Guantanamo

There's been a lot in the news about the 19 men that the United States released (out of 664). In particular conservatives have been complaining about the fact that the prisoners had gained an average of 13 pounds. Manny Howard has an excellent article today in which he injects the odd notion of common sense into the debate. He points out, for example, that the Taliban probably didn't provide the best food to their troops, so this is almost certainly a step up for them. He also points out that prisoners often gain weight upon entering prison, due to the loneliness and dislocation. He comments;

Lisa Dorfman, a nutritionist who has counseled inmates in federal prisons in and around Dade County, Fla., says that in prison, food isn’t just about calories; it takes on a special significance. “When you are incarcerated, food becomes one of the few sources of social pleasure available to you. Meals are an opportunity to communicate with other people. Not insignificantly, it also becomes an outlet, like sex,” she says.

Dorfman explains that overeating, hoarding, and what she calls Night Eating Syndrome are a real problem and a significant cause of dramatic weight gain among prisoners she has counseled. “We found that most inmates gain an enormous amount of weight when they first arrive in an institution. They tend to be depressed, lonely, and stressed out and alienated from loved ones,” says Dorfman. “It’s kind of like being in college your first semester.”

I personally don't fully understand the complaints myself. Should we have starved them? What would that have accomplished, apart from proving that we can sink to the same state of barbarism as everybody else?