Does the USA treat prison inmates no better than animals?

Tracey

Well I recently served a prison sentence and let me tell you, I was glad it was here in the UK and not in the US. I think I know the programme your are talking about, is it Lock Up on Zone? Now that is what you call doing a jail sentence. Its not exactly cushty in UK prisons but its a walk in the park compared to how it looks in the US.

HiLuv

yes your right, many of the USA's prisons are run harshly, the idea being that you wont be likely to re-offend & be thrown back into the revolving door of prison life the next time.

Some U.S prisons aren't really so bad.
all the inmates learn survival skills inside, unfortunately when they get outside, those same rules get them in trouble with the law again..... can't seem to win one way or another.
many of our military warriors also have trouble reentering back into our society .
Warriors also need love and understanding and not just condemnation .

what is terrible is the gang related violence, cause each prisoner always feels that threat above all else.
trying to stay out of trouble one has to join a side in prison to survive,
whites,blacks,asians,hispanics , even then there is a code within their own groups that too must be recognized ....for even people in your own gang will try to rough you up or try and snuff you out if they feel your doing anything they perceive as unloyal to their gang.
MAJOR VIOLENT CRIME in the USA is decreasing
& howz it going for you Brits ?
BTW, what other 1st world country is as huge as the USA ?
none ~

Spock (rhp)

nonsense

prisoners in America get free health care at government expense. Citizens in America do not.

try prisons in Mexico and most second or third world countries -- there you get health care only if a) you can afford it, and b) the guards are being paid off.

They are treated much better than animals. You're watching the wrong programs. Broaden your horizons just a little.

mark j

Maybe thats why that here in the UK, crime is on the increase.

If you ask me punishment is not severe enough.

I see programms of people driving without a licence and the punishment is.....a driving ban. how daft is that.

Our prisons have xbox and playstation 3. This is why we have so many hoodlum kids.

I think we should have more intermediate punishments like the stocks and people having to stand in a public place with a sign saying what there crime is.

Ironically i do not believe in the death penalty.

Terry

Take a look around the UK - you have the dregs of Europe living there now because of your namby-pamby policies on immigration. A few stiffer sentences, a few chain gangs, and a few executions would soon straighten your lot out.

yjpper

Yes, we're a horrible country, dispicable people we Americans. You British are great and perfect in every way. And we are not a 1st world country or civilized. You British are, you guys are the best.

How is this attitude going to help you in your life or help your country? You guys are so obsessed with tearing the USA down. There are much more deserving countries. Do you ever wonder that yourself, why you're so obsessed with putting down the United States and why your media is too?

You're very wrong about our prison conditions. I mean, yes, it's much different than letting everyone loose the way the UK does, but it's not inhumane or horrible. Some day I hope we settle this hatred once and for all. Watch your back.

blademaster65

Prisons are not made to be club med, they are for major crimes the ones they often make show out of are the one that house the wost of the worst.

Ray.Returns

For the liberal responder above
The crime rate in America is directly proportionate to the coloUr of the community
The amount of time depends on many things past record and the crime itself
It is a fact if we did not have one minority in America our murder rate would be lower than the U K Can not name it as that would not be PC

grethis down there I too have had a gut full of these smug anti American Brits What you say the next time we hear that smug accent lets teach them some respect

hihihi066

look at our health care system and you'll see why our prison system is no concern to any of us.

Steve S

Beyond the excessive incarceration rates for mere possessors of drugs, a racket if ever there was one, most Americans support the harsher sentences handed down to repeat offenders. As far as conditions within the prisons, adequate, not sumptuous, is all that's required. There has over the last fifteen years or so been a backlash by the public against the liberal policies enacted earlier. Repeat criminals were routinely cut loose from custody as an apology for their poor upbringing, and prison life became damn cushy. As crime rates rose in the 60's through the mid 80's, liberal prescriptions called for disarming those who committed no crimes, as opposed to enforcing gun laws already on the books. The perception that criminals had more rights than the law-abiding, while not quite accurate, was not a myth either. The public finally elected conservatives in with Reagan and changes came about. Repeat offenders were locked up for longer terms, the public began carrying concealed weapons in greater numbers, and crime plunged. I remember the liberals claimed it would be the Wild West again when more states allowed concealed carry, but nowhere did it happen. In fact, the remaining urban areas with higher crime are uniformly those with the strictest anti-gun laws.

