The way the prison system is these days they have to come up with a bullshit reason cause "being in prison" isn't a good enough reason for inmates not to have things like TV and crunchy peanut butter. It's sad that our legal system has worked out that way.

I'm all for the DnD ban simply because prisoners don't deserve to sit around and have fun all day at taxpayers' expense.

The facility I work at allows the books, but dice are banned, as are most traditional games of chance. I haven't bothered to ask the ones I have seen playing how D&D (3.0) works dicelesse...

Just goes to show, commit intentional homicide and you will lose the right to play DnD, FOREVER.

I know dozens of people who would love to have their room and board taken care of and be able to play D&D all day -- they're going to see this and start murdering people, just hoping to get this sweet-ass deal. And the sad thing is since a lot of them live on ramen, the prison food will probably be an improvement as well.

Dammit Rob! Now you've alerted them to my devious plan!

Not to mention when the DM gets shivved after the game because he had a trap that killed one of the prisoner's characters.

What an ignorant and reactionary post, Rob. So instead of peacefully playing D&D in his cell, this guy now has the free time to go join up with the skinheads, maybe do some raping and murdering. You know, good, wholesome activities.

Anybody who thinks prison is "fun" should try visiting one for a few hours. All the free room and board, D&D, Xboxes, and cable TV in the world wouldn't convince me to spend one night in one of those places.

I was reading the article, chuckling to myself till the end when the article just ends simply like, "Oh by the way, he totally SLEDGEHAMMER SOMEONES FACE TO DEATH!"

I can't help but think a guy like that really doesn't NEED D&D.

Personally I would prefer that the inmates, play D&D than train their muscles, but in the end its a privilege, that can be used in the correction of the inmates

Hope that dude saved some dice to perform saving throws for shower time.

Christ! We finally just got to the point where your religious co-workers won't immediately fall to their knees and pray for your mortal soul to Jesus upon finding out that you've played D&D before..

And now this???!!

Oh, you mean D&D? That game played by FUCKING MURDERERS??!!

Why don't all the goddamn child molesters get together and start playing too? How about some Nazis? Come on! There's got to be some more objectionable people we can get playing this game.

Don't want to make light of the dead, but how much funnier would this article be if he killed his sister's boyfriend with some medieval hammer, or even a bow and arrow?

The graph paper could be used to make a map of the prison and plot the escape of the two elves, a human, and a dwarf.

Make your roll now to see if you jimmie the lock on the front door. 12+ should do it.

Oh shit.

You failed. Guards are coming!

It really depends on what is going on in the campaign.. These are not your typical D&D players most likely.. I can see how that ruling might have merit.

I won leadership awards for DnD! Leadership awards! Like... in school and shit!

I didn't shoot myself, or end up lost in a sewer. I like God and Jesus. I didn't hang myself over losing Black Leaf!

I might be slightly shy in social situations, but not because I spent my childhood fantasizing about medieval magic, but because my dad was an alcholic who beat the shit out of me. Ban drunk dads from prison... no... I mean put drunk dads in prison!

Long live the imagination!

Sledgehammer? More like WARHAMMER!

In Victoria, Australia I was able to play Xbox (even games like Grand Theft, 'til the media found out. Now you can't play shooters or any game that promotes illegal activities. It's pretty much racing or sports games now.) If I wanted I probably could have run a D&D campaign without a problem. There were a couple of guys in their 60s who had invented a truly excellent table-top wargame using stuff like toothpaste cap-lids and other easily available items. I don't want to get into the whole punshiment vs. rehab. debate, and most probably the guy in the article had asked for a space to be designated in order to play, otherwise he could of just ran a campaign on the sly. Afterall, we had people making alcohol, placing bets and selling contraband without it ever being a problem.

Having worked in a jail, I totally agree with this. Guys who are in prison (especially this guy, who is there for life probably) will find any reason to get in fights or choose sides--anything to add a little excitement to their day. And if they're in prison, they probably don't have a whole lot going on in their life, so you could see how someone could take it too seriously if a character they had for, oh, 5-7 years, suddenly got killed by a dickhead dungeon master. Plus, they're in prison, why the hell should they get to have fun and do what they want?

