Hot take: Should prisons have free Netflix or just basic cable?

I heard a county jail in Colorado started letting inmates earn streaming time for good behavior, and their fight rate dropped 30 percent in 6 months. But then I wonder, are we coddling people or actually reducing violence? Which side do y'all lean on for rehab versus punishment?

3 comments

3 Comments

ivanbell19d ago

Whoa, that Colorado stat is pretty wild but I gotta bring up something nobody's talking about. What about the guards? If inmates are glued to Netflix, that means less time for them to stir up trouble or have those tense hallway standoffs. But also, guards might get lazy on supervision because everyone's just watching TV. My buddy works at a state prison and he says the real issue is that when you give them cool stuff, the ones who don't get it because of bad behavior get way more aggressive. So it might just move the violence around instead of stopping it. Ever seen how the "have nots" react when they're stuck with basic cable while the next pod is binging Stranger Things?

the_christopher20d ago

Right? My cousin said his jail got better results with just old DVDs and workout gear.

james_bell20d ago

Man, that's rough. @the_christopher I hear you on that, it makes me wonder if the simpler stuff works just as good or better. idk, maybe the cost of Netflix is worth it if it actually keeps people safer in there.