First of all, your example is playing on an association that is not involved in the original case. The crime of lynching a black man is at least associated with KKK rallies, so the punishment that bans him from such rallies at least potentially relates to the crime. What crime is related to a vasectomy? If a man was convicted of "involuntarily impregnating" women and that was his only crime, and he wanted a vasectomy, I'd be willing to listen to reason in that weird, one off case. While I am against voluntary castration of rapist, at least I could see the connection there. But as a general policy, one that offers vasectomy to a thief, for example, this is not a punishment that fits a crime; this is a utilitarian calculation of governmental influence to promote a social agenda unrelated to the crime. It makes the punishment a form of manipulation. It makes the man an object of a social experiment.
Look, I get it, there is something very pragmatic about having options. I've actually wondered whether we couldn't solve our overcrowded prison issue by offering a convict the choice of x number of years or y number of lashes. If I had the choice to reduce a prison sentence by a significant amount of time by receiving a serious whipping, I honestly don't know what I would do but it is an interesting consideration.
However, the fact that you don't see a problem at all is surprising to me. You are talking about opting out, but as I understand it, it's a problem of offering an "opting in" under duress. There are things we should not promote as "opt in" options, and those are directly related to "opting in" to being disfigured by people who have power over you to hold you prisoner. We don't offer "opt in" to blind peeping Toms, and "opt in" to chop off the hands of thieves. And we shouldn't. You might say that a vasectomy is not the same form of disfigurement, but I'd argue it is equally concerning for a governmental agency to have such power. And yes, I get it Norplant is not permanent, but still, it is the temporary disability of a human bodily power. It enters into the fabric of the body and becomes internal to a person's intimate nature. It is the epitome of a place the government should not go. There are good reasons, grounded in human experience, for societies to have moved away from these kinds of disfigurement practices.
