Video seeks to lure California prison inmates to Tennessee

Thousands of California inmates are getting a daily pitch on the finer side of what prison life could be like in Tennessee.

[CTIDWELL]

WHAT WILL HAPPEN WHEN TENNESSEE, FILLS
THERE PRISONS, WITH CALIFORNIA INMATES?

[linda - townsend]

what is wrong with these people who are suppose to to be smart enough to run things- do we not pay enough taxes for things we dont need - now they are bringing all the prisoners from other states here - people that need tenn care cant have it because for one reason our state is full of people who dont belong here now we have prisoners we will have to feed and cloth and give medical attention to- tennessee claims it has no money for alot of important things then they allow something like this to happen

[Clyde]

Sounds better than how I live.

[Concerned]

That is just what we need in TN.. Some more prisoners!!! Great- Its also great to know that the criminals that have commited these crimes get 79 TV channels and pizza parties. These people have commited crimes (some unbelievable) and us taxpayers get to pay for cable and pizza--I say feed them bread and water and let them read the paper!!!

[Buddy]

Best deal since Castro emptied his prisons in South Beach - look what it did for the Univ of Miami - GO VOLS!

[Orange Sky Vol Fan]

I'm sorry but to force the Knoxville News Sentinel on those behind bars is cruel and unusual. The Sports page alone can cause one to die of boredom.

[Buzz]

Tennessee is not paying for these prisoners, California is on a contract basis with a private corporation, Corrections Corp. of America. They just happened to build their prison in Tennessee.
Private prisons are a joke.

[What the ----]

Lets see, views of a cow pasture, larger rooms, a "dorm room" with a pizza party. Maybe I should commit a crime. That is better than I live. I could say goodbye to the 9 to five and just chill out for a few years. Whatever happened to bread and water and hard labor? No wonder crime is out of control! I though prison was a deterrent. I guess its more like a reward.

[The Crazy Life]

This is totally ridiculous! Our kids go to old school buildings that flood or have power outtages and criminals get to lounge around watching cable TV and eat cheeseburgers. The crooks are in JAIL and should be in a JAIL not a resort or hotel. Take away those extras and spend the money on our kids and schools!!

[Mother of 4]

That's a big joke!! It cost more to keep a prisoner a year than most of us make in a year to TRY and take care of our own family, Hell IF YOU DO THE CRIME YOU SHOULD DO THE TIME. Not get a free room and board and all the extras.

[star]

Wow,
Pizza parties...glad to know that criminals are being punished for their crimes.

What's next? Formals,coutillian balls,poker clubs???

[Dzdzines]

Geez...I don't have cable...and I can't afford to take my kids out for Pizza or Cheese Burgers...My Insurance at my job is so high that I cannot afford to insure them and Tenn Care will not hear my case...I am a single mom with three kids and I have a great job...Who's in prison here...I feel like I am being held captive and the only crime that I have committed was moving my chldren to Tennessee so that I could have a better job to pay for the things that they needed... Go figure!!!

[dave of tennessee]

They said hey Jed Tennessee hills is where you ought to be. So they loaded up the truck and moved to Tennessee. Nice prisons, Tv's, goverment out of control. C-R-I-M-I-N-A-L-S

Yes I agree with all of you I believe I would have just preferred my smack in the face before payday please.

[confused]

I guess we should do on of two things. Stop paying the private prison company so much per prisoner or take away the cable, good food and great times the prisoners have and use that money somewhere else. Maybe on stun guns, body armor and steroids for the corrections officers.

[Knox Sadie]

God that's all we need.

[Darlene]

And I can't afford cable tv or ordering pizza. This is the most outrageous thing I have ever heard. Why should prisoners have it better than us?

[Darlene]

Concerned wrote:

That is just what we need in TN.. Some more prisoners!!! Great- Its also great to know that the criminals that have commited these crimes get 79 TV channels and pizza parties. These people have commited crimes (some unbelievable) and us taxpayers get to pay for cable and pizza--I say feed them bread and water and let them read the paper!!!

I agree except why let them read the paper. Make them work, work, work! How about all those jobs that the illegals are doing that they say no one wants. There an answer to two problems. Should I run for office?

[Pete]

How about this? Build the damn private prisons in California and keep the prisoners there.

[Calibeachbum]

Why are they looking at videos? Is this an option? Kinda like saying: "oh, look how great Tennesse could be for you, so what do you say? Wanna move over there, hmmm?"

[I know him well]

Aren't you folks getting a tad too wound up over a "news"paper story about a videotaped commercial?

It's not as if there was any real information in this article. Did you read the next to last paragraph where this so called policy analyst said the video painted a different image of life inside CCA's prisons than she had found in her research? Wouldn't a REAL newspaper have provided some detail about what she found in her research? Like whether or not the video grossly misrepresents what are really pretty vile conditions, even though those conditions may be "better" than those in California's prisons?

Note also that the article says nothing about costs. If CCA is using California money to subsidize what it charges Tennessee for housing Tennessee's prisoners, what's the beef? Is it the alleged "luxury" of CCA's prison? If so, I'd hold out for a report from a more respectable source than a local paper and a local tv station.