Why do people get so worked up about capital punishment? It makes no sense to give it such a priority on questions of justice. Out of a prison population of 2.3 million in the United States, there were 39 executions last year. While I am opposed to capital punishment on both moral and economic grounds, the 99.9% of inmates not on death row surely warrant more thought?

One thought is that violent criminals are more dangerous by consequence of their size. Allowing prisoners to bulk up in prison makes life more dangerous for prison workers and other inmates whilst in prison, and for the police and general public when they are released. Witness the shocking brutality of a bashing at a Sydney train station recently. Had the prisoner instead been placed on a calorie restricted diet when incarcerated such thuggery would not have been possible.

Physical brutality is the modus operandi of violent offenders. Allowing them to become or remain bulked up in prison simply enhances their thuggery. Calorie restriction, at least for violent offenders, represents a simple measure with the potential for substantial benefit.

I am against capital punishment too Fester, but I would hate to be working in a prison where the inmates are hungry all the time!

Essentially starving the inmates is a form of torture, and that would make the state (and us) no better than some of the inmates themselves...

I would like to see gyms removed from prisons, and allow the inmates only traditional walking or running as exercise. They aren't there to build muscles.

Hi Susie,

I am not advocating starvation, merely a restriction of food intake to prevent violent offenders from bulking up. Violent offenders are incarcerated for their thuggery and it seems silly that the state should help them preserve their capacity for it. I'd feel safer with a chihuahua than a pit bull. Wouldn't you?

Well, I think restricting calories for already thin violent criminals wouldn't be too good Fester, and imagine how many dining rooms they would have to have if they also had to cater for differing calorie intakes for different inmates?

No, I could probably go with restricting high protein foods for the higher security areas, but other than that I would imagine restricting gym equipment would work better.

By the way, having worked in the homes of many community patients, the only dog that ever did actually bite me was a chihuahua! : )

When I was small I was told: "If you don't eat your soup, I'll call the police, then a policeman will come and take you to jail".

I had to drive past a jail today. It's a distressing experience to think of all those locked inside and imagine that had I not been this lucky, it could have been me instead. All it could take, for example, is for the government to legislate that one must eat their soup and me being caught flushing my soup in the toilet. Or it could be that I would be distracted out of distress thinking of the people inside, thus causing a fatal accident which would find me in their place.

Yes, historical prison conditions used to be harsher and it's shuddering to conceive of the conditions which convicts sent to Australia had to endure, often for stealing a loaf of bread. Today however, Australia is one of the few countries where a prisoner is not allowed to have a birthday-cake made by his/her visiting mother (notwithstanding that this punishes their mother even more than the prisoner him/herself).

Don't you realise that hardening of prison conditions will exacerbate the nightmares of innocent people?
Don't you realise that the fear it creates would drown the voice of conscience when it comes to civil disobedience?
Don't you realise that some of those in jail ARE innocent people who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time?

How can the members of this forum be so ruthless?
Don't you realise that it could happen to yourself?
I don't wish this even for my worst enemies.
I cry and pray to God that this never happens to any of us.

And BTW, if it happened to me, I'd rather have the capital punishment than the horrors of life in prison.

The logistics would not be so hard. For one thing separation of prisoners already happens. And prisons must cater for the dietary requirements of prisoners as it is, so controlling the nutritional intake is hardly complex in comparison.

< I think restricting calories for already thin violent criminals wouldn't be too good Fester>

The measure is about de-bulking violent offenders, not emaciating already thin ones. How many thugs would enjoy prison if it were no longer a place they could bulk up in?

< the only dog that ever did actually bite me was a chihuahua! : )>

Yes, they are aggressive little buggers. I have been bitten by one too, at least a part chihuahua. I'm glad they aren't bigger.