Where prison is a step up

Charles R. Jenkins, the Vietnam deserter who fled to North
Korea nearly 40 years ago but was recently returned to Japan with his Japanese
wife (who herself had been kidnapped by the North Koreans), was demoted,
dishonorably discharged and given a 30-day prison sentence. It’s seems a remarkably light punishment for
a deserter. On the other hand, Jenkins
has been living in a prison, without heat, hot water or electric lighting for
nearly forty years It’s hard to see how
we could punish him more than that.  It’s unfortunate so many innocents continue to rot in the prison that is North Korea.