 Ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, everyone watching us tonight. Asalaamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. Welcome to episode 17 of your favorite show, hashtag LNT with your favorite man, Ahmad Ali, and we do welcome you to another live episode from the Holy Siri of Karbala. And of course I'm happy, I'm excited, I'm hyped. For tonight's episode, because honestly tonight, we're gonna change the lives of many, many, many people and trust me when I say that. But tonight, before we jump into what the topic is for tonight, let's go check out what's popping and we'll be back in a few seconds. So let's go. So welcome back to the viewers, inshallah. That what's trending and we should, we should have another one, what's popping. But yeah, we can't throw a lot of jokes tonight. Tonight, you know, we have the red lights and I'm wearing black and a beige tuxedo. So you'll know why later when we get to talk about today's episode, you'll know why. But anyways, what's trending for today? Now, Donald Trump has warned Russia in a tweet. So now official warnings and official statements are being tweeted. They're not being said through press, they're being tweeted. So hamdallah, we're improving. But for the, he warned Russia to get ready for US missile strikes against its ally, Syria, due to the chemical weapon attack on Saturday, which killed almost 500 civilians close to Damascus, a town close to Damascus. Now, Trump tweeted saying that get ready, Russia, because they will be coming. Nice and new and smart. You shouldn't be partners with a gas-killing animal who kills his people and enjoys it. Now, the Russian foreign ministry, they said that Damascus has needed the motive to use chemical weapons, nor chemical weapons themselves. There is no proof for their use by Damascus, by Damascus meaning Bashar Assad. So the Russian senior parliament want to see Assad to check up on the situation or they're probably smuggling them out of the country. We never know, but we'll get to see what the news has for us in later shows or in later news. But what else is trending? Very special news for you guys today. The construction of almost the biggest cruise ship has just sailed from Barcelona, Spain, on its initial voyage around the Mediterranean. Now, that's huge. 1,188 feet long and it's huge. 2,759 cabinets, 24 pools and 22 restaurants. It's huge, huge, look at that. That's beautiful. We need to go. I need to take Alan T. Krug and go on that cruise either on my budget or on the budget of the channel. We gotta see what's good, but check that out. Whoever goes there, you need to take a selfie and send it to hashtag Alan T. Because that's beautiful. Anyways, anyways, anyways. That's it for what's trending today. Let's go check out what today's topic is and trust me, you're gonna like it. So there are consequences for almost everything we do. Now, these consequences are either positive or negative depending on the act that we commit or the act that we do. When a person does something good, he is rewarded. For example, you find like a lost dog and you bring it back to the owner. The reward you'll get is either a thanks or a money reward which actually happened to me once. I took the dog, it was our neighbor's dog, came into our backyard and then I took it back with the owner and he gave me like 20 bucks. I was like 14, 15 at that time. But anyways, that was just to throw that out. But anyways, so there are a lot of ways that you can be rewarded. We don't wanna get through all of them but I mentioned too, either a thanks or it'll give you like five bucks or $10 or whatever. Anyhow, on the other hand, there are negative consequences for the person who does something wrong. Now, and there are punishments depending on what they do and it depends on what they do. And for example, if your children get bad grades, he or she is either being grounded and wow. When brown or black people see that or hear that, and subhanAllah, the guy in the picture is white. He's not even brown nor black cause we don't get grounded. We get something else, we're not trying to throw any jokes out. But the kid, the boy gets his PlayStation taken away or the girl gets her phone. Conference kid for a few days, typical punishment. What's so bad about that? Children are happy and they ask why children are stubborn or why they act in a different way. But tonight, we're not talking about grounding your children or confiscating your child's phone temporarily. We're talking about incarceration. We're talking about those bars, those handcuffs, those bars right there. This guy probably regrets every moment in his life for getting back into, wow. He's firmly holding the bars trying to break through. Although, who breaks through? We'll get to actually talk about that. This guy broke the world record I will talk about later. But we're talking about criminals, AKA convicts, who get to go to jail, convicts go to jail. And depending on the level of crime that they've done, various levels of crime that they've done, the more severe, typically the more severe, the more time they get to spend, and less severe, less time they get to spend. So, bros, I mean, come on. Sisters, we don't find a lot of sisters going to