MovieChat Forums > The Frozen Ground (2013) Discussion > prison life must be good

prison life must be good

posted 11 years ago by lucasland-651-97716
25 replies | jump to latest

very good movie and made me read up on robert hansen. not to long ago i had a discussion with someone on how well prisoners are treated in this country. they get 3 meals a day and all the free health care they need. They get treated better than returning Vets. sirhan sirhan and charles manson are still alive today.

in the case of robert hansen, he was caught 30 years ago. he is still alive today, even after 30 years in prison. he is currentlly 74 years old.

What kind of punishment is it when the gov. babysits these scumbags for many years and not only keep them alive but healthy. Prison life should be so hard they dont live that long.

Guys like this should get the chair. Hansen, manson and others will not only live a long life, but also will out live longer than many of their victims and their relatives. what a shame

[–] fcuknstylin 11 years ago

I agree. People in prison get it better than homeless people. And were paying for it.

[–] Tube_Mouse 11 years ago

Dont worry, i'm in the UK and our lot get far better treatment than the rest of propper society despite the fact that on the outside we pay our taxes, we have the NHS, supplemented dental and job seekers allowance. The likes of Ian Brady (one of the moors murders) are still being kept alive and kicking even though he got arrested in the '60s and has been on a theoretical hunger strike for well in excess of a decade. Why do we keep these things ticking? I would far rather see the funds go to the local animal shelter than feed vermin like that.

Anyway, i'll get off my soap-box now :) On another note, excellent film! I think the charictorisation of a bipolar socio/pshychopath came across well. It wasnt over-egged as so many are. I dont yet know how truthfull it was to the original case as im just beginning to read on it but i found it a most enjoyable watch.

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I'm allergic to idiots

[–] fifthfreedom 11 years ago

Prison isn't supposed to be a punishment. It's supposed to be used as correction.

Your mentality that prison should be difficult and painful is exactly what is WRONG with the correctional system.

I do agree that people like Hansen should be put on death row and executed though.

[–] proteus122 11 years ago

Ah, COME ON!!!!

How do you think you rehabilitate someone like Manson or this scumbag?

I agree that prison shouldn't be difficult or painful. Instead, execute them. Saves them the pain and us the money.

[–] Spuds_2 11 years ago

One of the problems with serial killers is that they almost always hold a really plum bargaining chip: knowledge about the crimes (known, suspected and unknown) including where the bodies are buried. Once they knew they're going down they can use this information as a powerful negotiation tool for lighter sentences, better treatment or delayed execution.

It's a bitter pill that you have to play ball with these guys. In a just world you would take them behind the courthouse right after sentencing and put a bullet in their head. But the family members of the victims deserve to know what happened to their loved ones, the victims deserve a proper burial and the police deserve answers that will enable them to close the files so they can divert resources elsewhere.

The most egregious thing to me is that these scumbags actually have groupies - women who love serial killers - who send them money, gifts and love letters and who sometimes visit them to consummate their perverted obssession. Ted Bundy had several paramours in prison. He even married one and fathered a child with her.

[–] dbeane 11 years ago

Yes, this is the 'real' reason he didn't go to death row.

With the confession and cooperation comes a plea bargain.

Without the confession, there could have been a long ugly trial, and you never know what a jury might decide; without the cooperation, some of those families would have never been able to bury their daughters.

[–] bluerevenge 10 years ago

No the "real reason" he never "went to death row", is because Alaska does not have the death penalty (it was abolished in 1957 in that state).

Since all of his known murders took place in Alaska, he never could have gotten the death penalty, confession or not. The plea bargain really didn't get him anything except for incarceration in a federal prison rather than a state prison.

However what you say about cooperation for victims' families and the lack of a need for a long trial and jury decisions, is correct.

[–] TreeHuggerKyle 10 years ago

I agree that it's *supposed to be* used as correction. But you and I both know that it isn't. They aren't rehabilitated to become better citizens, they're just toughened up, living in a gang-based society, to become harder criminals.

But you're right that it should be used as correction.

[–] BlueeRain 10 years ago

Prison isn't supposed to be a punishment. It's supposed to be used as correction.

You are not fully correct. Without prison sucking what would keep everyone from committing crimes? If it were like a country club (which some are) why wouldn't they all want to go back?

My roommate was in for 25 years for armed rape and hated being on the outside. Inside he was head of the choir, got an education, worked out, had a TV in his cell, his job was in the kitchen as a "chef". He loved it. They had movie nights etc. Only thing he didn't have was freedom and when he got it it was too confusing for him. Too many choices. He hated it.

[–] Theodor_Birch 11 years ago

What's your solution? Torture? Let them sit in rotting cells with a blinding toot ache?
Of course they need food and health care. We are not barbarians.
The punishment is that they are locked up ,24/7, with no freedom or choice. They are forced to spend their entires lives behind four walls.

I'm not all for the prison system, but I damn sure that torture, abuse or neglect is any answer.

These people are sick, they have an illness. Some of them can't help it. They need psychaitric care, understanding and compassion - while at the same time learn that hurting other people will land you forced to stay in the same building and same cell for the rest of your life.

