# Death is not an option: Imprisonment **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 21, 2011, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-is-not-an-option-imprisonment/606959 "2011-12-21T16:50:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-is-not-an-option-imprisonment/606959/21 "2011-12-21T19:09:34Z")
The coffin would terrify me but it’s only a day. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-is-not-an-option-imprisonment/606959/22 "2011-12-21T19:17:59Z")
You need more than a tube. CO2 is heavier than air, so even with a vent, you’d still drown in your own breath. Frankly, I’m worried about the heat. Six feet of dirt makes for a toasty blanket. So if you make sure the coffin stays under 80 degrees, and you guarantee that the air system actually works to keep me alive, I’ll take the coffin. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-is-not-an-option-imprisonment/606959/23 "2011-12-21T19:22:27Z")
Hey this ain’t supposed to be a holiday trip to Hedonism II. I make no guarantees, as it says in the OP. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-is-not-an-option-imprisonment/606959/24 "2011-12-21T19:30:07Z")
What kind of prison are we talking about, exactly? Is it a Supermax kind of deal, where I’m in solitary the entire time, or is it more like a “classic” prison setting, where I have a cellmate and there are significant spans of time spent loose out in the yard or whatever among the general population? ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-is-not-an-option-imprisonment/606959/25 "2011-12-21T19:36:49Z")
I choose the coffin. If I was 100% sure I was getting out within 24 hours, and had a tube for air, I could manage. I wouldn’t be comfortable but I’m not especially claustrophobic either. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-is-not-an-option-imprisonment/606959/26 "2011-12-21T19:39:10Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > What kind of prison are we talking about, exactly? Is it a Supermax kind of deal, where I’m in solitary the entire time, or is it more like a “classic” prison setting, where I have a cellmate and there are significant spans of time spent loose out in the yard or whatever among the general population? Classic I suppose. Unless you get sent to the hole for making a shiv out of uncooked spaghetti. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-is-not-an-option-imprisonment/606959/27 "2011-12-21T19:41:55Z")
Alright. Then I’ll gamble on the coffin. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-is-not-an-option-imprisonment/606959/28 "2011-12-21T19:42:44Z")
Didn’t the Mythbusters do the buried alive thing in the first season or so? I seem to remember them having problems immediately with the weight of the dirt on the coffin causing it to buckle. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-is-not-an-option-imprisonment/606959/29 "2011-12-21T20:18:12Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Didn’t the Mythbusters do the buried alive thing in the first season or so? I seem to remember them having problems immediately with the weight of the dirt on the coffin causing it to buckle. I dunno, people used to get buried (and still do in some situations) plain wood boxes 6 feet under and while the coffin would collapse and decay over time I also know you can dig a freshly buried coffin up weeks or even months later and the coffin itself would still be intact. It takes many years for the coffin to totally break apart, I would think. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-is-not-an-option-imprisonment/606959/30 "2011-12-21T20:23:03Z")
Prison for me. 1. Keyword was federal. The Feds haven’t gotten much right, but they do know how to run a prison. 2. The coffin is still a deathtrap. I might have a hose to breathe with but after 24 months, I’ll have shit that coffin overfull to the point where I can’t breathe at all. ---
**Author:** ![elninost0rm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ed655f/32.png) [@elninost0rm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elninost0rm)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-is-not-an-option-imprisonment/606959/31 "2011-12-21T20:37:08Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > Prison for me. > > 1. Keyword was federal. The Feds haven’t gotten much right, but they do know how to run a prison. > > 2. The coffin is still a deathtrap. I might have a hose to breathe with but after 24 months, I’ll have shit that coffin overfull to the point where I can’t breathe at all. Which is well and good, except you only have to stay in the coffin for 24 hours, not 24 months.. LOL. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-is-not-an-option-imprisonment/606959/32 "2011-12-21T21:00:47Z")
Prison. I feel confined on a commercial airplane. I can’t be that restricted in my movement. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-is-not-an-option-imprisonment/606959/33 "2011-12-21T21:03:33Z")
