NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dannyalcatraz" data-source="post: 5072329" data-attributes="member: 19675">I agree with your assessments, Silverblade. I'd still like to hear from a expert on the pros & cons (no pun intended) of D&D in a prison environment, though.Not a gamer, but some kind of mental health expert who uses role play as a therapeutic tool.  Ideally one who also games.Because while we in the outside world love our hobby, and have anecdotal evidence about what a good influence the game was for us (in my case, it was one of several factors that consistently drove me to improve my vocabulary) we don't really have any data on what, if any, good it can do in an institution like a prison (or even mental health facility).And since we probably all know someone who takes the game a little too seriously, I'd like to hear what such a pro has to say about the potential negative problems that may occur.After all, the Court already had a case in which someone had proven to be a bit imbalanced and had immersed himself in the game to a disruptive level.  The concern, of course, is that in a prison, you're generally dealing with those whose thought processes are out of whack with society in general.So while in society in general, a guy who takes an RPG to the point where he's not accurately distinguishing between reality and fiction is a rarity, in a prison, the odds may be substantially higher, especially when you factor in the likelihood of substance abuse (both past and present), pre-existing mental illness, and the paranoia and other disorders that may arise from being incarcerated in a small space with hundreds of other criminals...Again, with all of those considerations, I don't have much of a problem with restricting possession of RPG stuff in the guy's cell, but I think its an entirely different matter if the stuff was in a lounge or library.  IOW, with controls in place to monitor activity.But until someone actually tries that angle, we'll never know.One last point on recreation in prison in general:I had mentioned that the ones who benefit most from having social outlets for prisoners are the prison guards themselves.  If you visit a prison- as I have done several- you'll find that the prisoners who are the most dangerous to prison staff on a daily basis are the ones who are the ones who have lost the most.  The guys who are in solitary or in other forms of lockdown where they may be in their cells for up to 23 hours a day are the ones most likely to lash out.  Humans are social creatures.  The less social interaction we get, the more we regress.</blockquote>

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