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Missouri Prisons Pull Violent Video Games

Posted by Zonk on from the kill-a-man-and-get-no-mario dept.

blueZhift writes "Missouri's most violent criminals will no longer be permitted to play violent video games that simulate the kind of offenses that resulted in their incarceration in the first place. Prison officials pulled the games, which included such killfests as Hitman: Contracts, once they were informed of their violent content. Science fiction and sports games were not pulled as part of the sweep, so more nerdy prisoners will not be affected by the changes."

9 of 133 comments (clear)

  1. The real question: by Issue9mm · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I think the real question is why they had them in the first place? Yes, I understand the argument that it's easier to keep them in line if they're docile, but c'mon... I can't tell you how many times I've wished for a place where the meals were prepared for me, could play video games, and not have any responsibilities to worry about (like work).

    The more prisons offer to the inmates, the more inclined people are to WANT to go there. Even if they commit a lesser crime for the shorter sentence, it might end up being a choice vacation spot.

    -9mm-

    1. Re:The real question: by wayne606 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      "I have the leisure to study without the distractions of having to support myself. I view prison as a sort of utopia with constraints." - Theodore Streleski

      Streleski was a math student convicted in the early 80's of killing his PhD advisor with an axe, after spending some unreasonable number of years as a grad student.

      I guess no more playing "Riemann Space 2001 : Invasion of the Monoids" for him.

    2. Re:The real question: by kenp2002 · · Score: 2, Insightful
      ...Marc Mauer, assistant director of the Sentencing Project, maintains that "in 1980, 6 percent of inmates were in for drug offenses. That's up to 21 percent in 2000."...

      Allow me to revise for clarity

      ...More than a quarter of the state and federal inmates were in prison
      for drug offenses (234,600 prisoners) in 1993. Prisoners serving a
      drug sentence increased from 8 percent of the state and federal prison
      population in 1980 to 26 percent in 1993. In federal prisons, inmates
      sentenced for drug law violations were the single largest group--60
      percent in 1993, up from 25 percent in 1980.       ...
      ( http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/press/pi94.pr )

      This doesn't even take the recent surge after 1993 with Crystal Meth hitting the mainstream drug users in the late 90s.

      --
      -=[ Who Is John Galt? ]=-
  2. As much as I dislike this by UltimaL337Star · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I could understand prison guards feeling uncomfortable watching inmates trying to kill the cops in video games all day.

  3. In other news... by GeekWithGuns · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Missouri's prisoners are allowed to play video games!?!

    Isn't is supposed to be a punishment to be in prison? Part of that is not being allowed to have stuff like this to enjoy. Prison is supposed to suck!

    --
    [End of diatribe. We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming...] - Larry Wall in Configure from the perl
  4. Re:In other news... by Pluvius · · Score: 2, Insightful

    If murder, robbery, and rape don't harm other people, then they should be legalized.

    Rob

  5. Is it just me... by MisterMoney · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ...or does it seem a little strange that we allow PRISONERS to play video games? Aren't they supposed to be in there to be punished?

  6. Re:In other news... by Pxtl · · Score: 2, Insightful

    US prisons suck not because of the perks and bennys like games and TV that the prisoners receive, its the laissez-faire attitude to rape and violence in the prison.

    IMHO, if prisoners were treated like teenagers at a tough-love boot-camp (no recreation, no life, no privacy), but never assraped or shivved or anything, then prisons would be more oppressive but simultaneously less cruel.

    The games are orthogonal to the problem. I think we'd all rather be in a Canadian prison without an XBox than a US prison with one.

  7. Re:huh?? by saintp · · Score: 2, Insightful
    The period during which prisons were places of rehabilitation was very short. It basically took place in the brief period between monarchy and the religious takeover of democracy.

    Other than that, I agree with you mostly. What you describe in the end is generally characteristic of the entire American political system right now, not just vis-a-vis drug policy. Parents aren't diligent enough to refuse to buy Codeine-coated Landmine Pops for their kids? Outlaw 'em! Consumers aren't conscientious enough to patronize only smoke-free bars? Ban smoking there!

    I'd actually one-up you: Drugs are only one (relatively minor) symptom; prisons are the symptom. The degree to which a society needs a police force and a prison system correlates directly to the degree to which a society is dysfunctional.

    --
    Another one bites the dust