[Avodah] halachic attitude to the convicted

[Daniel Eidensohn]

Zev Sero wrote:
> Pesachim (91a): [...] if he is incarcerated in an Israelite prison,
>
> See Rashi, who clearly rejects the idea that this refers to imprisonment
> as a punishment.   Does any rishon disagree with Rashi?
Rashi does not necessarily reject the idea - he does give examples of 
the use of imprisonment but does not say that these are the only uses. 
Look at Rambam(Hilchos Sanhedrin 24:9) where he simply says that 
imprisonment is a legitimate tool of the courts. 
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>> Rambam (Hilchos Chovel u’Mazik 8:11): Similarly all those who 
>> distress the community and harm it -- it is permitted to hand them 
>> over to the non-Jewish government to be beaten, imprisoned and punished.
> How does this support your claim that imprisonment is a legitimate
> punishment?  Who says the the government has the right to act as it does?
See Minchas Yitzchok (8:148) and Rav Wosner (2:58) - any society has a 
right to protect itself - including the right to imprison and execute.
Why would the Rambam say that you can turn a person over to the secular 
authorities to punish a Jew if those authorities are not allowed to 
punish in the ways that the Rambam specifies?


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