Whaaaaa! Inmates Are Sweltering

[Conan71]

We already did raid education budgets to pay for jailer's bonuses and to create a slush fund so they wouldnt have to take furlough days.  Maybe we need to take a much closer look at prison spending in general?

Ya think? 

Wouldn't hurt to give the same scrutiny to every other federal and state department while we are at it either.

[Teatownclown]

Or we can quit locking up piddly drug users, still not add air conditioning and save a boatload of cash.

I catch your drift now.....

And private prison corps should bare the cost of their own improvements.

[Breadburner]

That's a false dichotomy. We could just as easily stop locking so many people up and use that savings to pay for it. Or any number of other things.

The POTUS that you felate more often than not uses the same tactics......

[Hoss]

The POTUS that you felate more often than not uses the same tactics......

Aaaand...

...the juvenile enters the room..

[guido911]

I am off my meds, so maybe that's why I don't want to treat the incarcerated inhumanely.

[cannon_fodder]

A/c is a luxury item.  People lived for plenty long in climates like this without it.  Does it suck to be really hot?  Sure.  But it makes me smile to think one of these guys could be the man who stole my neighbors ac for scrap metal.

Save the $ and reform the system to save more $.

[nathanm]

A/c is a luxury item.

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.

[Red Arrow]

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.

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

[nathanm]

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

Prisoners don't have the option of going to an air conditioned theater or red cross shelter or whatever. That still misses the point, though. Forcing prisoners to live in conditions which are likely to make them more violent is cutting off our nose to spite our face. Yes, confinement is sometimes necessary. That doesn't mean that we need to make it worse by inducing further criminal action.

[Conan71]

Prisoners don't have the option of going to an air conditioned theater or red cross shelter or whatever. That still misses the point, though. Forcing prisoners to live in conditions which are likely to make them more violent is cutting off our nose to spite our face. Yes, confinement is sometimes necessary. That doesn't mean that we need to make it worse by inducing further criminal action.

So that explains all the violent riots we see in Oklahoma prisons every summer, eh?  You are more than welcome to open your checkbook to the prisoners if you feel so inclined.  Once you are acclimated to the heat it's not that bad.  So long as they are getting adequate water and shade, it's not that big a deal.

CF- love the comment about A/C thieves.  I can only hope one of them is the POS who did over $20K worth of damage to one of our portable power plants stripping maybe $50 worth of copper wire out of it.

[swampee]

Im sorry you broke the law you dont get a suite at the Hilton. People lived without ac before why should those who can obey laws pay for ac for those who cant. Also the fact how Oklahoma cares more about its prison system than its education system is sad. Seriously this state is either nuts, beyond incompetent, and or just plain corrupt.

[we vs us]

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

That's the worst logic evar.

[Conan71]

That's the worst logic evar.

Or better than our soldiers over in Iraq or Afghanistan?

[heironymouspasparagus]

We have paid over $20 billion to air condition our soldiers.  They don't have it so bad - and yes, I have a grandson there now who is in the heat right now.  It was 120+ on Monday(124), Tuesday, and Wednesday.  Haven't heard about Thurs and today.  But it's a dry heat.....

My air conditioner crapped out Wed.  Came home yesterday afternoon to an inside temperature of 104.  That was fun.  Luckily I had the windows open to let in some cool air....

[we vs us]

Im sorry you broke the law you dont get a suite at the Hilton. People lived without ac before why should those who can obey laws pay for ac for those who cant. Also the fact how Oklahoma cares more about its prison system than its education system is sad. Seriously this state is either nuts, beyond incompetent, and or just plain corrupt.

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.