Missouri Prisons Pull Violent Video Games

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Missouri Prisons Pull Violent Video Games

Posted by Zonk on Thursday December 2, 2004 @08:29AM 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."

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Martha Stewart Omnimedia games titles too? by orthogonal · 2004-12-02 08:32 · Score: 4, Funny

"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...."

OH NOES!1!!11!

No more playing "Martha Stewart: Living" or "Martha Stewart: Baking and Basting for Bubbette" in prison anymore? That is cruel and unusual punishment!

--
Opinions on the Twiddler2 hand-held keyboard?
The real question: by Issue9mm · 2004-12-02 08:32 · 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 BTWR · 2004-12-02 08:39 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  it might end up being a choice vacation spot.
  Yeah - 3 square meals, no work, no rent, oh... and that pesky forced-anal-raping and beat-downs daily*. But hey - free cable and video games!
  *from my watchings of Oz - my skinny, white, jewish ass would last all of 45 seconds in a prison.
2. Re:The real question: by *weasel · 2004-12-02 09:21 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  In NY state the split is actually 38% of felons are in jail on drug charges, and almost 30% of those have also been convicted of a violent crime. So you've got about ~25% of felons in there because of mandatory minimums.
  
  http://www.drugpolicy.org/statebystate/newyork/r oc kefellerd/index.cfm
  
  Nationally the average is closer to 21%
  http://www.enotes.com/americas-prisons/
  
  Granted, these are certainly dramatically increased over the last 20 years -- but they're not nearly the 'majority' you're tossing around.
  
  --
  // "Can't clowns and pirates just -try- to get along?"
3. Re:The real question: by wayne606 · 2004-12-02 09:33 · 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.
4. Re:The real question: by kenp2002 · 2004-12-02 09:55 · 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? ]=-
5. Re:The real question: by kenp2002 · 2004-12-02 10:01 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  I did ... The games were paid for from inmates' purchases ...
  
  I was referring in general how prison items are purchased. The state doesn't buy those items. The inmates do by generating their own revenue. TVs in cells are pruchased individually by inmates who earn money doing work. Other, larger group items, such as excercise equipment are purchased by committiee in many cases(Varies from state to state of course) In many states even the books in the library are in-mate funded.
  
  --
  -=[ Who Is John Galt? ]=-
6. Re:The real question: by bigman2003 · 2004-12-02 11:33 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  See- that's the problem with this whole outsourcing thing.
  
  Some prison official got the idea to outsource, (or send 'overseas') the task of determining if the prisoners purchases were appropriate or not.
  
  I can't expect someone in India, making only a few Rupees a day, to understand, or care, what prisoners in the US should be doing with their free time.
  
  Once again- outsourcing is the cause of our troubles.
  
  --
  No reason to lie.
7. Re:The real question: by kubrick · 2004-12-02 15:50 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  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.
  
  Sounds like a clear case of justifiable homicide to me.
  
  --
  deus does not exist but if he does
Nerdy? by Pluvius · 2004-12-02 08:32 · Score: 2, Informative

Since sports games are by far the most popular genre of video games for the casual player, it'd be more accurate to say "normal prisoners will not be affected."

Rob
As much as I dislike this by UltimaL337Star · 2004-12-02 08:35 · Score: 2, Insightful

I could understand prison guards feeling uncomfortable watching inmates trying to kill the cops in video games all day.
In other news... by daeley · 2004-12-02 08:36 · Score: 3, Funny

In other news, 387 prisoners in Missouri were shivved in separate incidents yesterday. Reports are conflicting at the moment, but assailants were overheard screaming things like "M*therf*cking Zergling Rushing F*ck!!!" and "I'll show you a m*therf*cking hat trick, b*tch!"

--
I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate.
1. Re:In other news... by Pluvius · 2004-12-02 08:58 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  If murder, robbery, and rape don't harm other people, then they should be legalized.
  
