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44 Comments
- inactive, on 03/31/2009, -0/+30umm, it should go the other way around. The prisoners should be getting the recycled mattresses from the rest of the population. Why waste money on criminals?
- socokoolaid, on 03/30/2009, -1/+14If you ask anyone who's been to prison, you will know that prison mattresses are typically stained with blood and smell of piss.
- z3021017, on 03/31/2009, -2/+13Do these mattresses come with a free shiv hidden inside?
- swern425, on 03/31/2009, -0/+11Have any of you read the article? Other than carpet underlay, they're not looking to actually use the mattresses as mattresses or anything else you would rest or live on. I'm sure thorough bleaching/pressurized cleaning would remove any of the bacteria from fence panels or roofing tiles.
- teamr, on 03/31/2009, -0/+11Blood and piss would be #2 and #3 of the bodily fluids i'd be most worried about......
- consoneo, on 03/31/2009, -0/+8I think it easily removes the reasons they're banned. They're banned from resale for germs / infections.
When you shred up the mattress you can run it through a process that kills every bit of germs that could possibly exist in the fibers, and then you can dye it to whatever color you want.
It seems perfectly feasible to me, and I hope it succeeds. Curbing waste is always a good policy. - Wiley9, on 03/31/2009, -0/+8And they come with a complimentary sharpened toothbrush.
- inactive, on 03/31/2009, -0/+8yeah saliva accumulation is just nasty
- erhanaltay, on 03/31/2009, -3/+10Why indeed. Did you know it costs more to house someone in a US prison than a 5 star resort in the Mediterranean?
The US Prison industry is a blood sucking entity sucking up our tax dollars. We need to end the drug war and decriminalize other victimless acts. - Coopjust, on 03/31/2009, -0/+6The average cost per prisoner in 1996 in the US was $20,142/yr, which is $55.19 per day. Now, I'll be fair. Let's assume that, with inflation and such, it costs twice as much today. ($40,284/yr, $110.38 per year)
I'm clearly missing out. What 5 star resort in the Caribbean costs $110.38 a day that includes all expenses, including food? I want to get in touch with my travel agent immediately. - inactive, on 03/31/2009, -1/+7Yummy I want my "new" mattress to smell like salad dressing courtesy of the tossed salad guy.
- sherrington19, on 03/31/2009, -0/+5i personally do not want anything to be filled with parts of the country's penal system
- MrFisty, on 03/31/2009, -1/+6Penal. When it comes to mattresses it's really two bad – yet appropriate – words rolled into one.
- 2of8, on 03/31/2009, -1/+5Agreed. There is no reason that they should be getting 60,000 new ones every year while there are people who HAVEN'T committed crimes and are forced to re-use someone else's mattress. (same goes for food, etc...)
- duggdowncatisad, on 03/31/2009, -0/+4that didn't stop google from buying youtube
- diggydougie, on 03/31/2009, -0/+4Another short one. Here's the whole article:
A mattress recycling program being tested in the United Kingdom could lead to homes filled with bits of the country's penal system.
The U.K.'s Prison Service dumps 50,000 mattresses a year, and as the prison population increases - there are about 82,000 convicts in England and Wales - the Prison Service buys 60,000 new mattresses a year.
Hoping to find a way to send zero mattresses to landfills, U.K. jails are testing out the recycling possibilities for mattresses. First up are two trials with companies that are turning the mattresses into carpet underlay, fence panels and roof tiles.
Here's hoping that if the program's a success it will also boost recycling mattresses outside of the prison system, or even inspire a prison mattress recycle system here in the U.S. (prison population: 2.2 million). Or at least help expand the few recycling options that exist. - inactive, on 03/31/2009, -0/+4http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=077UtUWGQOA
- philodygmn, on 03/31/2009, -1/+4Mattresses are illegal to resell for a reason. I can't imagine shredding them up into carpet doesn't make the reasons they're banned for one use any less heinous.
