Court Rules Dungeons and Dragons Threatens Prison Security

KermodeBear writes "Dungeons and Dragons — originally Satan's Game — has now been found to encourage gang-like behavior. In a finding by a three judge panel of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, D&D 'can mimic the organization of gangs and lead to the actual development thereof.' From the ruling: 'during D&D games, one player is denoted the "Dungeon Master." 'The Dungeon Master is tasked with giving directions to other players, which Muraski testified mimics the organization of a gang.'"

do they even RESEARCH?

[v1]

the DM is anything but a "leader" in D&D. His job is more akin to that of the judges themselves, that passed this retarded ruling.

Wow

[dintech]

Haven't they got better things to do, like reducing the prevalence of weapons, drugs, alcohol and cellular phones in prisons?

Uh yeah...

[The MAZZTer]

... hierarchical command structures are everywhere in our society?

Is it just me?

[Jorl17]

[Offtopic] Is it just me, or the new Slashdot design seems to have chased away most of the people out there? Most stories are very short on comments! Come on people, get back to trolling and bashing stuff!!

Oh please

[Anonymous Coward]

I served 15 days in a county Jail (under Huber law) about 15 years ago or so I actually brought a few roleplaying books in with me, and set up a gaming session. (most of the guys in there with me were in for minor drug possession, and quite a few were gamers). I wound up running a 36 hour gaming session where people picked up and left off when they got tired, or had to go to work. It helped pass the time immensely, and gaming made my two weeks in jail go a lot faster than it would have otherwise.

Don't get me wrong, it was still a terrible experience, and I wouldn't want to go back (and I haven't!). But banning things like D&D isn't going to solve anything.

What

[GlyphedArchitect]

The Employer is tasked with giving directions to employees, which Muraski testified mimics the organization of a gang.

The Teacher is tasked with giving directions to students, which Muraski testified mimics the organization of a gang.

The Emergency Broadcast System is tasked with giving directions to the public during an emergency, which Muraski testified mimics the organization of a gang.

Really? When you have criteria for gang behavior that is that loose, anything can be classified and banned.

The Warden is tasked with giving directions to prisoners, which Muraski testified mimics the organization of a gang.

In other news...

[NevarMore]

...religious services banned in prisons.

They mimic gang activity, there is a "priest" or "sheik" or "prophet" that tells the other participants how to interpret and act on religious texts

WTF doesn't even begin to cover this

[Ben4jammin]

My favorite part:

but that the game encourages players to become obsessed with mentally escaping the restrictions of prison life

Because surely it NEVER occurred to inmates to attempt to mentally escape the restrictions of prison life until the DM told them to

Let's be clear

[cfulmer]

The 7th circuit did *not* find that D&D encourages gang-like behavior. What it found is that this prisoner didn't provide any relevant evidence that it doesn't encourage gang-like behavior. Basically, the warden said "Hey, this sort of thing looks like something which could encourage gangs -- it mimics human interaction. So, we're banning it." The inmate could have gone out and found other wardens who said "No, we've had it in our prison, and it's been fine." But, he didn't. Instead, he found other inmates (or former inmates). And that's not good enough.

Re:DM as gangleader just like ...

[nomadic]

Believe it or not, prisoners aren't allowed to be coaches, bosses, or chiefs of police either.

Re:Wow

[SanityInAnarchy]

Better yet, maybe reduce the prison population in general?

This Just In...

[MDillenbeck]

Courts rule that political parties are now illegal in the prison systems. Democrats, Republicans, Greens, Libertarians, and so forth are obviously modeled after gang organizations, and thus should be allowed. Especially those Tea Party-ers who like to engage in an activity they dub "tea bagging" - which in a prison is just wrong on so many levels.

Re:Is it just me?

[tophermeyer]

I find it harder to read the comment threads with the redesign. As I'm scrolling down I can't tell which comments lead to long threads and which don't, so I find myself skimming through a lot fewer comments and am less tempted to post myself.

Re:Let's be clear

[royallthefourth]

The inmate could have gone out and found other wardens

No, he couldn't have gone out anywhere. He's imprisoned.

err, myself excluded, obviously...

[Thud457]

Make them pee in a cup, make the results public.

That should be mandatory for all bureaucrats and elected officials. And anybody else that wants to inflict drug testing on someone else.

Wait a second

[Dunbal]

Gang-"like" behavior? Because there are no gangs in prison? Or because the court would rather the inmate join a real gang than a D&D party? Is there a ban on team sports in jail too, because that's gang-like behavior too...

Re:Wow

[SteveFoerster]

I hope you get the +5 you deserve here. Rampant over-incarceration is one of the biggest social and political problems in the U.S.