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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Wik" data-source="post: 5068543" data-attributes="member: 40177">I'm going to start this off by stating that I watch FAR too much "Lockup" on MSNBC... and when that's not on, I watch "Lockdown" on National Geographic.  Can't wait for FOX's "Locksideways", coming next month.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />Okay, so a few points:1)  Not giving prisoners something to do is a bad idea - it leads to stress, and inevitably violence.  I think the average prison sentence is under ten years, and the theory is that prisoners should be able to function outside of society.  Making them live their entire time in hell with no relief creates animals, not human beings.  Teaching prisoners job skills (so they don't need crime), social behaviours, and yes, letting them have time to play games (you'd be amazed at how many prisoners have never had the chance to play a sport, even), is the way to go.  Remember that oft-repeated quote - you can judge a society's level of civilization by how well it treats its prisoners.In other words, you don't teach a guy who has grown up with nothing how to be a human being by giving him absolutely nothing, as it just reinforces his negative view of the world ("I need to take from others if I want to survive").  Instead, you teach a guy to be a human being by giving him comforts and showing him the pleasures the world has to offer if one is decent, and then taking away those comforts when he misbehaves.  I don't think prison should be a cakewalk, but I seriously doubt many people will say prison is ever "easy".  2)  Prisons have plenty of games available - Risk and Monopoly, for example.  So it isn't a fear of playing pieces, for the most part, although games in the player's posession can always be a problem (those hardcovers could make a rather nasty shiv).  3)  The big problem with D&D?  The GM has power over the group.  I don't know about you, but I wouldn't want to kill the PC of a guy that was in prison for beating his sister's boyfriend in the head with a hammer.  And yes, there can be conflicts between players - we all have these stories.  So, while the game is GREAT when all cylinders are firing right, it doesn't always work that way - and these are people who usually have a history of violent behaviour.4)  While Danny's suggestion of the officials sitting in on the game seems a good one, I doubt that would work - most prison officials are incredibly overlooked, and just the fact that they were present with one group of prisoners for any length of time could, in fact, endanger the wellbeing of those prisoners (who could be seen as snitches).</blockquote>

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