After restrictions for a year do you feel more sympathy towards prisoners now?

[Gobacktothe90s]

After having restrictions on our lives for a year like when we can go out and see people, whether we can work or go to school etc I'm wondering had this changed anyone's views on prisoners and that they maybe don't have it that easy in prison being locked up 23 hours a day and only allowed out for meals and sometimes exercise?

I have to admit going through this past year I have thought without being able to do what I wanted in my own house like reading, Netflix, gaming etc after being restricted outside I would have found very hard and couldn't imagine being in prison with having nothing to do and can understand the high mental health problems in prisons.

Do you feel more sympathetic towards prisoners now?
Yes I know they have committed crimes but through this pandemic I read that they haven't even been allowed to mix at all and have meals in their cell to avoid the spread. I cannot imagine being in a cell eating,drinking and sleeping and that's it.

Not a jot. They are imprisoned because they committed a crime. We didn't commit a crime.

I have one distant ex relative by marriage, an addict, who regularly commits thefts and assaults in order to get himself readmitted to prison as he can’t cope with life outside it and prefers to be fed, housed and entertained inside. So perhaps prison isn’t as bad as you imagine, OP?

Absolutely not.

What a totally batshit notion.

Yes I've thought a few times during this that I definitely wouldn't be able to cope with prison. It would break me mentally.

@Babdoc

I have one distant ex relative by marriage, an addict, who regularly commits thefts and assaults in order to get himself readmitted to prison as he can’t cope with life outside it and prefers to be fed, housed and entertained inside. So perhaps prison isn’t as bad as you imagine, OP?

That’s called being institutionalised - it’s generally considered a bad thing.

Oh come on that's ridiculous.

I can still walk out my front door anytime I like. Go to a shop for crap to eat. Speak to people anytime I like.

Even if I was physically trapped in my house I can still do what I want when I want, eat and drink what I like when I like.

Nothing like prison.

@Fuckadoodledoooo

Oh come on that's ridiculous.

I can still walk out my front door anytime I like. Go to a shop for crap to eat. Speak to people anytime I like.

Even if I was physically trapped in my house I can still do what I want when I want, eat and drink what I like when I like.

Nothing like prison.

That is my point though. We have more freedom than prisoners (rightly so before people jump on me for saying otherwise) but people have found it very hard this year and I'm wondering if their views have changed.

Hell no. We didn't do anything wrong to deserve this. They did.

No, why would anyone? I didn't break the law.

Is this a trick question? No I do not.

No.

I do feel sad for prisoners now yes. Prison is no doubt difficult at the best of times but to eat alone in a small cell every day, hardly allowed out at all and certainly not to socialise, no visitors. It must be hell for them and it would break me mentally. Cruelty is not the mark of a civilised society.

Not in the slightest. Can’t do the time, don’t do the crime.

No! It's nothing like prison.

OP
Have you been a victim of serious crime?
You know, where jail time for the perpetrator was the consequence?

I can only assume not

No, they did the crime so they are now serving time.

@Svrider

OP Have you been a victim of serious crime? You know, where jail time for the perpetrator was the consequence?

I can only assume not

Please don't assume, I have been the victim of 2 serious crimes.

No. A major point of prison is deprivation of liberty.

What a ridiculous question
Totally not comparable

The question should be, do you feel more sympathy towards animals kept in captivity and will you change your behaviour towards zoo, going on holiday and paying for rides/pictures with the captive and often drugged animals.

@RedskyBynight

Things I hope that people do feel more sympathy for this last year:

• parents who don't have family help to look after their children
• parents who don't know any local parents and can't afford baby groups, so spend their baby/toddler days playing at home and going to the local park
• those who live in cramped conditions with no outside space
• people with hidden disabilities
• those with mental health illnesses

Prisoners ... not so much.

☝️ yep this

No. Can’t do the time, don’t do the crime.

No, in general I don't.
I think the justice system is abysmal, in general and there's a lot of technicalities that enable people to walk free when they shouldn't, or be locked up when it's not appropriate. And that financial crimes seem to sometimes attract heavier sentences than a crime that causes physical harm to someone else, especially tax crimes, show what is really important - money not people. So I'd maybe feel like some people shouldn't be in prison to start with.
I have far more sympathy for people in very similar situations because they're ill, or old. And the isolation in own homes/care homes did not start with Covid. I know people who's family never visited for months on end before all this, they have a DOLs judgement as they are unable to keep themselves safe due to mental health problems, and there isn't enough funding and therefore enough staff to facilitate them going out and about and being kept safe.
This has been the standard for years with food, shelter warmth and care being provided but social needs not because there isn't anyone to do it, and no money to provide people to do it. I feel more sorry for people like that, they're living a very similar life, they're also ill and experiencing dementia etc and have their liberty deprived because they are a danger to themselves (and sometimes by default, others) and there's no easy solution.
You would like to think that care workers (the places I've worked this is the case) treat residents well, actually care and treat people with dignity and compassion, but you'd also like to think the same of prison officers too.
Criminals have usually ended up where they are because they are an intentional threat to others or society, though yes, if mental health services were better, a lot more would probably benefit from being treated by doctors and nurses. And if there wasn't so much poverty and people falling through the cracks - if they were caught earlier rather than when they commit crimes, and helped to sort themselves out rather than punished for being poor, things would look a lot different.

There is a big difference between empathy and sympathy.

Can I empathise more what it’s like to have civil liberties removed - yes.

Am I sympathetic - no.