I read it wrong. Somehow I thought it was 24 months too (with breaks and food and stuff). I definitely picked the wrong one. i could go easily for 24 hours in a coffin; I’d sleep most of it. ---
**Author:** ![FlyByNight512](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/82dd89/32.png) [@FlyByNight512](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyByNight512)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-is-not-an-option-imprisonment/606959/34 "2011-12-21T21:29:57Z")
Whoops, I read it wrong too, and thought it was 24 _hours_ in prison. In which case I’m more comfortable in a jail cell than a coffin. But two years? Nah, I’ll take the coffin for one day, even though it doesn’t sound pleasant. Best case scenario, I’ll sleep pretty much the whole time. Worst case scenario, it lasts for a subjective eternity and I hallucinate. (Sensory deprivation chambers can do that, or so I’m told.) Not fun, but at least when I get out I haven’t lost two years of my life. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-is-not-an-option-imprisonment/606959/35 "2011-12-21T21:50:51Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > You need more than a tube. CO2 is heavier than air, so even with a vent, you’d still drown in your own breath. Frankly, I’m worried about the heat. Six feet of dirt makes for a toasty blanket. So if you make sure the coffin stays under 80 degrees, and you guarantee that the air system actually works to keep me alive, I’ll take the coffin. If you breathed through the tube, could you push the CO2 out or is 6 feet too deep to overcome rebreather issues? The ground temp at 6 feet is pretty cool. That’s where ground source heat pumps put their coils. My fear is that the wood would be too good of an insulator and my body heat would not escape. Since it’s the holidays, I can’t help but think of this classic [thread,](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=289696) particularly post #2. ---
**Author:** ![Dennis\_Arthur\_PERRETT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3e96dc/32.png) [@Dennis\_Arthur\_PERRETT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dennis_Arthur_PERRETT)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-is-not-an-option-imprisonment/606959/36 "2011-12-21T21:55:11Z")
24 months in a secure jail cell sounds rather somewhat nice and secure. Especially if it comes with, 3 meals a day, TV (sports and comedy channel) and other modcons all at the tax payers expense. Coffin, you would have to be an idiot, even if it was oxygenated, the claustrophobia would kill me…and death is not an option. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-is-not-an-option-imprisonment/606959/37 "2011-12-21T22:24:43Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Didn’t the Mythbusters do the buried alive thing in the first season or so? I seem to remember them having problems immediately with the weight of the dirt on the coffin causing it to buckle. I remember Adam in a coffin and everyone getting a bit panicky because the lid was caving in on him. Man, the more time goes on, the more those early seasons of Mythbusters feel like The Beatles in Hamburg. However, on the other hand, they are apparently shooting cannonballs through people’s houses now, so… ---
**Author:** ![geneb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a88e4f/32.png) [@geneb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/geneb)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-is-not-an-option-imprisonment/606959/38 "2011-12-21T22:32:24Z")
Not only am I unusually large, I’m extremely claustrophobic. I can’t think of a worse torture for me than to stuff me in a coffin. Just thinking about such a concept has me terrified and wanting to go outside. I’m not entirely sure I could survive 24 hours in a coffin. I’d beat my head against the wood until I was dead or unconscious. I’d take two years in prison and be glad I had the option. Hell, I’d spend the rest of my life in prison before I’d spend 24 hours buried in a coffin. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-is-not-an-option-imprisonment/606959/39 "2011-12-21T22:45:02Z")
I picked the coffin. I figured there’s a chance over a 2 year stint in prison that I’d be locked in solitary and at that point I’d probably be regretting not just getting this over with in a day. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-is-not-an-option-imprisonment/606959/40 "2011-12-21T23:28:18Z")
> [@Antinor01](#): > > The coffin would terrify me but it’s only a day. Same thing I was gonna say, I’m mildly claustrophobic, but I think I could manage. As Flanders and Swann said, “I sing a potpourri of all the songs I used to know…” and I’d do a lot of algebra in my head. That sort of thing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-is-not-an-option-imprisonment/606959.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-is-not-an-option-imprisonment/606959.md?page=3)