I recently read an article about prison life in your newspaper. What I find amusing is the references to "honor" status and prison being like a "concentration camp." Should a place like prison really have honor status? If inmates are to re-enter society, shouldn't they have to act responsibly? There are no "honor status" facilities in the world outside of corrections. Furthermore, I have never seen this notation used to label any NY State Correctional facility, and comparing a correctional facility to a concentration camp does injustice to those that actually lived and died during the Holocaust. To compare the Holocaust to prison life is an extreme point of view, to say the least. I also cannot understand how someone would combine references for an "honor facility" and a "concentration camp" in the same sentence. Inmate populations are usually convicted by a jury of their peers.

Which leads to me the next issue: just what do inmates get in prison? Most of the inmate population receives more amenities than our senior citizens. Imagine living in a world with cable television, gym memberships, and outside recreation areas all provided at no cost. Now add to that free and immediate health care. Where does one find such an amazing world with all these free amenities? Inside the razor wire of New York State prisons. These luxuries are ones that most New York taxpayers can ill afford themselves, but yet they are provided to these inmates compliments of New York State. While taxpayers are struggling, cutting their own household budgets and eliminating these same amenities, inmates suffer no cutbacks, and are not asked to pay for these services they enjoy so freely. Located across New York State are sixty prisons , or as the NYS Department of Correctional Services terms them, "Correctional Facilities." Each one has either satellite or cable television, including premium stations such as ESPN. Most facilities even have a movie night, where a video is rented from Blockbuster or Netflix and played on all prison televisions via a taxpayer-furnished VCR. In some prisons there are even super-premium services like HBO. According to a Fox News article, the "average monthly cable bill in at least one prison amounts to $84.59."

What about the spacious gyms prisons have, rivaling most college or high school facilities; in essence, each New York inmate is provided a free health club membership. The only thing that might differ from one prison to another are the amounts of free weights or weight machines present. They also have basketball courts and can be retrofitted to accommodate volleyball courts, indoor running tracks, or anything that a gym would provide in the outside world. There are also ping pong tables and paddles provided to inmates and at the Gowanda Correctional Facility, a full-size pool table.

While the New York State Legislature argues about dire economic times, one thing is constant in New York prisons; their gyms are being utilized free of charge with state taxpayers is footing the bill. As if these gymnasiums were not enough, each New York prison also has an outdoor recreation area available for use — vast, park-like recreation areas where you will find more televisions, weight equipment, basketball courts, handball courts, softball diamonds, and even horseshoe pits. As New York struggled in its attempts to have state parks open for the Memorial Day weekend, inmates were in no fear of their park-like taxpayer-funded recreation areas closing, and won't be for any foreseeable future.

Lastly, there is the matter of the free and immediate health care provided to inmates, as good and often quicker than anything available on the outside. Should an inmate need an operation, they receive it. Should they need cancer treatment, they will receive it. If they have a cold or minor ailment, they sign up for sick call and see a nurse the very next day, with no waiting. Depending on the ailment or minor injury, the nurse will even give out medications. No matter what the ailment, the inmate will get what they need with no charges or co-pays. Compare that with the appointments one needs to make with one's doctor in the non-prison world. Inmates can receive medical attention just to get their fingernails or toenails clipped, along with free dental care. For any type of emergency there is at least one on-site nurse available 24 hours a day and, if needed, inmates can be transported to local hospitals for emergencies as long as the prison medical doctor deems it appropriate.

These services and amenities are provided to inmates to keep them occupied and give them "outlets." Obviously, no one wants to take away healthcare from inmates that are in need of true medical attention. But at what point does it become a burden to the average taxpayer?

The cost to taxpayers for these same services is not free, as it is for inmates. The average cost of a gym membership is approximately $775.00 a year. The average cable bill is $84.59. The taxpayer is not only paying their own bills, but providing and paying for these same services to inmates.

The world New York State has created, giving its inmate population free cable television, gym memberships, outside recreation areas, and free and immediate health care, is one that the New York State taxpayer can ill afford at this time. Most of these amenities are ones that the average taxpayer cannot even afford for themselves. These extravagant luxuries come at a price, and that price tag is just too high!

Vinny Blasio started working for the NY State Department of Corrections in 1993 and has worked at all levels of security settings including Minimum, Medium and Maximum Security prisons at Bedford Hills, Shawangunk, Orleans, Gowanda, Attica and Fulton Correctional facilities.