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Virginia prisoners go on hunger strike

specklebang said:
The problem I have with prisons is that they have somehow become the one size fits all method of punishment. They are acceptable for people who significantly harm other people. They make little sense (to me) as a way to punish non-violent crimes.

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While you may be right, I think in this context you are ignoring that the hunger strikers are in segregation pods according to the article. They didn't get there for singing too loudly in the prison choir.
 
Meathead said:
While you may be right, I think in this context you are ignoring that the hunger strikers are in segregation pods according to the article. They didn't get there for singing too loudly in the prison choir.
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But that still doesn't matter.

If they aren't "lifers" then they will be released back into society. So their time spent in prison, rather than being reformed to where they are less likely to come back, they are treated like animals, stripped of all rights and then suddenly thrust back out onto the street with nothing but the clothes on their back, and we wonder why we have such a high recidivism rate?
 
Hatuey said:
As if this means anything at all. Did you see any report about maltreatment of prisoners in Attica? What about prisoners striking in Georgia? NC? What makes your lack of information on the subject somehow worthy while 50 people deciding to peacefully assemble and demand SPECIFIC changes to their living conditions, unworthy? It's not like they're demanding some abstract change to their lives. They've got marked out issues and complaints which point out where they'd like to see a change.
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Sorry, I have a difficult time working up much sympathy for a group of 50 prisoners who have demonstrated that they cannot get along in the typical prison. OTOH, I have no problem with them going on a hunger strike. I hope they stay on the strike for a couple of months. As for their issues and complaints, next time, get a job and stay out of prison.
 
dontworrybehappy said:
But that still doesn't matter.

If they aren't "lifers" then they will be released back into society. So their time spent in prison, rather than being reformed to where they are less likely to come back, they are treated like animals, stripped of all rights and then suddenly thrust back out onto the street with nothing but the clothes on their back, and we wonder why we have such a high recidivism rate?
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I hate being an iconoclast, but the inability to reform is why we have high recidivism rates. Too many of them subscribe to Carl Panzram's quote, "I have desire whatever to reform myself. My only desire is to reform people who try to reform me.", although they are mostly incapable of articulating it.
 
WTF? Razor's changed out on a weekly basis? (I change mine out every other month and shave 5 days a week) OMG, cleaning their cells with one sponge!?!?! Notified of changes to the prison's operating procedures?!?!

Red Onion is a supermax prison, the controls exist because these douchebags are the worst of the worst as far as criminals go. These guys sound like demands from an employee union, not incarcerated criminals of the worst order. Screw em...let em starve.
 
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