Boston Marathon Bomber sues over his right to wear a baseball cap in prison

The qanon “shaman” is awaiting trial. Tsarnaev has been convicted.

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Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time.

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The judge said the suit was deficient because he didn’t have a $402 filing fee.

Regardless of your feeling about this convict, how is a federal prisoner that makes on average 92¢ an hour supposed to afford that fee?

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So, why 250? We know he’ll lose his case, but why is he asking for that amount? And do prisoners ever win lawsuits of this nature? Can they actually keep the winnings?

That might actually lead to preferential treatment from the prison staff.

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Once again, this is a cap that he bought from the prison commissary. If they thought the hat itself was a security issue then they presumably wouldn’t be selling it there. This is about denying him specifically the privilege of wearing the hat.

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My reaction to the headline was, “well, he can wear a boot up his ass,” but then I read the article and I realized . . . yeah, if they’re selling him the thing, how can they say he can’t wear it? My sympathy shifted real fast.

He’s still an asshole, but they’re assholes too.

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This is prison is quite a who’s who of noteworthy inmates. From several 9/11 conspirators, to Richard Reid, to the Unabomber, to Richard Hansen.

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The prison sold him the hat

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No. The labor in prison industries is unfairly compensated and the working conditions are usually quite bad. It’s entirely exploitative and needs to be abolished.

(Also it puts downward pressure on wages for workers not in prison.)

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Sir, that’s QAnon Shaman, to you.

Its only rival is Arkham.

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No, not the privilege, the enjoyment of wearing a hat. Then, there is that thing about “cruel and unusual punishment”. Seeing that they sold him the hat in the first place - it would seem unusual not to allow him (but to allow others) to wear one. So he just might win that right.

I am guessing that all items in the prison commissary are available for purchase to all prisoners and that commissary staff are not disposed to meting out arbitrary punishments - while guards are and do.

Not very concerned about 3 showers a week - some folks get by with fewer, with little ill effect. So he might reek, but it’s solitary confinement - who does he have to impress?

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Basic human decency runs completely counter to American corrections policy where cruelty is the point. It leads to worse outcomes and degrades not only the prisoners but the staff and society at large. For those who will eventually be released it increases recidivism and a whole bunch of other social ills.

It does what it’s supposed to, keep huge numbers of people with the wrong skin colors from being full citizens, titillate our sadism, and provide slave labor which has the added benefit of keeping wages for the nasty little Poors down

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Betting he won’t share his organic food, though.

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I have to wonder if they’re doing this because they hold him with the lights on 24/7.

How we treat all prisoners is as much about us as about them. Special treatment or retribution during incarceration with no reason shouldn’t be allowed. His special conditions of incarceration in a “supermax” style prison needed to be justified. So should the smaller things like refusing him the same access to items - that you sell to prisoners at hugely inflated prices.

Civilization ain’t easy. But we’ve just seen the alternative from the highest level of government. And I have to wonder about the overlap between the guards and other officers lately.

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I’ve often thought that there has to be a better way for these people to give back to society. I’m not thinking chain gangs or license plate stamping - but something contributing to some larger scale initiative to decrease cost. For eg - mass production of solar panels or solar tiles.

If a state or country wanted to scale up - they would certainly be buying from overseas suppliers. Seems to me you could replace this aspect and still create new jobs for assembly outside of prisons.

Obviously many of these inmates are too dangerous or simply not inclined to work - but 23 hrs/day in a box would get old pretty quick.

That and I don’t trust anyone who would confidently claim they can identify who is deserving with the 100% certainty required.

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Should mass-murderers, terrorists, and objectively dangerous sociopaths ever be re-integrated with outside society? Should those convicted of some crimes be treated differently when incarcerated? Perhaps an impartial jury should have the option of specifying various degrees of punishment: lax if there’s a hope of ‘rehabilitation’, harsher for those in for life without chance of parole.

I do not see a public bomber as deserving respect. I do not favor capital punishment (except in cases of high treason) because execution objectively does not affect crime rates. But those convicted of capital crimes deserve no privileges.

Treating people inhumanely punishes those who have to mete out the inhumane punishment.

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Does denying a public bomber a ballcap dehumanize the guards?

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