What is Digg?126 Comments
- Lumiras, on 10/12/2007, -12/+86well, it's not like they're playing any good games, though. It's like 50 versions of frogger or lame stuff like that. Still, it's better than anal rape, so they have that going for them
- frobro, on 10/12/2007, -29/+73Maybe someday, through no fault of your own, you'll find yourself behind one of those terrible walls. Maybe then you will know empathy. Although we can and should be grateful that some people are locked-up, make no mistake about it, there are many, many people who are unjustly imprisoned in a world from which it is extremely difficult to legitimately break free . For those who do behave properly in there, and even for those who after having made mistakes, truly wish to rehabilitate themselves, why not give them some reasonable distractions to gobble up some of the awful "time" that they face so repetitively day in and day out. Have compassion man, they are only games
- Drahknon, on 10/12/2007, -3/+25frobro is right. Have any of you all visited a prison? I have. The prison I was investigating was locking up severely mentally ill prisoners in with the general population to save money. Naughty naughty.
Prison is a horrible place. You don't want to be there. Between the daily reality of rape, brutality, disease and no meaningful access to medical care of any kind, it's no where any of you lot want to be. The small comforts provided, be they television, radio, or games, hardly mitigate the horrors of prison. Rather, they are necessary to prevent these men and women from becoming severely mentally ill. Confinement does terrible things to a person, so believe me when I say they are punished plenty.
After all, would you trade your freedom and allow yourself to be beaten and raped in exchange for some crappy games and tv? No, you would not. - mrnephilim, on 10/12/2007, -18/+40To frobro: Let's say one of these people maliciously and intentionally beat you to the point of death, would you like to know that they were sitting on there asses playing pacman for what they've done? To say that there could be innocent people in jail so we shouldn't punish the guilty is ignorant.
- rekrapt, on 10/12/2007, -18/+35Playing games when they should be breaking freaking rocks all day in the hot sun? Must be nice...
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -7/+23Umm, if you think all there is to life is playing video games you have a lot to learn. I couldn't give a ***** if someone who "nearly neat me to death" was playing video games in jail, the point of jail is to keep them from harming others and to help rehabilitate them.... not to bore them to death. They still have plenty of time to think about what they did, at least maybe this will keep thier mind off what store they will rob, or who (you) they will get their revenge on when they get out.
- egorgry, on 10/12/2007, -1/+17damn. I was in a mental hospital and they wouldn't let us play video games.
- j0dnet, on 10/12/2007, -14/+29i love how the comment with the phrase "better than anal rape" gets the most diggs
- barrelrider, on 10/12/2007, -2/+17Let me start out by saying that I agree that video games should be provided if a pilot program does find that it results in less violence within prison ( for the guards sake ) . But I wonder if a program where if you studied and obtained your GED you knocked time off your sentence would also produce the same result?
I personally disagree with some of the legal system and it's system of x years for a certain crime, but it's the best we have for now.
My only objection to frobo's comment is their statement "there are many, many people who are unjustly imprisoned". I hate pat statements on digg and slashdot like this without any data to back it up. How about a few studies as reference like the following would be appropriate ( it took me all of 30 seconds to find ) :
http://www.law.umich.edu/newsandinfo//exonerations-in-us.pdf - Drahknon, on 10/12/2007, -2/+16Um, I'm hardly an "apologist" for prisoners. In fact, I'm arguing that they are punished... quite a lot, in fact, and that this is as it should be. Prison is a horrible place you wouldn't want to be for people who largely deserve their punishment.
But there are certain realities about human beings in long-term confinement that cannot be ignored. The reality is that there is plenty of time to be "penitent." I've seen it, and you most probably have not. These are not men with full social calendars, friend. So much solitude takes a heavy toll on a person and, in fact, can and does drive one crazy. Crazy prisoners are more violent prisoners. Crazy prisoners are more likely to commit crimes when and if they leave prison someday. A television or cruddy video game hardly mitigates the horrors of prison, but it can prevent inmates from going nuts and becoming even greater burdens on society. Additionally, you'll notice that corrections officials are the ones pushing for such things. Why? Because it's easier to get someone to behave if you can threaten them with no tv or radio. It's a tool for controlling and modifying behavior that corrections people know is useful.
