Prisons are usually associated with being places for punishing those who violate the law.

But prisons also serve another important function, and that is to protect society from those who would do it harm.

That is why it is our fervent wish that when Corbin Douglas Sr. is sentenced Dec. 19, that he will be put away for the rest of his life.

Douglas, 22, from Morris, was found guilty in a Binghamton federal court Thursday of giving morphine to his 14-month-old son, who died of a drug overdose 2½ years ago.

After nearly 10 hours of deliberation, the jury convicted Douglas on nine of 10 charges against him.

"Under the law," said U.S. Attorney Miroslav Lovric, who prosecuted the case, "he cannot get less than 20 years."

Judge Thomas McAvoy, however, can keep Douglas incarcerated for much longer, and we hope he does.

The most serious charge for which Douglas was convicted was the distribution of morphine resulting in the death of his helpless son.

The 10-count federal indictment alleged Douglas distributed heroin, morphine, oxycodone and hydromorphone to adults and minors in 2002 and 2005. It also alleged he possessed the drugs ecstasy, cocaine, fentanyl, morphine, heroin and marijuana in 2004 and distributed the prescription drug olanzapine in 2005.

In 2006, Douglas was arrested four times for driving while intoxicated.

As the trial revealed, Douglas inhabited a world of drugs, alcohol and child abuse. There are no heroes in that world. Not Douglas’ family, not his acquaintances.

We are sad to wonder what kind of life little Corbin Douglas Jr. would have grown up in had it not been taken away from him so callously.

He would have been exposed every day to drugs, alcohol, stealing, living for the next pill or injection or drink. What kind of life would that have been?

Still, Corbin Jr. should have had his chance at life, and a jury says his father is the reason he didn’t.

Society should be shielded from the Corbin Douglases of this world. Make no mistake about it, there are more of them than we’d like to acknowledge.

They are the drunken drivers who snuff out innocent lives on our roads and highways. They are the purveyors of drugs and alcohol to young people without the sense or maturity to turn them down.

Theirs is a miserable, shadowy, parasitic lifestyle without thoughts of anyone but themselves and their own illicit needs.

Unfortunately, we can’t protect ourselves from all of the effects of their vile existence.

But we can be protected from Corbin Douglas Sr.

We hope the judge thinks long and hard about Douglas ever being allowed to inflict himself upon innocent people again.