@Megaman LXIX: The counter-argument might be that there's something to be said for teaching criminals to channel their aggressive tendancies into video games rather than assaulting real people.
I'm pretty sure I've already read a news article which told about a prisoner in the UK getting a PS3 for good behaviour anyway. I think it was the woman in the Baby P case or another high attention case. If this is true then I'm happy since the last thing they deserve is gaming consoles to relax with after committing crimes.
Why not just give them a hollowed out PS3? Take the p*ss.
@OkayOctane: Ah, yes that was the right case. I'm pretty sure she got a PS3 so it sucks that the UK has lenient and pathetic prison officers or maybe it's labour being retarded again.
Well 50% of the prison population only deserves a noose. I'd personally rather they just set up a new set of stocks and lock people in them like the old days and all they get is food and drink for years.
Bloody hell, that's just a BIT of a generalization, surely?!! A lot of these people are just kids that made the wrong choices, falling in with gangs because they were bullied if they tried not to get involved. In many cases, given an education and a chance for a fresh start, they can do their time and go on to become productive tax-paying citizens (instead of costly prsioners). They're all HUMANS, you know?!! Well, at least most of them are...
The scenario that you're suggesting - in which prison is some kind of "Butcher Bay" style hell - would never rehabilitate anyone at all but would instead result in creating brutalized hardcore criminals out of even the most redeemable individuals. Prisoners would either simply be killed by the other inmates or would "toughen up" to the extent that would be far more of a threat to society than they were when they first got locked up.
The other problem with the "prison hell" concept is that UK prisons simply don't have the manpower to deal with the containment of exclusively hyper-agressive populations. If EVERYONE in the prison is looking to hurt some guards, some guards are most definately going to get hurt. Throwing prisoners a few bones like communcal TV sets may seem like a soft option, but the bitter truth is that is a much cheaper and safer option.
@BritBloke916: Wait, so people who torture and kill babies should be given a second chance?
No my friend, just no. Sure there are situations where rehabilitation is perfect, like your example the teen who just fell into the wrong crowd through bullying and his environment. Sure, educate him, empower him to make something better of himself and let him back out into the world to prove his worth.
Some people however do not deserve a second chance. Period.
@OkayOctane: Hey, don't get me wrong. I'm all for stringing up criminals when their crimes are as excessive as your examples. My objection was the claim that "50% of the prison population only deserves a noose", which I believe grossly over-estimates the number of inmates that genuinely are irredeemable monsters.
@BritBloke916: Yes it is very generalized, I obviously don't know the exact amount of people that are terrible criminals and deserve a noose and those that just need time in the cells to learn what they did was wrong but it's about right. You can always make new friends, you can always have the police support you, you can always choose not to be a criminal. ANY child who goes down the life of crime is a deviant who clearly chose that path whether pressured or not. I know there humans but that alone doesn't make me think they deserve to live if they are violent and psychopathic or tend to be repeat offending rapists or whatever.
I don't care if they rehabilitate (as I don't think rehabilitation even works as they could just be 'pressured' to crime again). What I want is to stop re-offending criminals via there execution. Obviously that would only occur to the worst criminals though and the rest go in some stocks, lose there freedom, don't have time to sit around using the weights to get bigger and stronger etc and they waste away to a smaller thinner build. Prisoners wouldn't be able to move in my prisons (be in the stocks) so they couldn't kill each other.
You mean it's the weaker option? Your saying we should appease criminals so we can contain them when they're meant to be getting punished and contained? I say break there arms and legs if they're going to come for our guards. Equip our guards with guns rather than battons or whatever and keep the prisoners shackled at all times if they're violent. Why give appease them for being violent when we should be punishing them more? Your saying the worse they are the more we should appease them which is the wrong approach altogether because they then think they can get away with anything and only have slaps on the wrist.
@xxXX_Insanities_Birth_XXxx: Your world is frighteningly back-and-white. There are a huge number of problems - both moral and practical - with the unimaginably brutal penal system that you describe, but here's just a little "food for thought" for you:
Some of the people locked away in our prisoners are actually innocent.
@phicaluk: I can't click on the link but it doesn't look familiar so I'm guessing not.
Let me guess, you disagree with my opinion so try and post some joke thing? Too bad you failed. Your argument would have been SOLID.
