Summary:

This article is about inmates in one Oregon prison getting 7" Flat Screen TV sets in their cells and the merits of having them. I read the article and agree that having flat screens benefits everyone. They also talk about how the guards like inmate's having TV's in their cells as it keep the traffic down substantially. Of course, you have your detractors as well..

By ANDREW KRAMER, Associated Press Writer
SALEM, Ore. - Convicted felon Nicholas Krahmer kicks back on a bunk and enjoys one of the latest perks of prison life: A spanking new flat-screen TV that's still the envy of many viewers on the outside.




The tiny 7-inch set resembles flat-screen models installed in cars or on airplane seats. But it beats the alternative, he says — a night in the recreation room with about 150 other inmates who are prone to brawls over what to watch and where to sit.

Oregon's in-cell television policy springs from years of frustration in finding incentives for good behavior among prisoners serving mandatory sentences.

Here is the Link to the full article:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&ncid=519&e=11&u=/ap/20040503/ap_on_re_us/prison_tv

Great article!!

I think it is a great idea!!

Thank you for posting!!

My husband is in the ONLY Oregon Institution having these available, at this time. They require you to be in for 6 months of good time before you can get one. And they definitely aren't provided to them like it sounds. It's a commisary item that costs them $600.00 (with a $60 warranty). Just thought I'd pass on a bit more info for those who thought it was a luxury just handed out. They also are allowed CD players after 18 months of good time, and they too cost an arm & a leg. One more "Food for Thought", the guys are broken down in groups of no more than 96 on a block, so where they came up with 150 of them all together I will never know!!! LOL.

Okay are they just trying to make them all Zombies? I think that it is a cool idea but it also makes me very worried about what they are learning from this. They get in trouble and then they get to have a little TV and can veg out all day with it. I wish i could do that. My husband wants to by one and I will not send him the money. I told him that he has to earn the money. I thought the CD players were a great thing because he could take that with him when he left. And he could get CD that he liked to listen to. What are they going to do with 7inch TV when the get released. And also if they move faculties that do not have the TV yet what happens to them, do they just become big paper weights tell they are ready for them? Sorry, I think that they should spend more time preparing prisoners for life on the out side and helping them find them selves and give them the counseling that they need, and not spend lots of money on setting up the prisons for TV. I know that they can have inmates do most of the work. Most of the time it is the families of prisoners that end up with the bill at the end for all the TV or even any of commissary items. That is what makes me very frustrated.
Kris

Well as someone who has been in prison I can tell you that its nice to have your own TV because of the problems over the control of a shared TV.

And there are far more negative things in prison to deal with or worry about thing what kind of TV a prisoner is getting.

For someone who thinks its to good for them or wonders what kind of lesion are they leaning from their incarceration. They should try to have there freedom, family, life and in some cases desire to live taking away- then a TV dose not seem like that big of a deal-And yes some people deserve to be there, but it dose not make them less human.

I still like the idea. It does give them a link to the outside world. Can you imagine being locked up in and have no idea of what is happening on the outside? or have any control over the TV in the Day room?

Fellah was all excited to watch a movie. On the night it was to air, the general attitude of the day room was to watch something else. Rather than start a fight with 90 other inmates, he went without.

Doesn't seem like much. But that was the only thing he had to look forward to that week, as I wasn't able to visit. If he were to have his own TV, it would have given him just a little bit of control.

JJT

These "rewards" in the Oregon prison system came out of a change in the law where the amount of monetary compensation prisoners could receive was curtailed. In addition, with some mandatory sentences (Measure 11 and repeat property crimes), they cannot earn any kind of "time cut." So they wanted some sorts of incentives for good behavior to keep the prisons safer for cops and prisoners (something the voters who passed these measures never considered.) I personally wish they'd pass out books instead but then an educated prisoner is perhaps something the government doesn't want... Zelda

If I live to be 156 years old, I will never understand the voters of Oregon. **shakes head in total disbelief**

JJT