Lawful Stupid

(Via Above The Law)

This just in - the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that prisoners can be barred from playing role playing games while in prison.

For security reasons. Because role-playing-games promote an alternate hierarchy that competes with the established order of the prison. They (and I'm quoting here) 'mimic the organization of gangs' in that they have a Dungeon Master in a leadership position.

I about fell off my chair laughing when I read that. But I thought, no- that cannot be their position. There's some legal nuance that does not translate well. So I read the decision (Singer v Raemisch, No. 07-3400 PDF)-

-and that's really what they are saying:

The sole evidence the prison officials have submitted on this point is the affidavit of Captain Muraski, the gang specialist. Muraski testified that Waupun’s prohibition on role-playing and fantasy games was intended to serve two purposes.

The first aim Muraski cited was the maintenance of prison security. He explained that the policy was intended to promote prison security because co-operative games can mimic the organization of gangs and lead to the actual development thereof.

Muraski elaborated that 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. At bottom, his testimony about this policy aim highlighted Waupun’s worries about cooperative activity among inmates, particularly that carried out in an organized, hierarchical fashion. Muraski’s second asserted governmental interest in the D&D ban was inmate rehabilitation.

He testified that 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."

Speaking as an experience game master, allow me to respond:

Captain Muraski, you may know a lot about prison security - but when it comes to D&D - you have a lot to learn. The DM, or GM doesn't give directions - they provide a setting and enforce the rules. There may be legitimate reasons you might want to prevent inmates from gathering (or prevent particular inmates from gathering) in a social setting - but those reasons are pastime neutral. The idea that D&D somehow adds a new element of risk to inmate behavior is just comical.

Grown men sitting around a table rolling dice and telling stories... ye gods.

Elie Mystal nails it. This isn't about D&D at all...

...this is about...punishment. It’s not about rehabilitation, it’s not about security, it’s about old-school vengeance carried out by state actors. He killed somebody, and we as a society found something else he liked that we can take away. So we’re going to take it away. It’s Christopher Lloyd ...telling Kirk he won’t beam up Spock “because you wish it.”

So, to all of those reading this who participated in one of my games, I must apologize for my lackadaisical leadership over this past decade. I will now re-assert my natural rights and powers invested in me as your gang leader. In turn, I will forgive your lackluster performance as my willing minions over this same period. The past is the past.

Without further ado... ahem....

     *cue melodramatic music*

Go now! Rise up and cast aside those who cling to the establishment! Arise in fire and earthquake! Lay waste to the land, slay all who oppose you! This... your GM commands!!!!

     *sound of a needle scratching a record*

Aw, hey....c'mon now... do us a favor....just a little uprising? Old times..?

     *sounds of malevolent hand gestures*

Don't be like that... I just... How about spotting me some pizza money?-No? How about saying you would...?

     *door slamming*

Nah, it's cool... I... I'm...ah... still full from lunch anyway.