So, if you're a geek and you get sent to prison, what do you do (besides cry little baby tears)?
Perhaps you read, maybe have your family slip you some comic books inside a loaf of bread, put Lord of the Ring posters up over the escape hole you're digging (shameless Shawshank reference).
Or, you request a chance to play that Mac Daddy of all geek pursuits.... Dungeons & Dragons.
As it turns out, most prison inmates that want to can actually play D&D in the pokey, provided they are sent the materials by sympathetic family and friends on the outside.
Except, of course, for Kevin Singer, inmate at the Wisconsin based Waupun Correctional Institution.
Official Story: Judge Bans D&D in Prison - Now Guess Why
In 2004, Kevin's materials were confiscated. So, of course, he sued, saying it violated his 1st Amendment rights. Just last year, the Court of Appeals upheld the ban for Singer, stating that it promoted gang behavior.
According to them, a Dungeon Master gives directions and establishes a hierarchy...much like a gang (at least that's what they say).
They also stated: D&D can "foster an inmate's obsession with escaping from the real life, correctional environment, fostering hostility, violence and escape behavior," which in turn "can compromise not only the inmate's rehabilitation and effects of positive programming but also endanger the public and jeopardize the safety and security of the institution."
That's right, everyone....D&D turns you into a BAD ASS.
Now look, I certainly won't begrudge the prison system from taking something away from an inmate they think is detrimental (Singer is, after all, in prison for murder). It's just when I think of things that should be dubbed contraband, D&D is not one of them.
In the same article, they posted a link to show what really happens when one is exposed to D&D. I show it to you here, in all its glory:
Now 'fess up, geeks, you found yourself in there somewhere, didn't you?
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