Something Wrong In This Picture

At Crooked Timber, Ted Barlow reviews the recent Supreme Court case in which the court invalidated California's habit of racially segregating its prison inmates, by way of having a look at the hypocrisy of Justices Scalia and Thomas in supporting (in dissent) the segregation policy.

Ted thinks, and this is surely plausible, that the state might be right when it claims that segregation is necessary for the physical safety of inmates and guards. The insuperable question is, isn't there something obscenely wrong with a national corrections policy in which racial segregation is a precondition of prison safety? And before you answer that quickly, consider that the other principle for maintaining order in prison is the semi-official encouragement of rape.