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.

Your first thought was prisoners? Mine was people who are immunocompromised, like my DN was when he had cancer and recovery from a transplant for said cancer - on and off he had to isolate for over 4 years. I've had posters on here argue with me when discussing knowingly sending their ill DC to school that if he's that ill he and DC like him shouldn't be at school and my argument being he has a right to be there for his mental health as much as for his educational needs. I hope those people now realise and have sympathy now they've had the tiniest sample of what it's like.

Star I met quite a few under JE it would appear to be quite common
I must admit I found the sheer number of stories that I found online today shocking.

If someone I knew was in a situation like the lady in your post then I would only hope that they had someone like you to help them.

No. Not in this country or the UK anyway they have it good and should be doing physical worthwhile work like clearing sewage.

I've been in prison and I've been in lockdown.
The two experiences are so different. I don't think there's a comparison at all.
In prison you have a lot of people around you. It can be very gossipy.
In lockdown: I have my family but isolation from casual friendships has been hard.
At home I have a lot of freedom which obviously is lacking in prison.
It wouldn't have even occurred to make an association between the two experiences tbh.
So I certainly would expect anyone to suddenly feel empathy as a result.
I personally feel bad for prisoners and officers because of the obvious high risk of infection in such an environment. I feel very privileged to be in a position to manage my risk.

I didn't consider them much but did briefly when I read they are now so isolated. And I don't agree with they did the crime they do the time sentiment. We know it's never that simple. The best we can do is better social support for all sorts of groups at all levels to reduce chances of people falling through cracks. Then for those that still commit crimes we need to do better rehabilitation or even better confinement. And it takes loads and loads of money (See prison systems in Norway for example. Or in Finland). Then look at their national financial management and taxes). If we want better society we must all be ready to share the load and also to pay for it

Nope!

Nah.

No. I didn't commit a crime, requiring incarceration. I lived during a virus, very, very different scenarios, and restrictions

No.

Isn’t that the whole point of prison? Punishment.

What an absolutely ridiculous post
🙄🙄🙄🙄

Prison doesn't work. There is pretty much no rehabilitation going on right now as staff can't run programmes or go on to the wings. Punishment is one small part of the reasons for prisons and one of the major reasons we lock people up is currently not happening. I work with prisoners and I don't have much sympathy for their plight in general but I do realise that the reasons people end up in prison isn't just because they are bad or choose to offend. It's based in childhood experiences, addiction, poverty and lack of academic and social education. I wish prisons could operate safely and effectively to reduce the risk of reoffending. Covid or not, it hasn't made a huge difference to the fact that the prison system is knackered and we are paying a lot of money to keep people banged up and offering them no opportunities to improve themselves and reduce their risks.

An interesting question. Regretfully, I think the pandemic might have had the opposite impact in some, perhaps evident from the comments.

Some people can't look past their own experiences and feel they've had such a tough time of it that sympathy for others is beyond them/their own circumstances.

I don't actually feel that my life has been anything like prison over the last year and am very grateful for the freedoms I've still had compared to those who are locked up.

However, I do think it's an interesting question to pose, particularly as there are a lot that feel their liberties have been significantly curtailed over the last 12 months.