5 ms·
> Many prison systems ban reading materials because of their formats: No hardbacks! No pop-ups! The kinds of people in prison would use them as weapons, to huf
by throwawaysleep 4y ago
> Many prison systems ban reading materials because of their formats: No hardbacks! No pop-ups!
The kinds of people in prison would use them as weapons, to huff the binding glue, or would hollow out the cover and shove drugs in it.
- megabless123 4y agoThe kinds of people _outside_ of prison would use them as weapons, to huff the binding glue, or would hollow out the cover and shove drugs in it too.
- imwillofficial 4y agoNo, you obviously have no idea how having the worst people in society with nothing but time, magnifies the weaponization of literally everything possible. I say this as a convict. You’d be amazed at the creative ways people will warp things from their intended purpose. Prison Break has nothing on real life.
- megabless123 4y agoSo? people inside of prison being extra-creative does not make the people outside of prison less-creative.
- HideousKojima 4y agoPeople outside don't need such creativity because they have access to superior implements. No need to file the end of a toothbrush into a shiv when you can just use a knife or gun.
- imwillofficial 4y ago“Necessity is the mother of invention”
- isk517 4y agoHonestly, I want to live in your reality where criminals outside of prison rely solely on hard-cover books as weapons and a means of getting high instead of literally all of the things available to the general public that are better at being weapons and a means of getting high.
- jmyeet 4y agoThe source of drugs in prisons is primarily the people who work there [1]: > Prison staff are often responsible as well: During the pandemic, even though visitation from family and friends was suspended, attorney visits were restricted, and teachers, tutors, and volunteers stayed home, drugs got into many prisons anyway. As The Marshall Project reported, the number of incarcerated people disciplined or charged for drugs actually increased during the pandemic in Texas prisons. Prisoners highly value books and other reading material. They are generally looked after. Many prisons limit the number of personal items so reading materials are passed to other prisoners (who themselves may not have the funds or outside family to purchase them). Banning books isn't a safety issue. It's another means of squeezing more profit from the incarcerated. [1]: https://www.themarshallproject.org/2021/07/15/inside-the-nation-s-overdose-crisis-in-prisons-and-jails https://www.themarshallproject.org/2021/07/15/inside-the-nat...
- HideousKojima 4y agoFWIW when I worked for a local government doing IT and software dev I had to go into the local prison a couple dozen times to set up some equipment. There were zero metal detectors, searches, etc. for me when I entered, and I could have easily smuggled in just about anything. In fact I had a credit card shaped knife that I made sure to remove from my wallet everytime I went in, but there would have been nothing to stop me otherwise.
- notch656c 4y agoThere was likely no searches because the prison officials tacitly are involved with the smuggling and need to not search anyone to make it look like a uniform policy rather than an exceptional policy for the smugglers. Had you actually brought materials to the prisoners, whoever was doing the actual smuggling would have found out through the grapevine and you would have been promptly arrested. My humble conjecture.
- duxup 4y agoI think most understand some of the physical reasoning. The absurdity is the discrepancy and random outcome.
- jollyllama 4y agoYes, there are legitimate concerns with specifics of the materials in this context.