There is one argument that one can never escape when talking about prisons. That is, of course, the issue of where your tax dollars go to. I know many people are upset that prisoners get television, medical care, education and sports for a very low cost, but there have to be reasons for this, right?
Let's start with television. Why would we allow the people who have robbed us, raped us, burglarized us, cheated us, etc. to watch television when some people can't even afford TVs? This is a privilege - a privilege they probably do not deserve. So why waste the money?
To answer that question, let's back up a little further and look at the inmate. Many inmates are not the happiest of people (I know it's hard to imagine). These inmates sit in their cells, mostly blaming everyone else for the crime they committed.
So here we are in a prison where there is no TV, no programs, nothing to do. The inmate is bored, all he or she does is think and talk all day. The prisoner starts to get a little creative. Creativity always shows up when a person is bored. So the inmate makes a weapon. It takes him or her a while, but it gets made. The next thing you know, a corrections officer or a fellow inmate is badly injured or even killed.
How could we have prevented this? A measure that can be taken is to give them television. I think we know from our MTV watching friends that television thinks for you. You don't spend your time thinking of ways to make weapons or to escape. TV holds an inmate over so he or she doesn't get any brilliant ideas.
Perhaps another side to the television argument is other forms of free recreation. On the outside, it costs money to go to a gym or play sports, but in a prison, it's free. If I were a prison guard, I would prefer someone who played sports and was happy than a pissed off inmate who is working on ways to kill me.
Many also have a problem with the prisoners getting free education when we college students are selling our organs for tuition. First of all, prison education programs are hard to get into. They are scarce within the prison, and if one is involved in such a program, he or she is lucky.
The reason for such education is because about 90% of the prison population is going to be released sooner or later. Do we want to return these people to the community the same way they came in? We need to help these people be more productive with their lives and teach them to do so in an honest, law-abiding manner. This is also the reason for drug counseling and such.
There are a lot of misconceptions about prison life. If these were true, why not go to that lovely place where education and medical care are free and you can play sports, cards, lift weights and watch TV "all day?" The vacation of your dreams is just a crime away.
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