Should We Pay for Inmate's Cancer Treatments?

[Delmar]

Who would pay for it if they weren't incarcerated?

Most people have jobs and health insurance, but it's sort of hard to keep your job while you are in jail.

 

[Delmar]

I often wonder about the "Kill em all" mentality myself. It is more conducive to an authoritarian state than a free society.

"Kill em all?" Certainly not! Just those who are guilty of capitol crimes. Murder, Rape and child molesting should fall into that category, though the courts have decided the raping a woman or a child is no longer grounds for capital punishment. Sad, very sad!

 

[UncleMike]

"Kill em all?" Certainly not! Just those who are guilty of capitol crimes. Murder, Rape and child molesting should fall into that category, though the courts have decided the raping a woman or a child is no longer grounds for capital punishment. Sad, very sad!

It would be if it were my Wife or child!!

 

[bigg cheese]

All incarceration should be in isolation. No outside time, no recreation time, no chance to get shanked, and no chance to work out, and no education on state funds. If chosen, a chain gang would be fine. I'm tired of this "ward of the state" business where we have to pay for their care. Up to a point, basic medical care, fine, but they should have to work/pay for it like the rest of us.

The whole idea is to make prison an undesirable place to be. People aren't afraid to go there -- time that changes.

 

[Palarran]

, though the courts have decided the raping a woman or a child is no longer grounds for capital punishment.

No, that decision was made by the legislature.

 

[Palarran]

The whole idea is to make prison an undesirable place to be. People aren't afraid to go there -- time that changes.

I take it you've never been inside a prison, because it certainly is an undesirable place to be. As to people not being afraid to go there, that generally refers to career criminals who's life on the outside is so bad that prison is a step up.

 

[bigg cheese]

I agree with you, but I don't think it's undesirable enough. Make it such an experience that we don't have repeat offenders.

 

[public servant]

Most people have jobs and health insurance, but it's sort of hard to keep your job while you are in jail.

What land of rainbows and lollipops are you living in?

Go visit a prison and do an employment history of the convicts.

Oh...and to answer the question...if they have any assets those should be sold to foot the bill. If they cannot pay for it you and I would have to...unfortunately.

Basic treatment. If they are deemed "terminal" then treatment stops. Keep them pain-free and comfortable. Good God it pains me to say that.

If they survive...they'll be paying medical bills either monetarily or by services rendered for a long, long time.

 

[Palarran]

So you are for inmates maintaing all "Constitutional rights"?

I'm certainly for offenders maintaining all appropriate constitutional rights. Otherwise the eighth amendment is patently useless. Let's go down the list of the bill of rights and see what is applicable for an offender inside our prison system:

1st amendment: The means by which an offender may exercise this right may be significantly curtailed (no cell phones or access to internet, for example), but the only right of this amendment that is really restricted in prison is the right of assembly.

2nd amendment: This right is obviously lost while in prison, as the offender has demonstrated that they should not be trusted with this level of freedom for the time being, and perhaps, depending on the nature of their offense, for the rest of their lives.

3rd amendment: This right does not apply in prison.

4th amendment: This right is also more or less lost to the offender due to the need to severely regulate what is allowed inside the prison, for the safety of the offenders and maintenance of good order.

5th and 6th and 7th amendments: Fully applies to prisoners, as they in no way lose their rights to a speedy and fair jury trial, legal representation, and the right to avoid self incrimination.

8th amendment: This right is most certainly not lost, but rather inside a prison is where this amendment is most important. The prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment directly protects the offenders in our correctional institutions from the worst that our society would do to them. The "let them rot in their own feces" attitude that some in this thread exhibit is a perfect example of why the eighth amendment exists.

9th and 10th amendments generally don't apply to individuals in the same way as the previous eight amendments do.

 

[Palarran]

I agree with you, but I don't think it's undesirable enough. Make it such an experience that we don't have repeat offenders.

The thing is, to an extent, the worse you make it, the worse the people who come out of the system are. If it is hell on earth, you'll only have demons coming out. And as long as the eighth amendment is in effect, there will be portions of our society that prison will be an improvment for.

 

[bigg cheese]

Are you thinking I want to torture inmates? Hell no.

I want absolutely no entertainment other than what they provide and pay for themselves.

No TV.
Never leave your cell except to work.

Have visitors, fine.

Right now, inmates get cable TV, access to gov't provided exercise equipment, time outside, libraries, internet, college education, conjugal visits, etc.

All that and the like is a bunch of bull.

 

[NYFelon]

You realize those are all resources available to help the prisoners who DO want to change their lives. How do you rehabilitate an offender if you force him to suffer innumerable dehumanizations? Your idea of what prison shoud be would do nothing but create angry, bitter men with a chip on their shoulders the size of New Jersey. Is that what you think prison should be for? To create angry men with a bone to pick with society? Pure genius.

 

[bigg cheese]

There's still the assumption that it's the tax-payer's responsibility to rehabilitate. I'm not saying individuals couldn't do that on their own, I just don't think we should have to pay for "blanket rehab." If I come across someone who I think is a worthy case, I would donate to a cause, but charity isn't the government's job -- it is that of the individual.

What I think those things do is create a government dependence for luxuries. All of those items (except for a library which I pay taxes to support) they get at tax-payer expense are things that I would forgo in the "SHTF" event where my money was gone. I'll not feel sorry for them on that account.

 

[jeremy]

NO!!!

 

[Palarran]

What if someone is a non-violent felon? They have a debt to society and time to serve, but they've never physically hurt anyone. Should they be subject to the same sanctions as someone who is a danger to themselves and others?

Per the Indiana Constitution, Article I, Section 15: "No person arrested, or confined in jail, shall be treated with unnecessary rigor." And Section 18: "The penal code shall be founded on the principles of reformation, and not of vindictive justice."

If we don't give offenders means to improve themselves while in prison, they will invariably come out worse than they went in. As it is, they often come out worse as it is. There has to be a reason to impose the kinds of punishments you would like: an offender constituting a danger to the prison population and correctional officers, for example. If you treat everyone like a monster, everyone who is subjected to that treatment will be forced to become one in order to survive.

 

[Palarran]

Cheese, you're incorrect. Per the Indiana Constitution, the same document that protects our right to keep and bear arms, it is the responsibility of the the state to at least attempt rehabilitation of all offenders.

 

[pirate]

There is a lot of misinformation about prisons and inmates floating through the minds of INGO folk. Maybe its just general public stuff, but wow....

 

[public servant]

I think a lot of you people that keep spewing the word "rehabilitation" need to spend some time getting to know the type of people who inhabit prisons.

 

[bigg cheese]

Somewhat, but we provide all those benefits for life-term people as well. Other means of rehab should be instituted, and should be paid for with work by the inmate. There is no restriction on how the rehab is to be provided. I didn't say not at all -- I just said not paid by the government.

They want an education. They should work for it like the rest of us. That in itself is a lesson they must learn -- self-reliance.

 

[ATOMonkey]

I believe that inmates should be able to receive treatment, but the State should not pay for anything outside of basic first aid and life saving medication such as insulin.

Sickness and death are a normal part of life.

A compassionate people will find a way to fund cancer treatment if they feel the individual is worthy.