We should place the elderly in prisons. They will get a shower a day, video surveillance in case of problems, three meals a day, access to a library, computer, TV, gym, doctors on-site, free medication if needed. Put criminals in nursing homes. They have cold meals, lights off at 7pm, two showers a week, live in a smaller room and pay rent at $4,000 a month!!! It's pretty sad that we treat prisoners better than the elderly.

 

i agree, im sure i will need locking up and showering in 10 20 more years!

 

My Mom's sister was 'confined' to a nursing home in Tennessee, for a couple of years before she died.

The treatment she got was nothing near 'nursing'.

She was beaten (by two other 'residents'), her clothes were stolen (by members of the staff), she was not helped to/from the shower (as we were promised), and was forced to sit in a wheelchair, that she couldn't get out of, and sat in her own 'waste' for days at a time.

We 'dropped in' one afternoon, and when I saw the way she looked vs. what that 'home' was being paid, I went ballistic!!!!!!!!



She FINALLY got the 'attention' and 'care' that we were paying for!


This is why my 87 and 88 year old parents are still in their home, and my wife, kids and I do everything we can, to make them comfortable.

 

I'm in favor of public executions, so I might not be the first person you'd wanta ask. I read a little while ago that it cost the taxpayers something like $55K a year per prisoner. How can that be? I worked my butt off last year and barely made that much to support me and my whole family! Yet costs that much per person to lock up one criminal? I say we need something on the order of "Cool Hand Luke" style prisons today.

 

During what could have been a contentious dissolution the opposing sides schyster suggested IF I didn't comply with their demands I ran the risk of being incarcerated. Laughing right in her face I offered: "Work is slow, income is down and I'm struggling to make ends meet now---go ahead and lock me up! I've already "done time" (6 days DUI---ashamed I am!), I'll have a warm place to sleep, three meals a day----can't think of a better option right now!" That pretty much ended that lopsided negotiation.

I've always thought any minor child as well as a senior citizen should be entitled to better assured living conditions and the protection of laws. Those of us in between, able to work and fend for ourselves do that----knowing once we've run our race we have at least minimum comfort at the end.

Like most its a shame we spend so much concern and money on criminals when it all could and should be better spent on deserving people who've tried to live good clean lives. Sorry to say this but with DNA evidence being more and more accurate and proving guilt the solution to rid society of the more egregious offenders could now be carried out more swiftly and more confidently its the right person. Victim's rights seem to have been set aside for criminals rights, possibly because the later are still alive and able to file lawsuits.

Oh well----these are indeed "interesting" times are they not?

 

There is a new show on TV about people's first week in jail. My daughter was home from college that weekend and she watched the show with me. She said the the cells were nicer than her dorm. room. Best,CB

 

I know what you mean and how you feel about what happened to your Aunt, Keith. My brother and Mom experienced similar treatment. One place even had my Mom on someone else's medications. We had to switch them from place to place trying to find decent treatment. I would have loved to bring them home to take care of them but because of the circumstances I couldn't. I helped with my brother for a while, then my Mom went down and my health limitations increased and all I could do was feel guilty for not being able to help them. Soon after my Mom died, my Dad took a dive and he was put in a VA home. With what I've seen, I think I'd rather take my own life when I get too old to live at home.

Sometimes I wonder why prisoners are treated so well, after all, they are supposed to be being punished. As JWA was talking about, I often wonder if half the people in there don't commit crimes on purpose, just so the state will take care of them. If jails were more like the one in Arizona perhaps they'd think twice before wanting to be arrested. And as far as how much it costs for each prisoner, I wonder if that is really just a bunch of bull.

 

Every year my firehouse gets a crew of prisoners to come and paint the building. I told someone, "Make sure we have someone here when they're working". The guy said, "Don't worry, these are the well-behaved guys". To which I replied, "I know, and I'll bet they sure as hell wouldn't ruin their "day out" by doing something stupid. It's the guards I'm worried about".

Prison guards are demonstrably much more corrupt than even police officers.

And I would imagine that "nursing"-home staff, being in a similar position of power but not surrounded by people who can and will beat the living *#&@^&# out of them at a whim, are even worse.

I know a guy who got locked up for 6 years at a high-security pen (NJ State in Trenton) and he said you can get anything you want in prison. Drugs, alcohol, women, phones, etc. He said the prices aren't particularly higher than the street prices for these things, it's just that the currency is different, and that even in the dreaded NJ State Pen his standard of living, as measured by creature comforts, was higher than in the outside.

I worked my *** off too and I didn't get nearly 55 grand. What a load of bull feces. BTW in NJ and CA, 55K is a deflated figure if anything. AZ might be less but in the blue states it's absurdly high for anything involving a badge.

 

Don't know about jail, although from what I understand, the biggest issue is your fellow prisoners. (Hint, don't drop the soap).

A guy I know played in a ball game against some inmates of the local joint. He said that everybody kind of ignored some pretty blatant evidence that they pretty much all had shivs.

As for senior homes, we were fortunate enough to get my mom and my FIL in decent places. The staff were invariably kind and they knew the patients -- they were not just numbers. It was about as good as it could get in a bad situation.

Knowing all of that, I still hope to avoid the experience.

And I agree, there are bad places. My FIL went in one for a short while after an operation. It was even recommended by his clinic, as they had some kind of arrangement. I didn't find anything as bad as has been mentioned here, but it was good that it was only a short term deal.


hj