Murderers GOT VIDEOGAMES??? just damn...
Posted on 12/02/2004 10:10:27 AM PST by NormsRevenge
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - Missouri's most violent criminals can no longer play video games that simulate murders, carjackings and the killing of police officers, a decision reached after prison officials were told about the content.
"We didn't closely review these," Dave Dormire, superintendent of the Jefferson City Correctional Center, told The Kansas City Star. "We were told these games had more like cartoon violence."
The Star reported Thursday the state's new maximum-security prison pulled dozens of violent Sony PlayStation 2 (news - web sites) games from its recreation center on Wednesday, after officials were alerted to their content by a reporter. Inmates had been using them for months.
In fact, the prison's PlayStation offerings included one of the most violent games on the market, "Hitman: Contracts," in which players use everything from meat hooks to silencer-equipped pistols to carry out brutal contract killings.
In all, 35 of the facility's more than 80 games were removed. Others remain, including science fiction and sports games.
The games were paid for from inmates' purchases — mostly of snacks — at the prison canteen. The canteen generates up to $20,000 monthly and a committee of corrections officials, prison staffers and several inmates decides how to spend it.
Much of the cash is used for weightlifting and exercise equipment. Video games are a new purchase in Jefferson City; prison officials say other facilities have done the same, though it doesn't appear to be the norm.
"It has a good effect on helping us run the prison and make sure they're busy and not trying to work on ways to escape or harm others," Dormire said. "That's kind of our bottom line — public safety."
Some corrections experts were shocked that violent games would be allowed in the hands of violent prisoners.
Jacqueline Helfgott, a professor at Seattle University who has studied the effects of violent movies and video games on criminal behavior, said such media can have a negative effect on inmates.
"You get people in a maximum-security prison who have already gone over the line," she said. "They're not afraid to engage in violence, unlike the nerd sitting in front of his computer."
Jim Houston, a professor of criminal justice at Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, Mich., agreed.
"These kinds of games reinforce a criminal lifestyle that caused them to get into prison in the first place," Houston said.
Mary Still, a spokeswoman for Gov. Bob Holden, said the governor believes violent games are inappropriate for prisoners. The governor does not oppose nonviolent video games for inmates, but says they should not come at taxpayer expense.
The $128 million Jefferson City Correctional Center opened in September to replace the 170-year-old Missouri State Penitentiary. It has 1,996 beds.
Pac-Man for everyone.
I can't afford to get my kids a Playstation 2, I had to buy a Playstation 1 used (for Christmas this year, how many years after it came out?) and the VIOLENT criminals get VIDEO GAMES??? That's what they call PUNISHMENT???
This is crap.
Why do they not get full-size arcade style games?? This is an outrage! Someone call the ACLU.
I heard that prisons were using more career training videos these days. Didn't know this is what they meant.
This is what is wrong with prison. We need to go back to the days of prison when it was ran like the movie Cool Hand Luke. Chain gangs, and the hot box. Prison should not be fun.
The only proper punishment for these inmates: Make them play Barbie Horse Adventure!
Murderers GOT VIDEOGAMES??? just damn...
I understand your frustration. These CRIMINALS should be have it so bad that never want to return.
But, it looks like they get to pay for their own games, not Joe Average Citizen
They should pull out the weight training equipment, too. No need to get these people "buffed up" before they get out. Let 'em eat all the Twinkies and other junk food they can stuff in. Make 'em easier to catch.
What do you mean they didn't have fun in Cool Hand Luke? They got to watch "Lucille" wash her car, didn't they?
Ditto. I remember as a kid touring an old prison in Connecticut - Old Newgate Prison - it was copper mine. The prisoners literally lived in dark, dank caves and spent their time mining copper. Even as a kid I remember thinking, "...and why are we not still using this as a prison?"
Prison isn't punishment anymore. It's a lifestyle, glorified by this repugnant hip-hop gangsta youth subculture.
And we're paying for it all.
These here spoons, you keep with ya. Any man loses his spoon spends a night in the box.
There's no playin' grab-ass or fightin' in the building. You got a grudge against another man, you fight him Saturday afternoon. Any man playin' grab-ass or fightin' in the building spends a night in the box.
First bell is at five minutes of eight...Last bell is at eight. Any man not in his bunk at eight spends a night in the box.
There's no smokin' in the prone position in bed. If you smoke, you must have both legs over the side of your bunk. Any man caught smokin' in the prone position in bed spends the night in the box.
You'll get two sheets. Every Saturday, you put the clean sheet on the top and the top sheet on the bottom. The bottom sheet you turn into the laundry boy. Any man turns in the wrong sheet spends a night in the box.
No one will sit in the bunks with dirty pants on. Any man with dirty pants on sittin' on the bunks spends a night in the box.
Any man don't bring back his empty pop bottle spends a night in the box.
Any man loud-talkin' spends a night in the box.
You got questions, you come to me...Any man don't keep order spends a night in the box.
Oh come on, let them play Grand Theft Auto San Andreas. Not allowing them to is akin to torture.
Prison populations have grown significantly. I am of the opinion that going to prison is not much of a deterrent any more. Some criminals have it better behind bars than they do at home.
Grand Theft Auto San Andreas for everyone...
Argh! That was the question I was originally going to ask before getting side tracked with the other questions :
How long before the ACLU SUES to have these violent games returned to the violent prisoners?
Granted and what could they do about it? LOL!
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