Condemned
"Condemned are a humane way for a criminal to pay back his debt to society. The slack-jawed expressions of the Condemned and the brutality of the stapling process provides a fairly sound deterrent as welll, even if the Condemned themselves don't remember any of it."
~Constable Albert Johness
Not Punishment Per Se
Every Condemned was a criminal, likely a heinous one. When the judicial accountants worked out the cost of their crimes to society, they came up with an astronomical number. To remedy this, judges overseeing the sentence will forgo the usual fines, demerits and apology tour and zero the condemned. They are sent to a labor camp, where they are processed. They are Nerve Stapled, fitted with a special MERCR cybernetic that keeps them compliant, and their ability to feel joy is removed. They exist in a haze doing difficult or tedious labor until they either square the debt set for them or are bought off by a trusted citizen who can then employ them at will.A New Life
The benefit of turning a citizen into a Condemned rather than giving them the death penalty is that even the most ravenous psychopaths can become productive citizens. One such proscript was Stephim Corenaldo, Butcher of Arizona, who was a noted Corporate Raider working for Celestial Securities until his wife left him for her masseuse robot. He had a psychotic break (potentially due to overuse of Cyberserkergang, and shot his way through two hundred and forty four people, mostly innocents who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. He became Proscript 389-45498, who spent forty years subcontracted to the SDF Spruance as their much-beloved mop monkey.Why Not Robots?
The sorts of jobs that the Condemned are used for are the sorts of things that an SI are normally used for. The reality is that 'paying back their debt' isn't really the point. The point is that all of the other criminals and scum see the worst among them being meat puppets operated by the PSC, and perhaps follow the rules.What Happens Next?
When a Condemned is judged to have paid their debt (typically after an unforeseen event or after being subcontracted out and their employer takes pity on them) they are simply released. Their memories are not returned, they quite suddenly have to find their own way. Some tirelessly seek out their old identity, but most want nothing to do with it, as they are aware that what they will find is going to be distasteful. The provided template is a freshly freed Condemned, a whole new person with a MERCR cybernetic implant, an inability to feel joy, and possibly enemies out there who aren't satisfied with a term of hard labor.
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