Do you think "prison" movies, make you feel sympathetic to criminals? Do you think many people are innocent?

Question

Its seems like every book ,or movie about prison, makes it seem that prisons are full of innocent people being treated barbarically.
I'm sure , given our twisted police state, that there are innocent people in prison, but do you feel sympathy for many or any of them. Do you think there should be different prisons for each kind of crime. Should the guy who got caught smoking pot, be dodging rape from the guy who raped a baby, or axed his mother? And how fair do you think sentencing is in this country?
I know there are different levels of prison, but it seems that because of crowding , lots of different levels are thrown together.
Does Prison work? Is it working as a deterrent?

Answer 1

Prisons are not to rehab. They are simply warehouses to keep the "bad" people away from the "good people." People have forgotten what the word "penitentiary" is based on.

Prisons are creating a great deal more problems than they solve, and we can thank politicians creating ridiculous "get tough on crime" legislation for insuring that there are far more prisoners than there is ability to deal with them. Officers are endangered or underqualified, prison management is corrupt, families are bankrupted, legal appeals systems are strained or useless, and people die that didn't get a death sentence.

My husband has served 26 years of a 41 year sentence. He started out in a U.S. Penitentiary, and is now at a Low due to his age and health. There are evil people at all levels and there are good people at all levels in the system. I know of a young man (small, thin, the classic nerd) who recently died after being gang-raped. He was in a Low-custody prison on a 4-year drug charge, not serving a death sentence. Prison at any level is no place for the weak or unaware.

It is my observation that no one has any sympathy for a prisoner until it is someone in their family. Then they get involved in all the prisoner's rights organizations, legislative action and raise Cain. Once their person is released, the shouting is usually all over. They are exhausted, financially, mentally and physically, and just want to be left alone. I'm talking about both the inmates and the families.

Prisoners themselves have changed in the last twenty years. They used to have a code of ethics, or as some say "Honor among thieves." They had rules and respected each other, and protected their families. No one wanted their kids to go through what they did.

In the last decade, the "gangsta" street trash has changed a lot of that. Going to prison is cool (at least until they get there. Then they go on suicide watch just to get themselves out of population). They are 3rd generation losers, with no self-respect for themselves or family. They rat out their "homeys" to get a shorter sentence, then rat out the cell mates to get an even shorter term. They don't care if they set up an innocent man to do another ten years in Hell.

They also pride themselves on having as many children as possible with different women. They feel that this makes them a man. Instead, it breeds yet another generation that knows nothing other than going to prison.

In the middle of this are the people who get nailed on mandatory minimums (thanks to legislators promising to get tough on crime, and have now removed the judge's power to rule on the merits of each individual case). These men and women have no business in prison. Thanks to a politician seeking reelection with frivolous lawmaking, they lose their homes, their jobs, and bankrupt their family over one joint. And there is no more parole for these newly convicted people.

And you never "get over" prison. With the old-timers, if they were "rehabbed," they did it themselves or with the help of supportive family. They never wanted to see the place again and will spend the rest of their lives looking over their shoulders.

The ones who have no family on the outside waiting for them will wind up back in there because they have no resources. Who will hire them? Who will rent them an apartment? How will they get transportation with no credit? My husband hasn't seen the real world in 26 years. Can you imagine his reaction to cell phones? Computers? The cost of everything? Our town will be unrecognizable due to development. If you don't have a family to help you through all this, you'll go into shock. Or seek what's familiar, which is prison.

"The Shawshank Redemption" was the most realistic prison movie I've seen, but it still doesn't come close.

Answer 2

you ask a bunch of questions there, so I'll try them each individually.

1.Do you think "prison" movies, make you feel sympathetic to criminals?

Yes, that's the point of the movie. Nobody wants to cheer for a bad guy. So the person in the story is the little guy, trod on by the big bad system.

2.Do you think many people are innocent?

Yes, I would imagine that the vast majority of criminals are innocent, if you ask them. But this raises a bigger question. Would the inner city kid who shot a guy and stole his shoes so he could smoke some crack so he can forget his crappy life for 30 minutes have done the same thing if he had been raised in the suburbs with a silver spoon in his mouth?

3.Do you think there should be different prisons for each kind of crime?

