Should Texas prisons be airconditioned ? (Houston, Plano: violent crime, mattress, lawyers)

[L210]

Do the correctional officers have to work in these conditions? And TDCJ wonders why they have problems with keeping their facilities staffed. They placed them out in the middle of nowhere in cities that hardly anyone wants to live in, Perry says that correctional officers are overpaid babysitters even though they work in an extremely hostile environment, and Texas pays its correctional officers some of the lowest salaries in the country. It's gotten to the point that TDCJ has started to recruit immigrants. The heat makes inmates more irritable, which makes the conditions for prison staff more dangerous. If anyone thinks that things are fine the way they are, are you going to apply to work for TDCJ to help alleviate their staffing shortages?

[Nairobi]

Originally Posted by lonestar2007

I don't know your skin color, but I'll make a wild guess. Black?

I know black people and I lived in areas where there were some black families also living. I'll guarantee you that the police did not come knocking on THEIR door anytime a crime was committed by a black person and they were looking for him.

The police do not just randomly pick up Tom, Dick or Harry to question for a crime, regardless of their skin color. There is something there that makes them pick out an individual for questioning and although it's become the thing to do by saying, oh, it's because I'm black, that is simply not the truth. Otherwise, they'd question every black person in the city that remotely fit the description and we both know they don't do that.

I am speaking overall and I would not even try to argue a case by case, as of course I would have no knowledge of any of the facts. I'm just saying, generally there is some reason (besides the color of their skin) a person is picked up for questioning. Something in the past, in the present, maybe a tip from a 'good buddy' seeking revenge for some reason. Who knows? But there IS something. Otherwise, the police stations would be filled to the hilt and overflowing with detectives working triple time questioning any and all of us they picked up because we fell in the descriptive range of approx. X' tall, X number of pounds, black/white/yellow/tan, etc. It just ain't happening and that's my stance on the matter.

Well, your stance is a pretty common one amongst those who have no experience with what it's actually like to be a minority male in America; let alone a black man in Northwest Houston. I wasn't going to say anything, but I and many other blacks find it downright insulting that, time and time again, whites dare to question the social injustices against our race that WE witness ourselves.

I think you're too smart to believe I was actually suggesting that his being black is the sole reason he was convicted of a crime. Obviously, a number of other factors were taken into account like his specific skin shade, height, style of dress, and the fact that he was in the general vicinity of where the crime took place.

It's naive and ignorant to believe that every man and woman in America's prisons ended up there from some direct or indirect fault of their own. That's my point.

[doctorjef]

Originally Posted by westhou

Ok. Let's just get rid of prisons. When a man rapes or kills someone he shouldn't go to prison. He should go to rehab because it was probably societies fault for not giving him the best life can offer. Let's blame his parents for not loving him enough.

Absurd.

Prisons are great! Make the sentences longer and the conditions inside more miserable. What those thugs endure in prison is not even a fraction of the harm they've caused to their victims.

Not at all what I am saying and only a dumbass would impute that meaning to my post. America has the highest per capita prison population in the world. There is something wrong with that picture. Do buy a clue, won't you.

[L210]

Originally Posted by Nairobi

Well, your stance is a pretty common one amongst those who have no experience with what it's actually like to be a minority male in America; let alone a black man in Northwest Houston. I wasn't going to say anything, but I and many other blacks find it downright insulting that, time and time again, whites dare to question the social injustices against our race that WE witness ourselves.

I think you're too smart to believe I was actually suggesting that his being black is the sole reason he was convicted of a crime. Obviously, a number of other factors were taken into account like his specific skin shade, height, style of dress, and the fact that he was in the general vicinity of where the crime took place.

It's naive and ignorant to believe that every man and woman in America's prisons ended up there from some direct or indirect fault of their own. That's my point.

I'm a black female and even I've been profiled.

Since 2001, 24 men who were wrongfully convicted in Dallas County, Texas, have been fully exonerated by DNA testing. Together they served more than 300 years in prison and many more years on parole. Several more cases, in which DNA has proven innocence but exonerations have not yet become official, may still be pending in courts.

The Innocence Project - Dallas County Cases Where DNA Has Proven Innocence

Researchers have long known that African-Americans are more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than whites, even though studies have repeatedly shown that the two groups use the drug at similar rates.

Nationally, African-Americans are nearly four times as likely to be arrested for marijuana possession as whites. The disparity is even more pronounced in some states, including Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota, where African-Americans are about eight times as likely to be arrested. And in some counties around the country, blacks are 10, 15 or even 30 times as likely to be arrested.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/16/op...-pot.html?_r=0

[Komeht]

I don't know whether it's cruel and unusual (and thus unconstitutional) or merely really mean. Either way its a bad idea so it really doesn't matter.

