We are Too Lax with Security Inside Our Prisons

   It should amaze us that we cannot prevent crimes from happening in our prisons. We have them under lock and key, guarding them all hours, day and night, yet we hear stories of how they break into fights and beat each other.

   Assault is a crime. 

   Prisoners live in fear of each other. If the rest of us lived under such fear, we would demand better of our police, and of our government. If it does not change for the prisoners, the day will come that they will sue. They are in a government facility. Government is their caretaker. If government puts them in a situation where they are not safe, that is wrong. 

   It is true that prisoners are charged for many of the assaults they commit in prison. But, not all. Not enough that fellow prisoners live without fear of assault. 

   Some would wonder how many guards we would have to hire to provide security for the prisoners. Too many, they would say. We cannot afford that. 

   Then, you cannot afford justice and you refuse to afford peace. 

   Somehow, as I sit here writing, I wonder if Utah is one of the exceptions, if Utah protects its prisoners better, if there simply are hardly any prison fights, if no prisoner lives in fear of another prisoner. I spoke to the mom of a former prison guard a couple days ago. She indicated such attacks do, indeed, exist in our Utah prisons.

   The answer? What should we do? More guards? 

   We should already see that it is not healthy for the inmates to associate with each other. We should be bringing in volunteers who are good influences to provide them social interaction. But, every prisoner's cell should be protected from other inmates. Showers should be in each cell. Food should eaten either in the cell, or with visiting family members under supervision of prison workers.

   On the streets, outside the prison, people often go bad because of the intimidation of friends. They can live under fear of each other, and thus be lured into lives of crime. But, it should not be so inside the prison. We should have enough control of life in the prison that no such thing as a prison gang ever exists. It is laxness on our part that we allow gangs in our prison, that we allow any physical assault, and that we suppose such things are acceptable.