This is exactly what 19 year old, Texas prisoner, Skyler Steddum has been doing for several months. As you might imagine, this has some locals wondering, “Where exactly is the prison security?”  Granted, Steddum is in an minimum security, unfenced trusty unit in Sugar Land, TX.  But, as the NBC Dallas-Fort Worth article asks, should citizens have to be wondering if the person standing next to them in WalMart is a prisoner?

I’m not entirely sure what do think about this.  On one hand, if the security is that lax, should these people even be in prison?  Are there any prisoners in this unit that have committed any serious crimes?  Steddum himself was convicted of home burglary, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and is serving four years.  So, while not an ax murderer, I’d consider him a threat to the community.

The comments on the article suggested solutions that ranged from “[putting] them back in zebra strip shirts and pants” to “[letting] the inmates smoke, it’d save them a ton of money, hell they could even profit handsomely off of it if done right…” Either way, I think the major issue that needs to be resolved is the level of security at these types of prisons. Being minimum security is one thing, but being non-secure is another. From the article:

It was the latest security breach in Texas prisons since officials promised improved security in late 2008, after a death row convict used a smuggled cell phone to make threatening calls to Whitmire.

“The fact that Walmart has better security cameras than our prisons, well, this whole situation begs a whole lot of questions,” the senator said.