When I worked with kids who’d been institutionalized for whatever reason, the kids were not allowed to engage in role playing games or magic style card games. The reasoning was that it was considered a “Grooming” tool for sex offenders.

Of course, basketball was fine, and that’s where a lot of actual grooming happened. Kids look up to the bad a$$ b-ball player way more than the cleric.

Man it was hard enough going through highschool as a DND nerd, imagine being one in jail

All I want to know is did the guys use a Sledgehammer +3 of Bludgeoning?

I work in a games store and my boss did some business with prisoners via mail-order. It was always a mega big hassle. The reason I was told that RPG's were forbidden in prison is that the position of Game Master (Storyteller, Dungeon Master whatever) gives an innmate power of other inmates. Dice can of course be usded for gambling and CCG cards could become a form of currency. If this guy liked gaming so much maybe he should have put the sledgehammer down and picked up his dice.

I'm not against them taking the books away, he is afterall, in prison. But the reasoning behind it completely maligns gaming and gamers:

"promotes fantasy role playing, competitive hostility, violence, addictive escape behaviors, and possible gambling,"

That's just all kinds of wrong.

do not know what was stupider about the story that the prison banned the guy from passing the hours of being in prison for the rest of his life by playing d%d for fear he was forming a gang with others who were playing the game to pass time. or that the guy had to file a lawsuit to play the game in the first place thus proving any one sues for any thing. when all d%d is is a fantasy game the guy was using his imagination true some of the stuff he could later use as a weapon against other inmates. but he was just trying to pass some time in prison.

I am totally for DnD in prison.

I have a cousin who was in prison. Trying to keep his tale of woe as brief as possible: his father was a mechanic, he'd worked in the shop long enough to save up for college, one day on the way to school in Nashville, he [being an able mechanic] stopped to help strangers on the side of the road with car trouble -- semi jackknifed, overturned on him, destroyed his leg, rebuilt leg with back muscles, lot of painkillers... and then got addicted to painkillers, seeking out illegal ways to get painkillers... yadda.

Anyway, that guy had been my hero as a tot and then disappeared. We did reconnect while he was in prison b/c he was asking for gaming materials and my mom knew I could help and provide some advise for x-mas gifts and so on and I did what I could. It was a way to reconnect with someone I was estranged from and meant a lot to him and his fellow gamers inside as he said, "Anything to give us something to do..."

So I think it's a good thing. Sure, there are degrees of criminals and should be degrees of punishment. But table-top gaming is at it's barest communal fantasy -- mental escapism.

Unless he murdered that dude in self defense he shouldnt be breathing let alone playing D&D.

"I'm all for prison libraries and education and things that help criminals better themselves, but D&D does not fall into this category. It's entertainment"

The idea that books aren't entertainment is probably why nobody reads.

In any case, this man is going to spend the rest of his life in prison. I find it very hard to care if he spends the next 40-60 years "bettering" himself, playing Dungeons and Dragons, or reading the Bible. Whatever he does, he's going to be doing it behind bars.

I guess I fall in the middle of this debate. I am not a hardcore believer that prisoners should have everything taken away from them, but I believe that should have most of it taken away.

I know it's been repeated, but please have some perspective - the guy killed someone with a hammer. No one is saying we should take away his path to rehabilitation, redemption, or making his life as meaningful as possible considering the circumstance he finds himself in.

But to assume the right to entitlement to such luxuries is wrong. No one has the right to entertainment, and especially not someone who has taken a life of an innocent.

That being said, I also disagree with the ban, and think that having entertainment such as boardgames, card games and television in prisons is an extremely good thing. They should be used as positive reinforcement for those prisoners who earn the privilege. Same goes for lighter duty shifts, extra yard/exercise time/time out of the cell.

The most unfortunate aspect of this article is that it sheds a poor light on gamers yet again.

