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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Man in the Funny Hat" data-source="post: 4072240" data-attributes="member: 32740">But it's not supposed to be a sensory deprivation vault either.  The chief punitive effects of prison are loss of freedom, loss of privacy, and being forced to live with the worst people in the nation (and all the degradation and consequences THAT entails.)  I don't spend a lot of time weeping for our nations prisoners but when we incarcerate them, for all that we take away from them, we must still provide decent food, adequate living accomodations, and SOMETHING to do besides look at the wall of a cell 24/7/365.  That means work, education, and (like it or not) ENTERTAINMENT.How well the penal system does what it needs to do is eminantly debatable, but you can't deny that entertainment of SOME sort is part of what we are obliged to provide convicts.  Unless we want to just start taking any 3-time loser out back of the courthouse and shoot them.Re: the OP,If you give reasonably well-adjusted, creative people something they will likely put it to a sensible, creative use.  If you give MAL-adjusted, devious people something there is a much higher possibility of it being put to an undesirable, devious use.  There are reasonable concerns regarding fairly open access to roleplaying games by certain people.  I have known people who, though they are quite unlikely to ever be convicts should never, EVER be invited to participate in RPG's if for no other reason than they ALREADY have difficulty seperating fantasy entertainment and reality (except perhaps a game conducted BY a therapist for the PURPOSE of therapy).   If we're talking about a minimum- or perhaps meduim-security prison I don't see too much danger, but if we're talking maximum-security facilities with violent offenders... yeah, I don't know that there aren't BETTER options for their entertainment given the undesirable twists that can be put to the game and gaming equipment.</blockquote>

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