MovieChat Forums > The Shawshank Redemption (1994) Discussion > Do we really need prisons in society des...

Do we really need prisons in society despite their MANY flaws.

posted 7 years ago by TheMan18 (13016)
27 replies | jump to latest

Hi everyone.

Just wondering.

Based on not only this film, which has encouraged its lead character to escape from prison and have it as a happy ending (not to mention the fact that he was innocent of what he was accused of doing) and showed various types of bad things happening inside from inmates AND even guards THEMSELVES, I kinda had to wonder, do we still need prisons despie their many flaws and all? Do they really serve their purpose of keeping society safe?

Considering the fact that either wrong people may end up falsely imprisoned for stuff they didn't do, the fact that violence and all other forms of injust deeds go on there, inmates and guards themselves are abusing, the fact that prison may often not rehabilitate the inmates etc or even make them worse... Do we still need prisons as such?

Also, why do a lot of people online say that if a violent offender goes to prison and becomes a victim of you know what, or even other violence, that they deserve it? Where are the good guys HERE? And even if you don't feel sympathy for them, what if on release he becomes worse as a result and poses a bigger threat to society?

Based partially on this film, and several other prison films I've seen, I got the impression that it was encouraging us not to respect the prison systems much at all, who is right here?

[–] liscarkat (18410) 4 years ago

"Do we really need prisons?"

That is one of the most stupid questions I have ever heard. There are many, many bad people who would steal from you, rape you, beat the crap out of you, or kill you if they had a chance to do it and get away with it. There needs to be a place to lock such people up so they cannot get to you to harm you. Most of these people cannot be rehabilitated. Many of them are psychopaths. Without prisons, and with the death penalty disappearing in all but a handful of rational states, we would be left with monsters walking among us, having their way with us as they please, much like we see today in California.

[–] degree7 (821) 4 years ago

You sound like a Hate filled, uneducated moron who’s never been near one. If you knew anything about the topic you claim to, you’d realize prisons are only good for teaching people how to be better criminals. Seriously, putting a bunch of them together in one confined space just means they learn more ways to commit crimes. Being a convict in America is seriously detrimental to living a normal life. The US also has the HIGHEST prison rate per capita out of any developed country, and a large number of them are disproportionately African-American due to institutional racism in the justice system and the phony “war on drugs.” It’s moronic right wingers like you who ensure the recidivism rate continues to be high by supporting the private, for-profit prison industrial complex with your tax dollars and voting record. Not to mention the violation of human rights that is the death penalty, of which the US is the only developed country that still hasn’t banned it. Dumb fucks like you are why this country is going down the drain.

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

[deleted]

[–] tennsmoothie (8) 4 years ago

sure ................... and let's defund Police Departments as well. Who needs these institutions to deal with the enemies of civilized society who roam our streets ? Looks like the Seattle experiment of CHAZ is really working well, as long as you don't mind being beaten, robbed or raped within the confines of its walled off street borders.

The reason blacks make up such a high percentage of America's prison populations is because they commit the most crime, sorry to say.

The only suggestion I would make for our justice system is to lighten sentences for non-violent offenders and to further segregate populations within our prisons in order to group and protect non-violent and less-hardened inmates.