Warning! This article contains spoilers for Excalibur #20
The X-Men have just reminded readers how much more horrific the mutant alternative to prison really is. Since settling on the island nation of Krakoa as a safe haven for their species, the heads of state within the Quiet Council have made a number of ethically questionable decisions regarding the safety of mutantkind. One, in particular, is the punishment for mutants deemed unfit for Krakoan society.
First seen in House of X #6 from the creative team of Jonathan Hickman and Pepe Larraz, the Krakoan version of mutant justice is revealed when longtime X-Men foe Sabretooth is found guilty of violating the first law of Krakoa: Murder No Man. His punishment is described as “Stasis… deep inside Krakoa. Alive but immobile… aware but unable to act on it… Forever.” Known as “exile,” Sabretooth remains the only mutant so far readers have been made aware of suffering this fate.
The concept of exile is once more referred to in Excalibur #20 from Tini Howard and Marcus To. Having trapped the evil mutant-possessing force known as Malice after she inhabited the body of Betsy Braddock, Professor X suggests that the villain be punished. Despite nationwide amnesty for all mutants willing to obey the laws of Krakoa, Professor X refers to Malice as a “security threat” and that she is either cruel enough or reckless enough to “endanger the nation itself.”
In reference to Krakoan exile, Professor X in his own words refers to the punishment as “a place for our greatest threats… awake and aware, but unmoving, without the joy of living,” and that he will not “abide prisons” on Krakoa. In response, Kwannon tells Professor X that exile “sounds exactly like a prison.” Indeed, it is hard to argue that a waking death in isolation for the rest of time is worse than a traditional prison sentence. Kwannon and Besty, with the help of Emma Frost, are eventually able to convince Professor X to give Malice a fresh start in a new body, despite his repeated eagerness to cast Malice in the dark bowels of Krakoa.
How exactly Professor X and the rest of the Quiet Council regard exile as a more humane alternative to prison remains to be seen. The state in which prisoners exist within exile has also yet to be revealed. Though, from its depictions and descriptions on panel, it seems unlikely that the punished mutants are receiving long-term care, nor a path to rehabilitation. Their survival within a dark pit potentially void of food and water also raises unanswered questions.
With the formation of Krakoa as a nation-state for mutants, readers have witnessed formerly heroic X-Men characters betray their previously established codes of ethics in favor of the greater good for mutantkind. Very few decisions regarding Krakoa, however, are as morally compromised as the X-Men enacting exile to punish their former enemies, and it remains unlikely they will abandon the process any time soon.