Roll a 20 your first day or you'll end up as someone's b*tch

jaybird216 · Post by **jaybird216** » Tue Jan 26, 2010 9:34 pm

http://www.wkowtv.com/global/story.asp?s=11876814
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anglefish · Post by **anglefish** » Tue Jan 26, 2010 9:55 pm

I guess that's a group of players where you don't question looting the bodies.

jaybird216 · Post by **jaybird216** » Tue Jan 26, 2010 10:03 pm

It just amazed me that their rationale for banning the game was that D&D encourages groups to gather. Then again, I've never been to prison, so what do I know? Maybe being beaten by a tube sock full of d20's is a common hazard.
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ssfsx17 · Post by **ssfsx17** » Tue Jan 26, 2010 10:06 pm

"first-degree intentional homicide"

I can see why prison guards might be suspicious of typical barbarian heroes, typical hack-and-slash gameplay, and what not.
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ssfsx17 · Post by **ssfsx17** » Tue Jan 26, 2010 10:08 pm

jaybird216 wrote:
It just amazed me that their rationale for banning the game was that D&D encourages groups to gather. Then again, I've never been to prison, so what do I know? Maybe being beaten by a tube sock full of d20's is a common hazard.

Think about it... the party wanders around the bad parts of the world, systematically kills people and takes their stuff, often with little provocation.
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BLOOD AXE · Post by **BLOOD AXE** » Tue Jan 26, 2010 11:03 pm

ssfsx17 wrote:
"first-degree intentional homicide"

I can see why prison guards might be suspicious of typical barbarian heroes, typical hack-and-slash gameplay, and what not.

Yes (add sarcasm) its much better that convicts can lift weights all day & come out of prison a bigger/stronger criminal. Discourage imagination and intellectual pursuits at all costs. Stop friendly social interaction. A D&D gang?? Come on.....
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Post by **Breakdaddy** » Tue Jan 26, 2010 11:06 pm

A gang of armed nerds would be scary indeed... oh, wait, that's MY group.

cuchulainkevin · Post by **cuchulainkevin** » Tue Jan 26, 2010 11:08 pm

Well I guess it comes down to the "Prison as a Rehabilitation" school vs the "Prison as Punishment" school.

I gues that there are a lot of folks that could give a Rats a## about whether or not those guys have a way to pass the time. On the otherhand, if they have a good outlet for recreation maybe it lowers the chance that some of the prison guards might get hurt.

Anything can be manipulated into something bad, and I imagine that prisoners are very adept at it.
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slimykuotoan · Post by **slimykuotoan** » Tue Jan 26, 2010 11:44 pm

Well, I personally think it comes down to whether you think D&D has a negative or positive affect upon people.

Do they ban Shakespeare as well I wonder?
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DangerDwarf · Post by **DangerDwarf** » Wed Jan 27, 2010 2:13 am

I've worked in Corrections for over a decade now and while I find Wisconsin's ban odd, I can also say that I work Corrections in Texas and not there so I don't know the circumstances. In Texaas, we allow RPG's, just not dice (the inmates use spinners or random number generators on calculators).

Speaking from experience though, generally when it comes to lawsuits like the one this particular inmate filed, it is the states burden to prove how allowing such activity puts an undue burden on the agency as opposed to granting the inmate the freedom to do it. Whatever evidence of burden they had, was apparently enough to satisfy the 7th Circuit, and "D&D is icky/evil" would not have been enough.

Some inmate gamers run games set in the prison in which they are incarcerated and are nothing more than hack and slash adventures of their characters running around attacking and killing the guards who work there. I have observed such games many times and that's not really all that rehabilitating.

Omote · Post by **Omote** » Wed Jan 27, 2010 3:09 am

If you commit murder you should not be allowed to play D&D. A hammer for Krise sakes! No D&D FOR YOU!

~O
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Treebore · Post by **Treebore** » Wed Jan 27, 2010 9:53 am

Yeah, this guy, and presumably most of the rest of the people he gamed with, are in for violent crimes, and presumably guilty, in his case, murder.

These inmates do not think like most. They have little to no respect for anyone or anything, unless they fear it. There are people in such prisons for killing their wives, their children, their parents, their friends, and people they didn't even know the name of until they were on trial for killing them.

They do not think like people who actually respect other peoples right to live. These people take the lives of others. They don't care. They think it proves something, something important and worthwhile. The rest of us realize they took the life of someone that was likely loved and will be terribly missed, and they do not care one little bit.

So I can understand why the prison system does not want to give them any more opportunities to organize and plan than they have too already.

These inmates simply cannot be trusted. They will plan to kill guards, whomever, wherever, and I can see how D&D, or any RPG, could be used to mask such planning and organization.

I do wish they could be trusted to play such games, but they can't be. Heck, give them a plastic comb and they turn it into a shiv and kill someone with it.

These people do not care about any rules or rights except the ones they think they themselves deserve, and they laugh when people on the outside fight for them to have more "rights", such people are a "mark" to them, and they take anything they can from them.

They have no need, or right, to play RPg's in prison, and I to agree with this decision.
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Stainless · Post by **Stainless** » Wed Jan 27, 2010 10:19 am

What Treebore said.
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jaybird216 · Post by **jaybird216** » Wed Jan 27, 2010 2:47 pm

DangerDwarf wrote:
I've worked in Corrections for over a decade now and while I find Wisconsin's ban odd, I can also say that I work Corrections in Texas and not there so I don't know the circumstances. In Texaas, we allow RPG's, just not dice (the inmates use spinners or random number generators on calculators).

Speaking from experience though, generally when it comes to lawsuits like the one this particular inmate filed, it is the states burden to prove how allowing such activity puts an undue burden on the agency as opposed to granting the inmate the freedom to do it. Whatever evidence of burden they had, was apparently enough to satisfy the 7th Circuit, and "D&D is icky/evil" would not have been enough.

Some inmate gamers run games set in the prison in which they are incarcerated and are nothing more than hack and slash adventures of their characters running around attacking and killing the guards who work there. I have observed such games many times and that's not really all that rehabilitating.

I'm glad you chimed in DD. I was curious as to what your take would be.
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