Whaaaaa! Inmates Are Sweltering

[Conan71]

People used to live in mud huts and eat weevils for dinner but we've successfully gone beyond that as an acceptable benchmark of civility. 

Maybe we should look at it purely from a cost savings standpoint, and go through, line by line, cross off the more expensive luxuries of human civilization.  If AC's a luxury, then surely heat in the winter must be.  Does hot and cold running water count as a luxury?  How bout standing water in buckets?  Beds?  Yes?  No?  Maybe we let them keep beds.  Or maybe we let them keep a straw pallet. And food?  We're definitely wasting a lot of $$ by not feeding them scraps from the industrial farming process.  Oh, and also, providing staff to feed it to them.  Why not drive up in dump trucks and up-end the offal into outdoor troughs and the young punks can come running for their dinners. 

THAT'S the way to treat a prisoner.     

Careful, you are feeding me full of all sorts of practical ideas.

[heironymouspasparagus]

I had a grandmother who was very pleased when she got to move into a house after WWII that had the hand pump indoors.  The previous farm had it outside the back door about 30 ft.  Still used the same wood stove for cooking, but the outhouse had new boards for a path to it.

I grew up with some of that "old time" stuff, and the only thing that keeps me up out of it is working my butt off to keep head above water.  Not gonna get too excited about some murderer, burglar, rapist, etc having to sweat a little bit.

I must admit that laying in the dark on a pallet in the front room, in the middle of winter, with the cold wind howling outside, is very much improved by watching the glow of a well stoked pot belly stove glowing dark cherry red.  Homey.  Comforting.

[patric]

People used to live in mud huts and eat weevils for dinner but we've successfully gone beyond that as an acceptable benchmark of civility. 

Maybe we should look at it purely from a cost savings standpoint, and go through, line by line, cross off the more expensive luxuries of human civilization.  If AC's a luxury, then surely heat in the winter must be.  Does hot and cold running water count as a luxury?  How bout standing water in buckets?  Beds?  Yes?  No?  Maybe we let them keep beds.  Or maybe we let them keep a straw pallet. And food?  We're definitely wasting a lot of $$ by not feeding them scraps from the industrial farming process.  Oh, and also, providing staff to feed it to them.  Why not drive up in dump trucks and up-end the offal into outdoor troughs and the young punks can come running for their dinners.

Well for that matter, food and water are luxuries, when your consider our ancestors had to fetch their own.  We could just let them eat each other; survival of the fittest.
It's not like we have to pretend to be civilized by demonstrating a higher moral standard to people kept in captivity or anything...

[RecycleMichael]

I am pissed when my hotel room doesn't have HBO.

[sauerkraut]

I'd like to see  prison labor camps where  a inmate could not be released until he paid back with intrest every penny he stole. They would toil 12 hours a day and then they would be too tired at the end of the day to cause trouble and prison riots.  They will just be able to eat, sleep & work.. The inmates  would be paid 50 cents an hour that would go to re-pay his victim. Sadly the ACLU and the USSC thinks that would be "Cruel & Unuseual" punishment.  That would make prison less attractive and cut back on the revolving door and repeat offenders.

[Townsend]

I'd like to see  prison labor camps where  a inmate could not be released until he paid back with intrest every penny he stole. They would toil 12 hours a day and then they would be too tired at the end of the day to cause trouble and prison riots.  They will just be able to eat, sleep & work.. The inmates  would be paid 50 cents an hour that would go to re-pay his victim. Sadly the ACLU and the USSC thinks that would be "Cruel & Unuseual" punishment.  That would make prison less attractive and cut back on the revolving door and repeat offenders.

Meanwhile tax payers are responsible for:

-Security and Administration
- Health care
- Operations
- Rehab
- food
- clothing
- religion

[nathanm]

I suspect the prevalent anal rape is a pretty good motivation to stay out of jail. Somehow I doubt that many criminals think they're going to get caught..

[Conan71]

I suspect the prevalent anal rape is a pretty good motivation to stay out of jail. Somehow I doubt that many criminals think they're going to get caught..

Must be rarer than we think.  Every ex-con claims it never happened to them. 

[guido911]

So we should treat our prisoners to a better lifestyle than some of our financially less fortunate law abiding citizens?

And that right there is what I thought about before I posted my "inhumanity" comment. This is a tough issue.

[nathanm]

Must be rarer than we think.  Every ex-con claims it never happened to them. 

But they oddly all know someone to whom it has... 

[carltonplace]

People used to live in mud huts and eat weevils for dinner but we've successfully gone beyond that as an acceptable benchmark of civility. 

 

Weevils: its whats for dinner

[RecycleMichael]

Remind me to RSVP no at your house.

[carltonplace]

Remind me to RSVP no at your house.

RSVP no at my mud hut

[cannon_fodder]

AS is a luxury item.  On some occasions keeping a person cool becomes a medical necessity, but you average inmate it is for comfort.  My sister in albuquerque doesn't have ac.  My neighbors ac broke for a week.  Both are just fine.

Have it available for medical reasons, otherwise I don't care.  Provide plenty of water and light clothing. I doubt a lack of air conditioning will lead to a higher reincarceration rate.  We have limited reaources, I choose roads, schools, art, small business loans, infrastructure projects, tax breaks for feburbing old buildings, or money for prrison reform over ac for prisoners.

[TUalum0982]

Tell that to the folks that have died from the heat.

Regardless, my point was that when you make a person live in extreme heat, they're less likely to be compliant and more likely to be violent.

was their cause of death listed as "lack of A/C"?  I would be willing to bet it was more along the lines of they were working outside all day, didnt drink the proper fluids and succombed to dehydration.  Now maybe an elderly person or two died due to lack of air conditioning and possibly didnt know any better due to dimentia, or some other underlying reason.  But I find it hard to believe it was strictly lack of AC!