I think the way prisons operate is wrong.

mitchymo

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Surely for the purposes of rehabilitation it would make much more sense to have inmates not mixing with other inmates and spending time confined alone to think. It is lack of thinking that leads most people to jail in the first place so if they had nothing much else to do but reflect on their past errors then they may find the isolation and boredom and (possible) regret then they might not make the same wrong turns so as not to go back.

Prisons should be places where inmates don't get to socialise or joke or play computors and watch tv etc.

What is the point in sending a thug to jail to chill out and make friends with other thugs to joke and pass the time til release at the taxpayers expense and achieving diddly squat because having been there once before they can carry on as usual in the knowledge that if they get caught and go back then its just like going to a kind of draconian holiday camp rather than serving their punishment!?
 

mitchymo

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Be careul Mitch, we're called insensitive, uncaring, etc....:rolleyes:

Which is a load of b....... :rolleyes:

So long as all basic needs are accommodated (they are being looked after well) then they should not have luxuries at all. It is defeatest. The only reason that inmates have the right to play games, watch tv etc etc is because demands were met and rules changed during/after respectively to minimise the risk of riots re-occurring. These are only able to occur in the first place cos the inmates have contact with each other to form plots and mobs.
 

thenewdigs

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Your question gets back to the issue of "Why do we have prisons?" One of the reasons that prisons are such screwed up places is that we, as a society, haven't agreed on what the exact purpose of prison is.

I can think of at least 3 potential purposes of prison:
- to keep someone dangerous off the streets
- to allow someone to pay a debt to society
- to rehabilitate

In each case, you would pick a very different design. If prison were for rehabilitation, then it would indeed focus on education, behavior modification therapy, etc. But if it were to pay a debt to society, it would involve labor or some other method for atonement. And finally, it it were to keep dangerous people off the street, then the focus would be on heavy duty security. We have elements of all 3 in our current system, but you can only do justice to one of the different purposes.
 
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Yeah they operate wrong but for an entirely different reason. Bunching so much people up together in a hostile environment just turns petty street criminals into hardened gangsters. And then they're released years later with little to no assistance. That's basically an invitation to commit another theft and end up back in the same place
 

mitchymo

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Your question gets back to the issue of "Why do we have prisons?" One of the reasons that prisons are such screwed up places is that we, as a society, haven't agreed on what the exact purpose of prison is.

I can think of at least 3 potential purposes of prison:
- to keep someone dangerous off the streets
- to allow someone to pay a debt to society
- to rehabilitate

In each case, you would pick a very different design. If prison were for rehabilitation, then it would indeed focus on education, behavior modification therapy, etc. But if it were to pay a debt to society, it would involve labor or some other method for atonement. And finally, it it were to keep dangerous people off the street, then the focus would be on heavy duty security. We have elements of all 3 in our current system, but you can only do justice to one of the different purposes.

A prison not secure is no prison so it only has to be secure to keep dangerous people off the streets (such people should be in a completely different prison to those serving trivial stuff) The rehabilitaion element would be a natural process in the mind of a convict if given the time to think. (having 'fun' stuff which is a distraction taken away). If it is a debt to society then this suggests that the crime was not hell worthy and likely a first offense in which case prison should not be their punishment to begin with.
 

mitchymo

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I can't help it, i want to see change. If i had the confidence i would enter politics but
I can't handle public speaking! The system is all wrong from top to bottom from education to health, from governance to resources etc etc. Each time there is a problem it is given a quick fix and at the end instead of creating the best design and investing in it we end up with a patchwork quilt with very shoddy stitching.
 

D_Andreas Sukov

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i dont think its a lack of thinking that causes people to go to jail. A lack of opportunities is more likely. If people had jobs that paid decently then there would be little crime.
 

rbkwp

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Extensive hands on experience with folk in/out of Jail Mitch
*Prisons should be places where inmates don't get to socialise or joke or play computors and watch tv etc*.
Should be .. but often allowed/condoned by authorities to 'keep the peace' amongst inmates, therefore less of a problem for there guardians
as for the .. *and spending time confined alone to think*
i think many experts on this matter consider that .
such is far more detrimental to an inmates sanity .. than beneficial.
(the USA may well differ of course..?)
Many of the folk are NOT capable of pure thoughts to redeem themselves, unfortunately.
Like it or not MOST inmates will be relased eventually back into society, and if theyre not partially rehabilitated, then we may again have the insane, wandering the streets, and of course they will continue to committ crimes, and the cycle continues
I am NOT against what yr proposing, but unfortunately like a LOT of things, mankind has tied itself up in knots, and have basically fckd themselves.
with laws to cover laws to cover laws..>
My Thoughts on it anyway
enz
 

dibo

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i also thought the same mitchy . thats why the prisoners in death row are always the ones with the deepest regret because they are in isolation.
i think the main issue quantity of people and space (where to put them etc,.)
 

mitchymo

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*and spending time confined alone to think*
i think many experts on this matter consider that .
such is far more detrimental to an inmates sanity .. than beneficial.
(the USA may well differ of course..?)

