Idaho senator suggests sleep shifts in overcrowded prisons

[Clara T]

Saturday, January 7, 2006 - Page updated at 12:39 AM

Idaho senator suggests sleep shifts in prisons
By Rebecca Boone
The Associated Press

BOISE — Idaho could correct prison overcrowding by requiring inmates to sleep in shifts, sharing the same bed, says Senate President Pro Tem Robert Geddes, R-Soda Springs.

Geddes' so-called "hot cot" proposal, announced during The Associated Press Legislative Preview, would keep prison work facilities open around the clock, offering prisoners who agree to sleep days and work nights more chances at scarce prison jobs.

"I can't find any place in the nation that's doing this — or in the world, for that matter — but why not? The rest of the nation works in shifts," Geddes said Thursday.

<snip>

There are currently more than 6,800 inmates in Idaho, and that number is expected to grow by 30 inmates a month, Beauclair said. In February, another 150 inmates are expected to be sent out of state, followed by another 100 inmates every three months, he said.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002725955_prisonbeds07e.html

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. Why are they sending one person a day to prison in Idaho?

[Tom Joad]

2. Well, in the gulags, they used to play music as the prisoners marched

around the cots, then when the music stopped, they knew who would be able to sleep that night...
:sarcasm:

I have got to add this to my "Republican say the darndest things" page.
By the way, let DeLay give up His Sleeping space, when he gets to the big house. ditto for Duke Cunningham.

[HereSince1628]

3. Oh, making them fight for a bed...THAT'S a good idea!

This ought to put the prisoners at each other's throats. And what the hell, if they kill each other it eases prison crowding, AND reduces the surplus population of evil doers.

[Nite Owl]

4. I have images of DeLay,

Abramoff, Cunningham sharing that hot cot. In their case not a bad idea!

[meow2u3]

14. I want a pic of that scene

Question is, will they be lovers or fighters, or both? :evilgrin:

[feelthebreeze]

5. What a great idea...

And how about those expensive dish washing bills.
Why doesn't the prison require prisoners to share the same plate to eat from, in shifts of course. This could of course be used for drinking glasses as well.

[0007]

6. I wonder what the majority is charged? A roach. Paraphernalia

[Ezlivin]

7. It's called "hot racking" in the Navy

I did it for a while on my boat; it's pretty common for submariners and other types.

If these guys were really serious about opening up some space in the prisons, how about stopping the stupid fucking War on Drugs?

[hootinholler]

11. John Adams, SSBN 620 Checking in.

Is Hot racking still done? When I was in (78-83) only the fast boats were doing it.

-Hoot

[Ezlivin]

15. I was on a fast attack (78-80)

Guess that answers your question.

I'll sign off on your qual card now....

[hootinholler]

17. Why the grape? n/t

[Horse with no Name]

8. As a lifelong shiftworker

I have read much literature that disturbing the normal circadian rhythms can really wreak havoc on you--including a higher incidence of breast cancer for those women who work the graveyard shift, as well as trigger psychiatric episodes--so yeah, let's fuck with an entire prison population and see what happens.:eyes:
Hey wait--I have a better idea. Why not just early release the non-violent criminals??
>>>>snip
Davis and colleagues found that women who worked the graveyard shift at least once during the decade before breast-cancer diagnosis were at approximately 60 percent increased risk for breast cancer compared with those who did not work the graveyard shift. In addition, the risk of breast cancer significantly increased with each additional hour per week of graveyard-shift work.

The link between sleep, light at night and breast cancer may involve melatonin, a hormone produced by the brain's pineal gland. Production of melatonin peaks at night during sleep. One theory is that nighttime sleep deprivation or exposure to light at night somehow interrupts melatonin production, which in turn stimulates the ovaries to kick out extra estrogen — a known hormonal promoter of breast cancer.
http://www.fhcrc.org/about/ne/news/2001/10/16/graveyard_cancer.html

>>>snip
In mood disorder research, interest in circadian rhythms is not new. For at least 50 years, investigators have questioned whether abnormalities in circadian rhythm regulation might be involved in the pathogenesis of mood disorders, including rapid-cycling bipolar disorder. These questions were motivated by three clinical observations. The first of these was that the sleep duration of patients often changes dramatically as they cycle between mania.i.mania; and depression, bipolar depression is typically associated with hypersomnia.i.hypersomnia; while mania is characterized by extreme and sometimes total insomnia.

