• Yes they should

    Prisoners have to be treated humanely, as that decreases the risk of them commiting the same crime again. Norway is a country where prisoners are treated humanely, and statistics show it's been working out perfectly well for them, so really if you care about public safety, you need to have TV's in jails.

  • Inmates need entertaiment

    We sometimes get bored out of our minds, and we have all these things we could be doing. They are in jail as a punishment, but imagine this: being bored for years at a time and sometimes for life. Even though they are prisoners, they should have the right to know whats going on in the world, and the news is a good way of doing it.

  • I think they should

    Many people in jail have great difficulty controlling their behaviour and they are bored. Many spend 20 or more hours a day in their cell. TV will help to alleviate the boredom. When they are bored, they make trouble, they get into fights, they self harm and they become very difficult for staff to handle.

  • TV in jails?

    I believe that jails and state penitentiaries should have televisions because the inmates have to deal with the guilt of committing a crime for months, years, and possibly even life. It wouldn't be fair to anyone, no matter why you are where you are, if you had to live every day in boredom. Watching tv is just like playing cards or shooting hoops in jail, it's just a different way of entertainment. It doesn't effect how one learns about their punishment. Overall, I think that tv systems should be installed.

  • Yes but with rules and limits

    Jails should have TV. But it is a punishment so they should be limited to the amount of TV they are allowed to use. If they have been treated well it reduces risk of committing the crime again. However you should not get expensive sets for every cell or something because it comes out the tax payers bills!!

    I would but with limits only.

  • YES - but with limitations.

    TVs should be limited to educational/news channels. They are there to be punished, not entertained. However, there may be some inmates who ARE genuine about rehabilitation, so if TVs can be used to assist these genuine ones in their education and rehab process then there is a benefit in reducing recidivism.

  • I think they should

    Jails should be allowed to have a chance to watch television. It is such a good way to educate them and help them become people who have good manners. We can do this by let them watch the educational program. On the other hand,jails have the rights to entertain though they are being punished.As long as the entertainment is suitable for them.

  • Jail is a punishment

    The whole reason of people being sent to jail is to learn a lesson. What's the sense in making them go to jail if it's the same as them being home and couch potatoes: eat, sleep, watch television... Jail is supposed to indoctrinate criminals in to the fact that what they did is wrong and actions have sever consequences.

  • It's coming out of the tax-payer's money

    Since people in gaol no longer want to participate in society, why should society be further burdened with their presence? Prison is a punishment, not public housing in which inmates benefit from committing crimes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.

  • No, of course they shouldn't!

    . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I hate how they make you have a minimum of 50 words, it should be optional

  • Makes no logical sense.

    I fail to see why a criminal who has broken societal laws and caused harm to humanity should be given a luzury like television when people below the poverty line who have done no harm, and in many cases good, cannot get that luxury. It just doesn't make any sense.

  • Absolutely never ever

    Right now jails are just hotels to most people. Kids my age go to jail because in my county, the jail has a 50 FLAT SCREEN!!! Something I can't even buy. They have trained chefs, and the cells are bigger than my room. Why should they be given luxury for the crimes they committed. Most of the inmates there have either raped or killed.

  • No no no

    I thort that jail cells are meant to be small and cranped not the palaces that we are led mto believe that they are haveing said that , how would there be room for a quality 50 ninch tv???You cant tell me that the poor darlings would be expected to sit cramped around a small tv

  • Jails are JAILS not hotels!

    Seems these days the criminals have more rights than the victims! Why should the criminals get to have TV set and other luxuries? They're not on a vacation. They're serving TIME to be punished for the crime they committed. If anything, they should be put to useful honest work and maybe read edifying books so they learn not to be a menace to society. TV has too much programming that merely glamorizes criminality. That's the LAST thing convicts need to be watching.

  • Give them books

    Jail is about rehabilitation, so why not get rid of the TV and give the inmates books. Reading will improve vocabulary and broaden a persons perspective. Also book reading may be a stimulus to start studying something (community college courses) in jail and then we are back at rehabilitation which is the whole point.

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