Caleb Bond: Jailed pedophiles shouldn’t get the right to euthanasia

If you’re in jail, you lose privileges freely available to the rest of us – and that must extended to euthanasia, writes Caleb Bond.

Euthanasia, we are told, is about dying with dignity.

We afford people the opportunity to quietly slip away before the pain and terror of terminal illness destroys them.

Why would we give that kind of right to a jailed pedophile?

Malcolm Winston Day, it was revealed this week, is to become the first prisoner in the country to legally end his own life.

The 81-year-old, sentenced to 20 years last June for abusing two students while a music teacher in the 1980s, apparently has cancer.

So what does he do? He decides to cut his sentence short by trundling off to the doctor to get some life-ending meds. Thank you very much.

While one less pedophile on the face of the planet may be a good thing – and we’d save the $100,000-odd it costs each year to keep someone in the clink – it is an incredible insult to Day’s victims.

Health Minister Chris Picton says a prisoner has as much right to euthanasia as someone who follows the law and doesn’t abuse children.

Malcolm Winston Day outside the Adelaide Magistrates Court. Picture: Sean Fewster.

But isn’t the whole point of prison that you lose your rights? You can’t enjoy free movement, you can’t drink – you follow orders and pay the price of breaking the law.

You lose the privileges available to those of us in civil society. Euthanasia ought to be one of those.

A jailed pedophile does not deserve dignity. Day may be in pain and his quality of life may be awful. Who cares?

He gets to legally end his pain. His victims, two girls aged 10 and 11 at the time of the offending, are not so lucky. Their pain lives forever.

One of those girls was a talented musician with a bright future.

“I was an intelligent girl with a musical aptitude and what seemed to be an obvious future in music … it was the central focus of my life,” she said in her victim impact statement.

“I felt confident and accomplished when I performed, music was simply where I belonged.

“Your selfish and disgusting conduct changed my life … you poisoned my life for your own pleasure.”

Where is her dignity? Where is the relief of her pain?

What Day is experiencing is short and temporary. One day the cancer will get him and good riddance.

What happened to his victims changed the trajectory of their lives. It will stay with them until they also die.

The lack of compunction shown by Day is shocking but perhaps not surprising. It’s as though, in his final moments, that abusing those girls wasn’t enough – he also has to show them that while they continue to hurt, he has the ability to end his own suffering.

He, and other prisoners, do not deserve that opportunity.

You visited suffering upon others. Now it ought to be your turn.