Over the last couple of days, we've been thinking over the use of the death penalty: if you are going to use it, and we're not arguing for or against mind you, but if you do have it, maybe it should apply to people like Jerry Sandusky.
Sandusky, the former Penn State assistant, was convicted Friday of multiple sexual offenses involving young boys.Â
While we feel sorry for his family and the people who believed in this monster, the sooner he's gone the better, frankly.
But it won't be by the death penalty. Sandusky will spend the rest of his life in prison. And here's something to bear in mind.
You know the reputation prison has for dealing with child molesters? There's a reason: many of those prisoners had their lives devastated by abusers. Â It's not some sort of jailhouse morality which leads them to deal ruthlessly with child molesters; it's rage.
Sandusky will likely be segregated from other prisoners, which has a positive and a negative.
The negative is that he'll likely die a natural death. The positive is that he'll sit in a cell 23 hours a day until then, and the magnitude of his crimes will settle on him like a lead blanket and he'll always have to worry about an opportunistic shank finding him when he least expects it.
It won't be one of the kids he molested, but it'll be someone who understands what he put them through.