jail, but good advice, don't be stupid. Give me this cam. Give me this cam. I have a message to send. Don't be stupid, please, for the sake of God. Don't be stupid. Think twice before you do or say something, because we don't want our brothers and sisters going to jail. We're trying to be jail-free, because a lot of bad stuff does happen in jail just to throw it out there. We don't want to get into, we don't want to get into detail, but yeah, why am I laughing today? It's not for a lot. Today is a sorrowful day, but jail and the inmates that go to jail have plenty of time to reflect on why they got there in the first place. And trust me, a lot of people, they regret every second for them spending or every second that they've committed the crime. When the sentence is over, the inmate, the convict, if you will, is released. He's set free, just like a bird, either for a day or 10 years or a life prison. You know, a life prison, you get to die, but you know. So, but does the convict actually learn something from his imprisonment? In other words, is prison an effective punishment? And that's your question for tonight. The guys are on point today. I love them. Is prison an effective punishment? Beautiful, and the number is? Pop right there. These guys are on point today, I'm telling you. Plus nine, six, four, seven, seven, four, zero, six, seven, 18, 36. Now a lot of people might ask herself, yeah, I'll give you a second to jot down the number. Yeah, give me that camera right there. A lot of people are asking, we're showing the number, the question at the bottom and the number, what do you do with that? What do you do with that question? Is prison an effective punishment? So what you do with that question, first you need to get your phone out, dial the number, plus nine, six, four, seven, seven, four, oh, six, seven, 18, 36, and before that you get to open WhatsApp and then dial in there. So when you do that, you give us a call and you let us know what your opinion is on today's topic which is, is prison an effective punishment? And I'll love you guys forever, trust me when I say that. I love a lot of people, but anyways, we'll go back. Tonight's question, is prison an effective punishment? All you gotta do is pick up the phone down the number shown below and send us, or you can call, send us a voice or written message at the same number. You can even send us a snap if you want. Comment on our Facebook page because we are live on Facebook at Imam Hussain 3TV or at hashtag LNT or at LNT.show. You can check out our live broadcast there. Leave a comment, like, share, do all that good stuff, give us the reactions, give us the smiley with the hearts, give us thumbs down, no, no thumbs down, thumbs up because tonight you are about to learn a lot of things but before we get to learn a lot from the teacher, we gotta take a short break and be back very short. Do stay tuned. So welcome back, dear viewers and we do remind everyone that we are live from the holy city of Karbala. The guys are recording a time lapse for the show so shout out to the cameraman and the technician. But tonight's show to remind everyone is prison and effective punishment. So what do you think? In your opinion, do you think that it is or do you think that it isn't? And you can get to tell us via WhatsApp, you can call us at the number shown below. You can send us an audio or written message and we will share that inshallah on tonight's episode. But let's get the statistics because for me, I love statistics. I love statistics. Now according to BBC survey done a while ago, 50% of the people say that yes, prison is an effective punishment and 50% say no. Now first, we have to understand prison is not gonna change the person's behavior or the criminal's behavior that goes behind bars. A lot of people have this dilemma in their mind that if a person does go to jail, supposedly he's supposed to change and he's supposed to become a better person. Governments has placed jail so they can get the criminals off the streets, not make them better. You know what I mean? So is the point clear enough? I need a yes or no answer. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we just got the yeah, we just got the yeah. My point is clear, alhamdulillah. But there are actually five generally accepted goals of sentencing. Now first, we have a retribution, deterrence, restoration and rehabilitation. And the first three are, you know, they're accompanied or they're primarily accompanied with incarceration. So change can. All right. Now we all know that individuals who commit crime create what's known as a social debt. Now, if you've ever been called by a tax collecting agency and you have a debt on you, how is that debt paid back? It's paid back by a penalty. And that penalty is you go to jail, not you guys, but the person who comes to the crime goes to jail. That's how the person pays that debt, the social debt, if you will. That being said, there is no credible research showing that punishment in general is an effective way to reduce individual's risk of repeating the criminal behavior in the future. Actually, the opposite is true. When a low risk individual goes to jail, and for example, if a person goes to rob a simple gas station, rob