- MorpheousMarty, on 03/31/2009, -0/+3Well, my first guess is that a standard metal spring mattress would be a very bad idea in prison. Foam mattresses should be ok though. Unless they melt into a very hard plastic. Ah, the joys of trying to design something so it couldn't be used as a weapon. People with nothing to do are surprisingly crafty.
- inactive, on 03/31/2009, -0/+2I saw one show yrs ago where some lady bought a "New" mattress from a shop in NY and she ended up getting a rash. The long short of it was the shop recovered the mattress with a new outer cover and the old stinky dirty one was inside.
- smemily, on 03/31/2009, -0/+2It's a good idea too as mattress foam isn't one of the most decomposable things to enter a landfill.
- duggdowncatisad, on 03/31/2009, -0/+2Spam! Spam! Spam! Spam!
Lovely spam! Wonderful spam!
Spam spa-a-a-a-a-am spam spa-a-a-a-a-am spam.
Lovely spam! Lovely spam! Lovely spam! Lovely spam!
Spam spam spam spam!
BURIED - Lionhart, on 03/31/2009, -1/+3Why do they even get mattresses? A cot should be a luxury at a damn prison.
- slvrbullet87, on 03/31/2009, -0/+2Why not just leave them with the matresses they have, i dont get a new matress every year, far from it.
- Myztry, on 03/31/2009, -0/+2Unless you import stuffed items from China. It may be illegal to resell mattresses in some countries but it's not illegal to import stuffed toys...
What's the matter my little princess. My teddy smells funny... - phrawgh, on 03/31/2009, -0/+1DNRTFA
- inactive, on 03/31/2009, -3/+4It is threads like these that make Kevin Rose cringe realizing how no one will EVER want to buy this site. Because anyone that buys this site also has to buy the user base that makes inaccurate comments without reading the article.
- inactive, on 03/31/2009, -1/+2Just imagine, you ca use a bed a HIV-positive inmate had used.
- PopcornDave, on 03/31/2009, -0/+1It never occurred to me about the metal spring mattress because I haven't had one with metal springs in so long. Good point.
From the foam that I've worked with over the years, it's usually melted into goop rather than anything hard, but it's nice and flammable.
So what you're left with is basically either feathers, cotton or straw. I would guess against straw because of it's flammability, like the foam, which would leave feathers or cotton and you would think those would be biodegradable. - inactive, on 03/31/2009, -1/+2Oh goody!
A piss stained rape-mattress. - pumanegra2012, on 03/31/2009, -0/+1i am sure everyone would welcome this
- inactive, on 03/31/2009, -1/+2True...they should be taking the base for carpeting and turning them into mattresses for prisoners!
(Maybe you should have read the ***** article before commenting.) - inactive, on 03/31/2009, -0/+1oh I read it, I just wanted to point out that we treat criminals too well.
- lornali, on 03/31/2009, -0/+1Constructive rehabilitation
- PopcornDave, on 03/31/2009, -0/+1So the UK dumps about 50K prison mattresses a year. I'm curious how many the general British population dumps per year. Why aren't they concerned about that?
Wouldn't it be a bit more cost effective to start with mattresses that you didn't have to sterilize so much if you're going to experiment? And are the jail mattresses that much different than a standard mattress? - inactive, on 04/01/2009, -0/+1I saved a ton buying used prison knickers!
- slapthemonkey, on 03/31/2009, -0/+1I like this
- sodappop, on 03/31/2009, -2/+2who would click on that after reading the content above?!
- cambob76, on 03/31/2009, -2/+2Ha ha - penal
- lingum, on 03/31/2009, -1/+0Burn them.
And I'm not talking about the mattresses. - inactive, on 03/31/2009, -1/+0and look how well that turned out for Google. It was that purchase that really spelled the end for the "sell for ridiculous amounts despite not have a real business plan to make money" dot com bubble 2.0
- sbevusa, on 04/01/2009, -1/+0Too freaky. No buyee.
- inactive, on 03/31/2009, -5/+4No...I didn't know that...because it is not true.
- inactive, on 03/31/2009, -4/+0You REALLY can't imagine that shredding them, and running them through an extremely thorough cleaning cycle will make them safe to be underneath carpet?
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