# 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:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-is-not-an-option-imprisonment/606959/41 "2011-12-22T00:26:42Z")
Two questions about the coffin: 1. Is it a standard one size fits most sized coffin, _not_ one specially designed to closely fit the coffinee? 2. Can the coffinee choose if they lie on their belly or their back? If both of these things are true, sign me up for six feet under. ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-is-not-an-option-imprisonment/606959/42 "2011-12-22T00:42:00Z")
The coffin no question. I’m too damned pretty and too damned light to fight off “suitors” in prison. ---
**Author:** ![FloatyGimpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/floatygimpy/32/7750_2.png) [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-is-not-an-option-imprisonment/606959/43 "2011-12-22T00:49:33Z")
I couldn’t survive 24 hours in a coffin, I get panicky on the elevator at work. So off to jail for me. ---
**Author:** ![Maiira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Maiira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maiira)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-is-not-an-option-imprisonment/606959/44 "2011-12-22T01:19:53Z")
I’d choose the coffin. It’s only a day, and depending on which day of the week you throw me in, I won’t even have to take a day off work. Prison, on the other hand, would be tricky. I’d get fired from my job, and would likely be barred from taking other jobs, not to mention screwing up my personal relationships. I’d lose more of my life there. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-is-not-an-option-imprisonment/606959/45 "2011-12-22T03:01:11Z")
People are seriously picking being buried alive? You. Will. Die. Wooden caskets aren’t air proof, and you likely didn’t take enough air down there with you. anyways. And if a metal casket caves in, what will happen to a wooden one? Gah. Prison, while harsh, isn’t death. ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-is-not-an-option-imprisonment/606959/46 "2011-12-22T03:07:08Z")
Being buried alive is my worst fear. MY WORST FEAR. I can always write to my kid from jail. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-is-not-an-option-imprisonment/606959/47 "2011-12-22T03:18:56Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > People are seriously picking being buried alive? You. Will. Die. Wooden caskets aren’t air proof, and you likely didn’t take enough air down there with you. anyways. And if a metal casket caves in, what will happen to a wooden one? Gah. > > Prison, while harsh, isn’t death. OP fail–or it’s a trap cunningly designed to kill Dopers. Without seriously revising the coffin scenario it’s a **guaranteed** death sentence. Long before heatstroke kicks in that pesky lack of oxygen/lack of CO2 is going to be lethal. Tube? Great. How far along the six-foot tube are you moving air? It’s pretty much another six feet of coffin-space as far as air is concerned. Breath in through the tube/out in the coffin? How long can you keep that up? Where is all the air you breath out supposed to go? With the one or two exceptions of the circus carny and the meditative wonder contingents, everyone who picked ‘coffin’ is going to die. ---
**Author:** ![Blackberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blackberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackberry)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-is-not-an-option-imprisonment/606959/48 "2011-12-22T03:23:30Z")
I think the coffin scenario would be a lot more bearable if it was standing upright instead of laying down (and I would need a reliable air source, of course). Is that how everyone would feel, or just me? ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-is-not-an-option-imprisonment/606959/49 "2011-12-22T03:26:27Z")
If you could nap through eight, ten or twelve hours of the ordeal, would you? ---
**Author:** ![Sudden\_Kestrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-is-not-an-option-imprisonment/606959/50 "2011-12-22T03:54:06Z")
I lead a prisonesque existence as it is, so 24 months in the slammer would be just business as usual. I’m assuming I could have books and pencils and a tin cup and so forth. For a bonus, I’d be sure I got tossed into solitary/Supermax for most of the time so I didn’t have to deal with all those…ugh…people. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-is-not-an-option-imprisonment/606959/51 "2011-12-22T03:55:46Z")
Jail. The utmost in maximum security, please. I’m much too claustrophobic to even consider the other option. ---
**Author:** ![Invisible\_Chimp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f05b48/32.png) [@Invisible\_Chimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Invisible_Chimp)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-is-not-an-option-imprisonment/606959/52 "2011-12-22T04:52:34Z")
If I could figure out a way not to suffocate, I’d choose the coffin easily. The only thing that makes me claustrophobic is a crowd of people. I’m assuming I’d be buried alone. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-is-not-an-option-imprisonment/606959/53 "2011-12-22T12:27:22Z")
I’m actually surprised at the poll responses. I would rather be in the prison, because . . . well, because at least I wouldn’t be buried alive in a coffin. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-is-not-an-option-imprisonment/606959/54 "2011-12-22T15:09:40Z")
I am not remotely claustrophobic. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-is-not-an-option-imprisonment/606959/55 "2011-12-22T15:14:25Z")
Oh wait! I need to change my vote! I thought it was 24 hours in prison, not 24 months. Now that it’s 24 months vs 24 hours. . . I don’t wanna play. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2011, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-is-not-an-option-imprisonment/606959/56 "2011-12-22T19:21:49Z")
> [@aerodave](#): > > I voted for the coffin before I was even sure that there would be a way to provide me with adequate oxygen. Now that I know breathing won’t be an issue, it’s the easiest decision I’ve made all day. This. I’d rather be dead than imprisoned, and if there’s adequate air and it’s neither too warm nor too cold I would prefer being six feet underground in a wooden coffin for 24 hours to enduring commercial air travel. \*\* just had a lousy day of airplane transit yesterday \*\* [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-is-not-an-option-imprisonment/606959.md?page=2)