It would come as no surprise that news of Bernie Madoff being beaten to a pulp at FCC Butner won’t cause a lot of people to lose sleep.  There are a lot of people who remain very angry at Madoff, and a good shellacking is hardly a problem for them.  In fact, some might complain that Bernie’s broken nose was misguided, and the pain should have been felt in a lower portion of his anatomy.

Of course, this is part of the visceral anger toward someone whose crime has harmed so many.  Imprisonment isn’t supposed to include the occasional beating, nor worse.  Initially, the United States Bureau of Prisons claimed that Bernie wasn’t beaten.

But the Wall Street Journal says otherwise.

But that wasn’t the case, report Searcey and Efrati. According to an inmate at Butner, Madoff was treated for a broken nose, fractured ribs and cuts to his head and face. Another inmate who recently was released from Butner after serving time on drug charges also confirmed the assault, as did a third person familiar with Madoff’s situation.

The former inmate said the dispute centered on money the assailant thought he was owed by Mr. Madoff.

Not surprisingly, the BOP says that it “investigated” the incident, and Bernie denied that he was assaulted, ending the investigation.  It must have been one of those spontaneous broken noses.  Rare, but they do happen in prison on occasion.  As does denial of assaults, if one wants to survive the return to the population.

Since the BOP can’t protect Bernie Madoff, who will?  Crips? Bloods? White supremacists?  Forget for a moment that we’re talking about Bernie here, and consider what a lesser known prisoner experiences.  Granted, federal correctional facilities are renown as being safer than state and local facilities, but the point remains.  Prisons are not safe places.  It’s hard to rehabilitate people who are more concerned with making it through the day without being beaten or raped.  They tend to be preoccupied.  Safety in groups becomes an imperative when threatened, and survival requires a certain amount of loyalty to the group.

The argument about punishment tends to focus on length of imprisonment rather than the nature of the experience.  That this has happened to Bernie Madoff, regardless of whether your inclined to applaud the beating, abhor the beating or shrug your shoulders, isn’t the point.  Defendants are sentenced to terms of imprisonment, not imprisonment plus beatings and rapes.  It’s hardly “coddling” criminals to expect them to survive their sentence physically intact.  And it’s surely beneficial to have them return to society without a gang tattoo to show for their survival.

No matter how hard you squint your eyes and think happy thoughts, it doesn’t change the fact that prisons can be very dangerous places.  If that doesn’t bother you, it should.  And as judges blithely come up with how many months or years are needed to fulfill the purposes of 18 USC 3553(a), and inquire what facility a defendant would prefer, perhaps they should ask what gang they want to join so they know what color accessories to bring with them that will best match their needs for survival.