I’m weirdly okay with some jail internet access. Jailees aren’t convicted of anything, and I think it would be nice to offer up access to findlaw, wikipedia, and a number of other sites that may allow a defendant to assist in their own defense.
That being said, the entitlement here is staggering.
I mean, I’d really like it if the prison industrial complex recognized that incarceration does put an onus on the state to attend to the basic needs of a prisoner, but such things are not to be.
That’s generally true of course, but in this scenario, Ryan isn’t complaining that he’s being beaten or raped. He’s complaining that he can’t talk to his brother and can’t have a gun or constant internet access. Those “needs” are quite a bit higher than protection from violence on the Maslow’s Hierarchy of Prisoner Needs that I just made up.
C’mon, these guys are political prisoners of conscience – Amnesty International should be getting involved to ensure their rights to firearms! Besides, if I don’t recognize your right to jail me, then it doesn’t count…
Much as I dislike these folks, I still think prisoners in general in this country should live in more humane conditions, including things like Internet access. Prison should be more rehabilitation and less punishment.
And of course, he has no constitutional right to the internet, in their view, either then… because, as many a strict constitutionalist would point out, the internet didn’t exist back then…
Now that they’re (a) unable to continue causing trouble and (b) in a context where rape happens way too often, pretty much all the sex toy / lube humor has lost its funny.