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Comment by SoftwareMaven | Hacker News Reader

Personally, I think the reasoning is completely bogus, however, I'm all for not allowing people to spend their day playing D&D while I and other tax payers pay for it (and I'll expand the D&D to anything that does not fall in the restitution or rehabilitation buckets).

On the other hand, I could see D&D being a good rehabilitation tool.

Personal rant aside, D&D sure seems like it would be a LOT better than some things I've read about in prison, but I also don't know the dynamics of prison life. Maybe the hierarchy of thugdom exhibits in potentially anything with a "leader" there.

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One of my bosses got a lot of his "think on your feet" chops from D&D. He was damn good. No one ever caught him flat footed without an answer and all of his answers sounded good and scored a point for his side. I asked him once where it came from, and he told me it was playing D&D.

I learned a lot from playing D&D as well -- my interest in graphic/info design can be traced back to when I was designing my own charts and character sheets.

I love D&D. Many of my best memories of my early teen-age years revolve around D&D. I think D&D could be part of a good therapeutic tool, and if it is used as one, great, seriously.

I just have a hard time with the notion of "hanging out in prison, doing whatever I want." Prison should have a rehabilative aspect to it, for sure. It should also work as a very strong disincentive.

Unfortunately, we don't seem to be doing either very well.

The thing is, prison is already a heavy punishment. You don't get to see your family/friends. You can't stay current with your work environment. You don't get to go on holidays. You don't even get to choose meal times, bed time, or when you would like to do sport.

It's already a lousy experience for inmates - they've had a lot of freedoms taken away (note, I don't think this is a bad thing), but from there to denying them anything to distract themselves from their plight is quite cruel.

You probably should rephrase "some things I've read about in prison." I don't think you meant what it expresses.

Doh! Yes, you are correct, my English is apparently very poor, even though it was my first and only language.

To be clear: things I've round about prison not about in prison. Unfortunately, too late to edit.

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