  Rob
2. Re:In other news... by saintp · 2004-12-02 08:59 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  But then how would we oppress Black people!?!?!?
  
  --
  Another one bites the dust
3. Re:In other news... by Pxtl · 2004-12-02 09:49 · 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.
You'd have thought they'd realize this... by Anonymous Coward · 2004-12-02 08:36 · Score: 3, Funny

...when the prison administrator was asked to pick up a game called Grand Theft Auto.
In other news... by GeekWithGuns · 2004-12-02 08:37 · 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
Time to go kill some people. by Xaviar21 · 2004-12-02 08:39 · Score: 3, Funny

Oh man.. You get video games in prison?
Free food, a free bed, and free video games.
Why haven't I killed someone, yet?
You mean these games are violent? by MobyDisk · 2004-12-02 08:41 · Score: 4, Funny

"We didn't closely review these," Dave Dormire, superintendent of the Jefferson City Correctional Center, told The Kansas City Star. "We were told these games had more like cartoon violence."
How close do you need to look?
Game Name: "Hitman: Contracts"
ESRB Rating: Mature (17+) for Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content, Use of Drugs
Sounds coming from prison: "That !@#* warden Dormire is gonna get !$*#$!"

Also note that the ESRB does explicitly label Cartoon Violence as opposed to Violence.
I am amazed at how warning labels are ignored, even when they are simple and relevant! I bet I could put a label on something that says using it will kill you, and people would still buy it... Oh wait, they call that Tobacco!
Nerds Aren't Violent by Chi+Hsuan+Men · 2004-12-02 08:48 · Score: 3, Funny

> Jacqueline Helfgott said: "They're not afraid to engage in violence, unlike the nerd sitting in front of his computer."

Funny, because I'm a nerd, and I have sudden urge to bitchslap someone.

--
Respect It.
Re:huh?? by saintp · 2004-12-02 09:03 · Score: 4, Interesting

Actually, the concept of prison as punishment is relatively recent. They used to be places of rehabilitation, and before that testaments to the power of the sovereign. That they are used by the people to punish other people is an innovation from past few hundred years. The modern prison is not designed to rehabilitate, or to deter. It, like the modern judicial system, is designed to ensure that the same minorities who currently populate it will continue to populate it for years to come.
I highly recommend reading Michel Foucault's Discipline and Punish if you're interested in an illuminating discussion of the history of the prison system and a detailed account of how we arrived at a society of surveillance. Given all the tinfoil-hattery on /., it should be required reading.

--
Another one bites the dust
Is it just me... by MisterMoney · 2004-12-02 09:20 · 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?
Dammit. by ayersrj · 2004-12-02 09:22 · Score: 2, Funny

Looks like Thug Life over in Block C is going to have his Atari 2600 and Keystone Kapers confiscated.
actually by Llevar · 2004-12-02 09:49 · Score: 2, Funny

...your skinny white jewish ass might be quite the commodity there.
Re:How would the nerdy prisoners be safer? by Pxtl · 2004-12-02 09:52 · Score: 2, Interesting

Besides that, last time I checked the nerdy prisoners are the ones who'd play violent games and the beefy prisoners would probably more likely to be playing the sports games, not vice versa.
Re:huh?? by saintp · 2004-12-02 09:55 · 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
To all those whining about prisoners playing games by Khuffie · 2004-12-02 10:20 · Score: 2, Interesting

Any of you read the article?

The games were paid for from inmates' purchases -- mostly of snacks -- at the prison canteen. The canteen generates up to $20,000 monthly and a committee of corrections officials, prison staffers and several inmates decides how to spend it.
Much of the cash is used for weightlifting and exercise equipment. Video games are a new purchase in Jefferson City; prison officials say other facilities have done the same, though it doesn't appear to be the norm.
"It has a good effect on helping us run the prison and make sure they're busy and not trying to work on ways to escape or harm others," Dormire said. "That's kind of our bottom line -- public safety."

A) the prisoners paid for them.
B) It helps keep them busy.