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"Buy a Prison Cell" - would you contribute?

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I'm constantly sickened by the news of crimes committed by criminals who are out of prison on parole, etc. simply because the prisons are too overcrowded and understaffed to keep them all locked up ... suppose that your state and/or federal income tax return had an option to “contribute to a prison” ... would you be willing to chip in? ... I know I’d be glad to throw at least $200 to $300 a year into the pot - above my regular taxes ... I’m NOT talking about providing new basketball hoops - or more TVs to “improve” things for the inmates ... just adding more cages and guards to keep the scumbags locked away from the people that I care about ...

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They could just take some of those basketball hoops and TVs and other "benefits" and convert that to more cages and guards. Jail/Prison is supposed to be punishment, not a vacation. I live less than 2 miles from a state prison and there are quite often repeat "residents" who commit some crime just to get back because prison is better than home...

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Take away the TV's, the B-Ball (hoops and all), Dress them in black & white strips (or in pink), Get back to stamping out licenses plates. Then we should have the extra cash for lager prisons. Prison should be a punishment, not a stay at a motel/hotel. Edited by BudMan

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I have several problems with the entire system. Waste is rampant. Sentences are rediculous. I still do not understand the need for "cages" anyway. Want more space in prisions. Build them smarter. Use natural barriors to escape. If you build a prison out in the middle of nowhere ( and we have alot of no where in this country) where are the convics going to go. Make the convics build the prisions. Make them do a job that the prision can profit from. Make them grow their own food. We have been locki9ng people up since the begining of time, you would think we would have gotten good at it by now. Nothing you do with prisions is going to please everybody. I think you can make it selfsustaining though without "violating" anybody's civil rights. My pet peeve... Multiple Life sentences.... If their is no way this person should see freedom what is the point of keeping them alive.

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I've got several problems with this. First of all, I have very little faith in our "justice" system's ability to sort out the bad guys from the good guys. I've got several friends and family members that work in various aspects of the legal system, and the more I learn about it the more I'm sickened by it. Sure, in some cases justice is served, but wealth and education level of the defendant, emotion, and pure random chance are big factors as well. It isn't safe to assume that just because someone is sent to jail, that they deserve to be there. the other problem is the fact that what you're talking about is the govermnent asking for more money to perform a task that they're already responsible for, and already paid to do. Think about that for a moment. Suppose you quote your jobs with an option to "contribute to operator safety". Would your customer be willing to throw in a few hundred $$ over and above the agreed price to "make the machine just a little safer"? Didn't the original quotation cover an agreed-upon level of safety? So they're paying you for it, but they won't actually get what they pay for unless you chip-in a little more? Next problem.. So let's say the state gets a windfall of cash designated for the prison system. What do you think they'll do with it? Build more prison cells and hire more staff, of course. That's an absolute guarantee. There won't be any innovative programs to motivate the youth in high-crime areas to seek higher education and good careers. Likewise, there won't be any innovative programs to train and restore the self-respect of the prison population so they'll be motivated to aim higher when they're released. No, what you'll get is a "we're getting tough on crime" slogan, room to house more criminals,and more employees on the government payroll. And then guess what, they'll have to go out and find more people to fill those cells. Can't let any of them go empty, cause then the funding might dry up. So how many people need to be in prison before you'll feel safe? What percentage of the population? Lock 'em up and keep 'em there. Then and only then, our streets will be safe. How about 25%? That should help us sleep easier at night. Of course they'll have to come up with enough laws for those people to break so that they can be locked up, but that isn't really a problem. They've been making up laws for hundreds of years (all in the name of keeping us safe of course) and they've honed that skill to perfection. Hey better yet, let's just declare everyone not already employed by the government as a "potential criminal" and lock 'em all up. But how would we pay for that? The answer has already been suggested: "Make the convics build the prisions. Make them do a job that the prision can profit from. Make them grow their own food." Sounds like a great idea to me. Yeah, others might call it a totalitarian state, but what do they know. We'll be SAFE, darn it! The problems we have in our society cannot and will not be solved by offering up more of our income to the state. All it'll do is buy you some false peace-of-mind. Go out and buy some lottery tickets instead. At least those are claimed to have some entertainment value!

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Doesn't the US have some islands where we can just dump them. The Brits had whole continents where they dumped prisoners, the US and Australia. I think we are out of continents now so we must use islands. What about Alcatraz?

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What did I ever do to you?? I live out in the middle of nowhere -- and 2 miles from the resort... errrr.... prison.

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Start by emptying Death Row. If they're guilty and admitted it, fry them. I'm sure this will create a debate, but think about it... Is it really worth over $50,000 a year per prisoner to keep the likes of Charles Manson and the Unabomber alive? I think not. Make an electric bench and knock them down 20 at a time... Make the penalties more severe so they work as a deterrent and keep people from wanting the free room and board. And take away all of the 'priviledges' they get in prison...

