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Comment by jacquesm | Hacker News Reader

Swedish jails are not to be compared with those in the US or plenty of other places in the world but having your freedom to move restricted is still one of the harshest punishments that civilized countries inflict on their citizens.

I find it hard to believe that you equate that with that which we normally consider an expression of extreme freedom, that of traveling and having the freedom to organize your time any way you want.

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Reddit once has a discussion with someone who was in a similar jail in the u.s. . except for lacking female companion , he liked it pretty much , and even said that's you're freer because you don't have all the responsibilities of a job and raising a family.

I reckon a Swedish jail is a lot nicer than being deployed in Iraq or Afghanistan, where your freedom of movement is restricted and you are under constant threat from people who spend their days and nights trying to kill you.

You can only be deployed if you're in the army, most countries have volunteer armies. What is your point exactly ?

Sane people can, and often do choose to do things which could be considered worse than a few months in a Swedish jail.

Given a choice between a Swedish jail and a tour in Iraq, I would choose jail. But then I am not American, or Swedish.

Man, if not being allowed to move around much were the worst punishment the US could dole out, a lot of us programmers would be rampant criminals.

Have you ever been in jail ? Even for a day ?

Have you ever been to public school?

I think the harshest punishment is stripping you of privacy in both the bathroom and shower.

I think it is something people can get used to quite quickly.

If you look at the Romans, taking a dump surrounded by your friends in one of the Bath Houses was a good part of the day, so its not like abluting in public is something we are inherently opposed to as humans.

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