Prison Comforts -- TV, guns, fridges...

[Gio Takahashi]

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - With a plasma TV, a DVD player, $172,000 in cash, gym equipment, two refrigerators and a couple of guns, Genilson Lino da Silva had everything he needed for a luxurious life -- in his Brazilian prison cell.

It came to an end on Monday when his cell, which also contained a king-sized bed, http://www.neowin.net/forum/style_emoticons/default/huh.gif was raided in a police operation against drug traffickers in the northern city of Salvador.

"He was alone in all that comfort. It wasn't very big but the other cells had several prisoners in them," a spokesman for Bahian state authorities said on Tuesday.

Officials said Da Silva, also known by his nickname "Leg," was serving time as the biggest drug trafficker in Bahia state. He was reported as saying the money in his cell was from old robberies and gambling in prison.

"We will investigate if the leaders of the prison were conniving in this," Paulo Gomes, a state prosecutor, told reporters.

He said he was not surprised that kidnappings, murders, and drug trafficking were being directed from inside the jail. "The surprise was finding 280,000 reais ($172,000) inside a cell."

source (http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSN0338431320080604)

[Detrevni]

That is incredibly retarded lol.

[Charlie]

Really fucking stupid. REALLY stupid. You go to prison to pay for your crimes, and suffer for what you've done. You don't go there as a vacation. I'd have had the shit beaten out of the guy, and given him the worst fucking place in the prison he could possibly reside, if I were in charge there. Not coddled him like a fucking lap dog.

I guess we're all paid in full for our actions when we die, though..

[Seegtease]

It's stuff like that that make imprisonment so expensive. Some people think prison serves the purpose of taking them out of society, some believe it punishment. I believe both. And luxuries are not punishment.

[RonDo]

"Prison" and "comfort" should never be a part of the same conversation.

[Killer_Man_]

They should get comfort as in basic needs, the needs to 'survive'. Which is food, water and a toilet.

[RonDo]

They should get comfort as in basic needs, the needs to 'survive'. Which is food, water and a toilet.

Let's just say I feel that they should be more miserable than comfortable.

[Seegtease]

I think we'd be better off if they invested more money in reformation of prisoners, since people can change. I wouldn't ever say they should be made more miserable, since not everybody is in prison for some heinous crime.

[Killer_Man_]

What I mean is by basic needs, is the basic stuff. Which means for the sheer fact that it should be low quality food. It still gives them their need but the quaility is crap.

[Z]

With a plasma TV, a DVD player, $172,000 in cash, gym equipment, two refrigerators and a couple of guns, Genilson Lino da Silva had everything he needed for a luxurious life -- in his Brazilian prison cell.

If I ever commit murder, I know where I'm fleeing. Fuck Mexico. Brazil is where it's at, lol.

[Seegtease]

I find it funny that they list the DVD player in there with the rest of that stuff as if DVD players are expensive.

[Z]

How big is that asshole's cell that he could fit ALL THAT and a king sized bed?

[RonDo]

I think we'd be better off if they invested more money in reformation of prisoners, since people can change. I wouldn't ever say they should be made more miserable, since not everybody is in prison for some heinous crime.

I'm all for reformation..I just don't want to be fitting the bill for someone to live in digs that are just as good or better than what I am living in, let alone the countless homeless out there. Take all that nice crap out of the jail cell and use the funds on people who might actually need it.

[Killer_Man_]

Maybe a DVD player is expensive in Brazil?

[Seegtease]

I'd actually like to see a somewhat rewarding prison society. Depending on how helpful they are in the prison, like offering to do extra work, or they help settle disputes or report planned riots, they can get small luxuries. Nothing big, maybe simple like a radio. It would encourage reformation and probably shape up prisons in general. But they should start pretty low with just the basics to survive. Not that I want serial killers to have nice lives in prison, but there are a lot of prisoners who deserve the chance. Plus there are those who could really change if given the right motivation.

[Killer_Man_]

The problem with that Zeit, is much like children. It's like a bribe, not to mention the sheer fact that people could just do it and not reform just to make their life comfortable till they get out.

[Seegtease]

They could, but they probably wouldn't. That kind of behavior can stick on a person as they begin to realize that it actually feels good to be helpful, not hurtful.

And there's a huge difference between bribery and rewarding for achievement.