Cazual Conversation
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Do inmates deserve the cold shoulder?
January 16th, 2009, 2:52 pm · 12 Comments · posted by mcazalas
Seeing the post from someone expressing alarm that the heat was not sufficient at the new county jail, I eagerly awaited the onslaught of responses.
Surely, I thought, readers with time on their hands (unemployment is higher than it has been in years here, you know) would throw off their afghans (can’t afford to have the heat too high right now) fire up their computers (can’t afford the electricity to keep them running all day) and absolutely scream for justice.
I was kind of right. They screamed, and it was kind of for justice, but the gist of it seemed to be they thought cold inmates were kind of getting justice by being cold.
“Good to hear that the Sheriff is making the place uncomfortable,” blackwalk wrote. “I’ll bet none of them want to go back.”
While the original poster noted some people are simply being held pending trial, she found few supporters.
“They may not be ‘convicted’ yet but I promise that they are not there for feeding stray animals,” lhgirl wrote. “Whatever landed them there was not a good thing I am sure. I feel for everyone but life is what it is.”
They seem to think that because these people are in jail, it doesn’t matter.
What do you think?
I would have a better comment if the facts were put forth and not the ramblings of a disgruntled somehow connected to the person sitting in jail. So I am going to just shoot from the hip and say tough. There is a roof over their heads when so many in the world don’t have one, there is food in their stomachs when so many go without and they are provided an attorney. So if they are cold, let them do jumping jacks. And for the record Boy Scouts don’t use pillow cases either when camping, so that’s a moot point in my book. I am all for fenced in jail tent cities.
Kudos go out to the sheriff for making the new jail as uncomfortable as he can. Do these inmates think it’s the downtown Rescue Mission?
I don’t feel for them at all. It’s jail - not a Hyatt.
Maybe the good sheriff got some tips from his Alabama cousin?
We are the ones paying the electric bill, the food bill, etc because almost all of them are too sorry to work for a living. Let them huddle for heat.
They are living in much better conditions than many of our troops that have fought for our freedoms. Even the freedom to complain about such petty things. If you want to be in a warm comfy home, then don’t break the law.
I’m with you. A tent city would probably be much less expensive to run.
This is a difficult question to answer because different crimes carry different weights. There is a big difference between a pedophile and someone who got busted with an ounce of weed. And how would one feel if it was their child locked up? I think people should be humane at the very least.
Was the information the discontented person presented verified as fact? Are the inmates without heat? Are they without heat because the jail does not have it, or because it’s broken? -OR- Do the detention officers keep the thermostat at a cooler temperature than someone liked it.
I want facts, not just inane rambling of the disgruntled.
hmmmmmmm kinda makes me wonder why they would complain… after all they have dish t.v. they can go back to jail and watch whatever they want…..question…?? just exactly who is paying for this….??
I’m more concerned about the poor BCSO employees … they should have heat.
The cooler they keep it, the less active the inmates are — good way to maintain order.