The problem is not that prisoners need to be able to watch TV so that they don't beat up and rape weeker prisoners.
If we made them work for their housing etc. then they would be too tired to fight. Letting prisoners go about watching HBO and working out doesn't do much to "rehabilitate" them either now does it?
Work programs. If you want luxuries like TV, you have to work for them. Skills training etc. I would be willing to buy in to that, but just letting criminals sit there and watch TV and play basketball and work out every day, doesn't get it for me.
Couldn't agree more on the work issue -- though I do not at all dig prisons and companies turning a profit on the labor. As far as I'm concerned, the introduction of the profit motive into the prison industry only encourages more bizarre sentencing guidelines.
One of the points that is iterated by both prisoners and prison officials in "The Farm: Life Inside Angola" (very interesting documentary) is that the greatest motivator for prisoners to behave in prison and to work toward acquiring skills that could benefit them on release is the carrot of parole -- the possibility that, by being a model prisoner, you can secure an early release. Even a faint light at the end of the tunnel helps a great deal, according to the warden.
I don't remember this being addressed in the film, but one of the things that's happened with sentencing over the past couple of decades is that parole is increasingly unavailable. The result is that there is no motivation for improvement by the prisoner: the model prisoner and the prison rapist end up with the same sentence.
Oh I don't plan on the Prisons working for a profit. I think there are plenty of roads that need to be built that the government is having to foot the bill for. Cleaning up parks, raising their own food (farms and ranches) etc are all admirable skills and should be used, and yes if the person is able to secure employement, and has been a "model" prisoner, let him out a little early. But if he goes out and commits another crime, back to jail with no parol period.
They already do work for profit. Some Washington prisons contract out to clothing manufacturers, and many customer service phone banks are located in prisons.
littlek wrote:jarlakle - we, as a society, have been that route. It doesn't work so well unless you plan to keep everyone in forever.
That certainly beats the current revolving-door. Something is wrong when a CHILD MOLESTER only gets 12-15 years.
I think they should be put to work. If they don't work, they don't eat.
