Moral question of the day: What do state correctional officials do when group television periods in prisons lead to bloody battles between the child molester who wants to watch the Olsen twins and the ax murderer who wants to catch “Friends?”
Take away the television? Nah, just let them buy their own. And let them get cable, too.
The Oregon State Correctional Institute — where one inmate recently stabbed another inmate for chatting during the precious group television hours — now allows prisoners to have individual television and cable access. Starting in January, convicts will have the ability to use money they earn while working in prison to buy televisions and cable, leaving taxpayers footing only the electricity bill.
While taking more money from taxpayers to pay extra electricity costs may seem unfair, less violence resulting from secluded television viewing seems worth it. After all, if prisoners are choosing to work inside the institution, then it only seems fair that they should have the ability to spend their own money on items that prison officials approve. Granted, the inmates likely did something terrible to end up in prison — and thus, most of their basic freedoms have been stripped — but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t have the right to spend money they earn.
Losing freedoms for a certain amount of time constitutes remuneration of debt to society for committing a crime. Forcing the criminal to brave dangerous television rooms where pencil-wielding inmates go ballistic and stab fellow inmates is not. If prison officials provide a room where convicts can go to watch television, they should at the very least make it safe, which currently is not the case.
A few problems may exist with the new television policy in state prisons, however.
First, whether or not one believes that violence on television influences behavior, it is reasonable to argue that extensive violence may not be the best thing for criminals — especially death-row convicts — to watch. According to the American Psychological Association, violence on television can result in children becoming “less sensitive to pain and suffering of others, more fearful of the world around them (and) more likely to behave in an aggressive way toward others.” But what about hardened criminals? Past speculation it’s hard to say for sure, but the issue deserves further investigation.
And how would scenes of rape affect convicted sex offenders who are trying to reform themselves? After all, a blatant rape of a teenage girl could be seen just last week on the latest episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, one of television’s hottest crime dramas.
Second, wouldn’t the convict be better served by reading a book or participating in educational classes in the prison? Given, a lot of educational materials are shown on television shows, but who will guarantee that criminals will actually watch them? With a variety of channels to choose from — including everything from Fox to ESPN — it’s unlikely that educational shows will be the most popular among prison convicts.
While the Editorial Board recognizes the right for criminals to spend money that prisons have allowed them to earn, we see a few potential problems that should be worked out before criminals are given the ability to watch cable television.