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what's up with the death row inmates who although convicted don't get fried because they are... i don't know, too sick or too old? what is that? nurish them to health before they are ok to be fried? how sick is that?

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I agree with you 100% on all of this. One thing I've always thought is that the Death Penalty has never been a deterrent to crime, at this point, it's a means to remove a defective from society, permanently. If you want it to be a deterrent, then we should bring back hangings in the town square or broadcast executions live at 8pm on Wednesday night. Of course, this brings up fears of The Running Man actually being created, with Richard Dawson as host of course.

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The "land of the free" already has the highest per capita prison population in the world, not including the various 'secret' facilities or Guantanamo, and you red-necks (except gravitar) want more? You want stiffer penalties but they have been escalating for years, with no effect other than to increase the prison population. Ever wonder why you have a "Dept.of Corrections" that runs "Correctional Facilities"?? Part of the reason for incarceration is supposed to be rehabilitation. Ron, why not use your spare cash to build a few "cages" in your basement and inform your local sheriff that you're ready to take the overflow - heck, you might even make a profit!

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I've been reading this post for some time and pondering exactly how to respond. Many good points are made and no real answers reached. From what I hvae gleaned reading this post. Crimes and Crimnals are getting worse and more numerous. Something msut be done. We are not rehabilitiating people as was thought we could, yet we cannot lock up the entire populous. Where lies the real problem? Let me suggests it rests with each and every one of us and responsibility. Whether it is the starlett on her 3rd DUI, because her parents never taught her "responsible drinking" {an oxymoronic term in my book} or the inner city gang thug who murdered two children at their grandmothers, because his father didn't love him. Everyone has an excuse for doing wrong, but that doesn't make it right. The time has come to hold each opther responsible. When you kids ask "Dad why are you doing 70 in a 55 zone?" and you repsond because we are late. That teaches them some laws can be broken. So when they cheat on a test or beat a girlfriend later in life. Remeber you taught them some laws can be broken when you sped. And that neighbor kid whose dad just ran off with the secrretary. You can't do anything for the old man, but you can make sure the kid turns out right by helping his mom. Won't fix it this generation, but imagine the change come the next. I say the place to start is to raise a generation of kids who understand that the only good way to live is the lawful way. After all the famous writer once said "All that is required for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing". Well good men we've done nothing long enough. It took us several generations to get where we are at and it will take a determined effort for several to reverse that trend.

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I tend to agree with you Bob. I recently read an article in a business magazine about a study to find out what makes some people good CEO's. Part of the process was a brain scan. One thing they discovered is, that it is almost impossible to teach an adult morals. A person's morals are learned in child hood and usually stick with that person their entire life. We as a society have to start teaching kids to do the right thing at an early age. It's going to be a long hard journey and the sooner we start, the sooner we'll get there.

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just like everyone else, I have my own personal opinions as to what we SHOULD do with criminals ... but let’s be honest - most of these popular ideas and colorful fantasies aren’t likely to happen ... so the question that keeps coming to my mind is “what can I personally, and realistically, do to protect MY family?” ... deadbolt locks? .. I’ve got them and we use them ... neighborhood watch? ... sure - done ... professional-grade pepper spray? ... car - truck - wife’s purse ... 38-Special Smith & Wesson? ... yep ... but the thing is that once the police catch the bad guys - and the courts convict them - and they get locked away - then they invariably get out early (way too early to suit me) because “the prisons are overcrowded” ... personally I don’t care how crowded they get ... stack the creeps in there like cord-wood for all I care ... but DON’T let them out early ... I started this thread right after the heinous crime where two career burglars - out on parole - invaded a suburban home, beat the father (a noted doctor) with a baseball bat, tied him up and threw him down the basement stairs ... then they spent about seven hours upstairs tying the two daughters (11 and 17 years old) to their beds and repeatedly raping them and the mother ... then they set fire to the house and left the family tied up to die in the flames ... out on parole ... out on parole ... out on parole ... more recently there was the murder of four good kids - by an illegal immigrant from Guatemala ... he was out on bail while waiting trial for (among other things) child rape ... and so on and so on ... now for years the federal income tax forms have had a little check box where I can contribute a few bucks to the presidential campaign ... not to the candidate of my choice - but just to the campaign in general ... I ask you, is THAT the best way for me to invest my money in my family’s safety? ... personally I’d rather contribute to the “Cage-A-Creep” fund and help buy an extra prison cell ... yes, I know that some politician would get his hands on some of the funds ... yes, I know that some of the funds would be wasted ... but maybe there’d be enough left over to keep just a few of the creeps off the street just a little bit longer ... and maybe that will spare some innocent family from the types of nightmares that I’m reading about in the daily news ... maybe my family ... yeah ... pass the plate ... I’ll throw some money in ... from Gerry: actually I was thinking of writing my congressman and suggesting having the income tax form altered to incorporate my idea ... I was using you guys as a test to see how many people would go along with a few donations of their own ... from the results of this thread, I guess this is just a waste of time ... so I’ll just wring my hands and hope and pray that the sun keeps shining ... and maybe (just maybe) the guys who do get out of prison will actually be “corrected” along the way ... I’d love to see that happen - but what are the chances? ... maybe a few extra basketball hoops will turn the trick ... “redneck?” ... you’re entitled to your opinion, Gerry, but most people who know me wouldn’t use that particular word to describe me ... I’m just an honest guy who loves his family, pays his taxes, obeys the law, and would like to have some protection from the people who don’t play by the rules ... if that’s what you call a “redneck” then so be it ...