some candy or whatever, I don't think you go to Jeff or Candy, but probably they take your name anyways. But yeah, I mean, something simple, like pickpocketing or whatever, when you go to jail and they put you next to someone like a rapist or a murderer or a bank robber, that influence of you being next to someone when they talk, when they ask you, and before they ask you, they do a lot of stuff to you, you know, you're gonna come out with someone different. You're gonna come out either very violent or very scarred from the stuff they do to you. But so that just increases the level of criminal behavior that the low risk individual will actually do after they come out. But we have a very nice segment for you guys today, and it's called Ask the Public. So let's go see what the public has to say about tonight's question. Take us away. I don't think the prison is the right way to re-abiditate people because you're putting criminals in a place with other criminals where they can learn how to do more crime. Basically, I think it's to create their behavior and things like that, you know, just to give them a chance in life and things like that. Yeah, that was a nice 30-second break. But yeah, these guys actually mentioned something nice because they just said what I said. Prison isn't effective that much because you're putting someone who is low risk with someone who is high risk, and then that person who actually picked pockets, now you can rob a bank, thanks to the guy in jail. But going back, so prisons are an important part of our response to crime, but not for the reason that many people believe. As I mentioned earlier, they provide a reasonable way of punishment for offenders. But this shouldn't be confused with the strategies that need to be placed for the offenders. Now, a lot of people think that, you know what, if a person does commit a crime and he does go to jail, that period of him going to jail is going to correct his manners, correct his way of thinking, and he won't commit the crime in the future. And that's a very important point because a lot of people think it doesn't. Now, what are the alternatives? What are the alternatives? I think we're getting a few text messages, but we'll get them on the screen soon, inshallah. Now, what are some of the alternatives? One is to rely less on the incarceration and more on research-based methods, proving to actually work for the betterment and the rehabilitation of the criminals. We're not saying that, you know what, instead of putting them to prison or the suitable punishment, take them to mental institutions in Iraq. We call them shama'iyah, but in the world they call them mental institutions. But what we're trying to say, that there is a national institution of corrections that has put together a great deal of information about evidence-based practices shown to actually reduce the risk of re-offense. This is actually very important. And very important to actually consider because these essential points here tell us that simply in incarcerating someone does not really change behavior. It simply drives it underground and makes people more persistent about hiding their crimes from others. And that's actually true because when you do go to jail, you tend to learn a lot of stuff of hiding your identity. If you're not a professional criminal, you get to hide their identity. But what do we need to do instead of changing the offenders' thoughts? We need to change their thoughts. We need to change their feelings and beliefs that contribute to criminal behavior. We just have received a text message from Jumana from Tanzania. She says, my second cousin went to jail for robbery and after he got out, he robbed again and went back. I guess he didn't learn his lesson. What a nice cousin you have. Thank you for joining us tonight. Jumana from Tanzania. Right there, that's another point to prove my point regarding that jail isn't the best alternative. We're not saying don't put people in jail. Absolutely not. Put them in jail. But alongside jail, there needs to be a solution. We just mentioned that. The National Institution of Corrections, they brought information, I'll repeat that, the National Institution of Corrections, they brought together information about evidence-based practices and they're saying what we need to do to offenders is change their thoughts, their feelings and beliefs that contribute to criminal behavior. One very promising way to do that is through the Cognitive Behavioral Treatment, CBT, which essentially helps offenders change their thinking. This is, for me, I believe this is a very wonderful way to actually change their behavior. In return, it leads to positive change in behavior. When they feel like the pro-social behaviors, they are more likely to engage in those behaviors as well. For example, if you talk to someone about contributing to society instead of making clients, instead of telling them how to grow their personality, telling them how to actually become a person who can benefit society, and we do remind everyone to call us tonight and contribute in our show tonight and answer the question, is prison an effective punishment? Honestly, I'm going to sentence you guys to jail because you guys aren't