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http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/27/us/27dungeons.html
Prisons can restrict the rights of inmates to nerd out, a federal appeals court has found.
In an opinion issued on Monday , a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit rejected the claims in a lawsuit challenging a ban on the game Dungeons & Dragons by the Waupun Correctional Institution in Wisconsin.
The suit was brought by a prisoner, Kevin T. Singer, who argued that his First Amendment and 14th Amendment rights were violated by the prison’s decision to ban the game and confiscate his books and other materials, including a 96-page handwritten manuscript he had created for the game.
Mr. Singer, “a D&D enthusiast since childhood,” according to the court’s opinion, was sentenced to life in prison in 2002 for bludgeoning and stabbing his sister’s boyfriend to death.
Prison officials said they had banned the game at the recommendation of the prison’s specialist on gangs, who said it could lead to gang behavior and fantasies about escape.
Dungeons & Dragons could “foster an inmate’s obsession with escaping from the real-life correctional environment, fostering hostility, violence and escape behavior,” prison officials said in court. That could make it more difficult to rehabilitate prisoners and could endanger public safety, they said.
The court, which is based in Chicago, acknowledged that there was no evidence of marauding gangs spurred to their acts of destruction by swinging imaginary mauls, but it ruled nonetheless that the prison’s decision was “rationally related” to legitimate goals of prison administration.
Theres more in the link. Frankly this is rather rediculous, basically you're banning it because it will make them think of escaping? Are books not allowed? You know reading books can be called an escape from reality as well.
And causing gang behavior? Yeah the D&D guys are gonna go and beat up the guys playing yahtzee in the corner and then they're gonna enlist help from the poker players.
I find it more likely the D&D playing prisoners did something to make someone angry so they responded by banning it. What's the downside they sit in their corner of the room and basically keep to themselves? Sometimes they'll make a loud noise on a good roll when it comes to prison activities you'd think it would be rather encouraged.
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That's a pretty stupid decision.
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now what is this dungeon master going to do in prison on his free time now?
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I think it's a good decision. Prisoners should not be allowed to play these kinds of stuffs.
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On January 30 2010 15:51 meegrean wrote:
now what is this dungeon master going to do in prison on his free time now?
make more campaigns.
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United States7166 Posts
give them starcraft 2 beta instead!
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and the moral of the story? If you want to play D&D, it's probably not a good idea to bludgeon and stab your sister's boyfriend to death.
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LOL pretty fkn stupid, but then again this sums it up:
On January 30 2010 16:21 melingom wrote:
and the moral of the story? If you want to play D&D, it's probably not a good idea to bludgeon and stab your sister's boyfriend to death.
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On January 30 2010 16:21 melingom wrote:
and the moral of the story? If you want to play D&D, it's probably not a good idea to bludgeon and stab your sister's boyfriend to death.
Exactly. Prison is supposed to be a punishment; to allow prisoners to play D&D is not a punishment. Also, as far as I know, a prisoner does not enjoy the same Constitutional Rights.
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On January 30 2010 16:21 melingom wrote:
and the moral of the story? If you want to play D&D, it's probably not a good idea to bludgeon and stab your sister's boyfriend to death.
Pretty good first post LOL.
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sounds legit to me. he bludgeons and stabs his sister's boyfriend to death and then writes a 96-page manuscript about the stuff. is that not enough to make u guys think he was absolutely obsessed with it?
rehab is about change. letting him continue his obsession isn't going to help.
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On one hand I want to say that prison isn't supposed to be a vacation. We treat our prisoners better than we treat our homeless in this country...
...On the other hand are you fucking kidding me? "It could lead to gang behavior and fantasies about escape"? This is D&D we are talking about here. D&D
*Facepalm*
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Prison life for those inmates with life sentences should consist of hard, menial labor.
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On January 30 2010 17:18 Draconizard wrote:
Prison life for those inmates with life sentences should consist of hard, menial labor.
yo but after they could play D&D. playing a game and letting off steam gets rid of your stress and let's you escape the horrible reality you're in. you may scoff at worries over an inmate's psychology, but more content inmates means less violence and more ability to reintegrate into society. it's far too easy to just say fuckprisoners and ignore them once they get incarcerated, but they don't go away
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On January 30 2010 17:24 Kwidowmaker wrote:Show nested quote +On January 30 2010 17:18 Draconizard wrote:
Prison life for those inmates with life sentences should consist of hard, menial labor. yo but after they could play D&D. playing a game and letting off steam gets rid of your stress and let's you escape the horrible reality you're in. you may scoff at worries over an inmate's psychology, but more content inmates means less violence and more ability to reintegrate into society. it's far too easy to just say fuckprisoners and ignore them once they get incarcerated, but they don't go away
No, there is no after; there is no before. The point is that there is nothing but that horrible reality. Note that I only advocate this for those inmates with life sentences without the chance for parole.
Prisoners with shorter sentences should still be subjected to hard labor but have it be interspersed with psychological conditioning and reeducation.
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On January 30 2010 17:31 Draconizard wrote:Show nested quote +On January 30 2010 17:24 Kwidowmaker wrote:On January 30 2010 17:18 Draconizard wrote:
Prison life for those inmates with life sentences should consist of hard, menial labor. yo but after they could play D&D. playing a game and letting off steam gets rid of your stress and let's you escape the horrible reality you're in. you may scoff at worries over an inmate's psychology, but more content inmates means less violence and more ability to reintegrate into society. it's far too easy to just say fuckprisoners and ignore them once they get incarcerated, but they don't go away No, there is no after; there is no before. The point is that there is nothing but that horrible reality. Note that I only advocate this for those inmates with life sentences without the chance for parole. Prisoners with shorter sentences should still be subjected to hard labor but have it be interspersed with psychological conditioning and reeducation.
prisoner's ain't retarded humans that don't feel like you or me
what chance of becoming part of humanity again do you think you would have if you spent even half a year treated as a slave and then told to get better by poor psychologists who prescribe the same cure to ever patient they get because they're overworked and given too many people to 'fix'
I don't think that prison should be easy, or even a nice place, but I know that there's a whole lot wrong with what we have
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I for one am glad they banned it. It's true that D&D causes gang behavior.
A lot of people think that inner-city trouble is caused by racial tensions and poverty. They're wrong. It's caused by D&D players. Back in high school, our D&D club terrorized the school, using our rugged, manly physiques to beat up football players for experience points and stabbing people with sharpened pocket protectors.
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Wow lol, I don't even.....
Maybe in the distant future where prisons are all highly equipped and prisoners are able to have their own personal computers or laptops in their rooms or somewhere, WOULD THEY BAN STARCRAFT TOO? For violence???
Think about that folks.
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I'm not exactly sober right now, so I can't really give much of an opinion on this.
While I agree that prison is essentially about punishment, and the judge's statement as such isn't exactly wrong, what are these prisoner going to do now? What they were doing wasn't exactly productive, but it was done in their own "free" time. If they now spend that free time engaging in other, more "prison like" activities, is it really their fault? They found a healthy-ish release, and the state is taking that away from them.
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