Murderer's Request for D&D in Prison Denied
A prisoner serving life for murder in the first degree has had his request for permission to play Dungeons and Dragons denied.
Though it would seem logical that your toys be taken away from you when you do something bad, Kevin T. Singer filed a federal lawsuit against officials at Wisconsin's Waupun prison, arguing that a policy banning all Dungeons & Dragons material violated his free speech and due process rights.
The AP reports that the prison instigated the ban amid concerns that it encouraged gang-related activity, which is considered a threat to security. Singer had been devoted player of the fantasy role-playing game since he was a child and, according to the Associated Press, when the ban came into play, dozens of Dungeons & Dragons books and magazines in his cell were confiscated; this included a 96-page manuscript he had written detailing a potential scenario for the game that players could act out.
The appeals court agreed with the prison's reasoning in banning the game and said the rule did not violate Singer's rights.
"After all, punishment is a fundamental aspect of imprisonment, and prisons may choose to punish inmates by preventing them from participating in some of their favorite recreations," the court of appeals said.
Mr. Singer is currently serving a life sentence for bludgeoning his sister's boyfriend to death with a sledgehammer.
Read the complete, unabridged story from the AP over on InsideBayArea.
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He should be in "The Running Man" show for taking a life.
Quote: "the prison instigated the ban amid concerns that it encouraged gang-related activity" My gang has a level 5 wizard, a lvl4 ranger and a lvl 6 Paladin. Better recognize or we will pump you full of magic missiles punk! Pure awesome.
Wow a D&D fan in prison, I hope he has the magic "Soap of showering" +2 to saving throws versus rape
My gamer-nerd sympathy kinda dissipated when I read:
Protective Much?
"with a sledgehammer+1."
sorry I don't know how you were able to restrain yourself from writing that
The point is... his attorney said it violated his client's free speech. The Constitution states that you can have your rights removed with "due process" (i.e. going to court.) Since he's in jail for murder, he apparently had his day in court and due process said it was okay to take away his "free speech."
No game for you. Beating someone to death with a hammer = bad. No experience points for you!
I'm kind of curious as to WHY he killed his sister's boyfriend. If the guy was an abusive jerk, then I kinda sympathize (I don't condone what he did, but I can't fault him for being protective).
I wonder if they were playing D & D when he rolled a 9 and "had" to bludgeon.
so is a sledgehammer a 2d6 weapon?
"i'm sorry officer, i thought it was a drow"
"with a sledgehammer+1."sorry I don't know how you were able to restrain yourself from writing that
Omg i scrolled down to write this too.. hahaha
I'm sorry, but I kind of fail to see how this is tech news..
A prison inmate, having been convicted of violating the rights of another(s), implicitly gives up his own rights. He's got NONE, with a possible exception of the right to his person (i.e. if raped, the rapist should be put down like an animal); as a ward of the State, he may have rights to a minimal standard of care. Freedom of speech not included. His lawyer in this instance should face disbarrment proceedings for wasting taxpayer money and time.
Eh, to be fair it's pretty stupid to take away D&D materials because of "gang-related activity." Are they allowed to play any games whether board or card or anything? If so, it's a bad double standard. And I assume they're allowed to read books? Personally, if I were running a prison, I'd want to encourage people to take part in social activities or personal hobbies that don't involve killing and raping each other.
Eh, to be fair it's pretty stupid to take away D&D materials because of "gang-related activity." Are they allowed to play any games whether board or card or anything? If so, it's a bad double standard. And I assume they're allowed to read books? Personally, if I were running a prison, I'd want to encourage people to take part in social activities or personal hobbies that don't involve killing and raping each other.
more than likely, they just wanted that to be the reason to take it away if they had to explain themselves.
but, i've know people that take DnD so seriously that they'd probably kill, or at least assault, and DM that would curse their character or give them any type of actual challenge.
naturally, when i DM players like that, i make them furious, because it's so funny to see them fall to pieces over a character sheet.
Who said this is only for tech article? It's also about games. D&D is a game.
Will people STFU about "not a tech article" Jesus Christ.
Don't click on the link then!?
Why bitch about this kind of thing?
Do you own the site?
Is having a non tech related but also quite interesting story on a news feed some sort of crime where you come from?
"with a sledgehammer+1."sorry I don't know how you were able to restrain yourself from writing that
You mean a +5 Unholy Burst Sledgehammer of Thunder.
My gamer-nerd sympathy kinda dissipated when I read:
Too little details, what if the boyfriend beat the crap out of his sister ?
I be willing to bet that the dead BF was probably "playing" too rough with the sister's face. If that were the case, I think all brothers instantly understand and feel empathetic towards Mr. Singer.
Mr. Singer is currently serving a life sentence for bludgeoning his sister's boyfriend to death with a sledgehammer.
Jeeeeeez. That must have hurt. For a sec.
Too little details, what if the boyfriend beat the crap out of his sister ?
True, true.. especially coming from a guy who plays D&D. You don't see murderers playing that very often. Not that I would know but this is an obvious shock enough to post.
Well, I would think that if they want to punish him they should take away his 3.5e then give him 4e and force him to play that.
Eh, to be fair it's pretty stupid to take away D&D materials because of "gang-related activity." Are they allowed to play any games whether board or card or anything? If so, it's a bad double standard. And I assume they're allowed to read books? Personally, if I were running a prison, I'd want to encourage people to take part in social activities or personal hobbies that don't involve killing and raping each other.
Actually, D&D would be an amazing tool for gangs inside prisons. You can organize just about anything under the guise of it being a game.
"As you leave the bar, you see someone sneaking some food out under his shirt, what do you do?" Translation: Someone's been siphoning drugs off, what do you want us to do about him, boss?
"Chase him down and rough him up to make him pay."
Wait a sec! I thought REHABILITATION was the fundamental aspect of it! After all, it makes more sense to make them think about what they've done than to punish them for it and making them hold a grudge against society.
The main reason ex-cons fall back to their old habits is because the prison didn't offer an adequate place to change, to REDEEM themselves and be proper citizens.
US has the highest percentage of its population in jail of the entire planet. What is the reason? Better detective work and justice? Or just lousy prisons and unreasonable laws?
How does this encourage gang-related activity? I don't really care what this con thinks, but does anyone else read this and then think back to that episode of the Drew Carey show where Drew and his friends are ordered to stay away from each other, because the judge thought they were a gang?
Easy solution. Give him D&D and take away his food & toilet.
I don't believe incarceration is about punishment, might as well call it revenge. That is pretty sick imo. A lot of people are pretty sick.
I say give him his game if its safe. Not respecting his rights is unhealthy and abusive imo. And just cause he did it doesn't mean its ok to do it to him. That is my opinion.
The system is pretty sick and I think it will continue to fail.
Easy solution. Give him D&D and take away his food & toilet.
The primary purpose of the criminal justice system is to keep society safe, not to rehabilitate criminals. If doing the latter assists that purpose, then fine. "Punishment" only makes sense in the context of educating the convict that what he did was wrong; don't do it again. Nothing about this story suggests this guy is a psychopath whose potential value to society will never exceed the risk of having him loose among us. While the manner of his crime may have been gruesome, there's not enough detail here on why he did it, and I suspect a life sentence is inappropriate. If he had a history of [violent] criminal behavior, he probably should have been put down, but if this was a hot-blooded response to the bf giving his sister a black eye, it doesn't take years in jail to teach him not to take such matters into his own hands (a year or two ought to do, maybe followed by another year or two of probation). Still, while serving his sentence, about the only right he has is to a minimal standard of care. He has no right to play D&D.
That said, if there is ongoing gang activity in the jail that is not consistent with the goal of keeping society safe, then the most cost effective means of dealing with it is most likely identifying the involved inmates and putting them down. Game over.