Car News

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From: forest <hiver7772006@gmail.com>
To: CAR-PGa <car-pga@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Fri, January 28, 2011 8:22:34 AM
Subject: [CAR-PGa] Re: D&D represents "a threat to prison security"



On Jan 27, 7:14 pm, WJ Walton <rpgadvoc...@gmail.com> wrote:
> (Cut and pasted from The Escapist Blog -www.theescapist.com/blog)
>
> You may remember a story I reported on about a year ago (http://www.theescapist.com/blog/tiki-view_blog_post.php?blogId=5&postId=125),
> in which a prison inmate named Kevin Singer claimed that his first
> amendment rights were violated when prison security confiscated his
> Dungeons & Dragons books. Prison officials claimed that the game was a
> threat to prison security because the format of the game, with a
> Dungeon Master and a group of players, was an analogue of gang
> leadership. Misconceptions about how the game is played - that the DM
> gives the players orders that they must carry out, and that players
> see the DM as an authority in disputes outside of the game - seemed to
> be the basis for their concerns.
>
> On January 25th, the seventh circuit of the United States Court of
> Appeals handed down the decision recently, "concluding that the
> popular role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons ("D&D") represented a
> threat to prison security…" Prison security confiscated 21 books, 14
> magazines, and handwritten notes from prisoners. So, it's official -
> Dungeons & Dragons is too dangerous for prisons in Wisconsin.
>
> It's easy to dismiss this story by saying "They're inmates, and don't
> deserve to play any games at all." Many who commented on the earlier
> story did exactly that, in fact. But that isn't the issue of concern
> here. Whether or not inmates deserve to play games is one issue - but
> singling out a game as a threat to prison security based on bad
> evidence, and ignoring all evidence to the contrary, is a real
> problem. This is a decision that can be used as leverage in other
> places as well. If a paranoid parent wants to see a D&D group removed
> from a school or library in the future, you can guarantee that this
> decision will come up.
>
> Read the full court ruling here: (PDF -http://abovethelaw.com/_old/2010/01/26/Singer%20v.%20Raemisch.pdf).
> Geeks are Sexy has a lot more on the decision (http://www.geeksaresexy.net/2011/01/25/dungeons-dragons-a-threat-to-prison-s...)
> , and the story even got a bit of coverage on the Fox News website
> (http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/01/26/dungeons-dragons-threatens-
> prison-security-court-rules/#).
I was a volunteer Chaplains helper for the Michigan department of
Corrections  for Thirteen years, While the DOC has the responsibility
to safe guard the prison they could use D&D as form of reward for good
behavior and as way to teach inmates how to value others. As to the
gambling charge this has some merit that is were volunteer staff
could come in handy let outside volunteers or staff come and run /
supervise the games . In the end the U.S supreme court will have to
decide if  this is a first amendment right or not.

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