Do any aboriginal people have prisons?

[Mike]

An interesting question... http://www.cancerchecklist.com/inner_life/morrnah_simeona.html (quoted elsewhere in a different context):

There is a place on the Big Island called the City of Refuge. Over the years, I have thought about it often. I took Izzie there, but I don't feel to tell that story now. It is a sacred place to Hawaiians. Even people who have committed heinous crimes could go there and atone. No one would imagine interfering with their processes while they are in the City of Refuge, and once they have left, they are exonerated from deeds of the past.   I have always reflected very hard on this because I cannot think of any traditional culture with prisons. Do the Aboriginal People of Australia or Maoris of New Zealand or Bushmen have jails? I doubt it. They had ways of resolving situations that restored people to society. Even Vikings preferred exile over imprisonment so the situation we see today is a sorrowful commentary on just how messed up we are. I have thought about this long and hard. Basically, I do not believe society has the right to imprison anyone. Yes, there are some people who really do pose a risk to others, but our task is to rehabilitate them. I cannot understand putting someone "away" for twenty years for smoking a joint or stealing a slice of pizza. We are just totally out of tune which is why we see this chaos projected everywhere, not just on our televisions but in every aspect of our dysfunctional lives.