sending and we're only Jumana being set free. All of you are going to jail because you guys are not, I'm just kidding, but you actually have to call in and let us know what you guys think because we're trying to find out why is prison or is prison an effective punishment for those who commit crime? So now, that's enough for incarceration and CBT. We have another segment for you, a new segment for you and a lot of new segments, hashtag LNT is growing baby, it's growing. And tonight, we have our very dear friend and guest, Sheikh Usama Al-Apar, who's the expert for tonight and telling us and answering the question for tonight as the expert. So let's go see what he has to say. Bismillah, Rahman, Raheem Wa Alhamdulillah, Rabbil Al-Alamin, Wa Sallallahu Alaa Muhammadin Wa Alaa Ali Al-Tayyibin Al-Tahireen. Is prison an effective punishment? In today's world, people are put into prisons but they are not given any educational value and such, when they go to the prison, they come out and they find it extremely difficult to find a job. They find it extremely difficult to find a residence. In some countries in the world, a credit rating is required before you can find a residence, you find a job, they ask you for a resume, they ask for experience and for a person who just come out of prison, many countries unfortunately cannot provide the resources required such an individual can start a new life. So what may end up happening is this individual going back to the prison because he or she may commit a crime again. What needs to happen is the government system needs to really take a look at initiatives to prevent the causes for people getting into prison. Educational system. People need to have access to education. People need to have access to food and water. People need to have access to the health care. People need to be given support resources. Single parents for example must be given all the resources required for parenting, for education, financial needs, sheltering and so on and so forth. The basics need to be provided to people. Providing these basics will minimize the criminal records of societies. That's why we find in a truly Islamic system like that of Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa ala and Amir al-Mu'mineen alaihi salam there were no prisons even in fact at the time of the Khulafa there were no prison system. In fact Imam alaihi salam had prisons that were made of sugar cane where people used to break and run loose. So we really need to use prisons as educational experiences and solve the root causes for people going into them. Wassalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. Thank you very much Sheikhnaan. We do thank him on behalf of Viewed Your Viewers and on behalf of Hashtag LNC for joining us tonight as the expert for tonight's episode. And the question is is prison an effective punishment? We just have received an audio message from Zayna from Zayna from the USA. What does she say? The answer to tonight's question is prison an effective way of punishment in my opinion it is. You're stuck in the next God knows how many years in this tiny tiny jail cell with literally nothing. No sunlight, they don't take you out. Well in some cases they do but in many cases they don't. And the food they give you is totally disgusting. It's gonna make you think of what you did. Was it really worth spending, you know, the time in jail for doing something so stupid? You know? And there's a program here in the US where they take bad kids and they lock them up I think for about two weeks. And in the end these kids really do end up, you know, thinking straight. It really does have an effect on them. Okay, thank you very much. You have a lot of information about incarceration but we do thank you for joining us tonight. But another person who also has a lot of information about incarceration is Al Chapo. Who does it know? Al Chapo. Al Chapo who is a well-known Mexican drug cartel. So back in July this guy said, wow, how do you become a drug lord when you're that size? Your head's huge, man. Look at this mustache. His head looks like a pair. I didn't want to say that but the co-producer told me to say that. Wow, but we can't crack jokes tonight. What are we doing? Anyways, Al Chapo back in July 2015, this guy was sentenced to jail and he escaped from a 20-inch hole in the back of his cell, in the shower area back of his cell. So Al Chapo Guzman, a leader of a vis-ish, vis-ish, a vis-ish drug cartel in Mexico, this guy escaped through a ventilating system, a tunneling system, and he had to travel almost a mile in that ventilating system, which ended up in a half-built house a mile away from the prison. This guy, he managed to escape, but I think they got him back into prison. Anyways, now, next we have is Brian Larson. This name might not sound familiar, but if you go search on Google who Brian Bo Larson is, this guy, you'll find him that this guy escaped prison. I think this guy, instead of actually making him a prisoner and a convict, they should use him to make him use him to help them better their security, because this guy escaped 22 times from prison. The first time he went to prison was 1989 when he was eight for petty theft, and he robbed a gas station