# Which is worse: Jail or Prison? (Need answer for family member who has to choose) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 20, 2014, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-worse-jail-or-prison-need-answer-for-family-member-who-has-to-choose/688843 "2014-05-20T17:02:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2014, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-worse-jail-or-prison-need-answer-for-family-member-who-has-to-choose/688843/41 "2014-05-22T19:04:13Z")
> [@thirdname](#): > > What exactly is the difference between rape and “coercive” sex? Isn’t coercive sex the definition of rape? The way I’m defining it, forcible rape is when the victim literally has no choice - the sex is going to happen regardless of what he of she does. Coercive sex is when the victim would overall prefer not to have sex but is pressured into giving nominal consent. It’s situations like where somebody is told they have to have sex with their boss or they’ll be fired. Coercive sex is clearly wrong but I feel there is a distinction between coercive sex and forcible rape. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2014, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-worse-jail-or-prison-need-answer-for-family-member-who-has-to-choose/688843/42 "2014-05-22T20:39:05Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > The way I’m defining it, forcible rape is when the victim literally has no choice - the sex is going to happen regardless of what he of she does. Coercive sex is when the victim would overall prefer not to have sex but is pressured into giving nominal consent. It’s situations like where somebody is told they have to have sex with their boss or they’ll be fired. Coercive sex is clearly wrong but I feel there is a distinction between coercive sex and forcible rape. Perhaps it’s a nitpick, but what kind of pressure are we talking about? If it involves violence or the threat of violence I don’t see who it differs from rape. I have a childhood friend who spent some time in prison. As a matter of fact, it is possible that he was under the care of Dr. **Qadgop** at some point. He claims to have been sexually assaulted during his time in prison. He claimed it was because he was white. His parents lean more towards the prison’s side of the story, which is that he ripped off the wrong people in a drug deal, and claimed to have been raped in order to get into a different prison. Given that he is one of the biggest Grade A premium liars and bullshit artists I have ever met, I lean towards the official story. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-worse-jail-or-prison-need-answer-for-family-member-who-has-to-choose/688843/43 "2014-05-23T08:17:35Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > 1. Consider what kind of prison is in question: A high-security prison (bad), a medium-security prison (probably bad), or a lower-security prison (probably the [del]best[/del] _least bad_ case, if that’s where he might go). Never been in. But around here, my friend prefered medium-security, because minimum-security was full of drug-users and people who were in for a couple of months because they had bashed/beaten/hit somebody. Medium security was people who were escape risks because they had long terms to serve, but weren’t dangerous enough to require maximum, and didn’t want to get sent to maximum for a long term. If you are a drug-user or a person who hits other people, you’d choose minimum-security, because you get fewer insane restrictions and are less in the control of uncontrolled staff. If you want to avoid getting ripped off or hit, you’d put up with the staff and lockdowns, to avoid the prisoners who do that kind of thing. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-worse-jail-or-prison-need-answer-for-family-member-who-has-to-choose/688843/44 "2014-05-24T14:40:04Z")
Jail…in a heartbeat. I get some appointed criminal cases and I do everything to make sure that my clients make bail. If they don’t and are stuck in jail awaiting trial, they will soon start begging me to plead guilty to a felony offense (that they may or may not have committed) simply so that they can go to state prison where there are offered some semblance of a life instead of sitting around in their cells all day. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-worse-jail-or-prison-need-answer-for-family-member-who-has-to-choose/688843/45 "2014-05-24T15:19:53Z")
^So, your first word should be prison? ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-worse-jail-or-prison-need-answer-for-family-member-who-has-to-choose/688843/46 "2014-05-24T15:26:46Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > ^So, your first word should be prison? Which is worse: Jail or Prison? My answer is jail. ---
**Author:** ![Inna\_Minnit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Inna\_Minnit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inna_Minnit)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-worse-jail-or-prison-need-answer-for-family-member-who-has-to-choose/688843/47 "2014-05-24T20:47:59Z")
Jail. I volunteered in a minimum security prison for several years. The inmates told me more than once that they would much rather do prison time than jail time. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-worse-jail-or-prison-need-answer-for-family-member-who-has-to-choose/688843/48 "2014-05-24T22:44:53Z")
> [@jtgain](#): > > Which is worse: Jail or Prison? > > My answer is jail. Sorry, you’re correct. I was thinking: > [@Idle\_Thoughts](#): > > Which should he choose? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-worse-jail-or-prison-need-answer-for-family-member-who-has-to-choose/688843/49 "2014-05-24T23:09:03Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Perhaps it’s a nitpick, but what kind of pressure are we talking about? If it involves violence or the threat of violence I don’t see who it differs from rape. I’ll admit there’s a huge gray area. Where do you draw the line between pressuring somebody to have sex and threatening somebody to have sex? How big do the consequences have to be before you’ve virtually eliminated any pretense of it being a voluntary choice? For most people, however, when they think about prison rape, they’re thinking about Andy Dufresne or the equivalent. They’re not thinking about the guy who said “Well, I guess I’d rather give you a blowjob than get beat up.” Obviously both of these people were victims of a sex crime. But most people do see a distinction in crimes where the victim did technically give consent. It’s like the difference between a con man stealing your money and a mugger stealing your money. ---
**Author:** ![slowlearner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@slowlearner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slowlearner)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-worse-jail-or-prison-need-answer-for-family-member-who-has-to-choose/688843/50 "2014-05-25T01:07:54Z")
Texas prisons are among the worst in the world. !st, the main units aren’t air conditioned and in the south texas summer the nightime temps in the upper cell tiers stay around 120F. The primary intake unit, Byrd, is called Gladiator School because new inmates learn how to fight there. The idea is to fight and lose w/o getting hurt, because an inmate who won’t fight is at risk of becoming somebody’s property for protection. This is called coercive sex. There’s not much true rape but lots of consensual sex among male prisoners and among some guards and prisoners, mostly oral. You stay out of trouble by doing your own time, staying out of all the gang beefs, it just takes a strong mind. Given all that, the county jails I’ve been in in Texas, and friends from the old days have been in, are not fit for animals and riding a chain down south is much preferred to a long stretch in the county. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-worse-jail-or-prison-need-answer-for-family-member-who-has-to-choose/688843/51 "2014-05-27T01:29:51Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > For most people, however, when they think about prison rape, they’re thinking about Andy Dufresne or the equivalent. They’re not thinking about the guy who said “Well, I guess I’d rather give you a blowjob than get beat up.” > > Obviously both of these people were victims of a sex crime. But most people do see a distinction in crimes where the victim did technically give consent. It’s like the difference between a con man stealing your money and a mugger stealing your money. Andy Dufresne only differs from your second example because he said, “no”. So it seems that you are only distinguishing between people who consented because they were going to be beaten up and people who didn’t consent and got beaten up. And _then_ raped. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-worse-jail-or-prison-need-answer-for-family-member-who-has-to-choose/688843.md?page=2)