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You probably want to at least monitor their communications though; there is essentially no right to privacy for prisoners unless they are communicating with cou

You probably want to at least monitor their communications though; there is essentially no right to privacy for prisoners unless they are communicating with counsel. That means restricting the types of communication they can use (if only for practical reasons). I think most people would agree we all want to avoid scenarios like this: "Inside rolls of razor-wire fence, behind a network of heavy metal doors, locked alone in a North Carolina prison cell for 23 hours every day, a high-ranking gang leader directed accomplices in Georgia to carry out a contract killing. Step by step over a smuggled cellphone, the prisoner instructed gang members in chilling detail: “Gag him real tight. Put something in his mouth. Put something over his head.” The plot, to kill a prosecutor’s father, was foiled in April 2014. The inmate – a founder of the United Blood Nation – was sentenced in November to life plus 84 months on kidnapping and related charges." https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/crime/article152334207.html https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/crime/article15...

jakelazaroff 7y ago
Do people outside of prison not also organize murders that could be described in similar lurid detail? Maybe we should monitor your communications in case you try something like that. If it seems so imperative that we monitor inmates’ communications for fear they’ll order a murder, consider that there’s a more systemic cause that we need to address.
Infinitesimus 7y ago
It seems your fundamental premise that is that since a few prisoners are very risky, we should impose extremely harsh measures on all of them regardless of what got them in there the first place. Is that right? That's a problematic viewpoint because the same argument can apply to any free person today: "some people in this neighborhood committed some crimes a while ago so let's keep an extra eye on those in the zipcode. Maybe wiretap their houses and restrict communication." Will that sit well with you? Those who profit off the prison industrial complex and those who simply hate certain populations want you to believe that our prisons are full of extremely violent people who should be dehumanizing and taken from society as punishment. A lot of people are there because they had the wrong skin color, got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, are truly innocent, got thrown in jail for a harmless "crime" like having weed, etc.
garrettgrimsley 7y ago
> a high-ranking gang leader directed accomplices in Georgia Small world! I knew a couple of the people that carried out this kidnapping, as well as the FBI agents on the other side of it. Jakym Tibbs, aka Jak, got 52 years, and Jevante Price, aka ATL aka Flame, got 20 years. Played a lot of chess with both guys. Melton, the gang leader that ordered the kidnapping and was directing the kidnappers to murder and dismember the victim, was already serving a life sentence when this occurred. They moved him to ADX Florence after this happened.

jakelazaroff 7y ago

Do people outside of prison not also organize murders that could be described in similar lurid detail? Maybe we should monitor your communications in case you try something like that. If it seems so imperative that we monitor inmates’ communications for fear they’ll order a murder, consider that there’s a more systemic cause that we need to address.

Infinitesimus 7y ago

It seems your fundamental premise that is that since a few prisoners are very risky, we should impose extremely harsh measures on all of them regardless of what got them in there the first place. Is that right? That's a problematic viewpoint because the same argument can apply to any free person today: "some people in this neighborhood committed some crimes a while ago so let's keep an extra eye on those in the zipcode. Maybe wiretap their houses and restrict communication." Will that sit well with you? Those who profit off the prison industrial complex and those who simply hate certain populations want you to believe that our prisons are full of extremely violent people who should be dehumanizing and taken from society as punishment. A lot of people are there because they had the wrong skin color, got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, are truly innocent, got thrown in jail for a harmless "crime" like having weed, etc.

garrettgrimsley 7y ago

> a high-ranking gang leader directed accomplices in Georgia Small world! I knew a couple of the people that carried out this kidnapping, as well as the FBI agents on the other side of it. Jakym Tibbs, aka Jak, got 52 years, and Jevante Price, aka ATL aka Flame, got 20 years. Played a lot of chess with both guys. Melton, the gang leader that ordered the kidnapping and was directing the kidnappers to murder and dismember the victim, was already serving a life sentence when this occurred. They moved him to ADX Florence after this happened.