Well if it was dealt with from the off and applied to children behaving badly too.....
 

helgaleena

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mitchy, have you been to prison? and have you been to prison in other nations than your own?

I have incarcerated loved ones. I agree that prison is not healthy for them but not for the reasons you cite. It is because the inmates are seen as less than human and used as slave labor and victimized by the staff as well as one another. Solitary confinement may be a punishment to some, but to others it is a luxury. Most are some sort of insane and get little help with that. And as a previouspost said, there is overcrowding.
 

mitchymo

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mitchy, have you been to prison? and have you been to prison in other nations than your own?

I have incarcerated loved ones. I agree that prison is not healthy for them but not for the reasons you cite. It is because the inmates are seen as less than human and used as slave labor and victimized by the staff as well as one another. Solitary confinement may be a punishment to some, but to others it is a luxury. Most are some sort of insane and get little help with that. And as a previouspost said, there is overcrowding.

I have not been to prison because i've not broke the law.

Overcrowding? that is the perfect example of a failed system. If prisons were built when needed so as not to have overcrowding whilst maintaining an isolation approach then the repeat offenders rate would plummet and there would'nt have been an overcrowding issue in the first place.

Citing abuse by staff etc etc is discrediting to a solution that tho it may fail for such reasons in a draconian nation has a great chance of success in a moderated society. Unless of course you have no faith in your countrymen at all that may make you think those in charge of the penal institutions are ALL bad people which would be monumentally ironic.
 

Countryguy63

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I am sorry for those who have loved ones in prison, but there is a reason they are there.

Prison should not be pleasant. Prison should not be fun.

Have you ever asked yourself "Why are they so overcrowded? Why are so many people not concerned enough with not breaking the law?"

Had a guy that worked in the same place I do say "I don't mind prison. Most of my friends are there and we have a good time each time I go back" WTF?

btw, YES, he had been in prison and was given another chance
 

D_Andreas Sukov

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saying greed is a reason, is saying humans are naturally greedy. By not being in prison yourself, and myself never intentionally stealing ( i took a pamphlet from a shop once which cost a quid when i was about 6 without realising it cost money once) proves that wrong.

The best way to lower prison number and make less crooks is a better and progressive education system.

Im not an educator so dont ask me to go into details, but if people are taught to a higher standard and are smarter, more socially aware etc there will be less crooks.
 
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I agree overcrowding is a problem - and possibly an overlenient atmosphere.

Tbh, I agree with Lemon on this - lack of direction, hope and opportunities often leads people into crime. I'm not sure greed is the main issue - culture in a lot of communities is more of a problem, imo.

I also think isolation would be problematic. They tried that in some places in the 19th century, thinking it'd give ppl more time to reflect and study the bible - but it leads to huge mental health issues and severe depression. Possibly, more rigid routines - set recreation/exercise etc would be good, but ppl need interaction, and fresh air whoever they are (not that you've said they couldn't go outside...).

[*I do think it was scandalous, tho, the way they didn't send JamieFord and Patchos down for long enuff - so they immediately came back on here to re-offend... :wink:]
 
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badgirl22

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I wish I knew the facts about this but I can't remember them. There is a prison, I believe in AZ, which the warden runs like no other. The inmates are made to wear all pink. They sleep outside in tents where it gets to be well over 100 degrees. They get basic food such as bologna sandwiches - just enough to cover the basic nutritional requirements. No special anything. They have to work. There's more to it too along the same lines. There are many complaints from the inmates as you can imagine and people have said it's cruel and unusual punishment to make them sleep in the heat like that. The warden's response is that our armed forces sleep in tents in heat like that the only difference is that they also have people shooting bullets and rockets at them. If it's good enough for our soldiers, inmates can deal with it too! Great attitude.

I get very angry when I hear of inmates complaining about their rights. As far as I'm concerned, they have no rights once they've broken the law. Now, on the other hand, I think there are people in jail who probably don't belong there.
 

mitchymo

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saying greed is a reason, is saying humans are naturally greedy. By not being in prison yourself, and myself never intentionally stealing ( i took a pamphlet from a shop once which cost a quid when i was about 6 without realising it cost money once) proves that wrong.

The best way to lower prison number and make less crooks is a better and progressive education system.

Im not an educator so dont ask me to go into details, but if people are taught to a higher standard and are smarter, more socially aware etc there will be less crooks.

You have made great points about the education, i think i mentioned that the whole system is wrong, its not just the way prisons are run. The standard of education is important but there is a logic in what i am saying about being given time to think in prison. In top notch schools there are far less distractions than in the average school and university, so less distraction improves learning.

The majority of all crime committed is in some way linked to money and it is greed (and a could'nt care attitude) that leads to people violating the law instead of living within their means. In reference to another thread i made recently, if rent was'nt so high then people would actually see a profit in holding down a job rather than breaking the law to get ahead. I used to buy cannabis off an unemployed guy who had his rent and council tax paid by the council whilst he sold drugs on the side and raked in more in a month than i do in 3. The whole system, the way society works, it needs an overhaul. And no excuse of the cost it will take should deter such change because it is long time overdue. IMO