If being shut away in a small room only allowed outside into a relatively small area for short amounts of time in a day while constantly being under the threat of getting raped in the shower or stabbed to death by someone just because you looked in their general direction for just a moment too long is your definition of comfortable.... What in the FUCK is UNcomfortable to you?

by Anonymous 14 years ago

First of all, not all prisons are like that. Secondly, even if they were, we'd still be paying for killers' food. And I know for a fact that in some places they get a free college education in jail.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

Yeah, I'm aware that not all prisons are like that, but the OP was referring to rapists and murderers who are kept mostly in prisons like that. Also, about the food, if we don't want our society to crumble, we need a place to contain those who attempt to MAKE it crumble. That's what prisons are. They're FAR from perfect, but the alternative would be murderers and rapists running free. We can't very well expect some people to live some place for years or even their entire lives without providing food, that would be ludicrous. However, the college thing, that's bull. Taxpayers should not be providing prisoners higher education, I'll agree with you on that.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

I think that the OP may be implying that the death penalty would be a possible solution, rather than having "murderers and rapists running free."

by Anonymous 14 years ago

No, the OP is not implying anything. They are STATING that they believe that prisoners should be required to work off the cost of their incarceration.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

About the college thing, I may not be agreed with, but I believe the purpose is to give people the opportunities to improve their lives when they eventually get out of jail. This wouldn't neccesarily apply to murderers and rapists but there are quite a few criminals who were victims of their circumstances and could use the education to become contributing members of society

by Anonymous 14 years ago

(:)): Well, fine. What about the tons of people that would be "contributing members of society" if they had the education, but don't have the money? Believe me, I'm all for giving someone a second chance if they're truly remorseful for their wrongs and have learned from their mistakes, but what gives them the right to have the equivalent of a full scholarship on taxpayer dollar, while people who have committed no crime have to work their asses off to cover their debt to the schools?

by Anonymous 14 years ago

(:)): I don't really buy into the whole "victims of their circumstances" excuse - regardless *they* chose to break the law. There have been plenty of people from similar circumstances who have never broken the law and went out and improved their circumstances through hard work. We need to stop giving out excuses to people who screw up and hold them accountable for their actions, else we'll never see improvement.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

@964447 (MrRight): My point is more that with the education it's less likely that they'll go out and break the law again. It's an attempt to avoid repeat offenders. It's not a perfect system but if the criminals just keep coming back it would be worse

by Anonymous 14 years ago

(:)): We could also prevent that by making prison an unpleasant place to be - many prisons feature three meals a day that are of a quality that many hard-working law-abiding citizens can't afford such as steak, television, weight-rooms, libraries, etc. There is a jail in Arizona that forces the inmates to work during the day, they eat bologna and cheese sandwiches and other simple meals that meet the necessitated calorie requirements, they sleep in tents, and wear pink undergarments - that prison has a very low repeat offender rate because after serving there, the criminals don't want to go back. You don't go to repeat unpleasant experiences, so we need to ensure that prison is an actual punishment and not a free motel stay.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

Some prisons they do have places for jobs. But those are only for people who show good behavior while being in prison. But if they were to make all prisoners work, they would have to hire a lot more guards for the threat of using the machinery as a weapon and all that stuff...

by Anonymous 14 years ago

A lot of people in prisons do have jobs

by Anonymous 14 years ago