Prison is there to a) keep the offenders away from society - which is the most important part. There they can be taken care of, kept alive, while being unable to offend again (which is what they often want) and b) to "punish" them as a deterrant for further crimes later on.

[–] sonofbeach-sheet 11 years ago

I think Americans need to institute caning the way Singapore and Malaysia do. A mass murderer or rapist needs at least 20 strokes of the cane.

Caning shreds the skin and tears your butt up for life. Each stroke is like a flash of lightning striking you and then you feel as if you are being burned. The scars never heal. Even once you can sit down again, most people are crippled to some degree and have problems with pinched nerves or PTSD.

Just sentence them to the rotan, carry it out, and keep them in a hospital just long enough to recover.

[–] tuckmics 10 years ago

That would be considered "cruel and unusual" and is unconstitutional in this country.

[–] defcon79 11 years ago

You sound like the typical American who thinks prisons should punish everyone no matter what. I agree about treatment of vets, but prisons in the US are no joke. This country has the highest incarceration rate, prisons are run by private firms for profit, no one in this country cares about rehabilitation. There are hundreds of thousands of innocent people convicted to long terms, or for non-violent crimes, turned into hardened criminals who society then treats like scum. And we support rhe death penalty too which is inhuman.

Next time you are short of rent or food money like many people, would you prefer to live in a prison cell instead?

[–] 11 years ago

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[–] rangers1991 10 years ago

The health care in prison sucks. The only time it's decent is when it is something so serious that they have to be sent out to a hospital for permanent care. The "They get better care than us" argument is retarded, and probably only even partially true because of people who I guess follow your same political ideology, and keep the US as the only industrialized nation without health care for all citizens, so stop whining.

As the other posters state, prison isn't supposed to be a brutal punishment, hard labor, etc.; sadly, for you apparently, we did away with this when we became more civilized--about when we did away with debtors prisons.

What kind of punishment is it when the gov. babysits these scumbags for many years and not only keep them alive but healthy. Prison life should be so hard they dont live that long.

Are you against government power in general? If so, can you explain why you think the government is bad, but they should have the power to kill, or vastly shorten peoples' lives. Keep in mind the serial killers are the extreme minority.

Hansen, manson and others will not only live a long life, but also will out live longer than many of their victims[...]

I am pretty sure you are an idiot. I would wager that "manson" (sic) will outlive all his victims. In fact, every killer will outlive their victims.

[–] lucasland-651-97716 10 years ago

another bozo who has compassion for scum behind bars

[–] 10 years ago

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[–] Adiane 10 years ago

It isn't necessarily about compassion, it's about being realistic. Most of the people that get locked up will eventually be released, and their experiences behind bars will greatly influence how well they are able to reintegrate into society. Being stripped of one's dignity, autonomy, privacy and much more can greatly change someone for the worst, particularly if they are already mentally ill, uneducated, or impoverished. You can think of criminals as scum all you want, but TREATING them like scum is both foolish and dangerous. The people that will never be released are still people, killers and rapists and torturers are still human beings. It's always strange and gross to me when people admit a desire to gleefully induce great suffering in another person, whilst simultaneously condemning someone else's cruelty.

[–] lucasland-651-97716 10 years ago

this guy said "killers and rapists and torturers are still human beings"

Another born loser

[–] Adiane 10 years ago

oh u

[–] Squeeth2 10 years ago

Well? In American prisons? Where have you been for the last forty years, Pluto?

Hansen was an amateur, if you want to hurt someone, start with the presidents you lot keep electing.

Marlon, Claudia and Dimby the cats 1989-2005, 2007 and 2010.

[–] wvsarafan 10 years ago

It's really hard to imagine that there are people this stupid walking around.

And then you go and prove it.

I GUARANTEE you live on government assistance.

[–] lazarillo 10 years ago

First off, you really should try spending some time in prison yourself before you say that. Just saying.

Second, it actually costs MORE money to put people on death row and execute them than it does to keep in the prison for life. That is because all of the years and years of legal appeals.

So just take them out and shoot them as soon as they're convicted and receive death penalty, you respond. Well, the problem there is a number of people on death row have later been proven INNOCENT. You want to risk executing completely innocent people just so you can execute a cockroach like Charles Manson? There's no point in taking "vengeance" on a cockroach--they could often care less if you kill them. Timothy McVeigh went to the gas chamber right away because he WANTED to. The state really did him a favor.

Anyway, you need to think with your brain rather than your spleen. In order to have the dubious satisfaction of ending the worthless life of a guy like Manson, you're either going to 1. spend a bunch of tax money trying to keep a lot more people on death row, or 2. execute completely innocent people. I just don't think it's worth doing either just to terminate guys like Manson.

"Let be be finale of seem/ The only emperor is the Emperor of Ice Cream"

[–] lucasland-651-97716 10 years ago

If there is someone innocent on death row, then the problem is not the death penalty but the justice system for letting it happen.

[–] moonshine7171 10 years ago

And your point? Yes, the justice system is fallible, and it always will be. It is instituted and applied by human beings, who are inherently fallible. The death penalty eliminates any possibility of correcting the mistakes made by an fundamentally imperfect system.