Whenever I worry what I would do if I was ever sent to prison, I take comfort in the idea that I could while away the time the way I did in my mispent youth: playing Dungeons & Dragons.
So much for that plan. According to Ilya Somin at The Volokh Conspiracy:
In a decision issued today the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a Wisconsin prison’s rule forbidding inmates to play Dungeons & Dragons or possess D&D publications and materials.
The prison’s rationale for the ban is that playing D&D might stimulate “gang activity” by inmates. But the government conceded that there is no evidence that Dungeons and Dragons actually had stimulated gang activity in the past, either in this prison or elsewhere. The only evidence for the supposedly harmful effects of Dungeons and Dragons were a few cases from other states where playing the game supposedly led inmates to indulge in “escapism” and become divorced from reality, one case where two non-inmates committed a crime in which they “acted out” a D&D story-line, and one where a longtime D&D player (not an inmate) committed suicide. Obviously, almost any hobby or reading material might lead people to become divorced from reality, or in rare cases commit suicide. And disturbed individuals could potentially “act out” a crime based on a scenario in almost any film or literary work. Should prisons ban The Count of Monte Cristo on the grounds that it might encourage escape attempts? Moreover, the “escapism” rationale conflicts with the gang argument. People who become engrossed in escapism and retreat from society are presumably less likely to become active gang members.
What crime could they have committed by acting out a D&D storyline? Did they use a quarterstaff to club a chaotic good druid and steal his cloak of invisibility? Because I could definitely see why you wouldn’t want that sort of behavior going on in Folsom Prison.
Update: Oh wow. Ilya Somin totally outnerds me:
Carter writes that he played D&D during his “misspent youth.” He obviously didn’t misspend enough of it, however. Otherwise, he might have known that Druids are not allowed to be chaotic good. They must be of “true neutral” alignment (or some other alignment with a neutral dimension in later, more permissive, editions of the game). If a druid became chaotic good, he would immediately lose his druidic status. Thus, we don’t need to worry about prison inmates killing chaotic good druids, because there isn’t any such thing.
A tip my Hat of Obsession to his awesome recall of D&D lore. Somin is obviously a Level 25 Epic Sage.
January 26th, 2010 | 11:54 am
Speaking as a now 24th level Cleric. I see no harm in letting prisoners play D&D. Fantasy is good for a criminal, if you consider that the alternative to fantasy violence is non-fantasy violence. Now there’s always the hope of no violence at all, but as we know, pursuing the impossible often makes real situation worse.
God bless
Pastor Spomer
New Mexico
January 26th, 2010 | 12:39 pm
Joe, you are missing the point. The issue is whether prisoners have the “right” to play D&D. They do not. They have the right to be punished in a manner that is not “cruel and unusual.” Taking away a prisoner’s favorite game may be unpleasant for the prisoner, but it does not rise to the level of cruel and unusual punishment. The prison officials believed that D&D gave rise to an environment where a leader (the dungeon master) could hold sway over a group and in turn this could lead to the formation of gangs. Their concern is entitled to deference by the courts. It is not a matter of whether you or I would do the same thing. Legally, it is a matter of whether the concern is “rationally related to a reasonable peneological goal.” Clearly it is.
January 26th, 2010 | 5:14 pm
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January 26th, 2010 | 5:50 pm
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January 26th, 2010 | 6:22 pm
If you read the text of the court’s decision, it looks like they’re wanting it to be won on appeal but are wanting the plaintiff to get witnesses who aren’t fellow inmates, former inmates, family members or academics to impeach the credibility of the prison’s own “expert,” who’s someone named Captain Murasaki who has some list of courses he’s taken in “gang abatement” and “occult groups” which sound more based in conspiracy theories than any sound principle.
The basis of Murasaki’s conspiracy theory, ahem, argument is that “Dungeon Master” = “Gang Leader.” Following the same reasoning, one must assumes that he thinks that a Tupperware party might spontaneously metamorphose into a witch’s sabbath, and it’s up to the plaintiff to find someone in law enforcement to attest that this is not just unlikely but impossible. Because, you know, it’s never happened before, but maybe it could.
The original link to the court’s judgment is not working (and its always suspicious when they take down links to stupid judicial decisions) but it’s been archived elsewhere.
Here, read it for yourself:
http://abovethelaw.com/2010/01/26/Singer%20v.%20Raemisch.pdf
January 26th, 2010 | 7:07 pm
This brings back memories of my own mis-spent youth. It is true that dungeon masters can come to wield a certain kind of power over the players, but the ones I knew would use it for things like getting us to fetch them super size bags of french fries and monster size cups of pop while they played fickle games with the fates of our characters.
You know, in the wrong hands, a four-sided pyramid die (singular of dice) could be a lethal weapon . . .
January 26th, 2010 | 7:19 pm
Seriously — D&D leads (or would lead) to gangs? Of the estimated 1,000,000 gang members in the U.S., is there any empirical evidence to support such a claim? Of all the reasons to prohibit D&D, this has to be among the most absurd. Frankly, it sounds like a pathetic excuse.
January 26th, 2010 | 10:35 pm
[...] Circuit decision upholding a Wisconsin prison rule forbidding inmates to play Dungeons and Dragons, Joe Carter of First Things speculates about the kinds of D&D-inspired crime that the prison authorities might be worried [...]
January 27th, 2010 | 2:04 pm
Where’s my ring of judge control?
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