Why Do Inmates Have This Freedom?
by Big Dog on Nov 22, 2011 at 04:23 Political
The AP has a report out about people who are being intimidated by inmates through social media, most notably, Facebook. It appears that inmates are using Facebook to harass and intimidate the victims of their crimes as well as the witnesses to those crimes.
Some victims and witnesses are very upset and scared that those who are in jail could use Facebook to get information that would help them or their surrogates to attack them. The information on Facebook, the pictures, the location information and the large amount of data that FB seems unable to keep secure (and often deliberately releases) is great intel for people who will soon leave prison or who have friends on the outside who can attack the innocent.
Why do criminals have access to computers that are connected to the Internet? Why, for that matter, do they even have access to computers? It is bad enough that we allow them to have cable TV with a zillion channels but now they have access to computers and the Internet. Unbelievable.
Some of the problem, it seems, is that inmates use cell phones that have been smuggled in to access the Internet. How do people sneak phones into the jail? Certainly the guards could sneak them in so they should be searched when they enter. If they get caught sneaking a cell phone in then they should get six months in jail and lose their job.
People who smuggle a phone in and get caught should be sent to jail for six months and be denied permission to visit inmates. Inmates caught with cell phones should have six months added to their sentences, be put in solitary for a month and have their privilege to get visitors suspended for six months.
Make it tough for all concerned. I am all for the prisons installing the cell phone jammers and other technologies to keep cell phones from sending or receiving.
Any inmate caught harassing people through social media (or in any other fashion) should receive even more stringent punishment.
Keep in mind that the jails are secured facilities and that they are supposed to keep things from coming in or going out without close scrutiny. How are tens of thousands of phones entering these facilities?
Because they are full of the same incompetence that permeates all levels of government.
These are the same kinds of people who will be running your health care…
Cave canem!
Never surrender, never submit.
[tip]If you enjoy what you read consider signing up to receive email notification of new posts. There are several options in the sidebar and I am sure you can find one that suits you. If you prefer, consider adding this site to your favorite feed reader. If you receive emails and wish to stop them follow the instructions included in the email.[/tip]
Tags: cell phones, facebook, inmates, intimidation, smuggling
Execute them and be done with it. For those who feel squeamish, call it a “late term abortion.”
That is absolutely ABSURD! Don’t have a lot of time now, but I’m going to revisit this later. One brief observation: the #Occupy crowd believes that the cops should be fired, and we should hire more teachers…and that the prisons should be abandoned; all prisoners should simply be ‘let go’. In short, sheer and utter anarchy is what they advocate. Is this a telltale sign of the beginning of that?
This is a bit of the absurdity that is Liberal Progressivism- they are all in with the OWS peeps- at least until they feel comfortable in their consolidated power, then the Progs do what they always do- throw the anarchists, Blacks, Latinos and gays under the bus until the next election cycle.
It’s what they do- remember the parable about the scorpion and the frog…..
[…] anarchy – if this isn’t just a taste of what people will be faced with in the future. The Big Dog asks why do they have this freedom? Which is an excellent question. Posted in […]
Let’s hear it for Ferd and Cao. Nothing brings out the right wing nuts like finding out over US prisoners are not getting treated like they live in gulags.
Most prisoners don’t have access to the Internet except through stolen phones. It’s not a “freedom” but it’s just a matter of cell phones not being that big of a deal until recently with cheap internet access through phones. The trend in trying to prevent usage inside prison is a bit behind the times. With prison overcrowding we have to face the reality that security inside is a finite resource. Guards have to decide where to focus first. Until now finding cell phones has not been high on the list.
For the record, TV should be fine for prisoners unless you want us to run facilities more designed to create repeat offenders than rehabilitate citizens.
As if prisons actually rehabilitate. The recidivism rate is nearly 70% so the TV is not helping in the rehabilitation.
Criminals do not deserve the Internet. They are misusing it as it is and they are harassing their victims and witnesses.
Well, I’m not sure why this point keeps being lost but they do not get internet access in prison. They take it. The terms “freedom” and “deserve” aren’t part of the equation. Outside of a few cases of harassment I’d say cell phones aren’t going to be any bigger of a concern but as their use grows so will the numbers confiscated and the public will fear it all the more.
“Guards have to decide where to focus first. Until now finding cell phones has not been high on the list.”
They can’t even stop illegal drugs from getting smuggled in to prisoners. What’s a cell phone compared to that?
We often see stories about prisoners committing credit card fraud and other crimes just by using the telephones that are provided for prisoners. Smuggled cell phones just increase their opportunity to do more of their best work: their occupation is crime, you know. No surprise that they are doing bad things in prison, and no surprise that the guards/warden are ineffective in detecting and preventing it.
You wouldn’t know a gulag if you saw one. Are you related by any chance to Dick Durbin?
Obviously gulag is an exaggeration. But what do we want? Do we want a prison system that simply locks people away from the rest of us if they would do us harm? Or do we want an arm of the justice system that corrects behavior and rehabilitates whenever possible? America imprisons far too many people and recidivism rates are fat too high. No matter the goal, something will have to change.
For far too long the right in America has silenced debate about prisons or the justice system by calling someone “soft on crime” as an advantage and the result is that we have a system rapidly heading to a breakdown.
The right’s stance on crime is not the problem. The people who are soft on crime by giving us revolving doors and allowing criminals with long rap sheets to walk is the problem. Sure, there are a lot of people in jail and most of them belong there. The other problem is a system where government makes too many meaningless laws and then uses them to incarcerate people who have really done nothing wrong.
If we use alternate means for non violent and non felony crimes and put the violent and the felons in jail and leave them without giving a million chances or playing catch and release then it would be better.
The only other people who should serve long terms are those elected to office.
Why are they allowed computer’s to begin with. I guess some Liberal Asshole thinks they need one to do “Research” for their Appeal. Here’s a thought, “Ever Hear of a BOOK”?
We live in a society that makes no sense!