Also, a word on "jail." Innocent people are put in jail all the time. That's where you go if you can't afford bail and you've been accused of something, and people are accused all the time without charges being brought. Let me tell you this about most jails: there is little difference between jail and prison in most jurisdictions. Jail is every bit as dangerous and brutal as prison, but the one difference you should note is that one can be in the former without having been convicted of anything. In one case I had, a 17-year-old kid was put in jail, accused of selling drugs. He was raped and stabbed to death after two days. Yet, the prosecutor was going to drop the charges due to lack or evidence. - Pimpalicious316, on 10/12/2007, -3/+15am i the only one bothered by a prisoner saying this:
"You get all these weapons and you've got to beat the four boss men," Dodgin said. "You kill your enemies. They let off these bubbles sometimes. You collect their bubbles, and you get all these weapons."
not exactly the kind of rehabilitation i would deem appropo. - jonnyeh, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11Prison has multiple purposes: Punishment, confinement away from the public, and rehabilitation.
There is a tricky balance between punishing a prisoner and rehabilitation. The most effective way to change someone's behaviour is through positive reinforcement. So, if a prisoner behaves well, they should get a reward. There is the problem! How can they be rewarded, when they're supposed to be punished for their crimes!
Getting a ***** console isn't all THAT great, they're still being punished by being seperated from the outside world, but if a little token toy can help change their behaviour, then hopefully, when they get out (which they will) they won't offend again. - mparthas, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12Amazing how spiteful some people are.
There is no point of putting criminals in prison if you -only- intend to -punish- them. While they are in prison, they will cost taxpayers a lot of money and once they go out they would be very likely to be repeat offenders.
All that money spent to torture the criminals only to find that in the end they will come back to bite us in the ass.
Might as well abolish prison and execute every convicted criminals.
Incarceration, confinement and punishment would definitely breed resentment. If nothing is done to milden that, all they would think about while they are in prison would be how to get revenge.
Gotta teach 'em to lead a normal life e.g. require prisoner to do manual labor from from nine to five, then they can get some entertainment and then an hour or two of night classes, maybe even long distance learning over the Internet ; behind a very restrictive firewall of course. And so on.
Being in prison would still suck, but it would suck less. And it would give them a ray of hope. Letting them know that there are better times ahead if they can change and apply themselves.
Punishment, making an example so that social contract continue to be respected by everybody and rehabilitation, to reintegrate convicts back to the society, aren't they the whole point we have prison in the first place ? - billflu, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12As long as it keeps their minds off of a prison break or riot.
- Cronos1388, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10Don't drop the controller.
- mrnephilim, on 10/12/2007, -8/+16I wonder how much this is costing tax payers in Oregon?
- xodex, on 10/12/2007, -3/+11I recommend Tetris, Maybe Dual Tetris. Get the mind thinking.
:) - rekka, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Nah, they'd just google "escape tunnels"
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Theres no reason prisoners can't be both punished and rehabilitated. I don't consider video games and lifting weights rehabilitation though. How about from 7am to 5pm they do grunt work, like unload trucks at UPS or pick up trash along the road, then after dinner they take required classes on morals and real world tasks, like how to do their taxes when they get out, something even high school students aren't taught. Make some use out of the prisoners while they are in, and make our tax money worth it when they get out.
- drawkbox, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Dude having them go in and play video games makes them lazy lugs. How can you prison riot when you have been playing video games all night? We dont' want them coming out of there like the hulk, more like fat albert after playing games the whole time. When they get out they will be too lazy to rob a store because they can't run more than 20 feet. Hey eh hey!
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7That sounds pretty bad. What prison did you visit? A buddy of mine, at age 19, got sent to prison for 2 years for a 1/8th of green. He said the 2 weeks of sitting in jail before that was the worst part of it all. He said prison was 10x better because they could work out, play pool, watch, whatever. I asked him if it was true about all that rape ***** and he said nah.. at least not where he went. (South Dakota's prison)
All those horror stories you hear sure freak the ***** out of you when you end up on the other side of those bars. Don't think they won't play with you on that either... it's like ***** entertainment hour when you first walk in. They smack their lips and wink at you and *****. I just went straight into my cell, put my tub thing under the bed and laid down. Didn't sleep coz my cellmate damn near snored the walls down... which he did for the remainder of the days I was there. Half passed out at around 7 after we ate breakfast and he went to work. Woke up to an indian askin me when I was gonna give my cherry up. Right at the foot of my bed. I just ***** sat up and told him fukin never... damn near ***** a load in my pants.
They ***** with me like that for a good few days before I finally got some balls and started talkin some ***** back. I got ***** nastier than they could imagine.. and I think I pretty much turned the table on em. After a while they pretty much left me alone.
