You would think...

I've watched two documentaries about prison life recently (Salinas and San Quentin), and I can't help but think that there are a couple of simple solutions to most of the issues. At first, after watching the San Quentin one, I thought "wouldn't it be safer if everyone stayed in their cells except for activity time and didn't eat in a big, crowded, common cafeteria?" It was an observation based on just the simple logistics, avoid having a big concentration of inmates per guard in a place where you're giving them weapons (plastic though they may be, silverware can be dangerous) and giving them something to fight over (they said some fights are because people feel that they're getting less food than someone else). Then, after watching the Salinas one, it made me think "wouldn't it be safer if you did recreation time and meal time in shifts with the same race?" I'm all for racial equality on the outside, but it's pretty obvious that it's a major issue in the prison system. If you don't have warring factions in the yard at the same time, no one will get stabbed. Makes sense to me. Or I may just be crazy, who knows.