No, what needs to be done is to get rid of crimes that are filling up space in prisons when no one is hurt but the offender themselves. For example, pot. A large number of prisoners are in prison for growing, selling, buying, or smoking pot. If pot was made legal, like cigarettes, how less crowded would prisons be. (legalese it, let corporations grow it, and sell it in stores to people 18 and over (21 in the states) take out the profit for the drug runners of pot and they will disappear.)

4.And how fair do you think sentencing is in this country?

Not fair at all. When a white man does something he gets a certain sentence, a black guy does the same thing, his sentence, is on average, 75% longer. A man kills his wife, he gets 10-25 years. A woman kills her husband, she gets life without parole. There needs to be stiffer standards. No if you do this you can get 10-30000 years. Has to be, if you do this you will get 10 years, be you white, black, male, or female. No ifs ands or but's.

5.Does Prison work? Is it working as a deterrent?

these two are really the same question.

No, prison does not work. if it did, we would no longer need them, now would we? If people were so scared of prison they wouldn't commit crimes, just to avoid going to prison. Ex cons would never go back. SO if it isn't doing what it's supposed to be doing, maybe it's time to look for a new answer.

Answer 3

Prison does not work as a deterrent. If it did, our prisons wouldn't be so overcrowded, and the recidivism rate wouldn't be so high. Prison is not a strong enough punisher to change the lifestyle of people who know no other way of life.

That said, I don't think that all prison related media makes prisoners seem like victims.

I have the movie Gridiron Gang stuck in my head right now. That particular movie may seem to shed a "victim" light on the prisoners. But we are talking about teenage boys here. Some of them committed the crimes they did because they were raised in an environment where committing crime was necessary to live. But all they needed was one strong person to believe enough in them to give them a chance to turn their lives around. Great stuff. Doesn't really answer the question tho ;)

Answer 4

Not quite, but I do feel that quite a few people in prison, especially on Death Row, may indeed be innocent. After all, look at the scandal in Illinois. This is why I volunteer with The Innocence Project.
As for whether prison works or not, I think that in many cases it does and in many others it doesn't. It's not a perfect system, but I do feel that for the most part it is adequate.

Answer 5

It all depends on the individual. Accusations can ruin a person. To say that innocence lay amongst guilt in America's prison system...is very true. Incarseration changes a person....Rehabilitation would save tax dollars..while Correction is a full time job. For a dangerous individual to be free while a parent, or generally harmless person cries themself to sleep at night in a concrete and steel suite.....is wrong. The object of the law is to make us aware of right and wrong. As far as a deterrent......well.......Tis human nature to make mistakes. Severity of punishment is determined by those whose only wish is to justify the circumstance for the victim. but when someones life is taken, or a child is abused....what amount of time can change that? What amount of rehab can alleviate a bad memory? Innocence is common, as is guilt..But sometimes the victims are the real criminals..using the lack of evidence in their favor to save themselves form ill repute. And the defense rests.

Answer 6

Honestly, I do not think that some people should be in prison, but that is another story.

I feel sympathetic to people's story. Anyone is susceptible to going to prison. Someone can lie and say that you did something and then you will have to prove that you did not. If the lawyer was not a good lawyer then your butt will be in jail.

I think that we should practice corporal punishment like they do in other countries, and then we would not have so many repeat offenders and so many prisons.

For example if you kill someone then your hands need to be cut off. If you rape someone you genitals need to be cut off. If more people new that they would get their tail whacked off for molesting children there would be way less molesters in the world.

Answer 7

Let me tell you that there are many many innocent people in jail
also there are those who are innocent and are locked in the same cell with murderers and rapist for years Now how do you think they feel knowing they'll miss a babies first steps, a sons graduation a daughters prom or a parents funeral simply because they got locked up 7 days for a traffic ticket ,put in a cell with a rapist who started a fight and lost Now your 7days turn into 30 and you're put in a cell with a murderer who wants your bottom bunk so he grabs your throat so you stab him with the pencil you were writing home with and he dies now your 30 days turns into 10 years all because you didn't pay the parking ticket that you never saw in the first place. Nice story huh?
well guess what (ITS A TRUE ONE) they don't want sympathy, they want Justus or pay back

Answer 8

Human error accounts for so much failure in all human institutions. However, I wonder what would happen if there were no prisons at all?

Answer 9

I think that mandatory minimum sentencing of people to prison for non-violent drug related offenses should be abolished.