Then some 18 year old kid came in. Had a party, got busted. Oh man... was that fun. We made him cry. I would feel bad, but I know damn well he'll never do anything to put himself back in jail.
Lesson learned the hard way for both of us. - nullmind, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7This is awesome! I live in Oregon. I'm not looking to get in prison, but they aren't playing "crappy games," they are playing SNES games from the Golden Era! Good idea!
- navster15, on 10/12/2007, -4/+9I totally agree. The main objective of a prison should be rehabilitation, not punishment.
- bloqmon, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7...the inmates have to pay $35 to get the system. Doubt its costing them much of anything. Now the free (sometimes voluntary) surgery that prisoners get is costing them. I remember the story of the guy on death row in California who was on dialysis to keep him alive until they executed him. And the other guy that got breast implants. All on the state.
- Trjn, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6It sounds like Raiden to me, or any number of similar titles.
Or possibly Bomberman.
Which I would think are completely fine, I think even your typical brain dead thug could realise that doesn't really have anything to do with real life violent behaviour.
Funny to see about the other jail's PS2 having 16 titles removed because the wardens realised that they contained things like cop killing. I really do find it amusing that a prison had 16 games along the lines of GTA in the rec room without realising the irony. - zouhair, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5http://www.prisonstudies.org/
1 United States of America 2,135,901
2 China 1,548,498 - TripOverFeet, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7I wonder how big the TV is... like 12"?
- FishyJoe, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6I could see giving them games like chess or trivial pursuit. Cerebral type games would probably do everyone a bit of good.
- Drahknon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5@peeonyou:
I've been to pretty much every prison in Indiana and Kentucky. Generally, prison rape is pervasive in every institution in the country. Many inmates and former inmates are reluctant to admit it, though, since it's rather embarassing for them even if they were not personally effected. Worse, though, are the beatings, which can come from either guards or other inmates or both. At some prisons, merely being beaten won't even get you a trip to the hospital, since, after all, if there's no bleeding the guards can feign ignorance of the damage and save themselves paperwork. - brandonhines, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5I don't really see a difference if they're playing basketball or playing a video game as long as it's kept to time limit.
They should also only be playing "E"-rated games. I'm not one to think video games can affect the typical person, but if you're in jail there's probably something be something...*off*. And these people should not be playing anything that could make the snap or serve as a "get me by" until they can rape and pillage again.
This is a quote from the prisoner:
"You get all these weapons and you've got to beat the four boss men," Dodgin said. "You kill your enemies. They let off these bubbles sometimes. You collect their bubbles, and you get all these weapons."
Does that make you feel good? Hell no. - REBELinBLUE, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7Very well said, it amazes me how ignorant some people can be.
- skipere, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7across America people complaint there not enough money to build better roads, schools , ect ... and prison is crowded with free labor force sitting around sucking up our tax dollars. Why not teach those men what ever skills labors that are required to do those tasks. They gain the skills necessary to do the jobs when they free they have extra skill for their new life plus do somethings positive to pay back to society. We get our roads, schools build with very cheap labors . We just have to monitor it very closely . Just a thought
- justice7, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7clearly bubble bobble.
- neoform, on 10/12/2007, -12/+16I sure hope games like GTA are allowed..! :D
- diskopo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Well, China _does_ execute their prisoners on a regular basis.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I think the possibility of anal rape is enough to outweigh any of the benifits of prison.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3More like Anal Rape and Ass whoopings here I come.
- takeda, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Go for it!
There is more to life than playing video game... - Drahknon, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4@ mcbesq
"However, if the rationalization for the games is to pacify or otherwise occupy prisoners, then prison labor is a much more effective route."
Perhaps in your mind, but then, you seem to forget that forced labor is not an option in most prison systems. Even where "labor" is valuable enough to be profitable (and therefore attractive) for a prison to administer, it is still cost-prohibitive in terms of capital and the like. You act as if corrections officials are simply too stupid to latch on to your startlingly fresh notion of prison labor, when, in fact, labor systems of any sort require capital, staffing, and any number of sundry details.
"If it is because prison should not be so unpleasant, prison should be unpleasant."
Additionally, you seem fond of this either/or notion that it's either labor or "free" time but not both. "Free" time in prison is hardly lounging about eating bon bons. It is hours upon hours of staring at grey walls, broken up only by brutalization at the hands of other inmates or COs. The "pacification" of television is there so that inmates don't lose their bleeding minds, not so they're fat and happy. Have you been to a prison? You seem to have an odd notion of what it's like. Prison is quite unpleasant (again, the horse-whipping example) whether there is television or video games or radio or not.
