The following scenario is designed to get you to think about the meaning of Christmas and whether or not everyone has a right to celebrate it.
You are a government administrator in an alternate timeline of medieval Europe. You’ve been appointed to serve a six month term as a member of a decision-making committee. Members of this committee occasionally vote on important matters relating to the administration of top secret prisons throughout the nation (the administration itself is carried out and headed by a different department).
Recently, an issue has come up for a vote. It concerns the prisoner in the top secret anti-mage prison (the Glass Box), convicted war criminal and mass murderer Witch Queen Annie Holstadt.
The following background regarding the prisoner may be relevant to a full consideration of the issue at vote:
A few years ago, the young Annie Holstadt created a powerful magical army and attempted to take over all of Europe in a war of aggression. During the war, Holstadt killed millions of innocent civilians and burned many towns and cities to the ground with magical fire. In the concluding stages of the war, Annie attempted to wipe out the fairy peoples.
The European monarchies eventually rallied together. Annie was subsequently defeated, captured and sentenced to life imprisonment in the Glass Box.
Annie has been imprisoned inside the Glass Box for close to two complete years now. She has become extremely traumatized as a result of her imprisonment and the loss of her magical powers. For security reasons, she’s kept completely inside her cell at all times and isn’t allowed to go outside at all.
As a result of the anti-magical properties of the Glass Box which have varying seasonal cycles, Annie suffers from partial paralysis for long stretches of the year, literally tied to her bed and having to sip her food through straws.
When she’s able to walk around, she spends most of her days staring blankly out of the transparent walls of her cell or reading the limited books that are allowed (ex the Bible). The overall effects of the Glass Box make her feel cold and weak all year round. A specialized staff keeps her on medications all year round so she doesn’t die and has to serve the life sentence.
…
Christmas, the most important holiday season of the year in your culture, is coming up on the calendar. Traditionally, all prisoners throughout Europe are served a special high quality meal on Christmas eve. If the prisoner is high born, then they are traditionally served some wine as well. This is because Christmas is considered a time of joy, family and spiritual reflection, and although prisoners are separated from family, they should still be allowed to celebrate the important time in some way.
In “exceptional and rare circumstances,” the Christmas meal right can be revoked.
The issue for you to vote on (as a member of a committee of five people) is as follows: Should Annie get her special Christmas meal or not?
In the previous year, the members of your committee voted 3 to 2 that Annie’s Christmas meal rights should be revoked. Most of the written justifications for the votes said something to the effect of: “It would be improper to give a Christmas meal to a witch who has murdered millions of innocents and committed every manner of unacceptable crimes against the Lord Himself.”
However, a whole year has gone by and now a new committee with new members (including you) gets to vote on this issue again.
The prison staff report that Annie, having recovered from a random bout of paralysis, has been looking forward to her Christmas meal.
The staff say that she has been very quiet and “well behaved” throughout the year. She has cooperated with government interrogations and state psychiatrists/criminologists seeking to profile and study her. The staff remarks smugly that compared to the non-magical criminals at the max security cells, she’s surprisingly easy to order around and hasn’t given them much trouble. The staff recommends that you grant her the Christmas meal because “it’s a small treat, and it is Christmas, even for mass murderers” and they reassure you it will be served in good faith.
Please discuss the following:
1. Do you, as a member of the committee of 5, choose to vote in favor of or against serving the Christmas meal to the imprisoned Witch Queen? Why or why not?
2. What does Christmas mean to you personally? Does everyone have a right to celebrate Christmas? How does that factor into your decision with respect to 1?
3. What is your view concerning the tradition of serving special meals in general to prisoners on holidays like Thanksgiving or New Year?
Assume that there are no security risks with serving the meal and that the logistics of actually serving the meal is left entirely to another department and their discretion (you are only in charge of the go ahead vote at the very top, nothing more).
This scenario is subjects to edits and clarifications.
Please assume that because the food is prepared by the order of magic users and special security, it is impossible to poison or otherwise harm/kill the prisoner.
