I'm not sure what you're referencing here. The Romans had no penitentiaries. The only jails were used for brief storage. Criminals were made into slaves, executed, exiled, or made into gladiators.

Usually crucified.... :(

The entrance to Rome had crucified people along the road heading to the city.. Could you imagine that sight?.....

If people here are going to argue the fact that this is a senseless waste of taxpayer money, I have a whole other argument about who this country sends to jail. Just remember, the US has the highest inmate-to-population ratio in the entire world. Over half of those people are in there for non-violent crimes.

That is true. But then they are going to have filter who would not take advantage of the internet, and those who would. They would be spending even more money on a system that already takes a lot of money.

Its very expensive to keep people in jail already. Feeding them, clothing them, shelter, electricity, heating, washrooms, guards, etc.....

Sixty billion bucks a year is spent on prisons in the US.

Holy Man! That is a ridiculous amount of money. Now does that go up every year? Or does it remain around the same?

How much more would you think it would cost to give everyone internet?

It goes up every year, thanks to a rising population and inflation. With the internet it would undoubtably be more, but at $60 billion already it's not going to make too much of a difference.

Yeah, sounds like... $74 Billion more needed for the war in Iraq isn't going to make much of a difference. ;)

Meh, I am still against doing it. Too many variables to play with. People can do weird things and can figure out how to take advantage of things.

Selective privledges and use of the internet as a reward for good behavior could both be implemented, though.

Hmmm, that is a possibility. But maybe they are being good to get on the internet so they can figure a way out. I mean, not everyone is going to be like that, but the possibility is there.

I still find it risky. But it does seem possible. Mix good behaviour with a strong internet filter, and someone scanning what the person is logging onto (if possible).

I would suggest getting a really slow internet connection, then they could get sick of waiting and it would make sure they don't wander too far off on the web.

This would work especially if a time constraint were implemented, such as the convict not being on the Internet for more than an hour at a time.

I 100% agree with Capo. We need to get people who aren't a danger to society out of jails. The problem with the American justice system is that it's neither purely rehabilitiative nor purely punitive: it's somewhere in the middle, which results in the sad situation you see today, where we have.2.2 million people in prison. That's a fuckload of people! Three quarters of a percent of the entire US population, in fact. What the hell!

Internet + Microphone = Skype. This only makes it one step closer.

That's what I agree with. The internet in prison should be something earned and rewarded for good behavior, however it should probably be filtered out as well, like maybe any of the buddy sites out there ie MySpace. However email access should be allowed to contact loved ones. But then again, that's what snail mail is for.

As was said before, what would they be using the internet for that they can't already access?

They can get info from books / tv / newspapers, entertainment from tv, and in england they have ps2's so they have video games, they can learn from the schooling they recieve, they even have sky digital in their cells! More than I have...

The only other thing the internet is used for that they can't already get is communication. They have their phone calls and letters to communicate with their families.

It's totally unneccecary imo.

Other than communication with non-family members I think everything else is pretty fine. Its just that the Internet seems to me like something really dangerous for it-smart criminals. Things like writing, education, re-education, art, music, chess etc may be a better choice. In some places inmates make handicrafts to sell. The money earned would then go to charities and rehabilitation programs. Of course, there would be a middle man so the no one would know which inmate made what. All in the name of sercurity!

Oh and to answer your 2nd question, Internet explorer can be used for all kinds of crimes, even with flash and javascript disabled you could still access a html telnet terminal and basically do what you want to.

And it only takes the admin filtering the sites to make one small slip up and again they could freely roam the internet. They should just cut all risk and not have it there to being with.

If Internet is offered, ports for most programs would obviously be blocked and all... but im assuming they would be giving them access to some kind of Intranet instead, wich would prevent any risks since it would be a private network.

Time in prison is meant to be long and dull. It is in theory supposed to feel ridiculously long and cause folks who get out to not wanna come back. If they had internet access, that'd make time fly a lot for them. Even if their logs were watched and stuff...

They shouldn't have it. Hell, some places let them see TV or listen to radio at times. They should have bare minimum.

An idea comes to mind... Myspace for prisoners -- Mycase.

I'm sitting on a goldmine!

This obviously doesn't work.
Anyway, again, I'm not talking about giving the prisoners in some Supermax facility these privledges. Non-violent offenders aren't inhuman scum. They deserve something. Being locked away for such extended periods of time is punishment enough.

I said "in theory".

Let's not forget that lots of these folks are repeat offenders.

They deserve something if they're non-violent. They can get put in a minimum security prison as opposed to a "federal fuck me in the ass" prison. Happy ending for all. My old man did two years in jail when I was still a kiddo. And despite that, I still have no sympathy for those doing time. It's punishment, bottom line.

Edit: Nevermind. I'd rather not.

Maybe they wouldn't be in prison if they weren't on the Internet "[breaking] international copyright law by downloading MP3s from file-sharing sites like Morpheus or Grokster or Limewire or KaZaA," nor be treated like "the evil hard-bitten criminal scum [they] are," even if "[they're] a grandma or a seven year old girl."*

They're even lucky some of them get TV privileges, some equipment to work out, a library, or making a little bit of money for doing menial tasks. It could be a lot worse than it already is, especially in other countries. This is prison not computer camp. This is like Oliver Twist asking for some more food; he's lucky they even gave him gruel or whatever that nasty shit was the orphans ate.

If they wanted their freedom to roam the Internet, they should'nt have gotten busted in the first place. All you kiddies scared of being put away for smoking weed or whatever else illegal thing you're doing, well that's the breaks. Sometimes you gotta grow up and face the consequences.

*Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yz-grdpKVqg.

Is that really a criminal offense? I was fairly sure that it was civil.

Yes, it is actually a very civil offense and is only punishible with fines. Also I think that Internet freely available to Criminals is wrong (As thought of before this). However, if a person is rewarded with the internet (strickly Monitored with IP Filters,time and bandwidth constraints, and guard presence) is a good way to promote good behavior. I think that they should just be happy with a small library. No the thing I wouldn't mind is using computers as Electronic Books in the library.