"If it is because prison should not be so unpleasant, prison should be unpleasant. The deterrent effect of prison, while not great, serves a legitimate utilitarian purpose."
Yes it does, but again, PRISON IS VERY BLOODY UNPLEASANT. You speak of the purposes of incarceration and hapilly judge them as legitimate or illegitimate, but don't seem keen on speaking of the realities of prison life. No one here, by my reckoning, has claimed that deterrence or punishment are "illegitimate" aims for prison. Rather, it is the means by which those aims are achieved that are being discussed. I've told you that prison is, from my own experience, a horrible, wretched place whether inmates have television or video games or not. That is: inmates are punished quite effectively despite such devices. Rather than counter this claim, you spout empty platitudes. Do you have anything more to offer than your own inexperienced opinions? - justice7, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5The question is,
if you could play WoW all day in prison, would you just so you wouldnt have to worry about bills and whatnot? LOL
Yes, you could essentially LIVE in the game.
Meh.. more to life than MMO ? i hope so. - mcbesq, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Prison is designed to serve two purposes: punishment and reformation. In the latter half of the 20th century, there has been an abandonment of punishment in favor of reformation, most notably played out through the debates on capital punishment, mandatory minimum sentencing, and "three strikes" laws.
Playing video games vitiates punishment and does not assist in reformation.
While, from a pragmatic standpoint, I agree with allowing televisions in prison to help (to whatever extent) pacify the inmate population, taking that reasoning to its logical conclusion may lead to abuses. To cater to prisoner whims of diversions while incarcerated to avoid prison disturbances is to kowtow to extortion.
There is nothing wrong with punishing people for crimes that they have committed. There is a fine line between punishment and revenge: that line is the traditional notion of justice. Punishment is a morally legitimate end for the penal system. Video games in prison negates that moral purpose.
Fair disclaimer: I do believe in capital punishment in torture-killings, serial killings, mass killings, and child killings. These, in my belief, are crimes of such a heinous nature as to "shock the conscience." There is a moral imperative that calls for capital punishment in these most extreme cases. I do, though, believe that mitigating circumstances must be offered, and, in deference to the system of presumed innocence, mitigating circumstances should have a lower burden of proof than aggravating factors. Additionally, as a further failsafe, I believe that any death sentence must be delivered by a jury, with a unanimous sentencing. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -6/+9"To frobro: Let's say one of these people maliciously and intentionally beat you to the point of death, would you like to know that they were sitting on there asses playing pacman for what they've done? To say that there could be innocent people in jail so we shouldn't punish the guilty is ignorant_
"An eye for an eye leaves everyone blind" - Ghandi. - pointaken, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Dugg for the comments
- adrockp, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Anyone in here ever spent more than a weekend in jail or prison,they said it was based on behavior,not everyone in prison/jail is there for violent, or rape offenses.I'm not saying this is the greatest idea ever.Some people have problems,doesnt mean they are bad.
- pjh3000, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3It's just like playing Oregon Trail in school. It might not have been your first choice of video game to play in general, but it was better than doing math.
- C00001, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"...incentive program allows inmates to purchase a US$35 game console after 18 months without disciplinary problems..."
--it's an *incentive* program. so it actually is patially about showing them "good" things and requiring them to go a year and a half without getting in trouble in order to earn it--and even then, they pay for it.
@"Think about it, cheap, affordable labor by people who have nothing better to do."
--while i'm not opposed to the idea of trying to instill or foster a sense of vocation, i think we should be careful... i can think of a few other countries who, at one time or another, have allowed very serious abuses to take place under similar pretenses... - lsyx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2What if they turned their clothes into a garrot and their TVs into bludgeons and their bedsheets into whips!??! Oh my God, make them sit in a concrete cell naked, so they have no murder tools of any kind!
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2auto...many prisoners DO do these sorts of things (not at UPS,obviously, since that would really make no sense) But some prisoners simply can't be trusted to interact with others like that.
- blacktoes, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2What's wrong with Frogger;)
- C00001, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2who cares if it's a dupe--the discussion is great!
-
Show 51 - 100 of 126 discussions
Digg is coming to a city (and computer) near you! Check out all the details on our 
© Digg Inc. 2009
— Content created and posted by Digg users is