Should inmates be able to vote?

I know people who have been incarcerated in Delaware, and with the exception of VOP where you get on peice of french toast for breakfast, all have said the food has been good, no need really to spend your commisary and make cookies from peanutbutter sugar and ricecrispies, or tunaboona.

Also for a state as small as we are we have 3 prisons/jails and 100's of other small housing units for work release and atleast 4 VOP centers.

 

exactly ..
The Delaware Department of Correction supervises about 7,000 inmates in its prisons and community corrections centers, as well as approximately 17,000 probationers in the community.
The Department is the only government operated correction agency in the State. Delaware runs what is called a unified corrections system. Delaware has no regional, county or municipal correction or jail system and no separate probation system. Offenders immediately become the responsibility of the State, including: pre-trial and sentenced, misdemeanor and felony, and jail and prison and all community based sanctions.

• Data reveals the State corrections effort is largely a jail system with approximately 20,000 offenders admitted for incarceration and 20,000 released each year.
• Currently, 57% are sentenced to serve more than one year. 24% are sentenced to less than one year. The remaining 19% are offenders in detention status (either prior to conviction/acquittal or held awaiting sentencing). In Delaware, prison is defined as those serving one or more years. Jail is defined as those serving less than a year.
• Many in detention are held solely because they cannot make bail. These numbers reflect the huge volume of people flowing into Delaware correctional facilities.
• Approximately 97% of the inmate population will eventually be released to the community.
• It costs about $30,000 a year to incarcerate one inmate. Prisons are about 20 times more costly per person, per day than regular probation.

Delaware's sanctioning is unique. Instead of two options, probation or jail, there are five options:

• Level V = Jail or Prison *
• Level IV = Work Release, Residential Drug Treatment, Home Confinement, Violation of Probation Incarceration
• Level III = Intensive Probation Supervision
• Level II = Probation Supervision
• Level I = Unsupervised Probation

different state ., different System.. less people. here in PA, there are 26 state jails. Its a very large state too. Many the prison jobs may have you relocate.
This State requires much transportation of inmates from jail to jail. This could be avoided with more local classification centers..

 

Nifty

 

I think that wraps it up. Hopefully we'll bump into each other in better spirits next time.

 

Everyone Wants Me To Talk About Violence…But No One Wants to Hear What I Have to Say

January 12th, 2011
by prison culture


“The natural state of this society is violence…”
A colleague uttered these words to me over a year ago as we were collaborating on an anti-violence curriculum project. It’s worth reflecting on his words at this time in our country. Currently, the news is saturated with reports about the Gabrielle Giffords assassination attempt and the massacre of other innocents in Tuscon. What happened is truly horrific and I offer my condolences to everyone impacted by this tragedy.
A few days ago, I received a phone call from the assistant to a famous filmmaker. This person was seeking data pertaining to “youth violence” in Chicago. ‘What specifically are you looking for?” I asked. Of course, she was looking for statistics about the number of youth homicides in the city. I once again found myself deflated at the end of the conversation.
For over two decades now, I have been working to reframe the conversation about the nature and impact of violence in the U.S. It’s been one step forward and three steps back. It is difficult not to feel discouraged in the face of a persistent insistence to define violence in America as homicide or as PHYSICAL assault.
It is certainly true that some young people in Chicago are being wounded and killed by guns. It is valuable and important to address this lethal form of violence. I recommend an upcoming film that I have been privileged to preview called the Interrupters for some ideas on how to stop the shooting. Below is a trailer for the upcoming film:
Download:
FLVMP43GP
When tragedies like the Tuscon attack occur, I understand the human impulse to look for a “reason” for what happened. Was the killer mentally ill? What role does media play in the act? Should we have gun control? Should we be nicer to each other?
Yet what is always missed in the countless “national conversations” and recriminations that take place after such tragedies are perspective and honesty. The root cause of violence in the U.S. and across the world is oppression. Frederick Douglass famously wrote:

Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where one class is made to feel that society is organized in a conspiracy to oppress, rob, and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.
​

There it is. In one sentence. Clearly articulated. Eloquent. Easy to understand. And yet we ignore the truth and the wisdom of these words every day. We do so because it is easier to focus on quick fixes and band-aid solutions that will not disrupt the status quo and will not challenge the powerful. It is a sick game of willful ignorance.
If 50 youth under the age of 18 years old are killed by gun violence a year in Chicago, what about the 30% of youth under 18 who are living under the poverty line this year. Is poverty not violence?
What about the over 2200 youth in Illinois who are currently incarcerated in our juvenile prisons. Is youth incarceration not violence?
What about the thousands of youth in Chicago who drop out of school every year. Is educational malpractice not violence?
My friend’s suggestion that “the natural state of our society is violence” takes on real significance when we are clear in our definition of what constitutes violence. And yet, no one wants to hear this. It is too overwhelming and too dangerous to view the world through this lens. James Baldwin has written that: “To act is to be committed, and to be committed is to be in danger.” Too few of us are acting on the knowledge that we have. We KNOW that only a radical reallocation of resources will help us to end violence in our societies. We know that this is true and yet we tinker around the edges. Everyone wants me to talk about violence but no one actually wants to hear what I have to say....
http://www.usprisonculture.com/blog/about/

 

See you later, Red Dragon. We'll toast razing glasses of spirits. Meet you at the pub.

 

They're still people, as unlucky and/or evil as they might be.

Some people say no death row inmates and whatnot, but there aren't enough of them to actually decide an election.

 

Pointless voting dont waste your time.

 

I also disagree with the fact that "whole point of prison" is to lose your rights as a citizen. just look at the 5, 6, and 7th amendments for evidence of that. the point of prison is retribution.

 

The point of prison is retribution, but it should be reahbilitation! Not revenge, and I think that if you are paroled from prison you should be able to vote, I may be wrong but many ex-cons are not allowed to vote, maybe thats only in certain states or maybe I am wrong. But an former inmate(felon) is forever prevented from owning a firearm which is crazy as many non violent offenders are felons, and they should have the legal right to keep a weapon of some sort i ntheir home once they are released from prison for home/self protection at home. I do not think violent offenders should be allowed to have guns and so on after prison, but they do have a right under the seconf amendment to own a firearm for self defense, no where in the US constituion have I seen where a person who commits a crime and is relased aka served their "debt to society" loses their rights after being released!! Anyway, a criminal can illegaly obtain firearms anyway, why punish those who were in prison 30 years ago for a non violent drug offense, and force them to be unprotected from home invasions or robbery!!

 

Don't the Democrat party already cast ballots for them?

 

Yes, they does.

 

I have to go with no on this one...

 

No, they screwed up, I have no mercy for them.

 

Hmm, initially I was going to say NO because those who transcend the law must be punished, however, it really depends on the nature of the 'crime' for conviction of consceince a lot of us may take advantage of opportunities ti be robust in our stance and cmay fall foul of legal guidelines.
Futhermore to go down that line may be the first step towards the removal of those rights in the future - and who can say (especially in respect of cases of injustice) could have consequences to it - so I think I'll have to side with, the removal of (human) rights is not something to be tampered with

 

They let morons vote. Might as well let convicts vote, too. Not that voting even matters.

Yeah, let 'em vote.

 

Absolutely. If you're in this country and subject to its laws, you are a citizen just like anyone else and you deserve the same rights, seeing as you are subject to the laws, politicians and presidents put in place by voting.

 

Wow! Really surprised by the polling results, given one would think this a liberal minded community. Interesting...

 

I think nonviolent criminals should have the right to vote.
And of course aliens. If you live here, this is your country. You should be able to vote.