Why do do many people want to make it much tougher on people in jail?

Question

People keep on saying that things should be harder for people in jail. People are always looking for stuff like smoking, TVs and sports to be banned and going on about good food, clothes, medical care. Doesn't everybody deserve that?

Do people who haven't been there not realise how bad and boring it can be. I know that for me being away from my family and friends was tough enough and you are locked up and told what to do and when to do it - so why do some people want to make it even worse? Treating people badly only makes things worse.

I know I'm biased because I've been there but still.

Answer 1

Commiting a crime is by definition a crime against society. The members of the society also happen to be the tax payers whose tax dollars fund the prison system. In California it costs over $27,000 a year to house one inmate in prison. That is unfortunately more than many hardworking lawabiding individuals make in a year. Many of those hardworking individuals can not afford medical care, clothing and food. The question then becomes should prison inmates be living with a higher quality of life than those working hard and struggling to make ends meat. The point of prison is to rehabilitate people so that they do not end up there again. Wouldn't that be more effective if prison offered a lower quality of life than struggling and working hard can afford you?

Answer 2

Okay, now you DO understand, don't you, that jail is supposed to be a punishment and not a resort? Jail should be a deterrent to crime. It should be so absolutely harsh that you wouldn't even think about doing something to get you in there. As far as I'm concerned, people who are sentenced to jail shouldn't have rights at all. You're whining about treating people badly but you're a criminal? My guess is that either directly or indirectly, your actions treated someone badly and that's what got you in jail in the first place. You're a hypocrite!. Of course, I think it's pretty well established that criminals, generally speaking, aren't very intelligent. Maybe that's why you don't understand.
P.S. Actually, I would support putting criminals in the military as a sentence. They did that during Viet Nam, you know. Ship your butts to Iraq for a couple of years and I'll bet you'd be reformed when (if) you got back.

Answer 3

First everybody gets told what to do. It matters not, whether you are in prison or out. Second, TV's, radios, rec. time, etc. are not rights, they are privileges. Third, nobody is talking about feeding people slop or bad food. Fourth, boring is a small price to pay when you break the law. Fifth, when you break the law, there is more than just rehabilitation involved. There is punishment as well. For some reason some people think that few people should be held responsible for their actions and not punished. I am not one of those. Responsibility is key. Sixth, what most people are talking about changing, is the waste of time and money involved. If you are sent to prison, you should be forced to repay your victims or their estate. They then can keep the money or donate it, but the convict should have to work to pay for their wrongs. They should also have to contribute at least some to the cost of their incarceration. No one is talking about going back to beatings and such, but our legal and correctional institutions have gone to far in making criminals rights more important than victims and society.

Answer 4

I can sort of relate to you - I love someone very much who made some really, really bad choices in the past and spent quite a bit of time in jail.

But it's supposed to be PUNISHMENT. I don't care so much about smoking, TV, and I certainly expect prisoners to get feed properly and clothed. (I don't support having gyms so the prisoners can bulk up to beat the snot out of each other) Essential medical care I support, but the system has gotten SO out of hand. Do you honestly think it's okay to spend tax payer money on a breast reduction surgery for a male inmate? Happens in California and probably elsewhere. I believe Cali will pay for sex changes, too - that's ridiculous!

Should people in jail be treated like people? Of course - as long as they behave themselves. But if someone is incarcerated and wants to act like a total animal, I don't see why they should be treated with kid gloves, either.

I hope you get your life straightened out. Maybe you could use this experience to help keep others out of jail.

Answer 5

I think that by your being there, you are missing the point. Its true we all: DESERVE: good food, clothing and medical care. that's not the issue. We are tired of paying over and over and over for those who keep getting out and going back to a system that has a revolving door. The point is when you are there it should be bad enough to where you don't want to go back once you are out. In the service you are away from your family and told what to do and when to do it too. And have to have permission in order to leave base.(same as locked up) Point? You want out? Earn it and stay out, its not hard to know right from wrong.

Answer 6

Look at it from the other side.

I work 40-80 hours per week. At the end of the week I look at my pay ... not much. No health club membership (weight room), too busy working to engage in sports I like, live to work ... work to live!

Then I read the paper, inmate "x" is suing the county because he got creamy peanut butter instead of crunchy. Inmate "y" is suing the state for more conjugal visits. Inmates complain that breast reduction/enlargement and other plastic surgery (including those operations designed to change their appearance) are not available to them for free. We hear "we want steak more often, we want free elective surgery, we want unrestricted access to our families, we want weight rooms, we want full cable, we want, we want!

Dang it so do I! I want steak more often, I want more time with my family, I want a full weight room, I want free surgery ... guess what, I don't get it, I've never been in jail. I abide by the laws, yet I have to pay for perks for those who don't? What's wrong with this picture?

Prisoners should get basic medical care, clothes, and three hots and a cot ... period. Want a weight room, cable tv, the ability to decide what you eat and wear, elective surgery, etc, etc, etc? Stay out of jail and get a job, see how much of what you want you can afford. Here's a hint, there is no worker advocacy group that will sue the government on your behalf to get it, and even if there was ... you still would not get what you want!

Answer 7

32.000. dollars a year thats why paying the screws to live in jail wioth the folkes there and also the legal system thats funded by taxes thats one reason they want the folkes to suffer and some to stay forever locked up it costs the government and the rich a lot of money to put away societies problem children i say spend 32, thousand teaching them arabic farsi and pushtu and drop them into iran iraq and afghan they can take care of the folkes obver there and then stay there

Answer 8

I think they should make it a bit tougher. It's supposed to be punishment. And some poeple don't care about their family or are happy to be away from them. What i really want them to do is make sure every single one of those poeple are changed for the better when they get out.

Answer 9

Like I tell my kids, "punishment sucks". They get the TV, outside playing and everything fun taken away from them. Why should criminals have more rights than my kids. You should be ashamed going in there sitting on your @ss watching TV and smoking cigarettes all day. Prisoners should be picking up trash all day on the side of the road.

Answer 10

If you have committed a crime why should you have the right to good food , TV, buffing up [w/out actual work] I say chain gang and hamburger helper. no TV, and bible only to read. you should work 8 hours a day or no food. this is how it is in the real world why not for criminals too.