We see this same pathology in the UK now. We in the US were at one time treated to reminders that the crime rates in England were much lower than in large urban areas here. Now that the the British public has been disarmed for even home defense purposes, crime is so much higher in the UK, higher in London than even New York. What we once joked about here, that knife control was next, has actually begun. The UK has embarked on the same liberal policies that failed horribly here. Our condolences.

Penny W

Of course not. They are treated better than most of us because they receive free healthcare and the taxpayer does not. They get 3 square meals a day, plus snacks. They get 'play' time, television..poor souls. We do however have some prisons with stricter rules and less 'babying' going on, as it should be. I say this as an aunt of someone who just got out of prison, where he himself said 'things were't bad, they fed us well and I got to work out in the gym'. As for too much time for drugs or whatever? My nephew served 2 years, 2nd time offender for drugs. What you hear is bull.

pugsaleena

animals shouldnt be treated bad, so yes prisoners should ALL be treated like sh.ite, they are not incarcerated for doing anything good you know!!!

udontneed2know

haha..thats pretty funny...enlighten yourself to reality for a minute and take a look at the shows your watching...Prison's not a place to be pampered ... I will tell you this much..in most county, state or federal facilities all inmates get free medical care, 3 free meals a day and a place to sleep..plus cable t.v., free access to workout facilities, oh and did I mention most of them even get free college educations...something that 50% of law abiding citizens cannot afford....SO no they are not treated harshly or worse than animals...

I kinda have to agree with you that some sentences for some crimes are a bit much..instead of punishing the criminals that deserve to be punished..someone might get 10years for something that was not really even a crime against a person..I know from experience and have seen it happen..a murderer got realeased after 8yrs while the guy that got caught driving with a suspended license for the 4th time did a full 10..somethings not right with that ..

dog_man_4u

i spent almost 20 years of my life behind walls
and most of these people in here dont have a clue about prison life
for 1 you dont have xbox and playstation for 2 you dont have to join a gang to survive allthough having alot of friends to watch you back is not a bad thing
and yes there is rape and fighting and murder in there but no less than what happens on the streets ,i mean what do you expect they are all convicts,i got into 1 fight the whole time i was down and that was over a gambling dept and then it was stomped on .most of the lifers in prison arnt there to cause trouble .they just want it to be as Comfy as possible ,but i dont think that the sentence's are to harsh i think people get what they deserve,

Joey M

In the United States we treat our inmates like the criminals they are. They forfeited their "rights" the minute they decided to commit a crime. BTW what you are seeing on your tele are extreme cases. For the most part Federal prisons are country clubs. Inmates get 3 square meals a day (that's more food than our homeless get). Inmates get cable T.V. (I don't even get H.B.O.). Inmates get "exercise" meaning they lift weights or play basket ball...I have a job to go to. State prisons are a little tougher...inmates there actually have to do...OMG their own laundry (oh the humanity).

In my not so humble opinion inmates have it too good. If I were in charge they would all be making big rocks into little rocks 10 hours a day with just enough water to keep them alive. Then when they got back to jail they would go straight to their cells where a cold T.V. dinner would be waiting for them. Six hours of sleep, then do it all over the next day.

Kelly [ Eagles fan ]

To a certain degree, yes. The prisons in the US are filthy and under staffed. The inmates don't get proper medical treatment and often times fall sick because of the food they receive.

