WTF ... Prison is supposed to be PUNISHMENT, Prison is supposed to be PUNISHMENT Options

[Godsend]

http://money.cnn.com/2004/10/08/news/newsm...dex.htm?cnn=yes

Martha Stewart reported to prison in West Virginia early Friday morning to begin serving a five-month sentence for lying about a stock trade....the Federal Bureau of Prisons assigned Stewart to the minimum-security women's prison in Alderson, W. Va., known as "Camp Cupcake." ... It has no perimeter fence, and inmates can spend their free time playing volleyball and tennis or even doing aerobics.

Sentences like this are bullshit. The whole point of prison is that it is a punishment and is supposed to deter you from committing a crime again. Do you think that any of us would really be concerned about going to prison if it was a vacation resort like above? They might as well have just slapped her hand and told her to go to her room. Oh wait, they did that too "Stewart, 63, was sentenced in July to five months in jail and five months of home detention after being convicted in March for lying to investigators about her sale of ImClone Systems Inc. stock in late 2001, right before the stock tumbled."

I'm not sure what is worse, bullshit sentences like this, or the fact that you can go out right now, and shoot your neighbor in the head, get convicted of murder, and I guranteee you will be released from prison within 3-5 years.

Or, an even bigger joke...the fact that you could murder a dozen people, and get the death penalty, and its pretty much a given that 10 years from now you will still be alive, relaxing on death row while you waste the taxpayers money with meaningless appeals.

To sum up my rant, my point is that these punishments are a joke and do not deter crime, especially by "rich people". If I am a celebrity, high ranking govt official, millionare, etc. Do you think I would be concerned at all about breaking the law (assuming I had no morals)? Hell no. Because I know that:

1. I can hire an expensive lawyer and probably totally get off *cough* OJ *cough*
2. Even if found guilty, I most probably will get a very light sentence and get sent to a minimum security resort.
3. Even if I commit a most terrible crime that warrants the death penalty, I can take advantage of legal loopholes and appeal until I literally die of old age.