This is Texas. Summers aren't just hot, they're brutal. Places of incarceration are not meant to be places of torture. You wouldn't spend a summer in a stifling hot cell nor would you allow anyone you know to do the same.

I'm not some bleeding heart liberal soft on crime egg head. I have no problem sending people away for long time for serious crimes. But that doesn't mean we have to send them to some purgatory on earth just because it isn't constitutionally prohibited. That is not a thing that a just and moral people do to others.

This doesn't mean I'm all for all those other red herrings that will be thrown out. It doesn't have to be set to a comfy 72 in there. But people should not be dying for lack of something easily provided.

[westhou]

Originally Posted by Nairobi

Well, your stance is a pretty common one amongst those who have no experience with what it's actually like to be a minority male in America; let alone a black man in Northwest Houston. I wasn't going to say anything, but I and many other blacks find it downright insulting that, time and time again, whites dare to question the social injustices against our race that WE witness ourselves.

I think you're too smart to believe I was actually suggesting that his being black is the sole reason he was convicted of a crime. Obviously, a number of other factors were taken into account like his specific skin shade, height, style of dress, and the fact that he was in the general vicinity of where the crime took place.

It's naive and ignorant to believe that every man and woman in America's prisons ended up there from some direct or indirect fault of their own. That's my point.

Why did you have to turn a thread about air conditioning in prisons into a race issue? Everything doesn't have to be about race. If you want to discuss injustices in the black community than start a thread about it in the appropriate forum.

[westhou]

Originally Posted by doctorjef

Not at all what I am saying and only a dumbass would impute that meaning to my post. America has the highest per capita prison population in the world. There is something wrong with that picture. Do buy a clue, won't you.

I'm not even going to bother with the personal attacks because really what's the point.

As for the bolded part America's prisons are jammed packed because of people like you who want to coddle the prisoners instead of punish them. Thugs in America don't mind going to prison because it's turning into a rehab facility instead of what it should be which is a prison to punish them and keep them away from the rest of us. Let them melt away in there for all I care.

[westhou]

Originally Posted by Komeht

I don't know whether it's cruel and unusual (and thus unconstitutional) or merely really mean. Either way its a bad idea so it really doesn't matter.

This is Texas. Summers aren't just hot, they're brutal. Places of incarceration are not meant to be places of torture. You wouldn't spend a summer in a stifling hot cell nor would you allow anyone you know to do the same.

I'm not some bleeding heart liberal soft on crime egg head. I have no problem sending people away for long time for serious crimes. But that doesn't mean we have to send them to some purgatory on earth just because it isn't constitutionally prohibited. That is not a thing that a just and moral people do to others.

This doesn't mean I'm all for all those other red herrings that will be thrown out. It doesn't have to be set to a comfy 72 in there. But people should not be dying for lack of something easily provided.

Life without A/C is not torture. Plenty of people do it. Properly ventilate the building and if it's still too hot than install fans. Prison doesn't have to be torture but we also don't have to give them all the comforts of home.

Like it or not A/C is a luxury. It's not a necessity to survive. Proper ventilation is but not A/C.

[Komeht]

Originally Posted by westhou

Life without A/C is not torture. Plenty of people do it. Properly ventilate the building and if it's still too hot than install fans. Prison doesn't have to be torture but we also don't have to give them all the comforts of home.

Like it or not A/C is a luxury. It's not a necessity to survive. Proper ventilation is but not A/C.

Again, this is Texas, not California. AC is not a luxury here. People can and do die without it.

I'm not sure I understand your objection. Do you oppose providing basic medical or dental care because that's a luxury?

We are not a cruel people - we should not act cruelly towards others. We provide inmates a toilet, water, food, a bed, some time to exercise, some time out doors. In other words, not much and that's fine. But a sentence to live in prison is a sentence to LIVE in prison. Again, it doesn't need to be turned down to a comfy 72. But it should be set a level that doesn't condemn those who are in our care to die.

[blkgiraffe]

Originally Posted by westhou

Why did you have to turn a thread about air conditioning in prisons into a race issue? Everything doesn't have to be about race. If you want to discuss injustices in the black community than start a thread about it in the appropriate forum.

He didn't. He just used an example about innocent people being in prison. Lonestar was the one who wanted get a topic started on that. You should address him/her.