The second observation was that approximately 60 percent of depressed patients experience remission after a night of total or partial sleep deprivation (SD). In bipolar.i.bipolar; patients, SD may actually cause a switch into hypomania or mania. However, this "upward" switch usually lasts only until the patient undergoes recovery sleep, leading to the formulation that SD, or extended wakefulness, is antidepressant, (or manicogenic), while sleep is depressogenic, (Wehr). The antidepressant effects of SD are conceptually important because they show that changes in sleep duration are more than just symptoms of the illness, and also play a pathogenic role.
http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/p960533.html

[UncleSepp]

9. I suspect this is about keeping the work facilities open, period

I suspect they're not interested in reducing the prison population. It's a prison labor pool. Gee, an overcrowded prison that's used to supply workers for a factory, in a culture that increasingly believes prisoners have no human rights and deserve to be abused and humiliated. What could go wrong?

[f-bush]

10. You hit the nail on the head!!!

Of course thent to keep the work facilities open around the clock. A repuke state like idaho wouldn't give a shit about a person, just the bottom line!

[UncleSepp]

16. Watch for new prison labor programs coming up

There's a website for prison industry - can't remember where - where one can look to see from what facilities one can purchase offsite and onsite labor. Prisoners are running call centers, prisoners are assembling electronics, you name it. The labor is pennies on the dollar to free labor, and the rent for floor space in a prison facility is often deeply discounted as well. It's a growing business, and in some cases, prison jobs do compete with free labor. Prisoners are not exclusively doing jobs a free person would not or could not do.

That bothers me. What bothers me as much is making a prison with working prisoners a profit enterprise. That puts a strong emphasis on reducing manufacturing or service costs rather than meeting minimum quality standards for a prison. In that situation, there is then a reason to decrease quantity and quality of food, health care, and basic accomodations for the prison population. Unchecked, that sort of situation could lead to the kind of prison labor camp in which disease epidemics pass quickly from prisoner to prisoner (overcrowding, poor hygeine, general ill health due to inadequate nutrition). It could also, left unchecked, lead to a pressing need for more prisoners to feed the system. Given the general attitude that seems prevalent in this country that prisoners, even those in jails awaiting trial such as in the Maricopa County Jail, do not have any human rights at all, there may be no public check should prison conditions in what will then be labor camps deteriorate to that point.

It all starts somewhere. This is not to say that hot bunking prisoners in an overcrowded prison is necessarily an evil thing, or that having prisoners make license plates or pick up trash on the highway is necessarily an evil thing either. What creates evil out of ordinary prisons is the combination of the ideas that a human being is only worth his economic value, and that how one treats another human being reflects on the object and not the subject. The idea that each human life has intrinsic worth and that to be human, one must treat other human beings in a humane way regardless of one's judgment of the quality of that human life, has been so weakened in American culture that it could almost be said not to exist. If we haven't got that, there's not much between us and the gulag. Those of us who still cherish that idea must therefore be vigilant.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

12. I'm not sure which jobs Mr. Geddes is speaking of

As an Idahoan who's worked some with the prison population in Idaho, there are no "jobs" that prisoners do other than the maintenance around the prison itself. Laundry, kitchen, groundskeeping, etc. I think the pay rate is about $.25 per hour. At one time, prisoners went off-site on a contract to build cheap furniture, but it ended when the public found out that the prisoners were spending time at the bars, with hookers, etc. I haven't heard of a work program since then that involves any contract with the prison.

I can guarantee that if someone were to poke into Senator Geddes campaign finances, at least one donation from a private sector prison management corporation could be found. It's simply a way to keep more prisoners in prison and more money flowing to the penal management companies.

[doc03]

13. Why not just double up with Bubba?

[SoCalDem]

18. Are sleep shifts more like nightgowns, or jammies?

and they long or short?..cotton knit or flannel?

[Skidmore]

19. You know, we haven't had any really big prison riots for

a long time. It wouldn't surprise me if something like that happens sometime given the fact that we're trying to lock up everyone now for everything now.