Yes, let's make everything ridiculous, that way we can shout down any meaningful debate on whatever subject you don't agree with.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_in_prisons

Australia: Prison-provided devices sometimes available outside of cells under approval.

Canada: No.

Norway: Yes, even in cells.

Romania: A few prisons have inmate-accessible computers, but no internet.

US: There is a 'TRULINCS' program providing supervised access to email (only) in some prisons.

Yes! We should treat them like to rotten criminals they are! Throw them in the hole and toss away the key. That way they will never return[1]!

Oh, wait, that doesn't work. Perhaps treating them like normal human beings instead proves more effective[2].

[1]http://bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=tp&tid=17 [2]http://www3.unil.ch/wpmu/space/publications/recidivism-studi...

Want to treat them like human beings? Don't put them in the damn prison in the first place!

They're in prison because "justice" needs to be done for the crime they committed against fellow human beings. They're in there for _punishment_. Once you start giving them free meals, clothing, warmth, internet, tv - then what kind of punishment is this? Do you seriously want people who have robbed, killed, trafficked, drugged etc to live like that?

Is it good, ideal? No. Is it better than "an eye for an eye"? Probably.

As for rehabilitation, I will not even start to discuss it, prisons and rehabilitation have nothing to do with each other.

Prison exist for two things: a) Punishment b)Rehabilitation. If it existed solely because a) then all sentences would be permanent.

Personally I'd like to see end of prisons, at least for many minor offenses.

Actually, I'd say there's only one reason for the existence of prisons: confinement. As in, removing someone who could otherwise present a physical threat to others.

Prisons might be a deterrent, but locking up people who never caused physical harm to others is insane. Those should be alternate sentences.

Re point "a", it doesn't make that much sense. Why would they be permanent? It should be permanent for very serious offences (murder etc).

For minor offences I agree there shouldn't be a case of imprisonment. I'd send those people to do some community work and maybe learn something good from it.

Because if you don't want to rehabilitate them (i.e. acclimate them to world outside bars), what's the point of releasing them back?

Have you never tried teaching yourself a new skill using online resources?

Assuming you have (hasn't everyone, nowadays? Even just looking up recipes counts...) -- now think about how you'd pick up the same info, without the internet. While in prison.

Obviously there are technical hurdles, but damn -- I really want motivated, supervised prisoners to be able to learn new skills while they're behind bars.

Because I really want them to be able to earn a living & lead a normal life when they get out.

If they can't, what happens then?

Books. They are not backlit, and they get great battery life. Often, they have been localised.

Who is going to pay for books that are up-to-date enough to be useful as a teaching tool for modern life skills?

And which books are easily available to you in prison?

Obviously the tech world is worse than most for how rapidly information goes stale, but still -- compare working with a few copies of things like Netscape 3 For Dummies, Learn Windows 98 in 21 Days and the like with what you can find in 10 minutes searching online.

Also, most books (regardless of the topic) are actually pretty poorly done. Even most instructional books written by experts are bad; the skills in question don't often overlap with the difficult skills involved in effective teaching something complicated with only static text and graphics.

If you want a really good book, you choose your topic then start reading reviews & recommendations online before you buy something.

If you're in prison you won't even be able to effectively research what the good books are, never mind finding them.