Weightlifting Privileges for Inmates

This paper will discuss whether inmates should be allowed special privileges such as the right to engage in weightlifting activities despite the fact that they are incarcerated. The paper will present opposing arguments and then present the position that inmates should not be allowed weightlifting privileges. Moreover, the discussion will analyze why inmates should not be allowed such privileges and will give sound reasons against this type of policy for individuals who are incarcerated.

Today, most prisons in America are suffering from overcrowding. A few scholars have suggested that more prisons need to be built to solve the overcrowding problem. However, recent studies show that by the 1980s, the decision to build a 500-bed institution will require the public to spend tax dollars of $350 million in current dollars. Over a 30 year period, the cost of financing the building of additional prisons rises to about $135 million in average construction costs of a prison, with an additional $210 million for operational costs. Thus, the average yearly cost to build one prison is $11.5 million (McConville, 1985, pp. 89-96). In the fiscal year 1994, the United States government spent $2.3 billion dollars on prison capital costs--a dramatic increase from a figure of $538 million in 1980 (U.S., 1996, pp. 12-13). Therefore, it can easily be said that it costs more to build and maintain prisons than is commonly believed.