Utilitarian Morality for Public Good

There has been a lot of talk about the celebrities getting preferential treatment in the central jails. There are arguments pouring in from the public that these celebrities should be treated in the prison like any other prisoner.

Surely law works same for everybody but does law enforcers (i.e. Police) keep their neutrality? It's the open kept secret that they do not. So what is the way out?

The system is designed in such a way that it breeds corruption. If a celebrity wants different treatment like better food, better prison cell, etc, he has to give bribe to all kinds of officers.

It is hard to stop this system and individual initiatives of some honest officers aren't sufficient enough. So what systematic shift is required to change this system which breeds corruption?

Here I present an innovative idea.

    • Golden rule -- "Ghee sidhi unglise naa nikle, to ungali tedhi kar leni chahiye."

Instead of using the principle of equality, why not use the principle of justice. The principle of "Justice as fairness" suggests - "If one person gets it, everybody else should also get it."

    • If the celebrity wants the better quality of food, he can have it on one condition -- whatever quality of food he eats, everybody else will eat the same food, provided he funds for that entire food.

    • If he wants clean water for himself, he has to only install few water purifiers in the prison so that everybody has an access to clean drinking water.

    • Same goes for bed, gymnasium equipment, etc

Such investment is not even penny for these celebrities and they will happily do it.

If we apply this principle, govt will not have to spend so much money on prison infrastructure development. Also, he isn’t getting any preferential treatment, as everybody is enjoying the same privilege. It's always better that everybody gets something rather nobody gets anything. 

    • As we are legitimizing this with proper guidelines and oversight agencies, corruption to get these facilities through prison officers will get reduced.

Professor Michael Sandel in his book -- "What money can't buy: Moral limits of markets" gives an example of prison cell upgrade by paying money. If you are sentenced to a jail term in Santa Barbara, California, and don't like the standard accommodation, you can buy a prison cell upgrade for about $90 per night.  

Problem with above system is, it creates classes among prisoners and does not pass the test of moral compass, as only wealthy are getting preferential treatment.  But the method which I suggested is more egalitarian and does not cross the moral compass of equality of treatment. It also creates a win-win situation for all. It can help to reduce corruption too.

Suggestions welcome.

Peace.

-Digvijay Sanjay Patil.

References:

https://www.livemint.com/Opinion/ZjuVbw1lK4lq4liqMCNl7I/What-money-should-not-buy.html