. Life imprisonment is a hidden death penalty.