Do you think we treat our prisoners too well?

Question

They get central air, cable and more than many working people. I think many are too "coddled". What do you think?

Answer 1

I think prison ought to be a punishment, not a stay at camp.

No TV, newspaper, or other entertainment items. No canteen privileges (those with money shouldn't get more luxuries than those without). No weight pile. If you want to jog or do pushups, fine...no gym equipment.

Food? Each inmate should receive a balanced meal consisting of sufficient calories to maintain health and survival. The same meal, every day. There will be a few variations based upon religious restrictions, but once you choose...that's it.

Beverage? Water.

Cigarettes? Golly, we're about promoting peoples' health. No.

Medical treatment? As necessary.

Length of sentence? If you get sentenced to ten years, you ought to serve ten years. "Good behavior" shouldn't reduce your time. BAD behavior should increase it.

Answer 2

Tax payers , pay taxes to make sure the prisoners of this Country are treated Humanly. What they get is what our penal system has set up for the Prisoners. Anyone sitting in a tiny cell and serving time for the crimes they have committed is not coddled. I am not a criminal or have ever been in jail, but I have seen many Prisoners suffer from the intense confinement that they now have to endure. Many men sit and cry and know that they have done wrong and nothing can be done to change the sentence. We are to pray for the Prisoners. They suffer from severe mental anguish and if they had not been high on drugs or alcohol, they would not be behind bars. You are 100% Wrong when you say the Prisoners have more then many working people. The thing they do have more of is: Tears, crying at night, anger for what they did to cause this, lonliness, iscolation from their children, their Mothers and Fathers die and they can not attend, learned survival skills while in Prison. This is what I think, that your Wrong !!!

Answer 3

I think when so much of our tax dollars are going to insure prisoners have more than just basic needs they are being treated to well. By no means, do I think they should be treated unfairly in anyway. However, they do get things that so many people do not in this country U.S. i.e. 3 meals a day, cable, roof over head. But, I have seen shows about the overcrowding in some prisons where the conditions are not that great.

Answer 4

I've read all the previous answers and have agreed that we treat our prisoners too well. Until I knew one.

I've always thought the same thing ... they get better treatment than some people on the street. But if that is true, how come when they come out of prison they looked aged far beyond their years? How come they lose a light in the eyes, one they never get back? Why are they all so unhealthy?

I'm not trying to be argumentative, truly I'm not. But those are the things that cross my mind whenever I see a question like this.

Answer 5

I hardly think cable TV and games consoles make up for a total loss of freedom and privacy.

And I think the bigger problem here is, why can't normal decent working people afford health care and central air? I don't think either should be considered a luxury.

Answer 6

You should make prison a deterrent. Make it so bad that no one in their right mind would want to go back. I think I suffered more in Boot Camp than they do in prison sometimes. I say that all they need is a 6x8 foot cell, a stainless steel toilet, and a spigot for water. Keep a small prison library, and let them read if they can. If they can't, tough f***ing luck. If they hadn't done what they did, they wouldn't be there. make it bad enough, and they won't want to go back, either.

As for minimum security, I'm with that sheriff out in Arizona, but he doesn't go far enough. If it is good enough for Marines and soldiers in the field, it should be good enough for prisoners in minimum security. Put up a bunch of squad tents, surround them with barbed wire and guard towers, and leave them there. It didn't kill me, my father, or my grandfathers, or any of the rest of my family members who served, it won't kill them. Set up field kitchens, or better yet, give them brown bag meals 3 times a day. going to jail means giving up hot food.

I bet if you did these things, you would see a big drop in the prison population.

EDIT: for isthisright: I don't care about "the light in their eyes" that they lost. THEY F***ed UP. If they hadn't done what they did, they wouldn't have gone to prison in the first place. I have very little sympathy for criminals. You do 90 days for Drunk Driving, ok, I may have a little sympathy. But 90 days in a prison I designed would probably keep you off the bottle for the rest of your life. You are doing 5-10 for armed robbery, or embezzling millions of dollars, I feel no sympathy, and I hope the light does go out in your eyes.

Answer 7

Yes, it was even shown in documentaries that the prisoners who were released tried so hard to get back into jail by commit crimes again. Imprisoning them has made them become 2nd time prisoners wrecking havoc in the society again, all because of the "super VIP benefits".

We the taxpayers are paying for them to enjoy too. They enjoy in the prison by committing crimes while we have to work hard to pay taxes on their behalf.

Answer 8

It is an interesting philosophical pronlem of penology, and depends on what you think prison is for. If you think prison is about retribution, and nothing else, lock them up in damp dungeons, and never let them go.

However, the best way to stop crime is to convince criminals that there is a better way. If you agree with that theory (I do) there is much to be said for a set of structured rewards for achievements toward that better way. Almost everyone responds better to carrots than sticks.

Brutalism breeds brutes.

Answer 9

I had this guy say to me once "I don't know why they give prisoners colour TV sets. Take em away & give em old black & white ones. That'll teach them a thing or two about doin' it tough."

Anyway, a few weeks later I go to a comedy club & the guy on stage is telling a similar story & then he says "Yeah, that's just what we need. People paid to trawl through pawn shops & retro antique stores to try to find old B&W sets..."

I think that certain crimes should still carry the death penalty....rape, child molestation & murder.

Answer 10

prison should b harsher. especially the ones on death row who will sit there for years after their sentencing. i think the better thing to do would be to get one of those apache gunships with the gattling gun, and line them up on a wall or put them out in the deasrt and just waste them. it may seem a little extreame, but it's quick and painless, rather han havig the suffocate on poisionous gas for 15 min.. well, unless they committed something like rape, or child molestation, or some other tyoe of sex crime. then they should be gased and let to suffer...