Well... We kept saying that the only people who let D&D (or video games, or violent comics, or whatever) make them do violent things were people who already had something mentally wrong with them. A normal, well-adjusted person understands it's just a game.
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But here were have a guy who DOES have something mentally wrong with him. He killed a man with a sledgehammer!!! If anyone is a candidate for letting the game go too far, it's this dude.
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However, since he's in prison, it's not like he's got access to a sledgehammer... So I guess they should lock him in a room and let him play.

I'm kind of curious about this man's case. I've been searching for news about the circumstances of what made him murder his sister's boyfriend by sledgehammering him to death. All I could find were bits and pieces of information, but here's what I can figure out.

1. On September 14, 2002 he was sentenced to life in prison for murdering (December 12, 2001) his sister's boyfriend Mr. Steven Young by multiple knife stabs to the back and bludgeoning him with a sledgehammer.

2. He may or may not have been trying to rob Mr. Steven Young and his sister Carrie Singer.

3. At the time of the murder Steven Young was 44 and Carrie singer was 23 and Kevin T. Singer was probably about 24-25 years old. I don't know all the circumstances in this murder as I can't find enough information, but Mr. Young was 21 years older than Singer's sister. WTF?! That's some sick shit.

4. Singer was sentenced to the murder of Steven Young, but acquitted of attempted murder of his sister Carrie and acquitted of attempted robbery of Steven Young.

5. In 2004 D&D was banned in prison and in 2005 he filed suit against the prison for not allowing him to play D&D.

6. In 2010 the ban was upheld so no D&D. This is probably it for Mr. Singer.

My Nerd-pinion:

I've never been in prison, but I have a cousin who's in prison for homicide. The circumstances of his case are much worse than this. At first I thought like most people that if you commit a heinous crime you should rot in prison especially if you're a murderer, rapist, or child predator. I don't see how those people can ever be rehabilitated. But after being in prison for 11 years I see how allowing my cousin TV & computer access and even taking online college courses and then eventually starting a school in prison for inmates has helped him control his anger and find a greater peace compared to the person who committed murder 12 years prior.

If D&D helps rehabilitate Mr. Singer than I personally have no problem with it. If you treat a prisoner like crap all you're going to get is angrier and more jaded criminals.

Now with that being said, I'm glad my cousin is a more calm, peaceful, and positive person, but I still don't think he needs to be released to society. I still believe that murderers, rapist, and child predators can never be rehabilitated as there is something inherently and perhaps genetically flawed within these individuals.

I currently reside in the frigid north (aka Wisconsin) about 50 miles south west of madison and I alson happen to have a childhood friend who works in the MAXIMUM security prison in Waupun.
The details are sketchy at best but what was said by the sister is he was trying to rob them and began said robbery by STABBING the guy in the BACK then grabbing at his wallet when he resisted out came the hammer and splat. The sister was beat up while trying to defend her BF. Ma and brother claim it was a case where he witnessed his sister being attacked/beaten by BF and SHE stabbed him and brother finished him.
Judge went with sister becuase of forensic evidence. Sisters prints not on knife, and ma wasn't at the scene to corroberate the story. So he went to the clink for life.

I wasn't at the scene when the crime was commited but I have a feeling it was a bit of both. Either way I agree with upholding the ban, as much fun as D&D is it isn't productive for a prisoner's rehabilitation unless used as a reward system as mentioned previously. Either way you can't let dice into a prison for the reason of gambling. No dice no game.

Penny Arcade: The Political Comic of the Internet Nerd

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2010/1/27/

Rob, this post is bad, and you should feel bad. Seriously, I come here for nerd news, not tiresome authoritarian "OMG THEY HAVE CABLE IN PRISON THEY SHOULD NOT HAVE ANY JOY WHATSOEVER FOREVER" screeds. The commentary is going downhill. It's like Avatar ant TF:ROTF broke your brain.

I love that painting. What's Hanks doing with his right hand? Did that sly bastard take a level in Pick Pockets when no one was looking?

Totally sharing this at my DnD game tonight.