Muscatine

Sorry very tired right now. Talk both times was to be take.

Getting back to the original subject here, it is of no one's concern if a Corrections Officer is purchasing puzzles and putting them in the cell blocks for inmates to use.  Anyone is free to stop by the Muscatine County Jail and donate puzzles or soft cover books for inmate use; that an officer is doing it is no different than Average Joe Citizen doing it.  The key fact to observe here is that no Muscatine County money (read: taxes) is being used to fund this "puzzle program" of sorts.

Secondly, as was mentioned by at least one poster, it makes the officers' jobs safer when the inmates have something to do.  Time taken to put a puzzle together is time the inmate isn't spending trying to figure out how to screw around with other inmates or the corrections staff. 

Those of you preaching that the Muscatine County Jail and other corrections facilities are chock full of innocent people are living in a dream world.  Yes, they have the presumption of innocence; I'm not arguing that.  But the majority of inmates are repeat offenders and approximately half the jail population is comprised of Federal inmates.  Just by paying attention to the newspaper, we know that there are many people there charged with murder, rape, assault, sexual acts with minors, beastiality, sales of narcotics and so forth. 

The vast majority are indeed guilty and will either plead guilty themselves or be judged guilty in trial.  The fact is, those with local, minor misdemeanor charges like public intox, peeing on the neighbor's bushes and whatever, are in the gross minority compared to the inmates on state and fed cases.  For those who would argue, pick up the phone and call the Sheriff if you don't believe me; it's public information.

Therefore, it should go without saying that the people in the jail, in general, are not "nice" people.  As such, any distraction that can be provided to them, whether it be cable TV (which is free from MP&W by the way, so don't complain about tax money being spent there), card games--and yes, even puzzles, is a good thing.  There are several fights inside the jail every month, and just last year, an officer was assaulted by a convicted Federal inmate.  I assure you, giving the inmates puzzles, aside from just being a kind thing to do, is a GOOD thing.

And for the record, despite the conclusion that might be drawn from this post, I do not personally agree with the officer giving inmates puzzles paid for by their own money as I see the potential for a professional ethics issue.  However, as I illustrated above, I do indeed see the importance of the puzzles and their role in the smooth operation of the facility, and there is nothing technically illegal, immoral or even against Muscatine County Sheriff's Office policy about it.  Thus, my opinion remains my opinion and I wont insult the officer in question for their actions.  I suggest you contrarians step back, think about it, and do the same.

easy on inmates...lawdog, not a bad opinion, except the part about those people in jail NOT being nice, just because someone screwed up in one way, doesn't mean they aren't worth while in many others. But thanks for your intelect all together.

Just to clarify, I never said they were all terrible people.  My assertion was that the bulk of them are charged with, and are guilty of, terrible crimes.  The county inmates in on local misdemeanor charges and sentences are in the minority compared to those looking at Fed and serious state charges. 

Heck, I don't think there's a one of us over the age of 18 who hasn't done something worthy of going to jail for.  We've all made mistakes, some youthful, some accidental, and maybe habitual for some of us at one point in our lives...But most of us have learned from those mistakes, and some of us were even fortunate enough not to get caught. 

Thus I definitely understand that even convicted inmates aren't necessarily bad people; many of us could have been one of them under other circumstances.  So please don't misconstrue anything I said to suggest otherwise.  I'm only asserting that the majority of the inmates are potentially dangerous people--a position supported by the charges against the various inmates, and past inmate behavior (fights, assaults on officers, etc).  Therefore, distractions such as puzzles are a positive thing for officer and inmate safety.