Dawn Zimmer: “I want to alert my colleagues that later today I will be introducing a ``no frills'' prison amendment to this…”

“I want to alert my colleagues that later today I will be introducing a ``no frills'' prison amendment to this legislation. Simply put, this amendment will provide that prisoners in Federal prisons will be provided no more than the least amount of amenities and personal comforts consistent with constitutional requirements and good order and discipline in the Federal prison system. Too often sight has been lost of the fact that prisons should be places of punishment, that prisons should be places where you do not want to go and to which you do not want to return. There are amenities in our Federal prison system. There are amenities in many of our State and county prisons. This amendment would deal only with the Federal prisons, and there are some real examples of Federal prisons which do earn the nickname, ``Club Fed.'' For instance, in Lomboc, CA, the Federal penitentiary there offers all-channel cable TV, movies 7 days a week, pool tables, handball, tennis, and miniature golf. The Federal prison in Estill, SC, has dormitories with cathedral ceilings, carpeting, skylights, checker and chess tables, and it offers basketball and handball courts. Prison perks are wrong in two respects: No. 1, they undermine the theory of prisons as places of punishment, and No. 2, they waste taxpayers' money.”