Hi,
Been lurking on these forums for months now. Right now, I’m passing time away in class, and a serious question popped into my mind, which oddly enough served as the stimulus for me to post here…
Why do more people serving life sentences in prison NOT commit suicide?
IMO, the point of life is to strive for (and hopefully attain) happiness…love, indulging in your passions (weightlifing, travelling, music, etc), and whatever else you may think of. When all these things are taken away, what’s the point of living anymore? When all these necessities (NOT privileges) are deprived from us, all we have to look forward to is death, and, well, joining a prison gang. Not much, so why not welcome the end sooner rather than later?
Just my two cents. If anyone has something to add, chime in.
Happiness is a weird thing. You can have one person living in abject poverty who has a great outlook on life and is very happy and you can have another who has everything but is sad.
I think people are just as happy as they are going to be. Put them in a worse situation and they will be miserable until they get used to it then they will return to their baseline of happiness. That is why some people will try to commit suicide when they are first thrown in the slam but they don’t try again later.
Actually, I recall reading somewhere that inmates on death row are more likely to commit suicide than to be executed. I wouldn’t be surpised if suicide rates are higher among those serving life sentences than among the general populace. It just might not be the sort of thing that gets alot of publicity.
If they adapt to the routine and are strong and smart enough to avoid being prey they may find a tolerable existence which even provides some fulfillment. True you give up things like sex (with the opposite sex) and or a relationship with the opposite sex, but again in tough situation tenacious people adapt.
The will to live is strong and hard to kill unless one is really scared or depressed. I recently heard the highest suicide rates in prison or the very young and or weak newbies or (fish) who do face a very good likely hood of being attacked, killed, or raped.
But, think about it, how many people that live lives outside of prison are prisoners of a bleak routine in life. Work a horrid job, watch TV on couch, get up a day older and fatter and do it all over again, till you die.
[quote]chuckaboo86 wrote:
prob because many people aren’t man (lack of a better word) enough to kill themselves. I know i wouldnt be able to.
Maybe dudes in jail like the a-secks?[/quote]
You’d be surprised at the number that still get v-secks…and anything else they want. They’re serving life sentences…all inhibitions and boundaries are out the window.
[quote]Big_Boss wrote:
chuckaboo86 wrote:
prob because many people aren’t man (lack of a better word) enough to kill themselves. I know i wouldnt be able to.
Maybe dudes in jail like the a-secks?
You’d be surprised at the number that still get v-secks…and anything else they want. They’re serving life sentences…all inhibitions and boundaries are out the window. [/quote]
I don’t know about you guys, but if I were sentenced to life in jail, I would first try to kill myself. If that fails, i’d purposely scar my face so I wouldn’t look “attractive” to anyone. Then I would probably get a degree in Structural Engineering and a minor in Criminology and bust myself out of here like Michael Scofield.
Our ability to adapt to an environment is astounding, as well as our survival mechanism. There are new rules and etiquette to follow in prisons and jails, and in a strange way people can just get used to it all (aka “institutionalized.”)
[quote]Dedicated wrote:
But, think about it, how many people that live lives outside of prison are prisoners of a bleak routine in life. Work a horrid job, watch TV on couch, get up a day older and fatter and do it all over again, till you die.
D[/quote]
Exactly, Ded. They exist in a self-made prison. Maybe if they spent some brief time in jail, they’d see life differently and make some changes when they were free again.
Good replies. Interesting to hear where other people come from.
Call it weak, but I personally think if I had a life sentence with no possibility of parole I would off myself.
The comment about the “Living dead” - people free yet stuck in a humdrum existence - yes, that rings true, absolutely.
As far as “getting used to it” - that’s too true. But still I wonder, IMO at least, looking at it from a big picture perspective I would still wonder ‘what’s life worth living for’ if i had nothing to live for other than defending territory in prison gangs.
Definately interesting about most suicides happening in 24 hours of detainment. I believe yet but do you have any facts to support this?
[quote]stopngo wrote:
Good replies. Interesting to hear where other people come from.
Call it weak, but I personally think if I had a life sentence with no possibility of parole I would off myself.
The comment about the “Living dead” - people free yet stuck in a humdrum existence - yes, that rings true, absolutely.
As far as “getting used to it” - that’s too true. But still I wonder, IMO at least, looking at it from a big picture perspective I would still wonder ‘what’s life worth living for’ if i had nothing to live for other than defending territory in prison gangs.
Definately interesting about most suicides happening in 24 hours of detainment. I believe yet but do you have any facts to support this?
later[/quote]
You would be surprised by how strong the will to live/survive is. Even if you wanted to I doubt you could, epically without a gun. At least with a gun its quick and possibly painless.