Jail/Prisons & Insanity.

Reports say that there are over 2 million persons (male and female) are imprisoned in the USA, and some 32,000 in the State of Maryland system, and a daily average of 308 inmates in the St. Mary's County Detention Center (SMCDC), and our SMCDC is only designed to hold 245 inmates so our's is abusively over full.

The condition of prisoners is mostly kept unknown to the outside free citizens except when some event happens like a famous person gets incarcerated or an inmate death or a riot at a facility or an inmate hunger strike or other such big event, but for the rest of the time the happenings and conditions of jails and prisons are kept rather secret behind the walls.

Important to remember is that our founding fathers purposely wrote into the U.S. Constitution's Bill of Rights, that the law can not impose any cruel or unusual punishment.

Very many inmates of jails and prisons have big debilitating mental illnesses and those prisoners need treatment and some need medications and or therapy and the punishment of only confinement is not the right solution. Many mental illnesses come from childhood abuses called punishments.

The ideal is that citizens are sent to jail as punishment and not sent to jail and then be punished again in the jails.

Overcrowding is one of the biggest and most common abuse of prisoners (in the USA) and it is particularly abusive to those with mental illnesses and to those housed in the same cell with the mentally ill. The requirement is that each individual person needs at least 55 square feet of living space, thus based on that number the jail / prison cells are made to the size of 55 square feet. That is 5.5 feet X 10 feet, or 6 X 9, which is a standard size jail cell. But then to make the prisoners permanently uncomfortable the gov put into the small cell a set of bunk beds with one bed over top of the lower bed so then it houses 2 inmates in a one person room. Subsequently as a result of this double bunking there are many more fights and suicides and homocides and pervertions and diseases and more.

Right now in our SMCDC it is designed for 245 inmates (based on the double bunking) and it is averaging 308 daily and it swells higher with as many as 380 on some days - particularly weekends. See link below,

SMC Sheriff 2005 Annual report, scroll half way down page to Corrections Division, last sentence.

Exposing the wrong is the first step in any reform.

[oldman]

If we could get people to pay their child support and not spray paint government buildings perhaps they wouldn't be so overcrowded, ya think?

Originally Posted by oldman

If we could get people to pay their child support and not spray paint government buildings perhaps they wouldn't be so overcrowded, ya think?

Not at all, parents in jail right now for child support are deadbroke. They are in jail and have nothing to pay. And they can not work on a job because of being in jail. And it costs tax dollars in the many thousands to keep people in jail that are poor and did not commit an act of violence.

As for the guy spray painting the gov buildings - he knew he was going to jail and nothing could have kept him out.

[Pandora (Premo)]

JPC,

Cruel and unusual would be prying off your toenails with pliers and making you eat them.

[RoseRed (Premo)]

Originally Posted by Pandora

JPC,

Cruel and unusual would be prying off your toenails with pliers and making you eat them.

Funny!

[MMDad]

Originally Posted by JPC, Sr.

Right now in our SMCDC it is designed for 245 inmates (based on the double bunking) and it is averaging 308 daily ...

If you'd just go back where you belong, it'd average 309. Bubba's waiting for you. Stop resisting the temptation.

Meet me at Lowe's tomorrow. I'm buying. Any color you want. Can't you hear the courthouse?

"Paint me James, you can get back with Bubba. Please James, paint me. Don't worry, we'll give you more roid surgery after Bubba breaks you back in. Paint me James..."

[fttrsbeerwench]

So, is this rant about freeing all his abused brothers, or about improving conditions at the jail pending his inevitable return???


I'm still hearing

[oldman]

Originally Posted by JPC, Sr.

Not at all, parents in jail right now for child support are deadbroke. They are in jail and have nothing to pay. And they can not work on a job because of being in jail. And it costs tax dollars in the many thousands to keep people in jail that are poor and did not commit an act of violence.

So you're saying all those in jail for non-payment had been working but the court ordered them to give all their earnings to the child/children or perhaps they were all afflicted with a disability just as the judge ordered them to pay. You've certainly opened my eyes because I had always thought they were just deadbeats to begin with but now I understand. After all, nobody would just go around making babies knowing they couldn't or wouldn't support them. Yep that's it, they had good intentions but the legal system got them down.

[hvp05 (Premo)]

Originally Posted by JPC, Sr.

The condition of prisoners is mostly kept unknown to the outside free citizens...

You make it sound like it's some kind of secret society. Probably the reason the average citizen does not hear much from within the system is that there is rarely anything valuable to pay attention to. Most inmate complaints are along the lines of, "I want more peanut butter," or "My pillow isn't fluffy enough!"

Originally Posted by JPC, Sr.

Very many inmates of jails and prisons have big debilitating mental illnesses and those prisoners need treatment and some need medications and or therapy and the punishment of only confinement is not the right solution. Many mental illnesses come from childhood abuses called punishments.

Previously you have stated they judged you mentally stable. Is this an obscure admission/retraction?

Originally Posted by JPC, Sr.

Exposing the wrong is the first step in any reform.

Yes, you're wonderfully informative. But where is your proposal for reform?

Given that you want to deflate a large percentage of St. Mary's' tax base, I can't imagine that you want to build a new incarceration facility. Perhaps you believe that once you have successfully deflated the aforementioned tax base there won't be many people left to commit crimes.

Or maybe you simply wish to release the poor, abused mentally fragile folks to roam free with impunity. Then they can run for public office and join you in running St. Mary's into the ground!

[bcp (Premo)]

Originally Posted by hvp05

Most inmate complaints are along the lines of, "I want more peanut butter," or "My pillow isn't fluffy enough!"

You forget.

"For the love of God can you PLEASE supply Bubba with some K-Y and a condom"