@Yertle8: Yeah mostly speaking on UK prisons myself. Drugs would never be an offense I'd personally decide to put a too heavy sentence on since it's not too bad in itself but if they committed other crimes to fuel the habit or used it to fuel gangs etc. then that'd be different.
If minorities commit crimes and get caught then they should be punished like anyone else.
It'd only be hardcore to repeat offenders etc. Imagine a normal prison structure where only the ones who carry on committing crimes while in prison etc. are further punished. That would be even more positive to those who don't commit the crimes again since they'd be having the others taken away or isolated.
"Drugs would never be an offense I'd personally decide to put a too heavy sentence on"
"It'd only be hardcore to repeat offenders etc. Imagine a normal prison structure where only the ones who carry on committing crimes while in prison etc. are further punished."
"they'd only be punished more if they carried on being unruly and not rehabilitate."
This is all a long, long way from your original comment:
"50% of the prison population only deserves a noose"
It would seem that, on reconsideration of your original comment, you've realised that you were being ridiculous and have now backed off completely.
If you could be in prison & play ps3 online all day & you could start a clan with your fellow cons [HMP] - it would be tempting to go & commit some crimes so I can get 6-8 months off work & play games all day.
@Riquez: "I can get 6-8 months off work & play games all day."
Yeah, sounds good. Except for the fact that for a lot of each day, you're forced to go to classes, or be out in the exercise yard, or meeting with social service representatives, or somewhere else other than where the PS3 is. Oh, and apparently it also involves the total loss of personal freedom. On the plus side you do get a nice criminal record that will probably destroy whatever tiny chance you had of a career in the first place.
Why the 360 ban? It has no wireless built in, so there is no harm done, as long as they check the hardware once in a while, so that no one installs the wireless adapter.
@tylerstyle: Part of Rye Hill's philosophy is one of rehabilitation. While it may seem that providing video games could act as a part of that, I would think that, as a guard there, you wouldn't want to put the temptation out there for your inmates.
If the possibility of outside plotting is made available, there will inevitably someone that attempts it. By and large, those who want to plot will do so anyway, but there is no reason to provide possible fuel for the fire. It's just one more thing you have to pay attention to in a place full of criminals who have already ignored social standards and practices.
There is also an argument to be made for providing criminals with luxuries that many upright citizens cannot afford. That's an entirely different ethical discussion, but I think I'd be fairly upset if I knew my tax dollars were going toward installing a 360 with disabled wireless in a prison, especially if I couldn't afford one myself.
Surely there can be a way to disable wireless internet. I can't recall so I have to ask, isn't there parental control settings? I know there is a way. If I was to go to jail, I would need video games or I would go crazy. I can live without playing them for awhile but not forever.
Fair points, but with a prison population kept happy with a few relatively cheap luxuries (TVs, games consoles, ping pong tables) you can police the whole lot with far fewer guards and not risk an uprising. In the end, it all comes down to cost for the government. Each prisoner is costing the state a fortune (not just in direct costs, but also lost tax revenues). This sucks, but is also the harsh reality of the situation.
06/17/09
06/17/09
It's not like that anymore, right? :D
06/17/09
06/17/09
06/17/09
"OK, stop playing on the PS3. You've served your time. You can now leave the prison."
"Wait a minute... I'm in a PRISON?!!!"
06/17/09
06/17/09
06/17/09
Why not just give them a hollowed out PS3? Take the p*ss.
06/17/09
Those baby p fuckers shouldn't get anything other than a noose.
06/17/09
Well 50% of the prison population only deserves a noose. I'd personally rather they just set up a new set of stocks and lock people in them like the old days and all they get is food and drink for years.
06/17/09
Bloody hell, that's just a BIT of a generalization, surely?!! A lot of these people are just kids that made the wrong choices, falling in with gangs because they were bullied if they tried not to get involved. In many cases, given an education and a chance for a fresh start, they can do their time and go on to become productive tax-paying citizens (instead of costly prsioners). They're all HUMANS, you know?!! Well, at least most of them are...
The scenario that you're suggesting - in which prison is some kind of "Butcher Bay" style hell - would never rehabilitate anyone at all but would instead result in creating brutalized hardcore criminals out of even the most redeemable individuals. Prisoners would either simply be killed by the other inmates or would "toughen up" to the extent that would be far more of a threat to society than they were when they first got locked up.
