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Sharing Books with My Dad in Prison

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Re: Sharing Books with My Dad in Prison

#21

Post by maxheadroom »

kasey_junk wrote: post #20
epicureanideal wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, this seems needlessly restrictive. What's the harm in letting someone with nothing better to do read Harry Potter? I could imagine restrictions on certain kinds of books... like how to cover up forensic evidence, or how to tie knots, or whatever... but Harry Potter, or computer programming?

There is s legitimate safety concern. That is certain parts of books can be turned into weapons. But the real issue is one of control. Treating prisoners as subhuman is a management practice.

>Treating prisoners as subhuman is a management practice.

Slight correction: Treating prisoners as subhuman is a societal practice. (At least, in the societal context that this discussion and the article are about.)

Re: Sharing Books with My Dad in Prison

#22

Post by saalweachter »

kasey_junk wrote: post #20
epicureanideal wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, this seems needlessly restrictive. What's the harm in letting someone with nothing better to do read Harry Potter? I could imagine restrictions on certain kinds of books... like how to cover up forensic evidence, or how to tie knots, or whatever... but Harry Potter, or computer programming?

There is s legitimate safety concern. That is certain parts of books can be turned into weapons. But the real issue is one of control. Treating prisoners as subhuman is a management practice.

> There is s legitimate safety concern. That is certain parts of books can be turned into weapons.

Shit, half the modern doorstop fantasy genre is out on that concern alone.

Re: Sharing Books with My Dad in Prison

#23

Post by simonh »

WalterBright wrote: post #2

Prisoners have a human right to be able to read books.

The circumstances under which Human Rights can be legitimately curtailed are interesting. The conventions generally distinguishes between some rights like freedom from torture as absolute, while others such as various freedoms can be legitimately curtailed to balance the needs of society.

Access to books would fall under the right to education, but I'm not sure if that's a right recognised under the US constitution and the US is not meaningfully subscribed to any international treaties on human rights.

Re: Sharing Books with My Dad in Prison

#24

Post by whatshisface »

elliekelly wrote: post #15
whatshisface wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How can reading books be a human right when humans went 190,000 years without writing? Was every pre-literate culture violating a human right?

That logic doesn’t really hold up. Would you make that same argument about modern medicine?

What's your definition of a human right, anything that a first-world citizen wants to have, or an inalienable "property" of right and wrong? If it's the first, then there's nothing wrong with a third world dictator that doesn't feel they have the luxury of allowing rights. If it's the second, then you can't have all of these positive rights.

Re: Sharing Books with My Dad in Prison

#25

Post by simonh »

WalterBright wrote: post #2

Prisoners have a human right to be able to read books.

The circumstances under which Human Rights can be legitimately curtailed are interesting. The conventions generally distinguishes between some rights like freedom from torture as absolute, while others such as various freedoms can be legitimately curtailed to balance the needs of society.

Access to books would fall under the right to education, but I'm not sure if that's a right recognised under the US constitution and the US is not meaningfully or blindingly subscribed to any international treaties on human rights.

Re: Sharing Books with My Dad in Prison

#26

Post by whatshisface »

WalterBright wrote: post #17
whatshisface wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How can reading books be a human right when humans went 190,000 years without writing? Was every pre-literate culture violating a human right?

Prisons are a recent invention. Ancient punishments were execution, banishment, enslavement or mutilation. Since people go insane with lack of stimulation in solitary, I'd say stimulation is indeed a basic human right.

Does that include all forms of stimulation, or do the jailers get to pick which kind? Are all needs rights? If so, is a famine an excuse for a human rights violation (implying that there are circumstantial excuses for violating human rights), or are people living in poor countries forced to be human rights violators?

You can pick anything you want, and say people should have it, but if you want to say there are no excuses for human rights violations then you can't pick anything you want and call it a right.

On the other hand, if you want it to be widely accepted that there are excuses for human rights violations, then it's strongly in your interest to have as many rights as possible. Didn't Saudi Arabia, notorious rights violator, want internet to be declared a right?

Re: Sharing Books with My Dad in Prison

#27

Post by testvox »

chrisseaton wrote: post #6
rootw0rm wrote: post #3

inmates are unable to receive used books in San Diego county jails. the books must be sent new directly from the book store. this greatly increases the cost of some books. also, due to state-local policies, some inmates do up to 6 years in county jail. county is quite a bit worse than prison in California....there's way less to do.

What's the difference between a jail and a prison? They're the same thing in my country.

In the US the difference is that jails house people before trial and for misdemeanor sentences (generally less than one year) and prisons are for felony sentences (generally greater than one year).

Re: Sharing Books with My Dad in Prison

#28

Post by iicc »

Related - Crossing Divides: 'Reading bedtime stories helped me survive prison' https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-47559626

>So while going to prison is "never lucky", he says, he considers himself fortunate to have been signed up for a programme called Storybook Dads.

>This gives prisoners with young children a chance to spend time in a studio recording bedtime stories, which are then sent to their families at home on CD or DVD.

Re: Sharing Books with My Dad in Prison

#29

Post by jstarfish »

epicureanideal wrote: post #16
bredren wrote: post #10

Volunteered for Books for Prisoners in Portland for a time. Prisoners would write asking for subjects, not by title since that was super unlikely. Often we would mail a mix of magazines and books. Every jail has different rules. Each package would get custom consideration for which jail it was going to. Sometimes stuff would just get confiscated for no reason. Some of the letters were sad to read. The appreciation an…

Yes, this seems needlessly restrictive. What's the harm in letting someone with nothing better to do read Harry Potter? I could imagine restrictions on certain kinds of books... like how to cover up forensic evidence, or how to tie knots, or whatever... but Harry Potter, or computer programming?

As if that's bad enough, even the correspondence you have with your spouse/gf on the outside has to be carefully worded, lest it be too titillating.

Photos too-- if it's too risque or pornographic, it's subject to confiscation.

Considering the lack of conjugal visits, it makes it just that much more difficult to maintain relationships with anyone on the outside.

(Of course, every prison is different, but this was the case in Escondido as recently as a decade ago...)

Re: Sharing Books with My Dad in Prison

#30

Post by ajcarpy2005 »

ajcarpy2005 wrote: post #12

While I was in prison, I received The Rise of the Creative Class. I also received an Artificial Intelligence textbook as well. And I received Headstrong. I did a lot of reading. In fact, once I got a chance to go to the computer lab, I wrote upwards of 100 articles. I wrote articles about introductory AI, health, and science.

Addendum: I also read a couple dozen business books from the prison library. Was quite good.
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