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OK, I can accept that - after all, you didn't advocate "frying" all and sundry. However, I would encourage you to look beyond the symptoms of the problem(s) and contemplate ways of identifying and addressing some of the root causes.

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You and everyone else are fully entitled to your opinion, of course. But I think you're taking an incredibly naive and simplistic view of the problem. I have no moral issue with locking away the "truely evil" of our society, but what makes you think our courts are doing a reasonable job of separating the good from the bad? How many in prison right now do you think really deserve to be there? ALL of them? 99.9% of them? What's your guess. Just do a google search for "wrongly imprisoned" or "wrongly convicted". Do you think these stories are just a bunch of liberal drivel? Here's a good article to comment on: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-0...convicted_x.htm Are they exaggerating or making it up? Do you suppose the prison overcrowding you mention might be due in part to all the people occupying cells that shouldn't be there? If anything should make you mad as heck and fell unsafe, that should. We still call it the "land of the free, home of the brave", but I start to wonder if our attitudes are starting to let this fine land slip into a totalitarian police state. Just give 'em more money, more power, more control. all in the name of feeling safe. We'll get there if we try hard enough.

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I tend to do that when I feel that the ones I love are threatened ...

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Ron - reading your post I am remided why I am glad I know that this life and this world is only the beginning of a much longer and much better Eternity for me and my loved ones.

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Amen, Bob ... and I too firmly believe that ... believe it or not, I’m not what I would call “pessimistic” about life in general ... but then again ... my father retired about twenty years ago and bought an abandoned farm in the country ... he had always been a hard-WORKING man ... his idea of retirement was to reform that old farm into a Garden of Eden and raise fancy chickens and llamas and horses ... then one day he fell out of a barn he was building and ended up paralyzed from the chest down ... he spent the last eleven years of his life lying in a bed looking out the window at the farm he couldn’t work on anymore ... every time the doctors would operate on him, he’d beg them to not bring him back from the anesthetic ... anyway ... I’ve sort of taken on a new outlook of life after that experience ... I tend to be much more careful in everything that I do now ... and I try to take better care of the people around me ... I thought that maybe I had an idea that would help accomplish that objective ... but obviously I was wrong ... the responses to my original question are nowhere near what I had expected ... thank you for your thoughts ...

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Kinda complex issue here. For the record, yes I would pay more for prisons. Yes I think Rape, child molestation, and murder are crimes that should invoke the death penalty. If that makes me red-neck, fine I have been called worse. As for the article Gravitar posted. Yes I am suspect of the findings since it is by lawyers saying lawyers need more money. I know I know ...lawyers are the pillars of honesty and integrity. Just curious though, did anybody notice that the cases that were mentioned as being overturned where overturned by "new" technology not overturned because they found the first lawyer did not do his job. To me prisons are here for one reason and one reason only. To protect society from criminals. If you want to "reform" criminals by all means go ahead. Just do it around YOUR children, YOUR family. If you are willing to risk YOUR family by all means adopt a thug. If things go right you are a hero, if not well heck its just YOUR family. One other thing if we are locking up to many people, what is your suggestion? While we wait on you to figure it out do we stop putting criminals in jail? Me, I know it is naive, but I say lock them up, just keep them away from my family. I agree with Bob about setting examples for the next generation and trying to get them to do better but the thugs are still here so we have to deal with them as well. Oh and one little tid bit of statistics. Along with having the largest percentage of people in prisons in our nation's history we also now have the largest percentage on some form of government aid. Anybody care to guess if the two are related. Anyway that is my opinion, so Ron I say go ahead and go for it. I see our goverment wasting money on a heck of alot more useless things. Paying for an election is at the top of my list.

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Look, here is a thought that might also expand the discussion.... It costs around $50,000 per prisoner in Aus to keep them in there... i am sure that there is a similar amount in the US... There are some that should and hopefully never be let out... Now I had a thought that I mentioned jokingly once (not here) but it may have merrit... It has also being mentioned to send them to an island... etc but this will still cost a fair amount... But what if we were to send the prisoners to a third world prison and pay the third world conunty say $10,000 per year to look after them and $15,000 per year for humanitary purposes to help their own people. And we arn;t dishing out the death penalty... Every body wins... At least in the third world prisons they know how to treat some of those low life bastards.... Just a thought...

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