Midnyte said:
And HELLO PEOPLE we are not talking about DENYING them coffee, if you click the link they are only starting to make them PAY for coffee just like all of us in the free world have to do.
I did know that, honest. I fixed my post to say "free coffee".
Here's a great article in the NYTimes about one guy's experience teaching a college level course in a prison. Also discussed are the differences between the atmosphere of a normal prison which does not offer educational (as opposed to purely vocational) programs and the prison mentioned in the article, which does.
For all those who think that criminals don't deserve free coffee, I wonder, what do you see the purpose of prison as being? Do you realize that these people, or at very least, some of them, are going to be set free and returned to society at some point? Do you think that treating them lke animals is going to rehabilitate them and make them better members of society when they get out?
Yes, I realize that denying prisoners free coffee and treating them like animals isn't at all the same thing, but the "they're criminals! they shouldn't get anything for free!" response really, really bothers me.
FreakPirate
Canada
November 2002
FEB 21, 2005 11:11 PM