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Technorati Tags: prison, HIV, condoms, rape
Okay, now I think things have gotten a little out of hand. Let’s start with Florida's latest attempt to legislate stupidity into law. The bill (Senate bill so188) starts:Ok. Aside from this guy's heinous blogroll, including Anne Coulter (shudder), I can't stand his thought process. People like him assume that because we hand out condoms, we are condoning a sex act, even promoting it. Nothing could be further from the truth. When it comes to rape, obviously I would wish that they cease to occur. But we're not living in Utopia. It's not going to stop any time soon and as long as it continues, protecting the victims with condoms is the least we can do. As far as consentual sex in prison goes, I don't have a problem with it. But again, that's because I live in reality and I know that no matter what rules are in place, and what punishments are handed out for them, people are still going to manage to find a way to have sex in prison. As human beings, and full-fledged citizens of the USA, are they not entitled to be able to avoid being infected with the HIV virus by practicing safe sex? The bottom line is, sex in prison happens. Do we want people who will eventually be free among us to be infected with HIV or not?
A bill to be entitled
An act relating to state inmates; authorizing a nonprofit or public health care organization to distribute sexual barrier protection devices to inmates in the state correctional system; requiring the Department of Corrections to develop a plan to properly dispose of used sexual barrier protection devices; providing an effective date.
Let’s think about this for a moment;requiring the D.O.C. to develop a plan to properly dispose of used barrier protection devices…Let’s reword that so it makes a little more sense; requiring Correctional officers to throw away used rubbers? They’re kidding right?
It’s not enough that the state has to feed, house and care for inmates now we have to clean up their used condoms as well? Does anybody else find this offensive in the least?
The Silent Majority: Condoms for convicts? What the hell is wrong with Florida?
Technorati Tags: prison, HIV, condoms, rape
Great post. That guy is a giant ignoramous. Condoms protect DOC staff too. People will have sex, which increases the likelihood of the spread of HIV no matter how you slice it...which puts staff, esp. gaurds, docs and nurses at risk!
ReplyDeleteWow, I would have to ask if either of you are correctional officers? I would be interested to know. I appreciate the backlink though you are wrong on this issue. It is not about the right to have sex. These men gave up that right when they chose to commit crimes. They have no right to sex, cable tv, weight racks and thankfully no right to vote. It is moronic for the state to invest a single dollar of my money to support an act which is prhibited in any case. I suspect that most of these guys would not take the time to use a condom even if provided. I suspect that the wishes of the "victim" would be honored by men who have already proven they lack any honor. Flame on.
ReplyDeletewhen did anyone say they should have a "right" to have sex? did you even read what we posted? i said that even if it is prohibited it is still going to happen. make any amount of laws against it you want, it will still happen. you are naive to think that just because there are punishments for acts that they will stop. no matter what any of us do, there will always be sex in prison. whether you think they should be able to have sex or not. whether you agree with the rules or not, there will still be sex in prison. given that FACT, do you want that sex to spread AIDS or not?
ReplyDeletei agree that a lot of these men would probably not use a condom if provided, but if just one does and that prevents the spread of aids to just one person who could soon be released and spreading it to more people, it's worth it. it will ultimately save the lives of innocent, law-abiding citizens.
There's no law against having sex in jail and no one actually gives up their right to have sex when they commit a crime. Sex is not prohibited so you're the one that's actually wrong on this. Do you really think there is a law against having sex while imprisoned?! Because there would actually have to been a written enforceable law for this to be "prohibited" as you claim. And whether or not your tax dollars goes to providing condoms, they will still have sex. That's like believing that if you don't give your teenager condoms or talk to them about sex, they'll never know it exists, want to have sex or actually go out and have sex. Logic FAIL.
ReplyDeleteSilent (you are no majority), let's think this through. One needn't be a correctional officer to see the reasonableness of this proposal, but being one might actually help. Anything that reduces the incidence of communicable disease will benefit all--including correctional officers working within the prison system. Likewise, correctional officers benefit from progressive approaches to incarceration that emphasize rehabilitation. And we, on the outside, benefit when ex-offenders are turned out of prison and can become contributing members of our communities. Like it or not, Silent, 95% of all prisoners will leave prison and re-enter the broader society. We all benefit when they return better than they went in.
ReplyDeleteYou might also rethink how you stereotype prisoners. Did you know that Martin Luther King was once a prisoner? So, too, Nelson Mandela. How about John McCain? Henry David Thoreau. You sound like someone who favors the political right. So consider these two: Charles Colson and almost-a-prisoner Ted Stevens.
Humane treatment of prisoners is not only morally right, it makes pragmatic sense. Fyodor Dostoyevsky (if you don't know who he was, please start reading books instead of relying on talk radio), himself a famous prisoner, points out, "The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons."