From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!npoiv!alice!rabbit!jj Newsgroups: net.misc Title: Re: Replying about Hinkley Re: utzoo!Laura among others. Article-I.D.: rabbit.602 Posted: Mon Jul 12 12:37:07 1982 Received: Tue Jul 13 06:26:33 1982 References: rabbit.601 harpo.853 Well, the chance of a novice getting killed in a penitentary is about 10% according to some folk's statistics. Assuming that they are wrong, and that the chance is 1%, the risk of death still is very large. I grant you that asylums are NOT great places to visit, even as an observer, but they can, to a person willing to shuffle along and look lost for the requsite period of time, be safe. I certainly couldn't stand an asylum, but then I wouldn't get myself put there either... Besides, the reply assumes that you will get out of prison alive and sane. Alive maybe... Sane, never. The only kind of sanity that I can see being generated in prison is hate driven revenge. Whether or not that is sane is anotherquestion, i.e. do prisons drive the prisoners insane? I could muster arguements either way, myself. By the way, there are enlightened asylums, even those for the criminally insane. A person who has money, or fame, behind him could most likely chose the asylum that he winds up in. It's certainly punishment, but for a lesser time (1-2 years vs. 20 yrs) and with a lesser chance of bodily harm.