I don't want a prison in my backyard - can we freeze criminals for 50 years?
By mommyboo
@mommyboo (13174)
United States
November 2, 2008 1:29pm CST
I got this idea from watching Demolition Man again - which takes place apparently in 1996. I don't think we have the capacity to cryogenically freeze folks and then thaw them out but I bet anything if we do some research in this arena, we could eventually do it. What do you think? If we had the technology would it be a good idea? I think it would save money in the long run, no need to worry about climate control, food (in the sense of groceries), you wouldn't need a lot of space per inmate, you'd need employees but probably not as many as prisons currently employ. There'd be little chance of people killing or raping each other because they'd all be in suspended animation. Nobody could break out of prison either and begin committing crimes all over again.
3 people like this
7 responses
Eventually, technology may allow us to do such things though, and it does seem like a great idea 
@ginnypetree (267)
• United States
3 Nov 08
LOL... well there would be less to worry about im sure.
But my husband loves that movie.
If we can do that or not.... I know when people die they request to be frozen for future cures and research or something in that order. But no one to my knowledge has came back... But no one has been alive going in either.
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
3 Nov 08
It would not be a good idea. If they were murderers, why were they not executed? And even though they were frozen and were not murderers, who knows when they discover that their wives and children have gone on, their wives have remarried and their grandchildren are the same age as they, would it not compel them to go and start killing.
Besides one of the most effective methods of punishment is for the convict to realize his crime even for the years he spends in the pen and for the time before his execution. An unconscious man does not realize his sin.
@Gesusdid (1676)
• United States
2 Nov 08
if they started freezing prisoners , that would make the criminals job that easier to commit crimes , whats the punishment , 100 years for killing people , no matter to the convict cause all that is , is basically a long sleep lol he'll be out just in time for his great great great grand kids b-day lol ..umm id rather freez them and break em into pieces like the ending lol
1 person likes this
@Opal26 (17679)
• United States
3 Nov 08
Hey mommyboo! Why should we bother ever thawing them out
in that case? Why do we need to freeze them at all? Why
don't we just get rid of them altogether? I don't quite
understand? We don't need them! Why should we keep them
or freeze them? We are better off without them totally!
I'm for disposing of the permanently! Never mind thawing
them out in 50 years! What good is that going to do?
The will still be the same and then be a burdon on society
then! So what's the point? Maybe we won't be here, but
you children will. Do you want them to deal with the
problem?
@Sheepie (3112)
• United States
2 Nov 08
Well, that really is an amazing thought. But think about it- they could not talk to their loved ones, make phone calls, write letters. Plus, I think it depends on if they can think. Is it as though they are asleep and don't have any count of time? Or are they thinking? Because if it's going to be as though they just close thier eyes, it gets cold, adn then they wake up ten years later, they didn't really get the consequence of feeling trapped in jail. They won't really get to feel how it feels to not be able to go to the mall or go to a baseball game. I doubt they would age either, so it would be just kind of like taking them from the present to the future.
1 person likes this
@mommyboo (13174)
• United States
3 Nov 08
I don't know what it would be like, probably like being in an induced coma? You bring up an excellent point of them not having the consequence of being in jail, yet this isn't really a consequence to some of them. Many who remain there for life will never be rehabilitated, never regret the actions that landed them in prison, meanwhile they are sitting there for years on OUR tax dollars. They don't have to worry about losing the roof over their heads, missing a meal, even having to go to work or pay bills. Sounds kinda cushy to me despite the fact that they cannot come and go as they please.
I guess they wouldn't age if cryogenically frozen, I actually think that people who end up stuck in jail should age prematurely lol.
@mariposaman (2959)
• Canada
3 Nov 08
So the criminal does not actually do time because they are frozen. They walk into a booth and *poof* they are frozen and are thawed out 50 years later, still young and in good shape, and they would remember nothing of the time they were frozen. That is not really punishment. What they need is to be locked up in a cold jail cell and given bad food so at the end of 50 years they have been punished. 50 years frozen is not punishment. Think of another way.