The other problem with the "prison hell" concept is that UK prisons simply don't have the manpower to deal with the containment of exclusively hyper-agressive populations. If EVERYONE in the prison is looking to hurt some guards, some guards are most definately going to get hurt. Throwing prisoners a few bones like communcal TV sets may seem like a soft option, but the bitter truth is that is a much cheaper and safer option.
06/17/09
No my friend, just no. Sure there are situations where rehabilitation is perfect, like your example the teen who just fell into the wrong crowd through bullying and his environment. Sure, educate him, empower him to make something better of himself and let him back out into the world to prove his worth.
Some people however do not deserve a second chance. Period.
06/17/09
06/17/09
I don't care if they rehabilitate (as I don't think rehabilitation even works as they could just be 'pressured' to crime again). What I want is to stop re-offending criminals via there execution. Obviously that would only occur to the worst criminals though and the rest go in some stocks, lose there freedom, don't have time to sit around using the weights to get bigger and stronger etc and they waste away to a smaller thinner build. Prisoners wouldn't be able to move in my prisons (be in the stocks) so they couldn't kill each other.
You mean it's the weaker option? Your saying we should appease criminals so we can contain them when they're meant to be getting punished and contained? I say break there arms and legs if they're going to come for our guards. Equip our guards with guns rather than battons or whatever and keep the prisoners shackled at all times if they're violent. Why give appease them for being violent when we should be punishing them more? Your saying the worse they are the more we should appease them which is the wrong approach altogether because they then think they can get away with anything and only have slaps on the wrist.
06/17/09
Some of the people locked away in our prisoners are actually innocent.
06/17/09
06/17/09
Let me guess, you disagree with my opinion so try and post some joke thing? Too bad you failed. Your argument would have been SOLID.
@Yertle8: Yeah mostly speaking on UK prisons myself. Drugs would never be an offense I'd personally decide to put a too heavy sentence on since it's not too bad in itself but if they committed other crimes to fuel the habit or used it to fuel gangs etc. then that'd be different.
If minorities commit crimes and get caught then they should be punished like anyone else.
It'd only be hardcore to repeat offenders etc. Imagine a normal prison structure where only the ones who carry on committing crimes while in prison etc. are further punished. That would be even more positive to those who don't commit the crimes again since they'd be having the others taken away or isolated.
06/17/09
Hang on a minute:
"Drugs would never be an offense I'd personally decide to put a too heavy sentence on"
"It'd only be hardcore to repeat offenders etc. Imagine a normal prison structure where only the ones who carry on committing crimes while in prison etc. are further punished."
"they'd only be punished more if they carried on being unruly and not rehabilitate."
This is all a long, long way from your original comment:
"50% of the prison population only deserves a noose"
It would seem that, on reconsideration of your original comment, you've realised that you were being ridiculous and have now backed off completely.
06/17/09
06/17/09
06/17/09
Oh, and a Virtual Boy for good measure.
06/17/09
06/17/09
06/17/09
Yeah, sounds good. Except for the fact that for a lot of each day, you're forced to go to classes, or be out in the exercise yard, or meeting with social service representatives, or somewhere else other than where the PS3 is. Oh, and apparently it also involves the total loss of personal freedom. On the plus side you do get a nice criminal record that will probably destroy whatever tiny chance you had of a career in the first place.
06/17/09
06/17/09
If the possibility of outside plotting is made available, there will inevitably someone that attempts it. By and large, those who want to plot will do so anyway, but there is no reason to provide possible fuel for the fire. It's just one more thing you have to pay attention to in a place full of criminals who have already ignored social standards and practices.
There is also an argument to be made for providing criminals with luxuries that many upright citizens cannot afford. That's an entirely different ethical discussion, but I think I'd be fairly upset if I knew my tax dollars were going toward installing a 360 with disabled wireless in a prison, especially if I couldn't afford one myself.
06/17/09
Surely there can be a way to disable wireless internet. I can't recall so I have to ask, isn't there parental control settings? I know there is a way. If I was to go to jail, I would need video games or I would go crazy. I can live without playing them for awhile but not forever.
06/17/09
06/17/09
Fair points, but with a prison population kept happy with a few relatively cheap luxuries (TVs, games consoles, ping pong tables) you can police the whole lot with far fewer guards and not risk an uprising. In the end, it all comes down to cost for the government. Each prisoner is costing the state a fortune (not just in direct costs, but also lost tax revenues). This sucks, but is also the harsh reality of the situation.