Mike R

Shandra Williams Ms. Williams was picked up on a warrant even though her file stated that Ms. Williams should not be picked up because she was 6-7 months pregnant and she had a very rare uterine condition. However, Ms. Williams was thrown in jail while pregnant, and her condition worsened. She began bleeding, and the nurse was reluctant to believe her and said, â€œshow me your bloody pad.â€ So Ms. Williams was subjected to the humiliation of proving that she was really in pain and bleeding. Eventually, Ms. Williams was put in isolation where she was removed from contact with people, which Ms. Williams hated. This was her first child and she was very afraid since no medical staff was around. Eventually, to keep her from complaining, Ms. Williams was given Benadryl. When Ms. Williams was finally returned to the cell, her water broke. She was told that she was hallucinating, that her water hadnâ€™t broken. Then the nurse told her that she shouldnâ€™t worry, she wouldnâ€™t have a baby until a month later. Then they proceeded to put Ms. Williams back into isolation, even though she was frantic not to go where there was no contact with people. Ms. Williams was alarmed about the baby coming early, especially since the nurse had expressed great disdain for even performing a sonogram to determine the babyâ€™s condition. When Ms. Williams became agitated about going into isolation, the sergeant told her that she was going into isolation â€œthe easy way or the hard way,â€ and the hard way was being shocked with a taser gun. A female guard was so alarmed that she grabbed Ms. Williamsâ€™ stuff and coaxed her to the isolation room. Sure enough, Ms. Williams proceeded to go into labor without anyone present and the baby was coming out breach! Worse still, the baby was arriving while Ms. Williams was on the toilet; so to get help Ms. Williams had to crawl approximately 60 feet to reach a button on the wall. After three attempts to call and saying that she was in labor, a female guard arrived. The baby was hanging with its feet first down around Ms. Williamsâ€™ knees. There was pandemonium followed by a rushed ride in the ambulance to the hospital. The baby was dead and Ms. Williams was handed the dead child in a blanket. She was not told that the baby was dead, and she only realized the fact when she saw on her own that the child was not moving or breathing. No attempt was made to call her husband. When, much later, he got word, he rushed to see his new baby. He was handed the dead baby in a blanket. Ms. Williams was not even allowed to attend the babyâ€™s funeral. Later, Ms. Williams said that you, Sheriff Oâ€™Connor, called her into your office and told her that the unfortunate incident was not your fault, but the fault of the jail administration under the previous sheriff, Michael Ratcliff. Given the long-term consequences and terrible suffering imposed on these women, it is my hope that you will take this situation seriously and give it the consideration it deserves.

If Mexico's is the standard of care by all means compare us to Mexico. Our problem is Americans have lost any sense of honor and fair play. You are watching the death spiral of the country that was.

I was put in jail overnight for an absolutely absurd charge (my medicine was in blister packs not in bottles) that could only happen in Texas. I was denied my blood pressure medicine even though it had a black box warning that it must not be abruptly stopped. I had a stroke as a result, no one cares. At least I didn't die like dozens who die in that jail every year.

Jj S

Look. The US is unknowingly trying to replace the original
constitution with the corporate drafted Constitutionof the NAU.
This requires lots of terrorism,crime, intolerance, poverty,debt and
so on. Not to mention, prisons are expensive. Take CA for
instance. For every dollar the state spends locking someone up,
the Fed kicks in another dollar out of thin air. This of course
helps boost inflation. Then throw in the fact that the courts in the
USA are foreign/privately owned by the corporations that print
the money in the first place. This is why you see the phrase
"all rights reserved" after so many titles and signatures.
It's part of the word game needed to preserve your constitutional
rights. It's like a game to judges and lawyers/esquires/attorneys.
Oh! Look up the word attorn. You won't be surprised.

no one

In the USofA, the manner in which a prisoner is treated, as well as the length of his or her sentence is directly proportionate to the amount of money one has and the nationality or ethnic origin (read that as "skin color") of said prisoner.

If you are a corporate executive, usually of northern European extraction and can buy your way through the legal (not "justice") system so as to arrive at a federal country club for a few months and, then after having promised to do some volunteer service, you will receive parole.

If you poor and a member of an ethnic minority then you will be incarcerated for an indefinite amount of time in a place that will serve to make you a much more hardened criminal by the time you leave than you were when you arrived.

Be well.

Bo P

america in general is an intolerant place of crap.

emily

uhm, so untrue. the american people give so much tax dollars up to help pay for prisions so that our prisioners can eat for free, get free education, have a gym, and pretty much enjoy being lazy, mooching criminals. and getting ten years in prision for a drug charge or driving offenses? that must be a joke. do you realize its AMERICA?! a lot of people get drug& traffic charges. even if we wanted them in prision, the moochers take up too much room. even if someone did serce a sentance for a mild reason like that, it wouldnt even be bad considering they let you do whatever you want. yall are real ignorant.

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