at the age of 13. Wow, this guy has a record. At the age of eight petty theft, at the age of 13, robbing a gas station went to foster care, and he started his long career of jail breaks in 1989 when he escaped prison 14 times between 1990 and 2000. In one domestic escape in 2000, he stole a car, a hot pursuit with cops, and he ended up crashing the car getting out of the car and running away. I think there's a video of that on YouTube. We couldn't get it for copyrights' issues, but so crazy. We don't even know if he's going to break through for the 23rd time, but he was sent back to jail, and this guy should be given a Guinness World Record for 22 times breaking out of jail. We only see that in movies, but we have received another audio message from Montadol from Canara. What does Montadol say? Peace be upon you. Peace be upon you as well. I hope you're doing well, nor that it won't take too much of your time. I'll go straight to answering your question, which is concerning prison being a good form of punishment. My belief, and I believe as well, in the belief of the Islamic literature and the prophetic traditions that no, it is not a positive form of punishment for there are other ways in order for us to, in order for an individual to repent the sins. The way that it is dealt here in the West, the way that prisons are dealt, it's not really a positive way to enforce said punishments for I believe that there are other ways and maybe in a different discussion, we can consider the other ways. Since I was told I only have less than a minute. So, salamu alaykum. Thank you very much, brother Montadol from Canara for joining us tonight and our very dear friend from Canara, Montadol Al-Haddad for joining us tonight on tonight's question. Now, one second, we do remind viewers in the last couple of minutes of tonight's episode, we have three to five minutes left to call in and let us know what you guys think. Now, the third segment for tonight, inshallah, is about, you know, getting the viewpoint of Ahl al-Bayt, alayhim salam and what they have said in this regard. Now, also, if you're wondering why the red lights behind me and why am I wearing black and why we didn't crack jokes tonight. Tonight is the martyrdom of our seventh Imam, it's the eve of the martyrdom, of Imam Musa Al-Kawam, peace and blessings be upon him, the seventh Imam, ninth infallible of Ahl al-Bayt, alayhim salam. Honestly, beautiful shrine, beautiful. May Allah SWT give us the ability to go and visit his shrine. But Imam Musa Al-Kawam, what can we say about him? This individual was in prison for the majority of his life, you know, for someone to be in prison, not knowing when daylight is, or night time is, being behind bars for 20 plus years, oh my God, you know, that picture is actually making it seem like he's living in a nice cell. Imam Musa Al-Kawam lived in a prison, tens of feet below ground, and it just breaks the heart when we try to mention the time he spent in the torture and the oppressions that he underwent in prison by the Abbasid Caliphs. Imagine iron locking on your feet 24-7. Imagine losing track of when it is daytime and when it is nighttime. Imagine the only treatment you get is cruelty. Imagine through all of that, you are alone. We are incapable of imagining that. Because honestly, it just breaks the heart for someone that you know that had to go through that. But honestly, the Apostle of Allah had to go through that only because of jealousy for power that Imam Musa Al-Kawam, a lot of people might ask, you know what you're talking about, imprisonment, and is it a good punishment while you're talking about Al-Kawam, Imam Al-Kawam, Al-Islam? Imam Al-Kawam was imprisoned for absolutely no reason other than being quiet in Medina. He was exiled to Baghdad and imprisoned for over 20 years under harsh punishment. Now, the only thing that Imam Al-Kawam, Al-Islam, I would like to share a story before we go and end tonight's episode. One time they tried to see if the Imam would fall for their, you know, deviation or fall for them. So they sent a dancer, a belly dancer to the Imam Al-Islam, to prison to see if the Imam would get seduced by her. She can seduce the Imam. And what happened is when they sent her down there, a couple of hours later they came back to see her, to see what's going on and they saw her worshipping behind the Imam. So when they took her to see, she said, you told me this guy was, you know, he was deceived, he wasn't a Muslim and ended up being the most pious individual I've ever seen in my life and he changed her life. So imagine what the Imam could have done to the hearts of millions of the Shia around him. But eventually he was poisoned by the Abbasid Caliphs and it's, inshallah, none of you would have to go through prison. Honestly, it's pretty bitter. And you know, you'll take the advice of Ahmad Ali on hashtag and then see in the late night talk and think twice before you do anything. That's it for tonight, guys. And don't forget to watch us live every other day from Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. 1030 Karbalat time, 730 GMT time and 830 London time. Thank you very much for joining us tonight. Wassalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.